Without further ado, onto the Backlog…

Was I the only one whose parents used to grab them by the belt loop back in the day? That's a good way to control somebody. Nice to see Ubisoft (and ACII protagonist Ezio) taking note, too.

Aaron

After my glowing account of Ghostbusters: The Video Game in last week’s backlog, I quickly kicked Slimer and company to the curb after opening the neon green eco-case containing Assassin’s Creed II. For an entire week, Ubisoft’s much-improved sequel has remained in my Xbox 360′s disc drive, lodged in the retracting plastic mouth like a popcorn kernel. However, unlike an actual pesky and potentially gingiva-damaging kernel, Assassin’s Creed II is a-freakin’-mazing, and part of a balanced gaming diet.

This is the game that the first Assassin’s Creed wanted to be, and the team at Ubisoft Montreal worked hard to make it feel that way. They’ve made missions bigger, more fun and decimated any trace of the original’s tedium. Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the protagonist, is a realistic character with a distinct personality and unique motives; he’s a digitized Renaissance ladies’ man that I can’t help but find likable. The weapon selection is genius in its variety and detailed attack animations, and the less blatant aspects, like hiring mercenaries, prostitutes or thieves to distract a city’s hired goons who guard a precious stash of treasure chests, make a memorable impact. Assassin’s Creed II is a game with so many moments I won’t ever forget, and, perhaps unfortunate for other action adventure titles, I’ll be using those to judge future titles’ value. Oh, and I still haven’t finished the game as of this writing.

One complaint, though: Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine segment. It was pretty lame. Of course that’s my opinion, but really: After all the hype the flying machine garnered back in the spring during the game’s slow unveiling, I was expecting more than an annoying checkpoint-to-checkpoint ordeal via multiple bonfires lit across Venice to help propel your glider back into the air as you float ever closer to your assassination target. The very brief mission played like it was designed by the mentally handicapped cousin of a designer from Pilotwings 64.

Favorite Italian phrase of the week: Requiescat in pace.

Bayonetta, caught in a rare moment of quiet solitude in one of the most crazy action games of the current console generation.

Nick

I’ve been a bit deprived of my regular gaming habits lately, but I have managed to sneak in a bit more time with Dragon Age: Origins and Bayonetta. I still haven’t finished either, but there’s little doubt in my mind that they represent the absolute best in their respective genres.

I’m also only about five songs away from having five-starred every song on expert in DJ Hero, which just goes to show how dangerously addicted I become when a great rhythm game comes along.

Finally, I caught up on some Rock Band songs, including the White Stripes and Paul McCartney packs. Harmonix has maintained a constant stream of great new songs over the last two-plus years. Now, if only Rock Band Network would hurry up and launch…

Holy sideways driving, Batman. 700-plus horsepower Audi Sport Quattros are not exactly easy to control, especially on Forza 3's narrow Amalfi Coast circuit.

Doug

I’m not going to lie: much like Nick, I’ve had very little time to game this week. Having something going every night for school this week has crushed my free time, but I’m really hoping to have some more time to myself next week.

However, I did spend some good time with one of the usual suspects, Forza Motorsport 3, including spending a couple hours on Tuesday night. Friend of the site Peter is far from a diehard racer, but he rented Forza 3 on something of a whim; first he calls to see if it’s something he’d like, then he caught me on Xbox Live and told me he’d just poured three hours into the game…and was loving the experience. We spent some time racing online against the computer for a while, discussing progression from sim-racing newbie to veteran, and Peter left convinced this was a great game. I’m just glad to help!

I’ve also been sneaking in games of the original NBA Jam in the mornings before leaving for class. Inspired by the recent confirmation of the series’ return, I’ve been revisiting the original (as well as the Tournament Edition follow-up that’s basically NBA Jam 1.5), and really trying to break apart what made the game fun. This might pop up later as the center of an editorial, but NBA Jam succeeds so well because it’s such a simple, focused experience — there’s no fat and no unneeded difficulty or complexity. As well, the controls and game engine both feel very taut; the game responds quickly to your inputs and you’re rarely caught fighting the game for control.

Because I need the rest, I’m going to spend the weekend stapled to the couch, so I may very well finally beat Batman: Arkham Asylum, and get to spend some time with other games.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

With December and its myriad holidays out of the way, everybody’s got something to keep them busy. Doug’s back to work on his master’s program, Aaron has transformed into a job-applying machine, and I’ve thankfully found a job once again. Unfortunately, that means we all have a whole lot less time to be playing games, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to turn a blind eye to our sacred obligation to Silicon Sasquatch. Don’t worry! We’ve got a couple great articles that are almost ready for publication, and we’re anticipating a full run of content next week.

In the meantime, here’s what we’ve been keeping ourselves busy with.

Aaron wouldn't say 'I ain't afraid of no ghosts': he has much less bravado toward specters than you might think.

Aaron:

Now, the game I actually have something say about is Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Maybe it’s because I only paid a meager $12.99 at GameFly’s used game store (with free shipping), but I can’t help but like what I’ve seen. I’m perhaps halfway though the story now, and while the camera and controls are a bit rough around the edges, Ghostbusters is pure fun for fans of the movies. It’s by no means perfect, and that’s fine. The humor is there, the attention to detail in the firehouse headquarters is there, the proton packs are spot-on and the thrill of catching a ghost in a trap still makes me giggle just like my 6-year-old self used to with my toy Nerf proton pack and authentic jumpsuit. Ghostbusters is simple fun layered over a strong IP, and I truly hope Atari gives Terminal Reality another shot in future sequel. Maybe when the third movie finally (maybe) sees release next year, a tie-in game could coincide with the film’s debut.

In case you'd like some added context, here's what's happening. Man on the left: "Colonel! What have you been hiding from me!?" Man in giant robot: "Snaaaaaaaaaaake!"

Doug:

Much like Aaron, I’m just going to list out most of what I played over our holiday break because, being a degenerate graduate student, I had almost nothing productive to do between Thanksgiving and this week, when classes re-started up in earnest. Because that means a lot of time to play games, I’m just going to cut the fat and go list-happy.

I finished Brütal Legend (which seemed like it lost its storytelling steam a bit at the very end) and am close to finishing Batman: Arkham Asylum (trap-laden gargoyles are my kryptonite right now). I almost have what the gentlemen at Giant Bomb would term an “S-rank” (or 1000/1000 achievement score) on Forza Motorsport 3, which I also did a lot of online racing on during the break. I was definitely happy to hit Level 50 in that game and get the last gifted car.

The only game really worth the meagre Xbox Live sale over the holiday break was Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which was marked down to almost 60 percent off the regular list price and is worth every penny. Better than arcade-perfect, with every character unlocked from the start and online multiplayer capable? Yes, please. I also received a kind gift in the form of Shadow Complex, which scratches my Metroid-vania itch in so many ways. Definitely one of the best Xbox 360-only games of last year.

Lastly, my sports game fix has come in two forms — first, as part of multiple trips to downtown Portland old-school arcade Ground Kontrol, I’ve fulfilled my basketball jones by playing a bunch of NBA Jam. Nick and I (and friend of the site Andrew) went to GK on New Year’s Eve, and besides crushing the X-Men 6-player arcade game, the most fun had was running the two-man game with the Blazers on NBA Jam. The other sports game I picked up was, finally, Pro Evo Soccer 2010…which definitely lives up to the expectations I had for it based off my playtime with the demo. It may not be as pretty as FIFA 10, but it provides a much more challenging and fulfilling soccer experience. Crank the difficulty all the way up and enjoy smart AI in a sports game for once.

The story of a witch, her hair, and gratuitous almost-nudity. This is gonna be awkward.

Nick:

As a test to see who’s interested in the blog, I offered up a vote on our Facebook page to ask people which game they’d rather see me purchase and review first: Demon’s Souls or Bayonetta. Although there was support for both, Bayonetta got the nod and I picked up a copy last night. While I’ve only had time to play about ten minutes of the game, those ten minutes were extraordinarily promising. I just hope the game’s rampant, bizarre sexuality doesn’t weird out my friends and loved ones.

The majority of my free time has been spent on — yeah, you guessed it — Dragon Age: Origins. I keep thinking I’m getting close to the end, and then another 15-hour sequence of quests pops up. I’m absolutely enamored with the game, so I think I won’t have any complaints if it turns out the game just never ends.

DJ Hero has a dedicated Flavor Flav button. Well, no; it’s technically a “sample” button that triggers a set of predetermined samples when playing a mix. But unfortunately, the default sample set is the first of two sets of Flavor Flav clips, including the infamous “Yeahhhhh boyyyyyyyeeeee!”

Experts agree that Flavor Flav can present a number of daunting questions that are difficult for a young child’s mind to process. We’re pleased to announce our upcoming parent’s guide to teaching your child the truth about Flavor Flav — and why he isn’t so scary after all.

Unfortunately, we still haven’t figured out how to just make him go away.

Aaron's confronting some tough questions about himself this week. He asked me to make this image link to a, uh, helpful YouTube video. Enjoy.

Aaron:

“Get money, get paid.” It’s a classic pursuit-of-happiness phrase, a self-evident truth we should all adhere to. Without money, we aren’t getting paid, no? And what does one do when this “paid” status is finally reached? I don’t know about you, but in that position I’d feel accomplished and willing to purchase exorbitant varieties of goods. Maybe, once I was “paid,” I could afford to buy contraptions such as a gold-plated PlayStation 3. However, I’m currently not getting money, and as a result I’m not getting paid. So I must use the little resources I have to intelligently scour for deals on games I’m interested in.

The point is, you should see my Google calendar. For the past few months I’ve persistently added upcoming game deals to my calendar, and other things like free Xbox 360 themes and avatar rewards. Websites like Cheap Ass Gamer are excellent tools to help you save cash. Digital distribution services on the PC have shown me throughout 2009 that you should never pay full price for any game, big or small. There have been simply too many noteworthy deals from Steam, Direct 2 Drive and Impulse to list in this backlog.

So, I’ve been playing my old games lately, getting as much mileage out of them as possible while I wait for other titles to drop their price; Modern Warfare 2, Rock Band 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 were my sources of entertainment this past week. All those number twos are starting to look like a math problem by the way: (MW²) x (RB²) x (L4D²) = Enjoyment/Time. Clearly I know nothing about math anymore, but I’m basically implying that the more I play these games — two-thirds of which are still very new — the more I feel I’m getting my money’s worth. And as far as Left 4 Dead 2, Nick and I joined up with two other people for the four pack Steam discount, bringing the grand total of each PC copy to $33.75. Like I said, don’t pay full price for anything, if possible. Oh, and I got Modern Warfare 2 as a gift. So, that doesn’t really count.

The rest of December is looking fantastic for cheap gaming. Christmas gifts are an obvious focus, but soon Direct2Drive’s “24 Days of Christmas” sale (where a new game is on sale for 24 hours each day, and it’s generally 50% off its normal price) will be featuring Torchlight and Machinarium, each for $10. Having played the demos for both, I’m extremely tempted to just pay full price right now so I can satiate my crazed hunger. But, without getting “paid,” I’ll hold out for the $10-per-title sale on D2D. Also, Xbox LIVE Arcade will be briefly dropping the price of Shadow Complex (a game we expertly discussed on a past podcast, if I may be so bold) for a week, from $15 to $10 starting December 21st (or from 1200 to 800). I’ll finally snatch that up too.

In an optimal situation, I wouldn’t hesitate to pay talented developers every penny they deserve, but I’m not in an optimal situation. They’re still getting my money in the end. And that’s better than resorting to pirating, right?

Doug shot a video on his iPhone 3G S of me playing "Groundhog" by Noisia on expert, arguably the toughest song in the game. Not pictured: Me doing pretty terrible after the first thirty seconds.

Doug:

So now that the strange trailing finals week is complete, it’s time to play some damn games.

I paid co-managing editor Nick a visit earlier this week and got to give DJ Hero a try. And I now believe the hype that Nick has been giving it the last few weeks. It’s so easy to dismiss the game — especially given Activision’s recent track record with music games — but it’s actually, from my brief impression, very well thought-out and put together. The aesthetic is interesting and makes sense with the music on tap; the licensed characters spinning records for you look great (especially Daft Punk); and, most importantly, it’s a very fun game to play. Giving the fake wheel of steel a spin on medium, I felt active but not totally overwhelmed at first — there’s a lot going on in the game, but it feels manageable. It scratches the multi-tasking, switch on the fly itch that many other great games get right as well.

DJ Hero feels like the sort of evolution of the Konami Beatmania games that the original Guitar Hero was of Guitar Freaks. Besides lending a more Western touch to the soundtrack (Anglo-American rock for GH, American hip-hop and electronic music for DJH), both games also evolve the core gameplay mechanic while retaining the basic concept — and the difficulty. Watching Nick take a stab at one of the hardest sets in the game on Hard drove in not just how deep the gameplay here can be, but also how fun it is to watch somebody proficient at a music game.

I also FINALLY started up Batman: Arkham Asylum, borrowed from Nick as well given my free time. God is it good; the only real complaint I have is that you can definitely tell it’s an Unreal Engine game — it’s got that ugly plastic doll look to the characters, especially when the camera pulls up close during cinematics. The gameplay…man, I can’t say enough good about it. The controls fall right to hand simply and easily, everything works like it should, and the puzzles and set-pieces the storyline guide you through are interesting and very fun to play. Looking forward to continuing on with the game and seeing what waits later on. What an experience.

Also got more time into NCAA 10, Forza Motorsport 3, and Brütal Legend, the latter of which I’m re-warming up to despite its (numerous) gameplay flaws. Forza 3 saw a DLC pack drop this week, and I feel like a total consumer whore for giving in to temptation….but it’s so good. 11 more cars for the game, including a few more super-advanced racing cars…mmmm. Awesome.

Apparently it's okay to feature a violently racist character in a game so long as she never refers to her scapegoat by the real-world name.

Nick:

I bet you thought I was gonna talk about DJ Hero! Yeah, it’s a blast, and I’m getting close to five-starring every song on expert, but it wasn’t the biggest draw for me this week.

My PlayStation 3 and I haven’t always been on the best of terms. I succumbed to her siren song last summer when the temptation of a Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle and the short-lived ecstasy of being a college graduate motivated me to pick one up and see what this HDMI nonsense was all about. While it has since proved itself to be the absolute best DVD upscaler I’ve ever seen (really — it’s gorgeous), most of the console-exclusive games Sony fans have boasted about have all struck me as lackluster. LittleBigPlanet, though bursting with charm, wasn’t as tight to control or easy to navigate as it should have been; InFamous was a marvelous platformer with an unforgivably terrible story with characters even a mother couldn’t love; and Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 were both gorgeous and perfectly playable, but nowhere near as memorable for me as the Halo or Gears of War franchises.

Somehow, I forgot about Valkyria Chronicles, the much-lauded action-strategy gem that gamers either didn’t play or absolutely fell in love with. It’s even more embarrassing because I’ve owned a copy for almost a year now, but for whatever reason — maybe the stereotypical anime illustrations and voice actors — I never gave it more than an hour of my time. That changed this week when I sat down to give it another shot, and stood up after three hours and four chapters had passed in the game. I’m hooked, without a doubt.

What’s there to say? It’s brilliant. It’s the most creative and purely fun tactical strategy game I’ve played since Advance Wars was released eight years ago. The game flows along seamlessly, despite the relative mediocrity of many of the voice actors and the sometimes-uncomfortable combination of manga-style storytelling with a pseudo-realistic Europe in World War II. If I were to pick one exclusive game to convince somebody why a PlayStation 3 is worth owning — something unique and memorable — Valkyria Chronicles is the one. Sure, Uncharted 2 is an incredible adventure, and the whimsy and charm of Ratchet and Clank is unparalleled, but nothing else out there plays like Valkyria Chronicles. Games this creative and engaging are rare lately, so if it’s within your means to play it, I highly recommend doing so.

We were called back to life by the gods of Olympus to fight through a terrible side-scrolling action game "classic". Let death be quick and merciful.

Welcome back to the show, everyone! We’ve been absent for a couple months, but the whole gang is eager to start producing shows on a more regular basis.

Because we’ve been negligent in recording over such a critical period of time for major game releases, this episode features us playing catch-up on the infamous fourth quarter onslaught of top-tier blockbuster games — and it doesn’t even cover all the bases.

Initially, we’d planned on a show with three thirty-minute segments:

1. Reflections on the games of the past few months
2. A debrief on the controversies surrounding Modern Warfare 2 (“No Russian,” lack of dedicated server support on PC)
3. A look ahead at the major releases waiting in the first quarter of 2010

After more than two hours of discussion, we only made it through part two. That was when we decided it was best to call it a night and give people a chance to actually listen to this episode.

We’re hoping to get together and record the final portion of this discussion soon, but this hefty hunk of Sasquatch-y goodness ought to provide you plenty of entertainment and keep you warm at night. Let us know what you think, and thanks for listening!

This, metaphorically, is what the release calendar looks like for the next few months

It’s been a busy week for all of us here at Silicon Sasquatch. Doug’s been camping in the cold-yet-wait-it’s-hot-again Oregon weather, and enjoying the rebirth of his broken Xbox 360; Nick’s been playing through five or so games at once while writing, writing and more writing; I’ve been composing an extremely long review of Batman: Arkham Asylum in addition to enjoying a social life and trying to forge videogame industry public relations contacts.

Oh, and that feeling creeping down the back of your spine and into your pocket to make your wallet tingle with fear? Well, that’s the start of the Great Game Goldrush of 2009 — this previous week had quite the prodigious release schedule. Among the horde of games were NHL 10, NHL2k10, WET, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Scribblenauts, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Need for Speed Shift.

Next week, Halo 3: ODST releases. You can discuss (your praise for or condemnation of) that fact in our comments section.

See what we’ve been up to, game-wise, after the break.

Doesn't it seem more logical to call soccer "football" in the states? This guy is clearly using his foot on a ball.

Doug:

It’s baaaaaaaack! My 360 has risen from its grave and, despite how angry I could get over the fact that this is the third time it’s happened, I don’t care.

I don’t care that I had to re-download everything because of a license transfer, and I don’t care that I had to re-set a ton of console settings; I don’t care about anything else.I have my console back and all is well.

So I’ve started to play some 360 games again — including some demos. I’m glad to have NCAA 10 back to sate my football needs, and I’m going to go get Madden 10 as well to engage in some online shenanigans with friends. I’m also putting money down to reserve my copy of Forza 3 — all the content coming out of Turn 10 looks absolutely awesome, and the game will likely suck my soul away this fall.

Demo-wise, the two titans of soccer gaming put demos up for their new titles on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network this week. PES 2010 is an Xbox Live Gold special for the next week or so, and FIFA 10 is now up as well. FIFA feels good — like an updated version of FIFA 09. It plays well, yes, but the graphics, interface and front-end are all carried over from FIFA 09.

PES 2010, though, is something of a revelation. One of my favorite games is Winning Eleven 9, Konami’s soccer game from the 2005-06 season, and that’s for the deep feature set, huge amount of customization and great gameplay that creates a very different game each time you step on the pitch. The PES games on next-gen consoles, however, have lost that feeling — they’ve been too fast, too arcadey and controlled too loosely to match up to the gains EA has been making with FIFA.

With that knowledge in tow, I stepped back into the stage of history and downloaded PES 2010. Last year’s demo felt seven shades of wrong — it was terrible enough to turn me off of the game for good. 2010, however, feels like a return to PES of old. Despite me fumbling with the controls (FIFA’s are ingrained by now), the game just feels right. Passing the ball around has a heft and weight behind it that feels almost perfect, and the way players interact in the build-up feels much better than FIFA, which can sometimes feel formulaic and stale.

Watch for both soccer games this fall, but I definitely know which one I’ll be scouring over reviews for — and which one’s demo stays on my hard drive.

Speaking of which…anyone want to sell me a 60 gigabyte Xbox 360 hard drive for a song?

The Beatles: Rock Band boasts some inspired artwork that, if you're a fan, will consistently delight

Nick:

Never mind that we’re 40 years late to the party: My friends and I have all been swept up in Beatlemania. Without incriminating myself, I’ve spent enough time with The Beatles: Rock Band to have earned 46 of the game’s 50 achievements — and I’m still having a blast. Meanwhile, I just wrapped up Guitar Hero 5, which will be getting a review soon. And nearly a year after I last played it, I managed to finish off Dead Space. Despite its minor faults, it still stands as an exemplary survival horror game; the fact that it was the first entry in a new franchise is all the more impressive.

With the majority of my backlog polished off, I’ve been able to return to Batman: Arkham Asylum. It’s an extremely rare breed of game in that it only gets better the more I play. It was impressive from the outset, but now that I’m approaching its conclusion I’m prepared to place it on my shortlist for best game of 2009.

I also picked up 5TH Cell’s charming and ambitious Scribblenauts, a game so bursting with ingenuity and cheer that even its horribly imprecise stylus-based control scheme can be overlooked. Frankly, any game that lets you apply shark repellent to yourself to swim unharmed past a shark deserves recognition.

Agents definitely are GO!

Aaron:

Like Nick, I’ve been sucked into the vortex that is Beatlemania. Sure, the band’s music has been on a variety of my playlists for years now — thanks to my eclectic musical upbringing — but I didn’t fully appreciate the band until I received The Beatles: Rock Band in the mail yesterday, and proceeded to beat it in just a few hours. It sounds like overkill, or even tragically short, but the craftsmanship that went into the game is dripping from every pixel. Plus, there’s a lot more to do after finishing “The End.”

It’s readily apparent that Harmonix loved working with such a historic body of work, and I only hope future band-specific rhythm games are a quarter as neat as this one is.

Aside from enjoying the lads from Liverpool, I’ve spent some time becoming reacquainted with my DSi. Here and there I’ll play some Suikoden: Tierkreis (I promise, eventually a review will be written) and Elite Beat Agents. I’m realizing I need to purchase more games for the system, and Scribblenauts seems like a safe bet.

Otherwise it’s been a low-key kind of week for my tastes. A few rounds of Marvel Ultimate Alliance with Nick and some solo singing in Rock Band 2 topped off my free time. I’m hoping that, come October with its influx of amazing-looking titles, I’ll soon be busy playing, writing, reviewing and recording all about videogames when I’m able.

It’s hard to believe that, at one time, Adam West in his campy 1960s Batman television show was the best portraiture of Batman creative minds had to offer.

Even then, when “Biff! Pow! Zing!” became a clever way to spice up awkwardly choreographed fight scenes, the tragedy of Bruce Wayne was a much darker affair than fluorescent purple and cheese-ball dialogue. A boy witnessed his parents’ cold-blooded murder and, once grown, pledged to annihilate the evil in his city. The Batman rose from the ashes of a once-spoiled life to be the protector of a seedy metropolis called Gotham.

Spandex doesn’t sound like a good idea under those circumstances.

Yet over the last few years the concept of what and who Batman is to a mainstream audience has experienced a revolution in reassessment thanks mostly to director Christopher Nolan’s two movies, 2005′s Batman Begins and 2008′s The Dark Knight. Both films washed away a decade of popular culture nay-saying after the franchise hit a lull in the mid-1990s because of two awful movies by Joel Schumacher et al. Thanks to Nolan, Batman’s been given a clean slate for a new generation of consumers.

Unfortunately, the Caped Crusader’s forays into videogames haven’t assisted in improving his image. A plethora of developers and publishers have been handed the property over the last few decades to produce titles vacillating from mediocre to awful. It’s easy to think there would never be a quality Batman game available, especially after seeing the most recent films and realizing how great a Batman project can turn out.

Well gamers can officially chill and count their blessings in batarangs, as Rocksteady Studio‘s Batman: Arkham Asylum is not just the unequivocally best Batman videogame to ever sit on store shelves — it’s also one of the most engaging titles released in a very long time, let alone 2009. Arkham Asylum treats its source material with the utmost respect, and successfully blends the comics with a cinematic atmosphere to create an exciting and near-perfect interactive experience.

The old bat-gadget standby, the batarang, gets the star treatment in Arkham Asylum — it's always a satisfying tool to use

Being Batman is one of those requisite fantasies most kids (and still some adults) have growing up. Even if your favorite hero was Spider-Man or Superman, Batman represents what it is to be human and what one normal person can do — without superpowers — through determination and iron will alone. Oh, and that rad car made quite the impression as well.

Arkham Asylum empowers fans to, for the first time, feel like they’re inhabiting the mind and suit of Bruce Wayne instead of simply performing a pantomime with a 3D model of the Dark Knight. It’s an entirely wish-fulfilling experience with bursts of developmental genius spattered throughout, and one that’s quite addictive.

Even though you’ll never drive the Batmobile in the game, the gorgeously fluid martial arts combat, instantly familiar gadgets and surprisingly clever Detective Mode more than make up for the missing aspects of Batman’s superhero lifestyle.

Batman broods in a cloud of industrial steam: something he does quite well

One of the most impressive things about Arkham Asylum is even if the Batman mythos was stripped away from the game, what remained would still be a solid action title that plays well, sounds good and certainly looks fantastic. Rocksteady deserves an astounding amount of praise for its capability to construct an impressive framework that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the larger-than-life character on the box. This dichotomy extends to the combat in Arkham Asylum; it’s gameplay that feels and looks like Batman, but is good enough to stand on its own.

Batman is a martial arts master, proficient in multiple forms of melee combat. Rocksteady has accordingly created and coined the FreeFlow combat system to keep up with Bruce Wayne. On first glance it seems like a basic series of punches, kicks and blocks with some numerical combo tracking thrown in. Fortunately, combat evolves into an exceedingly deep experience as the game progresses.

Combat can quickly turn into a giant mutant slugfest, which is a good thing

Those seemingly simple kicks and punches are thrown via the X button (on Xbox 360), a stun attack using Batman’s cape is performed with B, the life-saving counter moves are tied to Y and quick lunging dodges are executed with A. It all sounds commonplace; boring even. And that’s kind of a theme with Arkham Asylum: Because of the spotty history of Batman videogames, one would expect this title to be average and unimaginative. Not the case with this Batman game — low expectations foster big surprises, time after time.

As far as combat is concerned, the simple button commands work in tandem with a sophisticated animation system. Clearly a lot of physics work went into making Batman move like he does in the comics, and it pays off. There’s a true sense of weight behind each kick, elbow and somersault. This isn’t a stiff character model rehashing the same type of punch each time X is pressed; it’s dynamic, varied and extremely satisfying.

The rush of a brawl — Batman tumbling from enemy to enemy, countering both a knife stab and behind-the-back kick to toss a batarang at an unsuspecting thug to finish by flipping onto another one’s chest, knees first, to incapacitate him — feels exhilarating every time. Later in the game, combat upgrades can be purchased to help deal out more damage and increase the game’s combat multiplier, which, if high enough, speeds up fighting into a flurry of punches, kicks and rolls.

Arkham Asylum’s combat is, sans hyperbole, the best part of the game, and unlike a lot of action titles the enjoyment never wears thin over time.

You'll be doing this a lot, but thankfully it's amusing each and every time

Besides being a nimble adversary in combat, Batman’s known for one of the most varied and sometimes weird collections of technology, tools and gadgets in all of comicdom. Thankfully, Arkham Asylum has thrown out the obscure equipment for the most logical old favorites and a few new variations. Adam West may have had bat shark repellent, but Rocksteady has a sonically pulsating, explosive batarang.

Gadgets essential to progression are acquired during the game’s story, while luxurious, non-essential upgrades are unlocked via Arkham Asylum’s RPG-like experience system. After each fight or investigation of clues Batman will receive experience points. Fill up the gauge and earn a point to spend in the game’s upgrade menu: reinforce the Dark Knight’s armor, add new combo moves to his combat repertoire or go for broke and unlock three batarangs to throw at once. Though rather limited in its scope, the experience system encourages some form of customization. Still, players will more than likely obtain every available upgrade by the end of the game, so there’s no risk in experimenting with whatever sounds fun.

It’d be cruel to spoil the fun in uncovering all of the new gadgets, but each one truly serves a distinct purpose — their individual usefulness will depend on your playstyle. One player may prefer to incapacitate Joker’s henchmen with explosive gel placed on weak walls; another might enjoy luring Joker’s henchmen away with sonic batarangs to take them out one at a time with glide kicks or hanging takedowns from the game’s many gargoyle statues. Any way you slice it, it all feels like something Batman would feasibly do himself.

One of the most Batman-like actions in the game is the inverted takedown — unadulterated coolness

Detective work is an integral part of Batman’s identity. After all, he was introduced in the Detective Comics series, which is still published today. He’s quite the dogged gumshoe, and some of the best moments in Batman’s career involve him hunting down crooks with the tiniest bit of evidence. Batman made forensics cool long before CSI and Gil Grissom’s beard made CBS relevant again. Rocksteady has such a grasp on who Batman is that they implemented the Detective Mode to help him live up to the title of World’s Greatest Detective.

Technically speaking, the mode isn’t much more than what feral sense in X-Men Origins: Wolverine was — a clever way of moving the game forward without relying on too many obvious visual clues or an omnipresent mini map. But in Arkham Asylum, how Detective Mode is used makes all the difference. Batman will track down clues to lead him to the next section in lieu of pulsating directional arrows flooding the screen, which is thankfully a very clean and minimalistic space.

Detective Mode can be activated anytime with the left bumper, and it allows Batman to see x-ray of enemies’ skeletons (those with firearms are colored red) and interactive objects (colored a bright orange). It all seems typical; then players start tracking a kidnapped Commissioner Gordon via his tobacco droppings in such an intrinsically Batman experience that it feels innovative. Visually the mode is fantastic with its own distinct aesthetic: blue and purplish film grain brighten the darkness of Arkham’s halls.

To make up for characters not included in the main game’s plot (sorry, no Mr. Freeze to be seen…physically), the developers have filled the disc with audio files and character profiles to be found through the Riddler Challenges — Arkham Asylum’s variation on hidden collectibles.

What are generally tedious collect-a-thons in other games turn out to be enjoyable deviations from the main plot. Sure, some challenges are frustrating (Sasquatch tip: if you’re stumped on a riddle, try looking around in Detective Mode for a question mark painted onto a surface — find the separate period and align the two images to form a full “?”, and scan away), but the reward is admiring fantastic concept art, collecting 3D model trophies and listening to asylum doctors interview Batman’s most famous foes. Players can’t help but feel deeply ingrained in the world of Batman after hunting down every last riddle.

Once in awhile a videogame comes along that is a success because of its strong story; this is certainly one of those titles. The plot is a great one-off story that incorporates many elements from the comics while being wholly original. Batman trapped in Arkham for the night with some of his greatest foes? It works, and works well.

And while it may seem lazy to leave out specific details which can’t be learned by reading the back of the box, it’s because Rocksteady’s work deserves to be played spoiler-free. Sure, there aren’t any reveals of a caliber like Revan’s identity in Knights of the Old Republic, but this is a game certainly worth making your own way through. We all know Batman wins in the end; you’ve rightfully guessed he defeats the Joker once the curtain falls, but how it all transpires makes for quite the treat.

The Joker is the lead architect of Arkham Asylum's night of mayhem — Mark Hamill portrays the character perfectly

The tiniest details reverberate the most to make Arkham Asylum a memorable game. Batman takes a lot of beatings throughout his hectic night in the asylum, and Rocksteady changes his model on more than one occasion to reflect that. In one night, Batman’s iconic costume rips — the well-modeled cape perforated with holes and his chest logo deeply scratched — and stubble starts appearing on a face mottled with flecks of blood and bruising.

As a result, Batman seems more human in this game than in films where a living person portrays the character. That’s because, thanks to one luxury of the videogame medium, players are permitted see Batman, second by second, experiencing the evil of his enemies over several hours of fierce encounters. There aren’t flashy, cutaway film scenes to move the plot ahead a day, and there aren’t comic book panels condensing a full range of movements during a brawl — in this videogame, the player does everything Batman does and truly sees who this person is. Fans have never seen a more accurate representation of Batman outside of the comics; it has never felt so real, and — to be blunt — it’s extremely cool.

What else is there to say about such a great game? Small nitpicks like the occasionally frustrating camera and the questionable end boss battle only serve to make this review sound less biased, but in truth Arkham Asylum stands tall above even the most minor of issues and remains a proper example of how to treat a licensed property.

Gamers have rallied around 2004′s Spider-Man 2 as an example of a superhero videogame that embodies both the comic and filmic spirit of the titular character. While that assessment still holds true, I think it’s about time we’re given a superhero game that does more than exceed such a precedent. How does playing one of the most polished and fun action titles to come out in years sound? Good?

Then I have one thing to say to you: Holy-go-out-and-buy-Batman: Arkham-Asylum, Batman!

Apologies to Burt Ward, and our readers.

Recommended for:

• Comic fans, and even the non-Batman inclined — after playing Arkham Asylum you’ll wish more superhero titles could be so generous
• The polished, addictive and wholly original experience
• Those who’ve never played a competent superhero title — this game will blow you away
• Action title fans who love a solid combat system
• Basically everyone: nerds (like myself) and non-nerds alike can take something away from this experience
• Voice acting: Kevin Conroy (of Batman: The Animated Series fame) and Mark Hamill (also Batman: TAS; oh, and he’s Luke Skywalker) are phenomenal as Batman and the Joker

Not Recommended for:

• Unless you truly despise Batman and/or action games, there’s not a single person interested in videogames I wouldn’t recommend Arkham Asylum to

Read our policy on reviews here.

Let’s all breathe easy for a moment. After all, things are about to get crazy this fall: Scribblenauts hits North American shelves next week, soon to be followed by big names like Brütal Legend, Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed and Modern Warfare.

And if you just dropped a hundo on a big ol’ replica Gretsch Duo Jet guitar — like I may or may not have just done — well, you’re already in full-tilt panic mode.

Guard your wallet carefully this holiday season, dear reader! We’re in for a doozy.

Having finally arrived at the fifth stage of grief, Doug revisits an old — but not forgotten — friend.

Doug:

This week has involved a bit of comfort gaming and a big look back at a far-gone friend. Unfortunately I’ve spent more time trying to make sure real life goes as planned than behind a controller, but so goes life.

Comfort gaming has predominantly taken the form of Tiger Woods 2005 on my original Xbox — nothing like a round of golf or two while listening to a podcast (or one of the newly-released Beatles remasters, of which I am a big fan). The joy of sports gaming is that, for me, I can turn my brain off for a bit, relax, and enjoy. Tiger 2005 isn’t as polished as some of the later games in the past five years, but it’s still plenty fun.

Paying penance has come in memorializing the 10th anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast. I’ll have more on that on the site soon, but as a Dreamcast fan from the word go, it’s wonderful to see so many people come out both on forums and in the games press to remember the little white system that could. It’s a shame Sega can’t produce a game now that lives up to the quality of their first-party products in that generation…

Also, according to Microsoft’s robotic phone answering system, apparently a replacement Xbox 360 is on its way back to my door. Thank god; I think I’m shaking from withdrawals. Time to get back to the contemporary after that gets back…Batman: Arkham Asylum, The Beatles: Rock Band, Madden and Forza 3 in the not-too-distant future….yummy.

Nick:

Try to realise it’s all within yourself
No one else can make you change
And to see you’re really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you

Marge would be proud

It’s been a bit of a difficult week for the Silicon Sasquatch staff. Nick spent much of the week reformatting and fine-tuning his computer before hauling it up north for the sixth annual Penny Arcade Expo and its thousand-seat LAN — a stressful experience, and one that leaves precious little time for gaming. Doug’s third Xbox 360 fell under the alluring spell of the Red Ring of Death and is currently drifting towards Valhalla. And Aaron? Well…Aaron’s the lucky one who actually got to sit down and play through Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Biff! Pow! Zing! Bort!

Aaron:

I’ve spent a wonderful portion of my week with Mr. Bruce Wayne in Rocksteady’s amazing Batman: Arkham Asylum. To be honest, I didn’t expect the game to turn out as masterfully as it has. Thankfully I misjudged the project, because this game has it all. The pacing’s perfect, the combat is always fresh and the various cameos from Batman’s rogues gallery are worthy of giddiness. Even someone like me, who hasn’t read a Batman comic in years, can feel like they’re the Dark Knight and become absorbed in the comic icon’s universe.

It’s baffling how Rocksteady makes creating the best Batman game ever look like child’s play. Why couldn’t anyone do this sooner? Oh well, at least we have Arkham Asylum now…and, if the ending pans out, a sequel to come!

Read our final thoughts on the game when we post our review next week.

Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do

Doug:

Well, the week started off on a sour note as my Xbox 360 succumbed to the throes of Red Ring of Death failure in the midst of playing Fallout 3. Since shipping it out on Tuesday, I’ve turned my attentions to playing some games on my PS2 instead. I fired back up Winning Eleven 9, still my absolute all-time favorite soccer game, which is what I’ll probably also play tonight; I also popped my copy of Gran Turismo 4 back in and took to the virtual track.

What’s on the docket now is to finish Shadow of the Colossus. It pains me that I haven’t given this game as much attention as it requires, but hopefully I’ll be able to wrap it up before I receive my fourth Xbox 360.

Punch-Out!! – Endearingly racist prizefighting since 1984

Nick: Apparently my Windows XP machine got something called “Spy-Ware” and wasn’t keen on running smoothly. While I spent a couple days backing things up and reformatting, I decided to plow through Nintendo’s latest entry into the Punch-Out!! series on Wii.

While it was a joy to see so many familiar faces, my nostalgia-drunk adoration turned to disappointment by the time I’d claimed my rightful title as world champion of the WVBA. Dropping Glass Joe in the first round felt great, but it was also something I’d done twice before. While sticking very close to its roots was a smart decision, I couldn’t help but feel like the game’s familiar trial-and-error design just wasn’t compelling enough to have justified a full $50 purchase.

But with Punch-Out!! back on its way to GameFly, I’ve got time for two fantastic titles that arrived this week:

1. Dissidia: Final Fantasy — Like most recent Square Enix games, it’s a convoluted, bizarre mess of a story. But thanks to some impressive depth of design and scalability of play modes depending on your commitment level, it’s shaping up to be a fantastic game.
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum — Until we post our review next week, there’s just one thing I want to make absolutely clear: This game is every bit as good as it looks.

So, uh, if you’ll excuse me…

Mr. Bubbles would be proud

Considering today’s wealth of BioShock 2 information pouring out from every single videogame-related webpage on the internet, The Silicon Sasquatch is officially renaming April 23 “BioShock Press Day.”

I think we can all expect that future sequels of the franchise will continue to be unveiled on April 23, from now until the end of time — or until BioShock: Big Daddy’s Beach Volleyball Blast 3 comes out and we give up gaming forever.

More news after the break.

Holding a gun that way doesn't seem comfortable, at all

For once, PS3 owners don’t get the short end of the exclusivity stick, as Eidos has announced that the Joker is a PS3-exclusive playable character in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum title. Shacknews reports that a PlayStation Home advertisement accidentally broke the surprise a little earlier than expected, and as such Eidos and Warner Bros. had to scramble and confirm the story. Though the Clown Prince of Crime is only usable in the challenge room segment of the game, judging from preview videos released last month, those challenges look quite fun.

I, for one, welcome more PS3-only content, and I don’t even own the system. While I’m glad Microsoft’s hogging of developers’ content provides some excellent gaming opportunities, there’s no reason why Sony can’t extend the same courtesy for its loyal fans. It’s anyone’s guess whether Sony paid Eidos and/or Warner Bros. for the Joker content, or maybe Eidos simply did it because they wanted to. Either way, it’s the Xbots’ turns to be jealous, no?

World of Pegglecaft

Eventually, every game will be playable inside of World of Warcraft. Today PopCap Games released a version of their addictive game Peggle, for free, to play inside the World of Warcraft client. They did this with Bejeweled last September, which was during an age when I still had an active account and played, a lot. I love how PopCap admits to their collective corporate WoW addiction, and instead of just claiming their fandom they do something about it and put effort into neat add-ons like these. Any WoW player can tell you that Bejeweled, and now Peggle, helps to pass the tedium during flight path waits, battleground waits and, well, any period of  downtime where you’re not yelling at the enemy faction for “pwning” you.

By the way, Nick has an active WoW account right now. Bug him!

And for the pièce de résistance: Becoming Spider-Man is, and I’m totally jumping to conclusions, scientifically possible–or at least his webbing is. This has nothing to do with gaming, of course, but it’s nerdy enough to count, right? Though, assuredly, the result of the average Joe/Jane trying to replicate Spidey’s acrobatics would end up with this result.

My apologies to your sensibilities.