Erkki

So.. Batman: Arkham Asylum

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Sweet merciful lord Batman is absolutely BALLIN'

Just booted up the game for the first time last night (had to tear myself away from Trials and Shadow Complex) and had a damn good time with it. In particular the combat so far, I love not having [alternate mashing X & Y to win] controls, I felt wicked badass just slowly walking up to dudes and constantly laying weighty, impactful beatdowns left right and centre. It really helps emulate the precise, calculated attacks that he pulls off in the fiction.

I've only played for half an hour or so, we'll see where it goes from here. I'm sure I'm not bringing anything new to the table but I just had to throw my two cents in for this game. I've done my best to avoid any Arkham Asylum coverage/media up to this point and it seems to have paid off, I wasn't expecting anything nearly this polished and well executed.

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If Batman: Arkham Asylum was a shoe, it'd be made entirely out of shoe polish.

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Argh, detective vision you bitch! I want to be immersed in my surroundings and enjoy the gorgeous visuals in this game but at the same time I hate missing optional stuff and the things that you allow me to detect ahead of time.

What percentage of the game would you guys say you spent with the vision mode on?

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What percentage of the game would you guys say you spent with the vision mode on?

More than 50%. All the trail following for a start, and when armed bad guys are around it's just too practical to switch off. By the time it's safe to, I've generally forgotten it's on at all.

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Yeah, my brother got a 360 and I was really surprised by how horrifyingly expensive games are. No wonder the used games market is so huge.

*buys game for $5 less than retail*

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Yeah, my biggest gripe with this game is that it gently makes you run around with the mode on, because otherwise you'll miss a bunch of hidden nooks, so you get used to the inferior visuals it gives. I often force myself to not use the mode all the time, which lets me enjoy the awesome graphics more, but then I have to stop and scan around me for breakable walls every ten units of length.

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I switched it off in fights, as it was easier to parry with it off. Useful beforehand, obviously to count enemies and find out where they are.

You don't need to worry about missing bits though, as once you've finished the main game, riddler maps appear with rough guides as to where things are. The game was good enough for me to enjoy going round and getting them all, unusual in a game of this type I find.

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I switched it off in fights, as it was easier to parry with it off. Useful beforehand, obviously to count enemies and find out where they are.

You don't need to worry about missing bits though, as once you've finished the main game, riddler maps appear with rough guides as to where things are. The game was good enough for me to enjoy going round and getting them all, unusual in a game of this type I find.

Oh neat, that's good to know, thanks.

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I switched it off in fights, as it was easier to parry with it off. Useful beforehand, obviously to count enemies and find out where they are.

yep, I do the same thing

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The Riddler maps don't just appear, you need to find them. Still, once you have them, they're incredibly useful and you can safely play the game without Detective Vision. I got almost every map on my first run through a given area, so subsequent runs were done in normal mode.

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The Riddler maps don't just appear, you need to find them. Still, once you have them, they're incredibly useful and you can safely play the game without Detective Vision. I got almost every map on my first run through a given area, so subsequent runs were done in normal mode.

Yeah, just to clarify, the maps are there even if you haven't finished the game. They're usually moderately hidden, though.

Similarly to Nachimir, I spent about half the game with detective mode (such a preposterous name, really). I did often tell myself to turn it off, but it quickly became a habit. I find it's much like Oblivion's fast travel.

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Sweet merciful lord Batman is absolutely BALLIN'

That is probably the best thing ever said about Batman, ever.

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I spent about half the game with detective mode (such a preposterous name, really).

You play as a man dressed as a bat :deranged::grin: (It's funny how "detective mode" sticks out as preposterous, but I know what you mean! I think it's more of a nod to Batman's status as "world's great detective")

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Actually, having X-ray vision makes you the world's greatest detective*.

Anyway, just played the demo. Somewhat enjoyed it. Wouldn't buy it. Not my cup of game.

Edited by Nappi

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You play as a man dressed as a bat :deranged::grin: (It's funny how "detective mode" sticks out as preposterous, but I know what you mean! I think it's more of a nod to Batman's status as "world's great detective")

And that his original comic line was "Detective Comics"

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And that his original comic line was "Detective Comics"

It's odd really, because I don't really ever think of Batman as being a detective first and foremost... In fact, you'd almost think that dressing as a bat would be a hindrance to the detecting process :)

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Anyway, just played the demo. Somewhat enjoyed it. Wouldn't buy it. Not my cup of game.

I appreciate the witty remark, but am confused by your sentiment. Overall, Batman is a remarkably well crafted Video game that should be experienced by anyone who enjoys such things.

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I appreciate the witty remark, but am confused by your sentiment. Overall, Batman is a remarkably well crafted Video game that should be experienced by anyone who enjoys such things.

I can see that Arkham Asylum is a quality video game. I still quite simply am not that interested in playing the full game, be it the dark insane asylum theme, batman himself or whatever. I'm not quite sure. Same goes for Bioshock, for instance.

Of course, I still managed to enjoy the demo for its quality.

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I'm not quite sure. Same goes for Bioshock, for instance.

I was actually going to ask if you liked Bioshock because of the comparisons a lot of people are drawing between the two until I remembered I hate that comparison because its DUMB. Do gamers only have a collective memory of a year and a half? It seems as if everything was inspired by either Bioshock or Crackdown and no other analogs for reference exist in our nomenclature anymore.

Anyway, it shouldn't be hard for me to comprehend you haven't played those, there are actually alot of popular games I have an aversion to myself, such as anything under the RTS umbrella. Sorry fellow Thumbs! :)

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It's odd really, because I don't really ever think of Batman as being a detective first and foremost...

It seems more and more the case nowadays that his detective work is when he just goes into the Batcave or Waynetech to sit in front of a huge bank of plasma TVs and do science.

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