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Batman Arkham City |OT| Smashin' Faces, Glidin' Places
- Thread starter Vire
- Start date
Has any reviewer mentioned the distinct difference in game design between AA and AC? I feel that both games are quite different, as AA felt like a Metroidvania game, and AC felt like an open world game. I vastly prefer Metroidvania's, so I honestly can say that personally I don't feel that AC is as good a game as AA, even though it's still very good.
P.S. Please Konami, let IGA make me another game. Please. =(
P.S. Please Konami, let IGA make me another game. Please. =(
The Antitype
Banned
Dartastic said:
Not really. Reviewers were too busy splooging over the open-world and 'OMG you can GLIDE!!1!!' to think about how the new format actually affected pacing, the quality of the major storyline environments (much weaker than AA... save maybe the Museum and Strange's Tower), or anything of the sort.
I really enjoyed this game and am slowly working my way toward 100%... but it is not better than AA imo. In fact, it's noticeably worse in many of the areas I liked most about that game.
Replicant said:
He's at the back of the courthouse. You have to go down stairs, to the right he will be locked in a cell.
The open world was pretty excellent, and the side missions were fantastic. It made the whole thing feel that much more immersive . I prefer the environment overall in AA, but this game is a better complete package. Gliding around was great too.. But the reviewers should have definitely said how the two games are actually different in many ways.
Speedymanic
Banned
Question, what changes beyond the removal of the on screen counter indicator when playing NG+?
mr afghan jones
Neo Member
About 5 hours in and so far its all good.
Combat feels even slicker although the number of different special moves/gadget attacks is a bit OTT.
As a Batman fan it is full of little details that make my inner nerd sing.
The volume of side quests does feel a bit too much frankly but still good fun on the whole.
My only real problem is the story. The horrible nonsensical story. So they wall off a whole section of waterfront Gotham, an area probably worth millions of dollars. They evict everyone who lives or works there and use that land for a super prison that makes terrible use of the available space. This prison isnt just for regular criminals though, it's also for a large number of extremely disturbed individuals who are in desperate need of treatment and constant medical supervision. In this prison there seems to be minimal supervision, healthcare, food etc. Basically it contravenes a whole bunch of human rights legislation and doesnt serve its purpose as the incarcerated population have access to pretty much anything they fancy within that area of the city.
Then you have Bruce Wayne, who is apparently the only billionaire on the planet with no bodyguards to prevent him being nabbed by a goon squad on the streets. Then he just gets chucked into a controversial prison/asylum with no trial, charges, bail, appeal etc? WTF?
Imagine Boris Johnson walls off a chunk of the East end of London and calls it a prison. Then Bill fucking Gates comes and protests it, and Boris nabs him and chucks him in the prison without any kind of legal process. Exactly how long do you think that shit is going to fly before the government steps in and sends in the army to shut the place down? The whole thing stands out as utterly ridiculous even in the context of a superhero videogame.
That said, I sure do like punching dudes in the face as Batman...
Combat feels even slicker although the number of different special moves/gadget attacks is a bit OTT.
As a Batman fan it is full of little details that make my inner nerd sing.
The volume of side quests does feel a bit too much frankly but still good fun on the whole.
My only real problem is the story. The horrible nonsensical story. So they wall off a whole section of waterfront Gotham, an area probably worth millions of dollars. They evict everyone who lives or works there and use that land for a super prison that makes terrible use of the available space. This prison isnt just for regular criminals though, it's also for a large number of extremely disturbed individuals who are in desperate need of treatment and constant medical supervision. In this prison there seems to be minimal supervision, healthcare, food etc. Basically it contravenes a whole bunch of human rights legislation and doesnt serve its purpose as the incarcerated population have access to pretty much anything they fancy within that area of the city.
Then you have Bruce Wayne, who is apparently the only billionaire on the planet with no bodyguards to prevent him being nabbed by a goon squad on the streets. Then he just gets chucked into a controversial prison/asylum with no trial, charges, bail, appeal etc? WTF?
Imagine Boris Johnson walls off a chunk of the East end of London and calls it a prison. Then Bill fucking Gates comes and protests it, and Boris nabs him and chucks him in the prison without any kind of legal process. Exactly how long do you think that shit is going to fly before the government steps in and sends in the army to shut the place down? The whole thing stands out as utterly ridiculous even in the context of a superhero videogame.
That said, I sure do like punching dudes in the face as Batman...
Palette Swap
Member
Finished the game yesterday, going through the Riddler shit now and I'll do the challenges afterwards.
AA is one of my favorite games of the gen but I might prefer this one. It's a real work of love.
Tangentially, it's not so obvious to compare them, they build on the same basic mechanics but use them differently. It's almost like comparing Zelda to Metroid.
Anyway, great job Rocksteady. I hope further DLCs will be more expansion-minded than just challenges with new characters. Hell, I hope they release story DLCs that use all playable characters.
AA is one of my favorite games of the gen but I might prefer this one. It's a real work of love.
Tangentially, it's not so obvious to compare them, they build on the same basic mechanics but use them differently. It's almost like comparing Zelda to Metroid.
Anyway, great job Rocksteady. I hope further DLCs will be more expansion-minded than just challenges with new characters. Hell, I hope they release story DLCs that use all playable characters.
mr afghan jones
Neo Member
OG Kush said:
That's not an excuse. It's still supposed to take place in an approximation of the real world. Doesn't mean basic logic gets suspended.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
I mean, did anyone here actually like the Steel Mill? Just a terribly unwelcoming environment.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, the story is unforgivably stupid. I'm not sure what they were thinking.mr afghan jones said:
mr afghan jones
Neo Member
Oh, and I spoke to the Calendar man on Saturday night and he was giving it large about Halloween then.
The opening area with the rushing water was annoying. Annoying area when I had to go back for the Riddler trophies.Rez said:
Btw guys, the story makes sense once you uncover more backstory in the interview tapes from solving Riddler trophies. It's pretty much covered by the writers on how everything came to be.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
Its all there, in that they explain how it happened, but none of it is justified, really. Especially in regard to public opinion and general law. It's all very nonsensical and convenient.LiK said:
RPGCrazied
Member
This trophy is bugging me.
6 question marks, up on a bridge halfway up. No place to stand to use explosive gel, and even the quick batarang isn't fast enough to do 3, quick turn and do another 3.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, you just need to fire off six very quick batarangs. There's no secret to it.RPGCrazied said:
RPGCrazied
Member
Wow.
Is there a quick turn button I don't know about? I'll keep trying I guess.
Is there a quick turn button I don't know about? I'll keep trying I guess.
RPGCrazied
Member
I guess I suck. I only have 220/440 right now. Ok, how about these then.
Looks like a garage, but its not on the ground. It looks like you should glide in to touch the green plate, but below are 6 red plates. A gate is around it. I'm guessing use catwoman? Then I still can't figure out the 4 green plates in a gate in the ocean.
Just finished the game. I kinda liked it, but AA was jsut the better game. It actually felt more of an epic struggle compared tot his one. And it had more focus on the bad guys.
But I love the voice acting, this joker and batman put Nolan's movies to shame.
Voice acting 10/10
graphics 8.5/10
gameplay 8/10 (sometimes a bit sluggish, and you can't control your jumps and flight very well at times)
Whole game took me about ten hours
But I love the voice acting, this joker and batman put Nolan's movies to shame.
Voice acting 10/10
graphics 8.5/10
gameplay 8/10 (sometimes a bit sluggish, and you can't control your jumps and flight very well at times)
Whole game took me about ten hours
KevinCow said:
Fair enough.
What I cannot get over is the feeling people are making complaints about the game for the sake of it. Like those reviewers who make leaps and bounds to find what's wrong about a game, because every other review site before them has praised it and now they want to be the exception.
This game has people admitting Arkham City does everything better than its prequel but at the same time they say Asylum was a better experience. There's people complaining there's too much stuff to do, when everyone is constantly complaining about games becoming too short and content cut out to be sold as dlc. There's people saying combat is too difficult, then you find out they are playing on hard difficulty and they complain because the game is challenging.
I have no problem myself admitting the game has its flaws, there is stuff about Arkham City I don't like, but it's really disturbing to see a software house putting an effort to deliver their own game design and at the same time taking into account what people wished from the prequel and at the same time taking into account what the videogame audience constantly cry and complain about in single-player games, only to watch their hard work dismissed as lacking for no other apparent reason than wanting to be the voice outside the crowd.
RPGCrazied said:
On the Joker's turf, right? You have to touch the green panel and then glide off of it without touching the red panels, but without exiting the place.
About the one with the 4 green plates, if it's the one I'm thinking, you step into one of the plates, grapple boost to a nearby building, glide into another plate and repeat. Without touching anything else, of course.
RoninChaos
Member
The only thing that really bugged me about any of the reviews that despite the same move set existing for combat, and that you're Batman, AA and AC are very different style of games.
My biggest gripe, besides the story, is that the world kind of all blends together. THere's not a lot that feels distinct, and that's a shame because most everything else, besides the story, is firing on all cylinders.
My biggest gripe, besides the story, is that the world kind of all blends together. THere's not a lot that feels distinct, and that's a shame because most everything else, besides the story, is firing on all cylinders.
I finally finished the game this weekend. I think I came out with a somehow negative opinion on it overall. I much prefer Arkham Asylum. The story here felt kind of like it dragged and didn't really go anywhere. There were too many loose ends... the final boss was silly (though so was AA's) and the ending was pretty abrupt and left me disappointed when I saw the credits come up. The environments were a lot less memorable for me too.
I don't feel they utilized the city very well. There just feels like a whole lot of empty space where nothing really happens. There's just a Riddler trophy or something to get but... eh. I don't care about PSN Trophies/Achievements and I'm not a collector so maybe that's just wasted on me. I did enjoy some of the Riddler puzzles I ran into along the way though. I hate the Zsasz phone thing. Especially because those damn phones ring in the middle of something else and I just can't bring myself to leave them be.
Combat got to be not as fun for me. I think a lot of it has to do with me being terrible but I found a lot of not-fun combinations of enemies towards the end. The combat is most entertaining when I'm hopping back and forth and crushing some guy's testicles. But with the shields, guns, knives, armour guys, and people throwing stuff at me from off screen it got kind of frustrating. A lot of the stealth rooms weren't very fun for me either. I don't know why I liked them in AA but not so much here. I guess it's kind of my fault because I pretty much resorted to the same tactics for all of them.
I'm also disappointed in many of the boss fights.
.
I don't want to sound too negative (even if I am negative on the game). It's a good game. There's probably just something wrong with me.
I don't feel they utilized the city very well. There just feels like a whole lot of empty space where nothing really happens. There's just a Riddler trophy or something to get but... eh. I don't care about PSN Trophies/Achievements and I'm not a collector so maybe that's just wasted on me. I did enjoy some of the Riddler puzzles I ran into along the way though. I hate the Zsasz phone thing. Especially because those damn phones ring in the middle of something else and I just can't bring myself to leave them be.
Combat got to be not as fun for me. I think a lot of it has to do with me being terrible but I found a lot of not-fun combinations of enemies towards the end. The combat is most entertaining when I'm hopping back and forth and crushing some guy's testicles. But with the shields, guns, knives, armour guys, and people throwing stuff at me from off screen it got kind of frustrating. A lot of the stealth rooms weren't very fun for me either. I don't know why I liked them in AA but not so much here. I guess it's kind of my fault because I pretty much resorted to the same tactics for all of them.
I'm also disappointed in many of the boss fights.
Or rather the lack of them. The Hugo Strange room felt like any other room to me. The Penguin non-fight made me frown. I totally thought I would be able to fight Bane too... but nope. Both the Ra's Al Ghul and Clay Face fight seemed interesting at first but they became repetitive for me really quickly. I felt like I was just doing the same thing over and over again with no ramp up. Sure there were multiple phases for Clay Face but... I dunno. I did enjoy the Mr. Freeze puzzle-y fight though
I don't want to sound too negative (even if I am negative on the game). It's a good game. There's probably just something wrong with me.
PhoenixSFT
Member
Doomrider said:
Ugh the 4 green plates one is a bitch because Batman almost always automatically grabs the fence, which resets the pressure plates.
cpp_is_king said:
Try to use as much bat-swarm as you can (x+a on 360). It gives 10 points for every thug you stun, and multiplies that to your score. So if you have 12 hits and use bat-swarm on ten enemies, you get 12X10X10: 1200 points. If you know how to perform critical strikes you will have the possibility to deploy the bat-swarm every three strikes.
Also the gadgets variation bonus works differently than the moves variation bonus, that's to say you don't need to use all of them in one single combo. You only have to use all five of them during the round, which means you should get 2000 points each fight.
Oh, and since we're talking Funhouse Brawl: lieutenants and armored foes are particularly susceptible to REC stuns. Lieutenants will spin at full speed and send flying every thug around them, while armored foes will drop on the floor immediately. Spam the REC as much as you can during that challenge.
RPGCrazied said:
Hmm, you're probably making the same mistake I did, which is you keep looking the questions marks waiting for the batarangs to hit them. Try this: as soon as you throw the third batarang on the first set of question marks, tap the left stick back to make Bats turn over and spam the quick batarang trigger again.
Batarangs have auto lock-on so you don't need to aim them, you just need to face the direction of your target.
Batarangs have auto lock-on so you don't need to aim them, you just need to face the direction of your target.
RPGCrazied said:
There are trophies that work in similar ways so I'm not sure which one you are talking about. Anyway.
First one's solution (I guess it's the one behind Bane's hideout?) should be using the line launcher. If you can't use that, than you can only go through them with very competent gliding: go to the highest point near the riddle, jump, dive bomb, pull up and glide with some micromanagement along the way.
The latter one is probably the one near the two cranes in front of the steel mill. Here's the trick: once again you have to glide, but this time you cannot touch the ground when going from one button to the other. This means you have to: glide on the first. Grapple on some vantage point. Use the grapple boost before touching the ground, thus keeping in glide state. Glide down to the next pressure button. Repeat for each button.
First one's solution (I guess it's the one behind Bane's hideout?) should be using the line launcher. If you can't use that, than you can only go through them with very competent gliding: go to the highest point near the riddle, jump, dive bomb, pull up and glide with some micromanagement along the way.
The latter one is probably the one near the two cranes in front of the steel mill. Here's the trick: once again you have to glide, but this time you cannot touch the ground when going from one button to the other. This means you have to: glide on the first. Grapple on some vantage point. Use the grapple boost before touching the ground, thus keeping in glide state. Glide down to the next pressure button. Repeat for each button.
RoninChaos said:
As far as reviews go, I only read the Eurogamer one and they did touch on the different pacing and styles IIRC.
And I have to disagree about nothing feeling distinct; the Bowery clearly shows years of degradation before Arkham City was built and shows it has had a glorious period before that. Apart from the Joker-decorations, Industrial Zone feels industrial and gritty and everything but the Bowery, Park Row and Amusement Mile.
Yes they blend together, there are no hard divisions, instead Rocksteady used a more natural and gradual transition into the style and atmosphere, which rocked my ass off the first time I noticed.
magnificent83
Member
Working on completing the physical challenges, and its asking for me to perform a vertical dive of 50m, easy enough, however, game says I already completed much longer dives. Whats the best location to get it done?
I come from a heavy RPG background. I didn't really play any action-y type games until this generation. So I really do think the problem is just me in this case.cackhyena said:
But yeah... it's a good game. Maybe just not my thing? I don't know why though, considering how much I enjoyed AA. Maybe it's just because this one is harder or something and that made me bitter.
-Stranger-
Junior Member
I'm up to the
I'm playing on hard mode, but this battle is the most difficult yet. Managed to almost beat it but can't seem to bring the Titan guy down, Any tips?
Fight against The Joker when you go to retrieve your cure
StevePharma
Member
Don't forget to visit Calendar Man today everybody !
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
I'm sure the graphics are something that would leave something to be desired but the PC version is coming so that should absolutely make the game better. 60fps at 1080p automatically adds to how good a game is.hertog said:
cpp_is_king
Member
Tsukumo said:
I actually figured out the Bat Swarm thing last night. Another thing it does is give you a ton of stunned enemies and makes it easier to pull off a mid-fight Ground Pound. There will still be a few guys able to interrupt you, but it's definitely easier. I'm still working on getting past 35k on Funhouse Brawl (hell half the time I actually die on round 4), but after figuring out the REC trick and the Bat Swarm thing, it's better. For now, I'm taking a break and playing Plants vs. Zombies on PSN so I don't kill myself. lol