After Darkfall

Mass Effect 2 is the 2010 sequel to Mass Effect initially taking place sometime after the battle of the Citadel at the close of Mass Effect. At the beginning of the game, Shepard’s ship, the Normandy is attacked by an unknown ship and destroyed. While most of the Normandy’s crew escapes, Shepard gives his (her?) life to save others. The game picks up two years later as the mysterious organization known as Cerberus has resurrected Commander Shepard hoping he can get to the bottom of mysterious alien abductions from Earth colonies on the frontier by a race known as The Collectors, an insectoid people of unfathomable purpose. Shepard is given a new Normandy staffed with some old friends and two Cerberus agents to help him while he recruits an assault crew, made of new allies and old ones, to take on the Collectors. Very quickly is becomes apparent that the Reapers are behind The Collectors and are still very much a threat to the Milky way. Sovereign, the Reaper from the first game, was only a single scout.

The story of ME2 continues where the first left off, and actually references flags in your last save game of ME1 to determine how pieces of the story will go for ME2. Don’t worry – in true Tragic Hero tradition any decision will bite you in the ass, it just makes sure to do it in a unique way. ME2 also continues that tradition and decisions and events that transpire based on you during ME2 will happily come and bite you in the ass in ME3. Does that make Mass Effect players a little masochistic? Yes, yes it does. Happily so. In addition to combat and space exploration ME2 provides a number of very moral compass decisions that have become the cornerstone of BioWare RPGs. Everything from calling in the morality of Cerberus, and its CEO the Illusive Man (voiced by Martin Sheen) to being like Captain Kirk of Star Trek and bedding anyone (thing) willing if that’s your play style. The main narrative surrounding The Collectors and the Reapers gets more and more disturbing as you follow it deeper toward the assault on The Collectors home at the end of the game. The truth behind The Collectors and the abductions is one of the darker revelations in gaming.

The customization in Mass Effect 2 is right along with Mass Effect. Though now, many of the customizations affect stats and abilities and with advances in graphics they tend to look a lot cooler. Again if it suffers from anything, it suffers from too many choices.
ME2 maintains the sound and visual quality of its predecessor. Scene specific music and professional voice actors, including some famous film and TV stars, round the experience out audibly and the graphics are the expected advance and hold up even five years later. The Mass Effect series of games are a sensory joy to play.

There are a couple of control level changes in Mass Effect 2 that I want to address. One breaks a continuity element and the other I felt was just a little lazy. In ME1, guns were unlimited ammo. Odd? Yes but they generated their ammo through a replicative process that caused a lot of heat. So when the gun overheated, you had to give it a few moments to cool down that was congruent with how long you were firing it. In ME2, guns are on an ammo basis. This is literally moving from an advanced technology back to a current day mechanic. That was very jarring. I liked it better than the overheat mechanic, but it was still surprising.

The other mechanic change was in exploration. In the original game as you went from planet to planet you often were able to land and explore planets with your team in a rover, getting out to perform certain tasks. It made for a larger experience than just hitting a scan button and getting a narrative only being able to land on planets that were part of the story. Now ME2? Yeah, you orbit a planet, scan it, launch probes to gather materials, and are able to land only where there’s story. It is a much more closed exploration system and has been almost universally decried by fans of the original system.

Summing up Mass Effect 2:
Story: 5/5: Yes, I’m one of those masochists who love a good heroic tragedy and gets a good giggle out of having something I did previously bite me in the ass. I’m also a big fan of horror and make no mistake, the big reveal in this game would have given Rod Serling the creeps.
Sound: 5/5: Sound is such an important part of a game and BioWare’s investment in their music and voice really speak to the quality of the game and the company. With consistent cinema quality sound the Mass Effect series is among the best ever.
Graphics: 5/5: Still state of the art, and still beautiful five years after its release. The ME games are among those that I’d consider breaking my long-standing view on VR technology as being a gimmick and I’d love to see these through an Oculus.
Control: 3/5: Overall improved controls in combat particularly where cover is concerned helped but the loss of the exploration system hurts this score keeping it on par with the “nothing special” of the original. It does gain a crafting system which is cool but the resource gathering component in place of the hard exploration is just a quick substitute for me.
Playability: 4/5: This is my third time through the game. I think that should tell you everything you need to know. It is a fun game and it’s a fun replay choosing the options you didn’t pick before or switching out your class. There are multiple ways it can play out depending on how you treat your crew and let’s not forget, what feels like a victory will come back in ME3 and bite you in the ass. Happy hunting!

Lord of the Rings Online, Shadows of Angmar is a 2007 MMO released by Turbine. I jumped in at its two year mark during the release of the first expansion “Mines of Moria” and around the time of the first real overhaul to the crafting system as well as the addition of two new classes. LOTRO offers the chance to wander through a book faithful version of Middle Earth (as opposed to the wildly popular movie version) and gives players the choice of Hobbit, Man, Dwarf, Elf, or Beorning and various sub classes thereof. Some are more survivable solo than others, and some, that should not be survivable solo are freakishly so (looking at you, Loremaster!) Originally release on a pay to play schedule the game went to a fairly successful free to play model while allowing people (like me) who wanted to keep throwing them a fee to experience a few extra perks.

The main story starts you, depending on your choice of race, either in the Breelands, the family homestead of Beorn’s descendants, the Shire, the ancient Elven Home in the Blue Mountains, or in Thorin’s Hall in the Blue Mountains. It begins, for the most part in the years between Bilbo’s 111th birthday party and Frodo feeling the shire (yes, movie fans, that was in actuality several years, not just a few months!). The characters follow a course that has them run parallel with the main story of Fellowship of the Ring from that point up until the siege of Helm’s Deep at which point you become actively part of the main story directly supporting Aragorn and Theoden. You then continue along Aragorn’s story clear up until the Battle of Pelenor and the aftermath ending currently with the King’s approach of the Black Gate. The game is FIRMLY faithful to the source material – even the expanded and extrapolated material remains firmly in Middle Earth. There are hundreds of side quests to take throughout the story as well fleshing out what would otherwise be a linear experience. Of course not every quest is a winner. Early on you’ll learn far more about Hobbit courting that you’ll ever, ever want to know.

When choosing the graphic style for LOTRO, it has been said that they chose a medieval style color palette to promote the proper mood. It shows. At times oppressive, and at times depressive and moody, the game’s graphics are spot on. And those moments of utter oppression are always rewarded with glorious moments that bring out the beauty of Middle Earth. You will never forget the first time you climb Weathertop and look out on the Lonelands or the first time you climb down the switchback trail leading into Rivendell. Entering Moria is awe inspiring at first, and then just as you can’t stand being underground any longer, you come out into the beautiful Loth Lorien. The environs of the Great River take you to Rohan. The Paths of the Dead take you into Gondor. There’s even an instance where you can stand on a bridge in Dale and look to the north and see The Lonely Mountain on the horizon. For Tolkien fans it is a homecoming. For non-Tolkien fans, it is still a beautiful, well executed setting.

Until recently, there was little to no voice acting in LOTRO. It has been added in the last few years to supplement the copious reading for quests. At one point, the only voice was in cut scenes but as the technology advances, so has this. Special attack sound effects and battle effects were always present and appropriate and the game’s music range is well done. In fact, in some places, you can hear the old tunes that Tolkien wrote and if you’re like me you find yourself quietly singing the lyrics. Where the sound does suffer sometimes is the background music, which is often way too loud. You will find yourself turning it down so you can hear the dialogue.

The controls are pretty standard most of the time. WADS or mouse driven movement and multiple toolbars to put your abilities, tools, and mounts in. The interface is easy to learn. Where it hits an issue is in mounted combat. At the release of the Rohan expansion the game included for the first time mounted combat. Many of us begged for it and we got it. The problem is that the horses are difficult to control at anything faster than a gallop and some of the classes abilities are lacking any real use on horseback. In later stages, particularly in Gondor, horseback use can be outright deadly due to lag issues that are concurrent with the majority of the population being in the same area as we’ve all grown and levelled together. What used to be known as “Bree Lag” is now very much known as “Minas Tirith Lag” I’ve often been disappointed and/or annoyed with mounted combat to the point where unless my foes are mounted as well, I’d rather confront them on foot with my full abilities rather than on jerky horseback with limited abilities.

Crafting is done with simple components and not much flavor other than the inscription customizations. Sadly, until recently, the crafting was a great deal more fun and challenging and produced truly unique items. The game was dumbed down in this regard and I feel it hurt it greatly.

Likewise, they dumbed the skill and attribute system down significantly around the time Rohan was launched. Trainers have become useless reminders of a better system and attributes and traits are all “in the box” as compared to the excellent pick and choose system that used to exist. (Shades of Star Wars Galaxies, anyone?)

With Lord of the Rings Online now firmly into the final chapters of Return of the King it is a little hard to say what the future holds. The developers plan on having us in Mordor within the next year and have to some extent, promised a continuation into the 4th age of Middle Earth. My best guess is it has another two good years in it at least; likely more if the writers are talented and they open up to more source material.

Summing Up:

Story: 5/5: From the initial entry right up to the Black Gate you feel you are a vital part of the story of Middle Earth, the protection of the Ring Bearer, and the crowning of the King.
Graphics: 5/5: The right mood, the right feel, and accurate to Tolkien’s writing. What more could you ask?
Sound: 4/5: Effects and voice over are well done and for the most part well-acted, but the background music is often distracting. When it isn’t distracting and it becomes part of the scene proper, it tends to be too quiet. No happy medium here, folks.
Control: 3/5: it’s suffering a couple of points due to the mounted combat controls. Clunky.
Crafting: 2/5: I had a hard time with this one. It used to easily be a 4/5. For reference, the only system I’d ever give a 5/5 is Star Wars Galaxies. That being said, yes, it used to be fun to craft after an evening of adventuring but now it’s just repetitive and a grind.
Character Growth: 4/5: Minus a couple points for being dumbed down but back up for what really is a variety of skills. It would be a 5/5 if we could still mix and match attributes and traits to our own liking rather than following a path.
Longevity: 4/5: I think it has a good chance of lasting a few more years making any investment in it timewise or even moneywise worth it.
Playability a high 3/5 (3.8 for the average!) Boy, that crafting hurts the rating but the overall experience is still a lot of fun. If anyone wants to check out the game drop me a line first and I’ll make sure to meet up with you. The server is Arkenstone and our Kinship (Guild) is the Fighting Felons of Laketown.

In the meantime, let's talk about some of the games I've played on PC over the years. PC is actually my preferred format for RPGs, MMO's, and the city builder games like Sim City.

In honor of the coming Mass Effect Andromeda, I'm going to go back several years to a BioWare classic, Mass Effect. Mass Effect, rumor has, started life as Knight of the Old Republic III. When that fell through they continued to develop the game as their own IP and the world of Commander Shepard and the Reapers was born. Mass Effect was released in 2007 and tells the story of Commander Shepard and his crew and their fight against a sentient space dreadnought known as Sovereign and its indoctrinated agents led by Saren, a rogue SPECTRE (think Interplanetary James Bond).

The story of Mass Effect was innovative. Imagine a game where you actually can change the course of the story not only from your own perspective (are you valiant, neutral, or a complete prick) but also how your crew functions and how the story will go in future games! On a whole it isn't a "happy" story and if you don't know that within the first ten minutes of the story then you didn't pay attention in High School English class. Do yourself a favor, before you play any of the Mass Effect games, make sure you're familiar with Greek Hero/Tragedy and put aside your familiarity with Hollywood Happy Endings. If you don't, you will not like these games.

Much like other FPS/RPGs, Mass Effect allows you to customize everything about your character. Appearance, Gender, (Sexual Preference (no kidding)), weapons, armor, weapon special abilities, the works. At times it even feels too customizable.

The music and sound are on a motion picture sale, which we are more than used to today but was still a novelty back then. The graphics hold up to any game today. A cast of familiar and superb voice actors rounded out the sensory experience and through them created a vibrant, living sci-fi franchise/universe.

In addition to the FPS standard of play there was an excellent exploration system as you moved from planet to planet and star system to star system. On planets where it was (more or less) safe and on many story or side quest planets, you could explore it via a rover that was unfortunately left out of later installments.

Summing Up Mas Effect:

Story: 5/5: I'm a sucker for a story that calls into life Joseph Campbell's archetypes and archetype stories and Mass Effect does that REALLY well. The ability to effect the game and future games by your actions is still an innovation ten years later.
Control: 3/5: Average FPS on a computer. Mouse and keyboard driven unless you hook up a controller. It works well but isn't anything "wow"
Sound/Music: 5/5: Very easily could be theater quality feature length film. Amazing and emotional. Excellent voice acting draws you into the story completely.
Graphics: 5/5: Again, easily feature length animated quality. Holds up to today's games easily.
Playability: 4/5: You WILL find yourself playing the game multiple times to see what different decisions will get you. You WILL be sorry when the game is over because it is a joy to play. You WILL want to see how Shepard's story winds up. Though I stress again, ditch any feelings for Happy Endings. The series ends dark no matter how you look at it, it just depends on you as to how dark.

Finally finished Borderlands today!

Borderlands is a 2009 RPG FPS game from Gearbox Software.

Going into Borderlands my initial thought was "Oh look another "RPG FPS". I've heard about the game for years from friends and the humor just didn't grab me at the time.

I was miserably wrong on all counts. Borderlands was surprisingly involved and satisfyingly long (you know my distaste now for short games).

The story picks up with the arrival of several mercenaries on the planet Pandora (take that, James Cameron!). Pandora is a planet full of insane bandits, equally insane settlers, and countless deadly wildlife that makes Pandora the Australia of the video game world. The mercenaries are all in search of an alien Vault. The Vault, is rumored to be full of alien tech, weapons, and riches that will help whoever controls it control the fate of Pandora (i.e. the economy).
Through a harrowing adventure across Pandora's wasteland and into the foothills of a nearby glacier the Vault Hunters discover they're not only racing to become rich and famous, but to save the universe itself.

Each mercenary class gets unique skills that compliment he and if playing multi-player, their teammates. The skills are purchased through a typical skill tree and except for the class action skill are all passive. Weapon control is what you'd expect in an FPS and tool and map selection is pretty fluid. Where the game fails is the vehicles. You have a choice between a rocket turreted buggy or a machine gun turreted buggy. Weapon controls on the vehicles are okay - but the driving is a friggin' nightmare. If it wasn't for some of the distances on the maps, I would have stayed on foot. There was a fun part to the vehicles, you could run enemies over and as long as they were smaller than you, you'd kill them outright. Larger enemies required a couple of runs. There were times when the game's over the top mentality was a little exasperating and it became difficult, even for the tank class, to make its way through the game. Thankfully, those were only a few spots.

The sound in the game was superb. Good, moody-worthy music and good voice overs (I'm pretty sure I heard some old favorite voice actors in there).

The graphics were comic book style cell shaded. I saw a video today with test footage of the game using realistic graphic rendering but they chose to use the cell shading to give the game more personality. I'm torn on this because usually I don't like cell shading to the point it looks cartoony, but they're right, it gave them game a pulp comic book feel that was fun.

Summing up:
Control: 3/5. On foot you're fine, but the requirement to use the vehicle which was a nightmare to control took away from the experience. I also wish they'd have shown a little restraint on how many super armored opponents they sent at you and I'm curious as to why the rocket launcher actually seemed to harm NOTHING in the game.
Sound/Music: 5/5: Fun music, good voice, and a catchy opening theme that I still can't stop singing. THAT is impressive.
Story: 5/5: Good, engaging story. Not so much twisty as it is logical and makes sense. It easily could have been a sci-fi cartoon or even movie. And it was a full game. Way too many modern games are short and rely on DLC and add-ons to tell their story. While Borderlands has DLCs you don't have to have them to be satisfied! I happily did every mission save some of the Clap Trap rescues.
Graphics: Comic book, sci-fi feel but a little hard to read and differentiate some objects unless you were right up on the TV and for the size of my TV, that should NOT be the case. And no, my vision is fine, thank you.
Playability: 4/5: The game was a lot of fun and I'm glad I gave it a chance beyond my initial skepticism. I coming to honestly believe that older games tend to play better.

Well, on to Borderlands 2!

My first impression of BioShock Infinite was the amused thought, "Wow, the bad-guy is a Sky-Mormon. (DISCLAIMER: The commentary here regarding the LDS and FLDS is from 19th and early 20th century values and does not reflect their modern beliefs, which admittedly, I don't entirely understand. The game worked upon religious stereotypes, I didn't and I'm not bashing anyone's faith). As Infinite takes us into the floating city of Columbia in 1912 rather than the sunken city of Rapture in the 60's it presents us with a microcosm of what America could have been had we been a theocracy instead of a Republic.

I was delighted at the bright scenery and openness of Columbia. I was puzzled as I walked past the bandstand to hear a barbershop quartet singing "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys. (Coincidentally the theme to the FLDS HBO drama, Big Love further cementing the image of Sky-Mormons) in 1912. Then as I crept further I encountered a narrative appropriate moment of racism that left me pausing the game saying, "what the fuck?" for several minutes. At first I thought that didn't fit and then I remembered and a quick google later I confirmed, Yeah, the LDS/FLDS had a huge racism problem in the 19th and early 20th century. Someone did their homework - very impressive.

Moving on: BioShock: Infinite is the last of the BioShock FPS games to date. The protagonist, Booker DeWitt, an ex-army, ex-Pinkerton detective, now Private Detective has gone to Columbia to find a missing girl (presumably Elizabeth) and is quickly branded an enemy of the state and finds the once friendly citizens very hostile. After initially rescuing the girl, who can bend time and reality in a way that would make JJ Abrahms jealous (it is well written and makes sense which is something you can never say for anything Abrahms is involved in), Booker finds himself involved in Columbia's dangerous political situation and fighting for his life and Elizabeth's on multiple fronts until he confronts the Prophet Zachary Comstock and himself in one of the most mind-bending endings I've ever seen. And major credit goes to the developers for taking a huge chance of how the game ended from the boss fight forward. It doesn’t end how a typical FPS game ends. It ends on a narrative that could have been part of the Dark Tower book series (though not quite as complicated).

The environment of Columbia is bright, open, and airy; completely in contrast with Rapture’s oppressive feel. It completely reverses the feel of the first part of the game from the Rapture’s “Man, I’m gonna die horribly down here” to a “This place is pretty cool” attitude. The anachronistic music makes you laugh when you catch it. The music in general is a blend of traditional, early 20th century gospel, and music from the last 50 years. How? Well, that would be spoiling it. Go find out for yourself. Columbia is riddles with skyways. Mono-rail like lines that you could hook onto and transit to other islands in the floating chain. I found them to be frustrating, personally.

Instead of the DNA altering plasmids, Booker has access to 8 vigors that give him supernatural abilities (to fight the False Sheppard and his agents of evil. Or anyone else who gets in the way, for that matter. They’re function exactly like the plasmids of old. The biggest control change is that you can only carry two weapons at a time. That made planning and knowing your enemy a lot more important and is another major departure from most FPS games. At first it annoyed me, but as I went on I realized this was more than a point and shoot game and that gained it a lot of points with me. Also gone is the map. Technically it isn’t needed because you can always use the “find your path” mechanic, but I think I’d rather have the map to at least show me how close to a goal I am. Especially when you get badly turned around using the skyways.

Summing up!

Control: 4/5: Improved controls overall, but the lack of map knocks a point
Story: 5/5: Well thought out, well executed, twisted, and in the end, makes you wonder if Booker is still utterly fucked.
Sound/Music: Fun. Fantastic music and a great troupe of voice actors.
Graphics: 5/5: The environment made for a lot of fun to play in. The openness made combat more strategic and in general it was pleasing to look at.
Playability: 4/5: Great game. A lot more strategic than other FPS games. Better story than most FPS games. Harder than the average shoot ‘em up without being impossible the end didn’t leave you feeling like it was just too easy (I’m looking at you BioShock 2). There is a catch. It would be a hard game to replay unless you are a perfection/completionist. Once you discover the secrets of Columbia, they’re hard to forget so a replay wouldn’t pack as much of a punch.

BioShock is a 2007 first person shooter with RPG elements and not a small amount of survival horror dropped in. The game opens with the protagonist being the only survivor of a plane crash at sea where you wash up on a rocky island with a lone lighthouse. A short bathysphere ride later you find yourself in an underwater city built by a madman and populated by gene splicing lunatics, zombie-like automatons, and creepy little girls who gather the genetic material of the dead.

Beyond Good & Evil starts with the world of Hyllis under attack from the DomZ. They capitalize it that way, not me. The brave Alpha Sections (??) are trying to defend the world against the (sigh) DomZ and the traitorous IRIS (news) Network. I'm not going to further describe the story simply because it is just ...bad.

Batman: Arkham City:

Another outing for the Dark Knight opens with Bruce Wayne being arrested and put in Gotham's new experimental prision, "Arkham City." His accuser: Prof. Hugo Strange who is working with a mysterious outside agent and Mayor Sharp (formerly Warden Sharp of Arkham Asylum) to block off a large section of Gotham City and leave it to mob and criminal rule. It doesn't take long for Wayne to don the bat suit and get on with finding out who is behind Strange's rise to power and quickly encounters several of his rogue's gallery, including Two Face, Then Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and of course the Joker and Harley.

The largest change from Asylum is an more open world environment and side quests. Or so it seems, at first. Aspects of the side quest are triggered by events of the main story, and much like Asylum, you find yourself at the end of the main story entirely too fast as each mission tends to lead directly into the next with either no warning or a plot twist that forces you to continue the main story whether you're ready or not! I was also lucky enough to have the GoTY edition that had the Catwoman downloadable levels that integrate themselves into the story. They're short but amusing and a good break to the seriousness around Bats. The under user prize goes to Robin. He shows up briefly (and it's hard to tell if it's Tim Drake or Dick Grayson at this point and if not for Barbara being Oracle and not Batgirl I would never have figured out it was the Tim Drake Robin). He shows up, smacks a couple of assassins, and gets chased off. Meanwhile Hugo Strange is preparing to almost literally nuke the city, prisoners and innocent political prisoners alike. I get it, Batman likes to work alone but even he knows when that's tactically stupid.

I cannot add much to the visuals that I described in Asylum. They're very similar and still, very stunning. As good as any Batman animated feature.

The sound remains superior. Kevin is still the Bat and Mark is still the Joker. (Diane's note: And Harley is still enough to get me to leave the room). I still very much approve of the music lowering at times to hear the dialogue and being unobtrusive.

Control remains fluid and easy to use. it is an enjoyable play.

Story: Once again, like its predecessor, it is too short, and there's no indication how far along the main story you are so you don't know if/when you can separate and do those side quests which are a lot of fun with one exception.

The Riddler. Fuck the Riddler. With his question mark shaped cane.

The Deadshot story, however, is entertaining and actually requires a bit of detective work!

In synopsis:
Controls: 5/5
Graphics: 5/5
Sound: 5/5
Story: 3/5 This get's knocked down a tick because they dropped the ball. You have an entire section of Gotham City and the story is the same length as what took place in the Asylum. Good story - well written, just too short.
Playability: 3/5: Would have been 2/5 without the Zzass and Deadshot side quests to boost the story simply because of how obnoxious the Riddler shit is.

How to start with a classic game as Batman Arkham Asylum...

In case you've been under a rock, Arkham Asylum is a 2009 part RPG, part action game featuring the titular character in the titular location. The game opens with Batman delivering the Joker back to Arkham Asylum. Of course the Joker escapes and reveals a master plan to enlist the island's other inmates in using a variation of Bane's Venom drug to create an army of monsters to kill, maim, and generally cause chaos.

The game is visually stunning. From the run down asylum to the expressions on characters faces the game is gorgeous. Even the way the batsuit takes on damage as the game progresses shows that very little is forgotten.

Most of my friends can tell you that background music often ruins a game for me. Not whether or not the music is crummy, but how goddamn loud it always is. Inevitably in almost every game I have to play I turn down the background music so I can enjoy the vocals and other sound. I don't have to do that with this game. The music goes up and down dependent on the action and it doesn't detract one bit from the experience. Best of all, Batman and Joker are voiced by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. For most of my generation, these two ARE Batman and Joker. Keep your Christian Bale etc... When Batman starts speaking if it is Kevin Conroy then you know you're in good hands.

I've played the game twice now. The first time was on the PC and then now on the 360. The PC controls are clumsy and had to be customized a lot before it was possible to play. Let me tell you, the fight with Bane is RIDICULOUS on a keyboard. The XBox's controls are a lot more intuitive, even down to the gadget selection. And oh, what gadgets you get. Multiple batarang choices, zip lines guns, grapplers. They're all fun. So are all of the signature moves - my favorite being hanging from a gargoyle and pulling a thug up to knock them unconscious and leave them as a warning to his friends.

Arkham Asylum is worthy of any animated DCU production or even the comics themselves. It is a faithful representation of Batman. My only complaint: It is too short. The end comes surprisingly quick after a mini boss (Poison Ivy) and with no warning that this is really the end. The end Joker fight is fun, but it just comes at you too quickly.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is a great game. The hardest part of playing it is often deciding whether or not to walk around in detective mode or regular vision to see the amazing graphics. If there is a bad part it is the riddler challenges. They're monotonous and frankly unless you're an achievement junky, not worth it. I began to dread hearing Riddler's snide-ass comments as the game went by.

Diane's Note: Harley's Voice is grating I had to leave the room anytime she had a monologue..I get that she was the voice actress for the cartoon and that holds a place in people's hearts but the way she was drawn nobody was paying attention to Harley for her voice.

Summed up:
Controls: XBox 5/5. PC 2/5
Graphics: 5/5. Couldn't feel more like a rundown hospital if it was VR.
Sound: 5/5 Because Kevin Conroy is Batman. And it's possible to actually hear their performances!
Story: 4/5. I tick the point off because of the abrupt ending. Otherwise it was as good a Batman story as I've ever read.
Playability: 3/5 More story time and less Riddler collections, please. But definitely good enough to play more than once!

Let's talk a bit about the game I've started with. 007 Nightfire is a 2002 first person shooter released on several consoles and PC.It was the first 007 game to include an original theme song. And at the the time of its release: I sucked at it. I sucked at it's predecessor, Goldeneye, too. Why? Well until this point my exposure to FPS gaming was Doom, Doom II etc...where stealth and patience went by the wayside for "Blow it the Fuck Up Quickly." That tactic didn't work in spy games so I had to completely relearn FPS gaming logic.