T w e n t y S i d e d

We’re not even going to get into the blasphemy that Mumbles was spouting about Spiderman being a bigger bully than Batman. I’m just going to assume she’s talking about some newer incarnation of Peter Parker. MY Parker was a college guy trying to balance his obligations at school, a girlfriend, paying his bills, his aging aunt, and his part-time job, while also being seemingly the only superhero in a New York infested with Electro, Rhino, Green Goblin, and Dr. Octopus. Nowadays I suppose he’s hanging out with billionaires, fighting galactic horrors in a city brimming with cross-overs, recovered from death half a dozen times and retired and un-retired another half dozen. He might even be dating a supermodel or something. The beleaguered Peter that used quips and one-liners to mask his pain and anxiety is a relic of a bygone era.

Anyway. Let’s talk about this episode…

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Arkham Asylum EP5: Batass”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

I make fun of Josh in the episode because his playstyle feels all wrong. Although like he says, it DOES get the job done. And assuming you’re new to the series, this probably gives you a really good idea of what your first play-through is going to look like.

I don’t have much to say about this part of the game that I didn’t say in the episode, so let me go on a digression regarding the sequel:

I’ve been playing Arkham City on NewGame+. It sounded like a fun idea at first, but it turns out it’s actually just really annoying. Like most NG+ modes, it lets you play through the entire story again, but you keep all of your upgrades from your initial play-through and newer, tougher foes are thrown in the mix. That’s really nice, since the first third of the game is normally pretty light on combat.

My problem is that you don’t get the flashing indicator showing when someone is about to attack. At first this is fine: You just judge the fight by reading the body language of your foes. But late in the game fights are moving fast, there’s particle effects and smoke, the camera is spinning all over the place, and crowds are dense. Also, once in a while a mook runs up to you and then mysteriously pauses for three seconds before taking a swing at you. You’ll see him coming, hit the counter button, and break your flow. It feels like a battle against the camera and dice rolls more than mastering the controls. I admire the intent, but I don’t think it quite works.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.