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I nearly didn’t get off a console long enough to write this post! Very hectic month (and then some) for gaming, and it shows no signs of slowing down with BF3, Uncharted 3, Skyrim, and SWTOR on the way too. Not that I’m complaining, the last few months have been one long gaming orgasm!

1. Dark Souls (PS3) – Number one and deservedly so. Very likely my GOTY
2. Batman Arkham City (Xbox 360) – Not as good as the first. More later…
3. Ico Collection (PS3) – Just as good the 20th playthrough, especially in HD
4. Driver: San Francisco (Xbox 360) – Still great!
5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360) – I need to finish this!

So a few things on each title.

Dark Souls is amazing. Just as good as Demons Souls and then some. I absolutely love the level and enemy design in these games and Dark Souls did not let me down. I have half a review ready to go but for the time being you can check out my Demons Souls review as a lot of what I said there applies to this game too;

http://www.eckyman.com/demons-souls-review/

Batman Arkham City was a letdown. There, I said it. Get the pitchforks and let the lynching begin! Not burning me alive yet? OK, I’ll explain my reasoning.

Firstly, Arkham City IS a great game. No doubt. However, as a follow up to Arkham Asylum it falls short in a number of ways. Arkham Asylum has a stronger story, better pacing, and a more climatic build to the end. Arkham City has a stronger combat system, better boss fights, and other minor improvements to the gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, the story basically just drags on the last hour or so of Arkham Asylum with very little else added.

I have a LOT more to talk about on this one to be honest but this post is going to get lengthy if I don’t move on. Review up soon… when I get a break from all this gaming crack!

Ico Collection. What can I say. Two of my fav games ever made. If you didn’t play these at release, shame on you. If you’ve not picked them up for PS3 because they are just HD PS2 games… shame on you! Go, now! QUICK!

Throw out games as art discussions and call it what it is… Ico is a great puzzler game featuring the least annoying escort mission type gameplay you will ever play. Shadow of the Colossus is a visually impressive treat, soaked liberally with atmosphere, and wrapped up with a kick ass soundtrack. Highly recommended!

I’m still enjoying Driver a lot, working my way through all the extra missions at the moment. It’s taken a back seat lately to make room for newer games but it’s still in rotation.

Deus Ex slipped to bottom place with not much action at all this month. No reflection on the game, I’ve just not had time to finish it off.

BF3 is hopefully coming today/tomorrow so that will no doubt steal the top place, although I don’t see Dark Souls moving over so readily as other games this time…

Cant help but be a little surprised by this. According to google analytics I get quite a bit of traffic looking for information on the inverted takedown move Batman can perform in Batman: Arkham Asylum

I’m assuming people want to know how to do it etc.. firstly, it’s an upgrade you can unlock with points from XP/level ups so get that sorted. To pull off the move, move Batman up to a gargoyle and wait for a henchman to walk underneath. Aim the camera down and at the target, then press Y (yellow) on the Xbox pad, and I would assume TRIANGLE on the PS3 pad (Not played the PS3 version so cant confirm this. Given the pad/button layouts on other games I see no reason why it wouldn’t be mapped to triangle though).

Have fun stringing the bad guys up, and don’t forget.. if you do an inverted takedown, swing away to another gargoyle and batarang the rope when his henchmen mates are standing under him for an achievement on the Xbox 360. (Again, cant say if there is one for this action on the PS3 but I would imagine its the same. Give it a try and find out)

I love this!

A user on the official Batman: Arkham Asylum forums had an issue with the game, specifically the glide ability. Cheshirec_the_cat posts;

“Hi! 
I’ve got a problem when it’s time to use Batman’s glide in the game. When I hold , like it’s said to jump from one platform to another, Batman tries to open his wings again and again instead of gliding. So he fels down in a poisoning gas. If somebody could tel me, what should I do there.”

He may have been suprised to see this reply from a forum admin;

“The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, to catch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free. 

It’s not a bug in the game’s code, it’s a bug in your moral code.”

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Great game. Completed it over the weekend and working on challenege maps now. Could well be the first game I actually go out of my way to 100% the achievements too.

I cant really say much that has not been said already. Good story, great voice overs (all familiar from the 90′s cartoons), nice mix of gameplay from action, to exploration, to puzzle solving… Batman has a little of everything for everyone and it never feels stretched thin.

I’m really hoping we see at least one follow up game from Rocksteady as they obviously respect the source material a great deal.

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