Batman AA is due out at the end of the month. The demo is available on XBLIVE if anyone isnt aware of it and wants to give it a shot.
I tried it and its quite short, which is disappointing, All you get is what amounts to a tutorial.
The story seems strong, Batman is lured to the asylum and imprisoned within by The Joker and Harley Quin, of course the asylum is home to all the villans that the B-Man has incarcerated over his illustrious career.
The game is predisposed towards its stealth element, if you like that then you will be in your ...ummmm ... element (ugh! apologies for using the word element so much). Batman moves incredible slowly and you have to press "A" to get him to move a little faster, if you pull the Right trigger, he will even move more slowly for bat-type sneakage.
He has a couple of different vision types and some gadgets, but essentially you use a vision mode to highlight where the enemies are and either sneak around on foot or hop from perch to perch until behind them, try to execute silent takedowns to achieve your goals.
Batman is also a dab hand at fisticuffs with a nice tight melee system, but cannot take too many bullets unlike the batman from the more recent movies. If you die, the mission restarts from quite near by, so no harm no foul, health replenishes automatically, after a room is cleared of enemies.
The slow movement, constant stealth mode and lack of gore, predisposes me to ignoring this on release and waiting until it hits the bargain bins, I was hoping this would be my next "big" game, but I think that will now be Wolfenstein, after reading some reviews that indicate they havent screwed it up, but actually enhanced the Wolfy franchise.
I/we tested it out this weekend on PSN as well. I'll say while I wasn't overly thrilled with it, my son enjoyed replaying the demo quite a lot.
The best part IMO is the animations when fighting and doing Bat-stuff like glide-kicking etc. The melee action slows down and gives you great slo-mo animation. What I liked was the action is normally paced for a bit but will slow down and zoom in occasionally (esp on finishing moves) and it looks cool.
Yes, if you like stealth and figuring out how to take out everybody silently it should be a good ride, but it certainly won't be a top notch title.
I'm hoping the boss fights will be fun especially with Killer Croc -and of course Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy ;).
Also, the Joker is voice acted by none other than Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and it's done very well - he doesn't sound like Luke.
For me it's a buy seeing as though my son will like it and we can talk about it and enjoy it together.
Yes, I'm sure the stealth people will love it, the melee combat as I mentioned before is very tight and quite intuitive.
But for example the glide kick you mentioned Spaceboy, its so "considered", you sneak up, position yourself just right and then you get a glide-kick icon..... theres no..... not quite sure what words to use .... excitement/exhilleration .... on the edge of your seat type of momentum, it feels really sterile.
Prototype really put lots of thrills volatility and complete and utter mayhem into the combat, Wolverine also brought immediacy, instinctiveness and a barbaric brutality, tempered by an animal-like gracefulness into the combat. Batman feels like a punch up, outside the pub on a saturday night, without the added benefit of a few pints of beer to add its rosy glow to the mix :)
Yeah I know, the game does what it says on the box, thats the sort of combat that is mostly associated with Batman, it just feels really boring to me.
I would tend to associate Batman with detection and fighting mostly, Never really stealth though. The game is getting 9 and 9.5/10 scores in the gaming press here, so I guess I'm just wrong :)
I was just trying to figure out which platform the game was on by simply looking at Fiach's avatar, but the "Gaming Platform(s):" field is still empty. You can edit your forum profile and add the platform you are using, so other readers can identify easily what game platform you are using and of course game recommendations such as this one can be identified easier. Not a must-do, just a nice feature of our site :)
I reckon XBLive, from the text, means XBox360? (Confused because I have Games for Windows Live)
Fiach, I know exactly what you mean by sterile. I'd prefer to just be able to execute a glide kick and steer the Batman towards my target. Or just get close enough for a takedown and know to hit the right button instead of a prompt. Perhaps there will be some option to turn off some "help" icons in the game, but I imagine the glide-kick is what it is.
It's clearly catering towards a younger gamer with this type of pop-up action - but again, it suited my son fine. I wouldn't buy it on my own, but he's paying for half so that's good. :-X
I'll be able to post back more thoughts on the final game after release (we've pre-ordered to get a special challenge map) Plus the PS3 version has the added bonus of being able to play as Joker in the challenge maps (not sure why we lucked out but that oughta be fun...I'm hoping)
@Art
The game is multiplatform mate, not an exclusive, although the PS3 version has an exclusive, where you can play as joker on challenge maps.
I'll check that avatar thing out in a bit, thanks for the heads up. :)
Yes it would be great if you could post a review of the full game, as you know the demo is mostly a tutorial, so its unfair to base my opinion on it, as I mentioned, the press here are 9+/10, so maybe the game is more rounded in the full version.
I think another factor, regarding the combat, is I'm playing a game called Too Human, its kinda like Diablo, but you are in the thick of the action, as opposed to using an isometric viewpoint.
The game got incredibly poor reviews (360 game), I picked it up for 7€ (about £5) in GAME, I have to say the game rocks! But I digress, the combat is really fast though, the berzerker just zips all over the battlefield like a duracell bunny on crack!
So when I played Batman, it felt treacle-y slow LOL :D
Fiach, I notice you put XBOX into the "personal text". if you scroll further down in the edit profile, below your signature, you'll see Website title and Website URL and then at the end (bottom) the field where you add your gaming platform :)
Yeah, when I saw the result, I know I'd buggered something up, I was under a bit of time pressure, will sort it later though, cheers :)
Apparently there was a review embargo, so they may have seemed thin on the ground, if you looked for them. It's rumoured that EA would only allow reviews with high scores to be released, on pain of losing advertising revenue.
Here is a 9.3 review from IGN.
http://ie.xbox360.ign.com/articles/101/1016701p1.html
interesting. Yeah, the reviews were high from both Game Informer and Official Playstation Magazine. GI is normally fair while OPM typically gives high ratings unless its a real stinker...Reading them did make me excited for the game though. We'll know more in a couple days.
So far from what I've seen, the game is very good. I've only played a bit myself, but I've seen my son play and it's got a nice mixture of combat, stealth, and "puzzle". He's definitely enjoying it. I need to get my chance soon. >:(
Here is a link to some gameplay we recorded of the Challenge maps. One as Batman and one as Joker (my son is actually playing - he does well I must say).
http://mygamepages.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=14
Batman AA is getting excellent reviews in some sites I usually check...
I read you can go outside tha asylum and wander through the island doing puzzles, is that correct?
This sound like a great game actually... ;)
yes there is a point you go outside on the island but I believe it's part of the storyline - I don't know too much about that part.
Quote from: spaceboy on August 28, 2009, 09:22:35 AM
So far from what I've seen, the game is very good. I've only played a bit myself, but I've seen my son play and it's got a nice mixture of combat, stealth, and "puzzle". He's definitely enjoying it. I need to get my chance soon. >:(
Here is a link to some gameplay we recorded of the Challenge maps. One as Batman and one as Joker (my son is actually playing - he does well I must say).
http://mygamepages.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=14
Excellent vids spaceboy.
The game looks great... I like how the Batman can glide and attack enemies from above...... really cool
And how the Joker is depicted is awesome... great character and he moves as if he was mocking someone, which fits perfectly with him.
spacekid knows how to play for sure, there's a great gamer in him... must the father's blood ;)
Thanks. Yeah, my wife is probably not as proud of his gaming skill as I am but, that's how the story goes I guess. There's some other great moves too that we didn't get to do.
A favorite from the demo we did was when on a gargoyle and a henchman walks underneath you, you drop down, zip back up with your grapple, choke the fool, then "hang" him with your never ending supply of rope lol. He doesn't die but just hangs there. Later, when another henchman is walking underneath him, send a batarang to cut down the rope and drop the first guy on the second.
There seems to be numerous ways of defeating your enemy and the fact that they are all wandering around and react to your presence makes for good hunting (no memory tests whatsoever).
Even in closed spaces, this game must be very diversified and fun to play more than once... I really like the sound of that ;)
Batman's going to AA....?????
Quote from: DKM2 on August 28, 2009, 07:20:19 PM
Batman's going to AA....?????
See... a man dreeses as a bat and go jumping from rooftop to rooftop after a guy dressed as a clawn, or as a scarecrow or as a penguin... either it's booze or something nasty!! ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D Well said, JRD
In any case, a bunch of clowns like these makes one wonder should one try to cure them or simply shoot them ;D
Here's another video (this time it's me playing) Batman takes on Bane. As I play more myself, I'm really starting to like it more and more. Listening to the Joker's henchmen is almost as good as FC2 mercs...Mid battle in the vid below you can hear them asking each other if they're okay...lol
http://mygamepages.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=16
This one I think is something OWG experimenters might like. I call it "fun with explosive gel" You're supposed to use the gel to break down weak walls in the game. No saying you can't use it to set traps for the henchmen...
http://mygamepages.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=19
Good idea, abusing that gel to blow up baddies. The animation is just plain funny when he bends over and sprays that gel on the floor :)
Thanks Art, yeah you've got to give yourself time for the animation to finish or they'll get to you and beat you while your setting your trap...
Added a vid to this article. It shows just level 4 of a challenge map where Batman has to fight off a Titan as well as the henchmen.
http://mygamepages.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=14
Just got the game last week at STEAM summer sale... a real bargain and a game I was willing to play for a while.
I read spaceboy's comments and impressions and was very happy to see someone managed to pull a decent comic books hero game... I have a few B-man's comics myself and really like to have a game where I can play Bruce Wayne's alter ego's role fully on...
I knew the game was pretty linear so I wasn't too fond of purchasing it on release... the saved bucks were very well spent on other great titles as well, so B:AA was a no hurry... but now, as i play it... wow... what a great game 8)
I really like B-man's moves... fighting is smooth and seamless and the variation of attacks is good enought to have you craving for more >:D ... I'm only at the start but so far all I did was pretty wicked... gliding attacks and all the kicking and punching I did felt really cool
The whole atmosphere of the game with Mark Hammil voicing the Joker on an outstading w%&k, the Arkham Asylum visuals and the feel of both The Deadly Joke and the Arkham Asylum comics with a twist of Heath Ledger's look makes all Dark Knight's fans in for a treat on this game...
I mentioned this on another post... to me, B:AA is a warm up to Batman: Arkham City - an open world, sandbox sequel to this woderful game...
Batman: Arkham City - Official Gameplay Trailer - This Ain't No Place for a Hero (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V1ZF5cNYCs#ws)
Catwoman HD Gameplay Trailer - Batman: Arkham City (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR1GPU2bvVc#ws)
Batman Arkham City: Hugo Strange Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muCtJsy-d9w#ws)
...
...
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
***************************************************************************************
Thanks, space! :-X
I bought the game as well, just yesterday. In retail but price had dropped quite a bit.
I was disappointed after the first minutes. Couldn't stop thinking: "Why am I that wiseguy that is too good to be true, while the Joker has so much more fun? I want to be the damn Joker!!"
The attacks are all managed with a single button, allthough there are some exceptions, and spacebar does all the rest of the tricks: Jumping, running, gliding, opening doors and so forth.
For the batarang and other throwable/shootable stuff, there's no aiming required. The game does that for you. My first hour of playing felt like the game was playing itself, I was only enjoying the show.
Today I got back at it, and after a few more time I began to like the game. Allthough it's all quite simple, not really challenging (except for the bossfights) it's definitely entertaining. The graphics are good. And the way they gave birth to this 3D Asylum with all its history and weird detailed spaces is a piece of art.
I hope I will find out more about the special movements you can do, like counterattacks and 'ground finish'. So far I could manage any crowded handfight with the spacebar. The rest of the possibilities were just annoying me, and kept me from getting high comboresults. The highest I got so far must have been 20 or 21. 20 unlocked an achievement.
There are A LOT hidden puzzles, riddles and findables. I had hoped there were less. Sure that, in order to get all achievements (which is allways an important goal for me) you'll have to solve / find them all. That's gonna be a lot of w@&k. Good thing is that most hidden stuff also gives away some of the history of the asylum, which is interesting.
Hope you enjoy it JRD, keep posting ^-^
Agree about the controls... they are very context sensitive so spacebar does a lot of stuff, everything else is just point-and-go.
My biggest problem now is forgetting all Ezio's controls and try to learn another lay out to do basically the same stuff: jump, run, aim and throw etc... dang it, I keep trying to loot all inmates ::) >:D :-D
I really like gliding with the cape to sneak in and silent take out someone... I'm playing Batman AA and Wings of Prey right now with Assassin's Creed Brotherhood half way through, so it's a busy wekend for me 8)
Haha, indeed Busy. And confusing, since you can't reconfiger the controls for badman. Weird feeling, having to use the spacebar for running ;)
I'm beginning to like the game. It's not really full of action and that's just what I need right now. Since I still need to sit with my leg on a chair to keep it high, I can't really focus on heavy-action situations. Puzzling out the riddles and looking for secret areas is beginning to get fun!!
Batman has a load of funny gadgets and they make life easy in the mansion :) And I found out there are secret maps that indicate the places where secret stuff is located. It makes it a little easier on going with the riddles :P
I`m quite stuck with Batman AA right now... I only managed to leave the first building, reaching the open area that kind of connects all buildings. I still have to find some evidence somewhere there but I didn`t bother too much into doing it as I`m pretty addicted to flying old WWII planes over UK 8)
I found some Riddler signs here and there and everytime I enter a room I get a riddle message but I can`t connect the dots yet ( ::)) ... don`t know anything about solving puzzles or anything like that either.
Maybe after getting tired of aerial combat I`ll resume my lunatics sweep at Arkham >:D
My start was pretty the same. Had a lot of difficulty with riddling, and also with finding my way. Once you do some more you'll learn the tricks. It's not that easy. Finding these maps, which you will, eventually, makes it all much easier. Have fun flying :) I like flying a lot as well. Only never tried a real flightsimulator. I only flew in GTA games.
WoP is not really a hardcore sim... you have three modes: arcade, realistic and simulator, which is self explanatory, actually.
Playing on arcade mode feels like flying in GTA, only with fierce air combat >:D :-X
Sounds good. I might check it out sometimes ;)
I'm beginning to walk and act like batman in my house. For as much as my leg alows me that is... ^-^
Close the fridge-door? Kick backwords >:D
^-^
Quote from: Binnatics on July 21, 2011, 02:12:30 PM
I'm beginning to walk and act like batman in my house. For as much as my leg alows me that is... ^-^
Close the fridge-door? Kick backwords >:D
Yeah? So check this out!! >:D
Batman Arkham City | OFFICIAL gameplay trailer (2011) Catwoman Two-Face Harley Quinn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC-zMWLrdLU#ws)
*******EDIT
Oh... and if you like the song...
(it is very much like what I felt when I saw/heard Borderlands ) >:D
Batman: Arkham City - This Ain't No Place for a Hero Song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdlIilJvw24#noexternalembed-ws)
I think I can only quote your own words here, JRD:
Quote from: JRD on July 15, 2011, 11:52:41 PM
...
...
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy
Man... take 5 minutes and watch this...
This is going to be a wicked game.... >:D
Batman Arkham City E3 Gameplay Demo in High Definition (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUQub7JTBls#ws)
Hmmm... I do have a lot to learn to be the Bat... I'm getting the hang of fighting and sneaking but there's so much yet to be mastered if I want to proceed smoothly 8)
This is a tougher game than I thought... I'm playing on normal as I usually do in any new game and still, I'm having trouble moving forward ????
Fighting is getting more fluid as I'm more loose to perform counters and special combos. I'm doing challenges to practice... cool challenges. Sneaking or open fighting, you have quite fun doing those! :-X
The linear nature of the game is a bit annoying. I have to finish Bane now and this is a bit hard to do so and no matter how I want to, I can only do Bane now... no sides, no fooling around, exploring... :-\\
Bane is gone... and in pain! >:D
Got the hang of it... yesterday night I was trying but kept dying at Bane. Today I saw a youtube video with a guy playing PS3 and timing his attacks and when to strike, like how many batarangs you have to score at this head till you can get close and cut off thoses hoses! First attempt and knocked Bane out without a scratch! 8)
Timing attacks are pretty cool... once you chain six or seven punches and evil kicks at thugs you'll feel really powerful! :-X
I like the balance between sneaking and open fighting. Batman is good at both so you can assess the situation, take out a few goons, the most dangerous packing guns first, then simply jump into a pack of four or five thugs with knives and pipes in their hands and punch their lights out in a few seconds 8)
I can't stop thinking about Arkham City... imagine a very dark Assassins Creed, in actual days and with comics characters... open city, sandbox, different districts, each unlocking different stories and missions, Batman can move within the city very well, nice blend between his moves, grappling, gliding, swooping. Apparently Arkham city will have a trick to fast travel for Batman :-X
I know about Bane, he's a tough boss. I had some trouble there too. I completed the story on normal now, and I'm fighting my way through the challenges. Trying to get all bat-medals. In sneeking mode it's not too tough, just plan your way to get your goals. Exploring the map is important. Know where weak walls are and grates and stuff like that. Then look what's their movements. They do have a cetain routine. And once you put your bombs in place... BOOM hahaha >:D
I'm trying the open fight challenges now... got 3 bats on the first 2 challenges allready, which has taken me 2 nights of practice. I'm getting a hang of this. After a punch or 5, 6, you get more power and can perform batarangs and cape-stunning, without loosing your comboflow. Making more different moves in one flow will give you amazing points. My highest so far is 8 different moves. There are 9 total. 8 moves gives you 3500 xp. Also important is to not let them hit you. Once you complete the challenge without damage, you get 5000 xp. +500 for every round. And doing a complete round in one single smooth combo will give you an additional 1000 xp. That's the way to get the demanded amount of points for the medals.
Good to know, but when the knifeguys come in, or the stunbatton guys, that's where trouble is coming. It's hard to avoid them, especially if you have 2 enemies with knifes. Cape stun is a must, and indeed the special moves you get after punching 5 or 6 times are very welcome too.
It's a tough game, but once you get a hang of it somehow, it feels great. After completing these challenges I will try to do a hard campaign. With the experience in the challenges that shouldn't be too hard I guess.
I like the story in this game very much. They did a great job setting up the madhouse and its inmates. I've seen several henchmen with lobotomy-scars on their heads. Quite impressing :o
Arkham city should be amazing. Very, very cool. I'm definitely looking forward to that one! Imagine: When I just started this game I thought it was a bad buy for sure. I kept complaining about the moves and the tactics. Now I'm getting a hang of it, I think these things are what makes the game so perfect ^-^
Funny how a man can easily misjudge something at the first impression.
Indeed... this is a very addictive game :-X
I getting good at chaining my attacks... I managed to pull 8 hits in a row and I'm able to jump into seven or eight guys and beat the crap out of them at first.
The variety of moves is really cool... Start hitting with LMB for normal attacks, as soon as you realize a thug is about to hit you, use RMB for counters, use the cape-stun to stun the guy with a knife and take him out asap, keep punching at anything that moves and, if surrounded, use space bar + direction to evade and remain with your enemies in sight. Having enough room, go for finishing moves using left ctrl + LMB, use the quick batarang when enemies are mid distance... there are so many interaction during fights against large groups that it feels pretty much that you are doing it, not just watching an animated charater do nice stunts as you continuously press the same button :-X
I also purchased an upgrade that allows me to hang upside down from gargoyles, grab an unsuspecting enemy and hang him using my endless bat-rope! >:D
[smg id=3535]
Haha, nice screenshot JRD!!
I just managed to get the freeflow perfection achievement. 9 diff. moves in one flow. Really tough. First, I did some normal attacks plus counter. Then I jumped over a guy, hit another, Then the combo with Lshift+RMB, then batclaw, capestun, batarang and then do a ground-finish. This time finally I was able to throw a guy as well, and there popped up the achievement, WOW!
I was so excited I forgot there were 2 more guys. Glad I could counter their attacks just in time, so I made a total of over 7000 xp in a single round. Now, up to the rest of them guys >:D
Batman living up to his name :-D
Great pics JRD, and good reads from the Batplayers :-X
Quote from: JRD on July 23, 2011, 05:17:37 PMTurned it into my new avatar :)
That's what I have been doing a lot recently, using images of characters of games which I'm currently playing :)
Quote from: Art Blade on July 24, 2011, 02:57:46 AM
Quote from: JRD on July 23, 2011, 05:17:37 PMTurned it into my new avatar :)
That's what I have been doing a lot recently, using images of characters of games which I'm currently playing :)
I noticed :-D
This one with Batman upside down with that eerie room for background looks quite, say, unique as an avatar... don't know if one can get what it is without looking at the normal sized original... I like it 8)
It's a bit like one of those optical illusions which can either look like two peoples' profiles facing each other, or a vase in the centre.
If I didn't know otherwise, I might have seen it as a view down a very steep-sided canyon at night with a bit of the Milky Way showing at the end - except the ears spoil the illusion a bit :-()
;D :-X
This game keeps geting better... upgrading skills makes Batman an even better fighting machine. I can get to special combos quite fast with two upgrades of that kind, which makes my hand to hand combat a portrait of violence >:D ... I can use two batarangs at once, hang upside down for silent knock outs, have a grappling hook that can be used for both combat and mobility, extra enforced protection in my batsuit... :-X :-X :-X
Cool, sounds like quite an addictive game :-X Glad you're enjoying it mate :)
Quote from: JRD on July 24, 2011, 05:11:45 PM
...extra enforced protection in my batsuit... :-X :-X :-X
No... I better leave that line alone... >:D
^+-+
It is indeed quite addictive. Once I got the hang of this fighting technique, which is far from hammering the LMB like I used to do in the beginning, this game got really interesting. Never knew I would like a combat-based game so much. The silent parts are like hitman bloodmoney. The heavy combat should be like street fighter or something, a game I didn't play since the early nineties. It's diverse, well thought out, balanced and the graphics and humor are brilliant.
Yesterday I finally managed to get the max 3 bats for the 3rd combat challenge. It took me 2 days to get that far. Man how I hate these guys with knifes and stunbattons. When you reach round 4, there are 2 of both of them. One of them is Zasz himself. When he starts cutting, you'd better be gone.
After that I tried a quick exercize at the 4th challenge, the first challenge where you have to take out a Titan Henchman. This is a giant overmuscled type, made stronger (and off course dumber) by the Yoker's Titan-poison. It was quite easy with the experience I built up trying to fight my way through the 3rd challenge. The Titan will help you add great points to your combo-multiplyer when you go sit on his back when he's down. Really funny to see him crawl through the rest of the henchmen when trying to free himself out of your grab ;)
The rest of the combat challenges are the same as the first 4, only here are more enemies and they have the possibility of grabbing guns out of wallcabinets. That makes it more complicated, but gives you also a great opportunity to build up huge points, since there's more of them to hit >:D
After completing all the challenges I will take a shot at the hard playthrough. I'm expecting a lot of pleasure with the learnt techniques ^-^
Quote from: fragger on July 24, 2011, 05:31:24 PM
Cool, sounds like quite an addictive game :-X Glad you're enjoying it mate :)
Quote from: JRD on July 24, 2011, 05:11:45 PM
...extra enforced protection in my batsuit... :-X :-X :-X
No... I better leave that line alone... >:D
...
reinforced... ::) :-[ :-D :-X
I finally beat the Shock and Awe Extreme challenge. That might be the hardest challenge of all. They biggest problem is not the quantity of henchmen, the amount of points to get, or the knife-guys and stunbattons. The nastiest of all is the timelimit. In the last round you have only like 60 seconds to take out all the henchmen. And yes, they do have knifes and stunbattons. I managed to get the required amount of points to beat the challenge and had not too many difficulties with the weaponed guys, but it's so damn hard to take out 10 or more henchmen in the available time. I failed numerous times because of the timelimit, which will make the floor electrified so that's a quick end to the battle.
In this last try I was only focused on terminating all these fools as quick as possible. Hit, hit, execute, hit, hit, execute etc. etc.
Now let's try the last of all: The one with the titan henchman. I wonder how would that be in the extreme edition >:D
That`s great Binnatics... :-X
I`m envious of you... I can finish the fight challenges I unlocked so far (two or three only) but never with good scores :-(
I am constantly missing a hit so my combos goes down... either that or I`m doing fine and get hit by trying to finish a fallen henchman off while there`s another one about to get me :D
Anyway... I`m at that part where you chase Harley Quinn to an area where the floor gets electrified and you have to fight wave after wave of henchmen while moving from one deck to another in order to avoid electrocution... not sure how far I`am from the ending... the stats page says 25% but it also accounts for challenge maps and extra content I guess
I think you're pretty far in the story. After taking down Harley (locking her up that is) you will try to do bussiness with the plants girl. From that moment everything goes fast.
I had the same problem, and still have, with the challenges. I keep missing a counter so they hit me and I lose my multiplyer. Frustrating. but if you do it many times you'll get a hang of it. You'll also learn how to take them down in order to get great comboscores. I allways try to finish the first round in the same way. Hit, hit, counter, jump over to evade, another hit and you can start with the takedowns and throws. That's 5 different moves allready. Then, with a quick batclaw, capestun and batarang I get the remaining guys on the floor. When they're down I do the ground takedowns. They produce massive scores, since every ground takedown counts for 100 x multiplyer. That can be easily 2000 each, if you have a multiplyer of 20 or so. Plus that's all 9 moves in one flow (if I'm lucky and won't miss a counter) and give 5000 xp bonus after the round.
I learnt to use evade more then countering. It's usefull since you can jump out of confusing and crowded situations and you can go on hitting some lonely henchmen to the side. Then jump back in with a killing takedown >:(
The place with the electrifying floor is where the Shock and Awe challenge takes place. You'll only be in the middle part, but there's a counter. When it stops the floor gets electrified and you'll be dead instantly. I think it's the hardest challenge map. Glad I finally made it through ^-^
I finally made my way through the last challenge as well. Nice one, with these big titan henchmen. You have to fight 3 in total. It's really cool to climb on their backs and have them berserk the whole group of his fellow henchmen.
Now all there's left is the hard playthrough. Cool to focus on the story again. This game has a good replay value :-X
Cool I'm fighting the two titan henchmen myself, the ones you meet before getting to Poison Ivy at the botanical gardens.
The challenges I've done helped me dealing with crowds of henchmen with knives and stun battons so I have a smile on my face when I see a bunch of them in detective mode >:D
Also dealing with armed thugs is very cool with the upgrades I have.
Indeed I'm in for another playthrough just to do it better this time. :-X
I get what you mean JRD. This time I focus more on getting high scores when being confronted with a group of henchmen. That'll help getting the upgrades quicker, what is kind of necessary now! I remember with my first playthrough, just hammering my way through the groups Now it's time for tactics ;)
I'm in the mansion again. About to see the sracecrow for the second time. MAn these henchmen spot anything now. Gotta be EXTRA careful....
Quote from: Binnatics on July 26, 2011, 04:41:35 PM
I allways try to finish the first round in the same way. Hit, hit, counter, jump over to evade, another hit and you can start with the takedowns and throws. That's 5 different moves allready. Then, with a quick batclaw, capestun and batarang I get the remaining guys on the floor. When they're down I do the ground takedowns. They produce massive scores, since every ground takedown counts for 100 x multiplyer. That can be easily 2000 each, if you have a multiplyer of 20 or so. Plus that's all 9 moves in one flow (if I'm lucky and won't miss a counter) and give 5000 xp bonus after the round.
I learnt to use evade more then countering. It's usefull since you can jump out of confusing and crowded situations and you can go on hitting some lonely henchmen to the side. Then jump back in with a killing takedown >:(
I got my first bat at the first challenge last night :-[ ::) ... I`m not playing hours in a row, just one hour maybe two at night, so I`m not really putting the necessary effort in order to improve my skills in the fighting challenges.
I managed to finish the first round without being hit, which gave me a bonus points 8) but every time I reach the combo I somehow miss a hit... I guess I see the icon with RMB on the screen to do a takedown but end up missing it :D
RMB is a counter but only if there is someone about to hit you, shift+RMB is a takedown but only if you reach a combo and there`s a henchman down, ctrl+RMB is a normal takedown which I try not to use at challenges... what happens a lot is I`m trying to chain punches and kicks and suddenly I pick up a batarang, which means I used RMB at the wrong time and screw up my hit count :D
Well... need yet more practice... but the fun part is that when you come back to the game after a few successful rounds at challenges, it seems so much easier ;D
I got the same problems with the challenges. I got better at it after a few nights training, and I don't play more then 2 hours either. I read somewhere that it's good to leave the game for a while and do something else when you get stuck in these challenges, and that seems to be true.
The problem with missing a combo by pressing the counter at the wrong time is what still keeps happening to me. I do better now, but it's still hard. I found out though, that when you perform a normal takedown or a critical strike, anyway when you're in an animation of an attack, you can see that someone is preparing an attack at you. As soon as the animation ends, you should counter then. Or, and that's more easy and won't break your combo, quick evade the attack which will allways w@&k or do a takedown if you not just have performed one.
Usually I try to evade the upcoming attack, making sure to jump in the right direction. So I'll find myself in a better position and I can keep punching the henchmen that are not in the centre of the fight. They won't know to react quick enough so no need for countering.
After 2 or 3 normal punches you can do another takedown or throw.
I wait with the more complicated variations until there's only 3 or 4 henchmen left. Usually I first use the batclaw, which is upgraded so you can pull 3 at once, then I capestun them. I keep looking around and if there are still some guys trying to attack me I use the quick batarang. Then, when everybody is stunned or down, I use the ground takedown. You're still vulnerable when performing one, so make sure nobody will attack you right away. Plus using it after a great combo score will give you massive points. Usually I end up at combo X14 at the end of round 1, so when I finish someone with the ground takedown that will give you 15 or 16 X 100. :-D
In my config the ground takedown is ctrl+RMB by the way, and the shift+RMB is the normal takedown. The normal takedown can be performed without being hit; you be invincible for as long as the animation takes. It will give you a short brake to look around. Good luck on these challenges. Once you get a little better at it they are great fun!
JRD, in case you haven't noticed: Binnatics is fond of completing all achievements and to get there he is willing to go through a lot of analysis and practice. In other words, he tries to find the best way possible to get it over with and never gives up until he managed to get them all. :-()
Art is right, it's a weird illness I have developed playing these achievement-games. But in most games it's fun!
Probably I'm a controlfreak :-D
:-()
I see... not being able to move much won't help you avoiding your completionism either I suppose! ;D
I like to take the most of the games I'm playing - the ones I like I mean - but sometimes getting all achievements becomes quite painful so I move to the next game or just start another playthrough! ;)
The problem with some of these bossbattles is that they take away your 3rd person view. It's really hard operating batman when standing on the sideline. They should have found a solution for that imo.
Dealing with Joker now, on the rooftop. He's damn hard to get. You only have seconds to tear him down and punch him, and there are allways henchmen willing to break your back :/
Anyway, that's it for tonight. More fun tomorrow ;)
The Scarecrow levels are a bit silly... it's a plattform level but quite dumb as it breaks the dark mood present in the game. They could've done something better with this character. :-(
Anyway, it's not hard either. I managed to go through those levels without being spotted by the Scarecrow once ^-^
I had more difficulties with them. Allways once or twice he found me and killed me. I agree it's silly. That's what I mean with bossfights in the same way. Suddenly you loose your 3rd person view, and you're about to make all these difficult fighting combo's with a platform kind of setting. Maybe because you have to keep an eye on the boss himself, but hey, why shouldn't they have told me so? I would have whirled my head if necessary, but not this..
Doing Joker on the rooftop now. Quite an uncompletable task in hard. Hope I'll finish him off soon :)
Wipe the smile off his face, Binn >:D
Just did. Got the game 100% completed now. But whiping the smile off his face seems impossible: The guy even smiles when he's stunned, down, in terrible pain and in life danger. Funny how he commented at the bare end of the game, that he had set it all up just to make Batman see through the eyes of a madman once, so he'd 'understand'.
After game thoughts remind me of what I first thought of the game: Why the H*** do I have to be that good GOOD good guy? I want to be the Joker!!! He seems to have so much more fun in all that he's doing >:D
Wicked. :-()
It's like that with heroes... the villains are always so much interesting! :-\\
Batman is a character with a deep background but still he's a good boyscout. If you read the comics, particularly Batman comics, you'll see that he's a disturbed character. In a way, he belongs within Arkham. It's just plain luck that a guy with his resources decided to be on the good side of the law and not the other way around.
In the great The Killing Joke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_The_Killing_Joke) by Alan Moore, the Joker locks commisioner Gordon in an amusement park and submits him to a night of mind torture just to prove that any man, if under pressure, can snap and go crazy and that Batman is just as mad as the Joker, so if both the Joker and Batman got nuts, why should one be locked in while the other is free? ;)
The other graphic novel on which the game is based on is Batman: Arkham Asylum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkham_Asylum:_A_Serious_House_on_Serious_Earth) is pretty much the same as the game: there's a riot in Arkham and they call B-man to sort things out. The novel is much, much darker than the game, Batman is facing his own fears then, this is when he realizes he actually belongs to Arkham and questions all his past.
On both graphic novels the Joker plays a much more interesting role that the hero. His motivation and background are way more solid than what turned Bruce Wayne into Batman. It is much more likely for any man to go crazy, seek revenge and loose ground, turning into a menace, than to decide to put on a bat suit and fiight crime.
The very existence of ther Joker is due to the existence of the Batman and deep down inside, what the Joker wants is to prove that they are the same, so their fate should also be the same! 8)
Quote from: JRD on July 31, 2011, 05:10:07 PMif both the Joker and Batman got nuts
I'm quite positive that they have. Maybe not the size they wish they were, but still. :-D
^+-+
I'm not a huge fan of the Batman movies, but I did enjoy Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in the last one. The character was highly intelligent and wasn't really so much insane as he was purely the ultimate sociopath. I remember a line in the film but I can't remember which character delivered it, in response to Batman's confusion as to what made the Joker tick: "Some people just like to see the world burn".
I've never read any of the original Batman comics or any of the graphic books, but I've gathered from friends who have that Batman was portrayed just the way JRD described - a dark and brooding sort of character with a troubled past, with somewhat more depth than your average superhero.
Thanx for that explanation JRD! I never invested in getting to know the real story about Batman. I remember having seen the movie where Jack Nickolson plays the joker. Brilliant character. My judging about the Joker being so much cooler than the B-man, is purely based on this game.
I should read some comic books once, since I like comics really much. Never been into Marvell comics, though, and I guess you could catagorize Batman to that genre.
I'm definitely looking forward to Arkham City, since it will be a brilliant game with new fancy gadgets and even Bane fighting besides Batman this time, I read somewhere.
It's bigger, and according to the earlier posted previews it's stunning ^-^
Quote from: Binnatics on August 01, 2011, 08:41:03 AM
It's bigger, and according to the earlier posted previews it's stunning ^-^
Its open world and, hopefully, sand box style... I hope they manage to avoid doing an open world with a linear story though, it could ruin a potentially great game
I guess that this time they made a game that pleased comic books fans as it is deeply based on two great graphic novels. Both of them are still on print even today so if you`d like to read it I believe it won`t be hard to purchase the books... the Killing Joke is very small, you can read it in one hour or less and the drawings are pretty much what you see in the game. Arkham Asylum has a very sophisticated art. It was drawn by Dave McKean and it`s just beautiful to look at... a piece to have! :-X
I used to collect comic books but the commercial nature of the titles and issues made me buy just some special editions like those two. These are stand alone stories so you are not pushed to buy the next issue to see what happens next ;)
Some trivia: In
The Killing Joke when the Joker gets to Gordon`s house to kidnap him he just walks in the front door and rings the door bell. Barbara Gordon (the commissioner`s daughter a.k.a. Batgirl) answers the door and the Joker shoots her in the stomach. The bullet trespasses her and smash her spine, leaving her paraplegic. Being the former Batgirl she decides to keep fighting crime but remotely and assumes the identity of Oracle, the one you see at the game helping B-man.
After a couple weeks without playing I finally got to the rooftops - final battle with Joker.
I must say the end is getting on my nerves. First was Poison Ivy, then the two titan henchmen plus wave after wave of regular henchmen and now titan Joker plus wave after wave of henchmen, knife guy, stun batton chap plus exploding Joker's dentures....
It's an old formula used so many times in so many games: Bosses get bigger and bigger, harder and harder and the bigger and harder they get, the more small annoying stuff to distract you and steal precious energy points you have to deal with.
With Poison Ivy was those guards plus the plants coming out of the floor plus the big plant spitting stuff. Then the two titan henchmen with all those other henchmen to take care of who makes you lose sight of the big fellas, now there's a lot of stuff together at the same time and at once to deal with :D
So in the end it takes a lot of dodging and picking guys one by one until you can take one powerful hit on the boss, rinse and repeat three or four times. Obviously they hit you much more than you can hit them and the level of frustration increases as you die and die and die doing the same stuff, sometimes just when you are soooooo close to make it >:((
I can tell it was a relief to get rid of Poison Ivy, then the titans and now all I have to do is get rid of Joker but aaarrrgghhhhh :D
I'll finish it tonight and then stick to the challenges. I even started a new playthrough but I'm pretty sure I won't do it all over again, especially in the harder level. Replay value is at challenges to me!
Agreed on the frustration level for the boss-fights. Especially because you'll loose your 3rd person view there. That makes it a whole other thing to handle, which can be pretty frustrating.
I've done these fights on hard as well, but somehow they weren't much harder. The rest of the battles were all harder, but at boss-fights you only gotta watch for, indeed, the precious life. Damn henchmen ;)
Chasing all Riddler puzzles around the island. Nice way to open up new challenges :-X
I'm also working my way through challenge maps... looking forward to play as Joker! :-X
I haven't been able to play as Joker so far. I was also looking forward to that, but the only moment I could play as joker was during one of the fearsome scenes with scarecrow. It was the one in intensive treatment if I'm correct. Was a disappointment to be honest... I saw some scenes in the net, challenge-looking, where you could play the Joker. Wasn't that one of the gamevids Spaceboy dropped here? Must have been demo-only then, or I've missed something somewhere :-D
Hmmmm... now you got me worried :-\\
I am three riddles short to get 100% and one challenge yet to be unlocked... I was counting that this one would be the one you get to play as Joker... maybe it`s a PS3 exclusive map? ????
You are right about the videos, those are the ones spaceboy posted in his site... think I`ll drop him a line or two to see whether the Joker challenge is available only for PS3ers or if we can play it too somehow.
=================================EDIT=================================
Well, a quick search just drowned my enthusiasm in playing as Mr. J :'(
http://www.shacknews.com/article/58311/batman-arkham-asylum-gets-playable (http://www.shacknews.com/article/58311/batman-arkham-asylum-gets-playable)
Auch, that's a pity. You were giving me hope, thought I might have missed something :'(
Too bad. I hope it will be different in B:AC.