Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City

A+++

I think the moment I knew I would like this game was when I cut down a goon to drop him right onto one of his fellow mooks and was told I'd earned a trophy called "Rope-a-Dope-a-Dope."

Just got this.

When I leveled up for the first time, I was scrolling through the upgrades and saw INVERTED TAKEDOWN!!!!! I don't care that at this point it's virtually worthless, hanging a goon from a gargoyle entirely justifies this game.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/arts/television/05asylum.html

Yeah I hate A Confederacy of Dunces.

My friend got this. I cannot wait until he's beaten it so I get my turn.

*eyeroll* at that NYT review intro

I wonder if one of the things that makes this game so awesome is that in every other stealth game you get pissed off at how stupid the guys are, and in this game they're the Joker's henchmen, so they like have to be stupid by law and it doesn't bother you.

My spatial awareness is so shit that in stealth games I just get confused and run around in front of the guys with guns, so I'm quite grateful for the stupidity of these ones and the fact that I can see them outlined in red.

It does bug me when I carefully knock a guy out next to some explosives on a challenge map and his friends stand around nearby without noticing, though.

I found the B-Movie shitness of the Croc bit quite funny, like the same inexplicable underground whack-a-mole routine repeated endlessly with daft orchestral stings. Third Scarecrow bit drew laughter, especially the load screen.

I thought the reviews were bullshitting about the lifespan of this given how the story isn't long, but I can see playing it again and I'm not remotely bored of doing the four challenges I've unlocked.

if anything is better than a pleasant surprise, it has to be a pleasant surprise involving Mark Hamill.

I keep forgetting that the Joker is Mark Hamill and when I remember, I'm just like "Is there no end to the delights this man has given me during my life?"

Dropping down to talk to tied-up hostages, telling them not to worry and then swinging back up into the roof area to pick off the bad guys one by one is pretty much Batman distilled to the point of perfection.

Kevin Conroy deserves some love.

Okay, this is great. No idea it was so metroidvania-y.

Am I the only person who goes through most of the game in Detective Mode?

haha, no; I keep catching myself doing that.

I feel like a weenie for Detective Moding my way through the game. o_O

Wow, that part with the three electrified platforms is super-rad!!!! I just wish that the Challenge version of that stage followed the same format, that would've been A++.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8256405.stm

Is new DLC out now?

Supposed to come out today, yeah.

Bought this nonsense.

It sucks that the first level of this game is the same as the demo. I really had to drag myself to get through it again last night.

Isn't the demo nearly always the first level? What else would it be?

True but I like complaining about stuff.

ok some game designer really ought to mindfuck us w/ a demo that is the end of the game

Batman would be that game! But it isn't that game. Poly, you have some MGS-level mindfucks waiting for you

Another problem with the first level is that I watched my friend play it and I watched another friend play the demo AND I played the demo, so I got to see it four times.

So yeah, very excited to be moving on to something new.

This is one of the best things I've played this year. I don't know if that's high praise for the game, tho, or just a good indication of how disappointing 2009 has been for gaming (esp compared to last year, which was one of the greatest years of gaming of my life).

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/rebecca-mayes-muses/1052-Batman-Arkham-Asylum

cheesy in so many ways, i know, but i was amused enough

just rented this

this game has been pretty good so far but i wasn't prepared for the awesomeness of the corridor -> alleyway flashback scene. i was seriously blown away by that, competes with anything in the batman movies.

the way it uses videogame mechanics to tell this super-familiar story was so smart and inventive. like the way (after you cough, which alerts you something is up) that the location description pops up as "wayne manor" when you think you're just going through arkham mansion on your way to the next quest... it's a part of the game that you expect to be just a mundane retracing your steps to get back to the main area thing... not prepared at all for something big...

sorry im super hungover right now and i don't think i really articulated that well.

Oh, you've seen nothing yet. There's one Scarecrow scene (the next and final one, if I remember correctly) that's one of my favorite video game sequences in years.

I really should rent this if it's going to persist in not coming down in price

Multiple places have it for $40 on Black Friday.

i think im on that scarecrow scene (if it's the one right after)

lolbritain doesn't do black friday : /

USA! USA! USA!

s1ocki- did you catch the game last night?

the hockey game?

Just testing. You haven't gotten to the awesome one yet.

I got to the awesome one tonight and played till after the Poison Ivy fight. I'm guessing I'm near the end?

i got to the awesome one yesterday. the level after, where you have to walk slowly thru the sewers, kinda sucked tho

^^ real talk. It was the only level in the game I thought was a drag though and it's pretty short

like why they thought a mazey tunnel level, which was gonna suck no matter how you sliced it, would be BETTER if you had to walk slowly and drag it out, is totes beyond me!

I cant see how the developer thought that Killer Croc sequence was cool in any way. You had to work him in some way but damn. Its the only blemish on an almost perfect game.

why won't this damn game's price drop already, argh

^co-sign

we shd just rent it, I guess, but I've never rented a game in my life

I finally finished. Should I work on finishing all the riddler stuff? I do love achievement points...

riddler shit is rad imo

lol, yeah. Just finished it. The ending to the collection stuff is pretty cool. Now I just need 3 medals on every challenge stage... (I may not get perfect knight.)

(xpost) likewise, I've never rented a game either. Sounds like it would take a lot of effort. Batman was £27 on play.com about a week ago, but that's the only time I've seen it under £30. I need something drastic to happen so I can stay under my £20 rule. I'm sure Play will stick it on £17.99 within the next couple of months....