I am a Poor Excuse for a Modern Gamer

[StanJr]

I really do suck when it comes to modern games. My best friend has been very complimentary about Batman Arkham City, so he let me borrow Batman Arkham Asylum so that I could get into it as well, B:AA is kind of my training wheels for the big show. So I finally put it in last night and gave it a go.

 

I suck at modern games. After about an hour and a half (20 minutes of that spent in an "interactive" cut scene), I was getting really frustrated. Why? Too many damn buttons, too many damn options, too many damn features, and too many "kick open the grate and crawl through the air ducts," and not enough game play.

 

First the buttons. LT aims the batarang, RB throws it. LT also arms the explosive gel, RB sprays it, but you have to hit the left or right arrow on the D-Pad to pick which you want to do. LB puts you in "Detective Mode" and while there A lets you scan the area, in given situations if you are looking at the right spot. RB also grapples. RT crouches so you can enter air ducts (incessantly). Oh, and the left stick walks you around, the right stick controls your camera, X is your attack, but so is Y if you are being attacked. Y + RT does some kind of finishing move, while A + X is a throw, but only if.... SHEESH! Who can keep track of all of this? I guess everyone but me. I remember having a lot of options on Batman Returns for the SNES, but it never seemed this overwhelming. Heck, Zelda Skyward Sword has tons of control options too, but they are far more intuitive than this.

 

Now the options and features. Hey, look you just knocked out like 6 bad guys, then suddenly a screen pops up telling you that you can upgrade your combo attack. But the screen where you do that is a mess and features a million different things none of which make any sense or tell you what to press to do what or what it means if you do it. So I just hit some buttons and hope it will all go away. But wait, there's more! When that screen goes away, a new screen pops up telling me I unlocked Killer Croc's character Bio and takes me to another messy screen with a bunch of pictures, with no indication of what I am meant to do or why I should do it. So I just keep hitting B until get back to the action. Once there the Riddler tells me he has a clue for me, and he taunts me, then a new screen pops up with all of these Riddler Quests for me to solve. I don't know what a Szazs is or what his work looks like so, again, I just mash B until I get away. Once away, I look on a table and there is a film reel. I pick it up and a new screen pops up telling me I've unlocked a "file tape" or something about the Joker. I hit A to play it and it yammers on for about 5 minutes adding nothing to my game experience and generally annoying me. When I try to mash B out, I somehow trigger it to play again, only this time as an overlay to the main game play. I can find no way to shut this off, so now the same track is playing again as I race off to try to defend my Batmobile. Annoying and frustrating, plus I've wasted about 5 minutes with absolutely NO game play.

 

Finally, after 1.5 hours of B: AA I can tell you one thing for certain: Batman travels primarily via air duct. They don't show this as much in the comics or the movie, but his main means of egress is the ventilation shaft. Great level design.

 

I am sticking with it, because everyone says it is great, but thus far my experience has been a tangled mess of confusion and boredom. When there is actual game play, it feels a lot like Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions, which was much easier to get into and a lot of fun. So I am hopeful that I get used to all of the confusing stuff and settle in. I am also hopeful that most of this is clutter in the early levels and that soon there is more pure game play and less "run to point A, fight three guys, watch cut scene, run to point B fight 3 guys, watch cut scene, etc.

 

Is this how most modern games like this are these days? It's no wonder I stick to the VCS and NES. Sheesh. I

[+HammR25]

You just may not like that particular game.

[Rex Dart]

You just may not like that particular game.

 

I kinda agree. I couldn't get into Asylum, either. I wanted to like it, but it seems like a poorly-done fusion of Ninja Gaiden & Assassin's Creed.

[onlysublime]

I think you'll definitely enjoy Arkham City more than Asylum.

[mister_pal]

There are significantly less air-ducts in Arkham City

[+Random Terrain]

Both games have many parts that I hate, especially the times when you're on some kind of acid trip, but there's one thing I love in Batman: Arkham Asylum that isn't in Batman Arkham City and that's the Ultra Batclaw:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykH27xkoUsc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykH27xkoUsc

 

The Ultra Batclaw is the best toy ever, so why didn't they include it in Batman Arkham City?

[StanJr]

I thought it might just be the game. I mean I got right into Skyrim no problem and games for the Wii haven't given much pause (but you know those are made for kids... ), so maybe it is the game. I'm still going to give it the five full hours every game deserves, so I am hopeful it gets better.

[Petran79]

I understand your frustration. I played the game and reached the point where some thugs are holding hostage a doctor. Now if I try to break in they shoot the doctor immediately and I have to restart. Even if I plant explosive gell at the entrance behind and knock off some of them, the one pointing the gun shoots before I have time to react.

 

Havent played the game since....

 

still much easier than the Batmans of the early 90s. atmosphere is there but if I want real atmosphere I'd better read the comics. I want MAINLY to play a game.....

 

also now I suck playing fighters and fps with a gamepad. never really got used to it. For platformers and sports games it is ok

[+Random Terrain]

I understand your frustration. I played the game and reached the point where some thugs are holding hostage a doctor. Now if I try to break in they shoot the doctor immediately and I have to restart. Even if I plant explosive gel at the entrance behind and knock off some of them, the one pointing the gun shoots before I have time to react.

 

Haven't played the game since....

 

Hidden in case some people don't want to know:

 

 

 

There are two places where you need to squirt the gel:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tKLDfH91O0

 

 

[Petran79]

thanks, I'll check this out to continue the game. but i stopped playing more because it had a good presentation but nothing to keep me motivated. plus I was never a Batman fan

[StanJr]

I played a couple more hours last night and it is getting a little better, particularly once I learned to ignore all of the supplemental material. I took down Scarecrow and Bane. The more I played the more I realized that the basic formula is very, very similar to Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions, just substitute Mysterio for Scarecrow and Rhino for Bane. Curious that.

 

I do find it HIGHLY convenient that Batman has a back-up Batcave under Arkham. Ahem... Sloppy design... Ahem...

[Vic George 2K3]

I think I'm getting too old for controller gymnastics. Too many modern games I can't wrap my head around.

[HatefulGravey]

The controller could be worse. Check this out.

 

Avenger Controller

 

Kontrol Freak

 

I have the Kontrol Freak stick things, and I love them actually. One of the kids came over and lost one of them for me, but I like having the one on my left stick so its nice. The Avenger set up is something I would play around with, but I can't see spending $50 on it.

 

Put those together and your controller gets nuts.

[StanJr]

By the way, Batman Arkham Asylum is LITERALLY: "find the scent, work your way through air ducts to the target, fight regular bad buys, sneak attack a room full of armed bad guys, fight the boss, repeat." I'm about 40% done and 80% bored.

[Rex Dart]

Well, I'm glad you found out that it's just a lousy game. I preferred Spider-Man: SD, too.

[StanJr]

Yeah, I managed to figure out the controls and how to navigate the ridiculous special features (I think the game has more bonus features than regular features). I think I like Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions better as well.