Afternoon Quickie: Batman, Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum really surprised me. I assumed it would have some cool fights and I was pleased with the list of villains that were expected to show up, but as we got closer and closer to the release date, I got more and more excited. Once Philip brought the game home, I was not disappointed. In fact, this Batman fan was quite happy. I think the game did a great job combining the action hero that our generation has known with the original detective of the early comics. It is a very dark game, but has an interesting story line. The villains that are in the game span far and wide and include the big names like the Joker and Riddler. There are some areas where the girlfriend/wife can easily get involved and this game easily passes the Wifey Watchability Test.

Review: Uncharted 2

Played on: PS3

I never watched (nor had heard of) Uncharted 1. Ok, to be honest, Philip says I watched him play the first one, but I don't remember that at all... So anyway, in this game you are a treasure-hunter thief. You are searching for a treasure that you believe was found and then lost by Marco Polo. In the game you fight the other people who are searching for the same treasure and the occasional Yeti (yes, I said Yeti).

Visuals: This game is incredibly beautiful. The scenery is amazing and the weather effects are great. As you play the game, your character's clothing gets effected by the surroundings as well. For example, if you walk through high amounts of snow, snow builds up on your jeans. You also go through some lovely areas that are based off of real places in exotic locations like Nepal and Tibet.

Audio: The soundtrack is very nice. It's mostly soft instrumental music through out the game play. Of course, when a gun fight does erupt, the pretty music is drowned out by firing weapons. (Why can't guns just sound like flutes or piccolos or something...) Now the worst apart about the audio aspect of the game is the grenades. If a grenade goes off near you, the game plays that lovely high-pitched squealing noise. Now, this supposedly makes the game more realistic, but I have never had a grenade go off near me, nor do I plan to engage in such an activity, and would rather my eardrums not be assaulted.

Involvement: There are some aspects of the game that lend themselves to the seeking of help. Some of the puzzles will allow for some non-player involvement, but they don't occur too often. More oft than not, if a girlfriend wants to be involved, she can help point out the snipers and the gunmen attacking the player. Now, not all players will like receiving this help. Know your player, if he likes direction in times of video game crisis, then go for it, otherwise, just let him find them on his own (even if it takes him dying 19 times to do so). One thing that can be helpful, is trying to spot the treasures. There are 100 little treasures hidden throughout the game, and you can always help your player find these. (They look like little lights shining, so you know.)

Overall: I really like watching this game, for a while. It's a lovely game and can be quite entertaining, but there's not much for me to do and I get a bit bored with gunfights. This would be a great game if your player is relaxing on the couch while you're up and about getting things done. It passes the wifey-watchability test but it doesn't meet the commercial's claim of being so movie-like that you won't know the difference.