Batman : Arkham Asylum and Arkham City

Theres a very good reason I am only doing 1 review for these 2 titles.

Unless you are bankrupt, a few clowns short of a circus, have had a twin thumb-ectomy.. there is no chance you would have bought the first of these exceptional games, and not the second.

Both games are very similar in game play, objectives and style. But both are monumentally brilliant and addictive by themselves.

I never really got into the comics. The awful computer game releases coinciding with recent super hero films have not set the world alight – Spiderman, Superman and Iron Man to name the key culprits here. These 2 batman games are monumentally different from previous releases though.

As previously stated, I have never been heavily interested in comic books, or graphic novels as I will no doubt be reminded is their proper name (thank you Leanord, Sheldon and Penny). There is always a danger in being plunged in too deep when entering this world. Batman addresses this perfectly though, giving you the opportunity to read up on the background of each character (if you want to!), but not making your knowledge paramount in enjoying the game. I suppose though I should draw a slight distinction between the two games.

The first, Batman Arkham Asylum, plonks you right in the middle of a mental institution/correctional facility, as your old nemesis Joker is put away for his crimes. And he stays there and the game ends.

 Ok, fine.

 As predictable as a Liverpool FC statement being cringeworthy, Joker escapes and you spend the game searching through the Asylum and surrounding grounds. Along the way you gain control of Batman’s many gadgets and use them in your quest to solve riddles, challenges and puzzles laid out for you by The Riddler, and fight a large number of Batmans foes.

Batman Arkham City? The same concept, but set inside a cordoned off area of a city. Fighting to find a cure to a disease you’ve picked up along the way (no, not from catwoman), again your side missions are as compelling as the main story line.

Both games are truly brilliant. The combat system in both games is extremely simple, but you’ll need to master every concept to be able to beat the game. As batman you’ll use no guns, but instead rely heavily on stealth and distraction to lure your enemies and pick them off one by one. That or enter into a full on brawl with the grace of a Liverpool FC statement. That is to say, with none. The games look great, play great and are very hard to put down. Even with the main story lines complete and all side mission finished, you find yourself continuing to play the games through, and very tempted to just start the games all over again. A superb game series and I hope there will be more.

This is not normal as a crush.

The final word however has to go to Harley Quinn. The vile voiced woman who features in both games as Jokers assistant, whilst is a brilliant evil sidekick, is crazily annoying. Wondering who voiced her, I googled her. Only to find a host of cartoons and real life women dressed as her. Apparently it’s a common occurrence for comic, sorry, graphic novel fans to have a fetish for her. You are as strange, weird, and idiotic as a Liverp.. Yeah, you know the joke.

Ratings – 10/10 and 10/10

Fair Price - £40 (each)

Xbox 360 Kinect

I like to move it, move it.

When the kinect was first released, it seemed, like most console hardware, a bit of gimmick. An attractive, innovative new gadget of course, but an additional expense that may follow the dust-collecting-on-top-of-the-cupboard ways of the DJ Hero decks or Tony Hawk skateboard. For now, there are few games of appeal for the kinect. Publishers rushing games to capture the money from the Microsoft fan boys around the new gadgets release as expected results in poor quality games. However, the kinect has the potential to be a long term success, depending on how future kinect necessary and kinect optional games implement the camera-microphone device into gameplay.

For me and the soon to be missus, the kinect gives us a double workout. Not only do we get a little sweat going playing the motion sensitive games, but we also get a little workout rearranging our furniture to get enough room to play. There are a few nice little touches to the kinect. Auto profile sign in based on facial recognition. Voice activated menus. Movement recognition menu browsing. In general, these all work seamlessly, however, in some games the kinect fails to recognise what you are wanting it to do. Not the kinects fault of course, but frustrating never the less.

So, heres a few quick game reviews for anyone looking at purchasing a kinect and its (currently) small selection of games.

Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports 2

Without a doubt the best games on the device. Both releases are full of fun, entertaining sport games that are extremely addictive – either playing by yourself, or with a friend. The first release contains Football, Athletics, Table Tennis, Volleyball and Bowling. Kinect Sports 2 contains American Football, Tennis, Skiing, Golf and Darts. Of those 10 sports, its hard to single a single one out as weak. All of the games, and mini games are well thought out, making the most of the kinect. All have the same charm – simple to pick up, but a challenge to master. Highlights, for me, are the Football, Athletics, American Football and Darts.

Rating – 9/10
Fair Price - £25 (each)

Dance Central 1&2

Whilst I can’t be too angry at a game that actively gets my other half to play the Xbox, the rumours I’d heard about this game turned out to be true. I myself am an excellent, “Lionel Messi of the dancing world” dancer, alas the game thinks otherwise. I had heard that the game only really works for girls, or overly camp males. And this has proved to be true. To be honest, it really puts me off trying the game again. However, in the interest of fairness, my fiancée loves it, and it probably would be great fun on a girly night in.

Rating – 4/10
Fair Price - £12

Carnival

Rubbish. Very few games, very poor motion recognition. Not even worth a rent.

Rating – 1/10
Fair Price - £1

Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventure

To be honest, this game would get a far higher rating if it didn’t try and be a kinect game. On the off chance you can get past the menus (it completely refuses to recognise your actions and in so declines to let you navigate the menu screens), it then has the additional frustration of turning a blind eye to the exercises you perform in front of the camera. It took about 12 minutes and around 250 sit ups to recognise me doing 10. Had I just bought the game to give me a selection of workout ideas, it probably may have been worthy of a higher score. Which sort of makes the whole “kinect game” redundant.

Rating – 2/10
Fair Price - £4

Kinect Adventures

The base game that comes with the kinect. It’s not without its charm, but there are only 3 different game modes, and all get old very quickly. Addictive and compelling to play for the first hour. Hasn’t been played again since. A bit like Walcott should have been and would have been in almost any other team.

Rating – 6/10
Fair Price - £5


So there we go. A brief look at the Kinect and the main games. Regardless, I am looking forward to seeing how its used and integrated in Mass Effect 3.

A thank you to Christie Duke for helping me review the games! :)