In his latest movie, The Woman In Black, Dan traded his Hogwarts uniform for a totally new role as a Dad.
Natalia brings you the latest news on Adele’s interview with Anderson Cooper, Kristen Bell’s interview on Ellen is auto tuned, Ladyhawke’s latest music video and much more!
Natalia discusses what’s new with Pharrell Williams and her thoughts on Karl Lagerfeld’s mean comments towards Adele’s weight. She also shows a roster of animals behaving like humans and, wait until you see the new size of coffee available at Starbucks!
Natalia dishes the latest news on the Juno Awards nominees, the upcoming Spiderman 3D film starring Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield and is Katy Perry hooking up with Tim Tebow? Watch today’s episode to find out.
When The Kooks are in the studio they’re focused and most importantly, sober. Watch Hugh and Luke explain their reasoning below.
The Kooks released a new album called “Junk of the Heart,” and you would think Hugh and Luke would be very excited about it. Well, they seemed rather indifferent to be honest. We spoke about that and why they don’t care about critics.
Natalia dishes the latest in entertainment news on Joan Rivers, Lana Del Rey and a brand new trailer for the movie Hunger Games.
Natalia talks about how Snooki might be pregnant, Nicolas Cage’s Cage Rage, Elisabetta Canalis is dating Steve-O and more for Feb 1, 2012.
Natalia dishes the news on Miley Cyrus breaking her tailbone, a 100 year old woman who plays the Nintendo DS to stay young and Houston, Texas contemplating a statute of Beyonce.
David Beckham debuts a new line of underwear, the worst dressed celebrity – Shy’m and Matthew Broderick is back as Ferris Bueller with a brand new commercial airing during the Super Bowl on Feb 5th 2012.
Daniel Radcliffe is back with his new movie The Woman In Black. It’s a bone chilling remake of a film from the ’80s. Ironically, Daniel actually scares very easily but he’s not afraid of ghosts. In this interview he tells us what really gives him the creeps.
Next time you’re struggling to make conversation, try asking this question: “If you could invite anyone (living or dead) to the perfect house party, who would it be?”
Graffiti6 is starting to make their North American invasion, and they are hitting up the Tonight Show. Does this sound familiar? Well the Beatles made the exact same journey over 40 years ago. Naturally, @jordans_life had to make some comparisons.
Nick plays World of Warcraft. Not only that, he’s the head of his guild, demonstrating that it IS possible to juggle being a hardcore gamer with being a top-selling recording artist.
During a LIVE interview on andPOP.com Nick Carter gave out a number and took phone calls from his fans. These were real phone calls from real fans who we gave exclusive access to one of the biggest recording artists of our generation.
There were great questions about music, fitness, the backstreet boys but the most popular question, however, was about his underwear. In this clip Nick talks about his his ‘Haynes’ and covering his fans with glow in the dark paint.
When releasing new music today, half the battle is online promotion. However, contests, signed merch and giveaways aren’t always the best solutions. When working on their latest album, Hedley came up with a brilliant idea, they decided to make trailers.
It’s hard to prepare for an interview with Hedley. So in this interview, we threw caution to the wind, got a 24 of beer and broadcast the interview live on our USTREAM (andPOP.tv). Eventually Jacob, Dave and @jordans_life ended up talking about hairy legs, their newest music video and more.
Diamandis from Marina and The Diamonds talks to us about her very serious disease. It’s called synaesthetic. And we lied, it’s not a disease. More like a cool condition. Diamandis explains further.
Would you be embarrassed if someone scrolled through your iPod? We sit down with Spee and Brendan to talk about the diverse music on their playlist.
Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the goddamn Batman.
Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? It’s something I ask of all my readers… I just like the sound of it.
And with that not-so-obscure reference, we begin our review of Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is the best game of 2009. Yes, I am saying that in October.
I have been drooling over this game for months now, and anxiously anticipating doing this review. Now, as much as I would like to give an unbiased and honest review of Batman: Arkham Asylum, that is impossible. I am a huge Batman fanboy (Batboy?) and although this will be a fair and balanced review, I am obviously biased in some respects. I mean, I am literally wearing a Batman T-shirt right now, and not even for the purpose of this review. Just ‘cause, suckers.
But I digress. This game is set over the course of one night on Arkham Island. Batman has apprehended the Joker, and hauls him back to the asylum. Joker doesn’t really mind though, and proceeds to take over the asylum and release the inmates. Great. Now Bats has to pick up all the pieces.
Quite possibly the coolest feature of this game is the nature of the gameplay itself. You don’t just run into rooms to find a group of baddies and subsequently dispatch them. Okay, you do – but not all the time. You don’t just prowl from room to room in the shadows, sneaking up behind guys and taking them out without a sound. Okay, you do – but not all the time. You don’t just solve puzzles and riddles. Okay, you get the point.
I'm totally going to win that giant stuffed gorilla.
The seamless transition from the gangbang combats to invisible predator rooms to the riddles and whatnot in between really make this game flow exceptionally well. That’s actually the primary element of this game -flow. The combat is actually called Freeflow Combat – using your various attacks to open up a can of Bat-Whoop-Ass on the various miscreants you encounter throughout the game by seamlessly landing blow after blow on opponent after opponent rather than one at a time. You can even mix in attacks from the various gadgets you acquire over the course of the game – the Batarang, Batclaw and Shark-Repellant Bat-Spray. Okay, not that last one.
There are some games out there that have alternative modes of play that are not exactly the greatest thing to ever happen to gaming. Arkham Asylum is not one of these games. The challenge modes are amazing – each of which is basically one of the different combat rooms you will encounter throughout the game. This allows you to pick up Arkham Asylum anytime, and run through as much or as little of the different facets of this game at your leisure – which I have done ad nauseum. Even more awesome – there is downloadable content that allows you to go on a murderous rampage as none other than the one and only Clown Prince of Crime – the Joker, however, only on the PlayStation 3. The lack of grappling hook and gliding is made up for with the awesomeness of walking around the challenge rooms dispatching guards with kicks to the nuts, exploding-chattering teeth, kicks to the nuts and a legit gun. Yes, Joker straight-up murders people with a gun. Also, he kicks them in the nuts – did I mention that?
In this reviewer’s not-so-humble opinion, the pinnacle of the gameplay is the Invisible Predator mode. When I think of Batman, I think of moments like the scene in Batman Begins where the criminals are being picked off one by one, growing ever more terrified as their numbers dwindle. This is the epitome of Batman and also the core element of the Invisible Predator style of gameplay. For me, it just doesn’t get any better than grappling from gargoyle to gargoyle in the shadows, gliding down behind a gun-wielding psychopath and choking him into unconsciousness, then hanging upside-down in the shadows and grabbing his buddy when he comes to help. If the criminals are terrified, then bonus – more on that later.
Hello, my name is Joker. And this is my friend, Obscenely Large Revolver.
The Detective Mode is more likely than not the mode you will view the majority of the game in. Although sacrificing the gorgeous graphics somewhat, you can see everything that is pertinent to the mission at hand and more, from vent covers that can be removed and entered, to lingering bad breath or tobacco traces in the air. While reducing the challenging element of problem solving, it doesn’t really matter – the game remains moderately challenging puzzle-wise with the ever-narcissistic Riddler hitting you with clues to the hundreds of enigmas and brain-teasers throughout Arkham Island. Detective Mode also allows you to view enemies through walls, and examine their armament and status – status meaning whether they are Calm, Nervous, Terrified or Crazed. Try to keep the enemies Terrified – they start shooting at noises in the darkness, and basically turn into whiny 8-year old girls.
As I mentioned earlier, the graphics in Arkham Asylum are gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. The dark, gothic atmosphere of Gotham and Arkham (hey, did you ever notice those are spelled similarly?) are captured perfectly. The environment almost has a personality – brooding, dark and malicious. The animations on the enemies are smooth and functional at worst, disturbing and frenetic at best – exactly what you would expect from the psychos and maniacs stalking the halls of the asylum. However, they tend to fall limp in unrealistic ways when you knock them out, but it’s a minor issue. The animations on the main characters are even better. By main characters of course, I mean Batman – and his cape. The cloak is almost a character unto itself, flowing behind you when you run, snapping out into a wing-like profile when you glide, and gradually becoming more tattered and ripped as Batman’s night gets worse.
Where the hell did I park the car?
The sounds of Arkham are also very conducive to the mood – the only way the soundtrack could be better would be if it had a bit more variety to it – low strings and baritone throughout – or if Danny Elfman just did the score. Speaking of nostalgia, the voice acting is superb, with the quintessential voices from the DC Animated universe coming on board – Kevin Conroy as the Dark Knight, and the amazing Mark Hamill as the Joker. Heath Ledger, step aside – for this incarnation of the Joker, the Force is strong with this one.
I thoroughly enjoyed Batman: Arkham Asylum. It combines all the elements of an exceptional game – graphics, solid and intuitive gameplay that isn’t oversimplified or overly complex, and an atmosphere and story that draws in the gamer allowing them to fully appreciate all the other elements of the game. All these elements come together to stomp more face than a professional face stomper – wearing stompin’ boots.
You didn’t think really I’d end my review of a Batman game without mentioning face-stomping, did you?
Cheers.
Gameplay – 5/5
Graphics – 5/5
Sound – 5/5
Replay Value – 5/5
