Batman Arkham Asylum PC

[Asehujiko]

Yes the game isn't out yet for another 2 weeks. Oh hang on, the people who don't have to pay for their games get it 12 days in advance again.

Starting with the most deciding factor in many people's purchase, the DRM.
First of all, it failed catastrophically again, by 12 days. That is not to say that it isn't obtrusive and punishing for the paying costumer. In fact, it takes online activation one step further and requires 24/7 online access AND a disk in the drive if you were unlucky enough to have a physical version. As of now here's a bug where NO ONE can save their game, including legal costumers that had it delivered early but a crackfix for pirates is expected later today. The bug seems to be related with the fact that the game tries to look for XBL instead of GFWL and thus it doesn't look like waiting until release will fix this. The only other option is waiting for a post-launch patch but the sorry state of the game makes me think that beyond complaining about the (completely unsurprising) lack of sales a few months down the line, Eidos will completely forget about it.

Onto the "new features" of the PC version.
As yo run down a few specific corridors, some pre-scripted paper flies up, even when you are running the other way. And a specific combo near a specific kind of table breaks said table. The pieces are glued to the floor after that. Also, there's an AA option that only serves to turn batman into blurman and an AF option that undoes everything the AA should do and turn everything in the distance in a pixelated mess.

Finally we get to a point that the game has in common with it's console counterpart, gameplay.
Exactly the same as the consoles but with more unresponsive and awkward controls, input lag and collision glitches.

Story.
I only played what was also in the demo before i uninstalled it so i can't comment on this either.

Performance.
The make or break part of any game. In this case, it breaks. Fps is about 20 and drops to 5 when anything remotely interesting happens(like turning on detective mode). Despite the bland to average graphics, the system requirements are insanely high, to the point where the game demands a GTX260 and a 8800+ or a 8800XXX in SLI in order to run "physics", whatever that is supposed to be since regular physics aren't in the game. By virtue of being recently upgraded to "generation 7.5" my PC exceeds the requirements by a decent margin but it still runs like there's an Alt-Tabbed Cryostasis somewhere.

Verdict: If you are VERY bored, you can buy it for exactly as much money as it's worth: from the pirate bay. Or you can do yourself a favor and not buy it. If you have the console version, return it with the message that you don't support the false advertising, ridiculous drm and generally shitty products sold at full price. If you don't have any version of the game, boycot it because the lazy excuse of a dev team doesn't deserve any money for this blatant abuse of consumer trust.

 

[Woodsey]

Performance.
The make or break part of any game. In this case, it breaks. Fps is about 20 and drops to 5 when anything remotely interesting happens(like turning on detective mode). Despite the bland to average graphics, the system requirements are insanely high, to the point where the game demands a GTX260 and a 8800+ or a 8800XXX in SLI in order to run "physics", whatever that is supposed to be since regular physics aren't in the game. By virtue of being recently upgraded to "generation 7.5" my PC exceeds the requirements by a decent margin but it still runs like there's an Alt-Tabbed Cryostasis somewhere.

Haha, you're kidding right?

I've got a 512mb 9600GT, 2GB DDR2 RAM, Intel Core2Duo @ 2.66 GHz, Vista 32-bit; above average specs I'd say but nothing like what you're claiming the game needs. I ran the demo at full, and the only lag I encountered was due to the PhysX, because a PhysX engine is hard to run in any game. They put it in Mirror's Edge, and it gave a fair bit of lag - the answer? Turn it off. You can in Arkham Asylum (I saw the option in the demo so I'm sure it'll be included in the full game). My FPS was easily 30 and above constantly apart from that one instance.

I bought the 360 version because I couldn't really wait and the game is very good. Maybe you shouldn't be such an idiot and exaggerate beyond belief.

And who said it was up to you to dictate what people buy? I haven't seen anyone who doesn't like Arkham Asylum, if you don't then fair enough, don't buy it. But I hardly think people will respond well if you tell them to take a game back because you don't like it.

And I'm under the impression you have a pirtated version? Do you think that maybe a pirated version may not be the finished product? .

Basically, this 'review' (if that's what it's supposed to be) is a complete waste of time.

 

[Asehujiko]

Haha, you're kidding right?

No, i'm quoting numbers from my performance tracker.

I've got a 512mb 9600GT, 2GB DDR2 RAM, Intel Core2Duo @ 2.66 GHz, Vista 32-bit; above average specs I'd say but nothing like what you're claiming the game needs. I ran the demo at full, and the only lag I encountered was due to the PhysX, because a PhysX engine is hard to run in any game. They put it in Mirror's Edge, and it gave a fair bit of lag - the answer? Turn it off. You can in Arkham Asylum (I saw the option in the demo so I'm sure it'll be included in the full game). My FPS was easily 30 and above constantly apart from that one instance.

The game helpfully informs you that you need more GPU's then is practical for anything else when you try to set the physics to "high", as i think i should be allowed to do with my GTX260XXX. The demo does this too. Also, there's something very wrong when the game's biggest selling point and the reason for delayed release is actually holding the game back.

I bought the 360 version because I couldn't really wait and the game is very good. Maybe you shouldn't be such an idiot and exaggerate beyond belief.

Read what you ranting about. I never said anything about the console version.

And who said it was up to you to dictate what people buy? I haven't seen anyone who doesn't like Arkham Asylum, if you don't then fair enough, don't buy it. But I hardly think people will respond well if you tell them to take a game back because you don't like it.

The various people, including on this forum who dictate what i should do with my money.

And I'm under the impression you have a pirtated version? Do you think that maybe a pirated version may not be the finished product? .

A fully compiled version taken from the preload servers of D2D is generally the final product. Unless you wish to believe that somebody broke into the dev's office, stole a preview build, opened it in a hex editor, added all the references to D2D himself and then uploaded it.

Basically, this 'review' (if that's what it's supposed to be) is a complete waste of time.

Then why bother posting a large, badly formatted rant with no constructive criticism whatsoever in the same topic?

 

[Woodsey]

The game helpfully informs you that you need more GPU's then is practical for anything else when you try to set the physics to "high", as i think i should be allowed to do with my GTX260XXX. The demo does this too. Also, there's something very wrong when the game's biggest selling point and the reason for delayed release is actually holding the game back.

PhysX engine or not PC games are often delayed from console releases - I would assume, as is usual, that the game is/was also being optimised. If you feel it's holding the game back (in terms of performance) why not turn it off? It's cheaper on PC anyway. And I wouldn't count physX enhanced paper and tables as Arkham Asylum's main selling point. I bought Mirror's Edge on PC (which had a later release) and simply turned the PhysX off because they added some lag to the game without adding much. I only find a physics engine to have much point in something like Crysis.

Read what you ranting about. I never said anything about the console version.

Read what you're replying to, and what you've written for that matter. My point was the game is excellent on a console without the higher res' and physX engine. If this whole physX thing is the only reason you're buying the game, why bother?

And I believe you may have mentioned something about console gamers that should return the game due to false advertising and a shitty game (which I believe a fair few have pointed out that it isn't - although if that's your opinion fine). False advertising I'd have to disagree with. False advertising where? They advertised a physX engine for the PC version of the game, is it there? Yes, I believe it is. Did they tell you the required specs? Yes, I believe they did.

A fully compiled version taken from the preload servers of D2D is generally the final product. Unless you wish to believe that somebody broke into the dev's office, stole a preview build, opened it in a hex editor, added all the references to D2D himself and then uploaded it.

So you've never heard of a pirated game that turns out not to be the final build? I'm sure I have, although I guess I could be wrong. Pirated games I'm sure also come with their own problems from the pirates, due to workarounds they've employed, etc. Have you ever seen the comments box on a pirate bay torrent? People whine about plenty of things that are problems in the first place because the copy is a pirated version.

I think it's pretty easy for you to call the dev's lazy when they've spent a lot of time making the game, instead of just making a quick and easy tie in and then for you to criticise them based on a pirated copy.

Finally, I would of thought any PC gamers by now would know how a physX engine is pretty difficult to run anyway - I know I do.

 

[Asehujiko]

PhysX engine or not PC games are often delayed from console releases - I would assume, as is usual, that the game is/was also being optimised. If you feel it's holding the game back (in terms of performance) why not turn it off? It's cheaper on PC anyway. And I wouldn't count physX enhanced paper and tables as Arkham Asylum's main selling point. I bought Mirror's Edge on PC (which had a later release) and simply turned the PhysX off because they added some lag to the game without adding much. I only find a physics engine to have much point in something like Crysis.

It was specifically announced that the delay was because of PhysX and something very vague like enhanced graphics. Both of which are evidentially non existent in the PC version. Textures look identical, models look identical, bump mapping and shaders don't seem to be changed aside from the very badly done AA and AF, which, curiously worked in the demo, a result of lazy copy pasta on the PhysX code with no regard where it might break the game in other places. Furthermore, there seems to be the belief that PhysX magically converts everything into destructible terrain without any effort on the developer's part except a few "set pieces" that involve writing a path for a few vertexes with a texture drawn between them, something that takes a few minutes, an hour if you actually bother with displaying the correct lighting(which they didn't).

Read what you're replying to, and what you've written for that matter. My point was the game is excellent on a console without the higher res' and physX engine. If this whole physX thing is the only reason you're buying the game, why bother?
And I believe you may have mentioned something about console gamers that should return the game due to false advertising and a shitty game (which I believe a fair few have pointed out that it isn't - although if that's your opinion fine). False advertising I'd have to disagree with. False advertising where? They advertised a physX engine for the PC version of the game, is it there? Yes, I believe it is. Did they tell you the required specs? Yes, I believe they did.

Did the improved graphics come as promised? They didn't.
Did the realistic physics come as promised? They didn't.
Did the system requirements on the website match the ones in the actual game? They didn't.
Did the reduced price come as promised? Nope, the PC version costs exactly the same as the console versions here unless i want to import it, which may or may not run afoul of the already draconian DRM.
Did they mention said DRM anywhere except the error message that results from running the game without a crack? They didn't.

So you've never heard of a pirated game that turns out not to be the final build? I'm sure I have, although I guess I could be wrong. Pirated games I'm sure also come with their own problems from the pirates, due to workarounds they've employed, etc. Have you ever seen the comments box on a pirate bay torrent? People whine about plenty of things that are problems in the first place because the copy is a pirated version.

I think it's pretty easy for you to call the dev's lazy when they've spent a lot of time making the game, instead of just making a quick and easy tie in and then for you to criticise them based on a pirated copy.

Finally, I would of thought any PC gamers by now would know how a physX engine is pretty difficult to run anyway - I know I do.

I've had numerous cases with bad torrents but it's easy to tell what is a good scene release and what is a bunch of .dll's that resemble a game by coincidence and something takes from a distributor's servers is generally final, post launch patches notwithstanding but legal costumers don't get those at the start either, even though the game is in dire need of a bunch of them.

Perhaps it was a bit too generalizing of me to call all the devs lazy but it definitely applies to whoever was in charge of the PC port.

And yes, i know a plenty of games that require great amounts of processing power for the PhysX engine which is generally a shittier variety of Havok anyway, but I'm just surprised and finding out that this one is heavier then a few other games combined yet at the same time doesn't do anything.

 

[JRCB]

Are you playing the finished game? Probably not.
How do you know that it was looking for XBOX LIVE instead of Games for Windows?
Why are you telling people to trade in their games and not buy this, even for the console?
And if you pirated it, how would it be on a disk? Or for that matter, how would it have DRM?

 

[D_987]

Pretty awful "review". For starters you give the reader no information on the game whatsoever and go rambling on about your hardware specs. Something nobody will care about. You then admit to pirating the game, yet complain about issues you may be experiencing...(you pretty much lost any credibility in saying that - I doubt anybody will listen to your opinion after that)

Thirdly you admit to not playing past the demo, therefore not having a clue as to the games quality. You whine about all the features within the PC version not being there and demand a boycott, even from those with a console (on which the game runs extremely well). Right.

In short its a poor review because you didn't even try to review the game you just wanted to unnecessarily rant.

 

[Woodsey]

Are you playing the finished game? Probably not.
How do you know that it was looking for XBOX LIVE instead of Games for Windows?
Why are you telling people to trade in their games and not buy this, even for the console?
And if you pirated it, how would it be on a disk? Or for that matter, how would it have DRM?

Thank you. Well said.

I played the PC demo and I've got the 360 game btw, and the PC version looks better. And I've done a quick read through of everything you replied and (because I want to do something else with my day) I have to say it's all wrong.

The physX are in place, textures are better, res is better. If you disagree don't play it. But don't download a game for free, play 5 minutes of it and whine to everyone else that the dev's are lazy. Who cares? You didn't pay so you don't even have the right. You haven't lost any money have you? So get over it.

If it turns out when the game is released and people who buy the PC version say they have the same problems, that's fair enough, clearly not enough effort was put in. But even then I'd say it's not for you to complain.

 

[Asehujiko]

Are you playing the finished game? Probably not.
How do you know that it was looking for XBOX LIVE instead of Games for Windows?
Why are you telling people to trade in their games and not buy this, even for the console?
And if you pirated it, how would it be on a disk? Or for that matter, how would it have DRM?

1. Would Eidos bother compiling an unfinished version of the game and sending it over to the distributors? Probably not.
2. Because the game shows an error message related to XBL when running it without a crack.
3. I explained that in my OP.
4. Because the pirate release is significantly more informative then the game itself. And yes, i trust them when they say that they are working on nocd cracks for the boxed version instead of the just offline-GFWL crack. I use some of their cracks for stuff i bought because it increases performance and fixes some odd DRM related bugs.

Pretty awful "review". For starters you give the reader no information on the game whatsoever and go rambling on about your hardware specs. Something nobody will care about. You then admit to pirating the game, yet complain about issues you may be experiencing...(you pretty much lost any credibility in saying that - I doubt anybody will listen to your opinion after that)

Thirdly you admit to not playing past the demo, therefore not having a clue as to the games quality. You whine about all the features within the PC version not being there and demand a boycott, even from those with a console (on which the game runs extremely well). Right.

In short its a poor review because you didn't even try to review the game you just wanted to unnecessarily rant.

I reviewed everything somebody who gets the PC port might run into. If noteworthy gameplay isn't one of those things, i can't help it that my review doesn't include a general overview of batman's gadgets because i didn't have a chance to review them. And all of the bugs I've run into are not in the slightest related to having a pirated version. All the crack does is stop the game from demanding access to Live in order to start up. So the only way a crack could break something is if those calculations run over the Live executable instead of the game, which it doesn't and would be incredibly stupid if it did.

And the reason i played only to the fight with Zsaz or whatever you spell his name was because a bug stopped me, not because i was lazy. And i believe that encountering a game breaking bug 15 minutes in is an indication of the quality of the game(or, more specifically, lack thereof) on itself.

I reviewed everything i experienced about the game and if that still makes it "poor", the problem is related to the game, and not me.

 

[Asehujiko]

After playing around with a legal version that happened to cross my way i can made the following conclusions:

-Rocksteady is a bunch of liars and the glide bug is NOT drm. It is present in the regular game and lasts until patched.
-Having a pirated version GREATLY improves performance. The legal version is a good 15 fps slower at all times, suffers from lagspikes, CTD's and Bluescreens about every 1, 5 and 10 minutes.
-The crack also cuts the loading times by two third. Without it, i have time to walk downstairs, make myself a drink and walk back upstairs. Again, piracy results in a better product.
-Physics only appear after the patch is applied as opposed to being in the game from the start as advertised and their resource drain is completely out of proportion compared to what they do. The pirate version normalizes this somewhat so kicking over a stack of paper no longer drops the fps down to single digits.

Summary whatever greatness the game apparently possesses on the consoles, judging by the horde of screaming fanbois is completely lost while porting. Also, crime pays and the pirate version is a much better product.

0/10-unplayable(any unpatched version)
1.5/10(legal version with patch)
4/10(pirated version with updated cracks)

 

[Torque669]

So not only are you saying you have pirated a game, you also say its better than buying it legally? Are you retarded or just biased.

I remember you making alot of posts in alot of Batman Arkham Asylum threads about how your pissed off waiting for it for PC and how you thought the demo was shit even though no-one gave a damn. Its like Halo 3 syndrome. Your going against the game because everyone else thinks its great/good and you want to be different. I may be wrong and you might just be supporting Piracy. My friend also bought the game and thought it was very fun and suffered hardly any problems, just a few glitches, nothing to get crazy over.

 

[Neonbob]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you may have problems that others do not run into. I, for example, have been running the game on Medium settings, and it still looks fantastic, without any kind of error related to GFWL, or a CTD.

And this reads much less like a review and more like a rant that would fit better in the gaming discussion.

 

[Cabisco]

I'm gonna go ahead and agree with Eidos in this case. "It's not a bug in the game's code, its a bug in your moral code".

Your angry that your illegal copy didnt work, good. You deserve it. I've found the Console version to be wonderful, the only complaints i have is that the croc section is boring and on occasion you notice Batman going through thugs (though only when your taking down the last thug).

 

[topsyturvy]

After playing around with a legal version that happened to cross my way i can made the following conclusions:

-Rocksteady is a bunch of liars and the glide bug is NOT drm. It is present in the regular game and lasts until patched.
-Having a pirated version GREATLY improves performance. The legal version is a good 15 fps slower at all times, suffers from lagspikes, CTD's and Bluescreens about every 1, 5 and 10 minutes.
-The crack also cuts the loading times by two third. Without it, i have time to walk downstairs, make myself a drink and walk back upstairs. Again, piracy results in a better product.
-Physics only appear after the patch is applied as opposed to being in the game from the start as advertised and their resource drain is completely out of proportion compared to what they do. The pirate version normalizes this somewhat so kicking over a stack of paper no longer drops the fps down to single digits.

Summary whatever greatness the game apparently possesses on the consoles, judging by the horde of screaming fanbois is completely lost while porting. Also, crime pays and the pirate version is a much better product.

0/10-unplayable(any unpatched version)
1.5/10(legal version with patch)
4/10(pirated version with updated cracks)

You just spelled fanboys wrong, second, I got the game the day it came out on the PC and it worked fine with my middle of the road PC and third, why do you care for the PhysX, it doesn't affect the gameplay in any interesting way and you can turn it off.

 

[oliveira8]

This...hmmmm...review is pretty awfull. Anyway I got the game on the day it got released in Europe and it was working perfectly.

And my computer didn't even meet the miminum cause for some reason I was missing 1 Ram from the 1024 required. The game works fine apart from some Audio sync in the odd JokerTv moments.

 

[Asehujiko]

So not only are you saying you have pirated a game, you also say its better than buying it legally? Are you retarded or just biased.

I remember you making alot of posts in alot of Batman Arkham Asylum threads about how your pissed off waiting for it for PC and how you thought the demo was shit even though no-one gave a damn. Its like Halo 3 syndrome. Your going against the game because everyone else thinks its great/good and you want to be different. I may be wrong and you might just be supporting Piracy. My friend also bought the game and thought it was very fun and suffered hardly any problems, just a few glitches, nothing to get crazy over.

I have had both the legal and the pirated version and in my experience the latter performs simply better. How hard is that to understand without insulting somebody?

And how does being annoyed at a delayed launch so the QA team has more time to sit on their ass doing nothing invalidate any of my points?

I don't see anything wrong with supporting freedom of information over supporting somebody who rips people off based on false promises. Especially when thy produce better products.