Batman: Arkham City, Review

Batman Arkham City is the first game I have played and written a review for in quite some time and I gotta say it kind of made me miss doing these reviews, so lets dive right in. 

Being a fan of Arkham Asylum, I jumped into this game and immediately felt comfortable with the controls, look and feel of the game, so anyone who played the first game should be able to jump right in and start playing. As for anyone new to the series would probably need a bit of time to get used to all the controls and and all the cool things you can actually do as far as combat goes. 

As for the mechanics, they are still a bit rough and stiff just like the first game however this doesn't take anything away as it makes you feel more like how you would expect Batman to move with all his armor. There is of course a ton of villains and if you are unfamiliar with the game and just wanna get through it as fast as possible you'll probably end up getting bored and exhausted, but if you are someone that is more experienced with the types of combat and maneuvering that Batman has to offer you should find it fun and interesting (or if you're someone like me who just likes to hang people from gargoyles whenever the opportunity presents itself you're still guaranteed to have a good time).  

Batman: Arkham City does basically everything right, I cant really find any aspect of the game that I hated or even disliked in the slightest. From the amazing voice acting, to the great story line and amazing combat and maneuvering it all just fits together so well and really makes you feel like The Batman. 

This game is a must for fans and newcomers alike, I highly suggest you guys pick this one up.

Wii U, Specs

The biggest thing that happened at E3 this year was Nintendo announcing the Wii U, curious about this system I dug up the specs and I thought I'd share it with you guys.

Specs directly taken from Nintendo:
Launches: 2012
Size: Approximately 1.8 inches tall, 6.8 inches wide and 10.5 inches long.
New Controller: The new controller incorporates a 6.2-inch, 16:9 touch screen and traditional button controls, including two analog Circle Pads. This combination removes the traditional barriers between games, players and the TV by creating a second window into the video game world. The rechargeable controller includes a Power button, Home button, Control Pad, A/B/X/Y buttons, L/R buttons and ZL/ZR buttons. It includes a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope, rumble feature, camera, a microphone, stereo speakers, a sensor strip and a stylus.
Other Controls: Up to four Wii Remote™ (or Wii Remote Plus) controllers can be connected at once. The new console supports all Wii™ controllers and input devices, including the Nunchuk™ controller, Classic Controller™, Classic Controller Pro™ and Wii Balance Board™.
Media: A single self-loading media bay will play 12-centimeter proprietary high-density optical discs for the new console, as well as 12-centimeter Wii optical discs.
Video Output: Supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i. Compatible cables include HDMI, component, S-video and composite.
Audio Output: Uses AV Multi Out connector. Six-channel PCM linear output through HDMI.
Storage: The console will have internal flash memory, as well as the option to expand its memory using either an SD memory card or an external USB hard disk drive.
CPU: IBM Power®-based multi-core microprocessor.
Other: Four USB 2.0 connector slots are included. The new console is backward compatible with Wii games and Wii accessories.

E3 Day 1 Recap

E3 kicked off today with press conferences held by the major gaming corporations such as Microsoft, Sony, EA and Ubisoft. I'll briefly discuss the Microsoft and Sony press conferences since I think they were are the most relevant to everyday gamers.

Microsoft's press conference started off great with a long COD Modern Warfare 3 demo which looked totally badass much like we have come to expect from the COD franchise. Then we were given a look at the new Tomb raider game which again looked pretty good, definitely going to keep following it until release to really make up my mind on it as not too much gameplay was shown. There was a quick look at the Halo anniversary remake which I personally would  not waste money on as it's just Halo 1 with a graphics upgrade. Then Microsoft brought out the Kinect and it was basically downhill from there, they announced that Mass Effect 3, Forza 4 and Tom Clansy would all be supported by Kinect which I don't really see a need for (although the Mass Effect3 demo with Kinect actually looked like it could work due to the voice commands etc.)  but suddenly they brought out the new Kinect games and it was like 2010 all over again with games like Disney World Adventure, Dance Central and Star Wars with each looking even more disappointing then the previous, especially the Star Wars game, there is no word to actually describe how bad it looked. They closed with the announcement of Halo 4 so I guess it wasn't all bad.

Sony was basically the same thing, started off great with a look at Uncharted 3 and it looked amazing. Then we got a look at Resistance 3 which came off as OKish, nothing too impressive and they went on about 3D and ended up announcing a PS3 3D TV thing that wasn't appealing at all as it was basically a 24" 3D monitor for $500. Slowly but surely they got to the Move and a NBA2k12 demonstration with Kobe Bryant and it was basically terrible... following were a whole bunch more motion control games that looked less then impressive. There were a few up-sides with a new Sly Cooper cinematic and a look at Bioshock: Infinite which works with motion controls apparently (don't really see the point of this). Next up was the NGP (sony's new handheld) which ended up being called the PSVita, there was an Uncharted demonstration for the vita that looked pretty fancy with all the touch screen controls and graphics, followed by another Vita game, Ruin which is a diablo style rpg type game that seemed ok. Followed up with some actual interesting titles such as Street Fighter X Tekken, Little Big Planet, SSX and Need For Speed and that pretty much wrapped up a pretty bland press conference for Sony