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f13.net General Forums => But is it Fun? => Topic started by: Cyrrex on August 26, 2009, 08:31:12 AM



Title: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Cyrrex on August 26, 2009, 08:31:12 AM
Let's get this out of the way first thing:  You should play this game.

Anyone unfamiliar with the comic book version of Batman (like myself) may think this game to be yet another lame movie licensed tie-in.  It isn't.  It doesn't resemble Dark Knight in any tangible way other than its high quality production values.  The basic gist of the game is this:  You've just captured the Joker, and it was a little too easy.  You escort him back to Arkham Asylum.  You sense something is afoot, so you escort him all the way into the facility just to make sure everything is kosher.  Problem is, that seems to have been his plan all along.  Long story short, Joker takes over the facility and you've got to find a way to dislodge him, saving various doctors and VIPs along the way.

The way you go about this is through some pretty standard gaming conventions, but Rocksteady has done a really great job with implementation.  The stealth parts are stealthier and just plain fun.  The beat 'em up parts are fluid, fun and vicerally exciting.  It looks like button mashing on the surface, but there is a hidden depth to it that you'll have to uncover if you want to do well with it.  The puzzle solving - via riddles from the Riddler - is varied and interesting...some of it even compelling, like when you are collecting some of the psych interview tapes.  Graphically, the game is wonderfully detailed, lifelike and smooth.  It's gorgeous, even, in its own dark way.  The voice acting ranges from the very good (Batman and many of the villains, even the random guards) to the superb.  Mark Hamill as the Joker.  Luke fucking Skywalker of all people.  Brilliant.  Seriously.  Some of the best VA in any game, ever.  Luke Skywalker.  Once Joker takes over the facility, you will be entertained with almost nonstop dialogue over the PA system.  It's often hilarious, always appropriate and after playing for three hours I haven't yet heard a repeated line.  I imagine I will eventually, but still.  Really top notch. 

There's a lot more that could be said, but I don't want to venture to far into spoiler territory.  All that really needs to be said is that this is the ultimate Batman game.  It is genuinely difficult to imagine any way that a Batman game could be done significantly better with this generation of technology.  For what it's worth, it should be mentioned that the PS3 version supposedly has some DLC that allows you to play as the Joker, but I have no information on that.

If you are a Batman freak, you probably already have this game.  If you aren't, and are on the fence like I was, don't worry.  Buy it.  Rent it.  Borrow it from a friend or steal it.  Whatever you do, play it.  Serious GOTY contender.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Khaldun on August 26, 2009, 08:41:38 AM
The Joker's dialogue is indeed top-notch. Frankly, unlike in the comics, where he's often just sick or gross. He's actually morbidly funny here quite often. (Very much like the animated Dini-Timm Joker, however, also voiced by Mark Hamill.)  The atmosphere in this game is just great, but not at the expense of the gameplay.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Gunzwei on August 26, 2009, 09:56:34 AM
Wanted to add that Batman and Harley  are also voiced by the animated series VA's. Stayed up all night played through Normal and must say it's amazing.  The combat evolves really nice from simple at the start to pretty crazy by the end. About to go replay through hard and work on challenge modes.

Definite buy.

 


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Arnold on August 26, 2009, 10:30:02 AM
Hamill has been playing the Joker for almost 20 years.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Cyrrex on August 26, 2009, 10:33:07 AM
Hamill has been playing the Joker for almost 20 years.

On some level in my subconscious, I knew that.  I am operating under the assumption that many people around here didn't know that.  Or at least, didn't know how excellently he performs it.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Lounge on August 27, 2009, 10:47:45 AM
(Very much like the animated Dini-Timm Joker, however, also voiced by Mark Hamill.)

Dini wrote the script for Arkham Asylum.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Khaldun on August 27, 2009, 11:27:32 AM
Yeah, it definitely shows.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Ingmar on August 27, 2009, 11:36:55 AM
Watching the Joker play trailer after having played the demo almost - almost - tempts me to get a PS3 for it.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Cyrrex on August 27, 2009, 12:12:08 PM
This game is so dang fun that I actually sorta regret getting the 360 version because I won't be able to play as the Joker with the DLC.  Surely, it will be as awesome as the rest of this game.  Hopefully the 360 will come up with some good downloadable stuff. 



Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Samwise on August 27, 2009, 12:14:00 PM
Any info on whether the Joker DLC will be available on the PC?  If not maybe I'll get this on the PS3 after all.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Cyrrex on August 27, 2009, 12:18:02 PM
Everything I've read so far has said that the Joker stuff is PS3 exclusive (and free, I think, but don't quote me on that).  A quick Google search didn't disabuse me of that belief. 


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Jherad on August 27, 2009, 01:13:00 PM
Thoroughly enjoyed the PC demo on Steam - my one concern was length. Have you completed it? Also, any replay value?


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Samwise on August 27, 2009, 01:15:36 PM
People are saying in the other thread that it's 15-20 hours of gameplay.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Cyrrex on August 27, 2009, 01:52:35 PM
As opposed to practically every game of this sort that has extra things like "challenge mode" and whatnot, of which I never ever play...I am pretty positive I will play the Challenge stuff even when the game is over.  Also, the scant 4 hours I've put into this one is already more worth the 60 bucks than the majority of games I play.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Hindenburg on August 27, 2009, 01:54:00 PM
You should play the predator challenge modes while you go through the main game, will teach you a few tricks.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Lounge on August 27, 2009, 02:15:51 PM
Everything I've read so far has said that the Joker stuff is PS3 exclusive (and free, I think, but don't quote me on that).  A quick Google search didn't disabuse me of that belief. 

It's free and it's great.  It's not just a simple re-skinning of Batman as the Joker.  He has his own fighting style and taunts his opponents the whole time.  Additionally the PS3 version comes with a Blu Ray video that has behind the scenes / making of type of stuff.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: NowhereMan on August 27, 2009, 06:52:32 PM
The Steam demo of this more than convinced me it was a really good game. Just from the short section of the demo you could see the attention that had gone into the gameplay elements, the art and voice acting. More than enough to persuade me that they'd probably have put that level of detail into everything else. The only thing I didn't love about it was the ears on Batman's costume, which are just a tad too long and angle inwards slightly and look silly from most angles. The fact that was the only criticism I could think of seemed to bode well, just have to wait patiently for a PC release now.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Jobu on August 27, 2009, 07:05:28 PM
The parts that really bring it all together are the little details.

Batman's suit gets ripped in small amounts in comic book homage as you progress through the game and he gets beaten up more and more in the cut scenes and plot progression.

When you are done fighting, the camera will slowly re-orient itself on Batman and he plays this fantastic casual "I just kicked some ass"/total calm badass animation of him adjusting his gloves after the beatdown.

The effect of a swarm of bats swarming around Batman and then into the camera whenever you get XP or complete a mission.

I love this game so much.  :heart:


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Khaldun on August 27, 2009, 08:35:28 PM
The Riddler's riddles are occasionally irritating because even when you've figured out the solution, the game can be very finicky about positioning Batman *just right* to LB click for a successful solution. I had one where I had to jiggle about twenty times before I found the one exact place where a solution would register.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Furiously on August 27, 2009, 09:49:36 PM
Hearing Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin again, even if it isn't done in Bruce Timm style (I believe it was written by Paul Dini however, which is totally awesome!)

I'm really looking foward to this one. (on the PC).


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Triforcer on August 27, 2009, 10:28:26 PM
Why no Wii version?  This would be perfect for it, and its awesome waggling stick. 


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Azazel on August 27, 2009, 11:08:35 PM
 :uhrr:


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Rasix on August 27, 2009, 11:13:09 PM
Might as well use the Lego batman models with how god awful it would look.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: schild on August 28, 2009, 12:02:21 AM
Why no Wii version?  This would be perfect for it, and its awesome waggling stick. 

What a terrible attempt at trolling.

If it wasn't, take that crap to gamefaqs.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: NowhereMan on August 28, 2009, 12:43:39 PM
I had one where I had to jiggle about twenty times before I found the one exact place where a solution would register.


I'm guessing it was a subtle reference to that.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: UnSub on September 06, 2009, 07:15:27 PM
Part of me thinks this should have been called Batman: Welcome to Rapture for the BioShock vibe I keep getting (it's a good thing).

Or it should be called Batman: Beating the Shit Out of People because that is also what the game is very good at. Some great emergent fighting moments for me - my favourite thus far has been finishing off a henchman with a roundhouse kick that saw his head get caught between Batman's foot and a bookcase. Brutal.  :grin:

Stealth bits are a little bit repetitive, but that is certainly made up by the voices of the henchmen going crazy as they realise they are getting picked off one by one. And then the Joker chiming in to tell them about it.

Fun game. Not quite sure if it is GOTY material, but I haven't finished it yet.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: UnSub on September 10, 2009, 09:43:30 PM
Okay, finished it last night. (On hard, with all secrets found - still have to go through the challenges for the 100%.)

The story line really lets the game down at the end. Specifically the final cut scene on how Batman beats the Joker. It was :awesome_for_real: and in a completely  :uhrr: way. The hidden story of Arkham was a lot more interesting, as were the voice recordings.

Batman:AA does a good job of mixing up the pure combat and the stealth sections. I didn't find it got too repetitive at all. Detective vision was a really fun mechanic, although it was probably too necessary - I had it on probably 70% of the time. Any sequel needs to balance this out a bit better.

A solid, highly polished stealth fighter, but I don't think it is GOTY. Alternatively: it would be disappointing imo if this really was the best title of 2009.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: MournelitheCalix on September 16, 2009, 10:25:18 PM
I got this title last night and so far i am loving every minute of it.  Mark Hamill has been amazing so far.  I want to reiterate what was said originally the voice acting imho is brilliant.  The interview tapes were really cool as well.  A couple of them were gut busting funny.  My only problem so far has been the puzzles, yikes... heh its been a long time since i have seen a puzzle game like this.  It kind of reminds me of the old dark forces days.  This is just a brilliant game and it was well worth the money I paid.


Title: Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady - 360
Post by: Triforcer on September 18, 2009, 02:54:54 PM
I got this title last night and so far i am loving every minute of it.  Mark Hamill has been amazing so far.  I want to reiterate what was said originally the voice acting imho is brilliant.  The interview tapes were really cool as well.  A couple of them were gut busting funny.  My only problem so far has been the puzzles, yikes... heh its been a long time since i have seen a puzzle game like this.  It kind of reminds me of the old dark forces days.  This is just a brilliant game and it was well worth the money I paid.

er, do the puzzles get harder in the second half of the game?  I'm about halfway through, and every puzzle so far has the answer of "look up, there is a grate to go through."  Or are you referring to the Riddler trophies?  Some of those are hard.

I actually am very slightly disappointed in the frequency of actual fights in this game- they seem a touch sparse.  Maybe that gets better later.