-GAMES- Batman: Arkham City Review

"You want to know something funny? Even after everything you've done... I would have saved you."

Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009's award winning superhero game 'Batman: Arkham Asylum'. Now, it's back with a better combat system, a new plot, and the same ol' Dark Knight.

The game was published on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and has a next one coming for the Wii U. A sandbox game game of its own, it gives the player the ability to freely roam around Arkham City. The classic stealth returns to give the player a sense of thrill. A better combat system returns, the Freeflow system, with new counters and better, wider range of moves for the Batman. New gadgets also arise which help the player in certain parts of the game, including fights with the enemies.

The plot revolves around Arkham City which was put in the center of Gotham, after the events of Arkham Asylum. Batman goes in to investigate, but he discovers even greater secrets, thus setting up the story of the game. The game features characters that weren't in the first game, such as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Tim Drake/Robin III/Red Robin II, Dick Grayson/Robin I/Nightwing, Hugo Strange, Solomon Grundy, Ra's Al Ghul (he was in Arkham Asylum, but he was dead there), Talia Al Ghul, Azrael, Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, and many others. The game is actually quite easy, to be honest. The bosses have patterns which are easy to understand and counter. So if you're a new time gamer, don't worry. Do not worry at all.

Graphics are great too. While roaming around, you may get the chance to get a glimpse of Gotham which is absolutely breathtaking. When fighting enemies, attacks may be zoomed in and slowed out to show a finishing blow which is awesome. You can say that the graphics are a bit too "shiny" though.

I never really noticed to the music of the game. It's either it was too quiet, or I didn't really care at all. I could only hear it from time to time, but the most prominent time of it is when I fight enemies or I'm being searched for. Aside form the original musical score of the game, they also released a soundtrack with the songs pulling inspiration from Batman himself. Such songs are 'Deranged' by Coheed and Cambria, 'Drown in You' by Daughtry, 'Mercenary' by Panic! at the Disco, and 'Trophy Widow' by The Damned Things.

After or during the main plot, there are side missions that you could do. The side missions have a short story of their own. These can be completely quickly, but others may take some time, such as finding Riddler Trophies around the city. Speaking of Riddler Trophies, there are also Riddler Secrets which you need to find out. There are other skins you can use for Batman if you get bored. You can also use Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing by redeeming codes. There are also some Challenge Maps to test your skills. But after all of these are said and done, you may get a feeling of emptiness 'cause there is practically nothing to do.

Batman: Arkham City may be an excellent game and all, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it could've been more. After seeing the ending of the game, I'm absolutely sure that the next game after this would be more than this.

-Mikey McMike

-GAMES- Adventure Quest Worlds

Adventure Quest Worlds or simply known as AQW is a browser game developed by Artix Entertainment.

Adventure Quest Worlds can be played directly in your browser without any special plugins needed. The graphics are good for a browser game. It's also a good casual game. AQW is also considered kid-friendly.

Character creation is done during the registration of your account, where you get to choose 4 classes which are Warrior, Rouge, Mage, and Priest. The level system has 2 parts, one is for their level, which is basically their stats, and the other one is their class rank, which is for their class skills. Though players have only 4 classes to choose from at the beginning, as they level up they get to change their class, thus its unique multi-class system. If a player decides to change their class, their level will remain the same but their class rank will go down to one; but if you change back to your old class having a high rank, your class rank will return to the previous one.

The combat system of AQW is very simple as players just click the monster they find and use skills. You get experience points and gold as you kill monsters. Doing quests in AQW include killing monsters and getting a desired item for a quest.

You could upgrade your AQW using real cash to experience more content of the game, such as class advancement, areas and quests.

Simply put, AQW is a good casual type browser game.

-BlueRose
*Edited by Red Hood 05/05/12