Posts by Jon:
SideQuesting’s Best of 2011 #7: Batman: Arkham City
January 10th, 2012
“I’m Batman” – Me, October 2011
From its lowliest gutter to its highest rooftop, Batman: Arkham City is the next evolutionary step to make you truly feel like the Dark Knight. The more claustrophobic feel of Arkham Asylum is traded for an open experience, bringing Batman back to the streets and into the sky. There is nowhere Batman cannot go, nowhere for a criminal to hide, even inside their own prison. You see, a large section of Gotham has been evacuated and walled off to create Arkham City, an enormous open-air prison for the combined populations of the former Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison. Run by the villainous psychiatrist Hugo Strange, the inmates have free reign within the walls. Bruce Wayne/Batman believes this powder keg is about to explode and endeavors to shut it down from the inside.
Rocksteady Studios again proves its expertise in distilling the key essence of Batman into a tangible gaming experience. The gameplay elements brought to the table in Arkham Asylum were by no means broken so the name of the game here is refinement and expansion of what worked so well before. The free flow combat, stealth and gadgets – in particular the grapnel gun and gliding ability expanded to maximize Batman’s ability to move quickly around the gorgeous and incredibly detailed city. Little additions like smoke pellets and being able to call swarms of bats to your aid just add to the Batman authenticity. It all functions to make you feel like a one man wrecking crew, the way Batman should feel.
Aside from the main storyline, there is an amazing amount of extra content in Arkham City that keeps you very much occupied as you zip around, almost to the point of distraction. Interesting sidequests that breathe further life into the Batman mythos are everywhere and those Riddler trophies are almost impossible to ignore. Arkham City embraces DLC much more than Asylum, including a Catwoman side story seamlessly integrated into the main plot of the game as well as a plethora of character skins for post-game and challenge rooms, serving to enrich the universe created here by Rocksteady.
Batman: Arkham City has everything a sequel should be – bigger environments, broader scope, a fresh yet familiar experience while fleshing out a grander overall story. When you’re grappling from rooftop to rooftop, change directions mid-glide in order to swoop down toward a thug and kick him square right in the freaking face, yeah you better believe you’ll actually feel like THE GODDAMN BATMAN.
Review: X-Men: First Class (Blu Ray Disc)
October 16th, 2011
The summer blockbuster season of 2011 saw a flurry of high quality comic book and superhero movies released, particularly those based on Marvel Comics characters. While Thor and Captain America served to set up next year’s Avengers mega-blockbuster, another Marvel property returned hoping to reinvigorate its fizzling franchise. X-Men: First Class takes us to the past to experience the origin story of the very first X-Men team. More importantly, it is the story of how Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr (Professor X and Magneto, respectively) became friends and the events that drove them apart.
So does the film fly high like the Blackbird, or does the Blu Ray remain in coach?
LTTP Review: Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light (XBox LIVE, PSN, PC, iOS)
September 14th, 2011
The Tomb Raider franchise is one of many inspired and borrowed ideas. Its combination of 3D platforming, combat and exploration were groundbreaking in its early years and created a worldwide phenomenon. In more recent times, the Tomb Raider games have been playing catch up to the very games it has inspired, such as Uncharted and Prince of Persia. With 2010’s Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, a downloadable title with a subtle name change, this new take on Tomb Raider game aimed to differentiate itself from not only its contemporaries but its very own conventions. The result was a game that felt fresh yet familiar and was one of the best games of the year.
Review: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PS3, Xbox 360)
March 22nd, 2011
I picked up Ninja Theory’s latest effort, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West , once I stopped pining for the Heavenly Sword sequel that will likely never come. I settled in for what was a familiar, yet revitalized experience. Enslaved is another character-driven, large scale action-adventure game that slows things down to a more deliberate and accessible level. Let’s see if the differences give the game the freedom to reach a wider audience.
SideQuesting’s Best of 2010 #2: Alan Wake
January 21st, 2011
A labour of love by developer Remedy for well over half a decade, Alan Wake could most simply be described as an incredibly solid 3rd person survival horror game. However what separates Alan Wake from its survival horror contemporaries and in fact most of the games from this year are its storytelling and presentation. The story of Alan Wake revolves around the vacationing horror fiction writer Alan Wake who must face a world of his own creation, as the terrifying events happening in Bright Falls are from a book he hasn’t even written yet.
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Review (Xbox 360/PS3)
November 14th, 2010
It’s strange that I would come by a game like Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions with a fresh perspective. It combines two of my favorite hobbies – videogames and comic books. In fact, Spider-Man is my all-time favorite comic book character, so I really was interested to see what Activision and Beenox could do with the wallcrawler in his various incarnations. Did the game meet my expectations, or were they, in fact, shattered.
Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo Wii)
July 19th, 2010
What wasn’t so old is new again as Super Mario Galaxy 2 sets out to expand on what we saw in the original Galaxy game. New levels, new power ups, 242 more stars to collect and the return of Yoshi are all here to achieve that expanded gameplay experience. But is that what Super Mario Galaxy 2 simply amounts to – an expansion pack? Or is Super Mario Galaxy 2 a step towards 3D platforming game perfection? Pick up your Fire Flower and let’s burn through this to find out.
LTTP Review: Prince of Persia (Xbox 360, PS3)
June 3rd, 2010
More and more, the influence of the casual gaming market is being felt in traditional or hardcore games such as RPGs and adventure games. Simplified interfaces and gameplay are becoming more common – complicated multi-button attack combos are being replaced by single button attacks, huge inventory lists are narrowed down to short categories and icons, and more obvious visual cues pointing where to go. Even the concept of seeing a GAME OVER screen is being challenged.
Examples are everywhere: the DS iterations of The Legend of Zelda, Fable 2, and in the subject of this review, the subtitle-less Prince of Persia. This game was 2008′s entry into Ubisoft’s popular franchise – a departure from The Sands of Time trilogy in visual style, story and in particular, the gameplay. However, one has to ask whether these are welcome changes. Are games becoming more balanced or are the simplifications making hardcore games too easy? Let’s see how Prince of Persia fares, shall we? Read the rest of this entry “
