Best game in a long time

Arkham City is without doubt one of the best games I have ever played. I don’t say that lightly, I sincerely mean it. It has everything you could possibly want in a game, for starters you are Batman. But not some hobbled “I have had all my toys taken away from me and I won’t be cool till the end of the game” Batman but a “I am so freaking cool I can kill guys just by looking at them” Batman… which is nice!

You have great toys to play with and the actual mechanics of playing the game are exactly right. Fighting is at the forefront in this game and you will be doing plenty of it. But its fun, there are so many things you can do as you pound people it is just an endless joy. Then you get to throw in all your cool gadgets and you are set. But its not straight forward, do something stupid and you die almost instantly (that is a good thing as you still have to think rather than button bash).

The artwork and production value in the game is utterly stunning, the art-deco style of Gotham is extended into some weird and wonderful ideas but all of them feel at home here. While some of it is absurd none of it felt out of place. You are playing a man with no special powers but dresses up like a bat.. absurd was left at the door. On top of that the voice acting is superb, I have already mentioned my gripe so we will leave it at that. You have to praise the developers for not sticking with the established designs for the characters, they have taken some already great concepts and just improved on them with this game. It is worth playing the game just to get the the unlocks that let you examine the models in more detail (Kudos to them for including the design of Cat Woman from the animated series as a model as well).

But the standout thing here is the story. I’m not going to tell you a single thing about it that would only spoil it for you, but lets just say it was not what I expected at all and was just fantastic. There are plenty of older characters that make an appearance not just the Joker, Penguin or Riddler, and there are twists and turns all through the story. But at its heart it stays true to who Batman is and what he is about.

Final thought

This is just the perfect superhero game that I don’t you could ever really do with any other superhero. You know you are playing a great game when you finish it before you wanted and you want to start it again straight away.

*I will give you one little spoiler*
I got to beat up a shark!

Batman: Arkham Asylum was a surprise for me, I had seen it coming and it looked interesting. But when you look back at the history of super hero games it is not good. So a long time ago I gave up on hoping on a good super hero game, let alone the best one of them all Batman. How so very wrong I was, I think is has to go down as one of my favorite games of all time.. right up there with the likes of Super Mario World (SNES) and Street Fighter II Alpha 2 (Saturn).

For those that know me they know I don’t often complete games. I usually lose interest somewhere in the middle, put the game down, then never really come back to it. Arkham Asylum treads that careful line between game and cinema, an engaging story, great game mechanics, fantastic voice acting. I think between Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill you can’t not enjoy it.

You know a game is good when I have completed it a few times now and I am working on getting all of the achievements and extras.

On to Arkham City

Of course I have only had Arkham City for one day now, but it is very part the better of Arkham Asylum. Not only is the system better, new ideas have been added, but there are also all new gadgets to play with.

The city is sprawling and feels real and gritty with the various character nicely woven into it. Other reviews out there will go into the details but lets just say its great!

My only disappointment so far

The only thing I am disappointed in so far is Harley Quinn. Of course the character design is spot on, it’s just not as good as Arkham Asylum. Unfortunately they have also changed the voice, in Asylum it is Arleen Sorkin the one true voice Harley Quinn. In City they have changed it to Tara Strong. She is excellent but she is just not right.

For me Harley Quinn is as important as Cammy. She is not the most important character but she is one of the most interesting.

All of these things should make this the best games? Until two weeks ago you were right and I was ready to fight to preserve it as the best game I played all year. But all that has changed. While it is still the high point for me in terms of stealth/action/super hero games there is now one game that does all of that, but only much better.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

This is how the game starts, and doesn't let up

I had seen (but not played) the original, and played a little of this one before I managed to get my hands on it. Both of the other two BGR’ers have been telling me for some time it is their favourite game, I was not convinced.

My initial reaction to this game was that it was OK, but nothing special. Right at the start while I thought it looked nice, I wasn’t getting on the the controls very well. But once I had got over that slight problem this game opened up to me and showed me what a true cinematic experience a game can be.

The Setup

You are following the fortunes of Drake. You start in the middle of incredibly well done train wreck and through the course of getting out of it you are taught the basic controls. From there the story goes on to explain you are on the hunt for Marco Polo’s lost treasure.

This games really does play out like an Indiana Jones story with travelling all over the globe looking for the clues that Marco Polo has left behind. On the way you are shown some of the most amazing scenes I have seen in computer game. But the thing that really got to me was not the stunning detail but the grandeur of set pieces.

But the best part is the game expects you to explore all the aspects of these huge scenes. They are not just window dressing, they are integral parts of the story with secrets for you to find and cinematic cut scenes which flow seamlessly into the game to let you explore them even better.

The actual story is so well done I would actually love to go and see it at the cinema, it puts Indiana Jones to shame. I especially enjoyed the various subtle touches and comedy that are woven perfectly into the story that really will have you laughing with the character and thinking “Oh crap!” just as they say it on screen.

Quality production

The quality of the voice acting in this game is second to none, I didn’t think Batman could be beaten but I could not have been more wrong. All of the characters are voiced perfectly, and I genuinely enjoyed listening to everything they had to say. Even the little pieces of in game dialogue were fun and I didn’t notice any glitch moments where it repeats the same phrase.

The most fun part of the game beside the great story are the excellent fighting mechanics. Running and gunning actually works perfectly, and I have found the most fun thing to do is to run up to your target shooting then beat the living crap out of them. This is especially fun because of the huge number of fighting animations that makes them a joy to watch.

Stealth can also be a big part of this game if you want it to be. You sneak about in most places and take out the guards silently. The actual stealthing mechanic is perhaps not as fluid as it could be, but again once you are used to the way it work you will not have any problems.

Extras

Beside the fact that I am going to play this game through again at least once there are all sorts of extras included for you. There is actually a very fun multi-player mode where you can play the normal array of game modes like death match and king of the hill. But they have also included some behind the scenes videos and various art galleries.

Conclusion

This is a must own game. I played the entire game through in 10 hours, and I was actually disappointed when it finished, I could have happily played it for twice that long. But its the tight story that keeps the game fun to play, so I guess I will just have to wait till Uncharted 3 comes out.