Agreed.

Thanks for any insight or opinions, Disco. They are welcomed and appreciated.

Like I said, it's a great game and I really loved playing it. I just felt like the titan fights really hurt the game's fun factor for me. That said, I'm confident that Arkham City will be a lot more fun.

Really the only bad part of the first batman was the terrible final boss fight. I don't even know what you mean by the Titan fight ruing the game for you. Are you talking about the few times you fight the large dudes and have to blind them with the Batarang? I didn't mind that, as it only occured 2 or 3 times during an 8 hour+ game.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I know there weren't that many of them, but it felt very repetitive for me after a while. By no means did it ruin the game, it just felt a bit rote after the first time. There was Bane, a couple of Titans, and then The Joker; the Killer Croc fight was sort of similar too. It just felt overused by the end of the game and I didn't find that style of fighting particularly fun.

I also felt like I ended up playing in Detective Mode for most of the game too, which I've read is something they've (thankfully) changed for the sequel. And by the looks of it, there will also be more thugs running around Arkham City than there were in Arkham Asylum, which is another plus. Once you cleared an area in Arkham Asylum, if you went back to that area to track down a Riddler Trophy or some Joker Teeth or even to get to another area, there was literally nothing to do; it would've been nice to regenerate some new thugs from time to time to keep things interesting.

Detective Mode definitely was the worst part of Arkham Asylum for me. It wasn't a huge issue but the game had a really cool design but you had to have that feature on a bunch so it kinda took away some for me. Still a really fun game though. I paid off my Collector's Edition on Friday and am so stoked to pick it up at midnight Tuesday!!

so all of these retail exclusives will eventually be available as paid Live or PSN DLC, correct?

yes

And if this is like most games you can sell your code on ebay day one for much much higher than whatever it'll eventually cost on the marketplace.

Yeah this shouldn't be news. ... not to mention it would hardly be the first time a sequel didn't measure up to its predecessor.

The boss fights were the only thing that kept AA from being a near perfect game.

So stu, how are the boss fights this time around?

I ordered this off Amazon with release day delivery. Does anyone have any experience with Amazon shipping games on time?

I order most games from Amazon, never had them miss release day delivery.

Ok, thanks Groucho.

Agreed. Uncharted has great story, setting, characters, etc, but the gameplay is very lacking. Arkham Asylum has fantastic gameplay that is actually quite unique because no other beat-em-up does it like Arkham does. I have never gotten tired of Arkham's combat even after more than half a dozen playthroughs.

I don't care what game is the game of the year, between Batman, Uncharted, Elder Scrolls, and Assassin's Creed I'm going to have best gaming month ever!

At least until the next best gaming month ever!

You guys mean "great gaming month ever".

When LA NOIRE was released UPS here on the West Coast had a plane break down and decided not to ship packages, so many people, including me, did not get the game on release date. To their credit, Amazon gave me like an additional $20 credit for the delay.

Does anyone know about the Wal-Mart pre-order? I'm in LA and there aren't many stores around, so I'd rather order it online, but when I look on the website, the pre-order only mentions the $10 e-gift card not the free Game of the Year Arkham Asylum.

So, if I order it, will I receive the game? This doesn't seem to show it as part of it.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Batman-Ark...x-360/16553239

I was watching a video on XBOX with Major Nelson and some guy and they were talking about all the new features for this new game. I couldn't help but think that although the game will most likely kick all kinds of ass the fighting style of Batman is bordering on something akin to a SUPER powered hero like Spider-man. And this new move where

I guess I just wish they would stay within the realms of a NON-SUPER powered Hero. Kinda flirting with some over the top moves is cool because we want to have fun...but what I'm seeing in this new games kinda worries me.

Just an observation...

^ I understand what you're getting at, but that move isn't nearly as bad in that sense as the way they have Batman pretty much flying through the city as if he's Superman, or at least Hawkman.

But yeah, I think those have more to do with making a more fun game rather than having to do with making him more super-powered.

I'm off tomorrow, and I'm halfway regretting preordering from Best Buy because I have to wait until 10 to get it, instead of 7 at Target or Wal-Mart.

I'm so goddamned pumped.

Me neither - only problem is that most of the time, UPS doesn't deliver to my house until after 7. And since I get home by 5, that's two hours I could've been playing the game that are lost...

I am picking this up at K-Mart tomorrow. Will probably use the $30 card they give you on MW3 next month.

I never finished the first one, I think I got to where you fight Bane and after I beat him, I never played it again. How close was I to the end and how big of an impact will it have on the second game?

I canceled my Amazon order last night. Picking it up from WM at midnight tonight. WM is giving away the GOTY edition of Arkham Asylum in store until they run out.

If memory serves, Bane is one of the first boss fights, so you still had a long way to go.

I doubt it will have much of an impact on the second game, unless you care about the plot of the first one being spoiled.