Titled Arch Enemies This video follows the more less friendly aspect of the social media edition of the game. That’s right, The Sims is heading to the social network, Facebook, and will be known as Sims Social.
As far as I’m aware, this is the first entry of the franchise into the Social Network stream. The Sims is a powerful brand in the gaming industry, so it’s likely that this game will have millions of players the world over. Here’s to hoping it carries that Sims feel, which if you watch the video, it feels as though it will.
Be sure to check the video embedded below and theOfficial Website for more info.
Continuing on from the first ten games from our list of 100 games you must play before you die, we introduce to you the next installment. These games are a mix of the new and old, and the great and the terrible, but these are ten more games you absolutely must play before you kick the bucket. Just a reminder: the games are in no particular order.
Platform: PS1 Genre: Platformer Release date: 1996 Nominated by: Roger Ma
Think back to a time when video games were uncomplicated and humble – to a time when video games were played just for fun. It was the mid 90s and the fabled 32-bit era console war seemed to of dying down just a tad. A ‘small’ game by the name of Crash Bandicoot was released in 1996 and introduced players to one of gaming’s most recognisable characters. Crash Bandicoot in my opinion is one of the quintessential platformer to come of out of the 1990s. At the time, it was one of the first fully rendered 3D platformers to be released on to consoles, but what made Crash Bandicoot so popular and successful was that its core gameplay was just pure fun to play from start to finish.
The developers of Crash Bandicoot, Naughty Dog, managed to keep and maintain the game’s fundamental game mechanics without them ever feeling old throughout the game’s lengthy run. Jumping and spinning was pretty much all you could do, yet somehow these two simple actions – combined with wonderfully designed level, vast and varied environments and creative boss fights – made for a very good game. The fact that this game was released in 1996 but video game developers of today are still trying to grasp the simplicity of Crash Bandicoot really does speak for itself. With the initial success of Crash Bandicoot, it quickly established itself as a video game franchise complete with sequels and a plethora of racing and party game spin-offs. But, of cause, all this started with the original Crash Bandicoot on the Playstation, and that’s why you must play this game before you die.
12. God of War II
Platform: Playstation 2 Genre: Action-adventure Release date: 2007 Nominated by: Matt Vella
The God of War franchise has some of the most epic moments in video game history, violence that would make a Mortal Kombat Kharacter Kringe, some of the best button-mashing of all time and an orchestral soundtrack that’d make Beethoven jealous. Personally I consider it a side-scrolling beat ’em up/hack ‘n’ slash title, but most call it a third person action/adventure title. Losers.
The cinematic approach in God of War II is simply outstanding, it rivals and even beats many Hollywood action flicks in my opinion, as well as providing some of the most fun memories in a single-player game I can ever recall. What amazes me with God of War is how such a simple engine is so entertaining. While most games like this feel repetitive, the cinematic approach with epic soundtrack and graphics reverses this, and you’re constantly surprised and impressed at every twist and turn. Furthermore, if this was a list of the top 100 boss fights, 20% of the list would most likely be bosses from the God of War franchise.
Hell, come to think of it, everything I’ve said about this game applies to every title in the franchise. In fact, God of War 3 alongside Killzone 3 is probably the main reason most people even own a PS3. Oh yeah, I went there!
What can I say about Portal that hasn’t been said already? Talk about coming out of left field and smacking you in the face with a wet tuna. Portal was released with The Orange Box, a collection of games by VALVE including heavy hitters such as Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episodes One and Two, and Team Fortress 2. It’s hard to get noticed, let alone stand out amongst such a pedigree of titles, yet Portal was the little game that could, incorporating clever level design, writing and an amazing game mechanic into a package that swept the industry by storm and topping many publications Game of the Year Award – quite the feat for a game that you can run through in 45 minutes if you know what you’re doing.
For the three of you who don’t know, Portal is a puzzle-platform game played in first person. Your character, Chell, much like in Half-Life, is a silent protagonist. Your goal is to navigate a testing facility know as The Enrichment Centre for Aperture Laboratories using your portal gun, which allows you to shoot two portals, an in and an out, which will connect two places in space. Portal is narrated by the real star of the game, a cognisant A.I. knows as GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), who’s clever dialog is always helpful and in a friendly demeanour yet dry and sinister all at the same time. Imagine Martha Stewart as an A.I. trying to kill you with a Rube Goldberg machine and you’ve got it. Portal made waves when it was released, and for good reason. It’s created meme’s and catchphrases like the ubiquitous “the cake is a lie”, and the follow-up Portal 2, solidified the game as a series and a powerhouse franchise. If you haven’t yet, you should play Portal. It’s a short, inexpensive experience that goes a long way and will stick with you. It’s something every gamer should have under their belt.
14. Tomba!
Platform: Playstation Genre: Platformer/Adventure Release date: 1998 Nominated by: Kelly Teng
One of Sony Playstation’s best kept secrets and a great cult classic, Tomba! (or Tombi! as it is known in Europe and Australia) is a game that makes no sense but is utterly charming from start to finish. If there was ever a game you had never heard of but had to play, it would be this.
Most PS1 fans only got their hands on a demo, but that’s okay because the game is great from the get-go. Players play a pink-haired, green/purple-shorts-wearing guy, Tomba, whose grandfather’s bracelet was stolen by a bunch of evil pigs. Tomba’s job is, of course, to get his grandfather’s bracelet back…however, progression through the game is measured in the most unconventional way possible: by capturing the Seven Evil Pigs into pig bags. Gameplay largely consists of walking and jumping on everything – pigs, animals, plants, and so forth – but the simplicity of the game is part of the beauty.
It is almost impossible to describe the joy of playing this title, and I’m not going to try. All I’m going to say is this: if you ever manage to get your hands on it, don’t let it go.
15. Starcraft
Platform: PC Genre: RTS Release date: 1998 Nominated by: Mike Irving
There are tournaments held for just about any multiplayer game, but few have ever reached the scale of StarCraft, which has developed into something of a national “sport” in South Korea. The game is widely considered to be the best real-time strategy game of all time, and around its release it was voted by several sources as Game of the Year 1998.
While other games of the time were balancing the teams in-game by ensuring that all had access to the same or very similar abilities, units and strategies, StarCraft was arguably the first to create very different species, and require very different strategies to master each one. They are all still finely balanced, but it’s a much more creative balancing act: rather than simply reskinning units for each race, elements such as unit cost, attack and defend power, movement speed, weapons, and maximum numbers were weighed against each other. For example, the Terran race is essentially human with access to advanced technology, meaning units are expensive to produce and fairly slow-moving, but are strong in the offensive and defensive. On the other hand, the infamous Zerg race can produce a lot of units very quickly and cheaply, but they are very weak individually, relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm opponents.
More than a decade later, and StarCraft‘s impact and influence is still felt, in the gaming industry and pop culture in general. While Blizzard’s other RTS franchise, WarCraft, went on to pioneer the MMO scene, StarCraft maintained a hold on the RTS genre through several expansions released in the following years. Later RTS games almost always include elements introduced to the industry in StarCraft. It still has an almost religious online following, and professional StarCraft players in South Korea become media celebrities. It may be difficult to master, but due to its massive influence on the genre, the industry, and the way games are played in social and professional environments, StarCraft definitely needs to be played…at least until you rage quit after being on the receiving end of a Zerg Rush.
16. Space Quest
Platform: DOS/Mac/AMIGA/Atari ST (via Floppy Disk) Genre: Adventure Release date: 1986 Nominated by: Phil Federico
In Space Quest, you take on the role of Roger Wilco, a lowly janitor on board the spaceship Arcada. Luckily for Roger, he fell asleep in the broom closet as the ship was being highjacked by the evil Sariens who end up killing everyone on board and stealing the Star Generator (some sort of powerful device). Using his quick wits (mainly consisting of lucky and stupidity) Roger escapes the Arcada before it blows up and embarks on a mission of epic proportions filled with witty tongue and cheek references to both Star Trek and Star Wars movies. On his mission to save the universe Roger visits a number of weird and wonderful locations such as barren wastelands, underground caves and a strange town called Ulence Flats that has a local bar that resembles a scene in Star Wars.
The gameplay in Space Quest is keyboard controlled. You moved Roger around with the arrow keys and complete commands by typing them in to perform specific task; this did lead to frustration for a number of less experienced players as they didn’t know what to type were standing in slightly wrong positions on the screen, but this was totally normal for this type of game. Space Quest was a classic and in my eyes could do no wrong.
I don’t remember how many times I’ve taken good ol’ Roger on his mission to save the people of Xenon, and recover the Star Generator, but every time was a complete pleasure and never once did I get bored. This was because Space Quest had a score system similar to what XBOX / PS3 games have now in the way of achievements. You could finish the game for example with a 100 out of 150 points, and of course you finished the game and knew the ending, but still that wasn’t enough for me. I had to go back and figure out what I missed to get that perfect score.
Space Quest is a game that has stood the test of time and a must to play if you love adventure games. I believe the best platform to play it on now would be the PC. Make sure you mop the floor with this one before you cross over into the other universe.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is the standout licensed game of this generation. With store shelves full of movie knockoff video games and other awful licensed junk, Rocksteady truly went back to Batman’s roots by creating a new story around the most iconic Batman characters and places like the Joker, Riddler and Arkham Asylum. In doing so, they blended comic book and video game into an experience like no other – an experience that actually makes you feel the Batman of a comic book. It will stand with The Dark Knight movie as one of those entertainment events that you will never forget. This game is one publishers should take heed of and learn from. It may take some time and extra polish (or extra cash), but a quality game (even if it is licensed) that has passion behind will reach critical and monetary success, even when its not based on a recent movie.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi is an interesting cat. Starting off at Sega, he designed Sega Rally Championship then moved into a more music focused path with Space Channel 5 before designing the hallmark prequel to Child of Eden, Rez. It’s hard to imagine now, but if we use the way back machine, Rez came at a time where music focused games were still in their infancy. Creating a love child between music and an on-rails shooter, Rez was a sheer critical success, but much like Child of Eden, wasn’t supported with marketing and died on the vine. Until it was re-released as an Xbox LIVE Arcade Game, Rez was veritably impossible to find unless you wanted to part with an unrealistic amount of money, an ounce of blood and possibly your first born to pick it up on eBay.
Rez might appear as a head trip of a game mostly suited for a psychotropic induced experiences but… well… yes. It’s that. However, it’s also a brilliant experience that must be had by any gamer. Notice how I didn’t say game. Rez is an experience. Anything I explain pertaining to it will be considered a spoiler so I’ll keep this sort, but I encourage anyone to pick it up and play it through to the end. You can thank me later. Psychotropics are purely optional.
19. Superman 64
Platform: Nintendo 64 Genre: Action-adventure Release date: 1999 Nominated by: Luke Halliday
If there was ever a game, that was so bad that you just had to play it, it would have to be Superman 64. It is a game that is widely considered (alongside the E.T game) to be the worst game of all time. There is so much wrong with this game. To list every glitch, bug, fault or just all around crappy things about Superman 64, would take a lifetime to even describe the first level!
The game just is horrible and has become infamous for that. It’s known for terribly unresponsive controls, having an indeterminable genre, taking away anything that was ‘super’ about Superman, being absolutely incoherent, barely functioning, glitched environments, glitched gameplay, glitched everything and just being a game so bad that you’d be doing yourself a great injustice to not play it before you die. The game was so widely slammed for being bad that it’s developer, Titus Software, never recovered from it and closed up shop for good a few years later.
Whether you need a good laugh or want to die a little inside, you need to experience Superman 64 for the pinnacle of bad video games.
20. Pikmin 2
Platform: Nintendo GameCube Genre: Strategy Release date: 2004 Nominated by: Jack Joly
Do you ever get…*inhale*..so excited about something…*exhale*.. that you have trouble breathing? When I was told..*inhale*… to write about Pikmin 2…*exhale*…one of my favourite games of all time…*inhale*..this happened to me..*deep exhale*.
The first Pikmin was refreshingly different and oozing with charm. The little creatures called Pikmin acted as your army, hinging on your every command and following you around into attack, retreat and carrying loot after a successful raid. Despite all the different colours which carried different abilities and up to 100 out and about at any one time, every loss was mourned, and seeing one of your loyal soldier’s souls floating into the air tugged at the heart strings of even the most hardened Generals.
Pikmin 2 built on everything of the first game; new types of Pikmin to add to the tactics; underground caverns to supplement the booty collected at ground level; charming new characters who brought with them a character swapping element to your strategy; new enemies and worlds to explore; and a two-player battle mode and extra co-operative missions. It has to be one of the most charming, witty games around. No doubt copies of the Gamecube game are something of a rarity these days, but an all-new revised Wii release with a Wii control scheme means everyone has the chance to give it a go.
Arguably one of the greatest handhelds in existence, the Game Boy Advance offered up a large and rich selection of titles that set the standard for portables today. With so many games, you are bound to get one or two lazy publishers that deliver a hideous excuse for a cover art. A few we are about to go over were just lazy rush-jobs while others just made no sense whatsoever.
While their flimsy cardboard box-casing may have made these arts easily destructible, the memories and images they portrayed will last a lifetime, haunting us for generations. Join us as we look over the worst boxarts of the Game Boy Advance.
Karnaaj Rally
Karnaaj Rally may have been a hidden gem on the GBA, but the boxart would be better compared to a lump of coal. Apparently, Jaleco (who are no strangers to Bad Boxarts) decided to go with a generic racing-game art. The idea would have worked well enough, but it seems that some mutated demon smurf spawn just had to be on the cover, which resulted in the very odd and tacky final representation you see above. We never seen a sequel from Karnaaj Rally, and I am just sitting here wondering why this fantastic cover would be ignored (or buried).
Board Game Classics
When I think of classic board games, I think of chess, checkers, and backgammon, just to name a few. Board Game Classics also thinks the same, but with blocky unicorns, seahorses, and robots added in. I get that there are several new “themes” for the classic games included in this compilation, but gathering all the rejected Shrek cast members together for a group photo was just not necessary.
Sheep
Trying to recreate the famous “Abbey Road” portrait, “Sheep” featured four small sheep walking on a crosswalk. This could have been a fun little parody on the cover, but a recreation just wasn’t enough and someone had to die.
What did we learn? Sheep should be doing sheep-like things on Sheep game covers. That poor yellow lamb still hasn’t emotionally recovered from this incident, and Capcom is to blame.
David Beckham Soccer
Mr. Beckham may be the Michael Jordan of soccer (or football for those of you outside the U.S.), but his stone cold stare and shockingly bright appearance on the European Cover for David Beckham Soccer made for one of the creepiest boxarts in history. If you noticed, Rage also thought it would be a good idea to add in a second Beckham stare in the logo, so buying this priceless piece was a two for one special.
In my opinion, Senead O’Connor pulled of this look better in her “Nothing Compares to You” video, which is what this cover reminds me of each time I see it.
Luckily for kids in North America, Majesco decided to actually show more of Beckham playing soccer, and less of the whole staring into children’s souls.
Super Duper Sumos
The cover for Super Duper Sumos triggers a lot of reactions at once, so just one glance should be enough for most people. In this art, we see three rather obese men, slapping their bare asses together. A high five? Nah…overdone. It had to be their asses.
We hear a lot about kids reenacting what they see in video games on the playground, but thankfully an incident like what we seen in this cover was prevented and no lives were lost when Super Duper Sumos hit stores in 2003.
Now is the time where you type in the comments box share your favorite nightmares that graced the Game Boy Advance or just add in what you think of these five beauties. Don’t forget to check back, as next time we will be visiting the Super Nintendo (this will be fun).
Welcome to this weeks Capsule Theatre of Vision, with me your host- LinkageAX. This is a new segment which will be held on a (hopefully) weekly basis by me and will feature videos that are either directly gaming related, or are related to some other kind of nerdery or geekery.
This weeks video features two different kinds of past-times that many of us many are familiar with (three if you want to get really technical), gaming and movies. Now, this video will be a little spoilery for those of us who have not yet seen or read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so be sure to avoid if you don’t want the ending spoiled for you.
Fruit Ninja Kinect Developer: Halfbrick Publisher: Microsoft Platform: Xbox 360 Kinect (Review) Released: August 10, 2011 Price: 800 MS Points
Overview: Ninjas and fruit have been enemies ever since the game Fruit Ninja was released on the iPhone App Store early last year, and since then has graced all types of smart phones and even seen a couple of knock offs that try to steal a bit of the fruit slicing goodness. That isn’t what this is about though, what this is about is that Fruit Ninja Kinect is about to be released and with it comes Kinect compatibility that turns your arms into deadly fruit killing blades. Does the smartphone original game translate well onto the Xbox 360 and live up to the 800 MSP price tag?
Graphics: Fruit Ninja Kinect’s graphics are pleasing to the eyes and there are a number of different fruits that can be sliced and diced. The fruits themselves are colorful and have a decent enough aesthetic to themselves as well as a satisfying splatter when you successfully chop through them. The background screens can be changed after unlocking new ones, and are merely there for show.
Something that is quite interesting is the player’s outline itself. As you are playing you will see a shadowy outline of yourself in the background of the fruits and swinging your hands will create a blade like streak that will slice through fruit. The shadow outline looks well-crafted which is a plus for the Kinect, and the various unlockable blade streaks help provide a bit of customization.
Audio: Unfortunately in the audio department there really isn’t a whole lot to mention. There is the existence of some background music but you will be more engrossed with chopping away at the various fruits to notice. The sound of slicing fruit is well done but doesn’t vary very often, so you will likely be treated to the same sounds again and again.
Gameplay: Fruit Ninja Kinect is a pretty basic game through and through. The player must make use of the Kinect and use their arms to slice through large numbers of fruit that are thrown into the air. The player then must swing their arm quickly enough for the Kinect to register the chop to slice through the fruit that you are aiming for.
This is a far cry from the original iPhone game that many gamers may be familiar with. While on the smart phone versions of the game you only had to use your finger to slice fruit you will be flailing around quite a lot with your arms to slice all of the fruit flying up in the air. The more dexterous of us can even slice a fruit with their leg if they are feeling up to it, though this is not really recommended. What this means is that Fruit Ninja Kinect is probably one of the most frantic Kinect games you can find and is certainly going to make your arms tired after a period of time. This is for the games benefit however as you will read later.
The various modes you can slice up the vicious colorful fruit are pretty similar to one another and most should be familiar to those who have played the title on their phones. There is your standard Classic Mode which allows the player to score as many points as they possibly can without dropping three fruit or hitting one of the game ending bombs tossed into the air. As standard if you slice more than one fruit with a single swing of your arm you will gain more points in what is called a Fruit Chain.
The Arcade mode is set to a timer and has bombs that will deduct points from your score instead of ending the game. Arcade mode is also home to special bananas that can slow down time and the fruit, cause a literal fruit frenzy and a score multiplier. There is also Zen mode which simply allows the player to slice up fruit at their leisure for a minute and a half without the worry of bombs.
Challenge Mode is a mode that allows you to, if you are the only one with the game, to finish set objectives for yourself, but otherwise can also allow you to immediately set yourself up against Xbox Live friends that have bested one of your scores. Though the newest mode may provide the most enjoyment for those looking to play Fruit Ninja with a friend. The Party Mode allows two players to play either competitively with one another or cooperatively. The competitive mode highlights certain fruit for each player to slice while coop mode is exactly as it sounds, two players enjoying the freedom of slicing fruit together with their hands and trying not to chop your friend’s arm instead of virtual fruit
Now Fruit Ninja Kinect doesn’t have anything deep to its gameplay. There is absolutely zero story mode and there really isn’t a whole lot to unlock. There are a few unlockables that are called Sensei’s Swag to help entice the player to perform certain actions or aim for a certain goal however. These unlockables are anything from a new looking blade, a different background, and even a different shadow outline of the player.
Besides that there is little to actually vary itself from session to session. There are leaderboards which show your best your best score in the various gameplay modes which means you can show off to your friends or even compete with one another through the leaderboards to try to one up one another. There is even an achievement for defeating a friend on the leaderboards. The short game sessions are certainly a benefit to the Fruit Ninja experience because, simply due to repetitiveness and the game’s original design to be used as a portable game meant to be played to kill time at a bus station, means some players will quickly grow bored with the game and only play it for short periods of time.
The Kinect itself actually functions quite amazingly with Fruit Ninja Kinect. The players shadow is a perfect representation of where the player is positioned and the sensor will even help recalibrate itself if you are too close to the screen and make it so all fruit is within easy reach at all times by centering the player in the screen. There are a few times when the system will pick up a hand movement as a slice when you didn’t mean it to, but this is more human error than actual system.
Overall: Now if you have ever played Fruit Ninja before, you more or less should know what to expect with the Kinect version of the title. To put it simply, Fruit Ninja Kinect is very enjoyable in small bursts and also is a great example of what the Kinect can do and owners of the Kinect who are eager to have a simple and enjoyable game to play should certainly pick this game up.
Unfortunately there is a major problem with the Fruit Ninja Kinect game, and that is the price tag. The original game costs anywhere from $0.99 to $3.99, while this title touts a price tag of 800 MSP which is equal to $10. Now while it is easy to say that Fruit Ninja Kinect is probably the best version of Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja, the price tag certainly may turn people away and a lower price could easily make it a must have despite its repetitiveness.
Sure you could always go around and uppercut everyone you meet in Deus Ex: Human Revolution but what about stretching that “brain muscle” of yours rather than flexing your robotic biceps. Square Enix and Eidos Entertainment released a new developer feature for the game today and this time around it focuses on the social and hacking aspects of the game.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution has a number of different approaches to any given situation, and a large number of these can be talked out of or swung in your favor simply from talking to the right person and convincing them to do, or not do something. They also detail a little bit about the hacking which seems simple enough, but nothing says momentum shift like taking the enemies robotic turrets and turning them against their previous owners. Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be out on August 23rd across the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC platforms.
Although Bardock has seen a little bit of story development in the form of a side-movie and even a few what-if scenarios in past Dragon Ball Z games, he usually does not actually see any story of his own besides the fact that he was defeated by Frieza and is the father of Goku. But it seems that in the upcoming Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi, Bardock is going to actually play a key part in the story.
Jump said that players will fight through Bardock’s storyline and it will be the first time ever for a DBZ game to perform such a feat. Players can also fly through vast fields and trigger events that are scattered throughout the game world. Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi is set for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 25th in North America and 28th in PAL territories.
Time to bring in the old with the new, because a video has been posted online by Gameswelt.tv that not only contains a classic Sonic level but also a more modern looking level and a run through of each one. The two areas shown in the video are the classic Chemical Plant Zone and the more modern looking City Escape.
Despite the reluctance some may have to purchase a new Sonic title, if this video is a representation of what we can expect the game to be like then skepticism should take a back seat to excitement at having a great looking next-generation Sonic game that doesn’t focus entirely on 3D gameplay.
Installing a game on the Xbox 360 console is always an optional endeavor which can shorten your load times and sometimes make the game run better. Last year Microsoft optimized the installations which made the size of each installation smaller, but it seems that there are going to be at least a few games which will take literally a whole smaller hard drive’s worth of space to contain.
id Software’s John Carmack revealed that RAGE will take 22GB of space to install all of the files on the game discs. In an interview with TheSixthAxis, John Carmack not only revealed how much space you will need to install RAGE, but even suggested it is a good idea. He said:
“On the 360 we don’t have a partial install option; it’s all or nothing, which is kind of unfortunate. It means you have to install 21/22GB of stuff which takes a long time but if you’ve got it and you play it on the 360 that’s the way to go.
“Once you get everything from memory that works pretty good, but if you’re coming straight from the hard drive then the first time you walk into everything from the DVD or from the Blu-ray — even worse in terms of total latency time — you listen to that Blu-ray churning around as its pulling everything in.
The large install comes from the fact that RAGE comes on three different discs for the Xbox 360, with two for the single player section and one for the multiplayer. This is actually a good sign, because if a game is going to take so much space just to install, then there has to be a lot of content inside. RAGE is set for a release on October 4th in North America across the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Well, it looks as if those under 17 will have no problem picking the highly anticipated Arkham City when it hits stores on October 18th, as the game has now been granted a “T” rating by the ESRB. This rating isn’t really a shocker though, as the same rating was given to Arkham Asylum when it released in 2009.
Bloodstains, cleavage, and apparently a drunk chick who hates her classmates come together to give the latest Batman game a “T” rating, which still sounds like a good time. Check out the full rating summary below for all the details.
Batman: Arkham City
Platform: Windows PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Rating summary: This is an action-adventure game featuring characters from the Batman franchise. Players assume the role of Batman as he investigates Arkham City, a neighborhood overrun by psychopathic criminals and former prison inmates. As players explore the city and infiltrate hideouts, they punch and kick criminals in melee-style combat, using various gadgets (e.g., explosive gel, smoke pellets, a grappling gun) to defend themselves against gun-wielding thugs and villains. The frenetic combat is highlighted by cries of pain, punching sounds, realistic gunfire, and slow-motion effects. In some sequences, players must solve puzzles or use stealth to incapacitate enemies and free hostages; when players fail a challenge, the hostage will lose his life. Some environments contain bloodstains on the floor or furniture; other cutscenes depict spots of blood on injured characters. During the course of the game, some female characters are dressed in form-fitting outfits that expose large amounts of cleavage; one background sign depicts the silhouette of a woman and the words “Live Nude.” The dialogue also contains some suggestive references (e.g., “The anger, the frustration, the hints of repressed sexual tension” and “Sure could go for some porn right now.”). One sequence depicts a character smoking a cigar, and there are various references to alcohol (e.g., “She got a little drunk and killed her classmates,” “I’d give anything for a nice cold beer right now.”). The words “b*tch,” “a*s,” and “bastard” can be heard in dialogue.
