New addiction? Batman: Arkham Asylum. It may just prove to be worth all the hype. I'm only at the Bane fight, but so far? LOVE it. The only way I can see me not being happy with this game is if it doesn't naturally get harder as the game progresses, the ending absolutely sucks, or it's too short. If all three happen I'll be very sad instead of mildly disappointed.
The combat is smooth, visceral, and not too complicated. As in, not complicated at all, in my opinion. Yes, it relies on achieving combos through simple button repeats and pairings. I'm sorry if you gamers out there who love extremely complicated combat mechanics don't like it, but for someone like me who came to gaming after my childhood and adolescence were over, the complicated stuff is too much for my hand/eye coordination and ergo I don't enjoy the game experience. I thoroughly enjoy kicking thugs into walls, pounding them into the ground, flipping over their heads, and punching them in the face when they're down without having to sprain my hands and wrists to do it. The camera moves sooooo fluidly with Batman that I never get lost. Remember the terrible camera work on Legend of Kain: Defiance? You try to fight an enemy, but the camera switches back and forth so much between four awkwardly-set angles that you just want to scream or puke before it's even half-over? Not here. Plus, in BAA the slow-mo in combat is well-timed and feels like the cherry on top of every lil' combat cupcake. Tasty, tasty cupcakes. Mmmmmmm...
The Detective Mode is pimp. Hell, I usually stay in it most of the time, just to be on the look-out for any surprises that might pop-up. The one thing I want more of in this game so far is surprises. I have this love/hate thing with nasty surprises in video games. Especially dark and/or spooky ones (Bioshock say what?). I like the tension to build and build until I'm halfway expecting something nasty to jump out at me, and then still be sort of shocked and thrilled when it happens in a creative way. Anyway, Detective Mode lets me see through walls and find important objects. Plus I can see an NPC's heart rate and therefore assess their mental state. Nothing like picking off a lot of thugs one by one in a large room to raise up the last couple of dudes to a completely terrified state. Tee hee, I'm mean.
Fun gadgets so far? I only have a small fraction of them. The batarang and the grappling gun come standard. Later you pick up the explosive gel dispenser (when you dispense the gel on a crumbling wall, you make a gooey bat shape!) so you can blast your way through blocked off areas. There are a bunch more slots open and I cannot wait to see what fills them. The upgrades, however, make the wait tolerable as they allow you to get the most from what you've got. Experience points buy you upgrades; you can boost your bat armor, learn new combat combos, improve combat techniques and gadget efficiency, and learn new skills to help you defeat thine enemies. My favorite so far has to be the inverted takedown, wherein Batman hangs upside down from a gargoyle (conveniently located in strategic places around the asylum) and ropes himself a bad guy. After you've glide kicked ("Doom from above!"), taken down, beaten up, or given the "silent treatment" to all the bad guys in the room, you can cut down the bad guys you've strung up with the batarang, thus dropping them to the floor and rendering them unconscious. Batman, of course, never kills anyone. It's his one rule, so he only knocks the bad guys out.
So far, BAA is the perfect mix of everything Batman. Bats himself is very much Dark Knight style Bats, but without any emo b.s. thus far. He's the right blend of super-sleuth and ninja master, with a little bit of old-fashioned American hero muscleclature to round him off. Dude, he's built like an effing ton of bricks. He's got the Michael Keaton quiet poise with the Christian Bale aggression, and interestingly enough, George Clooney's chin. The villains are a healthy dose of cartoony with a large dash of murderous psychosis thrown in, and Harley Quinn looks like a BDSM dream nurse come to pixelated life. Can't wait to ogle Poison Ivy. I hope she lives up to expectations. The mood is somehow dark and suspenseful yet still a little optimistic. Probably because you know that not only are you the protagonist, but you're one of the most bad-ass super heroes of all time. I mean, you're Batman. You win. Duh. And kids who grew up in the nineties will appreciate the voices of Batman and Joker being reprized by Mark Hamil and... the dude that played Batman in the WB animated series. I forget. Look it up on your own time.
There are, of course, a lot of little frills for us gamers who like to get anything and everything extra by collecting stuff. These objectives are kindly provided by the Riddler, whose vaguely-effeminate voice occasionally gets on my nerves. Ah, well. Look for little green "?" trophies and updates on side-objectives as you go. At one point you can pick up a map add-on that has places where Riddler objectives are located marked out for you. Now I am hoping Bats can back to previously visited areas to get the stuff he couldn't get at before. Stupid WayneTech security fields bein' all efficient and stuff.
Well, I need to finish off this segment in the game so I can go remember what sleep feels like. My doctor will have no sympathy for me when I show up bitching about feeling shitty when she notices the dark circles under my eyes clearly marking me as a sleep-dodger. If I feel like it, I may add to this review later. Have fun, kiddies! (I say this to the 0 people who read this blog.)
EDIT: And if this brief and tatty little review didn't make you want to play it, then check this out:
0 comments:
Post a Comment