I bought this game on a moment's notice due to becoming excited for it's sequel, Arkham City. Like IGN said if you're a fan of Batman and have been disappointed in the past, don't look further than Arkham Asylum. A true-to-life video game adaption to (one of) the best superheroes around.
First off just like Transformers: War for Cybertron, the method to making this a true video game adaption was of course building the story around the gameplay and not vise versa, Arkham is not based on the movies, cartoons, or comics but implements it's own premise to give gamers a more compelling sense of gameplay. Now to the basics.
The voice acting is top-notch with the help of the cast of The Animated Series, which I found quite good since people like me agree that Joker isn't really joker without Mark Hamill.
The graphics are pretty good for being an older game and using UE3, but it seems Eidos and pals found a way to give the game the facelifting it needed, and unlike Squenix found better ways around the "FPS" pre-programming that has plagued UE3 games.
Combat is smooth, and there are plenty of "fun toys" to take out goons and bosses, but it does get frustrating at times. That said the game is still pretty fun if you have your brains about ya.
The game emphasizes stealth with you using silent takedowns, explosives where enemies might not see, grappling to higher ground so the enemies are left confused, and you have to be quick in areas where the enemies are armed with guns(since guns are pretty much insta-death if you don't get out the situation soon).
A few iconic villians make their way into the game, and it seems the sequel will feature even more of them. Though Joker is the main villian you might be surprised who you will find in the midst of Akham(though I won't tell because it might spoiler all the fun to you).
All in all Batman: Akham is good fun and you have a knack for stealth games with a bit of Batman-flavored action I do suggest this game for those who don't have issues with frustrating boss battles.
In My Opinion?
9 out of 10
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Hey You Down There: Auteurs
So basically since the beginning of my aspiring video game career I have always wanted to be the "producer/director/writer" that would be in charge of the designing of my game ideas turned into real games. I just learn there is a "somewhat" official term for the combination of these three designations..."Auteur".
I wouldn't have known this until a company who has a designer who has the same multi-designation who respects people who want to be in my kind of position.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1156413p1.html
When prodded about the growing size of development teams, Cage seemed to stress focus and maturity of the product delivered over the ever-growing size of studios. "If this industry wants to mature and evolve then we need to talk about emotions and work on stories that appeal to all people, not just hardcore gamers between the ages of 15 and 17." He went on to discuss that auteurs are what's needed most in the industry. "We need auteurs, and the biggest problem in this industry is that we don't trust them -- we trust programmers instead."
Thank you mister!
I wouldn't have known this until a company who has a designer who has the same multi-designation who respects people who want to be in my kind of position.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1156413p1.html
When prodded about the growing size of development teams, Cage seemed to stress focus and maturity of the product delivered over the ever-growing size of studios. "If this industry wants to mature and evolve then we need to talk about emotions and work on stories that appeal to all people, not just hardcore gamers between the ages of 15 and 17." He went on to discuss that auteurs are what's needed most in the industry. "We need auteurs, and the biggest problem in this industry is that we don't trust them -- we trust programmers instead."
Thank you mister!
Final Fantasy XIII and beyond; the halt of a series.
Now some people may think of me as a bit harsh about FFXIII(which I have still yet to complete, bleh), but given the bigger picture I am about to say my opinion on I hope you guys will at least agree of some of my topic's aspects.
First, the love-hate of Final Fantasy XIII.
I remember watching the original trailer of FFXIII was quite thrilled by the graphics and potential gameplay, but that original trailer seemed eons before the game finall released which killed alot of the hype behind it for me and practically thousands of people. FFXIII looks amazing graphics wise still, but the only thing I found degrading is while they were adding the final make-up to the graphics, the story seemed more of an afterthought in the process. The gameplay at times is pretty solid I have to admit, with a unique real-time-esque system that's quite enjoyable...for the first several hours...but that's the thing...the game's linearity just seems to cripple the potential of this game, and the massive unoriginallity of the story.
Some people my scorn me for this, but whoever was in charge of the XIII project seemed to have the impression by the major "sellout" of the original trailer's fantastic graphical presentation that the story shouldn't have been first priority, a loophole that seemed also evident in FFXII which looked solid on PS2, but the story just kind of....died. It just kind of horrific that FFXIII took too many years too long for what the story presented, as if those 5 years were more spent on graphics buffing than story phases that ended up in the plot's sometimes inconsitent taglines which ended up in a horrifyingly linear game. Grinding has always been about of RPGs, but the shear scale of FFXIII linearity and difficulty just made it seemed like "if you fight 100 baddies and level up enough...here's another snippet of the plot".
Second, Versus XII and XIV
Though FFXIII is over and done with(though there are plans for a sequel, somewhat surprisingly), the same engine and story neglect also has affected it's sister products, Versus XIII and XIV. Versus XIII is still in design phase with Nomura just making little touches to the graphics(can you believe one of his blog posts was just about admiring the cloud physics simulation in the game?!) and the story progress while ramping up has been slow as well, with most of the trailers practically mirroring each other in content. It just seems that due to Versus XIII using the same engine tech that of course it is experiencing the same design and management flaws. Of course none of them are as bad as FFXIV, an atrocity to the sake RPGs and MMORPGs alike.
XIV uses the FF (VS) XIII engine but in MMO form, leaving many of it's players to horrendous high specs and crippling bugs not suited for any kind of launch...with the backlash of one of their investors going on a stock-selling spree and having to refund players for several months. That and it seems that's only the tip of the iceberg.
It was about last year that Squenix announced their next-gen engine(for PS4 and Xbox 720) and are hiring "pro engineers" for it's making. This news is nothing less of a facepalm seeing how Square-Enix's CURRENT engine is still with design flaws and in major need of debugging(cough XIV cough).
At this point Square-Enix has nothing but bring their biggest-selling franchise to a stammering halt in efficiency, and they need to fix their problems soon.
First, the love-hate of Final Fantasy XIII.
I remember watching the original trailer of FFXIII was quite thrilled by the graphics and potential gameplay, but that original trailer seemed eons before the game finall released which killed alot of the hype behind it for me and practically thousands of people. FFXIII looks amazing graphics wise still, but the only thing I found degrading is while they were adding the final make-up to the graphics, the story seemed more of an afterthought in the process. The gameplay at times is pretty solid I have to admit, with a unique real-time-esque system that's quite enjoyable...for the first several hours...but that's the thing...the game's linearity just seems to cripple the potential of this game, and the massive unoriginallity of the story.
Some people my scorn me for this, but whoever was in charge of the XIII project seemed to have the impression by the major "sellout" of the original trailer's fantastic graphical presentation that the story shouldn't have been first priority, a loophole that seemed also evident in FFXII which looked solid on PS2, but the story just kind of....died. It just kind of horrific that FFXIII took too many years too long for what the story presented, as if those 5 years were more spent on graphics buffing than story phases that ended up in the plot's sometimes inconsitent taglines which ended up in a horrifyingly linear game. Grinding has always been about of RPGs, but the shear scale of FFXIII linearity and difficulty just made it seemed like "if you fight 100 baddies and level up enough...here's another snippet of the plot".
Second, Versus XII and XIV
Though FFXIII is over and done with(though there are plans for a sequel, somewhat surprisingly), the same engine and story neglect also has affected it's sister products, Versus XIII and XIV. Versus XIII is still in design phase with Nomura just making little touches to the graphics(can you believe one of his blog posts was just about admiring the cloud physics simulation in the game?!) and the story progress while ramping up has been slow as well, with most of the trailers practically mirroring each other in content. It just seems that due to Versus XIII using the same engine tech that of course it is experiencing the same design and management flaws. Of course none of them are as bad as FFXIV, an atrocity to the sake RPGs and MMORPGs alike.
XIV uses the FF (VS) XIII engine but in MMO form, leaving many of it's players to horrendous high specs and crippling bugs not suited for any kind of launch...with the backlash of one of their investors going on a stock-selling spree and having to refund players for several months. That and it seems that's only the tip of the iceberg.
It was about last year that Squenix announced their next-gen engine(for PS4 and Xbox 720) and are hiring "pro engineers" for it's making. This news is nothing less of a facepalm seeing how Square-Enix's CURRENT engine is still with design flaws and in major need of debugging(cough XIV cough).
At this point Square-Enix has nothing but bring their biggest-selling franchise to a stammering halt in efficiency, and they need to fix their problems soon.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
THE LAST STORY FULL OST REVIEW
Okay since there are so many songs on the full OST, here's my opinions on it.
Awesome music, Great variety, and like I said last time...Welcome back Uematsu.
In my opinion?
10 out of 10
Awesome music, Great variety, and like I said last time...Welcome back Uematsu.
In my opinion?
10 out of 10
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
BrioCyrain's Top 10 Songs of War
A while ago I decided to compile on youtube a list of war-game tracks that I thought in my opinion the best in the war-game industry. I have finally decided to review each song and tell you why I think are the top 10 and why they are ranked accordingly.
#10 GRAW 2 Theme:
Immediately at the beginning you can feel the tension build and a sense of desperation as you can picture the dire scenes of war in the game. The game slowly builds to more epic proportions though keeps a steady pace throughout, you know that something big is going down through the remainder of the song. At the end also the song just "explodes" causing an epic finish to help suck you into the action.
#9 MGS 2 Theme:
This song starts off with a techno-esque feeling as it picks up to the famed beat and theme. The theme although simplistic gives you a detailed image of just how "dark" the theme of the game is, the deceitfully pleasant tune then darkens just to pick up even more. The "calm" middle is also quite good, as it then explodes back into action where you can picture Raiden and Snake going through an action-packed scene. Of course at the end is the famous epic ending known to make gamers have the urge to "salute" which it's been said that is what Snake does in one of the games.
#8 GR2 Theme:
This song is nothing but an epic assortment of orchestra and rock-techno beats, pretty much the embodiment of the original concept of Ghost Recon, military bad-butt dudes with tech to take out a whole country by themselves. Also the asian bits to help indicate that the game takes place in Asia(to be exact North Korea). Sometimes I would boot my copy just to listen to this song, it's good stuff.
#7 Rising Eagles (HAWX 2):
An epic build up that instantly let's you picture yourself within your jet and squadron through massive environments ready to dish out some major jet-fighter hurt. The beat is perfect as well as a great mix of orchestrated pieces.
#6 Turn and Burn(HAWX 2):
Though Turn and Burn shares the same melody it is quite a step up with it's awesome beat and use of electro-rock pieces and an even more epic orchestra bit. A perfect track for a Jet-fighter game with more oomph.
#5 MGS 3 Theme:
The desperate beginning is a great catch as you think something has gone totally wrong at the start of the song. Soon after though the song kicks into a rock-orchestra tune as an epic piece gives you a still picture of the even darker theme of MGS3. The song only gets better as it seems to get more desperate feelings throughout. As accustomed to MGS is the somewhat "deceitfully" darkly-pleasant techno middle-piece. The song then goes to back to a "very bad feeling" piece of desperation. The song then kicks into a very up-beat drum session, to be followed into a crazed techno-babble piece, and thus the theme returns back in an epicly-paced motion. The song practically "halts" in an attempt to stop the utter madness that happened immediately before, with a very calm techno-piano-esque piece. Thus the famous guitar rearrangement from the original, with a dire sense of anguish. The song then kicks back into the epic ending as if "Everything is alright with the famous Snake around, who has saved the world numerous times". (Salutes).
#4 MGS: Peace Walker Theme:
The beginning is pretty typical with it's "anguish-and-desperate" feeling of the what seems that everything in the world has gone wrong. Techno returns to followed by a chaotic piece emphasizing the desperate situation the game retains, with war and malice about the world. The song then picks up...ALOT to the point of just bursting into epic tune in a heroic sense of having to save the world at the end. Just...epic, and nothing else.
#3 The Last Stand (HAWX 2)
A symphony of light through strings carries us to an epic violin piece that showcases anguish and desperation...The Last Stand, not only for the people of it's war, but for the whole world to mourn of it. A violin to pluck at your heart as the song prepares everyone for The Last Stand...nothing short of emotional vibes to suck a player of any genre into the utter final collapse that the game will engulf them in. The cry of the choir and following orchestra...A final battle to end all final battles can be heard in this tune to become...The Last Stand. Onward soldiers...ONWARD GAMERS! THE TIME HAS COME..THE LAST STAND IS UPON US!
#2 The Unsung War (Ace Combat 5)
Wars that are Unsung, Wars that are caused by the evil hearts of warmongers. A tale of heroism and courage that even with a single air squadron the world was saved even from the devastation of a falling satelite, nothing is impossible with the right music...The right music for an Unsung War. This song is nothing short of orchestral perfection, for a song that can motivate even the slightest non-flight-sim gamer into the clutches of a final battle for what seems to be the final battle for a great nation attacked by the evil hearts of warmongers.
#1 Rex Tremendae/Agnus Dei (Ace Combat 4)
The most epic assortment of war music ever bestowed upon man, as the music suggests the final crusade and war at Armegaddon, for thus the title itself means "Lamb of God". The player is amazingly lucky to surge at the final menace which is Megalith, an evil-embodiment of all destruction caused by those who wish it on the world. Greed, power, and everything is focused on as the player becomes the savior of the world, and with such lyrics must bring back peace to the living and rest to the fallen. A salute you Keiki Kobayashi.
#10 GRAW 2 Theme:
Immediately at the beginning you can feel the tension build and a sense of desperation as you can picture the dire scenes of war in the game. The game slowly builds to more epic proportions though keeps a steady pace throughout, you know that something big is going down through the remainder of the song. At the end also the song just "explodes" causing an epic finish to help suck you into the action.
#9 MGS 2 Theme:
This song starts off with a techno-esque feeling as it picks up to the famed beat and theme. The theme although simplistic gives you a detailed image of just how "dark" the theme of the game is, the deceitfully pleasant tune then darkens just to pick up even more. The "calm" middle is also quite good, as it then explodes back into action where you can picture Raiden and Snake going through an action-packed scene. Of course at the end is the famous epic ending known to make gamers have the urge to "salute" which it's been said that is what Snake does in one of the games.
#8 GR2 Theme:
This song is nothing but an epic assortment of orchestra and rock-techno beats, pretty much the embodiment of the original concept of Ghost Recon, military bad-butt dudes with tech to take out a whole country by themselves. Also the asian bits to help indicate that the game takes place in Asia(to be exact North Korea). Sometimes I would boot my copy just to listen to this song, it's good stuff.
#7 Rising Eagles (HAWX 2):
An epic build up that instantly let's you picture yourself within your jet and squadron through massive environments ready to dish out some major jet-fighter hurt. The beat is perfect as well as a great mix of orchestrated pieces.
#6 Turn and Burn(HAWX 2):
Though Turn and Burn shares the same melody it is quite a step up with it's awesome beat and use of electro-rock pieces and an even more epic orchestra bit. A perfect track for a Jet-fighter game with more oomph.
#5 MGS 3 Theme:
The desperate beginning is a great catch as you think something has gone totally wrong at the start of the song. Soon after though the song kicks into a rock-orchestra tune as an epic piece gives you a still picture of the even darker theme of MGS3. The song only gets better as it seems to get more desperate feelings throughout. As accustomed to MGS is the somewhat "deceitfully" darkly-pleasant techno middle-piece. The song then goes to back to a "very bad feeling" piece of desperation. The song then kicks into a very up-beat drum session, to be followed into a crazed techno-babble piece, and thus the theme returns back in an epicly-paced motion. The song practically "halts" in an attempt to stop the utter madness that happened immediately before, with a very calm techno-piano-esque piece. Thus the famous guitar rearrangement from the original, with a dire sense of anguish. The song then kicks back into the epic ending as if "Everything is alright with the famous Snake around, who has saved the world numerous times". (Salutes).
#4 MGS: Peace Walker Theme:
The beginning is pretty typical with it's "anguish-and-desperate" feeling of the what seems that everything in the world has gone wrong. Techno returns to followed by a chaotic piece emphasizing the desperate situation the game retains, with war and malice about the world. The song then picks up...ALOT to the point of just bursting into epic tune in a heroic sense of having to save the world at the end. Just...epic, and nothing else.
#3 The Last Stand (HAWX 2)
A symphony of light through strings carries us to an epic violin piece that showcases anguish and desperation...The Last Stand, not only for the people of it's war, but for the whole world to mourn of it. A violin to pluck at your heart as the song prepares everyone for The Last Stand...nothing short of emotional vibes to suck a player of any genre into the utter final collapse that the game will engulf them in. The cry of the choir and following orchestra...A final battle to end all final battles can be heard in this tune to become...The Last Stand. Onward soldiers...ONWARD GAMERS! THE TIME HAS COME..THE LAST STAND IS UPON US!
#2 The Unsung War (Ace Combat 5)
Wars that are Unsung, Wars that are caused by the evil hearts of warmongers. A tale of heroism and courage that even with a single air squadron the world was saved even from the devastation of a falling satelite, nothing is impossible with the right music...The right music for an Unsung War. This song is nothing short of orchestral perfection, for a song that can motivate even the slightest non-flight-sim gamer into the clutches of a final battle for what seems to be the final battle for a great nation attacked by the evil hearts of warmongers.
#1 Rex Tremendae/Agnus Dei (Ace Combat 4)
The most epic assortment of war music ever bestowed upon man, as the music suggests the final crusade and war at Armegaddon, for thus the title itself means "Lamb of God". The player is amazingly lucky to surge at the final menace which is Megalith, an evil-embodiment of all destruction caused by those who wish it on the world. Greed, power, and everything is focused on as the player becomes the savior of the world, and with such lyrics must bring back peace to the living and rest to the fallen. A salute you Keiki Kobayashi.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter: REVIEW
Now I knew this game way back when it launched in 2006, remembered how amazing the graphics looked, the awesome music, but the only thing that really held me back was the IGN review of "Dieing Alot" and that I didn't have an Xbox 360.
Just last year though I got the game for dirt cheap with the hopes of if IGN's review still stood, and it pretty much did.
The game is still in my opinion a graphical masterpiece, and the music is still awesome...BUT to the point of the biggest issue that kept me from the last time...DIEING ALOT. The game's realistic nature of a few hits and the enemy is dead...You're just in the same death field as them buddy. As advertised, tactics is everything...one bad move and you're whole squad is pretty much dead, leaving you with sometimes the agony of several retries before figuring out the right(and sometimes quirky) tactic or staying alive from "Dumb AI Luck" where you're AI actually pull off something fancy. The game is not without it's blood-pumping "chaotic" moments where your in a chopper just mowing down the enemy from below...sort of "Fly-and-gun" moments.
You'll also come across areas with heavily-Nightvision-demanding sections...and you might be forced to use Nightvision even in the daytime if your stuck at sunset or daybreak with still no real sun.
Going on to the fun parts, well...Any funfactor in this game is bittersweet due to the fact of either you winning because of figuring out the enemy positions after dieing 20 times, or you're actually on a really good roll of pwning the opposition. That and the few and far between section of being able to command a Tank, Bradly, or Apache when the game finally notices you're in a pickle.
All in all the game is fun is short...very short spirts as trying to play too many missions at a time can result in humiliation and insulting your AI squad.
What do I think?
8.0
Just last year though I got the game for dirt cheap with the hopes of if IGN's review still stood, and it pretty much did.
The game is still in my opinion a graphical masterpiece, and the music is still awesome...BUT to the point of the biggest issue that kept me from the last time...DIEING ALOT. The game's realistic nature of a few hits and the enemy is dead...You're just in the same death field as them buddy. As advertised, tactics is everything...one bad move and you're whole squad is pretty much dead, leaving you with sometimes the agony of several retries before figuring out the right(and sometimes quirky) tactic or staying alive from "Dumb AI Luck" where you're AI actually pull off something fancy. The game is not without it's blood-pumping "chaotic" moments where your in a chopper just mowing down the enemy from below...sort of "Fly-and-gun" moments.
You'll also come across areas with heavily-Nightvision-demanding sections...and you might be forced to use Nightvision even in the daytime if your stuck at sunset or daybreak with still no real sun.
Going on to the fun parts, well...Any funfactor in this game is bittersweet due to the fact of either you winning because of figuring out the enemy positions after dieing 20 times, or you're actually on a really good roll of pwning the opposition. That and the few and far between section of being able to command a Tank, Bradly, or Apache when the game finally notices you're in a pickle.
All in all the game is fun is short...very short spirts as trying to play too many missions at a time can result in humiliation and insulting your AI squad.
What do I think?
8.0
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