The Mortal Essensce of a Batman Game: An Arkham Origins Review

     It has become rather standard fact that up until Arkham Asylum that no videogame company could do the Batman franchise justice. So After playing into the latest title of Arkham Origins I felt compelled to break down the Arkham Series and take a closer look at what makes a good Batman game.

• The Invisible Predator -

One of the first things that was brought out of Arkham Asylum was the Predator approach to clearing a room of bad guys. As many comic fans and well fans of the Batman anything know the caped crusader is not all fight but a mixture of intimidation and catching his opponents off guard. This has been a staple since Arkham Asylum and even been slightly modified yet always for the better.

• The Warrior Within -

Batman is a very skilled martial artist and well usually one to rely on his fists last, unless there is no other answer. This is where early games had issues either they made him a brawler or a run and gun and well battarangs aside Batman isn't really a "gun" person. Although many of his tools resemble guns, they always house another surprise. The Arkham Series has held strong to batman being able to fight his way in instances where well there is no other choice so again a bonus to them for keeping to the truths of Batman.

• Batman Does NOT Kill -

     This is a tough topic with any game series and even Arkham has had it's deaths but they were all written to not be directly by the hands of the Bat. Early games had you working on killing enemies or defeating bad guys with a gun or battarang launcher and it just lost that Batman feel. Arkham has been strong in keeping to that story essential code.

• Batman the Detective and Vigilante -

This has always been a controversy as Batman is a hero detective but also a vigilante whom cleans the streets where and when the cops cannot. Early Batman games stuck to either one but never got the combination quite right so you'd feel off. Arkham has found it's way to allow Batman to do both and thus is a Hero but also in this newest endeavor a enemy in the eyes of the police.

     Now these are a lot of the basics besides getting into the detail of Batman's gadgets and equipment you have to keep in mind that Batman although looked at as rather meager is really quite a complex super hero. So a lot of questions fall to looking into a Batman game and thus have lead me to the following takes on the Arkham Series -

Arkham Asylum: First Batman game done right. A mixture of challenge and well thought out use of villains as well as a strong story. They kept things simple to the Island that is Arkham Asylum and allowed the player to delve into the mythology and the rather obscure aspects that are Batman. It's really hard to top this as a Batman game as you have to look at so many components that worked well together.

Arkham City: It was a hidden hint in the first game. So well hidden that it was only after it was announced that people started to understand or even find the hint. This was well done to expand upon what Arkham Asylum was and mix in further aspects of the Batman Legacy as well as give the player a mixture of the hidden details and get a good look into how big a game of this style could go.

Arkham Origins: It's Arkham City pre Arkham City so you have the huge part of Gotham as well as a nice mixture of characters yet it's not quite the first two but I'm going to get into that a bit further down the page. I've not finished the story as of this posting, but I really have been looking at detail and this falls under a good Batman game, but like many good game legacies this has been infected with the multiplayer aspect. It's not bad, but think Gotham City Imposters meets Arkham Asylum.... it's limited and well lets just call it a beginner multiplayer experience.

Flaws to Arkham Origins.
     This is where we start getting a bit of mixed feelings and to be honest a lot of this is my opinion but also factors that I feel could have been improved upon.
Characters.) I'm a finicky bastard when it comes to what Villains you choose to throw at me when it comes to a comic book story. The first two Arkham games went with favorites I can agree to that aspect, but I like to see that mixture of super powered or intelligent that batman has to overcome instead of "Assassins" Not that I'm not a fan of Deathstroke, but C'mon. They start you out against Croc and it just seems to drop in enemy style from there.
Character Modeling.) This is another aspect that not many think about when playing a game but I'm rather fixated on. If you're sticking to a series name try to keep your modeling close or even within the same aspect. Killer Crock and Bane are both a third of the size they were in the first two games and I understand this is a prequel but I think you're going off a different set of comics and it kinda kills the feel.
Voice Acting.) Before you bash me for being a purist I have to say I'm for the earlier casts rather than the Origins cast but the origins cast is close but not that accurate. I don't hate them, but I feel like I've been shorted in the Joker Dept. and yes that is aimed at you Mark Hamill.
There really isn't much else in the way of flaws against Origins the controls are strong and even the free flow combat seems to be much improved. So Although I have some gripes this game has earned it's way into staying in my library of games for a long time.

- William Dreimann

Gaming Realism and Benefits of keeping some of the fantasy as is.

     I keep seeing a call for realism in video games. Now with some things like puzzles I can agree, but with the more elaborate fantasy drama's and battle games well, it seems to want to kill the player. Now before I get a response of but..... Let me explain how I am seeing things and where developers should draw the line.
    Puzzle Realism:
   Ok so lets use an example of a game I have played recently, I believe it was Zero Escape: Virtue's last reward: Now the way this game starts off there is a story, then puzzle or escape mode. The story is bland, but the escape mode is a puzzle. You have to search a room for tools and items so you can work your way through the puzzle and escape the room. Sounds easy enough. Here is where I found my issue with "Realism" in this game. There is a panel with four bolts each color coded and you find a colored handle and some sockets that are described to be like a socket wrench. My issue is that if anyone has used a socket wrench more than one head can be used for a handle. This game did not want to hear this and had me continuing to look for 3 other handles just to open a vent. Now granted they were not hidden well so it was an easy find, but seriously. Developers this is the excess shit we don't want. Stick with some realism here and we are golden.
     Fantasy Realism:
Now some of what I hear being called for is realism with weapons in games and well with some of the fantasy games I hear this being called for well you're asking for player death. Seriously look at the weapon and consider some of the realism if you were to wield it. I'm sure you'd end up more injured than your opponent. Let's leave a lot of this to fantasy.
     War Time Realism:
This actually works somewhat and again can also lead to player death. It again goes to weapon realism, but it's a 50 50 draw on what should and should not work. IE: an enemy drops his gear around the room you should be able to use it. Seriously why not. Yeah I understand if it's a gun or piece of armor way to big or heavy for you to use, but a revolver or a knife. Now again this also tends to span into the Fantasy Realism. If it's some sort of alien creature I can see less chance of usage but then again if you let us use some of the other alien weaponry..... you see where I'm going here.
     Overall there is a fine line to what gamers should have realistically and what should follow in a realistic situation. I for one love the fantasy approach of a 5' muscle bound soldier being able to carry a tank cannon as a weapon but then again I like the chaotic approach.
What's your opinion folks?
- William Dreimann

Indie games: A bit of reviews and some odd opinion

     It's hard to avoid indie games these days. Many have gone from obscure to really popular. Others are gems in the rough that you either know or you don't. I've decided since I've been exposed to a bunch of indie games to share a small listing here as well as a quick review of some of these awesome games.

• Little Inferno: A game for you pyromaniacs out there. Although the game states that you should not play with fire, and I agree. The premise of this indie is to well burn your toys to stay warm. Although there is no real losing.... It's you burn a toy and get money for it, then spend the money to buy more toys from a catalog which burning toys gives you more money than the toy was worth. The trick here is combo's. Certain combinations of toys gives you extra shipping stamps and a challenge to figure out what is really going on. The ending of the game is some what forced, but after watching you can go back to burning stuff.
• The binding of Isaac: I have to admit I played this one on good authority from a friend. Think The legend of Zelda with the more sadistic undertones. It's put out by the wonderful people over at newgrounds. Now those of you familiar with Newgrounds should know many of their odd and very odd creators. This is a game that I'll be honest is worth a play just to ask the What the fuck question over and over.
• Beat Hazard Ultra: This one is a little more for you music buffs. Imagine this.... you are playing something like galaga or even asteroids, now add that enemies and effects are spawned and selected by your music. That's right you pick the track and the music dictates the stage. It's quite the feat and visually amazing. The downfall is it is very high in flashes and strobes so you may want to think about that before letting your kids play, but overall depending on the song it's really quite a fun game.
• Terraria: Like minecraft, Terraria is one of those seek the world and build stuff. There is no real story, but it's addictive. There is a lot to find and do once you figure out the basics. Bosses are not out right they either sneak up on you or work on a series of events. Either way it's quite the adventure.