SOPA and PIPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act are bills that are trying to be passed in the US in the very near future. The goal is to stop online piracy but the bill will always allow those inclinded to go as far as to sue people over hosting images,videos and information online should they wish it. The bill will also allow your ISP to block any website that it feels is a breach of copyright law. ISP's in China already do this. Try searching "Tank Man" in China and you will find nothing. In short. Anyone who is found breaking the copyright law can serve up to five years in prison in America. This will effectively destroy the internet. Want to upload footage to youtube of you playing a game? Tough. Want to upload a cover of a song you just wrote...Also tough. It may seem like something that won't affect the UK for example but you may find that many companies also have branches in the UK and will most likely try to "protect" their IPs. I just wanted to get some awareness out there is all. Click here to see a short video about it.

Batman Arkham City

Honestly, I was never a fan of comic video games in recent years. I played Spiderman on the Sega Master System back in the day and I played the first Playstation Spiderman game. In reflection they were not what I'd call a fantastic game but I felt  there was something missing from comic games since...Maybe it was my love for varied costume designs which the Playstation game did well. Anyway...This is about Batman but first I'll refresh quickly on Arkham Asylum from a couple of years back.

Arkham Asylum is proof that source material will not limit your game design choices...Just because it's a movie game or an adaptation of a comic hero does not give it the right to suck. From the fluid rhythmic combat, to the
creative use of Batman's gadgets. This game was made with equal part Batman and video game. It's only real limit was it's narrow scope to place it on an island. That's where Arkham City comes in.

Everything good about the first game is built upon and improved. Tons more options for combat, some interesting new gadgets. There is also a bat signal this time round as your map marker. The game went sandbox this time but without destroying the core story to do so...It's more akin to Assassins Creed II or Infamous than it is to something like GTAIV. I won't lie though..Arkham City feels pretty small when compared to the above but it does not really detract from the experience. It's just tons of fun to swoop from building to building as the caped crusader.

Detective mode feels far better paced this time. In Arkham Asylum you feel like you need to check every nook and cranny but this time you just use it as a quick flash to help an objective. If you force me to pick a fault with the game then i'd say it's the lack of options to take out guards silently...It's a mission to get by without alerting the guards to your location...My impression is that Batman would not be such a screw up...Maybe it's just me.

The story is well put together too. It's made in such a way that you are not required to play Asylum to understand the plot, but I'd do it anyway as it has tons more screen time for the Joker. You get to see pretty much all the famous bad guys from the Batman universe and even some of the smaller ones. Every character feels like they are strong enough to the plot to justify being there. I would've liked to see more Tim Drake as Robin in the game and Nightwing would not have gone amiss during the main story but Catwoman is awesome to see and plays differently enough.

On that note..Catwoman is the kind of DLC i'm more keen to try out. Her DLC has actual point in the plot and is not some short few minute ordeal...It is a little bit few and far between that you get to use her but it's great considering it's free. Next time though, I'd rather play as Robin or Nightwing.

So I guess in closing...Best comic book game so far? Yeah most likely so. The flaws in this game are so minor that even someone who is not a fan of Batman should play this game...Hell play this if you don't even really like comic books. Let us just hope that in future we see less post release DLC and more core game...I dont feel like missing out on playing Nightwing just because I've decided to buy it near launch and finish up with it before it comes out.

This game deserves all the Praise it gets. 9/10