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Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
A great beginning to an amazing series...
When I was 8, I broke my only copy of LEGO Batman: The Videogame. I begged my parents to buy me another copy but they thought it would be in my best interest to move on from LEGO video games and divert my attention to more mature adaptations of my favorite superhero. They instead bought me Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2010. I was very disappointed in their purchase and didn't even open the game for weeks. Little did I know that what I saw as a disappointment would later become one of my favorite video games of all time.
Batman: Arkham Asylum begins with Batman having captured Joker after leading an attack on Gotham City Hall and now delivering him to Arkham Asylum. The game designers deviated from the common depiction of the asylum, creating an island that houses Batman's rogue gallery instead of one single building. The designers made a great decision in expanding on the Asylum, diving the purposes of an asylum into multiple facilities (such as the Intensive Treatment, Medical Facility, Penitentiary, and more). The buildings and the island overall are absolutely beautiful and well designed As the story progresses (after Joker having escaped from his restrains), Batman ventures throughout the individual buildings, fighting against adversaries that are up to no good.
I'll refrain from describing the entire plot so I'll leave it at this...
Pros:
-Amazing graphics (especially for a game released in 2009)
-Easy controls (Not challenging to remember and not glitch-y)
-Amazing soundtrack (Comes second to the soundtrack in Batman: Arkham City)
-Variety of interesting characters, all voiced very well
-Story is constructed well, as in the specific objectives and missions lead into each other smoothly.
Cons:
As as child, I thought of this game as perfect. I do see now though that
-There are quite a few plot holes and conveniences, some being
' How did Harley Quinn successfully take over the Asylum's security systems? It is never explained as to how she did so.
' Why didn't the GCPD make an attempt to regain control of the island once
' Oracle confirmed for them that there were no bombs/traps awaiting for them?
' How does Batman resist undergoing the biological changes from the titan formula ... mentally?
' How was Gordon recaptured by Joker's forces? This is also never explained.
- There are also instances of lazy writing, which can also reference to the points made above.
- The design of the locations and most of the characters are great, but there were only a few different designs for the prisoners and "thugs" throughout the game, which seemed both lazy and disappointing.
- The "boss fights" in the game were also very lacking of creativity and overall very repetitive.
- Besides the collectable Riddler trophies, there are no other side missions, so once a player completes the story mode, there isn't much that can be done.
- After the story is completed, the island remains desolate (aside from some wandering insane patients), which is odd since players saw the GCPD regain control of the Asylum so the lack of characters to interact with was disappointing.
Overall, this video games is actually amazing. I would have to assume I have played Arkham Asylum at least ten times over. The game does have some flaws, but all were addressed in the game's sequel, Batman: Arkham City. Even though there are quite a few cons listed, I very do much recommend this game for you. If you only have old-generation consoles (Xbox 360 / Playstation 3), buy Batman: Arkham Asylum, but if you have a new-generation console (Xbox One / Playstation 4 / PC), I recommend buying Batman: Return to Arkham. Batman: Return to Arkham consists of both Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. In this bundle, both games are remastered, meaning that while the games are identical to when they were first released, the developers improved the graphics/visuals and removed common glitches/bugs from the games.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)
The worst in the Black Ops series...
Without a doubt, Black Ops 4 is the worst Call of Duty game in the Black Ops series.
Starting with campaign, how about I talk of how there isn't one. Every Call of Duty has had a campaign/story-mode with the exception of this one due to Treyarch (the company who designed the game) replacing it with a Battle Royale mode. This was most-likely a cash-grab attempt but it did not work out. The map is simply too large for the player-"cap" (100 players at maximum) and the map is mostly open space with there being no building aspect in this game mode. Really, it comes down to which player shoots first because there is no possibility of gaining the upper ground from that point on.
With Treyarch games, I have always found the multiplayer aspect to be phenomenal. Black Ops 4, however, is basically "re-skin" of Black Ops III (for multiplayer) as there are almost no differences. Black Ops 4 only had fourteen multiplayer maps at launch with four of them being remastered versions of maps from previous games. The specialists barely differ from the ones in Black Ops III as well as the weapons and the score-streaks. So the question becomes, why was Black Ops III so good while Black Ops 4 is terrible? This game is completely lackluster, the maps are very boring and not very large. The standard multiplayer match is now 5v5 instead of 6v6 and there is no longer health regeneration. Instead of health regeneration, there is now an item ("stim shot") that gives the player a health boost, which not only uses a spot in your class, but it occupies a spot that could have been used for something else.
With Treyarch games, I have also always loved the zombies aspect. World at War and the first three Black Ops had outstanding zombies gameplay with each map being so interesting and outgoing. The Aether storyline was very intriguing and with zombies having been such a part of my childhood, it will always remind me of the days of my youth. I feel no nostalgia when playing Black Ops 4 because it once again proves to be lackluster with it somehow being even more complex than Black Ops III's zombies.
Overall, I was very excited for this game because I played Call of Duty as a kid for hours and hours each day. I was hoping that this would overtake the gaming community, but Fortnite has reigned superior as it did over PUBG. Though, it comes with no shock since this game has nothing new to offer and I would not recommend that anyone buys it.