I was able to hunker down and beat Batman: Arkham City this past weekend, and for those wondering – it really is about an eight hour game if you avoid the sidequests. Now that I’ve gone through the primary storyline, here’s my abbreviated, yet “debatable” review.

Highs
The first thing that hits you when you start Batman: Arkham City is how spot on the presentation and feel for the game are. The game is dark like the more recent Batman flicks directed by Christopher Nolan, and the overall tone, graphics, music, etc. are all quite impressive. I believe Batman: Arkham City is still running on the same Unreal engine that the previous title utilized, but the scope of the game has increased dramatically and being able to grapple and fly across the rooftops as Batman would is one thrill that any superhero fan will enjoy. Being able to hear conversations from thugs throughout the city also gives it quite an immersive feel and is a nice touch.

One of the biggest criticisms I had about Batman: Arkham Asylum was the lack of unique bosses; nearly every boss encounter was pretty much 1 or 2 of the big guys that would charge at you. Thankfully, this time around in Arkham City, there’s a little bit more variety and the bosses do feel like bosses. They were a little easier than I expected, but I am happy that at least Rocksteady Studios decided to design some bosses this time around.

If you are a fan of sandbox gaming, Batman: Arkham City does it well. There’s basically always things to do, whether it’s side missions that deal with other enemies in the Batman universe, helping people, or even just going after all of The Riddler’s hidden collectibles – a fan of sandbox games can spend dozens and dozens of hours just sandboxing it up.

The Ridder seems to hog most of Batman’s sidequest time in Arkham City

Lows
Unfortunately for me, I’m not a fan of sandbox gameplay, and therefore I didn’t enjoy the game as much as I expected to when I bought the game. felt like most of the sequel’s actual gameplay outside the sandbox was not that different from Arkham Asylum, so it didn’t seem very innovative or interesting to me. Batman: Arkham City compared to Arkham Asylum feels like BioShock was given a sequel and made sandbox. While the sandbox in Arkham City was done well, I just didn’t think it was necessarily better for the game (just like I don’t think a sandboxy BioShock sequel makes for a better game either). As I mentioned in my impressions, the now “open world” field makes things more of a hassle to get to, and it results in a loss in the tightness of the first game. Of course, I’m probably in the minority when I say I don’t play Grand Theft Auto games to mess around with the city. For fans that do enjoy superheroes and sandbox, Batman: Arkham City is the ultimate superhero sandbox game.

I also felt that in this sequel, the storyline was not that interesting. It wasn’t focused enough and there were too many characters running around. I liked how the first one was primarily Batman and Joker going at it in Arkham Asylum; in this sequel you got all sorts of random characters showing up here and there and they almost feel forced in at times. In a way, the inclusion of so many characters in Arkham City reminded me of why I don’t really enjoy playing games that are licensed titles: things feels forced, there’s not enough development, and the licensing handicaps original creative ideas.

There was also just too much of a focus on Riddler content. Hundreds of hidden collectibles, Riddler riddles in every zone, hostages that you had to rescue from him, etc. Conversely, some of the other licensed characters you’d fight for just one battle and that would be it. For those that don’t care much for riddles and collectathons, you’ll be disappointed that it feels like outside the primary storyline, most of the optional stuff is chasing after Riddler’s “question marks” for hours.

Catwoman is playable in parts and you can take out enemies that look like Soap MacTavish

Final Thoughts
Batman: Arkham City is the first game I played in a while where I felt really impatient to want to have it end. To be honest, I don’t know if it’s because it’s not a good game, or because I’m starting to feel like I’m outgrowing gaming in general. Personally, I think it’s the latter. (It’s for this reason alone that I am a little concerned with my current gaming reviews and how I rate them.)

With Batman: Arkham City – I’ll simply put that if you like superheroes, Batman, and sandbox games, this is basically the perfect game for you. If you enjoyed Arkham Asylum but don’t really care much for superheroes or sandbox games, this is not a must-play game. Outside of the sandbox gameplay and mini sidequests, Arkham City doesn’t really bring enough innovation as a sequel. At many times, it felt too drawn out as you are forced to travel around the city to get to different objectives.

Final Grade: B+

In Batman: Arkham City, you’ll be doing a lot of traveling – but fortunately, with some fun toys

I have so little time to game nowadays, and I’m not yet done with Gears of War 3 yet, but the combination of K-Mart offering a $30 gift card with Batman: Arkham City and reviewers going gaga over the game had me impulsively buy it. I’ve been able to sink a few hours into it so far this past weekend, and my plan was to try to beat it and trade it in quickly before switching back to Gears of War 3. But I guess it’s not going to be as quick as I thought.

The Best Superhero Game Ever?
I thought that Batman: Arkham Asylum was a great game. Not game of the year material, but obviously the best superhero game ever released. Outside the lack of creativity for boss fights in Arkham Asylum, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Arkham City is the sequel to Arkham Asylum, and in many ways, it’s better. As a bigger (and what seems like a more improved) game than the previously best superhero game, Batman: Arkham Asylum, it’s easy to understand why Batman: Arkham City is now the best superhero game ever. The combat system that was so unique and enjoyable in the first game returns, and the presentation for Arkham City is breathtaking. Fans of the first will certainly enjoy the second.

Sandbox Gameplay – Yay and Nay
The single biggest change with Arkham City is the switch from distinct levels to sandbox style gameplay. Batman: Arkham City is basically Grand Theft Auto with Batman. You can finally play a Grand Theft Auto game as not only a good guy, but a superhero. It works. The kids will love it. The ability to use the grappling hook and glide across building tops as you quickly move through the dark city really makes you feel like Batman. If you look down and spot some thugs, feel free to pounce on them and bust them up. For those with a lot of time, you can basically just spend countless hours simply moving around the city and fighting thugs indefinitely. Or if you want more, you can take on all the various sidequests that come with sandbox style games: collectathons couresty of The Riddler, hostages and civilians to be freed, etc.

For those such as myself that don’t have a lot of time (I get maybe an hour to game on most weeknights nowadays), it’s frustrating that half of my coveted gaming hour is spent just moving around the city over the same buildings back and forth. Doing sidequests where you answer a public phone and then have to rush to the other end of the city within a certain time period may be fun for some, but is more a waste of time to me. Of course, the core missions are still there and general take place indoors. From reviews, it looks like if you skip all sidequests, you can complete the core missions in about 7-8 hours. I’ve probably sank about 7-8 hours already since this past weekend playing the game, but I have spent time on the side missions and my % complete in the game is still like at 7%. There’s a LOT of things to do in this game, and while I consider them time wasters, there’s just something so enjoyable about doing them as Batman.

Other Random Musings
I’m surprised this game is rated Teen. It’s pretty dark and if I had 13 year old children, I’m not sure I would want them to play this game. Then again, the film, The Dark Knight, was rated PG-13 and that was a bit mature as well. The most awesome part about the game so far: the batclaw hookshot. The gameplay feature is designed so well; you can hook onto pretty much anything and it pulls you up. No more scaling windows and poles like Assassin’s Creed or Infamous. You just hit a button and off you go. It never gets old. I also like that in this game you get to play as Catwoman for certain parts of the game. She’s a different enough to feel interesting, while still adhering to the general gameplay design for Batman so I think it’s a nice touch for variety.

Parting Thoughts
This year, Batman: Arkham City is going to be considered among the front runners for game of the year. As the best superhero game ever created, I can see why it should be on the list of nominees. Maybe it’s just because I’m old, but I’m not a fan of sandbox gameplay. In fact, I’m not a fan of any game that makes me travel back and forth across the same areas over and over again, since to me that’s not gameplay but travel time. I’m enjoying Arkham City for what it is – an overall improvement over its predecessor in terms of sheer scope, but I personally feel like this switch to scope has reduced the tightness that the first game had. Of course, there are players on both sides of the fence here, just like some prefer the huge maps and vehicles of Battlefield to the smaller infantry only excursions of Call of Duty. If you like sandbox gameplay, you’ll be in heaven with Batman: Arkham City. Only the biggest sandbox haters will have a problem with how well it’s done.

We’ve finally reached the last day of our 2009 Xbox 360 Awards & Holiday Shopping Guide, culminating in our Game of the Year. For those following the awards throughout the week, you may have a good guess as to what game will be our game of the year. Is it the same as your pick?

In any case, please remember that while we’ve chosen only one winner from each category, all games nominated within each category are all worth considering, depending on how much you enjoy that category. This week’s feature has doubled as a shopping guide as well as an awards “ceremony”. With that, let’s draw back the curtains for the finale…

Summary of Awards so far:

2009 Xbox 360 Best Fighting Game: Street Fighter IV
2009 Xbox 360 Best Role Playing Game: Dragon Age: Origins
2009 Xbox 360 Best First Person Shooter: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2009 Xbox 360 Best Action/Adventure Game: Assassin’s Creed II
2009 Xbox 360 Best Music Game: The Beatles: Rock Band
2009 Xbox 360 Best RTS Game: Halo Wars
2009 Xbox 360 Best Live Arcade Game: Shadow Complex
2009 Xbox 360 Best Multiplayer Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2009 Xbox 360 Best New IP: Batman: Arkham Asylum
2009 Xbox 360 Best Sequel: Assassin’s Creed II
2009 Xbox 360 Best Story: Batman: Arkham Asylum
2009 Xbox 360 Best Value: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2009 Xbox 360 Most Overrated: Batman: Arkham Asylum

And for good measure, I’ve been playing the 360 since 2006 so here are my Xbox 360 GotY picks for the past three years:
2006 Xbox 360 Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
2007 Xbox 360 Game of the Year: BioShock
2008 Xbox 360 Game of the Year: Fallout 3

Counting up the tally, we have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 leading the pack with 3 awards, Assassin’s Creed II with 2 awards, and Batman: Arkham Asylum with 2 awards (and 1 “negative” award). Street Fighter IV, Dragon Age: Origins, The Beatles: Rock Band, Halo Wars, and Shadow Complex all earned 1 award in their respective categories. Let’s see which game gets propelled to the top.

Xbox 360 Game of the Year 2009

Street Fighter IV
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Assassin’s Creed II
Left 4 Dead 2

I’ll start with the least likely candidate for game of the year from the list of five games above: Left 4 Dead 2. Compared to the other 4 games in this category, Left 4 Dead 2 is the only game on this list that did not win any awards at Leveling Down. However, it’s here and recognized for two reasons – the first reason is that if there were a Best Co-Op Game of 2009 award, Left 4 Dead 2 would have won that. The second reason is that Left 4 Dead 2 is a game that does many things correct in its execution, but it just kept coming in second place compared to the other games on this list. It never truly trounced any other game among our major categories. Suffice to say, being nominated for game of the year on this site means we recognize how good of a game it is, but Left 4 Dead 2 just doesn’t have enough to pull in the gold.

Up next is Street Fighter IV, our winner for Best Fighting Game of the Year. Does being the best fighting game of the year make it deserve the game of the year award? It’s debatable. On the one hand, fighting games are only a small subset of the overall 360 fanbase, compared to say, FPS games. But on the other hand, Street Fighter IV was a revolutionary title within the fighting game genre – taking the classic series and injecting it with an amazing graphics overhaul while keeping the gameplay accessible yet competitive. It practically did everything right for a fighting game on the console (including having minimal lag!) except the curiously missing party mode. Unfortunately, if you’re not a fighting game fan, Street Fighter IV is not going to change your mind and thus, falls short of winning Game of the Year.

Third place for our Game of the Year this year goes to Batman: Arkham Asylum – our winner for Best Story and Best New IP, but also the winner of our “Most Overrated” award, taking it down a notch. I agree with cmfl3x’s assessment that Batman: Arkham Asylum was the most overrated game of the year. It seemed that reviewers were drunk with the fact that they were actually playing a good licensed title and were quick to hand out practically perfect scores to a game that had glaring gameplay negatives. I still argue that if the game didn’t have the Batman license on it, it would have been scored lower. In any case, it’s still one of this year’s best action/adventure games due to its enjoyable story, familiar cast of characters, and a well designed combat system.

Coming in second place for Game of the Year at Leveling Down is Assassin’s Creed II – the winner of our Best Action/Adventure Game award and Best Sequel award. Assassin’s Creed II truly improved upon its predecessor, and does a fantastic job of letting you take on the role of an assassin in Italy during the Renaissance. Unlike the original game and its questionable required boring submissions, Assassin’s Creed II’s story progression was overhauled to be a lot more in line with Grand Theft Auto. In fact, I would go so far as to say Assassin’s Creed II is basically Grand Theft Auto IV in the Renaissance era. There’s a main quest-line you can follow, but there are always optional sidequests you can take on such as assassination contracts and deliveries for fun (and extra money). It’s one of the longer action/adventure games this year, and is definitely worth your money.

Does it come as any surprise to us that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is our 2009 Game of the Year? The winner of our Best First Person Shooter, Best Multiplayer, and Best Value awards had such high expectations, yet Modern Warfare 2 filled every one of cmfl3x’s and my hopes for the game. It delivered a thrilling campaign, dozens of co-op missions, and a multiplayer mode that just keeps on giving. If you think back to the “Most Overrated” category, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is basically the only highly scoring title this year that we did not feel was overrated. I would even argue that it’s underrated with it only scoring a 94/100 average on Metacritic. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is basically gaming perfection on the Xbox 360. Put it up against any other game released this year and there’s really no competition. If you have a Xbox 360 (or even a PS3), you must own this game as it’s the pinnacle of a multiplayer first person shooter done right on the console.

That concludes our awards/holiday shopping guide this year. Feel differently about your game of the year? Please share! Have a safe and happy holiday season enjoying the best of what 2009 offered us in gaming. While 2009 didn’t seem to offer us much until November 2009  when Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed II, and Left 4 Dead 2 released, the first quarter of 2010 is shaping up to be very promising with many titles I’m looking forward to playing such as: Bayonetta, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Mass Effect 2, BioShock 2, Dante’s Inferno, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Lost Planet 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Resonance of Fate, Final Fantasy XIII, Crysis 2, and Super Street Fighter IV. All of these titles are scheduled to be released in the next 3 months so if there’s no other games you want for Christmas this year, start asking for gift cards. You’ll be burning through them pretty quick in the next few months!

In Part 4 of the Awards/Shopping Guide, Leveling Down will be tackling some of the more controversial categories: Best Story, Best Value, and Most Overrated. Admittedly, these categories are VERY subjective and are only our opinions, and on some counts even espion4ge and I don’t see *exactly* eye to eye. Nonetheless, controversy is a lot of fun, so might as well give it a shot!

Best Xbox 360 Storyline of 2009

Batman: Arkham Asylum [winner]
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Halo 3: ODST
Brutal Legend
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Assassin’s Creed II

As I’ve stated before, I love a good yarn, so if a game’s got a great story, I’ll forgive a lot of its flaws. I originally got into video games because of story, which is why I was so into role playing games when I was a kid. There were some games with great stories this year, so if you are interested in a game with a good story, this category is your best bet.

All six of the games above have great stories, but I loved Batman: Arkham Asylum the most. It’s challenging to take a character who has been used in so many other mediums and create a new, unique, and gripping story, but the writers in Batman: Arkham Asylum did a marvelous job of pulling it off. The premise of the story is awesome: the Joker gets himself arrested so that he gets locked up in Arkham in order to hatch his diabolical plan. It’s a classic comic book story, but the story is paced extremely well and features a lot of guest cameos from classic villains. The island of Arkham comes alive as you make your way through it, and I wanted to keep playing to see what happened in the end. Sure, you know you’re going to defeat the Joker, but the ride was one well worth taking.

The Secret of Monkey Island is an old classic that was re-released with redone graphics and voices for XBLA this summer. Its story is great because it’s so unique: you are a wanna-be pirate who gets caught up in a zany adventure that pits you against a zombie pirate.

Halo 3: ODST is on this list because it had such a unique take on storytelling. The game is set in an open hub world and you find yourself separated from your squad-mates. You gradually discover what happened to them by reliving (playing) through their memories. It’s a great way to tell a story, and probably would have won the category if it were not for weak characterization. I couldn’t really tell the difference between the ODSTs…not a good thing.

Brutal Legend is my runner-up in this category, and as I’ve stated elsewhere, it is a well-written heavy metal epic. The story is much deeper than it has any right to be, and there are some instances where I was genuinely shocked by what happened. It’s a bit weird that you can’t have more than one save game, which is really unfortunate, since I would love to replay the game and story again without resetting my stats.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been praised enough on this site and elsewhere, but its story is to be noted for its absolute insanity. It is a roller coaster of a thrill ride that is not to be missed.

Last, but not least, Assassin’s Creed II tells a great story about revenge. The main character, Ezio, is much more likable than Altair was, and he actually shows growth throughout the course of the game…albeit not much. The intertwining of Ezio’s storyline with what’s going on in the contemporary world with Desmond Miles is pretty cool too. The biggest drawback of this game is they somehow completely messed up Kristen Bell’s character model…unacceptable.

Honorable mention goes to Dragon Age: Origins and Ghostbusters: The Video Game, two games that we haven’t had the chance to play through yet, but that we’ve heard great things about. Dragon Age: Origins is supposed to have a great storyline affected by your choices, though I’d expect nothing less from Bioware. Many also claim that Ghostbusters is practically a sequel to the movies. Expect our impressions on both games in the coming months when we get through our backlogs.

Best Xbox 360 Value of 2009

Battlefield: 1943
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Borderlands
Dragon Age: Origins
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 [winner]
Left 4 Dead 2

When thinking about best value, I always think about how much gaming and enjoyment I can receive for a title relative to the amount of money I spent on it. Since multiplayer-focused games have the most legs, usually they end up being the best value (since you never “beat” the game, there’s rarely a reason to stop until you get bored). But to be a good value, a game also has to be worth all the hours you pour into it. All of the games in this category will give you plenty of gaming for one fixed price.

Unsurprisingly, the one XBLA title in this list is a multiplayer game. You can pick up Battlefield: 1943 for the low price of $15 and get a nice pick up and play multiplayer first person shooter. The three maps are pretty well balanced, and the vehicles are very fun to use. DICE’s Frostbite engine is holding up nicely: huge explosions and breakable cover prevent people from camping too much, speeding up the action. Unfortunately, most people have moved on to Modern Warfare 2, so this train has more or less left the station.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is a single player title with a good amount of re-playability. The story mode is lengthy, but where you will really find a lot of value is in the combat and predator challenges. If you want to get 3 bats (stars) on each challenge, it will take you much longer than the story mode. You also need to be a bit of a glutton of pain, so it’s not going to be for everyone. But if you love a hefty challenge, there is a lot of value to be found in Arkham Asylum.

The first person shooter WoW-type game Borderlands needs to be mentioned in this category because if questing and looting is your type of thing, there are 50+ hours of gameplay for you in this game. Grab three friends and run around Pandora killing everything that moves and looting every chest you find. Then, after you finish the game, do it again until you hit the level cap! Borderlands features addicting gameplay that is slightly marred by some curious design decisions, but is a good value for your money nonetheless.

Dragon Age: Origins is this year’s Fallout 3 and this category’s runner up. You’ll pour 60+ hours into the game’s main quest and then you will be tempted to play it again to see what happens as a different character! Though the game is better on the PC, Bioware did a good job with the 360 port (with Achievement support!). If you are a solo gamer who nonetheless wants to get a lot of playtime into one game and one game only, you could probably survive all of 2010 with Dragon Age. Unfortunately, Dragon Age isn’t for everyone, which is why it came in second to…

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Would you expect anything else? You’ll spend 6 hours on the campaign. Then you’ll spend another 10 doing it on Veteran. Then you’ll spend another 10-15 hours trying to get 3 stars on every Special Ops mission. Then, if you feel like it, you can dip your toes into multiplayer. Oh, and if some of those things don’t sound appealing to you, you’ll STILL get your money’s worth from the aspects that are appealing to you. I’ve poured over 36 hours into this game, and I’m not even halfway to my first Prestige in multiplayer. Modern Warfare 2 is the perfect game to bring with you to a deserted island…provided that deserted island has a high speed internet connection. (Note: I wrote this BEFORE I saw espion4ge used the same analogy yesterday – great minds think alike I guess.)

In case you don’t feel like fighting humans, you could always pick up Left 4 Dead 2. It features the same addictive gameplay of the original, but with more game modes and more maps. You can pick up the game for $40 in most places now – an amazing value. The only thing is, you really want to be playing this game with friends, so make sure you party up!

Xbox 360 Most Overrated Game of 2009

Street Fighter IV (Metacritic: 94)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Metacritic: 92) ["winner"]
The Beatles: Rock Band (Metacritic: 89)
Left 4 Dead 2 (Metacritic: 89)

This is a tough category to call, and definitely controversial. To me, an overrated game is hyped more than it deserves or scored higher than it deserves. Obviously, it’s a very subjective category, but it’s also a lot of fun to think about. So every game on this list is a game that I, cmfl3x, believe isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For the record, I love all four of these games, so before you flame me, consider that!

Don’t get me wrong: I think Street Fighter IV is a great game. I also think it benefited from being the most mainstream Street Fighter game since Street Fighter 2. The game is very well done and well balanced, but are the new characters that great? Do I really care about Rufus and EL FUERTE!? The online multiplayer’s lack of quarter matches is also inexcusable and just detracts from the fun. So despite all its great qualities, I think Street Fighter IV was definitely overrated.

Street Fighter benefited from nostalgia, while the “winner” in this category, Batman: Arkham Asylum, managed to become overrated due to the relative mediocrity of its competition. Outside of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and a few other exceptions, there haven’t been many good superhero games, so when Batman came out, it blew people away, and rightfully so. Yet the game does have flaws which all the positive press managed to ignore. There really isn’t a lot of exploration to be done, and some gameplay sections are a bit repetitive and oversimplified. For example, the Scarecrow portions of the game are awesome story and setting wise, but incredibly lame gameplay wise.

The Beatles: Rock Band is a pretty amazing experience, but the fact of the matter is, it’s just too short. There are 45 songs, but remember, many Beatles’ songs are under 4 minutes long. Compared to other music games, there is much less re-playability. And of course, if you don’t like The Beatles, you are out of luck. The game is great, especially for fans of the Beatles, and its presentation is top notch, but you’re still paying top dollar for a much shorter experience.

Finally, after all the hype, controversy, and anticipation, Left 4 Dead 2 unfortunately feels like an expansion. An excellent expansion, no doubt, but the game still is a bit overrated. There are some new modes, maps, and weapons, but does that justify a full-on sequel? I guess I’m kinda of biased, because I still wish Valve had taken more time with this game (and not released it after Modern Warfare 2). Regardless, the game is definitely worth playing, just be aware that it’s basically a refined version of the first…without Louis.

Our 2009 Xbox 360 Awards/Holiday Shopping Guide will wrap up tomorrow with both espion4ge and me sharing our own nominees and winner for best game of the year. Stay tuned!

One of the Xbox 360′s strongest features compared to other consoles is its multiplayer gameplay, which can probably be attributed to the Live infrastructure. It is thus not surprisingly to see strong multiplayer games on this system. For today’s awards, I will be discussing the best multiplayer games released this year, and the one better than the rest.

I will also be discussing the best new IP and best sequel of the year. It’s good to see that in 2009, there were nearly an equal number of good new IPs and sequels. The moment we begin seeing only sequels releasing and new IPs no longer developed is the moment the game industry stops advancing. It’s easy to support sequels since you know what you’re getting yourself into, but this year was perhaps the year with the largest number of development studios shutting down. Continue to take a chance by supporting new IPs – the developers need this type of support to stay in business and come up with new and exciting games to push our industry forward!

Best Xbox 360 Multiplayer Game of 2009

Street Fighter IV
Halo Wars
Battlefield 1943
Halo 3: ODST
Borderlands
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 [winner]
Left 4 Dead 2

In determining the best multiplayer game of the year, I’ve considered not only whether the game itself is fun to play, but various other aspects that come with multiplayer: customization options, co-op, ease of use, appeal, etc. In short, the best multiplayer game should provide for the best overall multiplayer experience.

Street Fighter IV took several steps forward in the online multiplayer arena for fighting games – most notably the automated matchmaking while you played Arcade mode and the ability to unlock and use titles to further personalize yourself online. The big misstep in Street Fighter IV’s multiplayer was the lack of any sort of party room where multiple players could join and take turns fighting each other together. This will be fixed when Super Street Fighter IV comes out in March of 2010.

While Halo Wars was the only serious RTS game released on the 360 this year, its multiplayer was quite well done and the gameplay was simplified enough to be quite playable on the console. Matchmaking was in-place, allowing you to take on 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 matches with either random partners or arranged teams – just like in Blizzard’s Warcraft III games. Borrowing a page from the Halo games, Halo Wars has extensive stats tracked for every game played, and you can access these stats through the website to see how you perform, what your opponents were ranked at, the results of each match, etc. In short, the game provides a very strong multiplayer infrastructure to be a competitive game. Unfortunately, not many Xbox 360 players are still playing Halo Wars these days, as arranged team matchmaking can take several minutes before you’re able to go up against another team.

Battlefield 1943 belongs up here as the only “multiplayer” only title of the list. At $15, 360 owners are able to download this Live Arcade title and jump right into a handful of online maps and play the beloved primary Battlefield mode: Conquest. The vehicular combat that the series is known for is present, as well as stat tracking on the EA website. One minor thing to consider about Battlefield 1943 is the simplification of the game by having unlimited ammo and only three distinct, yet intuitive classes. It works, and while I would have loved to see more maps, it was certainly fun for the $15 we spent playing it this past summer. Playing with friends can be a little dicey in the game though, as you can still be split onto separate teams from your squad from time to time if your squad dominates too much.

Halo 3: ODST is a controversial multiplayer package. Within the game comes a new multiplayer Firefight mode, allowing for you and up to three buddies to take on wave after wave of Covenant as long as you can stay alive – injecting an enjoyable arcade style co-operative mode to the Halo universe. But is that really enough to make Halo 3: ODST stand out as one of the stronger multiplayer games this year? Nope. This is why Halo 3′s multiplayer and every charged map to date is included with the game. This stands as potentially a fantastic bargain for those that have never played Halo 3 multiplayer before, but for 360 owners, if you haven’t already played Halo 3 multiplayer by now, you probably never will. For many of us, we bought the game, played some Firefight, and were done with it.

Borderlands gets points for the thought that was involved in implementing a RPG game like this with up to three other buddies. The enemies scale in difficulty, the loot gets more impressive, and every player can go back into their own solo games with the progress and quests they made in multiplayer. Everything seems like it’s going to be an enjoyable multiplayer game – and it is, provided that you and all of your buddies only play together when everyone is on. Unfortunately, people can’t realistically all maintain the same gaming schedules, and thus the RPG element of Borderlands hurts the game’s multiplayer component enough to make it a difficult game to enjoy with friends. This is not really inherent to the design of the game, but the mere limitations of making an RPG have multiplayer.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is Leveling Down’s vote for Best Multiplayer Game of the Year. If it’s one game that you are stuck on a desert island with but have an Internet connection, this is your best bet. The amount of multiplayer customization the series has become known for in this game is ridiculous, allowing any player to focus on his strengths when playing competitively. With so many guns, accessories, Perks, Killstreak rewards and the like, you can play multiplayer however you want. And while Modern Warfare 2 also has an addictive experience level system, it doesn’t hinder your progress in the game – it merely provides you with more options. Throw in the ability to unlock new custom emblems and logos to display in-game, over 20 co-op missions, and many different game modes besides the traditional Team Deathmatch, and we have a multiplayer game here that some players may not budge from until Modern Warfare 3 comes out. The only negative issue about the multiplayer is that Party Chat is disabled for several of the game modes, but there are manual workarounds.

One thing that Left 4 Dead 2 excels in on the multiplayer side that the other games nominated in this category can’t touch is co-op. Left 4 Dead 2′s primary campaign focuses on just you and three buddies trying to make your way through over 20 well-designed levels and specifically for this aspect, the game cannot be beat. There’s no experience levels you need to worry about in this game (like Borderlands) – grab three other guys and start killing some zombies. On top of that, Left 4 Dead 2 has a few more competitive modes if co-op isn’t enough. There’s a Survival mode where you compete to stay alive the longest against ridiculous odds, and a Versus mode & Scavenge mode where you and up to three other players can take on four other players with one side playing as the Survivors and another side as the Infected and the two sides switching every round. From what I understand, new to Left 4 Dead 2 is team matchmaking, allowing you and your buddies to go up against other teams within the Versus mode. The adversarial modes in Left 4 Dead 2 don’t play as well as they do in Modern Warfare 2, due to a lack of customization, unlocks, and even simple stat tracking. Still, Left 4 Dead 2′s co-op makes it still a game worth considering for multiplayer fans.

Best Xbox 360 New IP of 2009

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
Shadow Complex
Batman: Arkham Asylum [winner]
Brutal Legend
Borderlands
DJ Hero
Dragon Age: Origins

While some companies are content to release sequel after sequel for minimal risk, others take a chance and decide on something completely new. Ironically, these games themselves have potential to spawn sequels, so my criteria in determining which game is the best new IP is the one that I am anticipating the sequel from most.

In a fighting game world populated with sequels such as Street Fighter IV, Soul Calibur IV, Virtual Fighter 5, Tekken 6, and King of Fighters XII, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger stands alone as one of the only new fighting game IPs to the market. It’s also a very good fighting game with fresh character design, an innovative gameplay style that keeps all the characters very unique, and excellent presentation. If you tire of all the other fighting games on the market and want something completely fresh, BlazBlue is the one to check out.

Some consider Shadow Complex their game of the year, and while I may not feel that strongly about the game, I believe it does deserve a spot here on the best new IPs list of 2009. Shadow Complex successfully combined a “2.5D” Unreal graphics engine with Metroid style gameplay, and the result was a modernized version of the beloved classic. Unfortunately, its primary drawback is that the story was practically non-existent. I also don’t see how a sequel to the game could work – will you find yourself in a new abandoned base and unarmed, only to look for new gear upgrades in order to unlock new rooms? Shadow Complex is a great game, but whether it can be a great franchise is yet to be determined.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is our Best New IP of the year. This was somewhat of a technical call, as the Batman IP has been around for quite a long while. However, this particular Batman gaming IP is new, and it looks very promising. The graphics engine was phenomenal, the combat system perfect, and the amount of lore in the Batman universe can easily lend itself to more sequels. Of all the nominees in this list, I’m most anticipating a sequel to Arkham Asylum, with the hopes that the investigation gameplay is more refined (Batman is the world’s greatest detective, after all) and the bosses more unique and better designed next time around.

Brutal Legend was an interesting “experiment” for Tim Schafer. It combined action/adventure with real time strategy, and infused that combination with heavy metal and humor. The storyline, voice actors, and presentation were well regarded, but the gameplay itself fell a bit flat. Apparently the mixing of the action/adventure and RTS genres left out enough aspects from both genres to not really please fans of either genre. Fortunately, Tim Schafer has been building a fanbase with every new game he designs, and whatever he designs next is sure to keep the charm that all his games have had. To be honest, I’d be more interested in seeing a completely new game from him rather than a sequel to Brutal Legend. Does he even do sequels?

Borderlands is one of the bigger new successful IPs this year, and for good reason: it is one of the first games to successfully combine FPS with RPG. While its multiplayer suffered due to the inherent limitations of RPG aspects in general, the combination was solid from a single player standpoint and I’m sure there are many new fans of not only the game, but the genre. My hopes is that in future sequels, the weapon types are a bit more varied and items are less randomly generated.

DJ Hero is also one of the new interesting IPs created this year. It actually had a lot going for it: an exciting track list, a new peripheral, and innovative gameplay. But perhaps people have already tired of music peripheral games, and the lack of any sort of real party mode for DJ Hero led to its poor sales and probably the end of the franchise. One also has to wonder at this point whether or not the Hero name in the title helps it or hinders it due to the over-saturation of Hero games nowadays.

Rounding out the top new IPs for this year is Dragon Age: Origins, a new RPG from the makers of Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect. While this looks to be a solid RPG (and winner of our best RPG of the year), the game doesn’t seem to bring many new innovations to the table as an epic fantasy RPG and a spiritual successor to the beloved Baldur’s Gate series. With this first game being titled “Origins”, sequels in the Dragon Age franchise are bound to be released. Note that some complain that the game is too long and it has too many moral choices with game-channging consequences, so perhaps there’s such a thing as too much RPG in an RPG!

Best Xbox 360 Sequel of 2009

Street Fighter IV
Resident Evil 5
Guitar Hero 5
Tekken 6
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Assassin’s Creed II [winner]
Left 4 Dead 2

In determining the best sequel award, I’ve evaluated the winner based on how much better a game is than its predecessor(s). If the jump is significant, it has cause to be considered an amazing sequel. But what if the game before it was already amazing? That begs the question of whether the sequel is even really necessary. Regardless, let’s get to the list.

Street Fighter IV is our runner up for Best Sequel. It’s tough to really think what Street Fighter IV is a true sequel to: Street Fighter II or Street Fighter III. Unlike the other games in this category where their predecessors are on the same console generation or only one console generation prior, both Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III were on consoles several generations prior to the Xbox 360. While each of these earlier Street Fighters stood out strongly on their respective console generations, it wasn’t until Street Fighter IV was released that many fighting game fans finally felt that Street Fighter had caught up to the present. Let’s face it: Street Fighter IV closed the generation gap by wowing fans, and for that it is recognized as an outstanding sequel.

Resident Evil 5 is a pretty good game in its own right, but an example of a sequel that is worse than its predecessor. Of course, being the sequel to a game that many considered game of the year (and even game of the system for the Gamecube), meant Resident Evil 5 just had too much pressure to live up to. If you can deal with the AI partner or find a friend to play it through with, the game is actually quite enjoyable.

Guitar Hero 5 – while rated pretty highly and many call a definite improvement over Guitar Hero World Tour, the question that many of us are wondering about is whether this was even a necessary sequel. Sure it was slightly better than its predecessor, but when the bulk of the enjoyment for these types of games falls merely on the songs, implementing a Rock Band based DLC store may be a better way to go than to churn out sequel after sequel onto disc with limited export functionality. Still, it looks like Neversoft is finally catching onto what Harmonix has been trying to accomplish. Perhaps there won’t be the need for a Guitar Hero 6. Wait, who am I kidding?

Tekken 6 is also starting to get a bit guilty of the “over-sequel” syndrome as it’s a sequel that plays it safe and continues to satisfy the fans. But does it reinvent itself? Does it succeed in driving new players to the genre? No. The core gameplay is present, with tons of characters (the character select screen is actually pretty overwhelming!), and Namco is again off to their old antics of creating some single player beat-em-up mode that sucks. I feel like they’ve been experimenting with this since maybe Tekken 2, and they still haven’t gotten it right. Fortunately, the fighting game itself doesn’t suffer so I’ll simply conclude that it’s a decent game, but not a huge improvement over its predecessor.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 actually did everything right for a sequel. It continued the over-the top yet captivating storyline of Call of Duty 4, while introducing a completely new Special Ops mode for co-op. On the multiplayer side, the amount of improvements may seem minor for those that haven’t been following the series, but Call of Duty 4 fans do notice everything. Now the question I ask myself with this game is, “Is Modern Warfare 2 that much more awesome than Modern Warfare 1?” I can’t help but say no. Modern Warfare 1 was a phenomenal package when it was released back in 2007, and Modern Warfare 2 is no different when it was released this year. It just continues the high standards set forth by its predecessor.

It may be surprisingly for some of you, but Assassin’s Creed II is our pick for Best Sequel of 2009. In a way, our Best Sequel award is also comparable to a “Most Improved” award, and Assassin’s Creed II improves over the original Assassin’s Creed in many ways, making the sequel far better than the first. While the first game polarized players, the sequel is unanimously applauded. Take cmfl3x for example – he couldn’t even get through the first game before getting bored, but he’s already gone through the sequel in the span of practically only a week and loving it! This game deserves a look from those that had problems with the first as it’s not only an excellent sequel, but a lengthy and enjoyable game in its own right.

Rounding out the Best Sequel category for this year is Left 4 Dead 2. Left 4 Dead 2 falls into a similar problem that Modern Warfare 2 does when being considered for the Best Sequel category: the original one was awesome during its time already and the sequel, while quite good, doesn’t quite put the first one to shame. I would argue that the Left 4 Dead 2 sequel lacks the charm of the first, but from a technical standpoint, Left 4 Dead 2 provides lots of new enjoyable content and is well recommended for anyone that is eager for a new setting in the Left 4 Dead universe.

Rounding out our main categories, today we will be looking at Best Action/Adventure, Music, Real-Time Strategy and XBLA games. Looking at the list of titles from this year, there were a surprising number of good action/adventure games out this year, and even though neither of us owns a PS3, you can’t talk about action/adventure in 2009 without mentioning Uncharted 2. I’m glad I didn’t have to nominate that game though, since that would probably have made for some tough decisions. Music games, on the other hand, seemed to take a step backwards, or maybe we are just getting sick of them. Meanwhile, Live Arcade continues to put out good titles worth taking a look at.

Best Xbox 360 Action/Adventure Game of 2009

Resident Evil 5
Prototype
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Shadow Complex
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Assassin’s Creed 2 [winner]

This was the most difficult category to decide on, as there were a lot of worthy nominees this year. Resident Evil 5 kicked things off to much controversy. Over the course of Resident Evil’s history, it has been the quintessential survival horror game, but RE5 changed the series game by focusing the game on co-op. This turned into a love it or hate it situation. For the most part, RE5 was a success, and if you are a fan of the Resident Evil series you should definitely check it out. I’d recommend playing with a friend, since the AI is a bit wonky.

Prototype is an open world action/adventure game featuring a protagonist wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt whose claim to fame is being compared to Infamous, another open world action adventure game featuring a protagonist wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt (PS3 exclusive). The game got pretty good reviews, but most people prefer Infamous to Prototype. The game deserves mention though, since it is a victim of it’s release date.

A surprisingly strong game this year was Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which is a game that is perfect for anyone who loves the movies. Generally, these licensed games are a bust, but this 3rd person shooter is a lot of fun and serves as a sequel to Ghostbusters 2. It’s too bad it’s the 1980s anymore, because Ghostbusters is sure to be a hit with kids!

Those three games were merely appetizers to the main events this year, though, which kicked off when Microsoft released Shadow Complex on Xbox Live Arcade. Shadow Complex is a spiritual successor to Metroid, set in a universe created by Orson Scott Card, and a game worth much more than its $15 price tag. Between acquiring power-ups, finding hidden secrets, and exploring the expansive map, there are hours of enjoyment to be found in this game.

The runner-up in this category also released in August. Due to its pre-holiday rush release, Batman: Arkham Asylum was primed to do well, and it made a modest killing in sales. More importantly, Arkham Asylum solidified its place as one of the best superhero games ever made. With an engaging story, a surprisingly deep combat system, and lots of fun gadgets and tools to play with, this was one of my favorite games of the year. Unfortunately, the game misses out a bit on the “adventure” aspect of things, but if you’re a fan of comics, it doesn’t matter. This game is awesome.

Finally, the last action/adventure game and the winner is Assassin’s Creed 2. First, Ubisoft should be commended for not delaying the game because of Modern Warfare 2, something a lot of publishers were doing this year. They were rewarded for their boldness, and so were gamers. Assassin’s Creed 2 brings the series to Renaissance Italy and is a resounding success. The majority of the flaws from the first game have been fixed, and Assassin’s Creed 2 has really gotten me excited about the conclusion of the trilogy. This game can take up 30 hours of your time, so it’s a great value too. Buy it for someone you love and you can’t go wrong!

Best Xbox 360 Music Game of 2009

Guitar Hero 5
The Beatles: Rock Band [winner]
DJ Hero
Band Hero
Lego Rock Band

This was a tough award to pick this year because, frankly, music games may have reached their saturation point. I basically bought my 360 to play Guitar Hero 2, but I just wasn’t as pumped up by the games this year as I have been in the past. A lot of this was due to curious decisions made by the publishers, and I don’t only mean Activision.

But let’s start with Activision. In the course of this calendar year, they released Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero V, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, DJ Hero, and Band Hero. Metallica was pretty good, but Van Halen supposedly is terrible (though espion4ge liked it well enough). I actually think DJ Hero looks pretty awesome, and if I had 120 dollars to spend (or 90 at this point), I would have checked it out and it might have won this category due to its innovative gameplay. But that’s the problem, I have way too many plastic instruments and thus didn’t want to dip my toes into the DJ Hero pool. Meanwhile, Guitar Hero 5 suffered with its all over the place tracklist. Though the game made a lot of improvements in the interface, and is much easier for party play than Rock Band these days, it’s just weird to switch between Megadeth and Grand Funk Railroad. The game has no identity. Band Hero is basically the same game, but it features Taylor Swift. I actually think if you want to buy one of the “Hero” games, you’re best off getting Band Hero or DJ Hero, as those are probably the games with the most enjoyable soundtracks for the general public. Of course, you could always just refer to our import/export guide and play all your songs off of one disc.

Harmonix, which has been king in the music game genre, hasn’t had the greatest year either. The Beatles: Rock Band is my winner in this category, due to its unique take on the genre. The Beatles is more of an experience: you follow the career of the Fab 4 and the graphics, music, and presentation all work together to create a cohesive, spectacular experience. Unfortunately, the game is too short, and only features 45 songs. Also, DLC is more expensive (about twice as much). This is a great game to buy if you plan to play with your parents or someone of an older generation, but it’s not going to be for everyone. Lego: Rock Band, on the other hand, is probably the weakest nominee in this category. It features a casual-friendly tracklist, but Harmonix really missed a huge opportunity here to build on the humor and fun block loving gameplay of the Lego games. Lego: RB is just Lego David Bowie playing Rock Band – but it could have been so much more.

Best Xbox 360 Real-Time Strategy Game of 2009

Halo Wars [winner]
Brutal Legend

I think people are still surprised to find out that Brutal Legend is a real-time strategy game, but with a cult online multiplayer following and a lot of RTS gameplay, it deserves to be mentioned in this category. Brutal Legend is a great game with a great story, and I had a blast playing it, but the truth is it isn’t for everyone. Aside from the story elements, Brutal Legend does a bunch of things well, but doesn’t do anything great. Its RTS component focuses more on using your hero character correctly – it’s almost as if it’s a third person brawler with other units to command. I almost put this game into the music category though – its soundtrack is SOLID.

Halo Wars wins the real-time strategy hands down, and really did not have any serious contenders. It was Ensemble’s swan song, and the studio can be confident that it went out on a high note. Halo Wars successfully blends an interesting story campaign with a robust multiplayer component, one that unfortunately did not receive the popularity it deserves. I continue to be impressed by the slickness of the controls – Ensemble did a great job customizing the controls for consoles. Moreover, the balancing in the game is spot-on. Real-time strategy is all about counters, and like Starcraft before it, EVERY unit in Halo Wars is useful for countering something. Well, maybe not Brute Choppers, but hey, who’s counting?

Best Xbox 360 Live Arcade Game of 2009

The Maw
Peggle
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
Magic: The Gathering – Duel of the Planeswalkers
Battlefield: 1943
‘Splosion Man
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Shadow Complex [winner]

Microsoft continues to put out some quality Arcade games, and I hope they keep it up because I really enjoy the Arcade titles. Since these games are shorter for the most part, I will do the same with my descriptions!

The Maw is a short but sweet 3-D action/adventure game that has you following a cute, but growing alien. As you progress through the game, The Maw acquires more and more powers and gameplay options increase exponentially. By all accounts it’s a great game, but it ends a bit too soon for it’s $10 price tag.

Peggle and Puzzle Quest: Galactrix deserve to be mentioned because these two franchises are universally popular. Peggle is a perfect Arcade game, one you can pick up and play for 5 minutes or 5 hours straight, depending on the circumstance. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is not as strong as the medieval entrees in the series, but a worthy game nonetheless.

Magic: The Gathering – Duel of the Planeswalkers does a great job of translating the classic card game to the console, but lacks one key feature: fully customizable decks. But if you’re into Magic, and you have some friends, the game is probably worth the $10 price tag.

Battlefield: 1943 is the runner-up in this category and for good reason. For $15 you can get a surprisingly deep multiplayer experience that you can play for months without getting bored. There are 3 standard maps to play on and one airplane only map, but the game’s maps are well designed, and the gameplay is simplified enough to make it easy to pick up and play (if you’re already familiar with FPS). There are no persistent upgrades like Modern Warfare 2, but it doesn’t really matter – as an arcade game, Battlefield: 1943 succeeds in every way.

‘Splosion Man and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 were featured in XBLA’s Summer of Arcade, and are throwbacks to former generations. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is basically the same game you remember from the Dreamcast, for better or worse. Don’t bother playing online, you will get pwned. But if you are a fighting game master, it’s worth a shot. ‘Splosion Man is an incredibly hard platformer with a unique presence: you “blow yourself up” to jump which leads to all sorts of puzzles. Just make sure there aren’t any windows nearby, you might throw your controller out of it.

Topping all of these quality games, Shadow Complex is the champion in this category. I chose Shadow Complex as the winner not only for the reasons outlined above in the Action/Adventure category, but also because it’s the best value out of all of these games (Battlefield: 1943 or Peggle are the only competition). It’s a great game, and one every Metroid fan should not hesitate to check out.

I don’t always write about games espion4ge has already reviewed, but I’m enjoying Arkham Asylum so much I had to sing its praises. A couple things up front: I do read comics in passing, though mostly Marvel stuff, but I definitely prefer Batman to anything else DC has. Secondly, I basically agree with the things espion4ge wasn’t cool on: it’s kind of annoying to run through the majority of the game in Detective Mode, the boss battles are weak sauce, and I guess the adventuring isn’t that great, though I never enjoyed games like Tomb Raider so I don’t have much to compare it to.

But yes, in a sentence, I love this game. Here are some of the reasons why:

1. You never are doing the same thing for too long. As the game moves along, you keep switching between hand to hand combat, stealth missions, “detective” missions, etc. Not only that, there are also certain sections where you have to play a certain way, whether you are sneaking around in the sewers trying not to disturb something or trying to navigate your way up a large structure without using your grappling hook. The game does a great job of mixing things up and the different gameplay styles mesh together very well.

2. Combat evolves from button mashing to surprisingly deep gameplay. Once you get used to the combat system it gets crazy, and it becomes extremely elegant and fun. As you move from enemy to enemy, stunning them, throwing your batarang, pounding them when they are on the ground, it is incredibly satisfying. I love it, and it makes use of every single face button (and one of the triggers) incredibly efficiently.

3. I also find the Riddler challenges really fun to figure out. For some reason, I’m really enjoying running around the different areas finding all the medals and solving the riddles (which I didn’t even figure out how to do until I was well into the game). I usually hate collect-a-thons, but in this game I am really enjoying it. Go figure.

4. The combat and predator challenges (outside of the main storyline) are also tons of fun. They take real skill to master (skill I don’t have yet) and are really enjoyable takes on in-game battles. I really love the predator challenges because I feel like Batman does stealth right: you aren’t invincible and you HAVE to be stealthy. In MGS4 and Splinter Cell I always felt like I could overpower my enemies, but in Batman I know I have to stay in the shadows or else I’m done.

5. Finally, what I love most about this game is that it feels so cinematic. It’s like I’m watching a Batman movie, but I’m getting to play it. I am really enjoying the story, the premise of the game is great, and everything about the presentation is top notch. Part of it is the fact that the gameplay keeps changing, each section feels fresh (I think I’m past halfway through) and has a different feel to it.

What can I say, I love the game! Pick it up if you have a chance, if you’re a fan of 3rd person games you probably will like what you find. If you’re a fan of Batman – you’ll love it.

I’ve spent a good amount of time with the retail version of the game this past weekend, and before we get into my impressions, I want to state that I’m not really a comic reader and a gamer foremost. I think it’s safe to say that at this point, any Batman or comic book fan will tell you this game is awesome. But how does it stand on its own as a video game? This is what I want to share.

The glaringly best thing about the game is that you feel like Batman. Being Batman, or any super powerful character with plenty of gadgets – licensed or otherwise, is fun when it’s done correctly and Batman: Arkham Asylum’s gameplay mechanics in this regard shine brightly. The gameplay is broken up into three main parts: beating up unarmed foes, incapacitating armed foes through stealthy means, and using detective skills to look for clues on how to proceed. The combat system is quite intuitive, and really highlight Batman’s martial arts training since he can engage several unarmed thugs at once as he melees and counters his way through the crowd. It works beautifully, and you feel like a total badass when you can clear a room without breaking a sweat.

I am actually having a hard time deciding which aspect of the game I enjoy more: the brawling with the unarmed thugs, or the stealth with the armed thugs. In the stealth mode, Batman encounters several armed thugs at once, and he takes major damage from gunfire so the best plan of attack is “Predator style”. To take out armed thugs, Batman makes use of quietly sneaking up behind enemies to silenty incapacitate them, or he can make use of floor grates or his hookshot to travel where the enemies won’t see him. Perching above enemies allows Batman to hang upside down like a bat and take out any enemy walking by, or he can go with a less stealthy method and simply fly down and knock them out. In any case, the stealth and the combat are the most enjoyable aspects of the game.

The detective skills aspect of the game is “passable”, making the adventure aspect of the game a bit mediocre. At any time, Batman can enter Detective mode, changing the way he views the environment. In this mode, the colors are practically inverted, and items or clues that should be investigated are colored in orange. The clues in general aren’t really much deeper than a breadcrumb trail to the next objective (you won’t be doing any Phoenix Wright style investigations or piecing together clues), so the whole detective aspect of the game doesn’t have any depth. Another issue I have with the Detective mode is that if you want to be aware of clues or any hidden items in the world, you pretty much have to run through the game with the Detective mode on at all times. In my several hours of play so far, I’ve spent the majority of my time in this inverted color mode, and don’t even know what the real graphics of the game world looks like. That’s just poor game design right there – I would have preferred that the colors weren’t all inverted while the important stuff is still highlighted for the player.

The Unreal Engine 3 works very well here, along with the music, sound, and vocals – providing for a very impressive presentation. I imagine that those who are fans of Batman and have desperately wanted to play a good one will giggle with glee when they play through Batman: Arkham Asylum. There’s a ton of background material and references to popular characters in the Batman universe that get unlocked throughout the game. Unfortunately for me, as I’m not really a fan of the Batman universe, they come off as simple “collectathon” stuff that adds more fluff to a game I wish had more depth than its combat system.

All in all, I think this game is enjoyable and a must-buy for Batman fans, but far from a revolutionary game such as BioShock (Game Informer calls Batman: AA this year’s BioShock). Although this is what it’s like to play a Batman game done right, would it still be as highly rated if it wasn’t a Batman game? Most likely not, as hunting for hidden packages (disguised as Riddler’s challenges in the game) are not enough to give the adventuring aspect of the game any real depth. Luckily for us, I think we’re all a little bit biased towards wanting to be Batman, so the game’s faults are easier to forgive.

The Batman Arkham Asylum demos hit the 360 and PS3 this past weekend, and I reluctantly downloaded it just to see how it was. The game has been somewhat hyped, but with it being a “licensed game” by an unknown developer and published by the morally questionable Eidos (Tomb Raider, Kane & Lynch), I was wary because that combination has many of the signs that will often end up being a garbage title.

When I first loaded up the game and saw that it was powered by the Unreal Engine 3 (the same engine behind BioShock, Gears of War, and Mass Effect), I was already pleasantly surprised. I thought, “Hmm, this game may not be so bad after all.” The 1.5 GB demo actually showcased a lot of interesting features of the game. It opened somewhat blandly as you played Batman and easily knocked out several unarmed foes. I remember playing that scene in a Best Buy weeks back and walking away unimpressed. I should have stuck around to play further.

The next parts of the demo were what made the game a lot more interesting, as it introduced enemies with firearms (so you couldn’t just rush in and beat them down), your grapple hook (to get yourself quickly above enemies to take them down from the air), stealth takedowns, and a detective mode that functions similarly to the Scan Visor in Metroid Prime, showing you aspects of things you are looking at that you wouldn’t be able to see with the naked eye. You can even see where enemies are positioned, their panic state, etc.

After the first few rooms, the demo concluded with a room where there were five patrolling guards. The objective of the room was to clear out the guards in any way you wanted. It had elements of stealth reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid, but your objective is to take out all of the guys instead of running from them. The first two guards I easily took out with stealth kills, and the third one I used my grappling hook to reach high ground and fly in from above to knock him out. Upon taking out the third guard, the other two guards came running towards the commotion so I quickly disappeared into the dark. They began to panic, and split up, allowing me to take one out when the other one turned a corner. The last guard started really going nuts and shot at anything that was making noise like the steam pipes. This was what made me think, “Wow, I’m having a lot of fun. This really feels like Batman!” I then descended upon the final guard, knocked him out, and proceeded further before the demo concluded.

I have to say, if the demo is a strong indication of the game, it’s looking excellent. And with it coming out in two weeks, it’s definitely now on my radar. And with the fact that Batman is actually an amazing detective, this game could be like BioShock, Splinter Cell, and Condemned all put together for a package full of win. The demo was probably the best one I’ve played in a while, and has practically sold me on the game if it ends up being a good length. If you have any interest in Batman, check it out if you get a chance!