Batman: Arkham Origins Review

Okay. Is this 33 or 34? 34? 34. Coming up on

this this edition of Xbox. What the hell was

that? Just like last week, stumbling around with

a cock in his mouth. Holy crap. OK. On Off the

Cuff episode 34, we've got a little bit of Arkham

Origins. Well, probably a lot of Arkham Origins.

Joe catches us up with Grand Theft Auto V and

Super Mario Land 3D. And we've got a little bit

of news. And that's about it. So, joining me

this week, as usual, is Art Danner. Hi! We have

Joe Reed. Hello! And I have purchased an inflatable

blow -up doll that we can put a headset on for

Shaunzy. Hi! Squeak, squeak. I believe Danner

can render all of Shaunzy's opinions this week.

I think that's incredibly possible. I will do

my best. As long as he does it with his arms

shoved up that doll to his elbow and he talks

with it like a puppet, I'll be happy. You know,

guys, what I really like, I really like scene

throw four. It is so good. It's not at all reskinned.

It's nothing like Saints Row 3, even though the

world's exactly the same. Yeah, it's better than

everything you guys are playing right now. That

was pretty good. I almost feel like he's in the

room with me. I know. Which would be weird, because

that would be the first time ever. Yes. That

would be weird. That would be very, very weird.

Anyways, Joe? Yeah? How's Grand Theft Auto V

going? Still enjoying it. I'm coming down to

the end of the story, which I'm excited to finish

and slightly resentful of recording a podcast,

but no, I'd rather hang out with You guys, I

can't wait till you're done with Batman so we

can play the online some more. I I tried going

on single player and it's just it's just not

worth it. There's nothing to do yet. Although

they did announce the first DLC. I don't know

if you guys heard that and see it, saw that,

missed it. Art, you probably don't care. Correct.

You you nailed it. But guys, I care. I totally

care, guys. Yeah, yeah, I'm not listening to

you. You need to buy that game, but he's too

late now. Sean's he was chiming in with his opinions

I was gonna say I already own the game guys.

Yeah, I play with you guys But you play got the

ps3 and i'm playing on the xbox 360 because nobody

plays 360 anymore I'm so alone First step box

the razor blades He's been so quiet on the chat

I was afraid he got into those box, but you know

Whatever i'm sorry I have a life outside of the

podcast, guys. No, you don't. I I masturbate

furiously as much as as often as possible. With

with K .Y. Jelly, remind me never to come over

to your house and use your controllers. Hey,

my my slippery. My Xbox 360 controllers are pristine.

I keep them in bubble wrap when I'm not using

them. It's all I have, Joe. It's all I have.

It's so much more fun when he's not here to defend

himself. Sean, you are so depressing. I mean,

I know it's it's real bad, guys. I'm sorry. I

I just, oh, man, I just I know, Sean, it's OK.

Don't don't worry about it, man. It's just find

that inner strength that I know you swallowed

a long time ago. I saw I did swallow a long time

ago. It was easy to choke down though cuz I wrapped

it in bacon You keep fighting you keep fighting

the good fight Sean it'll be okay one of these

days It'll get better. I hope it's soon because

my waistline can't take much more of this Just

remember Just because you got a hole inside of

you doesn't mean you need to fill it with donut

holes Just keep that in mind man Be strong Okay,

art. I'll do my best. I've always looked up to

you. You you are the best I I know it man. Don't

don't you don't got to tell me about it. It's

okay mine. Oh Hello, did he mute himself? Me?

No Did Danner mute himself? I think Sean muted

himself. I don't know what's going on there.

That dude's kind of... He walked away. He's okay.

He's collecting his thoughts. Okay. Okay. Huh.

I know, right? So, Joe. Yeah? Grand Theft Auto

V DLC. The, uh... Whoa, man. We're getting the

level editor. which I think just edits some deathmatches

and races, which neither event I'm very interested

in anymore at all. I don't think I've ever even

done a deathmatch, but yeah, maybe you and I

will edit some races and fiddle around with cars

that we don't usually get to play with, but outside

of that, I'm still waiting for heists to be a

major part of the multiplayer experience, where

you have to plan them, collect the cars, and

then do them like you do in the story mode. That's

kind of what I'm waiting for, but... Until then,

hey, it's a free DLC with a bunch of beach -related

cars. What else? Some new weapons that also carry

over into single -player, which is kind of nice,

but all free. I think they call it the beach

bum pack. I don't remember now, but it's exciting.

I think dropping in early November. I still want

my stimulus package, too. That hasn't dropped

yet and they don't have a date on it, but I hate

having to go to the clothing store to change

clothes. I want an apartment so I can change

in private. Actually, can you just change in

the quick menu? If you can you just taught me

how I'm not sure I think I think you can you

just cycle through stuff. You've already bought.

Okay. Well Yeah, you know that I that quick menu

you taught me about that and I forgot about it

again Don't remember how to open it. But I remember

seeing the first Like yes that little clue in

the top left of the screen that you can barely

read I caught it like a half a second of it and

It didn't tell me how to do it or I didn't read

fast enough to tell me how to do it and I never

saw it again so I never learned about that. I

believe it is you hold down the select button.

That's easy. It's like a long hold on the select

button until it pops up or something like that.

Alright. Could be wrong. Well now I can stop

going to Sotheby's clothing store. Awesome! Have

you... Played anymore. Well, you said you were

playing more Mario 3D land. Are you still enjoying

that? Yes quite a bit. I'm getting My butt handed

to me by the second quest with those new and

slightly edited levels. They are just it's like

Going back to Mario Brothers 1 on the NES and

trying to play world 5 6 & 7. It's like just

nearly impossible You know, I got into the second

quest with 130 lives that I'd collected through

the eight worlds of the first quest, and I got

down to around 80, and most of them were blown

on this one particular level. And they don't

give you the hand -holding Nintendo thing like

they do in the World 1, where you get the invincible

raccoon suit. You don't get that in this. You

actually have to struggle at it. So I really...

appreciate what Nintendo did by giving me this

second quest that's a pain in the neck challenge

and I hope that's that's something that works

its way into the rest of the game uh games that

Nintendo does a real good quest yeah if you want

to hold my hand for world one and I don't know

what's what was the mode where the game would

take over and play it for you oh I know what

you're talking about that I don't know cheating

yeah anyway they can do that but you know, give

me a way to actually have to struggle or I like

being punished like the game is punishing me.

I don't know. I'm coming to the game late, but

man, is that a really good game for the 3DS.

Now with the 3DS, do you play with the 3D on?

Sometimes, yes. There are levels that are specifically

designed for 3D where it's the game is set on

an isometric 3D where everything is two point

perspective and if the 3D is not turned on you

can't see where to jump because those blocks

are lining up and they all look flat so when

you put the 3D on you can see oh this one's closer

this one's further and then you can actually

plot your way through the level Beyond that,

there are just sometimes where the 3D is distracting

for the jumps, so I turn it off, and then there

are sometimes where it's helpful for the jumps,

and I have it on, so it alternates. And the game

does a good job of letting you know when those

moments are, like the level starts, and there's

3D spelled out with coins, or the little icon

shows up in the bottom left that says 3D, and

those are usually the levels that they kind of

deliberately designed with needing the 3D on.

So I've appreciated that. And then I go, okay,

there's this level in this game, but you just

released the 2DS where it would be a pain in

the neck to play this level in 2D. Yeah, I was

just gonna ask about that. Yep, I kind of wondered

what they were doing, you know. But yeah, it's

playable. You can put it in the system and play

it, but you're not gonna have a good time on...

Well, are those levels that you... Have to finish

in order to get to the end or they like just

challenge levels I think some of them are challenges

or if you go down the pipe or go into the little

orange glowing Question mark box that teleports

you to the bonus level so I don't think no But

you might miss out on a gold coin or two you

might not You know get a power up when you particularly

need it because you can't see where you need

to go um did you see the Zelda edition of the

3ds Excel? Yeah. Yeah. I kind of want it. That's

why I showed it to you. I can't afford it. Especially

after I just bought this. Well, here's a question

that will make the decision easier for me. Is

it a digital copy or a physical copy? It's probably

a digital copy. Then I don't care. Never mind.

I do want the 3DS, but it's not a $200 purchase.

$219 was it? $220? Yeah, 220. Most of the time,

even with the Wii U, if they do the free game,

it's just a voucher in there for a digital copy

of it. That's the way Wind Waker HD was for the

Zelda Wii U. Which was a, I just, I don't like

digital copies with how Nintendo is so anal about...

how they protect the the virtual console and

the original Wii and how you can't transfer that

from one system to another. It's all system based.

I don't trust Nintendo to not find a way to make

me have to buy Wind Waker again someday. That

game doesn't feel like mine. Speaking of transferring

game content nonsense. My wife started playing

Kingdoms of Avalar because it was free on PlayStation

Plus. and before that we had been looking for

it for months to try and find a new copy of it

for like 20 bucks somewhere we never could but

she started playing it on her account on my PlayStation

and she wanted me to set up the other PlayStation

3 we have in the house in her video game room

so that she could play it in there when I was

playing like GTA with you or Arkham Origins or

something And so I was like, OK, I'll set it

up for you. And after waiting for Danner for

like a week or so to deactivate his console or

my stuff on his console, I was finally able to

download Kingdoms of Amelar onto the other PlayStation

3. However, I couldn't get her save off of my

PlayStation. Because some of the saves are copy

protected. And so you can't make a backup. I

think you can make a backup of them, but you

can't. actually move them anywhere. You have

to make a whole system back up in order to do

it, or you have to have PlayStation Plus and

save them to the cloud. So we ran out to GameStop

and bought a $50 PSN card and she signed up for

PlayStation Plus because one of the things we

learned about the PlayStation 4 on Tuesday, I

think it was, is that you won't be able to share

digital games. The way it's going to work with

the PlayStation 4 is you have your primary console

where all your stuff is playable, and anyone

that plays on that can play all the games. However,

if I were to sign in on my wife's PS4 where she's

the primary user, if I sign in, I can download

my game again to play on her system in her room

if I want to, but she can't sign in under her

name and play my game. She has to be signed in

under me to play my game Which you know doesn't

allow her to get any trophies or anything like

that Anyways, we decided that it was probably

a good idea to pick up PlayStation Plus for her

so that you know everything would be just we'd

be ready to go on November 15th and So I was

able to back up her saves to the cloud I still

wasn't paying attention when I uploaded them

it threw up some stupid message that I didn't

bother to read and It uploaded to the cloud and

I came in the other room and I went to go download

them and it had a 24 -hour lockout Like she had

to wait 24 hours before she could download the

information from the cloud Weird I think That

might be because it's like copy protected information

or it could be because it's a save file for a

PlayStation Plus game That is on my account I'm

not entirely sure I haven't tried to upload anything

else But it's kind of inconvenient, especially

since your save doesn't get pulled out of the

cloud. It's not like you can load a game from

your cloud storage. The cloud storage has to

be, the save file has to be physically on your

system. Which I'm hoping is something that's

slightly different with the PlayStation 4. But

there are quite a few games that are copy protected

that the only way you can move the information

around is with PlayStation Plus. I know The Walking

Dead is that way. You can't copy a save file

because I think we try to try to take yours,

Danner. Try to take my what? When because I remember

you and I started playing The Walking Dead together.

And I think didn't I come home and I was like,

I don't want to start all the way over from the

beginning. I want to start at episode three where

you and I left off, but I ended up having to

start over because we couldn't copy the save

file or something like that. Something like that,

yeah. So. I don't know, man. It's getting kind

of weird. I don't feel like we own these digital

things we're downloading. I don't like it at

all. I can still take it with me. I can move

it to another system. It's just I can't share

it. And she can play it. It just has to be under

my name. But she can log in on the primary system

and play it under her name. So I don't know.

I guess I could set up both systems as a primary

one. Don't know if that's possible though anyways

So anything else have you been I Don't think

so not yet There's there's a game coming out

that I keep getting excited for and then completely

forgetting about Like there's one more thing

I mean Assassin's Creed 4 dropped This past Tuesday,

but I don't really care about that. I want to

care about it, but I don't And you will on Black

Friday when it's like 30 bucks. I doubt it It's

good things. I'll care. Well, I just I don't

like pirates. I Wasn't as attracted to those

ship missions as everybody else was in in three

I'll be excited for it when it's 15 bucks in

a GameStop dump bin I will say this about the

one thing I've read about Assassin's Creed 4

was somebody was comparing it to the ps3 the

ps4 because no one's seen it on the xbox one

yet people were comparing it to the xbox their

ps4 to the xbox 360 and the ps3 version and one

thing that i kind of expected with the current

gen systems but not with the next gen is loading

screens i thought assassin's creed 4 was supposed

to be like a seamless open world's you know run

out of the city, jump in your ship, sail away

thing and I've heard that there's loading screens

whenever you pull into a dock which is I have

not seen one in like a video so now I'm kind

of like uh what's happening here um kind of bummed

out about that I mean I was I was really excited

because I said wow they're really you know, pulling

out all the stops here. And they said that there

are loading screens on all of them, not just

the current gen stuff there. I expected on the

current gen stuff is like there's no way they

can possibly do that. But they said that they're

on the PS4 version as well. So I was like, oh,

OK, well, whatever. It's still it's 1080p. And

I guess they I guess they were able to lock it

at 30 frames per second. So it won't jump all

over the thing. Oh, because Assassin's three

was jumping everywhere and the animations. are

a lot smoother because they don't have to drop

animations during combat to keep up with things

nice so they actually kind of finish so um but

i'm looking forward i am looking forward to that

but what was the game that you did you say you

were looking there's a game you're looking forward

to or there's a game that you feel like you're

looking forward to joe there's a game that i

think i'm looking forward to but i can't remember

what it is like i'll see it an ad on a website

and go oh yeah that's gonna be the last current

gen game I buy and then and then I forget about

it and it's like oh well I got Grand Theft Auto

5 to play with. That's true. If it comes to me

I will definitely let you know. Daner? I'm in

suspense now I don't know how to feel. What is

this last game? What's coming out in the next

two months guys? Games? Anything that's current

gen? Things? Nothing. I feel like I'm but there

isn't anything but you know, whatever so Danner

yes, you have seen some of the stuff I have not

the ghost extinction So this week Infinity Ward

revealed an extinction mode on Call of Duty Ghost,

which is pretty much for those of you that play

the Treyarch Call of Duty games. They have something

called Zombie Mode. Well, they revealed this

week Extinction Mode, which is zombie mode, essentially,

but with alien invasions. Um, and aliens and

it really looks kind of cool. I think they're

basically doing this to replace the co -op missions.

I believe that they had going in the former modern

warfare games. Um, so I think this is their way

of getting kind of rid of the, the, the co -op

mission mode. Um, they're going to do extinction

mode, which basically looks like a, uh, Kind

of like the zombie mode where it's kind of that

survival mode a group of people working together

for a common goal But it man it looks like Left

4 Dead with aliens With Call of Duty mechanics.

It just looks cool But the thing I'm curious

is with a mode like this, because many people

since seeing this and go, well, I wasn't going

to buy Call of Duty, but now that I see this,

I'm going to buy it now. I don't know why they

waited so close to the release of the game to

say something about this, because literally there's

been absolutely nothing about this until this

week. Well, I wonder if it's and this is kind

of dumb considering what franchise it is, but

I wonder if it's one of those things where you

want to keep the game in. The. Public mind and

it's kind of you know, you know You don't tip

your hand with everything up front and then just

let it you know simmer for months on end It's

kind of like we want to get people excited So

we want to release a news story so that all the

sites pick it up and have something to say Yeah,

it's like it's like what happened. We saw it

happen this year, right? Cuz Sony announced the

PlayStation 4 in February and We've been talking

about it Every week since February because they've

been drip -feeding information and Yeah, it just

to me it seems I Don't know. It doesn't really

seem like Call of Duty seems to be one of those

series that doesn't need to do that that doesn't

really need to do that because you know, they

get people they sell games they Claim that they're

not for gamers. Whatever I'm not bitter about

that statement they made at all. What? So, oh,

you didn't hear about this? The president of

Infinity Ward coming out and saying that our

games aren't for real gamers. That doesn't make

any sense. I agree. I think it's because he was

referring to the sense. It makes sense if you're,

you know, not a Call of Duty gamer and, you know,

not a dude, bro. So. Yep. I think I just felt

insulted when they said that since I've been

playing the series since its inception and just

felt a Little hurt. That's all I don't I don't

think they're involving Including you in that

definition, but I think they are including the

the type of people and we knew the customers

at GameStop that would Spend $300 on a new system

to play mad and that's it There are people now

who spend $300 on the gaming system to play only

Call of Duty You have taste you like other things,

you know why you like other things you're able

to extrapolate on why you like those things,

but But I think they were digging on all the

rest of those people who annoy me so much Because

they have no taste Joe the real taste. I'll make

fun of you for your taste, but I know you have

it I won't I won't actually deprive you of your

qualifications, but other dude bros playing that

game who only play that yeah I'll make fun of

them all day Joe now that you've put it in perspective.

I feel better about myself. So thank you Don't

know what you're talking about guys. I don't

even like Call of Duty anymore. I'm just the

battlefield guy and I just love battlefield sharp

Sean Okay art So Danny have you been playing

anything else? I've been playing Batman besides

Batman and I've been playing The Toy Story pack

in Disney Infinity thought that was for your

kids I've been playing it with Graydon. When

Noelle doesn't want to play, I will pick up and

take her spot because she's fickle and comes

back every 15 minutes. Ben said she wants to

play and then she gets distracted by something

shiny and then is gone for 20 minutes and I play

for her. And yeah, it's kind of like that. So.

That's been fun. I've been enjoying that. It

seems a little, it seems to capture the kid's

attention much more than the other. Packets that

have come out on that. I need to come over and

play this, I think. It's fun. I mean, I think

you'll get a kick out of it. I think the Toy

Story one is by far the more solid, more solid

than any of the other worlds they've put out

so far. Just because it doesn't seem is not derived

in the movies at all. It's its own thing. It's

a completely new. Concept and story and it has

nothing to do with the movies where it seems

like every single one of the packs they've put

out is ingrained in the movie world of each of

those characters where they put it in a on an

alien planet and you have to build a Star Command

on this alien planet and there's you know puddles

of goo everywhere and Green goo makes you big.

Purple goo makes you small. So it just deals

with size manipulation for all the puzzles and

stuff for it. And it's pretty interesting. It's

well done. Like I said, it's a lot different

than any of the other worlds that they've done

for the game so far, which has been kind of nice.

All right. See, I think I'm still going to pick

up the PlayStation 4 version just so you can

have it. That's fine. So you can get your Incredibles

figures? Yeah. Come on, how dumb was that? They

had the Mr. Incredible, they were clear. That's

the wrong character to release in a clear version.

Oh, it was him and Sully and Lightning McQueen.

So all the ones... Well, I guess Lightning McQueen

doesn't come in the main pack. Yeah, all those

Toys R Us sets are exclusive and they're only

clear. Which is weird. Why would I want a clear

figure? The other thing that was weird also is

that Walmart had Woody exclusive for like two

weeks before the Toy Story pack came out. Which

means you could only use him in the open world

like toy box mode. But you still had him for

two weeks before anybody else. just waited until

the Toy Story pack came out and then Target had

to buy the pack and then get any figure for 50

% off. So I got Woody. Cool. I got a Woody. All

right. One last little bit of news before we

take a break and begin our Xbox, or not our Xbox,

our Arkham Origins discussion. You got an Xbox

on the brain? No, I don't. Well, actually, yes,

I do, because the story that I wanted to bring

up, which only really affects me, it doesn't

affect anybody else because nobody else seems

to care about the game but me, is Titanfall.

EA has come out and said that is exclusive to

the Xbox One, the Xbox 360, and the PC for the

life of the title. Pretty easy. So it doesn't

make any money and then they have to open it

up to the PS4. Yeah, that could still change.

I'm sure they don't really care considering Microsoft

probably paid a pretty hefty sum. To make it

exclusive. Yes. Now that's not to say that Titanfall

2 couldn't show up on the PS4, it's just Titanfall

is supposedly, still supposedly, I'm going to

say supposedly because even Mass Effect showed

up on the PS3, is supposedly never coming to

the PlayStation 4. And this makes me really sad,

because whenever I look through the Xbox One

lineup compared to the PlayStation 4 lineup,

the one game that makes me think, man, maybe,

you know, I would really like to play that game,

and I would need an Xbox One to do so, it's Titanfall.

Like, that's the one game that they have. And

it really just kind of bums me out, because like

I said, EA is a multi -platform game publisher,

not, you know, an exclusive game publisher. And

apparently, the studio... That made the game

had no idea that this deal was taking place until

they heard about it Yeah, went ahead and just

did it with Microsoft Wow now From what I my

understanding is is that response studios still

owns the IP? but there's still a really small

studio and So they can't really go and like self

publish their own stuff. They kind of need EA

to To help them out with the publishing part

of it Those those guys seem to get screwed no

matter where they go Don't they though? Yeah

Pour one out for Titanfall All right, we'll take

a break and when we come back we're going to

annoy the hell out of Joe No, no, I'm interested

in hearing this. I really am we're gonna talk

about Batman Arkham Origins Titanfall Titan fell

Did you see Before we go to break did you see

the? Other cause her I tweet where he's like

we have her own Titanfall killer. It's called

Trenton fall It was Jack Trenton's face photoshopped

on a Titan. Oh, I did see that All right We're

gonna take a break and off the cuff we'll be

right back. This time around, a special guest

joins the guys for the Zelda reviews. It's the

famed Ender from Radio Free Cybertron and the

Pole Bag. So tune in and help us find the pixels

in the animation, which you can find on iTunes

and www .geekastradio .com. Excuse us, listeners.

And we're back on the other side of some ad that

I will choose at the time of editing. Probably,

I don't know what it'll be. It'll probably be

an audible audible audible .com ad. No, it'll

be an advertisement about things and possibly

stuff. It will be an advertisement for another

podcast on geekcastradio .com. You should totally

listen to Unless this is the only one you listen

to and you only listen to one don't change us

out for another one because we love you We love

you on a weekly basis We love you hard and suffer

when Joe makes fun of you for no apparent reason

with no basis because apparently you have no

friends. Yeah, I'm sorry What a day I'm sorry.

That's all right. I don't think anyone called

you out on it or that guy just hasn't listened

to the podcast I think, I hope it's obvious that

I didn't mean that, but you know, okay. Which

reminds me, I should probably pull up the comments

from the last show. So we can cover those too.

Yay comments! I like comments! So, let's get

this train rolling here. Was that your Sean impression,

Joe? No. That was my, I'm gonna creep out all

of my middle school students voice. You creeped

me out. I thought you were trying to pull a Sean.

Because it sounded like you had no balls. So

I just figured that was a Sean impression. I

don't know if he listens to these shows when

he's not on them. He should, because I hope it

makes him cry. I hope it makes it weep into his

KY so it gives him a little bit extra lube. Dang,

man. All right. So, Danner. To start off, how

many hours do you think you've put into Arkham

Origins? Or wait, no, better yet. This is how

we're going to cover Arkham Origins. One sentence

or less. What do you think of Arkham Origins?

Pure enjoyment. Wow. Okay, how many hours have

you put into the game? Probably six or seven.

All right. I think I'm about about there, about

eight, eight or so hours. I think you're further

than me in the story. I don't know about that.

Like because we were talking about how many losses

we've taken out. Actually, you know what? You're

probably wrong because I'm taking out. Another

one on the list from what I gave you yesterday.

Okay, well, let's back up here for a second.

Okay, Arkham Origins is the prequel. Actually,

it's the third game in the Arkham series, which

was famously showed up on scene from Rock City

in 2009. Started with Arkham Asylum, and then

it was followed up in 2011 by Arkham City. And

then now we have a prequel where all the art

assets and everything else to make the game was

handed off to Warner Brothers Montreal. and Arkham

Origins was born it is set before Arkham Asylum

and Arkham City and anyone that's listening to

the podcast has heard me rail about how I think

the game will be bad or if you know it's it's

gonna be a travesty and all this other all this

other stuff he's not entirely correct No, I kind

of take back some of what I said although sometimes

When I'm playing the game actually if I had to

sum it up in one sentence or less I would actually

have to say It's it's good to the point where

I feel bad playing it Or feel bad for enjoying

it Because one of my concerns with the whole

thing was it took it took a studio like Rocksteady

To come out and actually make a good Batman game

and for water brothers to decide that any studio

could potentially make a good Batman game using

that same formula it that really bothered me

because the thing I think is that they've been

really really concerned with screwing this up

because they know how big of a deal this is for

their gaming division And they know that this

is really the only franchise that Warner Brothers

has in their gaming division that actually makes

any games Yep, I take back everything I just

said They they want it to be a solid franchise

that they don't want to lose money with it. So

I think they did treat it With pretty much the

utmost respect that they could Do I think it

would have been better done by Rocksteady? Yes.

But do I respect what Rocksteady is doing right

now and respecting the space that is giving them

the work on their next project? Yes. Yeah. Well,

I was kind of worried that it was going to run

into like the same thing that happened with like

X -Men 3 and Superman Returns, where it was like

one singer wanted to make X -Men 3, but he wanted

to make Superman Returns first. And both movies

ended up being crap. And I was kind of I was

worried that the kind of the same thing would

happen here where it's like Warner Brothers wanted

Rocksteady to make another Arkham game But Rocksteady

wants to work on a Justice League game and then

Warner Brothers like well, we want another Arkham

game So we'll just make a studio to make that

game Basically beating around the bush Not beating

around the bush anymore. I am actually enjoying

origins more than I enjoyed city and Yeah, I'm

gonna say exactly the same and I think a lot

of the reasons I'm enjoying it more is the pacing

is so much better than city because they give

you other missions from the main missions. It's

a much steadier rate and they don't, that was

the biggest complaint I know we both had with

city was the fact that they give you all this

stuff. Like the moment you get out of the first

story mission, all this stuff pops up around

the city. And it turns into this whole giant

ADD Fest where you don't know where to go because

there's so much stuff going on in the city. And

it's like, do I do main story missions or do

I do one of these 12 other things that are going

around in the city at the exact same time? And

it just felt so pressureful to go do other stuff,

but you It just became very hard to balance between

the main story and everything else that was going

on. But not even that, like some of the side

quests in Arkham City were like fan service and

dumb. Like the whole, the thing with Bane, like

you meet Bane and it's like, I need you to help

me to destroy these six things. You go get three

of them. I'll get the other three. And that's

it. What? Well, like there was no point in that

story. And then you end up fighting him. I don't

even remember fighting him. Oh, you didn't finish

it then. I locked him in a cell and then that

was the end of that. You fight him and then lock

him in the cell. So there you go. See, well,

there you go. I don't even remember. That's how

pointless that whole thing was to me. I will

say this, though, about City. And it's interesting

that Sean Z at the beginning of the episode brought

up his love for Saints Row 4. In a lot of ways,

and I think I said this to you, like, in a text,

sometimes when I'm playing Arkham Origins, it

feels like story DLC for Arkham City. Because

they use a lot of the same assets. Yeah, because,

but a lot of the city that they're reusing is

it, you know, it's pretty much all destroyed

in the first one. And now in this one, it's.

before all those things happen in the other two

games. So it's a much more pristine, better looking

thing. But the other aspect that's missing from

the city is the fact that the city is on curfew

and it's on lockdown. So there's still once again,

nobody in the city but criminals that I don't

know what it is. But like that just I have the

same. And this is kind of going off on a tangent

here. But I have the same problem with the Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. a Nickelodeon.

Yeah, I noticed that. There's no, like it's set

in New York City, or do they even say it's New

York in that show? I don't even know if they

do. Yeah, it's New York. Okay. There's no, there's

never anybody else, you hardly ever see any civilians

anywhere. And it's, and this is another thing

that Dan and I were talking about. It's like

everyone, every single guy that you come across

in Origins, thinks they are like tough as nails

and they're going to be the one to take out the

Batman and I understand that this is like supposed

to be like you know a younger Batman he's just

starting out not a lot of people know who he

is or anything like that but it's just weird

that everybody tries to fight you like there

is no intimidation in this game I there was an

instance where I dropped from a building to get

one of these one of the Riddler's relay stations

And there were two guys huddled around a barrel,

you know, with fire in it for warmth. And they

were just standing there and I dropped on the

ground next to them and I walked up behind them

and I was expecting them to, like, see me and,

like, at first I thought they were just, like,

NPC characters. I didn't even think you could

fight them. And so I just kind of walked over

to them and they didn't engage me or anything

like that. And I thought, you know, as soon as

they see me maybe they'll get startled and run

away. No, they turned towards me and the first

thing they did was take a swing at me. and I

didn't even do anything to them I don't know

if I was those guys and a guy came up to me dressed

like freaking Batman I'd probably turn around

and shit my pants like I don't everybody is just

trying to get you and there isn't like there

isn't one there isn't like one person it would

be just interesting just come across one guy

and even even like when you come across the I

think one of my favorite things is when you're

zipping around the city which for some reason

feels better in this than it did in Arkham City

It does, yeah. When you're zipping around the

city, you get those police calls? Yep. Those

are kind of fun, although it took me a little

while to realize that I was just beating up guilty

cops, or dirty cops. Not all the time. In other

aspects of the city, they're not dirty cops.

Okay. I've only beaten up two groups of dirty

cops so far, except for in the... Except for

the Gotham the GR Gotham City GCPD there we go

whoo geez took me a while to get there apologize

Except for the GCPD building where that's all

you do is beat up dirty cops now. Let me ask

you this about the GCPD There's that one area

where you have to walk over or all the cops are

Yep, did you ever drop in? To try to beat them

all up They accidentally saw me when I wasn't

being careful and I got the crap kicked out of

me. I I must have tried it Somewhere between

six and ten times like I drew I threw a smoke

bomb in there and dropped in on them and Tried

to take them all out Well, that seems silly it

was I just want to see if it could be done it

was I because you're freaking Batman And the

way that the combo system works in that game

is when you have a lot of guys to hit, you can

rack up the combo meter. And I was just thinking,

like, if I keep moving and I keep hitting the

guys that have, like, the guns, you know, they'll

drop them and I can just keep going in a circle

around the room. But every once in a while, some

guy would get a lucky hit in and I wouldn't hit

the counter button in time and I would lose my

combo streak and have to start over. And I did

it a couple of times. And then Ali, my wife sat

down next to me. I said, okay, this is what I

need you to do. I need you to watch the surrounding

area to see if these guys are even falling down.

Because it was one of those instances where I

was kind of like, can you even take any of these

guys out? Um, or is it a no win scenario? Exactly.

And she, she says she couldn't see anybody that

was actually getting hit and staying on the ground.

So I was just kind of like, okay, well then it's

a no. I noticed that the cops seem a little.

Dirty? No, I was gonna say they're a bitch to

fight the SWAT officers are a bitch to fight

because they do not go down easy Are you talking

about like the the guys that have the gear on

they have to do the you have to stun them first?

No No, just like any of the guys that run the

SWAT team like the regular cops go down fine

But any of the SWAT officers are a bitch to take

down hmm Like the guys that were roughing up

the two guys at the very front of the G there's

like four cops roughing up those uh Homeless

people at the very front entrance of the GRC

PD when you're kind of sneaking through there

And those four guys were a bitch to take down

Okay, I guess I didn't see them I I very rarely

spend any time on the ground because even when

I step foot on the ground for a second Some guy

runs up to me and tries to punch me in the face

So what are you doing? Why are you doing this?

You know I've been I've been listening to you

guys night I really you know for a game that

you're saying is really awesome and having a

lot of fun with you haven't Talked about what's

good about it I've only heard griping um which

leads me to believe that the reviews that I've

read may be true Because I've only seen it getting

like below five out of ten sort of scores Well,

it's one of those things that I'm trying to be

critical of it, but also It's, it's a good game.

I really, I am enjoying the game, but I'm enjoying

it as I enjoyed the other ones. But like I said,

I so far in this game, I feel that there's some

glitchiness to it, which I did not experience

in Arkham city. Um, but the, like I said, the

pacing's better and I'm enjoying the story, but

I'm not Until I beat the game, I can't really

comment on the overarchingness of the story.

I mean, most of the stuff that's happened in

the story to me has been kind of predictable,

but enjoyable. Yeah. I think the fact that every

single commercial and advertisement for this

game has been very misleading and very false

because they set up the premise and the premise

goes out the window within the first four hours

of the game. Yeah. Which I thought was great.

I love it when that happens. I love the fact

that they've been advertising it and putting

it a certain way and then just completely spend

it on its heels and whatever they advertised

and promised from the game was all lies. And

I'm fine with that. I like that. So for me, and

this has been kind of the way the Arkham City

or the Arkham series has always been for me,

and I think it may be the first game I ever said

this for Arkham Asylum was the first game I ever

said this for, which is that it was... Arkham

Asylum was so good that the only, you know, the

only, it was easier to talk about what was bad

about it. Arkham City was kind of the other way

around where I could talk about some of the good

things in it because it had, it looked good and

it had the same core gameplay mechanics, but

a lot of the other game, a lot of the other stuff

fell flat. And I think it's kind of come back

around with Arkham Origins where it's... now

it's back to that part where it's easier to talk

about what's what's wrong with the game and they're

and they're like minor gripes like the whole

thing like like dana said yeah there is an excuse

for like people not to be out on the streets

but just the sheer amount of criminals that are

on the streets is ridiculous it's almost like

we're in a giant city that was turned into a

prison so oh wait they've already done that but

i think that The other thing that I kind of noticed

about Origins is that it makes you... I don't

think it's as good as Asylum was, but it does

a really good job of making you feel like Batman.

Which is something that I didn't get out of City.

It might be the way the pacing is, or it might

be the way that things are laid out. Like for

instance... Some of the bosses or some like you

don't just run into a boss you go someplace and

you trigger an event or you trigger like a small

cutscene and then it puts you on the path to

finding said boss and It's up to you to finish

like certain little side quests here or there

to lead to that boss And I think that kind of

stuff is really interesting where it just kind

of depends on where you are in the city, whether

or not it gets triggered. You don't have to,

you don't progress necessarily through the story

to trigger certain events. You just have to go

through the traversal of it, which is great because

when you're traversing around the city... and

you're running along rooftops or zip lining everywhere

eventually you get like a call on the scanner

that says there's a crime in progress and it

tells you where the crime is and it's like oh

i'm gonna go be batman i'm gonna go interrupt

that crime um and it just feels really good to

to do that it's it i think that this is a better

open world game than city was just just because

of that i agree um if this were the first arkham

game would it be as good, would it be good, would

it be better than what you had? If this was the

first time you played a good Batman game, what

would you think about it? I would think great

things, amazing things. Yes. Okay. But the thing

that I loved about Asylum was that it was so

focused. There wasn't anything in Asylum that

didn't need to be there. And that's the one thing

that I think that Origins gets over City. is

the fact that it feels more focused like Asylum

did, but it's, I mean, it's, it's not like super

focused linear like Asylum where it was kind

of open world, but it's not. I mean, Origins

is the world's huge in Origins. Yeah. I don't

feel as for some reason I felt like a certain

amount of Even though even the origins takes

place in one night and city took place in one

night for some reason I felt more of a time constraint

in Like an urgentness to city. It's city had

that urgentness, but also had that oh My god,

there's so much going on in the city right now.

I don't know what to do with myself That was

like a big issue I had with city and I completely

agree with that, but I think I think the the

urgentness the feeling of urgency in city magnified

the amount of stuff there was to do because it

was like you want me to go do all this stuff

but I still have to save this city and I don't

even think there was there wasn't like a an actual

hard time limit to finishing the game I don't

even think there was like a catastrophic catastrophic

event that you were really trying to stop was

there was there a rocket or a bomb or something?

in city they were gonna bomb the asylum because

eventually eventually in the storyline, if you're

going down the storyline and you get like to

essentially when the final protocol or yeah,

the final protocol start the blimps come out

and pretty much certain gunning down everybody

in the city. Okay. And every, most of the stuff

goes on lockdown and you can't really do anything

at that point, except for progressing along the

main story. Right. And then once you complete

that, I mean, Then he'll be Batman then he could

go be Batman and you know what now I now that

I think about it It does this and this goes back

to what I said about our origins feeling like

story DLC it It almost does feel like it feels

like the aftergame of city But with more with

the story yeah Because you can go anywhere and

do what you want and again the game does take

place One night. In fact, I think I've gone past

midnight in the game because I've heard Alfred

say something about Merry Christmas Yeah, which

I also thought was a very nice touch about the

game that when you're Swinging through and Alfred

goes sir. It's it's midnight. I just want to

wish you wish you Merry Christmas and then he

goes Merry Christmas Alfred and like then the

bell tolls in the background Oh the clock tower

and I'm just like like It's little things like

that that don't need to be in the game that are

just nice little details. Like I love, love,

love, love, love the dichotomy between Alfred

and Batman in this game. Absolutely love it because

it's early on in his career where Alfred doesn't

fully is not fully behind him yet and is really

keeps trying to convince him to get the cops

involved or leave this for somebody else constantly

throughout the game or, you know, reminding him

that, you know, these are cops you're dealing

with, trying to be a little easier on them. And

it's that Alfred's trying to have him grip onto

his humanity. And Bruce is trying like hell to

not. grip onto his humanity and it's just that's

the one thing I've really enjoyed about this

game is that that relationship between Alfred

and Batman has been Fantastic. That's the one

thing I've got to say above all else the dialogue

and the acting I think are just fantastic Okay,

if I if I borrow this game from one of you in

a month or three Am I gonna have a hard time

not having played the other two? No Okay, you

might have a hard time playing the other two

Just just just by virtue of it being the third

one and it's even though it's a prequel It's

it's the third one. So there's like mechanics

that are in it that wouldn't be in asylum Yeah,

that's what that's kind of what I'm worried about

I had a hard time with the control scheme of

even part one once they got into any kind of

button combination Okay, I'm done. There's well

See, the way I always play the Arkham Games is

just mash square and triangle. Yep. I don't even

bother with any of the button combos. I will

say this. We talked about the Merry Christmas

thing. You said you were like swinging through

the city. I was in the middle of a fight when

that happened. And I was punching thugs in the

face when Alfred came over the thing and said,

Merry Christmas, sir. Just like, this is great.

how casually i'm just beating on thugs um but

no it does it it's great i i do enjoy i also

do enjoy seeing the key places from arkham city

i just wish there was more familiarity with them

especially when you go inside some of the same

buildings because i'm pretty sure in arkham city

you go inside the gcpd I don't know. I don't

remember. What does Freeze take over? Is it the

morgue? No. Yeah, it's the morgue. Okay, he took

over the morgue. Oh, it is GRCPD. Yeah, and it

looks absolutely nothing like it. No. Yeah, that

kind of bummed me out. But then again, there's

a scene underground. I mean, this takes place,

what, three to five years before Arkham Asylum?

You've been underground already, right? Yes.

Okay. So maybe that's got something to do with

it. The inside of the courthouse looks almost

exactly the same. There's a few subtle differences.

There isn't a basement level to get to, but that

stairwell is just not there, but that could have

easily been something created in a remodel. Right.

One thing, and again, I already talked to Danner

about this on text and stuff like that, but I

don't feel like, and this could be controller

lag, this could be display lag, it could be anything.

It could even be player error or just how bad

I am at the game. I don't feel like the controls

are as sharp as they were in Asylum or Citi.

Like you hit triangle the counter, but more often

than not, I just end up getting punched in the

back of the head. Do you notice that at all?

Um. I was going to say it actually feels a little

the combat actually feels a little bit more tighter

to me, and I don't think it's. I think it's one

of those things in the past two games you had

to get used to. How it was off slightly and I

think they're a little more I don't know This

it feels a little more on to me in this game

than it did in the other two games I Will say

this Batman is definitely wearing hockey pants.

Yes. He is That's straight -up hockey pants.

I don't know what they were thinking with that

costume design Or he has thighs like tree trunks

and the rest of us like fit like It's it the

suit seems kind of bulky in my pants and it seems

bulky in the pants but like you it's Three years

before I know I love I mean it should be bulky.

I understand I'm just I'm the other thing I gotta

say that I love about the voice actor for Batman

Have you noticed? when he gets upset with criminals

and like is yelling at them, how he goes into

the Christian bail mode. Yeah. Which I thought

was fantastic. Like he doesn't have that refined

Batman that Conroy has, but it has that like

gruffness that bail kind of brought to it. Like

when he yells at people, he sounds like bail

does. Um, in the Batman, uh, in the Nolan. Right.

Well, except he doesn't sound like he's chewing

on rocks. He agreed. You can understand what

he's saying. He doesn't sound like he's gargling

a mouthful of cum. So that's nice. But I know

a lot of people were pissed when they heard that

Conroy wasn't voicing it and that Hamill was

coming back to do the Joker. But to be honest,

I don't mind either of the guys that are voicing

them. They sound fine. Batman? This might be

sacrilege considering, you know asylum and city

are Well asylum was great and City was okay if

I Feel like I never really felt like Conroy's

Batman fit with that Batman. Oh, I agree I Don't

get me wrong. It just I don't think I'd have

had it any other way, but it didn't fit Like

exactly that's what I'm saying because I don't

know who else I would want in that role or anything,

but I just never felt like he I Never felt like

he his voice fit the armored wearing Batman Or

just the the look but I really did enjoy the

the you know the nod to the whole You know the

the Batman the animated series where all the

voice actors came back to reprise their roles

That was awesome. I'm pretty sure that was one

of the biggest selling points for that game.

Was the voice cast and stuff like that. That

said, Hamill I thought fit the Joker. I think

his Joker voice fits any Joker that there is.

But the new guy they got, he's pretty good too.

Yeah, no, he is. There was a moment... He's taking

a lot of - his voice is very much based on Hamill's

version, but I've been pretty happy so far. I've

only had the one encounter with him. So have

I. And for a minute in that scene, I kind of

thought maybe they pulled one over on people.

Like they got Hamill to come back. And obviously

they didn't because you would be hearing about

all over the internet But there's it does sound

like they could have pulled one over on people

I haven't really had a problem with Batman's

voice at all because I think this guy just He

sounds like the Batman that would be in that

suit exactly which is which is great and the

whole reason I said earlier about Arkham's Arkham

origins. I just I feel bad for liking it so much

because Damn, I didn't want to I didn't want

it to be this good. I wanted it. I I wanted it

to Fall flat and then it would be like to my

low low expectations And the other thing that

I will say that I've enjoyed about it Which I

don't think Mike's really shared my opinion is

the crime scene stuff in this game. I think is

a lot I don't know. In the past games, it seemed

very like, uh, here's a crime scene and scan

the scan that you're done. Um, the, being able

to, uh, fast forward and rewind the crime scene

after you put pieces of it together. So you can

actually see what happened. I thought was a cool

aspect, which I pointed out to Mike was something

that kind of ripped off from, uh, the condemned

series. Um, which I was fine with. Um, but I,

I, I've been enjoying the crime scene investigation

stuff. I hope it doesn't go like the other games

where it's something they use like in the beginning

of the game and they completely goes by the wayside

and they never utilize it later in the game ever

again. It doesn't. Okay. Here's Here's the thing

about the crime scene investigation things. Yes,

they're cool I do love I do enjoy them in this

game and I do enjoy because you can actually

see the the whole thing about what happens but

it's just one of those it's this is one of those

prime examples of Making a prequel after two

other games Because if he can investigate crimes

this way, but then he can't do that in Arkham

Asylum Or anything else it just it's just one

of those little video game nitpicky things, right?

but I do enjoy them in the way that they're laid

out. I guess they are obviously they are more

interactive because you can fast forward and

rewind through the scene. One of the things I

like doing is when you're doing the fast forward

and the rewind things and watching the scene

play out is walking around the scene while it's

happening. Oh yeah. That's really cool and they

don't seem to be like tied into the story other

than the one other than the big one that we've

seen so far. They seem to just pop up at random

when you're around the city. They're just unsolved

case files, which is also kind of neat. I guess

I do like them. I guess the hand holding nature

of them, which is just like scan that, now scan

this, now scan that, now scan this. It's just

kind of weird because it's like you go and you

check out a crime scene. It's like eventually

you want them to be more complicated and just

go, here's a crime scene. Figure it out yourself.

Almost almost to that point. What I do find funny

is when he's like, oh, I have to identify this

victim and you point at the sheet that's covering

them up. Yeah. And he doesn't even lift it up,

but he already knows who they are. Well, it's

one of those things that there's only so much

you can get away with in a T rated game. I mean,

if it was a mature rated game, I'm sure would

be. A little more gruesome than that. I totally

get it. I understand. I'm just. I'm just nitpicking

now. It's one of those things that they're playing

towards what the rating they were given. So but

it does like I keep saying it does. It it feels

really good to be I get a better sense of being

Batman in the larger world. Like I think asylum

is excellent. Asylum is an excellent example

of how Batman would attack a contained situation.

But I think origins is a better idea of how Batman

spends his nights. Yep, I agree with that. And

I'm not quite sure what City does. City was fun

and I thought it was, I mean, I enjoyed City

as much as we've kind of complained about it.

But like I said, the pacing sucked. Are there

as many? One thing I've been kind of on the lookout

for, but I haven't really found, is there aren't

a lot of collectibles this time around. Oh, I

beg to differ. Well, OK, I haven't seen like

a Rither trophy. They're replaced with the the

Draw, what do they call them the drops? Yeah,

those are like drop. Those are easier to find

though like the the drops and the I'm sorry the

the blackmail packets and the the sensors the

relay sensors the relay sensors But those are

all marked on the map where the trophies ever

marked on a map If you cleared areas, yes, okay

Alright, I just I mean maybe it's because it's

not the same collectible I guess it's because

it's not the one thing I will say that I missed

from asylum is the finding the spray painted

question mark I Did you remember where you had

to like get to whip out the camera? Yeah, I had

to line it up the right way to see the the dot

and the little swoopy thing. Oh, yeah That was

always kind of like it just played with perspective.

That was always kind of neat to do I've been

I've been finding the anarchy symbols spread

throughout the area and buildings. Those have

been interesting to find. I haven't finished

anarchy yet. OK, so let's one more thing to discuss

about it and then we can kind of wrap it up.

What have you who have you fought so far? I have

fought Killer Croc, who you fight in the tutorial.

So he's not like a real boss fight. Deathstroke.

Shit. Electrocutionist. Electrocutioner, which

is great. Was awesome. The Mad Hatter. OK, Mad

Hatter, did that? I keep I don't want to keep

dragging this down, but did Mad Hatter feel like?

This game's scarecrow. Yeah, okay except it was

this game's scarecrow except I will a hundred

percent say they did scarecrows shit way better

because that level was a fucking nightmare to

traverse I Hated that level This is the worst

design thing so far in the entire game. I just

ran through all the electrocution stuff. Well,

I just I Was having an issue with the perspective

and the controls and that was driving me crazy

I don't remember having that much many issues

with any of the scarecrows scarecrow stuff. Okay

I've met Shiva, but I haven't actually fought

her yet. Okay Anarchy And I think that's it okay,

I have done killer croc and electrocutioner and

deathstroke I've met Shiva, I think I just have

to go find her. And I've done the anarchy stuff,

I just have to go find him. And that's one of

the interesting things about the game is that

you feel like... One of the things for me is

that I keep trying to like, okay, I just want

to finish this game. I just want to finish it.

And I sit down and like, I do two story missions.

And then I'm like, ooh, relay stations. Okay,

ooh, this thing, ooh, that thing. But it's not

like... I don't feel like overwhelmed it's just

kind of like it's kind of like when I was playing

Assassin's Creed 3 and I just made the conscious

choice to go start killing drummers and it kind

of drew me into the game a little bit I feel

like that's what that kind of stuff is in this

game where it's like I'm gonna go do a couple

story visions and it's like whoa I wonder what's

going on over here or you or you come across

one of those crime scene investigation things

and stuff like that yeah it's and it's one of

those I've been I haven't really felt really

pressured to do the story stuff in the game.

So I I'm just enjoying the game for what it is.

It's one of those things that kind of it's one

of those like PS4 comes out in a couple of weeks.

I kind of want to be done with this in a couple

of weeks. But I'm like, I still this is distracting

for me finishing last of us now. So So that's

kind of eating at the back of my mind. It was

like, I kind of want to get back to the last

of us, but I'm kind of really in, it's one of

the few things that I was like the moment I get

free time, like I want to sit down and play Batman

instead of, I want to sit down and watch this

TV show or stuff like that. It's like, it's one

of those, it's like constantly at the back of

my mind that like I constantly want playing the

game. And I just haven't had that in a while,

which is kind of nice. You just kind of have

a game that's kind of You want to play it You

don't feel like it's a chore you enjoy screwing

around in the game. Yeah, no, I get that totally

I I picked it up because I was like, oh, it's

you know, could be a fitting swan song to the

generation I'm not sick when I say that I don't

mean it's like GTA 5 like Last of Us or Bioshock

Infinite or anything like that I'm just saying

like it's the last game on the current gen stuff

that I will probably buy And I did kind of sit

down on Friday night with it, with that mentality

and Sunday and Monday night. I was like, man,

I just want to get through this as fast as possible

so I can talk about it in full on the show. But

at the same time, I was having a lot of fun just

doing stuff. And like Tomb Raider, I beat in

like three days or something like that. And I

was able to talk about it in its entirety. But

this game is just... Like I said the way they

distract you with stuff isn't overwhelming at

all. It's just like oh, I'll go check that out.

It's It's just I keep saying it if it makes you

it feels really good to play as to be Batman

for a night So I'll let you wrap up with anything

you've got to say and then I want to touch on

the Vita game For as little bit as I've played

it I've said what I had to say. Joe, do you have

any questions you want to ask about it? No, but

I think coming off the end of discussing this

Batman game might be a good opportunity to segue

a little early into a question, if you agree,

since you know what the question is. Shoot. He

forgot. Yep, I did. Okay. Forgive me if I'm doing

this out of order and I throw you off of your

schedule, but I guess a user User feedback question

then we have this wonderful trilogy of Batman

games that Rocksteady came and they finally did

a Batman game that doesn't absolutely suck like

some of the side scrollers did on the NES and

Super Nintendo and all the Batman animated series

games were They didn't make you feel like Batman

like these modern games did They still haven't

done a good Superman. And so my question to the

listeners is Congratulations, you are now the

producer and director of the next Superman game.

What is the play mechanic? What style of game

do you build your game around? To make a Superman

a good game to play How do you balance his power?

How do you make him? What do you give him to

do? Remember, if you don't think of it, Rock

said he will, so it's all good. Yeah. I wouldn't

be surprised to see something like that come

up on next -gen. Speaking of, I think Origins

is one of those games that I highly suspect will

get a next -gen release. As well like that we

know the Wii title the Wii U title that came

out where is like Batman with electric fists

now Batman Arkham City armored edition. Yeah,

I think but I think that this will look I think

it'll look markedly better because the PC version

looks a lot better Apparently they are able to

do amazing things with his cape which Like his

cape has always been a sticking point to me in

a game and that's the other thing that I felt

like the Arkham games got right was his cape

Just the way it looks when you're moving through

the environment and it's got a weight to it Yes,

and it has they actually have an entire physics

model for it on the PC Which next -gen consoles

may be able to pull off on their own so um I

have I do own the Vita version I bought it right

before I fell asleep on Friday night Because

I had nothing else to do with 40 bucks I have

played about an hour and a half two hours of

it It reminds me because the art style there

are not there the cutscenes in the game are not

handled the way They are in the console version.

They're animated aren't they they're animated

in the same way that infamous as cutscenes are

animated sweet and the character designs are

I, you know, it's the same character designs

from the Arkham games. It is, I believe it is

set. I thought they were both, I thought both

games were supposed to be set at about the same

time, but Blackgate seems to be set after the

events of Origins. Yeah, it's between Origins

and Arkham Asylum. Okay. I've only played the

intro level. which I know that we said that it

opens up after that and it does it looks like

it opens up and you get to there are three different

areas with three distinct bosses um that you

have to go into I believe it's I believe the

three bosses are the joker the black mask and

the penguin um each one of them controls a section

of the prison and you have to gain control of

you know gaining control of a section of the

prison grants you certain accesses to other places

like one person has control over the power grid

one person control has control over like the

camera systems or something like that so as you

defeat bosses kind of like a mega man game you

gain like extra abilities to use while you're

navigating around the black gate prison combat

is identical to what it is on the console version

except for it's on a two and a half d plane you

can move in you know into the screen and towards

the screen and uh you know guys attack you it

looks really good even i i want to say it almost

looks like it could be streaming from it could

be like a remote play game out of ps4 like it

looks it looks really good nice um it seems to

play really good it's just in that opening level

a lot of the traversal is done using your grapple

hook and that's just R1. So a lot of that, if

you're not punching something, usually you're

running to the right and hitting R1. And one

of the things I felt was missing right off the

bat, and I get this way when I play a lot of

like 2D or 2 .5D platformers, is the lack of

a jump button. Feels really weird. Um, he doesn't

so much jump as it's like a contextual thing.

The same way it kind of is on the consoles, where

if he gets really close to like, or you run into

a wall and you hit X, like he'll jump to grab

the ledge and climb up if he can. Otherwise,

if it's like just out of reach by like a foot

instead of jumping, you have to fire your grapple

hook. Um, so it just, it just feels kind of weird,

but it's, it's, it's fun. I do, there are days

like the past couple of days where I'm like,

man, I should sit down and play that again for

the show. um but in all honesty i spent most

of the day on saturday and most of the day yesterday

catching up on a huge backlog of tv shows that

i have um and monday sunday and monday night

i spent playing arkham origins so i'm hoping

to be able to play more of black gate and talk

about more of that in depth but for right now

like if it's on if like friday if it's like available

for 20 bucks i think it's totally worth it especially

if you enjoy origins or you like like a metroidvania

or if you ever wanted like an Arkham game in

the Metroidvania sense like it it feels really

good it didn't have I have not seen touch controls

yet which is fine yeah I think I think there

may be I think there may be a touch control but

it's on the it's on the front and it's down the

back so you can actually rest your you can you

know hold the system instead of having to like

you know suspend the system in your fingertips

um so but no it's I I mean, even though I've

only played an hour and a half with it, I don't

feel like I've wasted forty dollars yet. So that's

that's that's fine. All right. We'll take another

quick break here and when we come back on the

other side, we'll have reader feedback or listener

feedback, reader feedback, because we write stuff.

Yay. Love some listener feedback. That would

be terrible. My wife's job. She manages people

who we could transcribe these. We could give

them the episodes and they could transcribe them

for us. It's like eight cents a line. Yeah, no,

no. So I will. Yeah, we'll be back on the other

side of this. Another ad for another show and

we'll have some listener feedback. So stick around

off the cuff. We'll be right back. The Pull Bag

is GCRN's comic book review and discussion based

podcast. Join your host TFG1 Mike and the rest

of the GCRN crew as we make our way through the

comics we are reading. Inside The Pull Bag, you'll

also find back issue classic episodes and origins

of how we got into comic reading. You can find

The Pull Bag on iTunes and on www .geecastradio

.com. Make your great escape into comics and

jump into the pullback today. Welcome back. It's

off the cuff. We are going to do I'm sorry, I

was too busy. We're just coming back from having

a long chat with Sean Z about his life. I'm a

little distracted now. We're going to such a

whining bitch. Yeah, we finally had to let him

go. So he won't be with us for the rest of the

night. or hopefully ever again. Oh, dang. Alright,

so the question we asked in episode 33 was, with

all the recent next -gen game delays, Off the

Cuff wants to know what past games do you wish

had been delayed a little so they could be further

polished or refined? We're going to start this

off here with The Walking Dread. He says, Dead

Island was a game I enjoyed but never felt it

lived up to the hype. The gameplay was okay,

nothing special. After seeing that trailer, I

thought it was going to be the best zombie game

ever and it ended up being a solid game but nothing

special. You got duped along with everybody else.

It was fun. It just was super glitchy. I agree

with pretty much everything you said. Just go

back to playing Left 4 Dead because that's a

better zombie game. It is. I mean... Yeah, it

is. It's all I have. I'd say we should dig that

out of the pile of old games, but it's on Xbox.

We'd all have to buy memberships again. No, thank

you. Not worth it. Well, Dan and I could play

on Steam. Yay! Like make a computer? Yep. All

right, I can't run steam let alone the games

that I would download from steam That's the only

thing that comes out of your computer is steam.

Haha. Yes That's that's a bummer because Left

4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 are 750 right now for

both Let's see Connor Murphy too bad Sean Z went

home for this Maybe we can dig him up so we can

respond to this Saints Row 4 could have used

more time to become a fuller game instead of

just an add -on You mean it could have been a

development to actually be a game? Yeah, you

know like over a year Ryan Hannity follows that

up with I love Saints Row 4 did not have any

issues with the gameplay I find myself enjoying

it more than GTA 5 sometimes because it's just

mindless fun Clearly, mr. Hannity, you don't

play GTA 5 with Joe and I Actually Ryan if you

are listening this what system are you playing

GTA 5 on? Maybe you can join the off -the -cuff

crew, which we do have by the way Yep, we do

have an off -the -cuff crew So anyone interested

in joining that leave a message in you know Let

us know in the comments for this episode and

I will figure out how to invite you to that Right

Brad need to start stealing minivans if all these

crews show up to climb our mountains hey, there

is a There are more than just those news type

helicopters Joe there are full -on like army

like Double -bladed helicopters I've stolen them

in the main game, but I haven't I we when you

and I went to that military base We just got

slaughtered so I haven't been back yet All right

Brad Kellogg says any licensed game I think would

benefit from being delayed minus a few like spider

-man 2 and Lord of the Rings. They are all crap

Maybe if they came out six months or or a year

later, they could actually be good instead They're

rushed into production and then that is followed

up by Connor Murphy who added I also thought

the game Wolverine was pretty good, but I think

that game got delayed Didn't we bring up the

Wolverine game wasn't it? Yeah ex Wasn't wasn't

the movie delayed and then the game came out

or the game was delayed it was Because we're

talking about we're talking about Wolverine origins.

Are we talking about Wolverine's revenge x2?

I think they're talking about origins Okay, cuz

Wolverine origins was done when Like and ready

to go when Wolverine origins was originally supposed

to come out and They pushed the movie back a

year and the game was done and they took that

entire year to play test and just polish that

that thing ridiculously. OK, yeah, so he is talking

about that game. Yeah. Now, I do know that Spider

-Man 2 was good because of the web swinging they

added into it. I just heard somebody reference

that somewhere, how awesome the web swinging

was and why when the new Spider -Man game comes

out. No, doesn't play like that one. No, Spider

-Man 2. No, Spider -Man 2 was great. Yeah, yeah,

that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Spider -Man 3 was

oh my God, that game was as bad as the movie

was. Have you guys played any of the Lord of

the Rings games? Not to completion, but I played

them enough to say that, yes, they're pretty

good. They're pretty good, but man, they got

boring and repetitive. I mean, it just felt like...

I think that's the style of game. I know. It

was not a style for me. It just seemed too on

the rails and just, I don't know, it felt like

a Dynasty Warriors game. And I hold those games

up about the same amount of respect as I... You

know most sports games. I just Honestly, I think

that's exactly the same reason that I didn't

care for the Batman Arkham Asylum game like everybody

it got repetitive felt on rails and was just

the same combat between interesting cutscenes

and I got kind of I Want to like it, but you

know just like yeah, I Feel bad like you want

to like Sean, but you just can't do it Alright

Jedi disaster says this might anger some people

if I thought Star War But I thought Star Wars

force unleashed could have been such a better

game than it was it wasn't horrible But it wasn't

great I'd say above average at best in some areas

the gameplay was just too basic Jedi outcast

and Academy had better gameplay and it came out

years earlier the one I do agree with this because

the one thing that kind of irked me about this

Star Wars Force Unleashed is that it never felt

intuitive or fluid as it could have been. I felt

like the Force Unleashed games really could have

benefited from the mark of Kree gameplay. Yeah.

That just would have been awesome. Which anyone

that doesn't know, Mark of Cree assigned the

different enemies around you to a face button

on the controller and you hit that face button

to attack that enemy. And you could do it in

any order as long as the guy's really close enough

to you. Kind of imagine like an Arkham, the Arkham

mechanic, but instead of you controlled who you

bounce to other than just kind of steering your

character around. Freddy Savage? says, I'm a

big Resident Evil fan, but Resident Evil 6 was

a giant mess. For me, the black eye in the series,

if they take more time in the story, it could

have been a much better game. I thought the black

eye in the series was five. That was bad. I think

it was a double black eye between five and six.

It came out looking like a raccoon. Raccoon city.

Sing! SuperFilmFan98 says the game took forever

but Aliens Colonial Marines needed more time.

How that game took so long to make and was so

crappy I don't know. Maybe if they had held off

and got some better developers it would have

yielded a better game. Jedi Disaster follows

it up with worst game of this generation in my

opinion and Dragano finishes it with yeah you

might be right there at least we would We At

least we you consider the height behind it at

least when you consider the height behind it

English fail. Yeah We stayed away from this one.

Sorry guys. We never played it. Although it is

five bucks on Steam There is a reason for that.

I don't even know if I could Spend five dollars

to have an opinion on that game I think it was

like 750 on PlayStation Plus like a couple weeks

ago and I was like I should buy it just to know

I really shouldn't I remember that conversation.

Yeah I was like I want to play it just to see

how bad no, I really don't I have better things

to do with my time alien Komodo Marines is just

it is it is I think it is is there a bigger Blunder

this generation than that. I mean Don't think

so because it looked real good when they first

started talking about the first screenshots came

out and The ideas they had behind it sounded

great, and then I don't know what the hell happened

gee that kind of sounds like fable It does it

really does it kind of sounds like Sean's life,

too All right, Dan Clark also known as movie

revolt anyone that listens to Mware weekly As

someone who plays Madden, I wish they would either

stop coming out with games each year or take

at least two so they can actually improve the

game. Obviously that won't happen, so maybe they

could stop charging $60 and just have the new

game as $30 DLC. Again, won't happen, but a man

can dream. I think that's what every sports fan

wants. Yep, I think that's what it would take

to make the game better. I think you should...

Well, you know what else makes a game better,

Joe? You release a DLC to update the player roster,

the injuries, la la la la la, to get it to the

next year. You take two years to make the game

and actually make it new. Well, you know, you

know what else makes a game good, Joe? Hmm? Competition.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. EA is the only one

with the Madden license or the NFL license, so

they can make whatever game they want. Would

that keep? Could somebody make a football game

around an imaginary league where you can totally

customize everything? Yes. Yes. I don't know

why somebody hasn't done that. Taken two years,

do it right. They did. It's, yeah, it's called,

it's recognition is what it is. It's, a lot of

the fans won't, really won't gravitate towards

something that doesn't have the NFL license.

They made that, what was it, the league? Yes.

Yeah. What's the league? Yeah, but that wasn't

that wasn't like a football sim. That was arcade

football. It was arcade football with teams that

didn't exist and they got some retired players

to be a part of the game. But right. But it's

not it's it's not a sports sim. So I think that's

here's what here's what you do. You build a football

game, a generic football game with really awesome

editing tools. You release a beta to the public.

Let the the community make a giant patch where

it - MUTANT LEAGUE FOOTBALL 2! YEAH! I was gonna

say Tecmo Super Bowl. But you reskin everything,

and then just have a really open, unpoliced,

deliberately unpoliced DLC or user shared information

thing and let people - then let the game go live,

sell it for 60 bucks. Sounds like you want a

- you want a football game on the PC, Joe. Uh...

Yeah, I wouldn't run on my computer Okay, is

it Super Tecmo Bowl or Tecmo Bowl Super Tecmo

Bowl. Okay. I wasn't sure if there was If it's

the same game or if it was two games or I think

I own that and I really want to play it someday

Ryan Hannity Ryan Hannity follows Dan up with

I agree but NBA 2k and NHL 2k series are the

ones that do bet do get better each year makes

me wish makes me wish for the old 2k nfl games

again and dan clark responds with oh yes i do

like the 2k games dreamcast was one of my favorite

systems and the 2k games are a big reason why

so yay sports game yay dreamcast yay all right

uh last two here i'm gonna read them both together

because uh one is a response to the other uh

kingdom kongs Chimes in with Assassin's Creed

III. Everything about that game was rushed and

not well thought out. I am really against this

new method of having a new installment of franchises

coming out each year. It has led to a lot of

garbage. And Dragono finishes it with, I'll second

that. I love the franchise. Assassin's Creed

III was a misfire nearly all around. It's not

a horrible game, but not nearly the game it could

have been. Joe. Wouldn't say it was a misfire

all the way around because the opening sequence

was awesome everything after I Is there yeah,

yeah everything after his dad was a complete

letdown everything up to that was awesome The

first 30 minutes of that game was fucking perfect

except still learning not to hold the R button

while running that was They did add, I did hear

with Assassin's Creed 4 that they added analog

controls to the running. You can now jog. You

like pull halfway on the right trigger. So yeah,

that's something interesting, I guess. We're

gonna have to wait and see on November 15th.

So yeah, that's it for the reader comments. Again,

you know... Please respond in the next episode

with our questions and stuff like that. Or any

questions you have for us, feel free to ask.

Danner, do you want to let them know about the

video game awards? Because I think we're doing

that next week, aren't we? Oh, shit, yeah. That

is next week. Video game awards, next week. What?

What are you talking about? Less chance to vote

and get your votes in. So if you really hate

Aliens, Colonel Marines, and you really want

to make sure it wins the worst game of the generation,

you gotta vote. The list is going to be posted

with the episode. Feel free to go ahead and fill

it out, get your responses in, pick three for

each category, except for, of course, the council

category, because why would it make any sense

to pick three in that category? You get it anyways

Fill it out send it to the geek cast radio Email

feedback at geek cast radio dot feedback at Keith's

geek cast radio comm And we'll tabulate your

results in with the the all of our results and

all of the communities results that have come

forward so far and We will be announcing the

winners next week Same bad time, same bad channel.

Also on November 15th is obviously the launch

of the PlayStation 4. I am currently in the planning

phases of working out some live streaming stuff

for that day for like unboxing things like that

and for people to ask questions about the system

and we can try and dig into what they can and

can't do when you guys can kind of see what it's

like to Get a system out of the box and try to

use it on launch day Currently planning that

out. I know Danner might be planning something

himself So mine probably won't be There's not

much planning I'm gonna be working that day until

I get a call from my wife that goes your box

is here Then I'm gonna be like sorry guys. I

got a case of the black lung. I gotta go. Isn't

your box always at home? Yeah, good point. All

right So if you want to get if you want to get

in touch with us, you can comment on our parents

site at GeekCastRadio .com or send emails to

us at feedback at GeekCastRadio .com. You can

find myself, myself, Michael Powers on Twitter

and the PlayStation Network at Boothinja81. Danner?

You can find me on PlayStation Network at X51

the Machine Man or on Twitter at Art Danner.

Hey, Sean Z, you can take the ball gag out of

your mouth. Do you want to tell them where they

can find you? You can find me on Xbox Live at

weapon. 87, 87. Or you can find me on Twitter

at Sean Z Brown. I love to throw for Joe. and

you can find me on Twitter at Joe Read Geek and

on the PlayStation Network at wildfire405w spelled

with two capital V's. Until next week, congratulations,

the story is happy end. Thank you.