So, Batman: Arkham Origins.

[The Curmudgeon]

Christmas has passed, and I dropped enough solid gold hints to get the three games I've been after. WWE, obviously (with Ultimate Warrior for the first time ever! Fuckin' SCORE!) Resident Evil 6 and Batman. I love me some wrestling and zombie games, but Batman got the first play.

I read some online criticism that there's nothing fundamentally NEW in this game. To me, though, that's its strength. As soon as the game starts it all just feels RIGHT, Batman moves fluidly like he has in the last two games, with no new controls, no major re-haul when one wasn't required. It's a brand new Batman game, more of the same awesome, awesome stuff I've loved since the first game. No change necessary.

Concerns? The game freezes and lags a LOT, something that never happened before. I even Googled it to make sure it wasn't my disc/console. Turns out this was a factor in the original game and won't be fixed until a software update. Quite why one of the biggest games of the year can be released with this pretty glaring flaw is kinda mind-blowing. I'm no expert on modern games, so does this sort of thing happen a lot? And no Riddles this time around? That was one of my favourite parts, finding obscure hidden objects (the Penguin's Umbrella! Harvey Dent poster!) to unlock info on the huge array of Gotham characters. I guess there's only so many you can put in there, but finding references to other DC characters would have been nice.

So anyone else played this yet? What's your verdict?

[trashcanman]

This article seems to have captured my feelings pretty well.

gamemoir.com/2013/11/12/arkham-origins-where-do-we-go-from-here/

They kind of fucked the premise up by making it all about the Joker again and shafting most of the other villains big time, and the fact that almost all of the puzzles were identical to ones in Arkham City didn't help, but my anger at the game mostly flows from the broken multiplayer. It was sooooooo much fun when it worked. But they never got it working consistently so I sold it off having never gotten to really enjoy it. Man, that pissed me off.

[Mrs_C]

So I completed The Legend Of Zelda: A link between worlds.

Not the same thing I know but as it is a direct sequel to one of the best games of all time I thought I would let you know

It is pretty much an identical game to the original in almost every way from the parallel story lines to some of the guardians.



Which in its own way still kept much of the enjoyability of the original however I felt as if I was left wanting more.

There was some enjoyable additions; link being able to "merge" into walls to cross gaps for instance and I am also a big fan of mini quests and there is a great one where you have to collect 100 maiamais babies.





I don't know maybe I am being harsh. I still like the game though I just felt I was left unsurprised by what I got. I feel that the game designers have become a bit lazy of late, what with a period of time which has included a 3D version of ocarina and an HD version of windwaker I feel that there has been a lot of this "rehashing" of the old games and not an awful lot of innovation into the franchise.

That being said it is still more varied then the Pokémon franchise in which I am still Waiting on them bringing out a playable RPG with cross over potential for the consoles rather than the predictable handheld fare (Pokémon Y also completed BTW)

Don't get me wrong I love the games as they are but feel we are long overdue for a version available on the wii/ wiiU in full playable 3D with options (now that pokebank and poketransfer are on the horizon) to transfer Pokémon between games and play with your favourite Pokémon on the big screen. I feel that a 3D game such as X/Y just doesn't really cut it on a 3DS (on account of the 3D being pretty bollocks)it looks nice but again this has been long overdue.

Again maybe I am being a bit harsh. :\

[trashcanman]

You are not being harsh. Nintendo has been dragging ass and just cruising the last few years and are hemorrhaging fans because of it. I literally cannot fucking image what they are thinking right now with the way they've handled the Wii U and some of their keystone franchises.

[The Curmudgeon]

I've purposefully avoided this thread until I'd played Batman a bit more. What can I say? Yeah, it's fairly uninspiring, seen it all before stuff and having the Joker yet a-fucking gain is a major disappointment, but I'm still loving it, and I know I'm going to play until I've completed it.

Would it have killed them to bring out a new villain, though? Or at least a different one? Why not the Riddler? He's been untouchable for two whole games now.

[trashcanman]

To meet the Riddler, you have to find every fucking collectable in the game. It's the one thing I could not be bothered to do. I already solved all of these same puzzles in Arkham City and I was not about to do them all again and then some. At least in Arkham City, you unlocked a lot of cool shit as you got more trophies.