What were the last video games you played?

[Lowlander2]

A totally fair explanation, save for one point I cannot believe.

I can understand the combat being uninteresting to some, but unsatisfying? Personally, the pure weight and power behind the punches compensated for any sort of restraint in the mechanics. When Batman hits the final thug in a room, he hits hard and you feel it too.

Or so I feel.

I like the game a lot, enough to play through it twice. Maybe I'll do full impressions later.

[Cipher_Peon]

A totally fair explanation, save for one point I cannot believe.

I can understand the combat being uninteresting to some, but unsatisfying? Personally, the pure weight and power behind the punches compensated for any sort of restraint in the mechanics. When Batman hits the final thug in a room, he hits hard and you feel it too.

Or so I feel.

I like the game a lot, enough to play through it twice. Maybe I'll do full impressions later.

I can totally understand why others felt that the combat was satisfying. The end PUNCH did add flavor to the combat, which I'm sure a lot of people adored. I liked it at first too, but then after a while it just got boring and really overused for me. And even though you got a lot more gadgets, they just never seemed to integrate well in combat for me.

I totally understand why you like the game, and I'm glad you respect my opinion and explanation.

On games I HAVE been playing, I beat Sly Cooper HD yesterday so I'm playing Sly Cooper 2 HD. I'll post my thoughts on it (along with Silent Hill Downpour, which I've been meaning to for a long time) later. Right now I'm playing Mother 3 and holycrap this game is amazing.

[GreatJedi7]

A totally fair explanation, save for one point I cannot believe.

I can understand the combat being uninteresting to some, but unsatisfying? Personally, the pure weight and power behind the punches compensated for any sort of restraint in the mechanics. When Batman hits the final thug in a room, he hits hard and you feel it too.

Or so I feel.

I like the game a lot, enough to play through it twice. Maybe I'll do full impressions later.

Yeah, it's especially fun with the surround sound speakers I use. So when Batman lands that finishing blow it pretty much shakes the entire room IRL. Coolest thing ever.

And Cipher, to address your "remodeled skins" point, in the 3rd Scarecrow scene after the effects of the drug wear off after you beat up all the skeletons, you come back to the real world and you see the bodies of various thugs surrounding you, which means the drug was making Batman see skeletons (Batman has necrophobia maybe?), but he was actually just fighting regular thugs.

So as cheesy as it was (and to be honest I was expecting better as well from Scarecrow), it made sense considering how the drug is supposed to work.

I just hope Scarecrow makes good on the promise he made in Arkham City and returns as hopefully the main villain in a sequel. Because a realistic Batman game with Scarecrow as the main villain would be amazingly frightening if done right.

[instantdeath999]

Cipher, you should try Arkham City. Doesn't fix all your problems, but it's a very satisfying game. Your comment about the lack of combat progression is definitely rectified in Arkham City; there is very clear progression in the fighting moves that Batman learns, as well as the different gadgets. There are also a ton more gadgets, and they are integrated much better in the combat. You seem to be against playing sequels of games you aren't thrilled over, but Arkham City is one you should make an exception for. Or maybe not, who knows. Wait until it goes down in price.

I think one of my favorite things of Arkham is the great, great characterization. Outside of the Nolan films, I have never found the Batman villains more interesting. The recorded conversations were, for the most part, brilliant. Akrham City isn't as fantastic in this regard, but it does have its moments; without spoiling anything, a dialogue exchange between Batman and Joker was, as far as I am concerned, perfectly written. In just one sentence from each of them, it summed up both their characters so, so well.

But yeah, I am that guy who for whatever reason comments on characterization and dialogue in a Batman game XD

[Bulzeeb]

Fine Cipher, but what's wrong with Chrono Trigger?

[Lowlander2]

Alright, I'm going to put up some thoughts for Arkham Asylum and Sly Raccoon.

Arkham Asylum was easily one of the most well-rounded and best games of 2009, and anything good I have to say about it has already been said so many times. So in terms of negatives, I have two main ones. Sometimes, it felt like I was "breaking" the stealth, like it was too easy to circumvent the enemies or eliminate them in unconventional means. So at times, even when the enemie were fully outfitted, it was a bit easy. The mechanics were technically sound, though, and the game did punish you if you didn't stealth enough.

Second, the boss fights, not just the finale, were pretty lame. Bane was a trite rodeo bull boss fight, and Killer Croc was too drawn out to maintain any tension until the final swing. Also, that final boss was really particularly bad. I mean, seriously. Was there no other way to end the game? It was, however, a better ending than Arkham City. I'll save that for another time, but I'll just say that it made no goddamn sense.

Other than that, it was a impressive, sometimes even groundbreaking, title that I enjoyed through to the end, and there really aren't many games where I can say that. And one such game where I cannot say that is...

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. Not that much to say, really. I believe this came out just before Ratchet and Clank, but a little while after Jak and Daxter. Those are both great games that, while relics of their time, still showcase exemplary game design and flow. Sly 1 is a cheap hack in comparison.

It lacks the design mastery of Jak and Daxter, the charm of the Crash Bandicoot games and the panache and variety of Ratchet and Clank. A by-the-numbers platformer in every way, the flow of the game is way too rigid and lacks variety, which might have been fine if the stealth elements didn't feel detached. I'm not asking for, well, Arkham Asylum, but the stealth needed a lot more grounding into the actual mechanics of the game. As it stands, they are dangerously close to feeling tacked.

While Sly moves fine on the ground, his jump has way too much glide and the collision detection is awful. I couldn't tell you how many times I died because Sly failed to jump on a pole when I told him to. The boss battles suffer the same fate as other platformers like Jak 1: the patterns are too clear so they feel aged on arrival.

It's not bad, but in an age where games are telling more unique stories and finding new ways of play, as well as older games mastering the basic mechanics found therein, there isn't really a reason to play Sly Raccoon. It feels old, it looks old, it laughs old...it's just an old game in the worst ways.

Fine Cipher, but what's wrong with Chrono Trigger?

Ahh, Chrono Trigger...as someone who plays the bad RPG sequel, Parasite Eve 2, every year, I could not find much of note to make me push through the opening stages. If there's some mystique and allure in the game, I don't know why I should keep looking for it.

[Bulzeeb]

Ahh, Chrono Trigger...as someone who plays the bad RPG sequel, Parasite Eve 2, every year, I could not find much of note to make me push through the opening stages. If there's some mystique and allure in the game, I don't know why I should keep looking for it.

I felt the same with Chrono Trigger's sequel, Chrono Cross. Do you remember where in the game was the point you stopped playing?

[Lowlander2]

I believe it was just after finishing the first instance of the post-apocalypse stage, where there is something of a hub world.

[MagicMurderBag7]

Alright I've got two worlds left to complete in Rayman and then I can start doing the time trials.

[Cipher_Peon]

Fine Cipher, but what's wrong with Chrono Trigger?

I went back in time for the first time and then a cutscene happened, but I had to take a piss and left the cutscene playing, I came back and I was dead. I reloaded my save and I was at the very beginning of the game.

Rage quit.