Games Cheats and Reviews

Aside from a teaser trailer presented at last year’s Spike VGAs (above), Warner Bros. and developer Rocksteady have been as stealthy as Batman regarding details for the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. They’ve been so quiet, in fact, that we don’t even know if Arkham Asylum 2 is the game’s actual title. But a new set of domain registrations from Warner Bros and caught by superannuation may shed light on the title and even some plot details.

Among the interesting title choices, we see several references to “Arkham City,” which makes sense given how the trailer showed asylum inmates spilling over into Gotham. Some others hint at this as well, including “Ashes of Gotham,” “Broken Ground,” “New Arkham,” “Rise of Arkham,” “Seige of Gotham,” and “War in Gotham City.” Then we have domains that look like titles, but don’t fit the same theme, like “Grand Delusion.”

Feature

Videogames based on comic books don’t have the best track record, but there have been standout titles, particularly Batman: Arkham Asylum. And games based on movies have an even more checkered past, mostly due to the accelerated development cycle needed to release a game to coincide with the film’s theatrical run. Sega Studios San Francisco’s final game, Iron Man 2, based on this summer’s movie, combines the worst pitfalls of both genres, leaving me with one simple conclusion: Iron Man 2 the videogame is not for anybody.

Iron Man 2 is not for the videogame fan in me.

There’s no nice way to put this — Iron Man 2 is a technical disaster. Visually, the game looks decent…from a distance at least; if you were to sprint by a TV with the game playing it wouldn’t look awful, but putting in any time with it reveals a heinous unpolished mess. Your character model’s texture is straight out of the pre-Nintendo 64 era. And my character frequently froze mid-animation, making me a sitting duck for enemies to take pot shots at.

Action in the game mixes up shooting and hand-to-hand combat, the former being the lesser of two evils. Ideally, shooting is assisted by auto-lock that centers the camera on the enemy you want to target, but all too often it doesn’t work properly. Any time you have a primary enemy to deal with to proceed in a mission, let’s say some spider-like robot, there are invariably any number of minor enemies that swarm around to pester you. In its great wisom, your targeting system gives the small enemies near you priority. You’ll be automatically flipped around to face these ineffectual enemies that don’t pose any threat, leaving you open to attack by the actually dangerous spider boss.

All you Jokers(or Riddlers, or Penguins) in the UK are dancing in the streets, no doubt,  Could it be because you already have Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition ?  The Dark Knight dropped into PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles this weekend through the PAL region.  And just like all huge cinematic adventures these days, this one is available in 3D.  Wow.

But that’s not all that’s in store for gamers going back to Gotham.  Gameplay has been expanded through the inclusion of all six previously released DLC maps. Yes, you can now face-off against Arkham Asylum’s toughest inmates in some of the iconic environs from the game such as the infamous Crime Alley and the insane Scarecrow Nightmare.

Who’s crueler than the Joker ?  Why those baddies at Eidos, naturally.  They are withholding all of the batterang goodness from those of us in The States.  We are not targeted to get BAA:GotY until May.  Holy Delayed Gratification, Batman !

Sharing: It’s Win/Win

All you Jokers(or Riddlers, or Penguins) in the UK are dancing in the streets, no doubt,  Could it be because you already have Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition ?  The Dark Knight dropped into PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles this weekend through the PAL region.  And just like all huge cinematic adventures these days, this one is available in 3D.  Wow.

But that’s not all that’s in store for gamers going back to Gotham.  Gameplay has been expanded through the inclusion of all six previously released DLC maps. Yes, you can now face-off against Arkham Asylum’s toughest inmates in some of the iconic environs from the game such as the infamous Crime Alley and the insane Scarecrow Nightmare.

Who’s crueler than the Joker ?  Why those baddies at Eidos, naturally.  They are withholding all of the batterang goodness from those of us in The States.  We are not targeted to get BAA:GotY until May.  Holy Delayed Gratification, Batman !

Sharing: It’s Win/Win

Batman: Arkham Asylum, the critically acclaimed video game from Square Enix (why didn’t we know this?), won two BAFTA awards last week, including Best Game. BAFTA (British Academy Video Game Awards), held annually in London, is like the Oscars for video game achievement.

Batman: Arkham Asylum was written by Paul Dini, the creative force behind Batman: The Animated Series as well as a writer on Lost. He’s won five Emmy Awards for his work. Is it any surprise that a game he penned is winning tons of awards? Might we even see a correlation between a highly qualified writer and the success of a game?

We aren’t surprised, and we do see a correlation.

Congrats, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and let us know when you bring out the sequel.

Sharing: It’s Win/Win

BAFTA, otherwise known as the British Academy Video Game Awards, has come together in a civilized manner and crowned their favorite time consumers with prestigious awards.  We all suspected that Uncharted 2 would rein supreme here in the states.  The same is almost as true in the land of decadence.  Here is the breakdown of the BAFTA Awards.  Head here for a full list of the nominees.

Action
WINNER: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Artistic Achievement
WINNER: Flower

Best Game
WINNER: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Multiplayer
WINNER: Left 4 Dead 2

Original Score
WINNER: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Sports
WINNER FIFA 10

Use of Online
WINNER: FIFA 10

BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital
WINNER: Shrunk!

GAME Award of 2009
(The only award to be voted for by the public)
WINNER: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Family & Social
WINNER: Wii Sports Resort

Gameplay
WINNER: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Handheld
WINNER: LittleBigPlanet

Story
WINNER: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Strategy
WINNER: Empire: Total War

Use of Audio
WINNER: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

There you have it.  These are the games the people across the way think rank as their best choices of time wasters.  Congrats to all the winners.  Now I need to go back and play some more Batman: Arkham Asylum again.  Something has me itching to play it once again.

Sharing: It’s Win/Win

Batman: Arkham Asylum has taken out the top honours at the BAFTA awards, wrestling Best Game from accolade powerhouse Uncharted 2. Personally, we don’t mind that Batman pipped Uncharted 2 to the post — as we noted in our Most Overrated Games of 2009 feature, Uncharted 2 was far from perfect.

A lot of games recieved well recieved recognition tonight at the Bafta’s, although nothing compares to recieving the covented ‘Game of The Year’ award – Batman Arkham Asylum prevailed tonight recieving this award while up against such AAA tiles as:

* Assassin’s Creed II

* Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

* FIFA 10

* Left 4 Dead 2

* Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Square Enix has decided to grace us with some pieces of art for NIER.  In some sort of sick twisted loving fashion, they have decided to keep these pretty obscure.  So what do we know about this new RPG from Square Enix?

Well, we know that NIER will be an Action-RPG style game.  NIER will pack some swordplay that would make the Nameless Hero jealous.   This is also going to be a brutal game.  Now if this means we will see some serious gore, or just some badass weapons is yet to be seen.  Most importantly, we will see a new world.  Magic and swords, we are intrigued!

Even better, Square Enix is going to kick out some comics to get that story rolling a bit early.  You will be able to snag these comics from Xbox Live and PSN. DC Comics’ renowned creators and illustrators, including Ricardo Sanchez, Pop Mhan, and Eddie Nuñez, are creating the comics.  You can catch a glimpse of their work in small ditties like Spider-Man, The Flash, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and the DC Universe MMO.  Needless to say these are going to rock some visual/story porn.  The comics will be coming out between now and April 27, 2010.

We are very intrigued by this new title from Square Enix.  Keep it locked here for more info.  Until then, wipe that drool off your face, it’ll short out your keyboard.

Sharing: It’s Win/Win