Saturday, September 26, 2009

Arkham Asylum PC Review

Can't Believe its over. It all started with a magazine cover and we believed it was based on the graphic novel
Batman games on PC are very rare (and not so long ago the software was really poor)

Batman Vengeance
Batman Lego
And now this one that became the defacto standard to measure comic-game adaptations, as always the story is important, Paul Dini penned a great and compelling plot for this game.
I'm a Batman fanboy, yes, but the game is really good it runs on the third iteration of the unreal Engine (with many similarities to the one used for Bioshock) and if your computer is up to the task it will use nvidia gpus (no love for AMD) to implement some effects accelerating Physx by hardware.

Even if you don't have such a powerful PC the game is pretty easy on the eyes, the game designers tried to make you feel like "The Batman" and you are the world's greatest detective, this is the first time I see 8 years old Bruce Wayne roaming through the alley where it all began.

If you have a dual analog stick on order to play, that will be the best option, it supports the Xbox-360 pad and has the same layout of the console version, so you can star playing whitout worrying about setup.

You won't be fighting lots of villains, mainly you'll have a chance to settle the score with Bane, Harley Queen, Poison Ivy, Croc, the Scarecrow will nag you several times and a ridiculous version of Joker using Venom, And E. Nygma will be teasing you trough the game but you won't be seeing him, Clayface has a cameo appearance, there is a mention of Ra's al Ghul, you will hear about Harvey Dent, Scarface is in the game as well, and although this version of batman stands on it's own it has some roots on the comic universe, has no relation at all with 2008's blockbuster and the talent from the animated series like Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy are once again behind the microphone to voice old "Bats" and Joker, since Harley Queen is a Dini creation she had to be here.

Gameplay has few possibilities, the lion's share of the game you'll be roaming semi-freely trying to get a clue or to find someone that will help you advance in the game, but you can use the gadgets you will be gradually amassing to uncover secrets and trophies that will unlock some not vital content like trophies (The 3D model) of the game's characters and info about them, you can glide since the first moment, you will also spend a long time fighting henchmen that can only cause trouble when they attack you in large groups, you will be crawling trough ventilation ducts with the help of Oracle, and you will have some "Boss fights that are the game's weakest link but the best gameplay experience comes when you become a silent predator and proceed to hunt every henchmen from the shadows, something that increases their tension levels as seen in the movies and comics.

When you are fighting using the Freeflow system Batman is like a juggernaut that is able to deal with large groups using a three button combat system as some of the gadgets he's gained over the course ot this long night trapped in the facility, the grapple and the batarang are the ones used more frequently.

The lamest part of gameplay happens when facing the scarecrow, too much of an arcade, but a fun title aimed towards adults.

The PC version uses Games for Windows Live to earn achievements and compete indirectly for a rank in a world rank of palyers, a lame idea poorly implemented, annoying customers to be forced to stay online in order to play.
On launch day the Steam version had tons of problems, solved by a simple windows re-start.
This game is the best adaptation of a comic book character to appear on PC of all times.
The replay value is low, but it will go beyond the 10-20 hours needed to finish the main quest if you want to collect all of the Riddler's trophies


Batman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham Asylumjoker - Share on Ovi

Great story, great graphics, exotic technologies involved, based on comics, runs great @1080p in hardware from 2006-2007.
It is a great game, but wait for the offer or discount before buying it, and do buy it, it is a great piece of software

No comments:

Post a Comment

Cuando esto es una conversación, todos ganamos