Zero Punctuation: Batman: Arkham City

[Cid Silverwing]

Mad Hatter is what one might call a sort of replacement scrappy for the lack of Scarecrow, but at least the game doesn't pretend to reboot your console. Some of the puzzle sections had the same problems the first game had - difficult to locate and follow. And why is the A/X button still the Run button?

Still it's very superior to the first one because there's moar gadgets and combat feels... Pretty unchanged, actually. Enemies ragdoll-izing still looks as stupid as ever because of random movements so they almost never grab their heads like they're supposed to, herp derp.

Catwoman's sections were pretty flowbreaking for the story IMO. It's a Batman game, I wanna play as Batman. Catwoman only interests me for cutscene teasing. Plus her differing combat style broke me out of my acquaintance with Batman's combat style so it only got harder to fight enemies because I wasn't used to Catwoman's animations and timing. Speaking of, why do you have to QTE your way up buildings when you pounce when failure or success doesn't even mean anything since you pounce up seemingly automatically anyway?

Still easily a Game of The Year candidate. These two Batman games are the only ones I've seen that really gets you into Batman's psyche and makes you feel like you ARE The Batman. I guess the games have that effect on people who watched The Animated Series as kids, and now the games sort of demystify Batman's supreme intellect and gadgetry.

 

[triggrhappy94]

Something about the line about the Riddler running around with a team of contractors made me laugh pretty hard.
I kind of imagined it. Like all the villians are dividing up terf and fortafying buildings, meanwhile the Riddler and his team are just running around the city just fucking around.

"Hey do you know what the Riddler is up to?"
"No, but I saw him and some people trying to climb a statue earlier. I didn't really want to ask him..."

 

[Vault101]

I am glad for the issues he states because I had them too.
I would say he was more positive about this game than I was which is unusually though.
Bigger really DOES NOT mean better though.

The little bit about wanting to die after reading his last weblog post was a bit jarring and sad. I hope the little guy is holding up well. No noose around his neck or anything.

did somthing happen?

 

[The Noble Shade]

Since he brought it up...
I understand the plight of game developers these days, but I shouldn't have to feel bad for buying pre-owned. No other industry complains about this sort of thing. I know developers and publishers don't make any money off pre-owned sales (and I REALLY hate GameStop), but the 60 dollar price model is too steep for me. I don't buy games THAT often, and if I have to buy a game used to save a chunk of cash, I will.
Solution? Cut the price! It can't be that hard. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 will only be 40 USD new. That's a a perfectly reasonable price.

Not true. The music industry tried to block pre-owned sales forever. So did the video industry. And neither of those had as much of a problem with it as the games industry, partially because there was no massive retailer doing it, and partially because they had other sources of income (radio, theatre tickets, TV).

So yeah.

Also, you can buy new games at 30 bucks if you want. A ton of games get their price cut, and Steam will sell you reasonably priced gaming at any given time. You just think that the game that you really want and just came out yesterday is too expensive which, really, makes your plight feel way less reasonable. If 60 bucks is too much you can go buy a number of "humble indie bundles" right now and get 100+ hours of gameplay for as much as you want to play. Just not Arkham City.

I don't use Steam, I buy games by the disk like a lot of people. My point is, I shouldn't have to feel chastised just because I want to be pre-owned to save some cash.

 

[Pink Gregory]

...Did anyone at all pick up on the sliiight inkling that he might have been being just a mite *sarcastic* with the whole 'used games' comment?

and before anyone jumps down my throat, it is not possible to tell, and I doubt he has the desire to explain which is true.

 

[tehweave]

What's wrong with pre-owned?

 

[DioWallachia]

Speaking of unnecessary sequels, isnt The Darkness 2 coming up soon? but that doesnt really bothers me because i am really curious if he actually finished the first game or just the demo only? and why he didnt review the demos of other games back then? It seemed that the game actually isnt that cutscene heavy in the sense that for a few key moments you still control the player in the cutscenes kinda like Half Life does, so i was specting him to mention that and what else could have been improved

 

[Torrasque]

Glad to hear the Batman sequel was handled capeably.
I'll be picking-up this game soon enough.

Likewise. Its on my list of "games you should probably play because most people can agree that they are good games", up there with Psychonauts and a few of those arcade games released on xblive during the summer.

 

[Triforceformer]

"Don't buy pre-owned?" This from the guy who once flogged Gametraders Robina in his Super Smash Bros. Brawl review [/videos/view/zero-punctuation/35-Super-Smash-Bros-Brawl] (although the Robina store doesn't appear to exist anymore)?

I'm not sure who you talked to, or what distorted world view they managed to slip in your Kool-Aid, but trading in used games is not and never has been a problem.

GameStop, on the other hand, are monumental assholes, and should not be patronized under any circumstances.

That was back in 2008, dude. Opinions and stances can change easily in 3 years. Especially with something as turbulent as the video game industry.

O.T. Glad to hear it's on the same level as AA. The few nitpicks Yahtzee had with AA didn't bother me much, and the prospect of flying all around a walled off city as Batman makes up for a lack of structure for someone like me.

 

[Nico4]

Didn't he catch the plot point that Hugo Strange influenced and blackmailed the mayor? Since he's wondering how he can get away with all of this

 

[Uncompetative]

It's always good to buy games new, and help support the developers.

I agree.

I even don't mind disc-locked content that has to be paid for with Microsoft Points because:

a) it is optional

b) were it a download it would take up unnecessary space on the HDD

 

[Yearlongjester]

when your friend tells you the new game you got is shit, you start to look for all the flaws and stop enjoying the moment.

No what you do is say "It's not as shit as your face"

My friend, how right you are!

 

[CopperBoom]

I am glad for the issues he states because I had them too.
I would say he was more positive about this game than I was which is unusually though.
Bigger really DOES NOT mean better though.

The little bit about wanting to die after reading his last weblog post was a bit jarring and sad. I hope the little guy is holding up well. No noose around his neck or anything.

did somthing happen?

Not really, just in his current post [http://fullyramblomatic-yahtzee.blogspot.com/2011/10/hello-there.html#comments] he said:

"Fact is, I've put off updating this site and doing pretty much anything except my professional obligations because I've had another flare-up of the old depression that's been building up for quite some time. I'm on top of it, though. Don't feel you need to post sympathies because there's nothing more excruciating than people walking on eggshells around - oh, you weren't planning to post sympathies? Oh. Well, good. Good, actually."

...and then there was a little bit about it in the post.

 

[OneTwoThreeBlast]

So Yahtzee, if you so firmly believe that we need to pay full price for our games instead of used just to support game developers, why do you constantly complain about the prices? Shouldn't you be happy to pay out the nose to support the developers? Because you're happy to let them tell people that they can't trade and sell the property that they bought and is legally theirs. Why should you be angry about them raising prices? Either way it's the same argument: the increased amount of money you have to pay supports the game company.

So, the whole "you should buy new to support developers because that way you're giving them more money to support them" argument only applies to used games, not priced, right? Just want to make sure I'm getting your logic.

 

[Giandroid]

Aww... I thought Yahtzee was just a typical everyman like us (who happens to have is own internet show) but he's just an aristocratic snotty highbrow like the rest of the industry, you know, with the whole "you must buy games new" thing.

Not everyone is like you, Yahtzee. Some of us can't afford new games all the time, and that's okay. The game industry is the only one that whines that everyone involved MUST buy new games, which is ridiculous. I see no authors complaining that their readers buy books used. Hell, I gave my novel away for free and I'm not hurt about it...

...much...

 

[Giandroid]

Also, I totally bought YOUR book used. How do you like them apples? I like them FINE.

 

[LadyZephyr]

Sounds like a great game. Shame I'm still boycotting DC.

 

[oblivion328]

What side missions actually get locked off after the end of the main story? Pretty sure the only one I finished before the end of the campaign was the Mad Hatter one. I guess that one getting locked off makes sense given the context.

Anyway, this is definitely my favorite game of the year.

 

[Roman Monaghan]

No catwoman if bought preowned? I believe I get a better product if I pirate it then. And can someone tell the publishers that the only one they annoy with DRM is the ones that buy it? More than once I have bought a game, then pirated the same game because of annoyining DRM.

Arkham Asylum actually had a rather infamous(ly creative) example of anti piracy DRM that made it impossible to get past the first hour of the game by gimping Batman's ability to glide. It would be a mistake to assume they wouldn't have done something similar in Arkham City. At the very least, if you do pirate and something like that happens, dont ask about some odd "glitch" you run into and out yourself as having, in the developers words, "a glitch in your moral code."

Not that I'm coming down on one side or the other on the whole "witholding optional and completely inconsequential in that if doesn't effect the game in anyway if you buy preowned method of DRM" debate. I'm just giving a little warning.

Since he brought it up...
I understand the plight of game developers these days, but I shouldn't have to feel bad for buying pre-owned. No other industry complains about this sort of thing. I know developers and publishers don't make any money off pre-owned sales (and I REALLY hate GameStop), but the 60 dollar price model is too steep for me. I don't buy games THAT often, and if I have to buy a game used to save a chunk of cash, I will.
Solution? Cut the price! It can't be that hard. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 will only be 40 USD new. That's a a perfectly reasonable price.

Not true. The music industry tried to block pre-owned sales forever. So did the video industry. And neither of those had as much of a problem with it as the games industry, partially because there was no massive retailer doing it, and partially because they had other sources of income (radio, theatre tickets, TV).

So yeah.

Also, you can buy new games at 30 bucks if you want. A ton of games get their price cut, and Steam will sell you reasonably priced gaming at any given time. You just think that the game that you really want and just came out yesterday is too expensive which, really, makes your plight feel way less reasonable. If 60 bucks is too much you can go buy a number of "humble indie bundles" right now and get 100+ hours of gameplay for as much as you want to play. Just not Arkham City.

I don't use Steam, I buy games by the disk like a lot of people. My point is, I shouldn't have to feel chastised just because I want to be pre-owned to save some cash.

I will get into it here though! =D

A lot of people aren't really getting the idea behind this kind of DLC thing. You aren't being "chastised" for buying preowned. Instead the point is to reward people who buy new. You, as someone who buys preowned, isn't even worth considering as far as this system goes!

There, don't you feel better now?

 

[MrLefty]

No, screw the publishers. Used games are supporting the industry because they give value to the people who purchase the freaking thing first. Now that I can't onsell it when I'm finished, it's worth less to me. In fact, it's worth less to me the second you make me enter stupid codes on XBOX awkwardly through a bloody game controller. And when my wife found that part of the game was locked off from her because it only gives you one bloody code.

And in the case of something like Uncharted 3, where the pass system actually locks people out of playing online and thus REDUCES THE NUMBER OF GAMES I CAN FIND ONLINE AS A FIRST PURCHASER you see that this stupid single-use-only code crap is garbage and needs to be wiped out.

Publishers, a simple message: this single-use code crap makes me buy fewer of your games. You are LOSING SALES. Stop it.