Steam Backlog: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Dark... Black

 Batman: Arkham Asylum, of which I played 9 hours, was fun.  It landed at a point in my life where I had just become a new father and I started spending more time in singleplayer offline games than I did in online multiplayer games.  I never beat the game, but do have fond memories of it.

 Like other games I did not choose to revisit Arkham so just going to share some thoughts (see past posts tagged Batman:AA).

 The first memory that jumps back to me is "dark... black".  The game hit the mark for the cliche Batman "black".  Everything is dark and brooding.  I don't think "daylight" or "bright light" exist in the Asylum.

 I also remember the combat and it was fun; albeit I do remember it being a little harder to master on keyboard/mouse than I expected.  That did push me away from finishing the game (as well as having a young kiddo taking up my free time).  With more time this is one I'd probably revisit to finish at some point.

This post is part of my running series: My Steam Backlog (see all MySteamBacklog tagged posts).

Oct 2009: What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying

Previous months: Sept 2009
Check out the "What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying" Google Spreadsheet.



Commentary:

The first note I would like to make is that I moved gaming-related computer hardware to its own line and placed Batman:AA at $0 since it was free with the video card I purchased in September.

I spent October waiting for Borderlands, which released on the 26th. I paid just shy of $34 for the game as part of a Steam 4-pack (splitting the extra copies with friends). I do not feel comfortable paying $50 for new games any longer. The $30-$35 range feels right to me.

I'll be posting more about my thoughts on Borderlands this week.

Next, I spent another $10 on Battlefield Heroes to dress up my Royal Soldier, BrettFavre. The end result:


Heroes still remains a great game, but leveling past 14 seems to be a little bit grindy and I constantly debate whether I should just pay for an experience boost to help get one of my Heroes to level 20+. Fortunately, they gave away a 3-day XP boost to all players for Halloween, so that sated my appetite for faster leveling. Plus, I got to play as a zombie-head for a few days! I'll probably put another $10 into this game at some point to finish up my Heroes' customizations.

I am still working on beating Batman:AA. Its a great game, but with so many games to play, I find it hard to dedicate time to it. I'm only 5% done with the game.

I was fairly quiet in the MMOG department:

I knocked out a few quests on my Sorcerer in DDO:EU, but am still only level 1 and sitting on the starter island. The dungeons can be set to solo, but they truly shine when grouped. I have never had a steady play group, so this may not be the game for me. I'll have to investigate the pick-up group scene a bit more.

I hit level 5 in The Chronicles of Spellborn on my Spellcaster, Favre. I need to determine which class I want to go with from level 5 onwards. Any thoughts out there? Still enjoying the combat system, even if its hard to pick up at first.

On a side note, not listed on the spreadsheet is Killing Floor. I played a bit during the recent Free Weekend on Steam. Its a quasi-pro, but way over the top, Left 4 Dead co-op zombie shooter. Personally, it made me miss Left 4 Dead and with L4D2 right around the corner, I didn't really care for it.

Conclusion:

Free MMOs still reign in my play list. While at heart (ha!) I would like to be a completely Free Gamer, there are too many good games out there that I would miss, Borderlands being one of them. Deals such as the Steam 4-pack give me value and I reward them for that with a purchase on a game I wouldn't have spent $50 for. My purchase and playing decisions remain with value: is the game and the time I will invest worth the costs?

Sept 2009: What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying

As a born again Value Gamer, I've decided to put together a monthly post detailing what I'm playing and what monetary investment I am putting into them. With the raw data dumped, I can check to see if it has been worth it.

Check out the "What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying" Google Spreadsheet.



Commentary:

Now the first number that should jump out at anyone is $150 for Batman: Arkham Asylum. In an attempt to be honest with myself, I included the cost of a new video card which came with a free copy of Batman:AA. So, I paid $150 for the video card and received a kick-ass game for free. That's value.

Secondly, I am including $10 that was spent on the still-in-open-beta Battlefield Heroes. That $10 resulted in this fine looking fella:


Lastly, I am still spending my MMO time in both Dungeons and Dragons Online and The Chronicles of Spellborn. With my very limited time lately (due to the baby), I am finding it hard to justify having even FREE MMOGs on my hard drive. I feel guilty not playing them enough. So, one of these two MMOs may need to be cut off at some point, but as they are both free-to-play, it should be an easy decision to make (or not make!).

For the month of September, my gaming has cost me $160, but a new video card is ALWAYS a great investment in my book. Especially when a great game like Batman:AA is included! Oh, and maybe its easier to chew on since it will ease my ability to edit high definition video of Heartless_ Jr.