*Batman: Arkham Asylum*

What.A.Game.

Much better than I thought it would be from the reviews/videos etc. Really a 9.5 / 10 game for me so far. The audio and voice work is top class, really adds to the whole experience. Lush graphics and never a dull moment.

I'm one to easily/quickly get bored of games these days but this is something else.
 
thecremeegg said:
I cant beat the joker, its annoying me. I've got the 3rd stage once in about 30 attempts :(
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Thought that was the easiest boss encounter in the game! On hard mode anyway.

Ivy was annoying, the camera angle proper screws you over at times when fighting the waves of resurrected guards. Since you don't have the visual cue on hard telling you when to counter it proved quite frustrating.
 
Not played it all weekend, been too busy, but despite my previous posts, I want to get back into it!

The stealth aspect of the game is fantastic I will give it that, really makes you feel like batman zipping across a room, dropping in and picking someone up from a gargoyle, then zipping to the other side, watching his comrades go to his aid and picking one off that is left behind with a flying kick and a take down then zipping back up then finally sneaking behind the last guy to get a silent takedown :D

Never gets old. The reactions from the enemies is exactly what you would expect if you was batman, nervous wrecks, jumpy and smart.

ags
 
Margaret said:
Thought that was the easiest boss encounter in the game! On hard mode anyway.

Ivy was annoying, the camera angle proper screws you over at times when fighting the waves of resurrected guards. Since you don't have the visual cue on hard telling you when to counter it proved quite frustrating.
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Did it eventually, I was struggling with the dudes that had knives and such. Fortunately the 3rd round was easier than the 2nd. I found Ivy to be not so bad, especially as it saves halfway :) Regarding countering, I just mashed triangle constantly
 
Anyone playing the challenges much? I've impressed myself getting 3 batrangs on quite a few of the fight challenges now. Struggled to get 1 when I started!!

Pretty much echo the thoughts of everyone else here - absolutely fantastic game. Game of the year (so far for me) - and I can't see anything knocking it off either. I think the single player of this will be better than MW2 and MP doesn't count ;)
 
My mate was going to come round on Saturday having rented this so we could play it together, but they had no copies left :(


So he BOUGHT it for me! Nicest surprise ever :D

Completed the story on Normal, all challenges and 3 Bataranged all the sneaky challenges, the combat ones seem tough as nails though, only managed 2 on the first one. Anyone got any tips?
 
High combo's are essential for the big scores, the difficulty is keeping them going long enough.
I've managed 8 medals on the combat challenges and i've given up getting anymore, its not worth the stress :p
 
I'm not great, only got 3 batarangs on 4 of the challenges, 2 on the rest, but the key is combo and combo variation. People say you should aim for the dark knight reward (take no hits in any round) but i say that should be something to not worry about too much, by all means try for it but prioritise other forms of point collection above it.

The main way of collecting points is combos and combo variation, each attack is multiplied by your combo count, so at a combo of 20 you'll get 20x10 points = 200, but then certain moves net more points, an instant takedown for example is 50 points (so 20x50=1000) and a ground + pound (crouch + triangle when an opponent is down) is a whopping 100 points (20x100=2000, that's 2000 points for one attack!). Always ease your way into a combo with a few critical attacks (time your punches correctly for double the combo bonus) and as your opponents are beginning to get knocked down start unleashing the big moves such as instant takedowns and ground and pounds. While they net the most points, they also knock out an opponent for good so you can't get anything else from them again so save those moves until your combo count is higher and then use them for the maximum points possible.

Never underestimate the grapple (double tap R2) and batarang (tap R1), they don't add to your combo but they DO slow down the enemy and they DO add to your variation bonus at the end of the round. For example, say you used punch, ground and pound, instant takedown and counter in a combo chain, that's 4 moves, a variation bonus of 4 moves gives you 500 points at the end of the round. Now say you added grapple and batarang to that combo, two weak quick moves, you'll then get a 6 move variation bonus which is a whopping 2000 points. Add stun and jump over (double tap x when near to an enemy) and that gives you a bonus of 8 which is 4000 points iirc! Get full variation into each round and that's effectively a free 16,000 points basically, not even taking into account the potentially huge amount of points you will have got from your instant takedowns and ground+pounds.
 
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That explanation helps a lot. It's hard to tell how the scoring works while you're doing it. I did the first challenge a couple of times and got 2000 points the first time but over 9000 the second, must have kept my combo going a little longer with some more variety.
 
My bread and butter combo, which ideally should be used at the start of a round is:

Grapple (pulls 3 guys towards you at once)
Punch whoever gets to you first once
Stun the second guy

At this point if there's other enemies one of them will have likely got to you and is about to attack, if this is the case, counter him!

Jump over whoever is nearest
Critical attack that person from behind

By now your throw attack should be charged, use this and take down as many as possible.

As soon as you've thrown him, do ground and pound, he'll 99% of the time jump after the person he threw and ground and pound him quickly, also this gets you away from the group

As soon as you stand up from the ground and pound, batarang someone

Ideally ground and pound this guy if it's safe

Few critical punches to get the combo count charged for a special again

Instant takedown

Finish off with punches, instant takedowns and whenever safe a ground + pound

This'll get you the max combo bonus, obviously the AI won't always react the same so you'll have to adapt accordingly but you'd be surprised how often this approach will play out in your favour.

Oh and, ALWAYS use your instant takedowns on knife guys or stun baton dudes, it goes through their defence and simplifies things a lot.
 
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Well, completed this one. Pretty much about the best game I've played in years, and is now listed with Wipeout 2097, Super Star Wars, Tomb Raider, COD4 or even any of the other classics I've played over the years....

Pretty much a perfect game for me, loved playing through the story will now try and complete some of the riddles, and see how close to 100% I can get...

My faith in the PS3 as a 'gaming' unit has been restored, till now its been a Blu Ray player or been used for BBC iPlayer or media streamer in my lounge, nice to play a game and be hooked.. Been a while...

Looking at the PS3 list of games coming out, I'd say its looking rather good so more games like this one and for once I might start getting back into console gaming....
 
3 starred the first one and the first one with the guy on titan :D Got to 39 combo twice, still need the 40 combo achievement :( Thanks for the tips Streeteh :)
 
Shamikebab said:
Got it :D

Rumble in the Jungle Stage 2, 49 hit combo :D:D:D
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Been struggling with the 40 combo and freeflow perfection trophies, tried that stage after seeing you managed it and managed to get both at once :eek:

There's a 6000 point bonus for doing every move in a combo, combine that with the stupid amount of points i got for the 40 hit chain (which ended with a ground and pound, netting me 4000 points for that attack alone) i ended up with a rather high score to say the least. Stupidly i didn't think about that and just quit, then realized i'd probably have got quite high on the leaderboard.

Ho hum, at least i got two of the hardest trophies in one go :)
 
Just a note, you can get the Mano-A-Mano achievement on the last stage of Rumble in The Jungle if you missed it in story mode. Knock out all the goons first then just use explosive gel on the floor to stun the Titan, once he's stunned combo punch him into oblivion. You can't use a batarang at any point.

Just got Hard mode, 16 and 24 Combat trophies, break up the party (missed it first time) and 100% everything achievements to get. Looking forward to playing through the game on hard :)

Anyone know what the differences on hard are? Are any features removed?

Edit: Didn't think to check the game :o No combat indicators? That sounds tough.
 
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