Pads & Panels

#2 Batman: Arkham City (PS3, 360, PC)

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment — Developer: Rocksteady Studios

Our Review

Batman Simulator 2.0 doesn’t disappoint, as it hits all the high spots gamers loved in Arkham Asylum and scatters them across an entire sandbox of a city to find. Rocksteady Studios is to be commended for continually getting what makes Batman fun. The double-edged sword here is – even though Arkham City is more robust than Asylum, gamers won’t get that stunning moment again where they realize that finally someone finally got a Batman game right. But the overall quality of the game is vastly improved, making it one of the year’s best. (more…)

It’s been a few weeks since we last posted an edition of Trailer Madness, and we’ve got a ton of video to catch up on. To start things off, we’ve got the Arkham Asylum sequel trailer that premiered at Spike TV’s video game awards show. We follow that up with a “Battlefield Moments” segment from Battlefield Bad Company 2. Then an interview with Stan Lee about Super Hero Squad Show. After that it’s on to some insanity with some Muscle March gameplay footage. And those are just four of the 20 videos we’ve got this week. Enjoy!

Arkham Asylum Sequel Teaser Trailer

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#7 – Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, 360, PC)

Publisher: Warner Bros. – Developer: Rocksteady

Our Review

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I still remember when I first started seeing screens of what was to become Arkham Asylum in magazines and online. The graphics looked phenomenal, but the number of times Batman has fared poorly in the game realm combined with my general distaste for licensed games over original IPs left me incredibly skeptical about it. Sometimes it feels so great to be proven wrong. Not only is Batman: Arkham Asylum one of the best games I played all year – from the brilliant Scarecrow moments to the general ability of Rocksteady to turn Batman’s traits into a game, successfully – but it is so faithful to the property, with a great new story written by Paul Dini, a great use of the villains and a setting that left me in wonder as it changed throughout. I know at some point I’ll regret it, but Arkham Asylum quickly changed my impressions from skepticism to begging for more of this comic property. –Bill (more…)

Title: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Platforms: 360 (Also on PS3, PC)

ESRB Rating: T

Publisher: Eidos Interactive and Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment

Developer: Rocksteady Studios

Rating:

Review by: John Gustafson

It is so nice and refreshing to have not only a decent Batman video game, but a great one at that. After so many failed attempts over the years, Batman: Arkham Asylum bucks the past trends and swoops in with a huge victory in line with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins film.

Thanks in equal parts to DC scribe Paul Dini’s excellent script and Rocksteady’s respect and reverence to the Bat’s mythology and atmosphere, Arkham Asylum feels like a genuine piece of Batman’s story that every fan and gamer should experience. Rocksteady must have been paying close attention to last year’s Bioshock’s Rapture, because Arkham is so carefully created that it is not only the setting for which the game unfolds, but also as important a character as Batman and the Joker. The dark, dangerous and foreboding qualities the books convey so well comes to digital life in an aggressive and seductive way. (more…)