Solid Snake

I believe it's for Challenge mode..like the first Batman game was.

Decker

Challenge mode or after beating the game once.

TheNightFlier

I finished up the main Batman storyline a little while ago. I'll spoil my thoughts on the ending and the game.

Raul3

I started playing the game and I having a lot of fun. I can't stop playing.

RocShemp

You're refering to Batman: Arkham Asylum, right? Cos the only thing I do know is that the devs confirmed that CPU based PhysX is an option in the upcoming PC version of Batman: Arkham City.

Either way, it's a shame cos if Batman: Arkham Asylum had a CPU based PhysX option, I could have picked up a cheap copy to test how well my PC could handle it.

kgrogers1979

I have never even heard of PhysX being handled by the CPU. Your PC is top of the line though, so it should be able to handle it.

My PC is going on five years old now. Its an Athlon 64 x2 2.6 ghz, 3 GB RAM, and Geforce 8800 GTX video card. It plays Arkham Asylum very well, although I have never tried running PhsyX with it.

Steam frequently has Arkham Asylum featured in their weekend sales for $10. Also during the big holiday sales I have seen it go as low as $5.

Dragon Tattoo

Does anyone who's played this know who the ninja girl in Penguin's museum is supposed to be? That's not Talia, is it?

glassdragon

Dragon Tattoo

Oh cool, thanks.

StatMan79

Part I think I'm about to lose my mind on is...

RocShemp

Yeah, CPU based PhysX was news to me but Ben Wyatt, technical director at Rocksteady Studios, had apparently confirmed it in a recent interview. A summary in English can be found here. In the summary they mention the following:

So apparently it can be done via CPU but you'll take a performance hit.

Awesome. Although I have it on PS3, I love Arkham Asylum enough to play it again on PC.

boredsilly

I really liked that boss battle:

Mok

Can you do the side quests involving the villains after finishing the main game ?

Raul3

Sorry for the short post but I had to leave last night.

So let me continue.

After all the discussion of the game, mixed reviews and all, I wasn't sure about the game anymore, before starting to play it.

Some background. I liked the first game, but it wasn't GOTY for me, it was maybe in my top 5 that year. I'm not a huge Batman fan. I have never read the comics, but I've watched all the recent movies, and some old, but just once. So I usually read these threads to fill out in all the info I'm missing.

Also, I mainly play FPS and sports games (Halo, Gears, FIFA). Although I can spend a lot of time in games like Fallout.

I don't find the open world a bad thing, it's like the Fallout games. I didn't remember all the controls either, so I missed in some Riddler trophies early because I didn't remember about the different modes of the batarang.

I've only played for 2 hours, max, but for those that read this thread and are afraid they won't like the game, don't worry. It's a really good, solid, game.

TheNightFlier

Yep, I finished up the Bane side mission after the main storyline.

thematahara

Arkham Asylum is probably my favorite game for the 360 and the only one I have ever felt the desire to get 1000 achievement points. I had extremely high hopes for this game and I must say this is everything I was hoping for and then some.

Love all of the villans and side missions, they did a really nice job on getting so many people in the game, without it turning into a Batman Forever type disaster. I havent beaten the game yet, but I had to make myself pull back a bit on the main quest and do some side stuff because I dont want this to be over too soon.

I'm going to try for 1000 again on this one, but the 400+ riddler challenges are a bit daunting. They did a great job of making the "open" world. It looks enormous at first glance, but with the gliding and grappling, you can make it from one side to the other in less than a minute.

My only complaint is that it seems with the open world, that there have been much less instances of fighting a room full bad guys, which was always a favorite part of the first game for me. Have only encountered a few situations with 10+ guys at once. Kinda miss the Titans as well, but the addition of the new enemy types is nice. Love doing the stun and beat down on the kevlar vest guys. This game still has the best combat system around.

Not a huge fan of catwoman, she feels like just a gimped version of Batman, but so far her sections have been very short and after the first part of the game she hasnt popped back up for me.

This also has had some fantastic boss fights, much more varied than the first game.

Definitely my game of the year so far, and the only thing I see giving it a run for its money is Skyrim.

kgrogers1979

I don't have the game yet since I am still waiting on it to arrive in the mail, but it seems to me that there are comparatively less Riddler challenges this time. Asylum had 240 Riddler challenges. I have heard that the game world in City is five times larger, but yet only has 400 Riddler challenges, so it technically only has twice the challenges spread out in five times the space.

Also, does this game have the question marks you can only see in the detective mode and have to line them up perfectly? I hated those in Asylum because it was so finicky. You had to line it up almost pixel-perfect to get it to register. That was by far my least favorite part of Asylum.

boredsilly

Yeah, the Riddler stuff seems daunting. I didn't do it the first go round, and wouldn't dream of doing it now since there is so much area to cover. I'll collect the things i see, and that are easy to get, to unlock challenge rooms, but that's about it.

I can't say I agree with you on fighting a lot of bad guys. If anything, I feel like there is more of it now. The overworld still has pockets of thugs you can bust up (usually around 5 to 7), which feels the same to me as Arkham Asylum, but when your in on a mission, it isn't uncommon to fight 10 to 15 dudes. For instance, when you go underground, or early on when you fought in front of Two-Face.

I do agree with you on the boss fights, though. They're much more enjoyable this go round. I'm actually looking forward to future boss fights, where I dreaded them in Asylum. They're tough, but not punishing, which I can definitely get behind.

I would encourage everyone to do the sidequests if you weren't already. I've only started a few of them, but that's how some of Batman's other Rogue's art introduced to the game, so they don't feel as tacked on as other game's side-quests. That said, I'm tired of saving political prisoners. I would ignore them entirely, if their screams didn't sound so horrible.

Groucho

I loved Arkham Asylum, but I'm having a hard time getting into this one. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm not having fun.

TheNightFlier

I felt the same way when I started it. It seemed to be more grinding through everything than AA. I came around when I got into the story more. The beginning isn't all that fun imo, but the last half makes up for it imo.

RocShemp

I keep reading about you guys complaining about Catwoman. She can't be any worse than the Joker in Arkham Asylum, can she? Because he was pitiful as a playable character.

Groucho

Catwoman >> Joker but I die all the time with her. And I'm reluctant to spend any leveling points on her since she's not in the game much.

Decker

At least Joker was only in challenge maps, you were never forced to play levels as him. And he was his own character, forcing you to play his character differently than you would Batman. I wasn't crazy about him, but at least he didn't feel like a nerfed Batman.

Groucho

Catwoman has a better ass than Joker.

boredsilly

Yeah, if I ever replay the game, I would want to do so without the Catwoman episodes. She's just not as fun to play, and I like you, won't be spending any points on her. She'll just get the things that she gets because the leveling things I buy apply to everyone.

Groucho, how far along are you in hours? You can see a page or so ago I was definitely in the same boat at you, but the game really does come together I feel about 3 to 5 hours in. I do think the single player experience in AA is going to be superior (the feeling of isolation, and the setting of the Asylum was just top notch), but this game feels great to me -- just in a slightly different way.