"Hitchhikers may be escaping patients."
The Arkham Asylum demo arrived the 7th, and I played through it twice so far. The action starts off really quick as the Joker manages to escape the two guards, with a little help from Harley Quinn. Batman immediately pursues and the beatings begin. Hand-to-hand combat is a little slow, but it does let you enjoy the brutality that the dark knight dishes out. Tapping the Y button when prompted will counter an enemie's attack, which is satifying.
You may also learn the hard way that the direct approach is not the best choice when taking on armed opponents. You have two other options, you can sneak by them by crouching or jumping around on the gargoyles, or you can pick them off one by one and then escape to safey back to you perch on the gargoyles. This can be quite fun, you get to mess with your enemies' heads just the way Batman should.
Along the way you pick up different characters' bios, which adds for a brief but interesting read. It's nice to hear the voices for Batman and the Joker from the animated show from the early 90's as well. My only concern is that the hand-to-hand combat could get a little repetitive, but I guess we'll see how that plays out. As long as it's evenly paced with the other elements of the game, then there shouldn't be too much problem.
Batman:Arkham Asylum swings into action on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 August 25th, while the PC version arrives in mid-September.
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles:Turtles in Time Re-shelled
I just came accross this game in the new arrivals section on X-Box live. Now at first I was excited, and thought, could this be? One of my childhood favorite games has come to Xbox arcade. Well, sort of. I started it up and was disapointed to find that it's been modernized with 3D graphics and very unengaging music. Each of the turtles has stats:speed, range, defence, rush attack and special attack. Now it's been a long while since I played the original, but there's was just something about that good ol' 2D-ness that I miss. Also, the new music is weak, it's just not the same without the original sounds. So if you're not like me, and can get passed these issues you would probably enjoy the game as it looks like a litteral level for level copy. Sometimes though, you can't throw fancy 3D and HD and VD at something to make it better.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Dead Space
Story
You play as Isaac Clark, a poor slob who gets stuck on a derelict spacecraft, which is teaming with ravenous “necromorphs,” reanimated corpses made by some alien lifeform.
Gameplay
This is quite a creepy survival horror game. Now it usually takes a lot to scare me, but it does make me jump. The music really sets the stage with lots of tension and leaves you on edge, very threatening atmosphere. There’s just something about it that sends terror shooting through you at the beginning of the game when you’re being chased to the elevator by the aliens.
Dead Space is a third person over the shoulder shooter. It has an interesting mechanic where you tap the right thumbstick, which sends out a holographic line to your next objective. This really helps keep you on track. There’s also a holo map which is kind of annoying, but you get used to it. As you go through the game you want to keep an eye out for power nodes, which can be used to upgrade your weapons, suit and abilities. Isaac aquires a stasis module, that temporarily slows objects and enemies. There’s also a kinesis module which allows him to pick up things, like ammo. You can even pick up your enemies severed claws and hurl them at the necromorphs. When I really started to try that strategy I was playing on the highest difficulty, therefore it took a while to kill any enemies.
In this survival horror game there are some very unique weapons. Most of them are mining tools, which also work quite nicely for dismembering limbs. Now this is important since the necromorphs are very hard to kill, you literally need to tear them apart. Shooting off appendages does extra damage and slows your enemies down. I usually try to cut their legs off and then pick them apart as they crawl towards me.
The game has a very satisfying ending, and the last boss isn’t overwhelmingly hard. I actually managed to beat him on the highest difficulty without dying.
Replayability
Medium replayability, there’s no multiplayer in Dead Space. One nice thing about the game is that when you beat it you can play through it again with all your guns; as well as all your weapon, suit and module upgrades.
Overal Rating:9.2/10
One of the scariest games out there, if you like being creeped out, Dead Space is for you. Go ahead, play it at night with the lights out.
You play as Isaac Clark, a poor slob who gets stuck on a derelict spacecraft, which is teaming with ravenous “necromorphs,” reanimated corpses made by some alien lifeform.
Gameplay
This is quite a creepy survival horror game. Now it usually takes a lot to scare me, but it does make me jump. The music really sets the stage with lots of tension and leaves you on edge, very threatening atmosphere. There’s just something about it that sends terror shooting through you at the beginning of the game when you’re being chased to the elevator by the aliens.
Dead Space is a third person over the shoulder shooter. It has an interesting mechanic where you tap the right thumbstick, which sends out a holographic line to your next objective. This really helps keep you on track. There’s also a holo map which is kind of annoying, but you get used to it. As you go through the game you want to keep an eye out for power nodes, which can be used to upgrade your weapons, suit and abilities. Isaac aquires a stasis module, that temporarily slows objects and enemies. There’s also a kinesis module which allows him to pick up things, like ammo. You can even pick up your enemies severed claws and hurl them at the necromorphs. When I really started to try that strategy I was playing on the highest difficulty, therefore it took a while to kill any enemies.
In this survival horror game there are some very unique weapons. Most of them are mining tools, which also work quite nicely for dismembering limbs. Now this is important since the necromorphs are very hard to kill, you literally need to tear them apart. Shooting off appendages does extra damage and slows your enemies down. I usually try to cut their legs off and then pick them apart as they crawl towards me.
The game has a very satisfying ending, and the last boss isn’t overwhelmingly hard. I actually managed to beat him on the highest difficulty without dying.
Replayability
Medium replayability, there’s no multiplayer in Dead Space. One nice thing about the game is that when you beat it you can play through it again with all your guns; as well as all your weapon, suit and module upgrades.
Overal Rating:9.2/10
One of the scariest games out there, if you like being creeped out, Dead Space is for you. Go ahead, play it at night with the lights out.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Resident Evil 5 Review
Story
Resident Evil 5, Capcom’s newest editions to it's survival horror series arrived in March of 2009. The story revolve’s around Chris Redfield and his new partner Sheva Alomar; the events take place in Africa. It seems that there is a bio-hazard threat there, the Las Plagas parasite from the fourth game makes a return.
Gameplay
They tweaked the control set up, you can edit it to be like it was in Resident Evil 4, but now it’s taken on a more traditional shooter control scheme, like Dead Space. Ready your gun with the left trigger, aim with the right thumbstick and shoot with right. You’re still stationary when you’re aiming though. It was really nice to be able to assign items and weapons to the D-pad, it made things a lot more streamlined. However, if there were any other items in your inventory that you wanted to use, you had to hit the Y button to select and use everything not designated by your D-pad. And this time though it doesn’t pause the game, you can still be attacked and killed. It was a little aggravating and takes some getting used to, you need to be kinda quick about it in combat situations. Just be sure to know what is where.
Co-op play is a huge part of this game, as you will always be accompanied throughout the game by Sheva(once you beat the game you can choose either Chris or Sheva). Your accomplice can be controlled by the A.I., which can hold it’s own for the most part. Forget about play with the computer though on the hardest difficulty, professional. It’s definitely preferred that you have another person play through with you, either through split-screen or online.
The multiplayer aspects of Resident Evil 5 could have been implemented a little better, joining a game means waiting for the host to die or otherwise starting over from the last check point. So you sit there wondering if the other person is ignoring you, or is just doing really well.
The market and upgrading has lost it’s personality as there isn’t a merchant to come across like in RE 4. It is convenient though that every time you start up you can select and swap your equipment, buy items and upgrade your weapons. This way you can go into each chapter fresh and ready. You can also give ammo to your teammate, but not weapons, unfortunately(unless they're playing on your gamer profile).
Replayability
There’s plenty of reasons to keep playing after you beat the game: achievements, unlimited ammo for your guns, mini action figure collection, alternate custumes and different difficulties.
Overall rating:9/10
Very solid game, fun to play with other people. Some online multiplayer aspects are annoying, but other than that, a highly recommended game.
Resident Evil 5, Capcom’s newest editions to it's survival horror series arrived in March of 2009. The story revolve’s around Chris Redfield and his new partner Sheva Alomar; the events take place in Africa. It seems that there is a bio-hazard threat there, the Las Plagas parasite from the fourth game makes a return.
Gameplay
They tweaked the control set up, you can edit it to be like it was in Resident Evil 4, but now it’s taken on a more traditional shooter control scheme, like Dead Space. Ready your gun with the left trigger, aim with the right thumbstick and shoot with right. You’re still stationary when you’re aiming though. It was really nice to be able to assign items and weapons to the D-pad, it made things a lot more streamlined. However, if there were any other items in your inventory that you wanted to use, you had to hit the Y button to select and use everything not designated by your D-pad. And this time though it doesn’t pause the game, you can still be attacked and killed. It was a little aggravating and takes some getting used to, you need to be kinda quick about it in combat situations. Just be sure to know what is where.
Co-op play is a huge part of this game, as you will always be accompanied throughout the game by Sheva(once you beat the game you can choose either Chris or Sheva). Your accomplice can be controlled by the A.I., which can hold it’s own for the most part. Forget about play with the computer though on the hardest difficulty, professional. It’s definitely preferred that you have another person play through with you, either through split-screen or online.
The multiplayer aspects of Resident Evil 5 could have been implemented a little better, joining a game means waiting for the host to die or otherwise starting over from the last check point. So you sit there wondering if the other person is ignoring you, or is just doing really well.
The market and upgrading has lost it’s personality as there isn’t a merchant to come across like in RE 4. It is convenient though that every time you start up you can select and swap your equipment, buy items and upgrade your weapons. This way you can go into each chapter fresh and ready. You can also give ammo to your teammate, but not weapons, unfortunately(unless they're playing on your gamer profile).
Replayability
There’s plenty of reasons to keep playing after you beat the game: achievements, unlimited ammo for your guns, mini action figure collection, alternate custumes and different difficulties.
Overall rating:9/10
Very solid game, fun to play with other people. Some online multiplayer aspects are annoying, but other than that, a highly recommended game.
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