A very solid Batman game! They did so much right here - the Joker storyline is solid, with frequent taunting from him over the PA as you go, the gadgets feel great to use and really make you feel like Batman, the combat is simple but deep enough to be fun, the stealth mechanics work well, and the gameplay is streamlined so that you spend most of your time doing Batman stuff rather than some of the busywork you get in other games (scrounging for health pickups, poring over maps, managing inventories, etc).

It’s impossible for me to review this game objectively, I was a QA tester on it in the last month or so of development. I didn’t particularly care for the gameplay, I spent my days wandering around the maps poking my head into corners and feeling fairly motion sick until the afternoon came and I had to duck out to finish out my two weeks notice at my last job. Getting into video games through QA is a fools gambit, I knew that then but it was a small company and I was a computer science major, it seemed like there was potential to do some real work. Anyway game development opportunities are rare in northern Alberta and it beat working at Staples. Before my last two weeks in retail ended the studio manager politely suggested that maybe I could just come in one day a week. There wasn’t much left to test and my QA colleagues had the new, more interesting project pretty much covered themselves. One of them was Matt Thorson who had already made games better than this one and would go on to make games much more successful than this one too, the other one was my girlfriend and she dumped me a couple weeks later so it’s probably just as well I only had to come in once a week in the end. It was probably somewhere in here that I got put on academic probation too. Anyway I quit pretty abruptly in the fall and went off to Bible school to do a religious studies program that I didn’t plan to finish and indeed didn’t finish, but it gave me an environment to shake my life out of the death spiral it had slid into. Also, come to think of it, it’s where my wife and I first crossed paths so that we could reconnect online, fall in love and get married a decade later. Which is how I come to find myself writing this in the middle of the night while she sleeps beside me and our son sleeps in the next room because, I’ve just realized, the smoke from the forest fires down south smell just like the insense the studio manager used to burn that always gave me a headache and probably contributed to the motion sickness. This isn’t a very good game but on the other hand it was also part of a very bad personal time which ultimately led me to the life I have today which I wouldn’t trade for anything. So I guess five stars for my wife and perfect baby boy, but then deduct three and a half for the flat gameplay and bland graphics.

Ok, so the game isnt as bad as the 1/10 i gave it but its still pretty bad. In short, its an rpg game with an incentive on story. You spend a lot of time walking around empty hills to get to the next piece of dialouge. In between, theres some bad to mildly fun shooting that lasts for about 3 seconds. What im saying is this is death stranding before it with a shittier story and rpg mechanics. From what ive heard, the main story is ass, from what ive played the main story and side quests are ass. The shooting feels awful with little impact. I do like the rpg mechanics because i do have the tism, even if they arent very deep or interesting. Apparently the faction quests are the only good part, but even if they are good, its buried beneath a heaping pile of boring garbage. Not to mention how buggy the game. Ive given this game series so many tries but they are just so boring, I dont see the appeal. The gameplay is garbage, and what your left with is a shitty visual novel where the main content is ass and the very specific side content is good.

In a 1999 developer interview. Keiichiro Toyama says “What is it that sets Silent Hill apart from other games? If I had to answer that question in a nutshell, it would be the atmosphere, which I suppose is vague and ambiguous. However, if you play the game, I think you will understand. Silent Hill is an orthodox game with no outlandish or innovative gameplay mechanics, but it is suffused with a unique atmosphere and mood, not only in its appearance but also in the story and sound.” - Director of Silent Hill 1(SH1).

I couldn’t help but come to the same conclusion as Toyama’s answer of ‘atmosphere’ as the final credits rolled in my blind playthrough of Silent Hill 1. The atmosphere permeates throughout my time running through the titular town full of dense fog. As I controlled the main character. Harry Mason. An everyman who has no special titles, or special powers, is neither rich nor an individual who has super connections of note. He is simply a regular dad desperately searching every house and street for any clue, to recover his missing daughter Cheryl after a car crash gone wrong. And so begins our journey, as he battles/evades otherworldly creatures all while unknowingly trying to survive in this horror-filled place.

Storywise, I found his journey to be a cross between safe storytelling mixed with a jigsaw puzzle. Looking back I can construct how the narrative is achieved by effectively omitting key details. By the time I had all the pieces, I could complete the ‘puzzle’ so to speak. In doing so I was treated to a relatively safe journey in regards to not throwing my suspension of disbelief into smithereens while spreading the plot breadcrumbs interesting enough to lure me further into the mystery. In spite of the slow threads in the beginning. Be that as it may, once I hit my stride in schools and hospitals my will to continue deepened further. Enabling me to question everything and everyone within the bounds of not delving too outside the box to conjure. The regular who, what, where, when, why whodunit. Kept my brain tingling for morsels of information to seek the answer to my relentless inquiries. And thankfully the ending I received satisfied me to a measure I cannot help but applaud for. Well at least for receiving the ‘G+’ ending. And while there are other endings I’ve seen on YouTube. The overarching narrative felt uncommonly used amongst the other horror games I've played thus far. I wish I could give more concrete examples, but that would inadvertently lose the magic and surprise.

The atmosphere toes the line between the unknown and frightening to an absurd, but realistic degree. As I traveled deeper into the mist surrounding the locations of Silent Hill. Taking inspiration from Stephen King's The Mist among other influences. And to its credit, the close draw distance to maximize fog nearly in our faces works cleverly to hide the technical limitations of the PS1 era. The missing inhabitants while replicating a small town out in the country oozes with mystery in a sort of “Will there be something?” is teased mercilessly. I enjoyed exploring to my delight and wasn’t scared too much despite the oppressive silence and lack of inhabitants. Instead, I found otherworldly creatures prowling the dead of the day. Hairless malformed dogs prowling the streets, as winged creatures fly indiscriminately above Mason’s head to claw at him. To the nurses and doctors who are out of their freaking mind looking like a zombie at times. I admit to being scared and simply ran away from these ghastly enemies. The dense fog adds to the intrigue with incessant questions in the back of my mind. “What's happening? Where is Cheryl? What should I do? Why is this happening? How can I survive? Am I dreaming? Is this real?” These questions and more will inevitably pop up as you stumble & struggle.

The struggle is real. As I cautiously checked for enemies in rotten corridors, clean hallways, and entering empty rooms splitting the real and unreal. Confusing me, yet a handy map can be found nearby upon entering a new location. Making backtracking painless. Allowing me to easily strengthen my will, admire the presentation and reference what I had already been to. The map updates as you explore making it a vital tool to utilize. Reinforced by how simple the mechanics are. Mason can run, walk, use guns, and melee weapons, and interact with objects in the environment. The radio too helps as a sort of sound radar for nearby enemies. Helping us to prepare for what's to come. As a result, no gimmicks or very innovative systems at work as Toyama stated above. Focusing on other elements brings the core strengths to the front and center for players to devour. Grayish mist compliments well with the dead air of the soundtrack while feeding breadcrumbs to the player early on to piece and make their deductions. It is fascinating if not slightly stressful since I am playing a survival horror game. Yet I wasn’t all too bothered by the gameplay formula.

Puzzles felt adequate without being too complex. The simple systems lend themselves again and again. Becoming cyclical as you progress further in new buildings without feeling like a drag. Encounter a mysterious item? Maybe we can use this later to open a door or slot into a mechanism to open a path. Hmm, bottle? Must be some liquid I need. Keys? Oh, a locked door I couldn’t enter before surely will this time. Every puzzle I found difficult had a nearby solution to help players give off clues to solve their current dilemma. And usually, they may connect to another component, solving a dilemma could be a key to finally removing an obstacle. Out of all the puzzles I encountered. Only one of them is incredibly difficult. This was the only time I felt compelled to check a walkthrough and once I found the solution I couldn’t help but smack myself silly. So here’s a helpful tip. Check your surroundings to make sure of any missing pieces, having a separate monitor or paper on hand to visualize text hints can offer a different point of view. There are puzzles here without a hint so visuals and any patterns as delicately as I can vaguely say will prove invaluable to the naked eye. Don’t overthink, sometimes the easiest and most gut feeling may prove to be the right one.

Combat I wasn't fighting every step of the way like tank controls. Instead I embraced the simple fighting system and abused them to my advantage. Harry can equip one weapon at a time. Utilizes a multitude of melee and ranged weaponry. From pipes to knives to a pistol, shotguns, etc. The armaments helped tremendously like a hammer and the shooting mechanics aren’t all too complicated due to the absence of a reticle. As long as you focus in the direction of the enemy. You can shoot them with extreme prejudice. And man does it feel good to lay them out on the floor and kick em when they're down. Go close to an enemy? Eat a full round from my shotgun. Enemy closing in? NOPE. Time to run in a zigzag and not look back. Dying in about one blow? Excuse me while I chug a kit and some bottles without a required animation to take effect. See several mobs? Yeah forget that, Ima run past them. Pick your battles, don’t fight everything, to conserve ammo.

Felt the resource collection and using my stockpile satisfactory. Supplies are spread throughout the town so you’ll have to do some exploring off the beaten path to see any health kits or bottles to replenish your vitality. I had a surplus of bullets and avoided combat where I could to save ammo. Didn’t need to heal every time, only when I needed to. I wasn’t hindered by any inventory limit, nor was there any sort of stamina meter. He does have a health meter once you enter the menu with a press of the button. Making the lack of any real user interface where you would traditionally see one noticeable, albeit not necessary to see. I didn’t find any major issues with finding resources.

I’ll talk more about this later, but for now, I'll praise the tank controls. The mechanic where you move the player is similar to the process of how a tank moves. And this is a process you’ll need to contend with throughout the entirety of a playthrough. Nevertheless, as I became more familiar with tank life(This was my first time experiencing the phenomenon.) I found it weirdly satisfying to look at the element from a different angle. The controls accentuate certain camera angles to invoke a sense of anxiety and unease. The combat adds to this which I didn’t mind at all considering the game doesn’t shout to the high heavens to play for the fighting module. This in turn creates anticipation and tension adding to the already unsettling atmosphere. So I like it. For adding depth to the combat and fleeing.

Honestly, this emphasizes cutscenes when they play by displaying different camera angles while the dialogue occurs. And boy do I have some good news. I’m surprised by how little text there is in the conversations. Thereby not slobbering players with text logs or lore logs. Though as a lore nut, I firmly believe as long as you have enough relative lore in hand it could prove beneficial. But that is neither here nor there. Words and phrases are used sparingly as if to uphold a sacred tenet that fewer words equals good. SH1 for example follows this rule to a T. I did not see any wasted text. Puzzles and hints are included. It's like a subtly minimalist Chekhov's gun here. And oddly enough I am praising the usage of short conversations between Harry and whoever is speaking to him to excellent effect. Why? This adds mystery and intrigue to the central locations while increasing tension, fear, etc. Reinforcing the enigmatic atmosphere Toyama envisions. Seriously this is great stuff preserving minimal, but essential text to have players piece their own conclusions. Showing us, but not telling us.

In a 2015 interview from Factmag Akira Yamaoka(composer of a majority of the Silent Hill series) talks about the franchise's soundtracks and why it continues to be as influential as ever. “One of the greatest ways that Yamaoka enhanced Silent Hill’s fear building is by using music and effects in ways that run against what you’re expecting. “I wanted it to be unpredictable: maybe during a big scare I cut everything out, and maybe if nothing was happening at all there would be a lot of sound.” You have an empty hallway? Layer a few sirens and mix it in the red. You have an establishing moment with a villain or environment? Use only the sound of a sharpening knife.”

This unpredictability by Yamaoka works to an impressive degree throughout the entire soundscape. Where I felt the absence of regular conventional instruments in favor of creepy silence, air vibrations, the beating of unconventional items like banging of doors, the scrapping of blades, and the heart-pumping scratches and fluctuating radio frequencies awakens dread. Some examples I’ll pull from the OST have silence integrated well such as: ‘Downtime, never end, never end, never end, alive, nothing else, justice for you, heaven give me say, far.’ These tracks accompany many of the gameplay segments and cutscenes in a congenial manner yet interlaced wonderfully facilitating differences from the usual effects we often hear. Creating an unsettling tone to repeat for days on end as you boot up the game. Not to the point of over-use since a lot of tracks differ in tempo, rhythm, and how untraditional sound works. Seriously listen to any of those tracks and see how it differs from classical instruments. The names of these tracks also share similar connotations. Giving off a break if you will. Or time of rest. By comparison, there is another layer. And that is the panic tracks. Imagine low drums combined with a background of haunting wails or cries of ghastly echoes.

While the foreground is immersed with a layer of banging utensils harshly being hit on steel walls in a pattern that evokes slow encroaching terror. Yeah, terrifying isn’t it? Try listening to these tracks: Die, ain't gonna rain, half day, dead end, ill kill you, bitter season, don’t cry, for all, devil’s lyric, over, until death. I had to stomach through the OST again and it is incredible if not spooky. Yet thankfully enough here’s a secret to lessen the tension and anxiety. Lower the volume, no shame in doing so. I admit to doing so! The naming sense also is interesting to note again, with most of the tracks I chose from a small sample conveying notions of death, threats, and bittersweetness. I could’ve added more, but you can see the rest here and suit the tracks in other patterns. Regardless, I want to focus on a pattern. The silence tracks and panic tracks from the ones I listed earlier follow a theme, eh? The former inhabits an eerie vibe throughout yet doesn’t go to the steep lengths of making the player run to the hills. In my ears, I felt they were used to excellent effect, conveying a tingle of mystery as I ran to new rooms and buildings. By comparison. The latter displays the rush, the unbearing suspense mixed with a persistent rhythm forming an incessant need to get out. Run faster and get the hell out of traps and dead-ends. As a result, the panic tracks I think work in its favor and complement the silence to a proportion, I find myself fascinated by the two accompanying themes.

However, a third and smaller portion of tracks not of the two kinds emerges. And this brings to the forefront the classical tracks to a shotgun-filled bar full of emotions and relief. These tracks finally make use of classical instruments like the guitar strings. For example in the track ‘She’ I felt they provide a profound degree of closure. Some may see this as an abrupt slap of whiplash, on the other hand, I found it comforting. In the near silence and panic-filled corridors of ambiance. I found at the end of my main character’s journey and to my great satisfaction a longing feeling of contentment and tranquility. It is apt and so powerful to hear classical instruments shine so bloody hard. I am amazed how different Yamaoka's style conveys so uniquely and so beautifully to listen to. Granted, the effects on the unused may be perceived as annoying to hear repetitive noise effects. Although, I think it works to its benefit. Complementing the game to magically transport the player into the Yamaoka’s soundscape. Like a puppet master controlling how we feel. Just wow. Very different from other Japanese composers I'm familiar with listening such as Nobou Uematsu, Keiichi Okabe, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yoko Shimomura, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masashi Hamauzu, Masayoshi Soken, Keiki Kobayashi, Kota Hoshino, Falcom Sound Team jdk, and Xenoblade composers. The OST manages to ride the fine line of not being either bombastic or slamming us with gentility. Filling the player with enough suspense to not overflow in sheer terror while giving enough intrigue to the limit of genuine courage. It is as Yamaoka talks about earlier. Unpredictable in building fear.

As much as I could continue praising and analyzing every morsel. I must talk about my mixed feelings. These are neither positive nor negative, but simply some things that gave me pause, could be better and perhaps a hot take down below.

First tank controls for the unused can make it difficult to achieve the right balance in the beginning. When Harry moves in a single direction, turning becomes difficult. So you’ll have to swerve to the right or left before coming around. Takes some getting used to. I was never familiar with these types of old movements and considering it was my first foray into it. My first 15 minutes were clashing onto walls. I understand it's a product of its time. And while some may say it adds tension and anxiety, which I agree to a certain extent. More often than not I crashed into walls and wished it controlled better. Could be a dealbreaker for some. I’ve heard the newest entries after the first have better controls. Though for a first entry, it's not something I'll judge too harshly. Once an hour passed by I became used to them. To help, quick-turn using L1+R1. Helped immensely for my playthrough and thankfully the game’s runtime isn’t too long or medium to deal with. HLTB estimates put this at a short length.

Second, this might be a hot take. But I think going into the game blind completely would be a mistake. I tried playing blind for 95% of my experience and while I did have a good time, once I removed some tips to know beforehand along with some of my friend's advice I would’ve unknowingly struggled. Please check out some tips. I'll put some links further below to help newcomers. Therefore to prevent further suffering. Not required, but it doesn’t hurt to know ya know? For example, Running away from enemy mobs in the streets to conserve ammo. Quickturn if you hit a dead-end and I abused the hell out of that to counter the rough tank controls. Furthermore, going blind may inadvertently cause players more trouble when trying to achieve certain endings. They can be strict. Without going into concrete details of spoiler territory. To get the G+ ending, players need to somehow pick up a liquid in a hospital and use it in a boss fight. Not the last one. There’s a bit more, but I'll let Before I play handle that. Highly recommend referencing that in hand while you play. I hope that’s vague enough to say. I am not advocating for everyone to achieve that outcome, rather I think it would help in the long run when thinking about the game as a whole. It is simply a suggestion.

Third, boss fights I think could’ve been improved a little more to induce more puzzley in design without reverting into too gimmicky territory. As vaguely as I can say. I usually evaded their attacks, then shot bullets during appropriate moments. I’m torn on this point since I think this ties into the combat not being a true highlight to look forward to. I didn’t come to SH1 to be amazed by fighting. Yet unironically Toyama in another interview back in 1999 echoes similar sentiments by saying how “The action part of the game is really just something to create the horror.” A medium to enhance the horror if you will. Although, I still can’t help but add my suggestions on how this could be remedied to make boss fights more horrory. Off the top of my head: More on escaping, instead of traditional fights. Destroying objects in surrounding environments then switching to a different weapon like melee. Surprise me with dialogue maybe and if I answer wrong, game over. Taunt me while chasing me. I wouldn’t say they're bad by any means. The first, second to last boss and final boss do a decent job.

Fourth, I wish there was more interaction in the environment instead of literal observations anyone can make. When exploring anything of relative interest in his surroundings. Harry will make a direct, blunt phrase. “No useful books.” “Nothing unusual.” “Drugs? Better leave it.” “Just a wall.” Granted, there are plenty of notes, diaries, letters, and documents to give some relevant lore or plot hooks so it’s not all bad. Feels weird though. Why not have him say different lines like “Cheryl would’ve loved this book.” or “Ah I remember this drug from long ago my wife used to use.” See how those suggestions would’ve changed some of the stale observations? Makes me wonder if the other installments made some changes to his inspection.

Ultimately I found Silent Hill 1 to be largely a leap of faith as one Ubisoft franchise likes to say. While it does have some dated mechanics like the tank controls which may vary from person to person. And the story may not resonate with everyone. Along with my other mixed feelings. In the end, hidden beneath these varying qualities I found the everyman plot to be equally as satisfying as my time in Signalis. I can only leave pretty positive after my ten hour playthrough. And oddly enough, I regret not playing this title back then in my childhood. Never played any other entries in the series either. And yet for a PSX title released in 1999, I am pretty impressed how much it holds up. Stands tall amongst the other horror games I played. Sure the title doesn’t boast the Lovecraftian edge Bloodborne grasps. The excellent pacing of The Last of Us. Great lessons from Omori or hitting the fine balance of horror and action in the Evil Within series and Metro 2033. Nor does it provide richly diverse cast to the gills like Shadow Heart and Koudelka.

Rather, Harry Mason’s troubled venture to recover his daughter is a powerful incentive to keep in mind. And the feelings of “annoyance, anger and incredible kind of powerlessness” evoked by the protaganists voice actor Michael Guinn moved me enough to see what happens in the end. Strong to witness amongst the clever backtracking, colliding with interesting and well-thought-out puzzles. Constant showing, not telling, and remarkable use of minimal dialogue I found in contrast to Parasite Eve. Demonstrating how much this little gem can achieve in a concise manner without padding. I wasn’t bombarded by useless cutscenes or tearing my suspension of disbelief a new one. Beyond the palpable unique atmosphere, intriguing everyman story and excellent sound design lies something special to anyone who has never played Silent Hill 1. I’d even go as far as to say the game has made me appreciate horror much more than I thought.

8.5/10

References & Additional Material:
1st interview - Shmuplations translated the 1999 interview with Toyama and others
Wiki links - Everyman - Inspirational works of Silent Hill - Tank Controls - Chekhov’s Gun - SH1 OST - Soundscape
2nd interview - Akira Yamaoka interview
3rd interview - Another interview with Toyama back in 1999. Different from 1st.
4th interview - a 2018 interview with none other than the original Silent Hill voice actor for Harry Mason. Michael Guinn. Fair warning does contain spoilers for SH1 & SH3. I only read the SH1 portions.
Silent Hill 1 Before I Play Tips
Silent Hill 1 manual
A short history article on the origin of Tank Controls - Cool TIL tidbits.
My spoiler thoughts on Silent Hill 1 - Heavy spoilers from beginning to end of the game

67

Clearing My Backlog #8

Plants vs. Zombies is a game that I’ve been playing on and off for the past 12 years, it’s been a huge part of my life, because it’s actually one of the three games that got me into this medium in the first place; and I’m so happy that it still holds up after all these years — unlike some of the other games I’ve revisited (I’m talking about you, Spider-Man 2). PvZ is filled to the brim with charm; whether it’s the simplistic, yet gorgeous art design, the catchy — and frankly beautiful OST, the varied and addicting gameplay, all of it just fucking works.

There’s so much freedom with how you can approach levels and all of the different modes, I’ve seen people play this game for hundreds of hours, which is a testament to how much variety it truly has. The survival levels in particular allow for a lot of experimentation with different builds, which I didn’t really bother with (past the achievements) because I’m content with leaving a game once I complete it, but it’s great that it has a lot of replay value for other people. My favourite mode was the minigames one; each level was so vastly different from the one before which forced me to reconsider my loadouts and to change my plants up — for which there are plenty of.

A lot of the issues with this game come in the form of technical and QoL stuff, which is to be expected because it’s an old game; but a big one is the lack of a 2x speed mode. Some levels happen to be pretty slow, so when you finish setting up all of your plants, you basically have to watch everything unfold for a while — without doing anything, which can get pretty boring, especially for your second adventure mode playthrough. I literally ended up installing cheat engine so that I could speed some of those levels up. It’s also a bit annoying how there aren’t any resolution settings, the fullscreen version looks like absolute shit, but then the windowed version gets minimized to a very small window, which is just hard to look at.

Overall though, Plants vs. Zombies manages to be an extremely satisfying and addicting tower defense game, with insane levels of variety, that oozes charm out of every aspect. So good.

Crazy Dave is an icon.

Playtime: 31.6 hours

Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Clearing My Backlog
2010 - Ranked

15

Clearing My Backlog #10

Fans of the series are most likely going to disagree with me completely here… and I’m sorry, but this game pales in comparison to the WoA trilogy and isn’t even remotely close in quality. To be clear, I haven’t played the entirety of this, I only got up to the fourth level because a game breaking bug stopped me from progressing further; or it might’ve not been a bug and I’m just a complete fucking idiot, but it happened in the level “Flatline”. I killed the target and injected the agent with the death serum, and I went to the morgue entrance, which is outside, but no matter what I do, the cutscene that shows the agent being placed in the morgue doesn’t play. I’ve looked at several videos, and in each one they’re not doing anything differently than I am (except the method of killing the target). Stuff like this is what breaks my enjoyment of a game, and the funny thing is, I don’t even know if this is a glitch or not — which should be an instant red flag for a game. This sorta links in with another criticism I have, and it’s the way in which you have to basically “study” a level in order to know what to do. That’s not fun. I want to know what I can do in a level without having the need to look shit up. This is why I prefer 2016’s system of being able to check all of the ways you can kill a target. I saw some people say that they like how it took them several days to figure out how to beat a level… how is that fun? it just feels like the game is wasting my time. It’s unintuitive.

All of the levels prior to “Flatline” were pretty fucking shit too, I don’t like the layouts, they’re confusing as all hell due to the amount of reused assets, it's like you’re walking through a maze at every given point. I guess “A Vintage Year” was fine? probably the best one because I could actually figure stuff out.

The game just hasn’t aged well at all. The controls completely suck, they’re not responsive which in a game about precision is a big deal. There is zero reason for someone to play this instead of the WoA trilogy; I can get behind the idea that it has some good level design, but that’s about the only thing this game has going for it.

Playtime: 7.3 hours

Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Clearing My Backlog
2006 - Ranked

8

Clearing My Backlog #13

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate tries its best to imitate an Arkham game, but fails horrendously in every single way; with its lazy boss fights, a disgrace of a combat system, and a baffling world design/map layout. I don’t know if I’ve ever played a game that was more infuriating than this one; it seems like every encounter, every hallway, every vent, is specifically designed to waste your time. There’s no depth in the combat system to warrant fighting the same groups of enemies in almost every room, there’s not enough diversity in the world to warrant you going through so many doors and vents to hallways and rooms… it’s mentally draining to even think about the layout of the map in this game— and I unironically believe I could create a better version of it than the professional developers… I mean fuck, anyone could! It’s really not that hard to create— at the very least— a comprehensible navigation system, I found so many inconsistencies in the floor levels that quite literally don’t make any fucking sense! Certain lines don’t match up with each other making it a gamble as to whether what you’re looking for is up or down; did they hire someone on fiverr to design this map in a couple of hours? I refuse to believe that this was made by actual game devs.

On a serious note though, Blackgate completely fails as a metroidvania. You know how they’re widely known for backtracking? Well this one takes it to a whole new level… When playing one of these, you would typically hope that it keeps rewarding the player with new upgrades and abilities that are impactful and make getting around the world faster and more convenient; what Blackgate does instead, is it doesn’t design the world this way at all— making it devoid of any shortcuts, you go through the world the same way at the start, as you do at the end; it takes forever to get from one side of the map to the other, and it’s probably the game’s biggest flaw. I would’ve had at least 20% more fun with it if they added like… five or so fast travel points. I could’ve probably cut my playtime in half. Another thing that completely halts any sort of momentum is the weird scanning mechanic, where in order to do literally anything, you have to stay in detective vision and then hold a button down to scan walls/doors/objects so that you can interact with them. The other Arkham games also had minor issues with detective vision, where they would incentivise it for the sake of convenience— although it wasn’t nearly as bad there because you didn’t have to scan anything and could choose whether you wanted to use it. Blackgate fucking forces you to use it, and it’s easily the second biggest thing that makes it so exhausting (combat is third).

The combat. Holy fucking shit… It’s bad, like really bad. It doesn’t have enough depth to even be remotely interesting for your 3rd encounter— let alone your 30th. There’s four different moves that you can use, and two of them are practically useless. I was honestly just using beatdown on every enemy because I couldn’t be bothered, and it’s even weirder that the sound design is so drastically different from the other Arkham games, which made the fights feel cheap and repetitive. Even the stealth is a dumbed down version from the other games, and is comprised of: waiting for goons to turn their back on you so you can do a silent takedown, that’s it! There’s nothing there to engage with. The controls aren’t very responsive either which makes these encounters even worse— the bosses too.

The boss fights are designed more so as puzzles than something that takes mechanical skill, and they’re all the worse for it. They’re mostly trial and error based which completely ruins the experience; this game has no way of delivering information to the player— leaving you guessing as to what the right move is, and if you mess up— you die instantly, having to restart from a checkpoint that isn’t even at the start of the boss fight. It’s also funny how the Catwoman boss fight is just straight up copy-pasted from the Bronze Tiger one… they’re not even trying. I did like the Joker one (even though it suffers from all the same issues), because it had some much-needed variety and obviously had the most effort put into it.

I was hoping that Blackgate would at least have an interesting story— which is something that every single Arkham game has gotten right, but sadly… it’s not really much of anything. There’s something in here that makes watching these characters interact fun (definitely due to the brilliant performances from Roger Craig Smith, Troy Baker, Grey DeLisle, etc), but there’s no overarching arcs or anything of substance. The closest it gets is showing the dynamic between year two Batman and early Catwoman, but it’s not explored anywhere near enough for their first-time meeting. There should be more here. I like what they were going for with the “comic book-y” cutscenes, it should’ve worked for a low budget Batman game, but it didn’t. Something akin to Infamous’ cutscenes would’ve fit a lot better, but for some reason they chose to go with the extremely low-quality concept art that isn’t striking at all. I even noticed that Joker doesn’t have the same design in the cutscenes as he does in-game, which leaves me convinced that these were definitely just concept art images with stock sound effects placed over them.

As for bugs, there was a bunch. I got softlocked multiple times forcing me to restart checkpoints, hits would not connect with enemies, I experienced loads of visual issues, and there’s also constant screen tearing. It’s crazy how this game is just a complete and utter failure in every regard— but hey, at least I can say I’ve played every single Arkham game now… minus the VR one (I’m never playing the VR game).

Playtime: 20.4 hours

Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Superhero Games - Ranked
Clearing My Backlog
Batman - Ranked
2013 - Ranked

I added this game to igdb so I could log it here (apologies for the horribly formatted cover they have those strict requirements remember) so I thought I should say something at all.
This is the first game I've finished in Japanese, and I wrote about the contradictions of that experience here, it's rough and messy i didn't really have much time but it's there if you're interested: https://zweiteturm.neocities.org/posts/2023-01-17-overlapping-through-translation
It was somewhat interesting to me how this game is very specifically designed around the gendered play of clothing, so for me who is relatively comfortable in a specific aesthetic and presentation it often felt limiting and running into the rough edges of a mid 2000s doujin adventure game where I had to do /things/ for the sake of doing them in order to progress even if it didn't match how I conceived of my gendered self. Interesting little piece of history, at least. I got Yuu's ending.

although i grew up with this game and i cherish it deeply, it just does not compare to arkham city. combat simply feels unfinished, and while i don't blame this game, it does still suffer for it. a bite sized, less polished arkham city. the scarecrow stuff is fun, but that's all this game has over the rest of the trilogy. asylum's biggest strength and weakness is its sequel. lead to one of my top ten games of all time, but falls short itself. an ok time, but all you'll be able to think is "i could be playing arkham city instead"