Taking a break from my regular tales from the table segment to talk a little bit about video games. Recieved an X-Box 360 for Christmas and have since completed 2 games for it. The first I completed is Batman Arkham Asylum, which overall I give a solid B rating for a game. The graphics are great, the controls for the most part are pretty fluid and smooth and it does give you a good idea what it feels like to be the Dark Knight. But why with all the acclaim for this game could I only give it a B? Well first and foremost were the games challenges. Many of the Boss battles and encounters follow the very first Titan fueled mini-boss encounter in the game. Basically a big hulking guy roars, charges you down, you batarang them in the head to stun them, then beat on them til the recover. This style boss battle repeats itself with minor variation at least four times durring the game. The final boss battle with the Joker is probably the biggest let down of the entire game, it's a weak sauce ending for such an epic struggle and it doesn't live up to the rest of the game.
My other gripes about the game are more geek oriented and have to do with Batman's overall limitations. The biggest problem I had was he wasn't very bullet proof; machine guns and snipers tear you a new butthole in this game. I don't know how many times I've seen batman raise his cape up and over himself to repel bullets. Having this as a defence would have been nice. Batman could also have employed some smoke pellets. There were pleanty of points in the game were creating a disorienting smoke cloud would have been great for taking out thugs, especially machine guns. I felt having doors being "locked" or "blocked" was a weak reason to create more searching for the inevitable vent you'd need to climb through. He had an unlimited supply of explosive gel; Why not just blow crap off their hinges. Someone said, well that's not stealthy; well Batmas is stealthy, but he's also theatrical and intimidating. Blowing a door off its hinges and then laying in wait for scared thugs to come and investigate, and then take them out seems to be more of Batman's style.
Overall the game was pretty enjoyable and I like that they employed many of the voice actors from the animated series; it gave it that little something extra.
Now the second game I completed is a bit old, but one I really wanted to play and that was Fable II. I remember watching commercials about choosing your path and being evil or good and all that kind of free enviornment stuff. Well the game was highly disappointing, and has probably one of the worst endings I've ever seen in a game. A quick rundown of the story is as follows. You're a kid that lives as an orphan in this big city with your sister. You run around doing odd-jobs for people and you final earn this magic box that is supposed to grant wishes. Your sister wishes that the two of you could live in this great castle, and the lord of that castle discovers you have the wishing box and then tells you that wishes could come true for you. He takes you to his lab in the castle and you learn that he has great magical power aspirations and he then discovers that you and your sister could be part of a prophecy that could keep him from his destiny. He then shoots your sister and then you. You some how survive the ordeal and are raised by a mysterious blind woman who wants to guide you to your destiny of find the three heroes necessary to defeat the evil bad guy in his evil magical spire he's constructing.
She guides you to different places where you find tasks and missions to help you gain the strength, agility, and willpower (Fighting skill, shooting skill, and magic skill) to exact you own justice against your evil foe. Long story short, you finally get to the guy who has your three hero friends and is draining them of power. You stop him from do it in what is pretty much an in game cinematic. He then tells you to prepare yourself and that he's going to kill you. Your character then immediately pulls out their gun. Well at this point in the game, I didn't want to use my gun; my melee and magic skills were far superior. So I tried to blast him with my magic, which just stopped working for no explained reason. So then I pulled out my hammer, and even though the bad guy was only one step away, I could get close enough to hit him with it. So then I pushed my gun button, fired it once, and killed the ultimate bad guy. One shot. Dead. He falls off his little step and down in to the spire, and the game moves on to giving you your final gift of one of three wishes.
What kind of shitty boss battle is that?! You spend the whole game building up and doing everything necessary to prepare yourself to fight this guy who has a powerful army at his command and has enslaved hundreds of people to build this sprire, and he goes down with a single shot. It was weak, it was worse than a disappointment, and I feel robbed of the time I spent playing the game. Overall I give the game a D-. It doesn't live up to what it promises in almost any way.
If you have any thoughts on these games or any other games. Share them with us in our comments section.
