mothra on 7/8/2009 at 10:51
well, sounds exactly like I imagined it (and hoped)....slick, simplistic brawling and swinging action :)
.......
so, I installed the pc demo and kb+m work well. I'm just incapable of using a controller and never encountered any game that was easier to play with it.
well, maybe re3 for PC, but that was a bad port anyways.
no first day purchase (too arcadey, not much to do) but on my radar for the first price-cut.
june gloom on 7/8/2009 at 17:07
RE3 was a mediocre game, so I don't think it was the port job. ;)
EvaUnit02 on 7/8/2009 at 17:21
Dethtoll, I'm eager to hear your impressions of the demo.
june gloom on 7/8/2009 at 17:58
Let me finish Fallout Tactics first (should be this weekend) and I'll give it a spin before I fire up my next game.
saatana on 7/8/2009 at 19:14
OK, I got to the menu screen but I'm stuck. If this game won't allow me to customize my controls AT ALL I'm not playing it. Am I missing something?
Sulphur on 8/8/2009 at 00:11
Played the PS3 demo, wasn't bad at all. It looks rather nice. Texture, animation, and modelling work's good, and the cape physics has less clipping issues than I'd have thought possible. I only wish they'd gotten the faces to look less rigidly wooden. Everything else is pretty damn good, so it's a shame about the faces. There's a nice amount of attention to detail otherwise, what with the various biographies and secrets and nods to fans of the comics.
Combat's got a satisfying weight and tactile feel to it. You can switch freely between targets in a fight, but it didn't seem too complex: I just pressed the square button a whole bunch of times while pointing Batman in different directions. Very fluid animations no matter what I did, but I didn't have to do much of anything to pull off the cool-looking shit.
Admittedly, things got more interesting once you had to face armed opponents. Having Bats poised on a gargoyle right above some lunkhead before he swoops down on him to deliver the coup de grace, and then disappearing back into the shadows before his buddies notice is really cool.
But it's also repetitive. And there are a helluva lot of gargoyles placed oh-so-conveniently around the rooms, in what is a large and incredibly obvious concession to gameplay. It affects the aesthetic as well; there are so many gargoyles that you stop to wonder if there was a certain fetishistic passion that drove the architect... but hey, it's Arkham right, so I guess this shit flies here.
I thought the best part was the voice acting. It's a blast to hear Mark Hamill as the Joker once again, and as usual he has all the best lines.
Overall, I'm intrigued. This has the potential to be tons of fun. I certainly had fun playing it, but I hope the gameplay is changed up and more varied in the full game.
Paz on 8/8/2009 at 01:09
Quote Posted by saatana
OK, I got to the menu screen but I'm stuck. If this game won't allow me to customize my controls AT ALL I'm not playing it. Am I missing something?
Assuming you're talking about the PC version, I think you can reassign keys under 'settings' in the main LAUNCHER thing (where you can choose play, settings, throw bats in my face, etc)
I dunno why you do it in that rather than the actual menu, but welp it's a multiplatform demo
I'm a bit confused at it being 2gb in size when it's pretty short, but since everything else about it absolutely owns I guess I should let that slide
Renzatic on 8/8/2009 at 02:04
That....was....GRAND!
My opinion about mirrors Sulphur's above. The fist fights are a little on the simple side. Press X to punch a guy, Y to counterattack, that's about it. The fights look cool, but don't seem to have much depth or difficulty. It could just be that you're still early in the game, and don't have access to a wide array of moves at your disposal. But even with a little more added flair, I can see this as being the least interesting part of the whole package.
It's when you get into the stealth and exploratory aspects that the game really starts to shine. To put it simply, with all the dive bombing from unseen heights, silent takedowns, and neat gadgets, it made me feel like the goddamn Batman straight up pure and simple. Provided the game throws a bit of variety and interesting scenarios our way, we could have a helluva good time on our hands.
It's a day one purchase for me.
Fafhrd on 8/8/2009 at 03:09
It's really solid and runs really well, but there are so many little goofy touches that I can't quite love it (why does a swarm of bats rise out of every guy I knock out?). And not being able to take out lights bugs me a lot. This isn't an 'lol console gamers!' concession, plenty of very successful console games used dynamic lighting in their stealth gameplay (Splinter Cell, Riddick, Thief: Deadly Shadows), the idea that you can't use the batarang to take out the lights in a room and then swoop around in the shadows is just silly.
EvaUnit02 on 8/8/2009 at 07:26
I found this on the official forum.
Combat moves:-
Quote Posted by Reecio
Strike - PS3: Square XB: X
Counter - PS3: Triangle XB: Y
Stun - PS3: Circle XB: B
Dodge - PS3: Double Tap X XB: Double Tap A
Batarang - PS3: Tap L1 XB: Tap LB
Ground Takedown - PS3: R2 + Triangle XB: RT + Y
Takedown - PS3: Triangle + Circle XB: Y + B [Note: Combo of 5 or more MUST be achieved FIRST!]
Throw - PS3: Square + X XB: X + A [Note: Combo of 5 or more MUST be achieved FIRST!]
So yes, the combat has more depth than it appears. The idea is string together combos to rack up bigger lots of XP.
