WAIM: September 14, 2009 - Everything Old Is New Again Edition

I have been away from the blog without announcement for a while now and I just wanted to clue everyone in on the reason. I have been working toward a promotion at the "in real life" job and I am happy to say that I have attained that promotion. The rest is all bells and whistles and I can once again dedicate myself to regular updates. Though I am sure no one has been dying without everything that I have to say, here is what I have been tinkering with over the past two weeks:

Since I have finished Batman I have not been back to the game. This is not to the game's discredit, I just wanted to return to the games that I felt that I did not have enough time with this past summer.

I started off by attaining 100% of items in Shadow Complex which to those who do not know where everything is (even when they tell you that an item is in a room (Level 20)) it is no small feat. It is quite fun and you can truly feel a sense of achievement when you have done it yourself.

I also picked up Gears of War 2 multiplayer again on Labor Day weekend. I miss playing this game and I managed to nab a few achievements because of the double EXP weekend that was taking place. I also managed to notice a few things about the game that I had not noticed before. One was that when you use the Cyclops Locust you can see the light shining from the eye as though the light were reflecting off the the dust in the air. It was a nice little nuance that made me smile. The second thing is something that I cannot remember for the life of me.

The last game that I have been playing a lot lately, once again, is Battlefield 1943. I cannot get enough and I also managed to nab a few more achievements in the game. It should be easy enough to collect the rest of them with regular playing of the game.

That is about it for now but you can be assured that you can count on more posts from me during the week. Thanks for hanging in there.

WAIM: September 2, 2009 - A Week Off

So it has been a week since we have last spoken and what a glorious week it has been. Today is my last day of seven days in a row of work so you can expect more out of this blog in the days to come.

This week I have been playing nothing but Batman: Arkham Asylum and you should expect the review for that tomorrow. You should also expect the review for Shadow Complex on Friday and one last thing that you can expect is a BGE original article.

You should be excited.

I think that I am going to go back through various games this week ranging from Shadow Complex, Batman, Gears of War 2, etc.

Monday MUpdate: Thanks for listening, chiiiiiiiiiiiillllllldren!

My life is in boxes at the moment, and because of this I don't really play too much. It takes too much effort on my part to sit and dig through a box for XBOX games, and I just don't every really feel up for doing that. This weekend, however, I took my 360 with me down on a trip to Jersey so I could download the Batman demo and decided to dig out a couple of games. Despite bringing 4 games, only 1 of them ever entered the console, and this is where it now resides: Fallout 3.

But more on that later. First - the Batman demo! That's right, Batman: Arkham Asylum is now available in a 15 minute demo version on your XBOX 360! Or PS3 I guess. Whichever you have. Either way, you now have access to the exact same demo on display at E3. This was my main curiousity: is this going to be the same level from E3? Yeah, it is, and with that all of my previous comments pretty much stay the same: the voice acting is phenomenal, the gameplay is fun but it feels like it would be repetitive. In playing the Batman demo in my own time (without a line behind me or crowd of people watching), I feel like I had a bit more time to sit and enjoy the gameplay, and I've gotta say, it is pretty fun. However, I still feel like all in all, the game is just rental fun. I can't imagine myself wanting to play this game more than once, and the combat is still pretty easy. Sure, it's fun to swoop over someone and kick them in the head, but let's be honest - there are a lot of games you can do this in (such as my hotly anticipated Assassin's Creed 2). In fact, I would go so far as to say the only thing that makes this game special is that it's Batman. The free flowing combat is still by far and large the highlight, though. It's a much more polished version of what Too Human tried to do, and I enjoy it. It can occasionally be annoying when I want to punch the guy on the left and Batman punches the guy on the right, but with all the complaints I make this is hardly one I apply any significance to. Hell, I'm more upset by character designs than I am by that, so it's clearly small potatoes. So Batman is fun to play, sure, but I still can't imagine paying $60 for it. That's just me, though, and I know for a fact other writers here feel differently, so take my thoughts as you will.

Then we decided to play Fallout 3 to pass the time for a little bit, and boy, when I get back into this game, I get back into it hardcore. In fact, I really wish I were at home still plugging away at my adventures in the wasteland. I downloaded the two new expansions (Mothership Zeta and Point Lookout) and finally finished my adventures in the Pitt (which involved a Thunderdome style match with a chainsaw, which was AWESOME). I'm amazed that, even now, I still think Fallout 3 is one of the best games I've played. I always look at it and feel overwhelmed due to the epic scope of the game, and I think that this intimidating nature of the game is what keeps a lot of people from going back. I mean, the original clock in time I had for the game was 56 and a half hours. Do I really want to commit another 56 and a half, probably more, hours to a game like this? After playing it again this weekend, I can definitely say yes. I am absolutely fine with devoting my life to this game again. It's just so damn fun, and now that I'm playing through with an evil character the story seems fresh as I blow up Megaton and kill some doctor who is just trying to create a cure. Of course, I'm making the game much harder for myself right now because even though I have special armor that can practically deflect bullets (thanks to the expansions!), I choose to wear a broken leather uniform that makes me look like Mad Max and run aroudn with no stimpaks. I'M JUST THAT HARDCORE. Plus I have Nerd Rage.

All in all, Fallout 3 is still definitely one of the most entertaining game experiences I've ever had. With all of the new expansions, I'd go so far as to include this game on my Best of '09 list, right at the top. It's just such a damn great game. Everything about it. The atmosphere is wonderful, the ambience is magnificent, and the gameplay still holds even after all of the time I've already devoted into the gameplay. Right now I'm doing one of the main story missions (the Galaxy News Radio mission), but as soon as I finish I plan to investigate the mysterious Alien Homing Beacon sounds my Pip-Boy has been picking up. I'll let you all know what happens.

Still Stoked for Batman: Arkham Asylum

So way back during the fast pace of E3 this little blog was posting a crazy amount of news. It got to the point where I needed a break for a few hours, days, weeks and because of all of that I managed to skip out on a game that I wanted to mention again.

That game was Batman: Arkham Asylum. From what I can decipher, from what I have heard or read, this game had one of the biggest, if not the biggest, presence at E3. From hotel room card keys to the Batmobile making an appearance it gets my vote for really putting themselves out there. That is how you promote a game and I would be surprised if this game does not fly off of store shelves or at least make back the money that they spent on all of this advertising. I am personally preordering the $100 dollar collectors edition so their ad campaign already worked on me. It apparently worked so well that I am again writing about this game though this time I am writing about it closer to its release date.

There are skeptics though, namely our good friend, and contributor Matt, who despite wanting to like the game are having a problem letting themselves get too excited. Matt is a comic book nerd in every sense of the term so we might all be able to understand his skepticism.

But the more people who get their hands on it, the more people are convinced. Matt got his hands on it at E3 but still is not convinced mainly because it feels like it is trying to foist too many game styles on you at once (IE Bioshock, Splinter Cell).

For myself this is fine because if the game accomplishes half of what those two games originally accomplished and can cleverly mash them together, it will be one of this years greatest games and perhaps the best Batman game in the past decade. I believe that this game will not disappoint because well, seriously, have you looked at it? Look at it again!



I am happy to hear that the controls have felt good from everyone who has put their hands on it because that means that it is only a matter of time before I get to engage in some sweet sweet Batman action. I cannot wait for the free flow combat, the detective mode, and grappling on gargoyles to get that perfect vantage point. Perhaps this time I will not try the hardest difficulty level available first (though it is what I always do).

Entry for Kyle K. Sorry it is a little late buddy got tired. Real work sucks.

Mupdate 2: Batman Arkham Asylum Collector's Edition - Is It Worth It?

Nate said earlier that he is getting excited for the Batman game, and me being the intense comic book reader that I am (I spent almost $50 on comic books alone last week, and I wonder why I'm so poor) also look forward to it with bated breath. I mean, someone said that it'll essentially play like the BioShock of super hero games. Awesome, right? Combine that with Mark Hammil as the Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman (the guys who did the voices on the 90's animated cartoon... remember that?) and it looks like we'll have a great Batman game.

Now, I'll only pre-order a game if it's got some kind of special limited edition to it, because otherwise I could just go get it normally at any time. What's the rush? But when the Batman: Arkham Asylum special edition specs were released, I came up with a conundrum. Let's break it down.



Here is the $99.99 collector's edition of Arkham Asylum. With it, you get a 14" batarang for your display case, Arkham's journal in a nice leather dust jacket with information on all the inmates, a behind-the-scenes DVD, and exclusive levels. Sounds great... but almost $100 great?

Let's be honest - 9 times out of 10, super hero games fail. Most critics agree the best super hero game was Spider-Man 2, which took GTA sandbox gameplay and let you sling webs around the city. Awesome. I for one am of the opinion that Marvel Ultimate Alliance is the best super hero game, and if Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has a pre-order package, you can be sure that I'll get it. But outside of this, what do we have? Crappy Batman games, crappy Iron Man games, crappy Hulk games, crappy X-Men games... the list goes on and on. So while Arkham Asylum might be fun, it might also just be worth one play through and then a shelf forever life span. Hell, it might just warrant a rent for a weekend play through and then return it life span. Let's be honest here - in the world of Next Gen gaming, there has never been a good Batman game. Granted, the only attempts were with Justice League Unlimited (which was fun to an extent, but the lack of Hal Jordan annoyed me) and the Batman Begins movie tie-in (let's just not talk about it). Add that to the fact that most TV/movie/comic tie-ins aren't worth the dough (I STILL haven't bought Afro Samurai, even though I loved the demo), the odds are stacked against Batman in this one. So is it really REALLY worth it to spend $100 for a 14" batarang?

I don't think I'd ever call myself a die-hard Batman fan. I know there are some people who are Batcrazy, and I look at them and judge them as I often do (considering I have mountains and mountains of comic books in my closet) and I say, "Ok, we're living in a post-The Dark Knight world now where everyone seems to think Batman is the greatest hero ever (even though he isn't), it's the perfect time to spring a hyper expensive shiny toy for all the nerds to want." And I do want it, I do. But when I hold my $100+ GameStop credits in my hand and I look down the road at all the games coming out (Assassin's Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for sequels; Prototype, Brutal Legend, Darksiders for firstquels) and then I look at my brand new DS (thank you, girlfriend), I gotta say that no matter how shiny and cool that Batarang looks, I don't think I can justify spending $100 on a 14" replica that DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THE ONES FROM THE COMICS.

There. I said it. I'm an elitist comic book snob, and The Joker looks goofy.

In Its Final Stretch of PR, Batman: Arkham Asylum has me Interested

I think every comic book geek (of which I am not as much as I claim to be (Umbrella Academy FTW)) has been looking forward to this game for much longer than I but this trailer is the first time I have even bothered to look at the game.

Despite everyone raving at how amazing the game is coming along I have just been skeptical because it is so rare that I like a game based on comic books (usually because they are based on movies). The last one that I can remember liking was Marvel Ultimate Alliance (of which the sequel I have not yet looked into either) and I did not even get to finish that game.

But more about Batman: Arkham Asylum:

Just from this little demo or "challenge level" I know that I will be playing and probably buying the game. It looks fantastic, the controls look tight, it looks like it is fun to play, and most of all it looks as though this is what it would feel like to BE BATMAN. The game looks crisp and gritty and if the story is as any bit good as this one "challenge level" 'looks' then I am sure that this will be the best Batman game ever. Rocksteady, which is apparently the name of the developer the developer, has officially piqued my interest.

For those who know more about this game than myself, what are you looking forward to about this game? Is anyone remaining skeptical? I know I am not.