Batman : Arkham Asylum

[Art Blade]

if 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

[fragger]

 ^+-+

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.

[Binnatics]

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  ^-^

[JRD]

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.

[JRD]

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!

[Binnatics]

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 ;)

[JRD]

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

[Binnatics]

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

[JRD]

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

[Binnatics]

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.