Batman Arkham City (10.18.11)

[ki_atsushi]

Picked it up on a whim today when I went to Best Buy for printer ink. Going to play the hell out of after I get off work tonight. Looks awesome.

 

[thatdemoguy]

Yeah I also finished the main campaign. But I did opt to do the majority of the side missions but theres no way im just going to breeze through the Riddler challenges this time though, thats really all I have left to do except for new game +. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that THIS title truly ranks up there in the must haves of this console generation. PLAY THIS GAME!!!!

O.

 

[Moon Jump]

I've got too much on my gaming plate so I won't be picking this one up for a while. I'm confused when it comes to what stores offered which costumes. I heard you can only get the animated series costume if you preorded at GS with a Power Up card. Best Buy has something with Robin and from the looks of it, Amazon.com doesn't have anything listed. Is there a site that lists what bonus you get with the game? Sucks that it sounds like they were all for preorders, so everybody else has to pony up the money for the bonus bits in a few weeks.

 

[evil wasabi]

Picked it up on a whim today when I went to Best Buy for printer ink. Going to play the hell out of after I get off work tonight. Looks awesome.

you won't be disappoint.

 

[thatdemoguy]

im sitting here playing, and i have to say....i really dont see myself doing all of these Riddler challenges this time. i will wait until more people have completed the game to discuss.

O.

 

[Hot Chocolate]

Mark Hamill says it was a fun 20 years

 

[Moon Jump]

Mark Hamill says it was a fun 20 years

Kinda odd he'd stop doing something that kept paying after all these years. He's been doing mostly voice work like Robot Chicken and he was the villain in Castle In The Sky. I still remember how surprised I was when I found out he did the Joker. I'd never put the two together.

 

[Hot Chocolate]

Kinda odd he'd stop doing something that kept paying after all these years. He's been doing mostly voice work like Robot Chicken and he was the villain in Castle In The Sky. I still remember how surprised I was when I found out he did the Joker. I'd never put the two together.

I think he's always been touchy about getting stuck just doing one thing, he avoids almost anything Star Wars related and I recall about when Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker came out he was done then until he was given some scripts from Justice League and had long talks with Bruce Timm and Dwayne McDuffie that he came back.

 

[evil wasabi]

im sitting here playing, and i have to say....i really dont see myself doing all of these Riddler challenges this time. i will wait until more people have completed the game to discuss.

O.

I'm having a lot of fun figuring them out. However, I think I made my first lethal mistake, where I took the Riddler trophy from the crane before viewing the complete riddler image off the water near the Steelmill.

 

[thatdemoguy]

I've been making my way through the Riddler challenges (so far I've done enough to be given the locations of 3 hostages) and I will say that they become easier once you get a handle on what you're looking for. Most definitely make sure you interrogate all the informants you can or you wont and I repeat WONT know what you're looking for, especially when it comes to the environmental challenges or the clues cleverly by hints.

I also want it to be known that you can't do it all your first playthrough, unless you cheat and use a guide there are challenges you wont know are there that you can get the second time you play.

Im very interested in seeing the Robin/Nightwing dlc now too.

O.

 

[evil wasabi]

I've been making my way through the Riddler challenges (so far I've done enough to be given the locations of 3 hostages) and I will say that they become easier once you get a handle on what you're looking for. Most definitely make sure you interrogate all the informants you can or you wont and I repeat WONT know what you're looking for, especially when it comes to the environmental challenges or the clues cleverly by hints.

I also want it to be known that you can't do it all your first playthrough, unless you cheat and use a guide there are challenges you wont know are there that you can get the second time you play.

Im very interested in seeing the Robin/Nightwing dlc now too.

O.

The worst challenges are the ones where you have to move from switch to switch without touching the ground. There's one by the Bowery that really sucks.

 

[thatdemoguy]

The worst challenges are the ones where you have to move from switch to switch without touching the ground. There's one by the Bowery that really sucks.

Industrial District. The triple towers....OMG!!!! That one was a bitch because 1. you have to have the grapnel upgrade and 2. you have to fly between 3 towers of differing heights to hit the switches on them without touching the ground.

Once you get all of The Riddler's informants location info, its really just a matter of figuring the puzzle out. So far im about 300 in.

O.

 

[neo_X7]

.

 

[evil wasabi]

some of the riddler challenges are stupid hard. I'm now officially giving this game an A-. If the developers didn't want to be complete dildo faggins, they wouldn't have bothered to make stupid shitty challenges that only make the game

done

and over with.

Harsh? No. The harder challenges showcase how shitty the control in the game actually is. Control is great when you don't need to worry about precision movement. But when you do, and you're navigating in avery dark environment, with ledges popping out of everywhere, obstacles, etc, it just helps you realize that Rocksteady are just bitter fags because their mothers were redneck whores that smoked meth and have no teeth, and lots of herpes, on their assholes..

 

[thatdemoguy]

haha that is kind of harsh. but I would have to agree on the control. some of The Riddler Challenges require you to do crazy precision moves with Batman or be a master of the remote control Batarang and it can become very frustrating to fail something 20-30 times that should be easy all because of lacking controls.

Theres one in particular in the Bowery that require you to be on a ledge beside an open vent, throw a batarang away from you towards the opposite building, make a u-turn with the batarang, go into the vent with the batarang, come out the other side of the vent, make ANOTHER u-turn, got into the other open side of the vent, make an immediate 90 degree turn with the batarang INTO an incline and then guide the batarang into the lit question mark. ALL FOR A SINGLE RIDDLER TROPHY!!!!

And to catch Riddler there are like 400 of those hidden in the game. Some are braindead easy as walking up to it and grabbing, but the majority hidden around the world are like the one above. Crazy pressure pads, precise batarang tricks, and all. But like I said you cant get them all on your first playthrough, I want to say its impossible. So they force you to play after you play after you play. Which does add replay value, but at what cost....once you do the main story and side missions all the major and minor villains are gone so its just you cruising around the city beating up groups of thugs. Im about 86 away from catching Riddler, maybe something will happen.

Still an amazing game though.

O.

 

[evil wasabi]

haha that is kind of harsh. but I would have to agree on the control. some of The Riddler Challenges require you to do crazy precision moves with Batman or be a master of the remote control Batarang and it can become very frustrating to fail something 20-30 times that should be easy all because of lacking controls.

Theres one in particular in the Bowery that require you to be on a ledge beside an open vent, throw a batarang away from you towards the opposite building, make a u-turn with the batarang, go into the vent with the batarang, come out the other side of the vent, make ANOTHER u-turn, got into the other open side of the vent, make an immediate 90 degree turn with the batarang INTO an incline and then guide the batarang into the lit question mark. ALL FOR A SINGLE RIDDLER TROPHY!!!!

And to catch Riddler there are like 400 of those hidden in the game. Some are braindead easy as walking up to it and grabbing, but the majority hidden around the world are like the one above. Crazy pressure pads, precise batarang tricks, and all. But like I said you cant get them all on your first playthrough, I want to say its impossible. So they force you to play after you play after you play. Which does add replay value, but at what cost....once you do the main story and side missions all the major and minor villains are gone so its just you cruising around the city beating up groups of thugs. Im about 86 away from catching Riddler, maybe something will happen.

Still an amazing game though.

O.

Remote batarang stuff is a lot easier after you hold L1 right after throwing it. That puts it in slow motion and also slows time.

New game plus I have ignored all pay phones.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Yeah, I want to like the game but the controls are shit. I find myself moving all over the place during combat, punching the air half the time. When on small railings and ropes, I often perform a move that makes me plummet to my death.

And there's too many button combinations to remember, I just can't get the hang of it. I guess I'm getting old, this is akin to my parents would complaining when controllers starting having more than 4 buttons, lol.

 

[terry.330]

As I said before I've really not had any problems with control in combat and for the most part when walking tight ropes and ledges have not had any problems. It's just when you actually have to do strictly timed or precision movements in closed spaces.

I haven't tried any of the Riddler challenges yet but I see them all over the place and can tell they are going to be a huge pain in the ass and boarder line impossible.

 

[BigTinz]

But like I said you cant get them all on your first playthrough, I want to say its impossible.

O.

How so, are some trophies locked out? Literally impossible?

 

[thatdemoguy]

How so, are some trophies locked out? Literally impossible?

Yah because some are locked with the highest security level of the cryptographic scanner that you dont get until the end of the game.

O.

 

[Moon Jump]

Picked it up at the Price Club, they had it for 53 bucks. I installed the game to my hard drive, but I'm going to play through Asylum one more time before I go into City.

 

[evil wasabi]

As I said before I've really not had any problems with control in combat and for the most part when walking tight ropes and ledges have not had any problems. It's just when you actually have to do strictly timed or precision movements in closed spaces.

I haven't tried any of the Riddler challenges yet but I see them all over the place and can tell they are going to be a huge pain in the ass and boarder line impossible.

That's the thing. Combat and story mode are top notch but completing the riddler challenges is a Herculean feat because they demand precision not needed in the rest of the game.

 

[evil wasabi]

Yeah, I want to like the game but the controls are shit. I find myself moving all over the place during combat, punching the air half the time. When on small railings and ropes, I often perform a move that makes me plummet to my death.

And there's too many button combinations to remember, I just can't get the hang of it. I guess I'm getting old, this is akin to my parents would complaining when controllers starting having more than 4 buttons, lol.

Plummeting to death is pretty hard. Bats will routinely shoot the bat claw when that happens. I was trying to have a super long flight off wonder tower and that didn't happen.

 

[Magician]

I finished the "New Game" 100% today.

Overall Impressions
Like AA before it, Arkham City is a great game. The same quality in graphics and audio as AA. The gameplay is improved thanks to the multiple counter ability thats been added to combat. And the switch to more of an open world environment means the game doesn't need to load as often and it adds more variety to the Riddler challenges.

My main gripe is that Batman's attacks can be floaty occasionally. There'll be times when I'm in the middle of a combo, my next enemy I want to attack is right on top of me. It would be simple for Batman to just...throw an elbow. What does Batman do? A jumping, spinning roundhouse for a guy not two feet away. I get hit, my combo is ended...enter mild frustration.

Another small problem I have is that you can fuck yourself on a couple Riddler trophies in the Museum. The two behind the gates in the Gladiator Pit within the Museum. It requires you to take an electrified remote controlled batarang down the left corridor, then take right and another right, then after going through a portion of the wall that's not barred...take out the electrical box on the left side of the central gated room. So if you take down the electrified fence before you collect those two Riddler trophies...you'll never get them.

But those are really minor complaints for what is an excellent game. AC does what a sequel is suppose to do. Take the standard set by the first game and build upon it. As it stands, Arkham City is the best game I've played this year so far. Better than Deus Ex Human Revolution, and better than Gears of War 3. You'd be remiss if you chose to never play this game.

I look forward to beginning "New Game Plus" tomorrow.

 

[Jedah Doma]

Quick question, I've been trying to find this out online but to no real satisfaction. Is there truly any difference between the 360 and PS3 versions of the game? Does one look or play better than the other? I heard the PS3 version came with an extra movie or something? Any help would be appreciated.