Batman: The Dark Night done right.

RATING: 9.5/ 10
PLATFORM: PS3, XBOX 360
GENRE: Movie based Adventure Game
RATED: Teen
PURCHASE RECOMMENDATION: Buy / Rent (only cause its a short game)

SUMMARY: May I say best video game ever made based of a Movie franchise. Batman Arkham Asylum does everything right making a fun, entertaining, and all around flawless performance. I don't care who you are pick us this game and play it. Only reason this game does not get a perfect score is because the game is really short.

STORY: Batman Arkham Asylum story is the perfect example of how to tell a story through a video game. I am not going to talk about story plotlines in particular because you need to play this game and experience in yourself but what I am going to do is explain what Batman did right. This is what I call the 5 golden rules of gaming story:

1.) Thou shall not take control away from the player.

Too many games get stuck on story telling and not entertaining. If your player is force to listen to dialogue or read instead of playing your doing it wrong. Batman from the opening credits tell story through the world of Arkham. Never is a player unable to move around you are constantly playing the game as the story is told to you. This is how you immerse a player into a world and make a great story.

2.) Thou shall not force story on the player.

Yes some people love lore and a novel of story to go with their game but many don’t. Forcing too much story down someone throat is just going to piss them off and bore them. This also almost always occurs while violating rule 1. So how do you please both sides, you use selective reading. Selective reading is where the player can choose to enjoy or pass up on the extra back story / lore. Batman does this through little goodies you find throughout the world. These goodies are not required to beat the game and can be completely ignored. At the same time a player can choose to collect all these and get the entire story. See everyone wins.

3.) Thou shall only show awesome cinema scenes.

The age of how many cinema scene my game has bragging is over. Technology now allows normally gameplay to look like the movies. With that said only a truly awesome cinema scene should be in your game because a cinema scene violates rules 1 and 2. Also less is more in this category as cinema scenes should be intermission breaks for your fingers. Batman had a few cinema scenes and they were amazing not only in quality but in story.

4.) Thou shall be unpredictable.

Like any good story you shouldn’t be able to predict what is going to happen next. The moment a player realizes your using a cookie cutter story line and how it is going to end the interest is gone. Keep the player guessing excited and on their toes. Batman story was filled with enough mystery that you did not know what is going to happen next.

5.) Thou character shall be meaningful.

Players do not want to baby sit characters they could less about. If the player is not attached to a character that character better be a standard grunt. If your character has a unique image they better have unique story and personality. Villains we must hate Heroes we must love and comrades we better want to protect. Batman characters were not only classic but each of them served a purpose. Even some of the scientist and security guards who were important had names, faces and story.

GAMEPLAY: Batman Arkham Asylum designed a fluent gameplay experience around being Batman. Gameplay can be broken up into three categories, combat, exploration and investigation. Combat is the bulk of game as you must fight your way through the Asylums many goons and villains. Combat in this game is not about direct contact but stealth Batman style. You quickly learn that Batman can take a beating but will not run in to a room full of guards armed with machine guns. Batman is smarter then that and so must you your wide range of gadgets to grapple, climb, and crawl your way to ambush your opponents. After all you are the dark knight and your specialty his taking out enemies before they know what hit them. There is really no one way to take out an enemy be it an inverted takedown or an explosive mine the world is your play ground. When Batman does encounter some foes in hand to hand combat you can't help but to fell if you are really Batman. Batman combos his way threw enemies keeping them off balanced and eating Bat-a-rangs for breakfast. Exploration is also tided directly into combat as you must explore your surroundings for points of exploit. Gargoyles, ledges, and vents will help batman avoid many obstacles in the world and add a very unique feel to level exploration. Batman doesn’t need doors. Arkham Island is a great world to explore and is littered with extra goodies for the completist. Investigation is a much smaller gameplay aspect of the game but still serves an important role. A few times during your journey will you need to play Sherlock Holmes and find clues to track people down. This investigation gameplay is a good addition and provides a tribute to Batman's detective qualities. I really only have two complaints about gameplay. One Batman’s detective view, can see through wall and important things highlighted, is obviously better then a normal view so from a strategic point the game gives no reason to turn it off. The only reason a player turns it off is because they want to enjoy the games artistic beauty. Second though the boss battles were good and fun they were not climax points in difficulty or combat. Your final boss should be the pinnacle of combat gameplay.

CONTENT: Batman’s only weak point is that the game is very short. Now having a short game is not bad but it helps to get more bang for your buck. Batman is loaded with lots of extra content that helps make up for its short length. The many collectible items give you a scavenger hunt replay value and if you are into lore and story they are very rewarding. Batman also has a series of challenge modes that can be very addicting. These challenge modes are short scenarios they capture the best part of the gameplay.

Ghostbusters: Making a game work out of a movie

RATING: 7/ 10
PLATFORM: PS3, XBOX 360, Wii
GENRE: Movie based Adventure Game
RATED: Teen
PURCHASE RECOMMENDATION: Rent

SUMMARY: Ghostbusters is a successful Movie franchise that has been made into a successful game. Gameplay though slow at first does pick up to an entertaining paced half way through the game. If you have never seen the movies you probably will not know whats going on but the game's story is really not that important. Capture ghost and save the day is basically all you need to know. Ghostbusters had some flaws in it but the very cool looking characters and environments (sorry wii players you miss out on this) make up for a lot.

GAMEPLAY: Ghostbusters takes a small portion of the movie, the actual use of the guns, and creates a whole gameplay around it which is very impressive. At the beginning you only have one option for your type of gun stream which leads to very slow pace gaming (Its like fishing action is slow). However the gameplay grows on you as you have encounter more enemies and earn different choices for attacks. At the end though the game designer just punted and you quickly learn only two of the four types of gun streams are really necessary. Also the clue searching tool, basically a hot and cold game for finding stuff, often leads to you missing the action or getting ambushed by a ghost. Why use a tool that makes life more annoying and harder to reach your goal. To sum it up overall decent success but much room for improvement.

STORY: So Ghostbusters brilliantly does not try to redo any of the movies but simply continues on with the same IP. All the important characters are their and you as the new recruit makes sense. Ghostbuster however makes two major mistakes with the story. First a lot of the story is done in boring talking cut scenes where you have lost all game control. Second the plot is never really explained there are names, people and places your suppose to know about but really have no clue and just go along on the ride. In short your unattached. The dialogue all tends to drag the game down more character interaction is needed.

CONTENT: Ghostbusters does the now traditional amount of content (Story mode, Achievements, online play, video footage and gallery). Story mode is what it is and is the expected length of about 15 hours. Achievements are your standard group with a few chuckles here and there. Online play is entertaining for friends but lacks the competition on competitiveness to really shine on its own. Video footage is a given as this game has about 12 cut scenes you might want to replay. Gallery is probably the most interesting as it gives hardcore fan lots of collectible to find and funny haha moments.

Bigs 2: The modern NBA JAM of baseball

RATING: 8/ 10
PLATFORM: PS3, XBOX 360, Wii
GENRE: Arcade Baseball
RATED: Everyone
PURCHASE RECOMMENDATION: Buy / Rent

SUMMARY: Bigs 2 is a fun Arcade style baseball game that focus on gameplay fun more then realism. Bigs 2 has a fun engaging Career mode and fun multiplayer quick play. Bigs 2 only has a few balance and feature holes that hopefully will get filled with Bigs 3 and for now can be over looked. In short Bigs 2 keeps the game simple and fun. Definitely recommend buying or renting this game.

Bigs 2 is the first ever sports video game I have enjoyed because Bigs 2 finally did a baseball game right. So most sports games try to recreate a perfectly realistic simulation of the actual sports. This is not fun with I want to play a sports for real I will go outside with my friends and play. Also for the sport of Baseball (my favorite sport) the realistic complexity makes for clunky/sloppy game mechanics that lead to crappy game play. Bigs 2 rights this ship by being an Arcade style Baseball game aka its a game not reality. All the rules and normal baseball gameplay is there but it is wrapped in action pack power ups and quick time events.

Bigs 2 has two major game modes the career mode and the exhibition game mode. The career mode you get to create your own customize player and play as him from rookie year to the hall of fame. The customization of your player is well put together and you get to choose cool things like your batting stance and your victory posse. The biggest downfall of this feature is you can only be a position player which is a major downfall. I really wanted to play as a pitcher and not being able to took a lot away from the game. Your player would also grow stronger through out the game making it really feel like your creating a star. Exhibition game mode is just like it sounds it a way to quickly play a game with your favorite players against a friend or AI opponent. The only downfall of this is that Bis 2 failed to provide up to date rosters which was annoying as many players where missing or inaccurately rated.

Like the classic NBA JAM Bigs 2 rewards players with unnatural power up abilities to make the game more action pack and entertaining. Bigs 2 could use some more player vs player quick time competition but that's just the nature of baseball vs basketball. Bigs 2 also only reward these power ups to characters that have high stats in that category. So don't expect to make a magnificent catch with a character that has low fielding stats. The two major batting power ups in the game are the Big Slam and the Grand Slam. Both or deadly power ups that can evaporate what felt like a decent lead. Pitching has a similar power ups pitch mode which I rarely used cause when it cam down to it is was almost always a better move to save power ups for hitting.

When Batting the player has two type of swings a contact swing and a power swing which is all you really need. You can also angle your swing to aim where you would like to hit the ball. Batting is all about timing and the better your timing the better the hit. Also like the real sport players have power areas in which they can hit the ball better from. So if your batter is an inside powerhouse balls on the inside of the plate will be hit harder. Players will also be able to use their power up meter to get focus hits.

Pitching has a little more you can do with it. Based on your pitcher you will have a collection of up to four pitches they can pitch. The best strategy is to mix up the type of pitches plus location to keep the hitters off balanced. Throwing pitches on the corners is normally your best bet but it dose come at the risk of giving the batter a power up for throwing a ball. Their is no complex process to pitching an accurate pitch you simply have one meter that fills up and you try to stop it right at the top. If your perfect you throw a perfect pitch if you screw up your pitch will miss its target. Also pitchers will lose pitches and get tired if batter gets lots of hit off them.

Fielding is where most of the quick time arcade style of game play comes in. A normal hit require you to simply get your player to the ball to make a play. For hard hits or skilled attempts at the ball the player will be prompt with a quick time event that will test your reflexive skills. These events are self explanatory and effective in keeping the game interesting.

Prototype: Unstable Fun

RATING: 7.5/ 10
PLATFORM: Xbox 360 / PS3
GENRE: Action Adventure
RATED: MATURE
PURCHASE RECOMMENDATION: Rent

So Prototype is hyper active ADHD brother of Infamous. Where Infamous had its steadily paced combat and storyline Prototype is simply about ripping the city apart in high speed combat. Prototype though similar to Infamous in many ways takes a completely different style of gameplay. Infamous is like a latin jazz piece where Prototype is your heavy metal rock, it comes down to your gameing style. In Prototype you play as a super human/mutant that can be describe as a Superman vampire zombie. Your not necessarily a villain but then you do kill countless people to regain health and steal identities. Combat in Prototype is mass chaos where you get to use your massively overpowered abilities to take on countless enemies. When things get to crazy you flee for your life regaining life and then return to the battle fresh. The mass chaos works for this type of game because of its ADHD flow but the mass chaos does take away any depth in gameplay. Also your power ups can make the game one sided. When you have a super powerful long range weapon that makes u pretty much invincible game balance is destroyed and the challenge is gone. Overall though I scored this game well because my little bro simply loved it and prove the point that prototype is a 10 out of 10 for the right audience. For me however I give it 7.5 out of 10 and I suggest you at least renting it.

A Wii Knock Out

RATING: 8/ 10
PLATFORM: Wii
GENRE: Arcade style Boxing
PURCHASE RECOMMENDATION: Buy / Rent

Punch-Out is one of the better classic remakes for the Nintendo Wii. Punch-Out keeps true to the original but adjusts to the modern powers of the Wii. I was truly impressed that finally there is a Nintendo Wii game that I could stay up to the wii hours in the morning playing with my friends (yeah for puns). However hardcore gamer should be warned this is much more of an Arcade game than a Boxing game. The game play of Punch-out focuses on dodging your opponents moves and then countering. There is very little time when you get to go on the offense. As the game progress to the harder AI opponents it really becomes a game of reflexes and endurance then over all skill. If you want to experience a real life boxing game I would avoid this game. Of course Punch-Out never really trys to disguise itself as a boxing game, straight from the get go you learn that strategy is not needed. I'm sure many younger kids will enjoy this game but parents beware they might get frustrated by the later difficulty of the game. Punch-Out also optionally uses the Wii fit board but unfortunately it is only a disadvantage to using it so why bother. The stylized art and characters are a perfect match for the Wii and the games type as you battle stereotypical character from around the globe. In short however Punch-Out like many Wii games is just way to short. It is literally like a 4-5 hours story mode with a couple other option like training, online and multiplayer. The multiplayer did make a much better game play experience as it felt a lot more like a boxing game than a reflex challenge. Punch-Out had so much potentially to have a wide variety of minigames, playable character and customization that all just got left out for no reason. I was generous to give this game and 8 out of 10 cause of Punch-Out only reaches the bar and does not pass it. My hopes is that the game developers will make a sequel that will add the much needed depth to the game play and overall experience.

Bionic Commando - A harsh mechanic

RATING: 7/ 10
PLATFORM: XBox360 / PS3
GENRE: Adventure
PURCHASE RECOMMENDATION: Only for the Serious Gamer

Good games don't always get good reviews:
So I was very shocked when I heard the initial reviews for Bionic Commando. A game that looked so cool and appeared to be a strong contender to get only sub par scoring. Well I put the reviews a side and decided to give Bionic Commando a swing before passing judgment. My finished results is a 7/10 (which for me means it is a decent game) and the only reason this game did not get a 7+ was cause Bionic Commando is freakin frustrating.

A Swinging good time:
Bionic Commando did a great job with the swinging game mechanic which is the bulk of the game. It was simply amazing flying through the beautiful levels grabbing on to piratically anything in your reach. The controls though complicated get the job done and make the game handle very well. Once you get over the learning curve you can really let loose in this game.

Water, Radiation and stun stick oh my:
To sum up this overall gigantic paragraph if a game makes a player frustrated so much that he or she is not enjoying the game your doing it wrong. More details keep reading:

What really killed Bionic Commando was its penalty for death combined with how easy it is to die. Now I am not saying all video games need to be easy but I do think there is a balance of how much you penalize the player for dieing. In Bionic Commando every time you die you are faced with a load screen that does nothing more then mocks you for 30 seconds. Bionic Commando had way to much loading time in general but the fact that every death meet more loading just added to the overall frustration meter. Now all of this would not nearly be that bad except for the fact that Bionic Commandos have some major weaknesses. If you so much as touch water you begin to drown which means you have about 10 seconds to figure out why you did not bring a floaty. Also no matter how clear the water is from the surface once you begin to drown it becomes muddy then the Hudson making it impossible to see. Radiation game mechanic though there to say this is not a Sandbox go away, is simply to quick to kill. I am sorry level designer I landed on a building i am not suppose to so do not freaking kill me before I can jump off the building. Lastly stun sticks seem to be the secret weapon to destroy all bionic commandos, I can take multiple shot gun rounds to the face but two taps with a stun stick and I am dead now that's retarded.

Story and Game progression no one cares about:
Bionic Commando is about a guy no one cares for trying to defeat an enemy no one cares about to save a world that once again no one cares about. Thank goodness the levels were lush a gorgeous because seeing new landscape is all I really that to look for in this game progress. From level one I had the plot figured out cause it was that much of a cookie cutter and even the little details I did not were basically pointless fluff. Really this a big budget game with a really interesting game mechanic how about spend some time on coming up with a unique story. Game progression is ok until the end when you qiuckly learned that the last two boss consist of a button mashing quick time event and a boring game of roll and then shoot. A rule of Game progression a Finial Boss should be the most challenging even in the game.

Yea for prettys:
Bionic Commando is B-E-A-Uitful. The eviornments cover a destroyed urban city, gigantic cayons and lush forest. Im really glad that my extra long loading time was going to good use because I never felt lag while playing the game. Unfotunatly the prettys are not number one for me so sorry bionic artist.

inFAMOUS: more then a funny spelled name

RATING: 7.5/ 10
PLATFORM: PS3
GENRE: Sandbox Adventure
PURCHASE RECOMMENDATION: Rent

So first thing first inFAMOUS is spelled in an odd format and people are going crazy over it. Who cares its a name and nothing more, if you play a video game only because of how it spells its name then it sucks to be you. So anyway Infamous (yes get use to seeing the name this way) at first disappointed me. I quickly learned I couldn't use guns or vehicles in the game and that my super powers were really not all that powerful. This was similar to what I felt about force unleashed, I am this super powered hero why am I getting stunned and killed by stupid minions. So Infamous combat basically consist of you shooting opponents with electricity (very similar to a infinite ammo pistol) and sporadically using a few power up attacks (electric grenades, an electric pulse attack to know over enemies, ect...). In Infamous you always feel like your at a disadvantage because you simply can't kill enemies fast enough. I have never seen your average gang member street thug take five bolts of electricity and still stand up like their in perfect physical conditions. In short don't make grunt characters with stand more then one direct hit, their grunts and are merely there to allow you to blast away countless enemies without breaking a sweat. Infamous does have some more powerful enemies from time to time to spice things up but all to often the grunts would get in the way of the fight. Now sense Infamous is a sandbox game it does provided more then enough side missions to keep you busy tell next year. I suggest ignoring these missions because they make a already very repetitive game slow down to a crawl and really provide very little purpose as far as growth in your character. Now what makes Infamous an enjoying game and somewhat addicting is a unique storyline placed in a very well design world. You could tell that this game was structure from the world up as the game world really makes the game. Also many of the story missions set you up in situation where you really get to have fun with your super powers and blowing things up. So overall Infamous is a game that can tend to drag its feet but in the end turns out to be a fun play.