Backseat Gamer: Batman Arkham Asylum Review

Intro:
Anyone who knows me at least a little knows that I'm a huge fan of the DC Universe, especially of Batman.  The idea of a man who has no powers and still managed to kick everyone else's butt has always been my favorite.  I also love how flawed the character is and how his trauma is still very much a part of his life and is a major part about him - it makes him very interesting full of layers.  So a game where I can play as him and hack and slash my way through the characters and world I love?  Sign me up!

Summary:

Batman has, once again, caught Joker and is en-route to take him back to Arkham, but he can't seem to shake the feeling that this time was a bit too easy.  Upon showing up at the prison and walking Joker inside, his suspicions are confirmed when Harley throws a switch and everything goes haywire.  Now Batman has to survive in a prison full of criminals he put there and somehow find a way to stop Joker's plan.

Thoughts:

This is my type of game!  I've never been so good at platformers and fighters and RPGs, but hack and slash in this style with puzzles mixed in is all me.  I loved every second of this game from how well it played, how clean it looked and just how easy it was to immerse myself in the world. 

Combat wise, the game is built to teach you.  As Batman isn't expecting to be trapped in the prison, he doesn't have all his nifty gadgets and has to create them as he goes.  Upgrades in weapons are explained by finding pieces and gaining access to secret stashes all over the prison island and spaced out, so the player is allowed to learn each new technique and let it become second nature.  Juggling 8 different gadgets by the end of the game may seem like a lot, but the teaching style was nearly flawless and easy to follow, even for someone like me who isn't as good at games.  The only downside is that this is the second time I started the game, because I dropped it for a few months and forgot about how to use the gadgets, so there's a learning curve if you take a break and come back. 

Artwise, Arkham Asylum looks amazing.  Unlike the animated series and some of the comics, you're not confined to a single jail building.  Instead there's a whole island to explore with multiple buildings, nooks, crannies, caves and secret passages.  The 'world' for this game is quite big and it takes a bit to learn it all, however it opens slowly and like the fighting and gadget system, you're eased into all of it until you're ready to take on the ending. 

Detective Mode is also something that was introduced in this game and made my life a lot easier, though it isn't without it's flaws.  When you have detective mode on you can see inmates bodies through walls, count enemies and even see what weapons they have.  The problem is you can leave this on indefinitely and still see the world around you, so there's really no reason to turn it off.  I found this made the game much easier for me, but it caused me to not see a good portion of the game they'd created because I was too busy being in x-ray mode to fight.  I would love to see this tweeked in the next one (and I already know it is). 

Not all of Batman's rouges gallery are present in this game, but a fair number of them are for what the story allows.  By and far my favorite part was Scarecrow and how they created the dream sequences for him.  Playing through those was the trippiest and most interesting part of the game and provided a welcome break to sneaking through the prison and fighting thugs.  Poison Ivy was interesting, but her reason for fighting seemed really thin to me and didn't really need to be there, and finally Killer Croc ended up being more then a little anti-climatic.  I was expecting a fight with him, not a bait and hit until he stepped into my trap.  That left me a bit disappointed.  

The ending fight with Joker, sadly, I wasn't impressed by.  While it was fun and fit the style of the game overall, it was completely out of character for him as Joker is not really a flat out fighting character, so a final battle with him seemed silly in the way they framed it.  However, I'm a bit at odds with thinking of something better, so I can't complain too much.  I wish it had been more of a puzzle and obstacle course then flat out punching, but I can see how that would have been anticlimactic. 

Overall I love the game and had quite a bit of fun with it.

How Much I Played:
The whole game!!  Well, ok, there were a couple missions toward the end where I handed the controller over to my wifey, such as the Killer Croc fight and Poison Ivy, but other then that I played the whole thing and loved it. 

Grade:

Easily one of my top games ^__^

Cosplay?
They wifey and I have never really done any Batman cosplay, but we've got other costumes from the DC Universe and I've designed a bunch of dresses.  Poison Ivy is the character I get asked to sketch the most and here's the different outfits I've designed for her.

Recent Events

In the wake of what has happened, I feel time is better spent focusing on those who were hurt and need help.  So no blog entry from me today, there's more important things to focus on.  

Here's a link to an article with ways you can help those suffering right now:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-to-help-orlando-shooting_us_575eb266e4b0e39a28ae14ee

Here's a gofundme raising money for the victims:

https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund

Reach out to your friends, family and community members who are part of the GLBT community and hurting right now, even if they aren't showing it.  Make sure they are ok and remind them that there are people who care about them and that they are loved. 

Don't downplay people's pain just because you may not approve or understand of their lifestyle.  

And above all, be nice to each other.  Things like this shouldn't happen.  And when they do happen, they shouldn't be ignored, they should be prevented from happening again.  Preventing them and stopping them depends on you. 

Earning Your Plot Points

There's a disturbing trend popping up that needs to be addressed and really - stopped.  From Captain America being a part of Hydra, to Batman fighting Superman, Disney trying to explain why the Mad Hatter is so mad and even our ongoing presidential campaign: the issue of clickbait has started to invade our media, and it's not for the better.  In fact, it's actually making consuming media more of a chore and a mud pile that we - as fans - are getting lost in.

The final poster and title.

Let's take the recent DC movie that everyone is so up and arms about.  Now, I'm not going to tell you if "Batman V Superman" and the DC movie universe is good or bad, that's not the issue here, but just follow me on this bigger picture for a moment. 

Back when the movie was first announced, it was actually called "Man of Steel 2", and there were whispers that Batman might be involved some how.  As a frequent movie lover and a longtime lover of Batman, this got me intrigued and caught my attention, I'll admit and I started actively searching for news tidbits on the movie as it was in production and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.  This is the buzz that movie studios try and create when information is released or leaked. 

A little bit after the movie had been announced, the working title was floated around and created a bit more buzz.  A working title is kind of like a movie's nickname and while it doesn't always have to, this one seemed to reveal a bit more about the plot.  That working title was "Batman v Superman" and, as one might expect, this is the sort of working title that created more buzz and more people started talking.  A DC movie where the two might fight?!  That was something we hadn't seen and the fans seemed hyped and skeptical, but they were still talking about the movie.

I think this is the point where things went wrong, because someone at the studio must have noticed all the reactions and suddenly "Batman v Superman" wasn't just a working title, it was THE title and now all the talk was about how these two heroes would be fighting on the big screen and it would be the match up of the century... and it wasn't. 

Beyond comparing the movie to the Marvel counterpart of "Civil War" the bigger issue is that the studio didn't earn this fight they were trying to get us hyped up about.  In the span of one movie DC tried to catch up with Marvel's expanded movie-verse, introduce new characters, new plotlines and a whole new universe of their own.  The result was a mess of a movie with plot points that were shoehorned in and mysterious emails that gave loads of information because there wasn't time to do the same thing organically in the story.  Not to mention the end game baddie who was barely even a shell of the menacing and threatening force of nature he was supposed to be.  

When you're a writer, the biggest point is to create and tell a cohesive story where your plot points genuinely excite and shock the audience, yes.  But it is also your job to explain this excitement and shock and wrap it all into a cohesive story that the audience can enjoy.  The wonder of seeing a story line progress and a character grow and change is something that's hard to express, but it's the feeling that I personally search for in movies and books and fandoms around me, because that's where the escapism lies.  That's the part that sweeps me away and makes me get happily lost in your story and eager to consume more.   

There've always been taglines.

"Batman V Superman" and many other recent media choices have amounted to nothing more then clickbait and really are becoming just as unsatisfying.  The trend of "... and you'll never believe number 7!" has its merits here and there, and is older then a lot of us think.  Tag lines from novels are only one example of a very well known and common marketing technique that serves it's purpose: it gets your attention.  When you pick up a novel from the shelf and read that single line or quote, authors and publishers are hoping it's interesting enough that you will open the book and start reading, that's the point.  The problem arises when the tagline or clickbait makes a promise that isn't kept and is really just there to catch your eye and make you spend your money. 

Too often now media isn't delivering on the promise it's making.

There's so much clickbait out there in our media now that 'number 7' really isn't that shocking anymore, and that tagline promising the fight of the century?  When you don't have a good plot to put the characters in the right place at the right time and give them legitimate reasons to fight, you honestly just cheat your readers and consumers out of what they showed up to see.  Sure, the movie studio might already have their money and the book author has already locked in their royalties, but the consumers (US) are left feeling empty and cheated and worse!  Now when I see clickbait, I scroll past it.  When I hear about an epic story line being tackled in the next comic book movie, I tend to say "I'll wait for reviews" and when I click on a book to consider adding it to my Amazon shopping cart it's from an author I already know, because new authors are starting to become too much of a risk.

This sounds horrible and jaded and as an author myself, it's a lot like a death nell.  The whole point of a variety of media being out there is so that we as consumers can pick and choose between what we like.  But clickbait invading the media means that there's more noise and more mud to sift through and too often, people will decide it's not worth the effort because it's harder to find the stuff that is sincere in the mess of boasting that's too loud to ignore. 

So how do we fix this?  How do we as authors and creators earn our plot points?

Write a good story. It's as simple as that.  

Sure, have something shocking happen, but have that something shocking make sense.  If you're going to tell me two characters are going to fight, give them concrete reasons to fight and give them an end game and result that's realistic and worth the reveal.  Fans can argue day and night if the reveal at the end of "Civil War" was warranted and well written, but there's no denying that it was better written then of the promises made by "Batman V Superman" and even the latest "Fantastic Four" movie.  Your movie, novel, comic and story can not survive on a single plot point, it needs a full foundation like a house to support that plot point.  Without this it will be blown over and there will be an aftermath that - at the very least - drives people away from your story and - at the worst - drives people away from the genre as a whole.

There's an effort that is lacking recently and we as creators need to be aware of this and do better. Our taglines and clickbait are selling things that we are accountable for and we need to be aware and own up to it. 

So what I'm saying is that I've not read the Captain America arc where he's now a Nazi, and I'm not going to because it's so far beyond what the character is about that it's not worth my time and effort. But what I'm also saying, and more importantly to not just Marvel comics, is prove me wrong.  Throw out those shocking plot points sure, it's still effective in gathering attention, but surround them in amazing writing, convincing build up and nail-biting climaxes that make me want to shout "No! This is really good!"  I challenge you as a creator to not only get my attention but to earn it and work for it. 

Because writing and creating is a job, and damnit, the world really needs to take it seriously again.

We're at A-Kon this Weekend! - Dallas Texas

Convention alert!

This weekend (June 2nd - 5th) we'll be at A-Kon in Dallas, Texas!

Artist Alley will be open from:

6pm to 9pm - Thursday

10am to 9pm - Friday

10am to 9pm - Saturday

10am to 5pm - Sunday

And we have a map!  You'll be able to find us in spot F22 in the Artist Alley section! We'll be in costume, as always, and we'll have our books and crafts for sale.  Feel free to stop by, check out our wares and just say hi!

Don't forget, we'll also have prints of Brichibi's/Briana's new magical girls magnifiqueNOIR! Also, we have preview books!!  Want to read the first chapter and see what this new series is going to be all about?  Pick up your preview book at the convention!  

 

See you there!!

The Bandwagon, and Why It No Longer Comes to This Stop

Back many years ago, when I was in college, I wrote fanfiction.  In the worlds of the internet, when it was still fairly new, I was part of a yahoo mailing list of authors who wrote about certain Gundam pilots getting together in romantic ways (wow, watch me date myself).  Back then I had a specific pairing I liked, but I was in the minority and there wasn't much of a fandom around that pairing.  So I made myself change.  I conformed and stepped aside, picking up the most popular pairing and made my stories match them.  Heero and Duo weren't my favorite, and they still aren't, but that was where the readers were and I wanted people to read my stories.  So I conformed and I got a lot of reviews and comments and author friends because of it.  My fanfiction got quite a bit of attention and I was happy.  I did my best to incorporate other characters in in other ways, but I conformed and mostly wrote about those two.

It wasn't horrible, but I'm well aware that I jumped on the bandwagon and rode it for reviews and popularity, happy to swap out characters when my muses really wanted to write about someone else just so I could get more readers and feedback.

Now, years later as a published author, I'm seeing it in a new light with regards to writing.  I see something like Twilight come out and suddenly there's vampires everywhere, sparkles and all.  I see 50 Shades of Grey and there's an uptick in erotica selling, no matter what the quality.  And I see movies like The Hunger Games and the explosion of young adult, dystopian fiction is so thick you could drown in it.  All of these have their good points and bad points, but the bandwagons are loaded up and ready to go, pausing at each stop to bring in more authors, stories and movies, until we as an audience are all so sick of them we swear them off and go look for something new.

In Hollywood, this is especially prevalent and even more noticeable.  It's not just a genre thing, instead it's boiled down to the very basics where it's assumed that movies (and media in general) will not sell unless it involves white leads in a heroic story.  Because white is the default right?  White is where all the money and culture and stories are, it's the easiest to identify with and forcing your story into the most palatable form for 'all audiences' is a bandwagon in itself.  (And I've addressed that specific rant before too.)

The problem is, as an author, that's boring and it's not why I'm here in front of my computer.  I'm not here to write cookie cutter stories that apply to the 'highest denominator' and I have no interest in telling another story similar to something already proven to be popular just to make money.  Even when I took up the most popular pairing in my fanfiction days, I still tried to give my stories a unique twist that made them stand out.  What I'm saying is I'm not willing to 'sell out' anymore just for reviews and just for money, in the end it leaves my work feeling empty and then I begin to wonder what was the point of writing it in the first place?

Don't get me wrong - some authors can do this.  Some authors can churn out bandwagon stories and make lots of money doing it, and all the power to them if that's what they enjoy.  But I'm not that author anymore.  And I would also like to make this argument that there's a very specific reason to not follow the bandwagon, no matter how popular it is.

Like I've mentioned in previous blogs, there's a world of diversity around us and while I grew up white and privileged in a suburban neighborhood, that's not where I want to write and that's never where I wanted to read.  I want to write about those little dark corners, the ones we all pass by and don't give a second glance to.  I want to write about that dark alley with a horribly lit store front tucked in the shadows.  I want to write about that tree trunk that looks like a door and I want to write about that shape in your closet that looks a little too alive.

Yes.  Writing about horror and non-binary characters and unhappy endings and other races won't get me the attention that writing about white, straight, happy ending adventures supposedly will, but as I'm writing this and putting my thoughts into words I'm realizing that I don't care.  I'm not in this to be rich, I'm in this to feed my muses and write the stories that I wish I could have found as a kid.  I'm here to fill in the gaps between those mainstream stories and offer another way of looking at things that hopefully, at least a couple people, will find they enjoy.  I'm here to write the stories that I worked so hard to find as a bookworm kid perusing the endless library shelves and still never finding  enough stories about someone like me who felt so different.

Does that sound self serving?  Do I sound self important?  Do I have grand dreams for something that isn't likely to happen?

Maybe.

But see, here's the thing.  The really really important thing: If I don't write that story, who will?

Back then, in the Gundam fanfiction days, the reason stories didn't exist about the pairing I liked was because people didn't write them.  And if they did, people didn't pay attention to them - including me.  I fell into the bandwagon trap and assumed that because it wasn't popular, it wasn't worth doing, because I wouldn't get the reviews and feedback I wanted and that I was convinced fanfiction lived on.  That is where I made a mistake in not acknowledging what I wanted and the space I could fill and it's the mistake I've consciously decided not to make again.

If I don't step forward and say I'm going to write about a gay romance between a not so nice fairy and the human who falls under his spell which touches on unhealthy relationships then who will?  It's not self important to think that my story, however odd, has an audience out there that just needs to find it.  Why?  Because I was that child who spent so many years of my life not realizing that I was searching for fantasy stories with magic where characters were allowed to be their gay selves and just exist.  I didn't have a name for it as a kid, but I do now.  So I'm writing in the hopes that I'll find that audience and give them what they want and what they may not realize they're searching for.

The part that is important and that people tend to forget - especially Hollywood it seems recently - is that between the ever stuffed bandwagon stops, there are little side streets full of people who are simply waiting at their own stops, wondering when the wagon they want will stop by.  Sure, they go about life and they may not speak up or they may yell - but they want something different.  And if everyone jumps on that bandwagon, they'll never get it.  They'll keep wondering where that story they like and they can relate to is.  I was that child and I remember how lonely those stops are when no one acknowledges they're there.

There are reasons behind the bandwagon, and there are cases where it's a good thing and it does give people what they need.  But there's an equally good argument (if not better) for that side street and out of the way stop they always seem to skip.  I firmly believe that everything has a place and every story has a mind to inspire and comfort.  So that's where you'll find me, writing away in my own little corner, selling to convention fans and typing away.

I also think you should try it some time.  Because the bandwagon isn't the only want to get around and sometimes a different view is world changing.

We're at Anime Central this Weekend! - Illinois

Convention alert!

This weekend (May 20th - 22nd) we'll be at Anime Central in Rosemont, Illinois!

We have a map!  You'll be able to find us in spot D09 in the Artist Alley section! We'll be in costume, as always, and we'll have our books and crafts for sale.  Feel free to stop by, check out our wares and just say hi!

Don't forget, we'll also have prints of Brichibi's/Briana's new magical girls magnifiqueNOIR! Also, we have preview books!!  Want to read the first chapter and see what this new series is going to be all about?  Pick up your preview book at the convention!  

 

See you there!!

We're at MSP ComiCON this Weekend! - Minnesota

Convention alert!

This weekend (May 14th - 15th) we'll be at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds for MSP ComiCON!

Sadly we don't have a map of where you can find our table this time, but that's ok, I'm sure we won't be too hard to find!  We'll be in costume, as always, and we'll have our books and crafts for sale.  Feel free to stop by, check out our wares and just say hi!

Don't forget, we'll also have prints of Brichibi's/Briana's new magical girls magnifiqueNOIR!  Also, she'll be debuting her new Wonder Woman apron which I just finished this last weekend!

 

See you there!!