The demo is up on Xbox Live/PSN...

Its fucking awesome, comes out on the 25th...definitely worth the purchase. The PS3 version preorders get an exclusive Challenge Map where they can play as the Joker, to my sadness this isn't open for Xbox preorders.

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The demo was fun - i'll definitely rent it. The controls felt a tad sluggish though.

I thought the controls were fine personally. My opinion is that a lot of people might not initially like the pacing because so many 3rd person Action titles move at a much faster pace. From all the articles/interviews/videos the game actually rewards you for "thinking" like Batman. Counter Attacks (during combat), taking out enemies without engaging them in direct combat, using Batman's gadgets in conjunction with the environment to take enemies out all give huge exp bonuses.

My first play through was about a half hour, breezing through it to get a feel for the controls and such. A few days later, I spent a good hour and a half in Detective Mode looking for (and sadly writing down) all the areas that looked like they'd have secret stuff...found 2 walls you could use explosive gel and 3 grates you can't reach without a different gadget.

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Seemed fine to me, I just wish it had more then just the batarang to play with. Looks fucking great on my new tv.

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Marauder Harabakc Goat

Maybe I just have to play the demo some more, but this game hasn't "won me over" like it has for many people.

Maybe I just don't care for hitting one button and having the guy go down. Combat doesn't really seem that difficult either- hit the X button to attack, and I think the Y button to do a counter. Really? Is this it?

Sure the game looks gorgeous. Extremely detailed, dark, sinister, mature, etc. But so far it is far from a day 1 purchase.

And unless the Villians trailer is just a teaser... no Riddler? No Penguin? Hmmm!

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I'm not sure what the Penguin's role is in the game, but he is part of the voice cast. Rather then confront the Riddler face to face, Batman encounters the Riddler throughout the entirety of the game via puzzles. The Riddler has hidden "trophies" across Arkham and will give Batman clues to find their locations.

Below is a spoiler tag list of Villians who're confirmed to be in the game in some way/shape/form....

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The way the Joker escaped from the guards in the demo was really kinda lame. I expected something more elaborate than that. /shrug

Just picked mine up...convinced the wife to run to gamestop for the Midnight release. Dude in a Two Face costume won some giftcard...nobody else dressed up.

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Didn't plan on getting this one at release, was going to wait till the spring and the price drops. Its going for 39$ up here until thursday so I'm going to get it tonight and restart the pile of fall release games it takes me 6 months to get to. Playing through red faction right now.

yeah so after checking out some of this on the internet, i bought it last night. game is really good.

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You have two buttons for combat- X button to attack, and Y button to do a counter move. You have no control (to my knowledge) of what counter to do or what attack you do- the game does that for you. So you aren't really performing a combo series of attacks, nor can you control what you do. You just hit the X button once or the Y button once to counter attack.

I dunno. To me this just feels.... ridiculously simple and cheap. I seem to be in the minority since the game is getting ridiculously high reviews everywhere. But you just don't seem to have control over what Batman does when it comes to combat. Am I wrong in this- do you guys who have the retail version think the game is too simple with regards to combat? Or is it refreshing/blessing to have such simplicity in combat?

I guess I want someone to say something that will sell me to get the game. Because a small part wants it, but I haven't been fully convinced- and it is all because of the combat system (or lack thereof).

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There are two things about the combat system that are important to know. First of all, combos do exist but not in the form of mashing X>B>A>B>Y. The way combos work is based on A: How many enemies are around and B: How many Upgrade points you've put into melee combat moves. Right from the start you won't be pulling off 40 Hit combo moves (and there in an achievement or that). The way to chain combos is to point the control analog (left) in the direct of the enemy you want to attack then hit X...immediately afterwards, point to another enemy and hit X again. That will chain moves. Some enemies who are wielding knives need to be cape stunned with B before you can hit them, so point in the direction of a knife guy then hit B followed by X.

Secondly, pretty much any of Batmans gadgets have applications in combat. With the explosive gel, a upgrade point spent on it will allow the gel to auto-detonate if an enemy walks over it. So you can put in down on the ground (or wall) out of sight of enemies, throw a batarang, they'll come running right into the gel and explode. The game rewards you more exp for creative use of gadgets.

I love the simplicity of it...because it gives me room to work my imagination/creativity. How would Batman take out these dudes without killing them? How can I make use of the gadgets and environment?

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the simplicity in button presses is great. moving between enemies and linking takedowns and throws together is viscerally and creatively satisfying, without it being a one-button-masher like devil may cry and without being excessively complicated like ninja gaiden

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Surely you aren't saying that Cicely's review of the demo he spent 92 minutes downloading and 17 minutes playing is flawed and inaccurate.

As I mentioned I am definitely in the minority when it comes to the combat- most seem to really enjoy it. It did not impress me at first, maybe I was just expecting something a bit more elaborate. I dunno.

Gonna play the demo a bit more, see if I start to appreciate the combat system more. I would imagine something I am just not used to, but glad to see so many of you guys are enjoying the game

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The combat in the demo reminded me a lot of God of War.

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i would say that's probably an accurate comparison. i haven't gotten far enough in to make a real judgment on depth of combat compared to god of war, but it's definitely a better experience than just about all the other third-person melee combat games i've played

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I am getting it tonight

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beat it and sitting at like 97% now i think, I missed 5 joker teeth in 2 different areas so I cant get 100% anymore

the game is pretty good. I was sort of dissipointed with the lack of actual boss fights. The scarecrow levels get really old fast IMO, I was expecting a lot more in the villian department after seeing a list of them. Most of the interaction with the villians is finding a riddler piece and unlocking a bio for them, kind of lame.

On the other hand, the challenge maps are awesome, I love the stealth challenges. The extreme stealth missions are super tough without the gargoyles to escape if youre caught, and getting all the medals can be tough in the later levels. Zipline through a window and take someone down took a few tries, as did the taking out 3 at once with 3 different wall explosions. The leaderboards for lowest time are crazy right now, the best I did on some was like 10 minutes and the leaderboard was around 1min flat, crazy speed runs.

Overall great game, best batman game by leaps and bounds. Unless you plan on playing through it more than once or trying to get all the achievements then I'd say rent it. you can probly finish it in a long weekend or so.

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