BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM

Another game review form my own humble collection. In a wrod awesome. It was a hard choice to pick a favorite with this in my collection just begging to be the best. But, sadly not my favorite, it runs a mighty close second.
The game begins with Batman bringing the Joker to Arkham Asylum, and things soon go down the crapper from there. Joker escapes and Batman must find and capture him, but not before other rescuing and finding missions to get to the ultimate goal. Not the most original Batman story, but it's pulled off awesomely here.
STORY:
As said above, it's simple but effective. It's almost a sandbox style game, but with different sections to the island. And each is as different from the last. The storyline takes you all over the island from a medical center to a mansion, and even a green house. Now back to the beginning, Joker escaping is nothing new, this just lets you play it out instead of watching or reading about it. Joker has a plan for the Dark Knight, and won't be stopped til it's prepared. And it's fun to try and figure it out as you go along. Not much else to be said of the story, just go through the game to find it.
GAMEPLAY:
This is where the game shines. It's a blast from beginning to end. The stealth portions of the game are fluid and enjoyable, and if you mess up it really is your fault. The stealth consists mainly of hiding in the rafters or perching yourself on gargoyle statues situated at the top of the room. You can move from statue to statue singleing out each bad guy to take down. If hidden successfully, you have to just push the button to silently take down the enemy, but shortly thereafter Joker pipes in letting everyone know that they're down a guy, so you can't rest on your laurels. Which is a blast, as you can't just be stagnant and still. Aiding you in the hunt is what's called detective mode, and during the stealth it's a great asset. Almost to a fault, even. As it let's you see through walls to find the skeletal frames of the people around the corner, and telling you who has weapons and who's just a hand to hand fighter. While effective, it's eases down the difficulty quite a bit. The real meat of the game is how Batman fights. In the comics he's the best fighter in the world. In the game, it shows why. The freeflow combat system is a joy to play. It's responsive, flashy and tightly packaged to make fighting something you want to engage in. You can easily move from slamming a guy in the face to blocking a blow from behind you all the while never ruining your combos. Simply put, magic in a bottle. Peppered around the maps is also Riddler challenges, and crime scenes that you need detective mode for again. Solving the riddles is pretty easy, the screen shows you the clues, and you have to look around the area to find the answer. Hold the button down and a flash of light shows that you've done it. Again, simple, but effective. However, a little more challenge would be nice. On the other end however, the last few boss fights are...Well, lame! The game builds up to the final confrontation with Joker, and it's dissapointing to say the least. Very old school arcade. Hit hit, leave, hit hit, do the big finisher. Repeat. The other problem is that he becomes something we've faced 3 times before. With all the thought and effort that went into the rest of the game, this is just sad. Speaking of the rest, let's end on a positive for this section. The rest of the bosses are fun. Killer Crocs is especially interesting, luckily it's not a hand to hand, as we have many of those types of fights (batman vs. Big brute) before. This involves carefully moving over platforms taht are floating in Crocs cell. When walking through it I was actually tense and nervous about where he was gonna pop out of, and a couple of times I was startled to heck and gone. It was brilliantly accomplished and very satisfying.
GRAPHICS:
Beautiful...More? Okay, Very beautiful. Really the graphics are awesome. The unreal engine works its wonder with this subject. Batman is big and muscular, but flows perfectly, and the cape moves in time with Batman and really adds a layer of depth to the running around. The level design is varied and gorgeous. The island itself is grimy and devoid of color, while the buildings are stylistically different. The mansion, as mentioned earlier, is quite gothic and imposing, while the greenhous is still imposing but more colorful and natural looking. While the medical center looks like it's out of a horror movie, degraded and falling apart with all sorts of scary looking tools scattered around. The penitentary is quite chilling in it's technical looking security and holding cells, while the asylum part of the island where they hold the super criminals is a technological wonder. All of these are beautifully rendered and colored. And just a joy to run through. Really, you have to see everything to believe it. And finally the rest of the characters. All have their classic style with a few modern touches. Scarecrow's design I love and his levels are interesting and give a nice break from the rest of the game. I won't give it away, but its a bit of a mindfreak. Overall graphicly this game nails it. It feels like Batman, what better praise than this?
ACTING:
Luckily another high point. For those that love Batman and the cartoons, we're happy to say that the original voices for Batman and Joker return. Yes, Kevin Conroy, and the highly awesome Mark Hamill are back! And boy do they deliver. Batman as voiced by Conroy, has always sounded bad-A! And Hamill gives my favorite interpretation of Joker. (Sorry Heath Ledger fans) I mean, he captures the total horror that was Ledgers, but blends it with the humor of Nicholson, and creates the Comic Book Joker in moving form. And the laugh...By Heaven, you can't beat it. It's the epitome of jokers laugh. Scary, and funny, and will totally murder your behind! Conroy's voice also is the best one. The much maligned Christian Bale gravel is no match for the pure dark that Conroy gives Batman. It's just perfectly monotone with inflection that I cannot describe. Just Awesome! The rest of the cast fits nicely save one...Killer Croc. We're introduced to this BEHEMOTH of a character, but when he opens his mouth...It's almost patheticly wimpy. It's got gravel and plenty of spit in it, but the pitch is high, and not too scary. Luckily all the others make up for this, (admittedly small) grievance. Oh, Harley Quinn is also back. Arleen Sorkin, I do believe she is the reason people love Harlet Quinn. She was introduced in the cartoon, and people demanded she be in the comics, I believe Miss Sorkin deserves all the credit. She is a loveable psycho, and that is hard to pull off. Overall here, awesome.
OVERALL: This game rocks, it's fun, and the challenges will bring you back after. The story is simple, and repeats itself in certain places, but it's definitely worth it. The ending may not be huge, which is why it's only my second favorite. The flaws bring it down only that much, but I do love going back and beating on thugs yelling "I'm Batman!" Simply the best Comic Book game out there today. Period.

Holy crap almost TWO YEARS!

So...yeah, I have sucked at doing this blog. BUT, I promise I'll do better. To catch up, I'll post some reviews of some of the games and movies I've played and seen since I started. First off, my favorite game...UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES

As I said above, it's my favorite game. Basically, because I am an adventure story nut. I love the idea of exploration and derring-do that goes with it all, and in that regard, U2 delivers HUGE!
The first game was fun, but suffered from some flaws that drug it down a bit, namely fighting enemies in supposedly just discovered locations, almost ALL the time; and then the levels towards the end in the sub base. That just brought the game to a dead halt! Now, I'm here to say that Uncharted 2 fixed those problems...For the most part. Luckily there aren't any levels that kill the it, but there are some annoyances that come and bring it down a bit. Anyway, let's get to the individual parts.
STORY
Here's where this type of game thrives or withers away like a vampire in daylight. And Uncharted 2 delivers a strong (if somewhat familiar) story. Uncharted 2 has our hero searching for Marco Polo's lost fleet, and then it switches early for what is called the cintimani stone. I like that it's something real, but not a macguffin that everyone knows about. Along the way we meet new characters and fall in love with the old ones all over again. The story is full of twists that it's hard to go through it all, but to put it short, it's great. Now, for the bad of this...It feels similar to the first game. A single object that holds great, and terrible power for whoever wields it, is just like the first one. And the guardians at the end just struck me like the zombie spanish from the first one. I mean, why are there ALWAYS monsters guarding these things? Something new would have been cool, but alas, we get a redo of the first game here. But still, it's fun to sit back and watch it unfold.
Gameplay
Here's where I love the game more. The controls are simple, and now more easy to follow thanks to a few key button matches that help it feel fluid. So instead of switching to a grenade as it's own weapon, you can hit the aim button and then while aiming hit a shoulder button to throw the grenade where you're looking, all the while still able to fire the gun right after. This makes killing enemies more fun, and not neccessarily easier, but more real and fluid. (That's a word to dexscribe most of the game.) The only gripe I had was that you still have to climb over countless obstacles, and while sometimes that makes sense, when you do it for the millionth time, it's old. Also, I love that your partner AI is some of the best to ever grace a game. I mean they shoot at enemies, take cover, let you know when there's trouble, and still help instead of hindering you. So great...BUT, the climbing thing comes in again. You constantly help them up to a high ladder, or they help you, I mean this happens in almost EVERY chapter. Save for the big set pieces, it happens all the time. But oh well, small price right? What's not a small price, or small favor to ask is, increase puzzles, and decrease gun battles. I loved the puzzles implemented but there so few that it's hardly worth talking about. And as soon as they're done, you're in a gun battle for the fiftieth time. I love the battles, but sometimes less is more. Like the first game where you're exploring a place that is "secret" you find enemies already there? Not only that, but they have back-up? Seriously? Come on. The other thing with the battles is the hand to han fights. They are improved here, but still no perfect. Plus a few more of them would have been great. About the middle of the road is a good one, you are on the train and the big boss of the level is there and you have to take him down. It was an awesome hand to hand, but you guessed it...I had to shoot him enough to even have this fight. I mean really? We couldn't just figt? This could have been the Indy versus the mechanic fight in Raiders... but no.
Voice/Acting:
Superb...That is all...No? Okay, well it's some of the most engaging and fun I've ever seen or heard in a game. The characters are likeable, funny, and most important, real. They never act out of character. Especially lead Nate Drake played by Nolan North. He always is in over his head and reacts accordingly. His simple delivery of 'Holy S___!' when a helicopter hovers to attack him is what anyone in that situation would say. The game is full of these one liners and lines that are just great. Then there's the supporters. Once again superb. Chloe Frazier is the new girl in town and she is an intriguing and sexy new addition that compliments Drake perfectly. She is played as dubious, but ultimatly heroic, and it's awesome to see her develop along the others. Once again Sully and Elena are back, and you love them all over again. Sully is one of the best creations for the game who is a older version of Nate, but still hasn't learned anything. Elena is Nate's love and she brings the reasons why into light here. Where he doesn't care, she cares too much, where he's dense, she's always thinking. A perfect pairing.
Graphics:
HOLY S____! They are the most amazing visuals on the ps3 by far. I'm sorry, take it as personal opinion, but WOW they are gorgeous. And more important, varied. From the museum at the begining, to jungles in Borneo, to the frozen mountains, to the battle weary city in Nepal. all is just awe inspiring. This is what Tomb Raider should have been, and Indiana Jones, and... The list goes on. This is a gold standar for adventure gaming. The player models are also gorgeous, I've never seen a game where the cutscenes are less beautiful than the regular game, as they are here. The models are that amazingly animated and drawn together. the clothes get covered in snow and are turned white, they darken when wet, they get dirt on them, the wrinkle when running and moving. It's awesome. The water looks and acts like water, and the snow looks and acts like snow. It's awesome.
A special section: SET PIECES
what I mean by this is those special sections of games where it's showcased and hyped and really get the point home. Whether they be car chases, rail gun shootouts, or what have you, these are the moments you remember... And U2 is AWESOME!!! I don't want to spoil it, but there's a lot. the helicopter attacking you from rooftops to blowing the bottom of the building you're in. The train chase where you go from the valleys of nepal to the moutnains battling henchmen and a helicopter (again, but still fun) to a truck chase through the mountain range. It's all so much fun, you just have to experience it.
Final thoughts
This is where it's tricky, do I give it a perfect 5? Or do I go lower...I'll have to go 4 1/2 because it's almost there. The game is gorgeous, fun, and the best around... But it's also a bit repetitive in gun shooting and friendly climbing. The best bits are too awesome for words, but they are still marred down by the not so good stuff. So there it is... 41/2. I still love this game