Holiday gift ideas: AfterHours (video games and toys)

Video games, toys and other entertaining gift ideas for IT boys (and girls)

By Keith Shaw, Network World
November 16, 2009 12:06 AM ET

Video games are not just for kids, most of us who grew up with either the Super Nintendo or Atari 2600 game systems know that. So don't feel guilty about perusing our favorite games for this holiday season, whether you own a Sony Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii. Plus we threw in some "regular" games.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
(Available for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC)

Batman: Arkham Asylum is the latest video game offering to feature the Caped Crusader in his never-ending quest to rid Gotham City of crime. Like so many other games of late, it uses the Unreal engine, which means you’ll be looking at Batman’s back in an off-center-left angle for much of the game.

The game starts off with a bang – Batman is bringing the Joker to Arkham Asylum after capturing him “easier than usual”. Then, surprise(!), Joker has set a trap – he wanted to be captured – and it’s up to Batman (you) to return control of the asylum to the guards and administration.

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I grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series as a kid, and I was elated to learn the game is written by one of the show’s main writers. Most of the acting talent is back too – including Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker, and I’m pretty sure whoever played Harley Quinn is the same too. As such, the voice acting is top notch – the best I’ve ever seen in a video game. Hamill especially shines, as all the scenes involving the Joker are over the top and pretty much exactly what they should be.

Unlike the cartoon, which was designed for youngsters, Arkham Asylum takes on a much more menacing, much more “realistic” tone – even as a child, it seemed strange to me that super villains like Joker, Two Face, Poison Ivy, etc, never managed to off anyone. Well, that’s all changed. While never overly gratuitous, the supervillains earn the distinction here – the poor guards at Arkham never stood much of a chance. I was initially surprised by how mature the game is, but the darker atmosphere leant a much higher degree of credibility to the villains and therefore enhanced the game.

The animation and graphics are also outstanding – you can explore the game as much as you like, and be constantly exposed to high detail, gruesomely gorgeous environments. Or you can activate “Detective Mode”, and see everything from a different – slight bluer – perspective. I spent most of the game in detective mode, because it was easier to see doors and live bodies are illuminated and can be seen through walls (and the floor), making it much easier to get the drop on bad guys. It was a shame to spend so much of the game in detective mode, because you lose out on seeing all the intricate artwork in the game – highly detailed walls in normal vision are uniform blue in detective mode – so in the sequel it might be nice for Batman to have a naturally enhanced ability to see bad guys.

Gameplay is phenomenal, especially hand-to-hand combat. You have the option to elusively take down your prey from the relative safety of ceiling rafters/ledges/rooftops, and doing so makes sense when facing a small army of goons armed with automatic weapons. But when I came across a big group of unarmed thugs, I found it more fun to jump right in, fists first. The more you play, the better you get. And it’s fun (and satisfying) to control Batman as he beats the stuffing out of the escaped prisoners, and uses their weapons against them. Batman is merciless, and although he never kills any of the thugs, if this were real life, most of them wouldn’t get up after the beatdown they received.

Of course, Batman isn’t invincible himself. He has relatively little armor throughout the game, and won’t survive many gun shots/steel pipes upside the head. Avoiding a swinging pipe, with practice, is fairly straightforward – the game designers did a great job giving Batman a “sixth sense” to alert to an incoming direct attack. I found it much harder to locate assailants when they were shooting at me, which logically makes sense but makes the game harder. That crops up more in the extra missions/downloadable content, and not as much during the game. And when it does happen, it never frustrated me to the point where I got sick of the game.

Edward Nigma, aka the Riddler, has left well over two hundred hidden objects/items/puzzles throughout the game, and he’ll taunt you to find them. As this is written, I’m standing at well over 75%, without using any strategy guides. Some are much easier to find than others, but each is an accomplishment. There’s a ton of cool stuff to find for diehard Batman fans, and I came across a few references I didn’t get. If you’re a diehard fan, or just like tracking things down, you’ll enjoy this aspect of the game. It added a fair bit of value for me.

The villains were well done, and the guards would have conversations throughout the game without once repeating themselves. Yes, you heard that right – none of the hundreds of guards repeat what another said earlier in the game. And AI works well, they’ll search you out. If you do an inverted takedown from the rafters in front of the other guards, they’ll notice you and keep shooting at you…but if you time it right and they don’t see you, they’ll wonder what happened. You can lure them into traps and gain additional points by performing special take downs. More fun challenges. Or you can be like me and keep trying to take them all on at once.

On the PS3, you can play extra missions as the Joker, and it is HARD. The Joker isn’t just an image of Joker overlaid on Batman’s body with the same weapons and such – he has his own unique moves, and a totally different style of play. And since the Joker isn’t nearly as powerful as Batman physically, the missions that involve him taking on armed guards are quite difficult. Again, more value.

You’ll also gain additional value by the free downloadable content Rocksteady Games keeps making available. They’re adding more missions and such available for free (on the PS3), which is awesome. There was already a ton of love and value that went into the game; by the time you’ve beaten it, you’ve gotten more than your money’s worth. And yet they continue to give you more.

If you couldn’t tell, I loved this game. It started off a little slow, but boy did it ever speed up fast. I would recommend it just for the story and voice acting, but honestly, the game itself is top notch. If you have a PS3, Xbox, or PC that can handle this, do yourself a favor and pick up Batman: Arkham Asylum immediately.

Cool Yule rating: 5 stars
Price: $60.00
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Reviewed by Daniel Hunt