Batman: Arkham Asylum Shelf Point
Batman: Arkham Asylum is a great game. It has made me feel like a brutal martial arts expert, a stealth-killer, an elite techno-hacker - all the things that Batman is. To my mind, that's what a game is for: it makes you feel like you're another person, in another universe so you can experience their story.
However, the game has reached a shelf-point for me. I hate rage-quitting, but that's what it made me do. I'm not sure if I'll go back to complete it. I'll explain why.
Two types of battle which work really well:
Firstly, fighting off a mob of henchmen, with the combo and counter moves. It makes me feel like Batman: I feel anxious to avoid being hit, I weigh up the individual opponents and choose which to take out first, I spread my attacks between multiple opponents and choose a variety of special moves to help. I also like that it slows down time a bit when you need to counter, so you have time to realise it and press the appropriate button.
Secondly, fighting a venom-poisoned goon. I really enjoy the test of timing and skill which is bataranging the thing in the face when it charges and jumping out of the way before it hits. It's difficult to do properly, but possible. It gives a good rush to defeat them.
The Precursor Which Set My Negative Mood:
The Poison Ivy battle is dull and frustrating. The patterns are obvious, but parts of it are impossible to time without getting hit. I got trapped and constricted by her plants when I was obviously out of their reach (presumably caused by detection volumes being larger than the plant models). At the point where I had to explosive-gel Ivy's capsule, I followed the on-screen instructions and Batman explosive-gelled the ground right in front of her instead. Nice one Batman. It was an onerous and joyless battle which took me half a dozen attempts to complete, but at least it was possible.
The Battle Which Caused the Rage-Quit:
Two venom-poisoned goons, and a bunch of henchmen. Just a combination of previous mechanics - that should be a good thing, right? It takes what you already know and makes you combine them in order to make more complex decisions. Awesome! Except it breaks everything.
Fighting a venom-poisoned goon requires TIMING. This is made infinitely harder by the fact that whenever a henchman comes to attack you, time slows right down. I found it impossible to implement combat decisions I had made because I couldn't press the right buttons at the right time. I didn't feel like Batman - I felt like a ten-thumbed idiot with a piece of indecipherable alien-tech clutched in my oafish hands.
Now I'm the first to admit that I've never been a button-combo genius, and I'm used to being defeated like this. My usual response is to admit I'm not skilful enough and change the difficulty to Easy so I can at least reach the end of the story...except the Batman menus don't let me do that. I cannot find any option to change the skill level.
My Options:
1) Subject myself to repeated humiliation and rage-quitting until a lucky break or three lets me get through that battle;
2) Play all the way from the beginning on Easy;
3) Give up.
It doesn't help that the Poison Ivy battle was so interminable - what if I get past this section only to have three of the venom-poisoned goons come out at me? I've no way of knowing when it will end!
I think preservation of my scant remaining sanity requires that I ask my wife what the ending was like, and move on to Arkham City (and make damn sure I select Easy this time).
Update: The game solved this issue for me by losing my game save. So I'm replaying from the start on Easy. As an unexpected bonus, it's made me feel like _more_ of a super hero now I can get the combo special moves working more frequently.
However, the game has reached a shelf-point for me. I hate rage-quitting, but that's what it made me do. I'm not sure if I'll go back to complete it. I'll explain why.
Two types of battle which work really well:
Firstly, fighting off a mob of henchmen, with the combo and counter moves. It makes me feel like Batman: I feel anxious to avoid being hit, I weigh up the individual opponents and choose which to take out first, I spread my attacks between multiple opponents and choose a variety of special moves to help. I also like that it slows down time a bit when you need to counter, so you have time to realise it and press the appropriate button.
Secondly, fighting a venom-poisoned goon. I really enjoy the test of timing and skill which is bataranging the thing in the face when it charges and jumping out of the way before it hits. It's difficult to do properly, but possible. It gives a good rush to defeat them.
The Precursor Which Set My Negative Mood:
The Poison Ivy battle is dull and frustrating. The patterns are obvious, but parts of it are impossible to time without getting hit. I got trapped and constricted by her plants when I was obviously out of their reach (presumably caused by detection volumes being larger than the plant models). At the point where I had to explosive-gel Ivy's capsule, I followed the on-screen instructions and Batman explosive-gelled the ground right in front of her instead. Nice one Batman. It was an onerous and joyless battle which took me half a dozen attempts to complete, but at least it was possible.
The Battle Which Caused the Rage-Quit:
Two venom-poisoned goons, and a bunch of henchmen. Just a combination of previous mechanics - that should be a good thing, right? It takes what you already know and makes you combine them in order to make more complex decisions. Awesome! Except it breaks everything.
Fighting a venom-poisoned goon requires TIMING. This is made infinitely harder by the fact that whenever a henchman comes to attack you, time slows right down. I found it impossible to implement combat decisions I had made because I couldn't press the right buttons at the right time. I didn't feel like Batman - I felt like a ten-thumbed idiot with a piece of indecipherable alien-tech clutched in my oafish hands.
Now I'm the first to admit that I've never been a button-combo genius, and I'm used to being defeated like this. My usual response is to admit I'm not skilful enough and change the difficulty to Easy so I can at least reach the end of the story...except the Batman menus don't let me do that. I cannot find any option to change the skill level.
My Options:
1) Subject myself to repeated humiliation and rage-quitting until a lucky break or three lets me get through that battle;
2) Play all the way from the beginning on Easy;
3) Give up.
It doesn't help that the Poison Ivy battle was so interminable - what if I get past this section only to have three of the venom-poisoned goons come out at me? I've no way of knowing when it will end!
I think preservation of my scant remaining sanity requires that I ask my wife what the ending was like, and move on to Arkham City (and make damn sure I select Easy this time).
Update: The game solved this issue for me by losing my game save. So I'm replaying from the start on Easy. As an unexpected bonus, it's made me feel like _more_ of a super hero now I can get the combo special moves working more frequently.
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