So let's talk about video games.
I was not a big batman fan. Didn't see any of the movies, didn't see the tv shows, and I didn't see the big deal about The Dark Knight. (I saw it once and was quite 'meh' about it.)
I bought these games because, together, they were 8 bucks, and I could throw away that money on something I might like.
And I LOVED it.
Let's start with Asylum:
I knew something was up from the beginning, even though I had seen no trailers for the game. (Did you know games have trailers? I find that odd.) So I was fairly unsurprised when The Joker pulled his trick. Wouldn't have a game if he didn't get away, right?
I quickly discovered how much I enjoyed the combat. Sure, I could button-mash if I wanted. or I could be AWESOME.The combat was very intuitive, and you would usually flow from enemy to enemy without much trouble. (Once in a while the game slipped up, but I forgive it.)
Then I was introduced to stealth mode. The idea of slipping around unseen really gets me, and this game, unlike Skyrim, had very reactive NPCs to your behavior, especially during stealth. You pick the enemies one by one, silently, then watch the others go mad. Feel free to take your time, and watch them slowly lose it. (In one room, a boiler goes off in regular intervals, and if you get them worked up enough, they will begin shooting at it.)
In later rooms, where the Joker is alerted each time a henchman goes down, the Joker taunts his own lackeys with your skill. In fact, let's take a minute to talk about The Joker in Arkham Asylum.
He's hilarious. I know the dialogue can be a bit corny, but you hear him pretty much everywhere. His lines have enough variety you won't go nuts from repeats, and nearly every 'announcement' of his is damn funny.
The other villain you spend the game with is much more frustrating... and satisfying to take down. The Riddler has left easter eggs all around the place, and after finding 100% of them, you get to hear him get arrested. The best part of it is the bravado at first slowly giving way to desperation and breaking-the-forth-wall complaints. (He accuses you of cheating, looking up the locations of the eggs on the internet.)
The best easter eggs, by far, are the patient interviews. You get to see, well, hear, Harleen Quinzel turn into Harley Quinn as The Joker puts her under her spell. You get to see Zsasz break his psychiatrist down. You hear Crock remove the guard's hand, and Ivy put her psychiatrist under her spell.
This game must be a veritable treasure trove for long Batman fans, as most characters that aren't part of the plot are represented with The Riddler's riddles.
There are a few segments of the game I should also talk about:
Ivy's boss battle: God did I hate this battle. It's the only time in the game where I had no idea what to do. I eventually figured it out, but I did have some frustrating deaths at first.
Crock's Lair: The first time I played it, I was less than amused. The second time? I was terrified. Every step you made was magnified, and you were aware every step you made was one step closer to getting eaten. I was hoping it would end not due to boredom, but due to adrenaline.
Scarecrow's Scenes: It's not a controversial opinion to say these were awesome, and the third one was the best. I won't spoil anything, so that's all I'll say.
Now, Arkham City:
Arkham Asylum is moved to a walled-off section of the city, and Bruce Wayne gets put there. I'm going to discuss changes from Asylum to City, and give a positive, eeh, or negative.
Positive: The environment is multiplied. It's huge! You get to climb buildings, which is my favorite thing in games for some reason.
Meh: Playing Catwoman. I neither hated it, nor liked it. I mean, I appreciated the boobage, but I couldn't help wondering how the hell that stayed on. I did feel like it often ruined the pacing to keep jumping between the two view points.
Negative: Riddler's riddles got harder. I know that's an odd thing to complain about, but I felt like Riddler's riddles being something to encourage you to explore the environment was great. You got to see everything the GameDevs had to offer. But adding button challenges, and timed challenges ruined it for me. I prefer puzzles, not timed challenges. Timed challenges feel like a cheap difficulty upgrade. I did appreciate that the riddles being solved meant something now, but I was never going to attempt to finish that quest.
Side missions:
Zsasz: This one was randomly frustrating, but never in a way I got angry with it. I'd often just end up at a villain's lair, and the phone would ring. I was aware I could technically ignore it, but I wouldn't, and next thing I know, I'm trekking back to get where I was before the phone rang. The Riddler being behind this was pretty awesome, in my opinion, and the end was great.
The masked man: I wish it had led somewhere. I guess this was supposed to be lead-up, but I didn't really want to wait another game to find out what the fuck was going on.
Rescue the political prisoners: This made me feel more like batman than usual. Hear trouble, swoop in, save the day, then disappear.
I wish there had been Scarecrow-style mindfuckery in this game, but the Mad Hatter bit, and Ra's al Ghul did make up for it enough that I didn't throw any complaints.
The fact is, Batman hasn't let me down before. Even if people say Origins sucks, I'm going to buy it. I want them to keep making these games, even if, as it is joked by one of the mooks: "Arkham Asylum, now Arkham City, what's next? Arkham Universe?"
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