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Batman: Arkham Aslylum demo 8/10
What I liked:
- It's got Paul Dini writing it and the voice actors from the animated Batman series.
- The game has style. Character Design is great. The Joker looks diabolical. Harley Quinn's new outfit looks freaking wicked.
- Controls are simple and intuitive. It makes it easy to take down an enemy and get back to the dark ceiling before his friends arrive easy.
- Heart rate BPM for enemies. The AI changes as you screw with enemies. They'll start shooting at random environmental sounds when they get panicked enough when you're stealthed.
- Your suit gets damaged throughout the game. It's not realtime damage but as your progress your suit gets more and more damaged. You only get a small cut in the demo after a cutscene but I've seen gameplay videos where Batman's cape is shredded,
What I didn't like:
- The camera sometimes gets a little close to Bats when fighting and you can't see everything you want to see. It also bouncy when running that causes massive eye strain for me and could cause simulator sickness after a while for those that have experienced it before.
What could go either way depending how things play out in the full game:
- Detective mode could possibly be over used. There's no reason to turn it off in the demo. You'll see interactive objects better, Enemy X-rays appear through walls so you always know where the enemy's at and things generally look brighter and more distinct. The only reason to actually turn it off it to see people instead of X-rays.
- Fighting is really simple but the demo really only covers tutorial level thugs so I can't really make a judgment. It looks great though and counters look seamless.
- Stealth seems great. There are many ways to take down enemies from stealth. You have glide kick, inverted takedowns which hang thugs upside down and you can choke out thugs and there's a variety of ways to use the environment to take out enemies like busting through a glass ceiling. You can also pop them with your baterang from 50 yards away for short duration stun to raise their heartrate. You can hang someone upside down and take off and as their friends come close, you can throw your baterang and cut the rope and have the guy land on the nearby thugs for a good scare. Unfortunately, Just Glide kicking, Ziplining back into the ceiling, and glide kicking someone else is just as effective as any of the above mentioned methods..
I was pretty skeptical about this game until the demo. Now it's definitely a rental.
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“It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick” - Dave Barry
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