Batman: Arkham City -- All In One.

I've completed Batman: Arkham City for the Xbox 360. Batman: Arkham City was developed by Rocksteady Games and was published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game is the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum and successfully adds a bit of sandbox to the mix. The game is essentially the same with some added freedom and sidequests as you roam the streets of Arkham City, a walled off section of Gotham that has been turned into a prison ala Escape From New York. Arkham City is surprisingly small for a sandbox title and that works toward keeping things moving. It only takes a minute or so to get from one end of the city to the opposite end. The coolest thing about the game is how the Riddler's Challenges are integrated into Arkham City itself. They're everywhere and you just come upon them in the city. They're great puzzles that you'll have to figure out and some will stump you for quite a while. Once you've figured out all the base types however you'll just have to pull off the harder ones of the same types. There are a decent number of base puzzle types. The game offers up all the complex gadgets and combat moves of the original and adds upon them. I'm still not a fan of the combat. I know it's much beloved and most likely for the visual splendor of it all. It's truly impressive to watch with its amazing number of canned responses. But canned they are nonetheless. It's still too much Simon Says autopilot feeling for me. I am still a fan of all the gadgets in that half of the combat though. Graphically the game looks great. It has a nice art style that blends a lot of elements from various Batman sources and becomes its own thing. The game features top-notch voice acting all around. Musically the game reuses much of Arkham City's solid score. The story should appease Batman fans. The characterizations are especially strong. I was glad to see specific Batman: Arkham Asylum villains getting their chance to shine in Arkham City as they were criminally underused in the original. Batman: Arkham City is what every video game sequel is supposed to be, bigger and better, and it offers up more of what made the original a good game. I'm giving Batman: Arkham City an 8.5.

Dark Souls -- All-In-One.

I have completed what I intend to be the first of three eventual completions of the Xbox 360 version of Dark Souls. I want that thousand gamerscore for this one but that would be insanity in the midst of the busy season. So I'll have to wait for the summer to truly complete the game. Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls and was developed by the great From Software and published by Namco-Bandai Games. Dark Souls, like Demon's Souls and the King's Field series before it, is an updated action RPG that acts as a love letter to the hardcore dungeon crawlers of yesteryear. The Souls series has a reputation for being extremely hard. I do not subscribe to that opinion. The game is challenging but that's the entire point. From Software is using this punishing style to bolster the eventual rush of satisfaction when you finally do conquer your current situation. Dark Souls offers the greatest sense of satisfaction I've ever felt in my three and half decades as an avid gamer. From Software has created a series of games that feature an almost overwhelmingly intoxicating atmosphere. Dark Souls features a hauntingly beautiful world in ruin filled to the brim with interesting characters and a wide variety of enemies who are more than capable of killing you. Dark Souls is the kind of game where the lowest enemies in the game can kill your end game character if you're not paying attention. The enemy AI is smarter than most and is both aggressive and tricky. I do have to say something about the enemy designs as they're some of the most original interpretations of classic creatures and visually impressive enemies you'll likely to encounter. Dark Souls continues Demon's Souls absolutely innovative online structure allowing for you to see phantoms of other players in their worlds. You can read hints or lies left by other players or leave your own. You can be invaded or invade the worlds of other players. It's easily one of the coolest online formats ever devised. The only real flaws are on the technical side as there a couple of areas where the frame rate just dies. I spent roughly a hundred and eighteen hours in Dark Souls. I came away extremely impressed. If there are games that define a console generation, I'd have to say the Souls series may just be that for me with the current generation. Dark Souls is currently the frontrunner for my Game of the Year 2011. Good thing there are actually serious potential contenders this year that have yet to be released. I'm giving Dark Souls a 9.5. A wonderfully rewarding gaming experience. Truly gaming at its best.