Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum

PUBLISHER: Eidos Interactive/Warner Bros.
DEVELOPER: Rocksteady Studios
Played on: PS3
Initial impression: A superhero game finally worth playing.

Liked:
- Combat
- Environment
- Riddler's Puzzles

Disliked:
- Some Boss Fights
- Length

On The Fence:
- Challenge Modes
- Replay Value

The Batmobile races through the streets of Gotham as a radio blares a news report about the Joker being captured. Leaves fly around, and we see the caped crusader behind the wheel. The Clown Prince of Crime sits bound in the back seat, taunting Batman as they rocket to Arkham Asylum. Once inside the two become separated. Batman is asked to remain outside the processing corridor so as not to disturb the inmates. Joker stumbles, falls, and breaks free. With the help of Harley Quinn he takes over the institution and lets everyone out. It's up to Batman to regain control.

This is where you start, and really it's about all they really tell you from the beginning. It's in your hands to explore the massive complex of buildings and expose not only the Joker's plans but how he managed to set them into motion by duping others. Using a rather ingenious Detective Mode you can more easily spot clues to help you through (some clues you can't find any other way), while just reading or listening to them will also fill in the gaps.

The environment of Arkham is that of a Victorian era mansion for one building, a same-era medical institution for another, then the super sophisticated modern prison for the rest. Some places have seen better days and are in utter decay, while others just look beat up from the escaped inmates. It looks really nice and rich with detail - right down to common things like a cork board with various items pinned to it (that you can actually read).

The combat is simplistic button mashing but varied enough to not be dumb, and you get a bonus for being able to seamlessly link attacks from one enemy to the other. Batarangs are utilized for distance stunning, while explosive gel can be used to set a trap. You can also use stealth tactics - sneak up behind inmates, glide down from the rafters and kick them or hang upside down from a gargoyle and string them up by their feet.

Some point in the game you start receiving radio transmissions from The Riddler, who informs you he's hidden a number of challenges on the island (240 to be exact). If you're truly a master detective you'll find them all. I live his dialog as you discover more and more, especially at the end.

Dislikes
My negatives are as follows: Some boss fights suck. Suck to the point of making me want to throw the controller out the window. Worst part is the final battle is the easiest fight the game.

***START SPOILER ALERT***

Fighting Bane is a pain in the ass, and sets you up with a mechanic for taking out some future bosses, but their terminology in the hint (when you fail) blows. You see, they claim "hit Bane with a batarang while he charges" - now I thought it meant those times he sits still, flexes his muscles and the tubes on him start glowing green. See? He's charging his powers! No -- they meant "running at you" a.k.a. charging, like a bull. Took me about 5 tries to figure that out. I'd say that was the only occurrence but there are other boss fights that are equally as frustrating because of shoddy advice.

***END SPOILER ALERT***

The length of the game is ratty too. I've made a comment to this extent on various gaming sites, but it just seems like $60 is way too much to spend for 10 hours of gameplay. See Ghostbusters: The Video Game for a similar complaint.

On The Fence
The challenge modes are interesting but the scoring is dubious, and the ability to play as the Joker isn't all too great. He's kind of a pain in the ass to control/figure out and since he doesn't have the gear that Batman has he's kind of annoying.

The replay value to me is all about trophies. Yep, the game was fun. Finding the Riddler's various crap items was cool but I'm not sure I'll be firing up Arkham for a replay anytime soon ASIDE from the challenge modes and maybe to try to gain a trophy here or there for things I didn't do the first time through.

Final Verdict: 8/10

The Beatles: Rock Band

The Beatles: Rock Band

PUBLISHER: MTV Games
DEVELOPER: Harmonix
Played on: PS3
Initial impression: Awesome Rhythm Game Finally Made

Liked:
- Songs
- Dreamscapes

Disliked:
- Length of game
- Mash Up Tomorrow Never Knows/Within You Without You
- Hardware issue

On The Fence:
- Pre-order Free DLC

Twist And Shout
What can I really say? It's The Beatles, Rock Band style. Unless you've been living under a rock your whole life, you know who the Beatles are and you know what Rock Band is. This game takes you through their relatively short career from playing gigs to a few dozen people to founding the plans for 'arena rock' to fleshing out the idea of a concept album. You play as the Beatle who played the specific instrument (with notable exception to guitar - lead and rhythm are combined). You cannot create your own character, which some people have pissed and moaned about, but they need to shut it.

Being a huge Beatles fan (the first record I ever purchased with my own money was "Revolver" and my first ever CD was "A Hard Day's Night") I was rather pleased with the selection of songs, though that hinges mostly on the knowledge that more will come out as downloadable content. I probably would have skipped "Boys" but I saw what they were doing - giving each member a song to sing in each era's set list.

For the first half of their careers they were touring. Cavern Club, Shea Stadium and the Budokan are represented rather nicely with actual crowd noise from their real performances at each venue (and in surround sound to boot). Later studio works are shown with the band starting off playing in EMI's Abbey Road Studio #2 but then fade (or at times rather shockingly flash) to modes the developers call "dreamscapes" - fantasy-like representations of the songs they are performing. "Yellow Submarine" and "Octopus's Garden" are both underwater sea-scapes, for example.

The only set of studio era tunes that are not dreamscaped is the final set, which recreates the infamous Abbey Road Rooftop Concert, right down to the appearance of the police at some point.

Yer Blues
The only negatives I can really bring up are the length of the game, a specific track mash up and my personal hardware problem. The game has 45 songs out of a catalog of nearly 250 from the band. Given that their early tunes (From Please Please Me up to the Sgt Pepper album) were, at most, 3 minutes long, that gives you about 2 1/4 hours of playtime - I'll be generous and say 2 1/2 since I know a couple songs are longer. If not fascinated by all the extras as I unlocked them, I could have EASILY knocked this out in one sitting.

The "Tomorrow Never Knows/Within You Without You" has one huge problem with it -- the length. The song is like 1 to 1 1/2 minutes long. Neither song appears independent from the mash up. Frankly I would have loved them being seperate tracks, but I understand. Don't get me wrong though -- I love the sound of those two songs mixed together. I just want more of it.

My drum set will not connect to the PS3. I messed around with it for about an hour and couldn't figure it out. At first I noticed I had the wrong dongle plugged in, so I shut everything down and restarted. No luck. I looked online to see at least I wasn't the ONLY one... I'll have to work on it again. I'm kind of pissed I couldn't get it to work because I finally reserved myself to give it a go. I've played drums in RB before - and I used to be a drummer in a band 15 years ago - so I'm no stranger to how to play. It's the lack of a connection that perplexes and ultimately angers me.

Hello Goodbye
My only on the fence point is the Free DLC for preordering. Yes, it's three free tracks but you can't download them until they come out. "Abbey Road" tracks come out Oct 20th, while "Sgt Pepper" tracks come out in November sometime. "Rubber Soul" comes out in December but you can't choose any tracks from that as part of the preorder freebies. My two biggest problems with this flawed concept are this:

1 - I'm going to order the WHOLE ALBUM for all three when they come out. It's cheaper and I love all the songs anyway. Giving me a few for free SUCKS.

2 - When you get a FREE DOWNLOAD, they should be available IMMEDIATELY.

They should have made it the full versions of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Within You, Without You" and also throw in "All You Need Is Love" -- that third one being DLC for XBOX 360 owners (proceeds to benefit Doctors Without Borders - which is another beef of mine. If you're selling a song as DLC for charity, why limit it to JUST the 360?)

The End
Content aside, overall this is the best rhythm game I've ever played. It shows that a lot of thought and effort went into getting this made, and I appreciate every last detail. I've been playing it a few hours a day nearly every day since it came out. I love it so much I'm even challenging myself to play bass left-handed on Medium and striving for 5 stars (4.75 is my best effort so far, 96% on "Come Together"). On previous similar games (GH3/RB1) I wouldn't even stay focused enough to stray from Easy mode. I've started playing the guitar parts on Medium too, and I've entertained the idea of singing while playing guitar or bass.

I'm looking forward to playing alongside others, though hopefully I'll be on drums. Guitar is starting to wear down my digits -- I've got blisters (forming) on my fingers!

Final Verdict: 9.5/10, docked only for the length of the game.