Topic: Batman Arkham Asylum

[Shorty McNostril]

What was wrong with the Croc level?  I think it did it's job perfectly.  Kept you on your toes the whole time. 

I rented it out a couple of days ago on 360.  Finished the story overnight.  I think it was a great game.  One of the best I have played for a long time.  This one actually had me excited about what will happen next.  I haven't felt that way about a game for a long time.  The combat was superb.  The very embodiment of easy to learn, hard to master.  Looked beautiful, one of the most pleasant looking games I have played thus far.  Atmosphere was also very good.  Those damn scarecrow levels were a right mess to the brain.

When I find another job i shall be picking this up along with Sacred 2.

[Spak-Spang]

A free roaming Batman just wouldn't work.

Why is this game so polished?  Why does it work so well?  Because the world and levels can be tightly balanced and controlled.  You don't get that with free roaming games...and in the end the game would suffer.  Also, Gotham would be very hard to do, because the city needs to be a character...not just a location.  What I mean is Gotham is just as important to Batman as his villains are. 

The only way I can see it working is having a highly scripted Linear adventure in Gotham City that is not free roaming, and Gotham City is tightly managed and levels are designed to show of different areas and aspects of Gotham.

[Dirk Temporo]

"It's never been done before so it's impossible."

Good thing you aren't a scientist or anything.

[Spak-Spang]

There are certain elements of design that must go into free roam games that open up the games to different game play.  These elements usually are very different from the more controlled linear paths. 

I personally do not like the sandbox open world games...but I understand it is my opinion.  Though, the games have merit and can be fun.  However, I would argue that a better polish and better designed levels can come from linear design.  Super Mario Galaxy is a far better game because of its linear level design that without it.  Linear level design not only allows for games to be more polished but they help design deeper more immersive stories because you know where and how you will take the character. 

So do I believe their is room for both types of games...yes...but I don't think a Batman game will be done justice going that direction.

Oh, and thank you for miss interpreting my original post into a single misquote that I didn't say. 

[BlackNMild2k1]

I picked this game up during a Steam sale a few weeks ago and damn was that $7.50 well spent. Game beat with 81% 219/240 puzzles and I haven't touched a single extra feature yet.

This game is amazing. I loved every bit of it right down to the last fight. The battle takes lots of practice, and I did skip the 16 person battle just before the end on accident, but I was close to winning (I had 4-5 guys left standing last time I tried).

I applaud the studio that made this game and I look forward to Arkham City near the end of the year. This is how a Batman game should be made. The only improvements that I can think of off the top of my head would be grappling hook while jumping, falling, climbing or gliding, and that is only for extra fun while messing around. But this is seriously a great game and I hope to see other studios take other comic characters and make a game as suitable for them as this one was for Batman.


p.s. Is it just me or did anyone else spend about 90% of the game time in Detective mode and if you saw screen shots of areas you've been to in normal detail you probably wouldn't even recognize them?

[ShyGuy]

Yeah, they should have either made detective have more of a downside or just put it in regular view.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Maybe put a battery on your detective mode lens so that it needs time to recharge inbetween uses that way you don't use it 90% of the time.

Seriously the only time I would turn it off is if I was in a fight where they had knives or wands so that I could tell who had what weapon and disarm them accordingly.

[broodwars]

I never really understood all the complaining about "always being in Detective Mode".  If you wanted to see the environment normally, you can always...say...turn Detective Mode off.  Personally, I liked sneaking around with the mode on so I could plan out my assaults.  Besides, if I remember correctly you usually had to turn detective mode off anyway to do the Riddler Challenges (especially the ones where you had to line up the question marks).

Arkham Asylum is a classic, though.  IMO, it deserved Game of the Year nods over Uncharted 2, which was also an excellent game but it was still just an iteration on a previous installment whereas AA was a whole new game with new concepts.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm not really complaining about always being in  Detective mode (that's how I preferred to play the game), but it's a beautiful game and that is easy to forget when you spend 90% of the time in Secret Blue Skeletal View.

Someone could show me dozens of screen from B:AA and I wouldn't even recognize them, and that's a damn shame because the graphics are great.

[BlackNMild2k1]

The only improvements that I can think of off the top of my head would be grappling hook while jumping, falling, climbing or gliding, and that is only for extra fun while messing around.

Looks like the Dev team had the same thoughts and added it in

Arkham City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlET0kb5pmw&feature=player_embedded