Hot Heart

THIS IS BEYOND THE PALE

Heh, I feel the same way about 'Titus Fallon' Also reminded me of this.

I have done some head-on stuff with the starter bike, because I am not used to driving on the left in videogames (that's weird, right?) but the only thing that flew was my body. Really hope there are better cars soon because everything I've tried handles terribly.

Started playing Sleeping Dogs. I really like the visuals and the setting, and the combat and stuff is pretty good. Then I got in a vehicle. Dear lord...

I also bought the bundle because Arkham Asylum is a great game I'll probably want to replay sometime and I only have the 360 version, plus I may give Scribblenauts and the LOTR game a go at some point. I have a friend who may want FEAR 2 (and subsequently 3) but there is another Arkham City GOTY up for grabs.

Yeah, I'm not sure how you didn't realise that either. But, I mean, all it really is is 'come back to this same place when you have a new gadget' as well as some changes in the level after particular story events. I'm happy to accept a less inter-connected feel for the different vibe that I get from City, because that other stuff is still there to some extent. As for the hub-style, I like that sometimes you have/get to be smart about how you approach your objective as well. Being able to plan your 'assault' on a group of enemies is a lot of fun, like when you're getting into the other steel mill entrance or even just clearing a rooftop.

"People want the console? He's ruined everything! Months of marketing gone to waste!"

The game was this close to making my picks, so I'm glad someone nominated it. It really is unlike anything else out there. Seriously, I must've spent £100+ on DLC (and may pick up more still...)

Oh, god... Cool video.

It's 'Bieber', asshole! Show some respect.

I LOVE IT!

I finished the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC. While there were some nice moments in it (attaching a snap flash to the environment and then having it moved behind an enemy before detonating), I'm kinda glad I didn't pay for it. For starters, while Robin is cool, he seems to be missing a few vital tricks up his sleeve. No weapon-breaking move and no freeze grenade (shield bash is good but limited uses and more prone to failure compared to a grenade) make a big difference in the tougher fights, and no disruptor makes predator stuff a little trickier. What really spoiled it thought was that I actually had some odd occurences in combat anyway (like in Origins) and when one of the bad guys took a hostage in the final predator bit, there was no way to take him out without being seen. I snuck up behind him on two separate occasions, got the Silent Takedown prompt but then it automatically had him kill the hostage when I pressed a button. The only fix was to play uber-aggressively...which, admittedly, was pretty fun. But speaking of fun, I gave Nightwing a quick go. He's pretty damn awesome, and rather than explosive gel, he has a really handy ground-pound move. Got through a combat challenge completely untouched during my first go with him.

It's NUT-ella. It's got nuts and ellas in it. GOSH!

The LEGO games are nice little time-wasters; though I'm waiting on the Marvel one because I've already got plenty to keep me busy anyway. LEGO Batman 1 and 2 are a lot of fun and I actually took the time to 100% those. LOTR tried something a bit different and while the main story mode is really good, and roaming around (with that music) is wonderful, the things you have to do for 100% just isn't worth it. Mainly, it introduced 'quests' to actually unlock the extra modifiers and some really shit platforming for getting to some of the 'mithril bricks' .

Started playing Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC, since GFWL-death meant my copy of Arkham City got turned into a GOTY one on Steam (awesome!). I already had Robin, the Black Mask challenge map and all the costumes (much prefer these to those I saw for Origins), so getting that and Nightwing, along with some more challenge maps is very welcome. Getting back into Arkham City after Origins feels like putting on some comfy old slippers; everything, even the gliding, just feels so much better. The challenge in the DLC is pitched about right (mid-late game setups but not too extreme) and I always liked playing as Robin; shield-bashing is lots of fun. Not sure if they got Conroy back for the voice because it sounds different, and Batman only seems to utter one or two words at a time (game claims he's being 'terse' because of what happened with The Joker). Could be that Conroy has taken that direction onboard though... Not sure I like Robin's voice; he sounds more like I imagine Nightwing would.

http://enemiesmusic.bandcamp.com/

M-m-m-m-m-m-m-my Sharona!

Man, what?! You batarang those guys before they even get a chance to throw anything!

Thor: The Dark World. Really enjoyable, so much so I'd put it above most the other Marvel films I've seen. It's almost the complete opposite to the first Thor film, in that it's full of large-scale action; the ending setpiece is particularly thrilling but also quite hilarious as well. Yep, they've kept the gags throughout, and most are great (particularly a "cameo" of sorts). The villain and the McGuffin are a bit "Eh, OK", but they're not really the point; though, it seems the seeds are definitely being sown for the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as there is a mid-credits scene with a certain upcoming character (as well as the usual post-credits one, too). p.s. eagle-eyed Game of Thrones watchers will spot a particular actor making an appearance during an incident that also appeared in the show (but also based on real history, too, obviously); specifically, the first scene of S3E03 "Walk of Punishment."

Continuing the conversation from here, so as not to begin the process of clogging up another thread (I think those posts can stay where they are). I would love to see Rocksteady do a No Man's Land-style game. Now they've got people like Robin and Nightwing, it would be cool to use them a bit more as well. Break Gotham up into various hubs (sort of like Assassin's Creed's cities) and have different factions fighting it out over territory. Feature some sort of 'city rebuilding' elements, stuff like getting Poison Ivy to grow food for people, getting the power back online, etc. Also, it must feature Batman telling Superman to Looking back at Origins, I think it might've been cool if they'd started with Bruce Wayne actually trying to enjoy Christmas. Have him, at a party at the start of the game that gets attacked and from which he has to escape, so he feels it was a failure on his part and why he absolutely throws himself into the mission. Given how big budget games tend to love more scripted moments, I don't think the Arkham games use them so much (or at least, on a smaller scale or not so overtly). Outside of the "Oh, Batman's been drugged again" there was only really the Firefly bridge bit in Origins, which was fairly OK.

Damn you, AC4 trailer.

It was a bit of a sleeper because it was on XBLA first (which really seems to have been losing a lot of coverage lately) then snuck onto PC later. That's definitely on 'the list', I'm just waiting for a slightly steeper discount is all.

The problem with the season pass is that it's nearly all costumes, and I don't enjoy the game enough to want to play it again/more with just those.