Batman: Arkham Asylum

Finally, a super hero video game that actually is not so bad. And by not so bad, I mean good.

And by good, I mean fantastic. And that still doesn't begin to cover it.

Having played the game the day it came out and beat it within a few days, I can say that it is a very well-made game. Only a handful of games have made me want to play it non-stop until it has been completed before this game came out. This game is now added to that list.

PS3 Box Art for the game.

For what I expected from a game where I can play Batman, the game delivers. It has stealth. It has fighting. And if you get good enough at it, you can take down large groups while doing both. Which I did, a lot.

The game even has a story, too. And is voiced by very recognizeable actors. Mark Hamill voiced the Joker; and Kevin Conroy as Batman. All the voices were done particularly well. The story itself is somewhat a stereotypical one; Batman had just captured the Joker and was taking him back to Arkham Asylum. When they get there and deep into the asylum, Joker breaks free and unleashes a plan that had been in the works for a very long time.

"I set a trap, and you sprung it gloriously!" taunts the Joker as Batman attemts to catch the Joker for the first time.

It is not just the Joker that you face in the game. You run across several villains from the series, and come across even more momentos from other villains that did not get to make a major appearance. Still, the ones who did appear were very interesting, such as Bane, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and Scarecrow. The Joker unleashes them all on Batman as a distraction so his evil plan can be completed in time and have no real interruptions from Batman.

Killer Croc looking at Batman.

At Your disposal is some typical Batman tools and gadgets. He was never really a hero with true super powers, and this makes no exception. He has batarangs, a grappling hook, and various high-tech gadgets that allow him to disable security doors or blow things up. He also has an X-ray vision of sorts (called "Detective Mode")that allows him to see through walls and tell whether an enemy is armed or not.

As stated earlier, the fighting system is rather impressive. It includes both fisticuff fighting, and stealthily taking down opponents. When Opponents are armed with guns, Stealth is typically the best option to go with. But there are several moments when the straight brawling was the best way to go. I will admit that the fighting portion is basically button-mashing with making sure you have the joystick pointing in the right direction, but even with that in mind the button-mashing aspect is made up for by how awesome the fighting ended up looking every single time. However, being a fan of stealth games like Splinter Cell, I preferred doing the stealthy takedowns as often as the game would allow me. I would even repeat a scene several times so that I could do the stealth and not be seen once.

Batman, using his super-vision to see through a wall (that can be destroyed) and looking at an escaped convict that is armed.

To make it even more awesome, the game featured an incredible variety of upgrades and hidden treasures for Batman to find. The largest collection is The Riddler's challenges. He left 240 clues and objects around all of Arkham Asylum for Batman to find. And while it feels like the upgrades are in general not required, they make the game a lot more fun and easier. One upgrade is being able to throw three batarangs instead of one, for example.

Koubo's score of the game: 4.5 out of 5.

Even with all of this awesomeness, there are still a couple of flaws that keep it from getting a perfect score.

As Bryson pointed out when I was playing the game, I was in detective mode a lot. And it was true. I was aiming to get all of the hidden objects, which required me to be in Detective mode for probably 70-85% of the game. And it was very helpful to be in that mode while doing stealth, since with it you could get a feel on where all of the bad guys were wandering in the room.

Another thing, and this is something I will dock every game that doesn't include it for, is the lack of the final boss having more than one form. You face the Joker in the end. But you don't face him as he is. You just watch him transform into a monster, then defeat his monster form. Then the game ends. No second form. Boo.

Other than those two things, it is an incredible game with very high replay value. That is a rare statement for a video game using a superhero. Too rare.

~Koubo

Little Big Planet--First Impressions

Little Big Planet (PS3) has probably been one of the most revolutionary games released recently. Instead of just playing prebuilt and preloaded levels, gamers have the option to build their own levels and share them with all the other people in the world online. Also, the sackboys (the name of the cute little characters you play as) are vastly customizable with both items you can obtain in the levels of the game and premade costumes you can download from the PS network.

The level of customizability in this game is staggering. I've seen people with Kratos (God of War) sackboys and I've heard there's going to be a Sephiroth Sackboy (Final Fantasy VII). I've also played levels themed after Super Mario Bros., Mortal Kombat, and Patapon. There are so many different levels to play, you could play the game for 24 hours straight and never repeat a level unless you really want to. And not all of the levels are going to be the same. Some are going to be platformesque levels while others will be racing.

One thing I love about this game is that it's always multiplayer. And it's not that you can play multiplayer, it's more that you'll want to play multiplayer. The game is just so much more fun that way.

The gameplay for Little Big Planet is fairly simple. You move across a level until you reach the judging platform at the end. You can run, jump, and grab onto most things (birds, cars, each other, or monkeys). Each level has elements from different genres of games. You are going to have to solve puzzles, but they aren't going to be the type you wrack your brains about for hours. Some will be as simple as sticking a flower sticker on a branch so that a giraffe lifts it's head to let you into a room. While the controls are fairly simple, some of them add a strange element of fun to the game. You can use the D-pad on your controller to change your Sackboy's expression from scared to angry to happy. You can also use the triggers to control your arms, which allows you to smack other players around. (This is especially helpful when another player won't stop grabbing onto you.)

This is one of the few games I've ever played where the main goal is to have fun, which you almost always will (even when you have to restart a level 3 times). Every time I've played it, I've spent a good amount of time laughing at the crazy yet truly funny things that have happened.

Right now, the game is only available on the PS3, but a version for the PSP is slated for release in the holiday season of 2009. If they keep the PSP version just like the PS3 version, it should do quite well. I'm excited for it for sure.

The good points:

Simple, fun and addictive gameplay make this a great title for anyone with a PS3 to own. The game also has great replay value thanks to people always making new levels for it.

The bad points:

Honestly? The only bad things I can think of in this game is that you have to pay to download some of the costumes and level packs. (Albeit, you don't have to pay very much.)

My score:

5 out of 5. It really is one of the best party games I've ever played. It puts games like Mario Party to shame.