The Weekly Planet - 5 Batman Arkham Orgins - Yay Or Nay?

Episode Date: October 29, 2013

This week we’re talking the highly anticipated (and arguably underwhelming) Batman: Arkham Origins.Plus we look at Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Harrison Fords return to the Indiana Jones role and Star Wars Episode 7! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret. The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. Will you rise with the sun to help change mental health care forever? Join the Sunrise Challenge to raise funds for CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, to support life-saving progress in mental health care.

From May 27th to 31st, people across Canada will rise together and show those living with mental illness and addiction that they're not alone. Help CAMH build a future where no one is left behind. So, who will you rise for? Register today at sunrisechallenge.ca. That's sunrisechallenge.ca.

Thank you, everybody. Welcome back to episode... I'm going to start that again. No, no, no. Legitimately start it again. Welcome, everybody, to episode 5 of the Weekly Planet. We're 5 episodes in Mason. Can you or I believe it?

Can either of us believe it? No. I thought I'd run out of words by this point. But I've got more words. Enough for this episode? Ooh, what if I just trail off? That's fine. Yep.

I'll just sing? Yeah, please do, yeah. Just carry this one, it'll be fine. No problem. Alright, so yeah, this week there's a few things we're going to talk about. Namely, the Batman Arkham Origins video game. New video game, exclusive on various platforms. Every platform.

Yeah, so not exclusive in any way. Not at all, no, no. But look, I promised a few people that I'd start off with a few people send us theme songs. Remember last week I said, or it might have been a week before somebody please send us a theme song because you were singing like a madman

like a tone deaf madman like a tone deaf madman a number of people did we've got heaps and they're all great I know they are but the thing is I've lost

most of them and the ones I haven't lost I don't know who's associated with who so I don't want to mess it up so what I thought from next week if you have, if you have

a theme song, send it to weeklyplanetpod at gmail.com That's our email address. That's our specific email address. And look, we'll get through as many as we can. We'll play a different one every week until we find one that we think is the best song ever written. Fantastic. Thoughts?

Good. No, I like that. In fact, if you hear one, listeners, that you like a lot, let us know and then we'll know what people love. Feedback. Feedback. We're all about feedback. Yeah. Absolutely.

So yeah, also I thought we'd add maybe a new segment to the start of the show. Just very briefly before we get on to the main thing we want to talk about, just to discuss anything topical that's come up. We are a news outlet after all. Definitely. We have these little hats that say press on them. They're good. Thank you for hand-making those, by the way.

The embroidery is delightful. So I thought maybe we'd start off with talking about the Captain America The Winter Soldier Part 2 trailer. Can I actually start with some news of my own? Yes. Man of Steel news. I've seen it. I saw it on home video format. It's good. I enjoyed it. You really enjoyed it. I saw it on home video format.

It's good. I enjoyed it. You really enjoyed it? No, it's really good. So do you think all the hoo-ha was nonsense? People would complain too much for no reason? I really dug it. It was really, really good.

Did you like the neck snapping? Yes. You were well into it. It was my favourite part. I was just so tense through the whole movie. Like, oh, I'm going to snap my neck. That wet snap of the neck

was the relief yeah it was so good see I found and I've said this before I was well into it until maybe the past maybe the last like 30-40 minutes

and I was kind of like yeah it's fine didn't hate it I liked it quite a lot I think it's better than Superman Returns and other movies

but yeah you know what I'm happy for it to become the new DC Universe. Cool. They want to slot in Batman. They want to slot in Green Arrow.

They want to slot in... Ryan Reynolds. Ryan Reynolds. Absolutely, in a variety of roles. He could be a superhero and an FBI agent and a man in black. I don't care. It's going to be great.

What was the one where he fought ghosts? RIPD. That's right. Did you say that? No. Yeah, me neither. I like Jeff Bridges, though. Yeah, he's good at stuff, isn't he?

Yeah, he sure is. So, yeah. Sorry, I derailed this two minutes in. I apologise. That's right. Did you say that? No. Yeah, me neither. I like Jeff Bridges, though. Yeah, he's good in stuff, isn't he? He sure is. So, yeah. Sorry, I derailed this two minutes in. I apologise. That's fine. But, no, Captain America trailer, Winter Soldier, blew my mind. Did it blow anything of yours? Oh, boy.

I'll just let that sit there for a minute. No, it's really good. I'm excited for it. It looks really good. The new costume is sort of Steve Rogers, modern era appropriate. It looks good. But I would still like to see, there must be some sort of compromise between the World War II Captain America outfit and the weird Technicolor Avengers outfit.

There's got to be something that looks real and tough, but it still has that kind of comic book color to it. I feel this Winter Soldier one is a little too monochrome it's a little too grim have you noticed in the trailer he puts on the old costume you see him wear it so I think maybe he takes it off in protest

or somebody strips him of it I think there might be some sort of montage where he tries on a variety of different outfits and just Nick Fury is just there shaking his head at each one and then he puts on at each one and then he puts on the modern one and nick fury is like yeah thumbs up

yeah no look i thought it was really great winter soldier what do you think of that looks good i like like the shield catch at the end ah so cool i hope the arm comes off and flies

around like it does in the comic does it really do that yeah it does have a little jet pack on it although i guess so i guess it's got weird world war ii technology oh that's

great yeah but uh no in in one of the books they separate it from him, but then it flies around and chokes people. Is that made of the same thing that the shield is made from? I don't think so. But how did he catch the shield? It's not... Because if it's... What is it?

Vibranium or whatever the hell it's called. Yeah, it's a vibranium alloy, James, for God's sakes. No, but it's not edged. It doesn't have a sharp edge. You'd catch it. I guess so. Okay, there you go. Comic book science. I just learned something. You did, didn't's sakes. No, but it's not edged. It doesn't have a sharp edge. You'd catch it. I guess so. Okay, there you go. Comic book science.

I just learnt something. You did, didn't you? Yeah, what about Falcon? Yeah, the robotic wings. Because, you know, it's got the nice feathery wings in the comics. But it's like more of a kind of, obviously, mechanical kind of thing. I'm okay with that. And also, we had feathery wings in the X-Men.

Oh, we did have feathery wings in the X-Men. Oh, we did have feathery wings in the X-Men. People would be like, more of the same. Yeah. No, thank you. Good point. Also, wouldn't that be weird that a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent has feathery wings? Would that fit the world? No, it wouldn't, would it? No. No. It'd be weird in the showers as well.

Communal showers. They'd be all damp. You know what I thought was really cool? There's that brief, it's like maybe a one or two second scene where there's like a fist kind of knife fight thing and the Winter

Soldier flips the knife and him and Steve Rogers are like fist and knife fighting. Do you remember that bit? I do, yeah.

That's a really cool bit. And there's Robert Redford. I'm a big fan of Robert Redford. I know you are. I'm really happy to

see Robert Redford in something. I think he's like mid-70s. I think he's like 76. There's rumours going around that he's going to be the Red Skull. Oh, he's like mid-70s. I think he's like 76. There's rumours going around that he's going to be the Red Skull.

Oh, an aged Red Skull. Yeah, I don't think that's true. What does it matter? I mean, he's entirely under prosthetics. Yeah. Do you think Robert Redford would sit around and let people put prosthetics on him or would he just be like,

no, I don't do that? I think he's too old. I think he would worry, and were I Robert Redford, I would worry that they'd put it on, and then at the end of day one, they'd take it off. My entire face would come off. I'd be a little concerned.

He is very weathered. Yeah, he's so weathered. Super handsome, but very weathered. Super weathered, super handsome. That's what it's all about. Yeah, but look, I liked it. Really looking forward to it. And when's that coming out?

That's coming out April, I believe, of next year. Oh, it's too long to wait. Well, what can we do about it we could like a letter writing campaign remember when

remember when that like semi-popular sci-fi series like went under and we all we all had that letter writing campaign we banned it together

we banned it together we signed some petitions and they brought it back and they brought it back forever yeah forever I remember that we're still watching it now yeah it's great yeah alright let's do it back and they brought it back forever yeah forever I remember that we're still watching

it now yeah it's great yeah alright let's do it just so we can see it a few months early fantastic

great another thing I thought we'd talk about anything else from the Captain America trailer you want to say

good knife fight mention that yeah good knife fight you mentioned that pretty much yeah I've just that's what my

notes just say knife fight yeah I don't know if you heard this but Michael Ardent I don't know I don't think that's Michael Ardent, I don't know, I don't think that's how

you pronounce it, maybe you do. He was the guy who was writing Star Wars Episode VII. Did write Star Wars Episode VII. He also wrote Toy Story 3. He wrote Little Miss Sunshine. He wrote me a very lovely

birthday card once. Wow. That one I made up. Yes. The other things are true. He's been, well, not fired from the project. He's,

they're kind of like, okay, you're done, Michael Arden step aside so Lawrence Kasdan the guy who wrote Empire Strikes Back Raiders of the Lost Ark

a few other various things is taking over as is J.J. Abrams so they're going to be scripting it from now on and making their alterations do you think that's good or not good

I'll tell you what I think oh boy you didn't give me a chance there but alright go ahead no no you go go I but all right, go ahead. No, no, you go. Go. I'm ambivalent. Go ahead.

Look, I like Lawrence Kasdan. Mm-hmm. Empire Strikes Back is an amazing movie. It's the best one. It is the best one. Movie. I mean... I mean movie.

Movie. Yeah. Have you seen Attack of the Clones? I've just seen Empire Strikes Back. Have you seen Star Wars Episode... No, I mean, I've literally just... That's the only movie I've seen. That's the only movie you've seen.

So you've never seen Star Wars Episode 7, Revenge of the Nerds? No. Never mind. I'll cut that out. Anyway, yeah. So I think his best kind of day... He's not a bad writer by any stretch, but the last movie that he did that I recognised of note was Dreamcatcher.

Do you remember Dreamcatcher? Was that a Stephen King? That was a Stephen King one where there was an alien at the end and the kid who had the brain damage was an alien and Morgan Freeman was the bad guy and they have weird psychic abilities. Thomas Jane's in it.

Ooh, he's good. The guy from... What's his name? The guy from My Name is Earl is in it. The British guy? Yes. The redhead British guy from Homeland? Yeah, that guy.

Yeah. Yeah, I know him. You know the movie, right? Yes. So that was the last thing of note that he did. Okay. So I'm not saying he's terrible, but I'm saying wouldn't you rather get fresh eyes on him? I think so, yeah. Because it seems to me like

J.J. Abrams is just like, we're going to do exactly what they did in the 80s. Because they're filming on the same film. They're all props and sets and all those kind of things. Which is all great, but it seems like they're just trying to rehash it. Which is exactly what he did for Star Trek Into Darkness. That's true.

Because it's pretty much Space Seed, the episode Space Seed of Star Trek and Wrath of Khan. I think what's interesting is that, and this happens in comic books as well, but when people who grew up on certain media, like Star Trek or Star Wars, finally get to sort of play in the sandbox, what they want to do is they want to take it back to the status quo and just do it exactly as yeah because you don't

want to deal with new characters no gross but look I think I think the end outcome is pretty much going to be

better than the prequels not as good as the originals and everyone will hate them high five that was a pretty weak high five

yeah that's what I think anyway yeah I think you're right I'm looking forward to it I'm you know And everyone will hate them. High five. That was a pretty weak high five. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I think anyway. Yeah, I think you're right. I'm looking forward to it. I'm, you know, I'm cautiously optimistic, I should say, because I don't love J.J. Abrams. I've expressed that before. No problem with him, necessarily, but I just don't think he's that creative or interesting a filmmaker.

I think he's kind of like a, like if Steven Spielberg had an apprentice, but that apprentice wasn't as good as Steven Spielberg, and he made Super 8. By the way, which is not a very good movie. God, you're throwing out opinions all over the place on very old films. You're just throwing them out there. I'm sure there's maybe one person on the internet who'd be very upset with those. You know my problem with Super 8? What's that?

I've got a massive problem with it. Okay, Super 8's supposed to be kind of like an E.T. kind of Goonies throwback, right? You've seen it, right? Yes. You don't know, do you? No, I can't remember. I've seen Cloverfield. Is it the same film? It's not. With a different name? Yeah, you know, well, the thing about both of them is the secret is a monster.

What's the secret of Cloverfield? What's the secret of Super 8? The secret is a monster. Okay, right, good. So, you know, that's great, I guess. It is. Not that he didn't even direct Cloverfield. Anyway, neither here nor there. The monster, like, it goes through the town, kills a bunch of people.

Not just, like, bad people and cops or whatever. Just kills a bunch of people, like a guy at a petrol station and whatever, whatever. And then at the end, the kid goes into the cave and the monster's eating on a human leg and he's got all these people strung up dead. Uh-huh. And then the monster goes to attack the kid, and then it gets close and it stops, and you see that it's got human eyes and it's got emotions.

So you're supposed to be kind of like, oh, the monster's just like us. But the thing is, the monster killed a bunch of people. E.T. didn't come to Earth and eat 50 people, and then, you know, they waved him goodbye and said, you're the best, E.T. And that's pretty much how Super 8 ends. Like, you're the best monster, thanks for coming and really fucking up our town. Just murdering some random people who probably had families, great.

I just don't understand it. But hey, look, I don't hate it, I just don't understand... What? Next thing, I'm done with this. Okay, good. Are you sure you don't have any more in the tank for Super 8 it's fine

who cares nobody remembers that movie anyway another thing is this is just a rumour I think this came out on Sunday or Monday that Harrison Ford has signed on to Star Wars not confirmed officially on the condition that he got story

approval. So he was like, I'm cool with that. I'm back. And that's because Lucasfilm also owned Indiana Jones. He wants to get a new one off the ground by 2016. Indiana Jones 5. What do you think? You've put me on the back foot with this Indiana Jones 5 nonsense.

I don't... Does he get story approval on that? I don't think think I think he just was like yeah this is fine I'm happy with this does he know what makes a good

story though like what other film says he had story approval on do we know Back to the Future not true

that's not true though Super 8 oh boy I wish no I honestly don't know but I think he's in the position

where he could knock back whatever he wants all these things you've mentioned so far are things that I'm so burned out on that I'm not going to see and I say this and I'm going to back out of it obviously because peer pressure will crush me but I'm not going to see a new Star Wars

or a new Indiana Jones unless 90% of the reviews say this is amazing and surprising and refreshing in a way that the previous ones weren't. So how are we going to do a podcast if you haven't seen it? Okay, I retract just what I said.

I'm going to see it regardless. Even if they're all one stars, you've tricked me in your web of logic. That's it. Fine. We're now being paid for this. I'm saying... An amount of money. I'm saying... So we should see things. That's it. Fine. We're now being paid for this. I'm saying... An amount of money, so we should see things. That's... God, you've... I'm seeing

them all under duress. Good. Yeah. Did you like Indiana Jones 4? No. Did you like any of it? Um... No. Can you think of anything you liked? You know what I liked about... I liked the bit in the start... You liked the bit where he swings around like a monkey, didn't you?

Yeah, that was... Oh, my God. Where he swings around like a monkey. You know what was the best? Your favourite part. So good. Because I thought he was going to be left behind and then we wouldn't see that character again.

Right. I was worried. Yep. Luckily, the writers thought of a way around it. They did, didn't they? It was back. So good. It was...

What was that? Indiana Jones running around with Shia LaBeouf, an old woman, a crazy man, and a guy who constantly betrays him. Yeah. And then they go off a waterfall and the real

treasure was knowledge. Yeah, isn't it always though, when you think about it? Apparently there's a lot of Indiana Jones 4 scripts out there that are quite good.

Isn't there one like Atlantis or something? Or was that a game? That was a game, The Fate of Atlantis. You're thinking The Fate of Atlantis. So do you know what any of the stories are? I think there was a version, and I think you can just find, just Google it, Indiana Jones and the Saucerman from Mars, which is apparently really good.

Like, it's the same idea. Did George Lucas write it? I don't think so, no. Okay. Hmm. Interesting. Look into it. No.

Okay, then don't. All right, I will. Oh, cool. So that's pretty much it fx is the veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from istanbul to paris and london one woman has a secret the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. Will you rise with the sun to help change mental health care forever? Join the Sunrise Challenge to raise funds for CAMH,

the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, to support life-saving progress in mental health care. From May 27th to 31st, people across Canada will rise together and show those living with mental illness and addiction that they're not alone. Help CAMH build a future where no one is left behind. So, who will you rise for? Register today at sunrisechallenge.ca. That's sunrisechallenge.ca.

All right, let's get into the arkham games yeah before we talk about batman arkham origins the game of which we are here to talk about do we want to talk about the previous games and how much we don't like them that's a good start i hate them they're so no they're great they're great aren't they they're so great quickly which is the best one bearing in mind there is a correct answer here or it's a trick or it's a trick question that's a tough call i would have to say arkham city but i really enjoyed arkham asylum but that being said i never went back and played arkham asylum after i played arkham city that's interesting because i went back and i replayed arkham city arkham asylum in its entirety

because it was because it's got that linearity yeah got that linearity and they link in and it's sort of it's a good way, like you can see the entire story of Arkham Asylum, you don't have to run around doing billions of side missions and things like that. Yeah, yeah. That's one thing I really never get into in any game of side missions Riddler trophies, whatever

I don't care Not even in the first one? No. Little puzzles? No. Taking a photograph of the thing? Don't give a shit. Looking at Prometheus on a wall? He's a bad guy. No. And you know what?

What annoys me about the Riddler character is that he's so smug, but his riddles aren't difficult. So I'm like, not worth my time. And you don't get to thump him. And I don't get to punch him. And I know you do get to punch him in Arkham City, but it takes so long to get to him. I went, no, not worth it. He could go unpunched.

That's fine. So your favourite, Arkham City? Yeah. Look, not by much, but I think Arkham City only works because Arkham Asylum works so well. And they got those core mechanics right, and they were able to expand them for that. Yeah, I think...

I feel they're exactly on par. They're both incredible games. They're among my favourite games of all time. But, I don't know, I think Arkham City has the bigger world and it's the more free-flowing world and it has the city,

which is you as Batman go into the city and fight crime, that is what he does. But I feel Arkham Asylum had a lot of little touches that I think they attempted to replicate in Arkham City. It's just sort of carbon copy them, like the Scarecrow missions in Arkham Asylum. That was very carbon copy. And there's a moment like that in the new game as well,

which we'll talk about in a minute, but sorry, go on. So you would sort of slip into this surreal world. Yeah. And all of a sudden you realise that you're in this... You're tripping balls. You're tripping balls. You're tripping your back balls off. And then, yeah, you have to battle the Scarecrow.

And I think in Arkham City they were just like, well, how do we do that again? Yeah. And, okay, let's have the Mad Hatter side mission and let's have that weird vision, that Ra's al Ghul vision quest that you have to float through. Rings.

Yeah, the rings. Superman 64 level. Fantastic. Great. Yeah, there was a bit of that. But yeah, look, I like the way... I don't know, I really like just the little attention to detail

in both of the games. I think... I don't think the world needs to be as big as it is in Arkham City. Is that... There was a lot of... I don't think the world needs to be as big as it is in Arkham City is that there was a lot of there's not a fast travel system so there was a lot of

to and fro of not doing anything in particular I think the best thing that's come out of both of those games is the free flow it's incredible it's gotten to the point where any game you play whether it be GTA 5

or what have you you just think why can't you just do the Batman fighting system point in the direction you want to punch

and attack somebody's coming at you hit counter and move in that direction and that's there was a GTA style like clone game last year it was like

set in Hong Kong it was Asian Triad I can't remember what it was called Watch Dogs maybe no that's that's Upcoming Upcoming it's not called Watch Dogs I know what it was Asian Triad I can't remember what it was called Watch Dogs maybe? No that's Upcoming Upcoming it's not called Watch Dogs I know what it is

I've got it and I can't remember what it's called because that had a very that attempted the free flow system and maybe this is why people haven't replicated it

because it's like it's probably a lot harder to replicate than you'd think but that was quite you know who does it really well and it's not a great game but the combat's

particularly you know what it's an okay game the Captain America game does that combat really really well and you've got the

shield and everything it's pretty close it's not as good but I would say that's the closest there is to the Arkham combat

how does the shield work do you throw the shield you throw it or you clunk people with it and then it hits somebody

and just falls to the ground and you just have to walk and you've dropped it off a building and you're like oh you have to people and then it hits somebody and it just falls to the ground and you just have to walk and you've dropped it off a building and you're like oh you have to go down

a fire escape it'd be pretty good no it always comes back and I think if it doesn't just on the back it says realistic shield physics and you're like should have printed that larger

I don't think anybody needs to go and play that game but if you like a video game based on comic books you see it in a bargain bin yeah pick it up definitely I think I got it for like 15 bucks and I was okay with it everything else is not great the story's not bad like a video game based on comic books. You see it in a bargain bin. Yeah, pick it up, definitely. I think I got it for like 15 bucks and I was okay with it.

Everything else is not great. The story's not bad. They think they get all the voice actors or whatever and there's Zolder in it and Red Skull and various other bits and pieces of it. Yeah, it's fine. But no, Arkham Origins. New game, different developer, not Rocksteady.

Let's dump on it right now. I mean, let's give it a fair review. Now, there's been a little bit of backlash about this game because it's been said that it doesn't do anything new. Now, I've finished the game. I stayed up till 1am last night to finish it. You look great, by the way. I feel like I'm going to die. Fantastic. But I just, I burnt through it. So there's a lot of side missions I didn't do. Yep. Like I said, I hate side missions. See,'s a lot of side missions I didn't do. Like I said, I hate side missions. See, I'm a side mission guy. I've got to do the side...

If I see one pop up, I've got to do the side mission. If it's someone being mugged, let them get mugged. Wow. I'll come and investigate their cause after. You're no Batman. No. You're barely even a... squirrel girl wow i know right is that a real person it's a real yes so she wouldn't stop a mugging actually might okay yeah yeah yeah well i guess i'm barely even so yeah yeah okay cool

cool but yeah look if i look if i walk right across it, I'll do something. Yeah. But other than that, I don't care. Interesting. Yeah. So you burn through it. Yeah. Well, look, the main reason I...

I don't normally burn through games as fast as I did for that, because I wanted to finish it so I could talk about it in this. Yeah. Normally, I wouldn't burn through it as much as I did. I kept having to go to things. People would be like, let's go for a beer, James, or whatever. And I'm like, ugh. Because people don't know that I do this podcast. It like a secret right exactly because as soon as anybody i know knows that i do this i'm going to shut this whole thing down i'm going to burn

it to the ground that's the spirit because i like to keep these things separate you know but hey so basically i was quite balanced exactly what it's all about and uh that's exactly right or squirrel girl yeah but um so yeah i um so i pretty much burnt through it coming back can we talk about first impressions first impressions first level yeah i was like not not very impressed because it was it was like you dropped into prison i'm like i've seen this before you kind of walk through nothing particularly exciting happens in the opening and then you sort of have a fight with Kroc where it's one of those fights where Killer Kroc

was like he's a big guy he's got some unblockable attacks jump over his back and do the beat down and punch him and I'm like

I've done this a thousand times and the other two games the thing is they start so well first one starts where you capture the Joker

and you drag him through on the trolley or whatever and the second one starts with Bruce Wayne handcuffed. Incredible start. Fights his way out, climbs his way to the top of the building with a Batsuit and a rocket. Puts on the suit, rock and roll. That's exactly it. But this one was kind of like, I'm at the prison. Here we are. What did you think of the new Batsuit? The new old Batsuit? I liked it. I thought it was cool. I feel like it's a...

Too clunky? Not too clunky. Too funky? Yes. No, too glossy. Okay. And it acquires battle damage like the other ones. And he does have that stubble that you seem to like so much.

Oh, I love it. He's got the bat stubble. But it feels too glossy and kind of unfinished. Yeah. Like maybe I'm misremembering the old games but like when you see him doing various things like a lot of the like when you see him

say kick open a grate like a sewer grate you look at the boot and it's a lot less there's a lot less detail That's a really good point. I did notice that actually at one point.

Yeah. And I'm wondering and this carries through a lot of other pieces in the game where is it supposed to indicate that it's because he's a young Batman and he's just new in the game where is it supposed to indicate that it's because

he's a young Batman and he's just new into the game and so everything looks shiny and new or is it just poor texturing or is it poor texturing and the developers

have dropped the ball like similarly the voice acting this time I was quite disappointed that it's not Kevin Conroy animated Batman

as the voice of Batman well he's doing something else, though. Apparently, he's doing the next chapter, which might be Arkham World. That'd be great. And this sound-alike guy, he's pretty accurate. You get used to it after a while. You do, yeah. And I'm wondering, have they got him because they want him to sound like a Batman that's less experienced? Or were they just like, hey, Kevin Conroy, don't get up all high and mighty on your high horse thinking you're the only

Batman because we can get anybody as Batman. I found him to be honest I found him really jarring at the start even though he's not bad because he sounds enough like Kevin Conroy where you go this sounds like a guy doing a Kevin Conroy impersonation. Right exactly. But then I kind of got used to it as it went on. The Joker in it is a lot closer to the Mark Hamill Joker. That's true, yeah.

But I don't think either of them are as good as the others. But see, there we go. And again, regarding sort of the lack of detail, the bad guys, the generic bad guys, they're very generic. So generic, yeah. Like, you've got standard kind of brown-gray thugs, kind of just the brown-grey hoodie kind of. Yeah. Yep.

You've got, like, corrupt cops. Yep. Short-sleeve or long-sleeve shirts. That's basically all you've got. And you've got, like, black mask thugs. Yeah. That's pretty... Like, in Arkham City...

Oh, you've got all the different gangs. Yeah. There is a little bit of that, Because you've got some penguin gangs. Yeah, there's a little bit. And again, is this because they were saying, well, this is a new world of costume crime in Gotham City and so they won't be as colourful? Or is it just because they're like,

well, we don't have a lot of time to knock this out so let's make some generic guys? Like in Arkcon City, especially, you could often find generic thugs and they were in Two-Face costumes because they were Two-Face's guys. And then you defeat Two-Face. And then later on in the game, you find them in Two-Face outfits with Joker stencils over the top because the Joker has taken over that particular game there's nothing like that

no you're right that's a really good I mean that's a good point but look I think it sounds like we're rubbishing the game but I did enjoy it I just thought it was

kind of more of the same in the same way that do you ever play the Assassin's Creed games? no so basically it looked like a lot of work management

and sea battles and one building a little cottage don't care for it well that's the problem that's a massive problem with that game those games

one's it's a pretty good game it's a good start way too much talking way too much you're in an office and a guy talks not an office

a medieval office and he talks to you about what's right and wrong and humanity and it's boring shit great but then the second game they really changed a lot of that up the combat's a little bit better a little bit faster it's boring shit. Great. But then the second game,

they really changed a lot of that up. The combat's a little bit better, a little bit faster. It's a new world. It's in Rome. You've got a whole lot of different gadgets. You get a gun.

You get a gun, exactly. There's a game changer. But then the next one comes out and it's the same game. Right. They really built that. It was also set in Italy and then they did it again.

Right. And none of those games are bad, but that's how I feel like this one is. It's just kind of like, it's not a move forward, it's like a lateral move. Yeah. You know? Can we talk about Gotham City?

Yes. So, in the first game, you know, you're in Arkham Asylum. It's filled with dangerous lunatics, because that's all there is. Yeah. In Arkham City, you're in the walled-off part of Gotham City, which is filled with criminals and the occasional political dissent or whatever.

You're in this one. You're in Gotham City pre-Arkham City. Not a lot going on. No. When you think about it. No, it's very, very empty. And you know what? You can see they kind of tried to get around that.

There's a curfew. Exactly. There's a blizzard or something. Yeah, there's a blizzard. Nobody go on the streets. No. So it's just every rooftop or street is just filled with packed with thugs yeah yeah thugs that i ignore yes exactly there and then again those thugs are just like they're not like robbing citizens for the most part they're just like breaking into atms yeah yeah that's it yeah so you know i maybe stopped three crimes and I think all of them were ATMs.

Fantastic. You're all about the big banks. I really am. Yeah, no, I think... And again, if we're talking about a GTA V or we're talking about... Do you remember Prototype? Yeah.

There was thousands of people. I think that would have been nice to see an actual population of the city. It's not like you can't do it, though, as well. Yeah, exactly. It's been proven that you can do it. I just proved those two examples that I just said. Well, you know what?

I thought they were kind of like... I mean, and the way you said... Sorry. The way that you said Arkham City borrowed a lot from Arkham Asylum, this took that to a whole new level. Because by the end of the game, because you haven't played to the end quite yet, he gets, you know how in the other one he's like, you know how he gets the tattered bat suit? This one's like, well, he gets a really tattered bat suit in this one.

Oh boy. So it gets super tattered. So I was like, okay. Down to his skivvies. That's it. Down to his kind of his red and white striped strongman bathing suit. And his cape even is like like it looks like Swiss cheese is that what I was in

which is fine whatever but also things like pretty much all the combat is the same there's I would argue there's only really

one new gadget the glue grenade which you get is the freeze grenade it's the same thing so the only new one is the one where you

string two guys together the remote claw which is an okay addition I guess but I don't even think that weapon is as the um the one where you string two guys together yeah which i which is an okay addition i guess but i don't even think that weapon is as good as the one that you get where it shoots two directions yeah yeah um in the last game yeah the the one that vicky bale the flying fox the flying fox one yeah um so and also there was even the obligatory scene where you fight um a spoiler alert i guess here's I guess. Here's the thing. It's quite difficult to spoiler Arkham Origins

because the game does it quite well, the spoilering itself. Within half an hour of the game starting, you've found a data file that tells you the eight assassins that have been sent to kill you. I would have appreciated a little bit of surprise. Absolutely. Yeah.

It's just really the order in which you fight them. Yeah, because I was like, when am I going to fight Bane? Oh, here he is. Here he is, yeah. Yeah, great. Like in Arkham City, you know, Mr. Freeze comes out of nowhere. Yeah. And that's, you know, icy mayhem.

And people are saying that the boss battles in this are amazing. I don't really think they are. They're more quick time events. They're more quick time events. And the Deathstroke one, it's okay. And I think that's the best one. But it's only okay. And it's quite early on.

Yeah, it's very early on. That's not a spoiler, I don't think. What is interesting up until that point, I think, is that the game holds your hand quite a lot up until that point. Like, Batman will say something like, I should use my explosive gel to break through the floor. And then you move away for 30 seconds and he's like, I don't have a lot of time. I'd better use my explosive gel to break through the floor, like no one does.

And we get a lot of that for the first couple of hours. And I guess if you've never played one before, I can understand it. No, that makes sense, yeah. It's a bit heavy, though. Yeah. But at the same time, then you get to Deathstroke, and it's the first boss battle, the first real boss battle. Yeah.

And it doesn't hold your hand at all. Yeah, that's true. It's, in the previous games, and I think this is an attention to detail thing as well, if you got defeated by a boss, or in a particular scene, during the game over sequence, you'd see little clues as to how to do that, and they would get more and more obvious. But in this one, if you're defeated by Deathstroke, and I was a couple of times before I figured out the pattern, you get to the game over screen and it's just like,

fight better, idiots. Why aren't you fighting better? And again, up until that point, every little thing that you're about to do you'll get a little you know if you're you open a door you get a little you get a little prompt or if you need to do something it'll tell you or batman will say i'd better do this yeah and then you get into deathstroke and it says hey do some countering but it doesn't tell you how it doesn't you know you you just if you run at him he'll

counter you and i think that game that scene in particular it's a flashy quick time event it is what i think i think it's just about you got to counter the exact right minute but not even it's only when the flash comes up obviously which how it is but there's a lot of times where he looks like he's going to hit you or he does does hit you, but you can't counter it. Yeah, especially when he has the knife. Yeah. He draws a knife, you counter, and then he hits you anyway. Yeah.

Annoying. Maybe he's just that good. He's very good. Actually, they made a big noise when this game came out. We're rubbishing this game a lot. It's good. Yeah, it is good. I think maybe we're just upset

because it's not the best game ever. Yeah, exactly. Had these games come out in chronological order and Arkham Origins came out first, we'd be like, this is amazing. You get to play as Batman, you're in Gotham City, you're fighting all the villains, you see his origins, this is fantastic.

And then we'd get to the rest of the games, we'd be like, wow, what amazing improvements. But it's just because the orders have been reversed. We're like, this is kind of the same, isn't it? What was I talking about? Deathstroke. Yeah. Yeah, it's just an exercise

in chipping away at him until he does his quick time event. And I think he is the hardest boss as well. And you know, it's weird that they put Deathstroke up front and someone like Firefly at the back. That's what I was going to say. Build to Deathstroke.

Put Firefly at the start. That's right. They were going to make a big noise. They made a big noise the developers about the martial artist character. Yeah.

And I assumed that you would meet the martial artist character you would learn to deal with them and then Deathstroke would show up and he'd be the ultimate example

of that. No. He'd have the skill. No. You fight Deathstroke then you meet some martial artists who would just counter

him twice. Exactly. That's the only difference. And you know what though? There's not even that many martial artists in it.... You just counter them twice. Exactly. That's the only difference. And you know what, though? There's not even that many martial artists in it. Yeah, yeah. It's really...

And they look kind of fat. They do look a bit fat, yeah. Their sleeves are rolled up, though. That's probably... And they wear bandanas. That's how you know they're martial artists. That's a good point, actually. Just like real life.

Yeah, yeah. But you know what? Getting back to the copper head thing. In that boss battle, she poisons you and you have a weird little trip your balls off moment. Uh-huh. But it's not even... It's done so briefly and poorly. Uh-huh.

And then you fight multiple versions of her and she's like, which one of me is real? Uh-huh. And then you beat her and then she's like, but my poison's still in your system, Batman. And then you throw her in like a big shipping container. Uh-huh. And then you close the door and it's never mentioned again. So I don't... Because Alfred shoots...

After you get poisoned, ten minutes later, Alfred shoots the... An elephant gun. An elephant gun. Full of rock salt. Yeah. Into your face.

Yeah, into your face. No, he shoots it from shooting from the Batcave and it comes through the roof where you're fighting and you put it... Oh, I see. You're healed immediately.

And what I liked about that, I think the Arkham City in particular, it was a ticking clock. Even though you're not going to die from the poison, the game's not built that way. But you feel like

there is a sense of urgency because you look worse and worse as it goes on. You have more hallucinations. But this is like you get poisoned ten minutes later, I'm fine.

So, you know. Yeah. Maybe all that poisoning will have some repercussions in the sequel arkham asala oh wait it didn't never mind um you know what though also um i thought there was a this i really hate the the decryptor decoding thing and it feels like every second door you got to go through you got to pull out the thing and you got to decode the thing and And it's not fun. It just slows you down. I find it a lot of fun.

Why? I like finding what the little words are. But, ah, it's just like... No. It's not fun. Maybe, I just found I had to do that so often and it's like, oh, I've got to use my thing and then it's the same every time. You had to do it a lot in Arkham Asylum.

Yeah, that's true. But I would say, well, then do something different then. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. The cryptocratic synchronizer. That's the one. Yeah, that's what they call it. So I don't think you really, you know. Also, as we've sort of mentioned this,

a lot of glitches in this game. I mean, and that's just not me saying that. There's been, there's hundreds of videos on YouTube of multiple glitches. There's a certain Riddler, you know, the tower that you unblock, all those glitches there's a certain riddler you know the tower that you unblock there's a certain one you can't get into because you get into a room

you cryptograph the thing or whatever where you unlock it then you're supposed to climb into a vent you jump onto the vent and you just hang there you can't climb into it and so the way you've got to get around it is you've got to do a weird little stunted jump

and then you fly up into the air like a glitch and then you fall down to the top of the building. I hadn't encountered that, although I did encounter it. I was trying to find one of the penguins' weapon caches and I dropped down on it and I got stuck in it. And then all these guys were coming at me. And I couldn't because my legs were trapped. It was like a box of quicksand. And your legs were trapped in real life as well. Yeah, exactly.

On the couch. Curses. It's like the ring. Yeah, there's a few things that I ran into. What was it? Yeah, the frame rate dropped for me quite a bit as the game went on. It seemed to get worse as it goes. There was one point where it just got so bad that I had to restart the thing. I'm like, this is unplayable. Isn't that because your PS3 is really old? It must be. No, actually, I got it last year. I got a new PS3 last year. Oh, that's right. Yeah, and I've heard that from a few people as well.

And I'm not even, like, I forget. I'm okay with glitches because nothing's perfect. But it just seemed like it happened quite a bit, enough that I would notice it. Normally, I don't notice the glitches. But this one, I noticed, I don't know, it's quite a bit. So, yeah. You know what? Also, too much Bane.

Way too much Bane. I haven't gotten up to that point yet, so. You fight Bane at the start, and then he hulks up, and you fight him again, and then you fight him when you're at Blackgate Prison at the end, and then he hulks out completely, and then you fight him again. You fight him like four times, and each time is as boring as the last time. Interesting. And the last time you fight him, they try to make it do like, remember the Mr. Freeze

challenge? Yes. Where you've got to hide in great- You do like, remember the Mr. Freeze challenge? Yes. Where you've got a hiding great to jump out and get him. You can't defeat him the same way. But you can. Oh, okay. Like, it's implied that you can do multiple things, but all you've got to really do is sneak up on him and get him from behind, or jump out of a great.

Great. And get him. And, yeah, I just, wait, I don't think the boss battles are what, even what the reviews are saying that they are. I think they're just okay. I think you want... Like you said, it should be an extension of the combat. As in you fight a guy who can counter as well as you.

And you don't have to do the same thing to beat him. It's not like, oh, just use your cape swipe and then you've got him defeated. Because when you know that you can do that... Because with Bane, every time you swipe your cape three times and he gets dizzy and then you beat him up. And then four goons drop in and you beat

them up and then you go back to Bane. And you do that so many times. Don't care for it. Yeah. What a crap game. I know right.

I know we are rubbishing it but yeah. The combat's great. There's not as much atmosphere. No, significantly less atmosphere. In Asylum Sub especially, you had that...

There was that kind of very creeping conspiracy that was floating around. Sense of foreboding? Sense of foreboding, definitely. And then you had to collect the Chronicles of Arkham and it sort of built that story. And then you had to collect the Chronicles of Riddick on Blu-ray. You noticed.

Oh, so many Chronicles. I'm looking forward to that new one. Oh boy. And in Arkham City you would encounter a lot of... And again, I know you hate side missions, but you would encounter... No, that's not true. If they're interesting, I like them.

I did the Deadshot one from Arkham City. Deadshot. Anarchy. Not Anarchy. Azrael. Azrael, yeah, did that one because that's interesting and then and it's interesting and you just you you'd be going through arkham city and you'd see a ferris wheel and you'd just be standing on top of the ferris wheel yeah and you could fling a batarang at him and he would catch it brilliant that was really cool yeah you know what i noticed in this game as well in the old one yeah i keep saying go back to the old one the old one's better which is true

it was yeah it was but like you throw a batarang and then it's one of those ones where you direct it you direct it back to yourself in the old game you'd catch it in this one you don't catch it I guess he's inexperienced

but maybe that just happened to be on that one particular bit maybe other times you do catch it but when I try it I'm like that's interesting that they wouldn't just

put that mechanic in because I can't imagine it would be difficult I mean I don't know anything about computer coding, but I'd imagine that's the easiest thing in the world to do. It sounds easy, doesn't it? Yeah. It's probably a fun point.

You know what, though? The story, I thought, got a lot better as it went on. Yeah, in terms of the relationship between Batman and Commissioner Gordon, and we see that relationship develop. I think the story is good insofar as we see that Batman is sort of as much to blame for the villains of Gotham as they are. Like, he showing up on the scene has brought all these lunatics out of the woodwork. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I don't know if, spoiler alert, if people don't know this, but you know, in a... Oh, you don't want to know? No, go ahead. No, go ahead. It's fine. How it turns out the Black Mask was, the Joker was Black Mask the whole time. Yeah. And it had, oh, you're up to that bit already?

No. Okay. That's basically what it is. I'll leave it there. So it becomes that he's, he's the main villain. And it, and it's interesting because it explores their relationship because Joker falls off a building at one point and, catches him. And Joker's like, what is wrong with you?

Why would you do that? And then the rest of the game becomes this whole Joker trying to push Batman's limits, which I find really interesting to see that the moment when the Joker discovers that Batman's got this weakness and I'm going to see if I can break him. And that whole thing's really, really interesting, I thought, I mean, they did use the Joker again as the

villain, which they sure did because he becomes the main, main villain. Um, but Hey, maybe it was good. It was good. It was well done. So, you know, there's that. Also the CSI Batman sequences look pretty good. They're not very interactive. They're so hand-holdy. I've got to go and scan this. Maybe there's a fingerprint on the wall. I'll just have a look at the wall. There is one.

I wonder who's that. Now I'll look at the body. I should look at the... And the little red triangle appears, and you go over and you look, and then the only real... Basically, it holds your hand. You go through that for five minutes,

and then Batman says, I should scrub through the crime scene and see if there's something I missed. And you just scroll back until you see another red triangle. And then you click and you've nailed it. You've solved that crime. You're the best detective. You're the best detective. I mean, they look very pretty.

Yeah. God damn it. Yeah. So that's, I don't really have anything else to say about it. I would recommend it. You would recommend it, but. Shut up. Yeah, shut it. I would recommend it. You would recommend it, but... Shut up. Yeah, shut up.

A, shut up. And B, based on our previous incredibly successful rating system of best game ever or worst game ever, what would you say? I would have to say worst game ever. Worst game ever. And you know what? It's one of the most fun games I've played this year.

The other one being... I play a lot less video games now than I used to. Because I find because I devote my time to making videos and doing this podcast now, I've got no time for music or anything. Audiobooks I've got time for. Boy, do you ever. Audiblepodcast.com slash planets. But, so I have to let a lot of things slide.

Hygiene certainly. Hygiene in a big way. But so like, I don't play as many video games as I used to. Last of Us was the big game i played this year um bishock infinite was great as well which i didn't actually end up finishing i know ridiculous even though it's a really good game and this and this game was really really good so even though i haven't played that many games this year i did get a lot out of it i'll probably go back to it also two of the assassins are side missions so there's two of the assassins i think

at least two that I haven't fought because they're not in the game why bother yeah you've only got a 50 million dollar bounty on your head

it's fine they can come out of the woodwork at any moment do you know who they are no do you want me to tell you no one of them's Batman

that's weird no oh yeah is there anything else you want to say oh there's a few easter eggs in it but the easter eggs

aren't as good as the other easter eggs yeah they're mostly posters of things. I looked at this online. Policeman's wall. Policeman's Christmas party. Policeman's other thing. I looked at a lot of posters in the police department.

There wasn't a lot to do in there. There was like, what was it? There was a Basil Carlo poster. Oh, sure. Clayface. Yeah. And when I saw that, I was like, oh, that's cool. Yeah.

But that's it. And there's a flying Grayson's poster. I'm like, sure. Clayface. Yeah. And when I saw that, I was like, oh, that's cool. Yeah. But that's it. And there's a flying Grayson's poster. I'm like, okay. There's a lot of soda cola vending machines, which is the DC Universe's premier cola. Soda cola. Soda cola. I never noticed that. There you go, yeah.

There's like a Queen Industries. Oh, there's a packing crane. Yeah. And there's a whole bunch of stuff like that. But it's not like, who is the guy who takes Bruce Wayne's face? Hush. Hush. Thomas Elliot.

Like, you run into him in the other one. Yeah, yeah. You run into, you find the Scarecrow's hidden kind of lair. Yeah, yeah. Like, it's stuff like that. And maybe things like that will come out. But it seems like it's mostly posters of things. It is, yeah.

Well, that's true. In Arkham Asylum, you had the one that nobody found because it was so well hidden. Yeah. The hidden Arkham City plans. Yeah. And in Arkham City you found the Scarecrow's hideout filled with fear bugs. Yeah. Which I hope will play out in Arkham World.

That'd be great, yeah. Yeah. Unless you've got nothing. Also, I don't think there's anything... Unless they're so well hidden. Unless we're both idiots. We are. We are, though.

I mean, in fairness. So there's probably heaps of stuff that we missed. There's a whole section where Robin's ten feet behind you, just walking behind you. Just like, walking really carefully. I was not being observant. You didn't see that? I didn't see it either. But, yeah, like, and even things like, when you look at the first game, you see Clayface,

and you use your detective vision. And he doesn't have a skeleton. He doesn't have a skeleton. Then, in Arkham City, and I didn't pick up on this the Joker you fight the Joker but it's the Clayface Joker and if you go back

he doesn't have a skeleton so you can figure that out early on I'm assuming because you're a detective I didn't detect it but I went back specifically to go

I want to see if that Joker has a skeleton and he didn't and it blew my mind that I would miss that. The little details. Yeah.

And so, you know, that's why I could never be Batman. Also, you're not rich. No. Your parents weren't. They're both still alive, aren't they? For now. Yeah. Good.

Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well. Yeah. I can dream. You've only got that white belt in bloody judo. Oh, well. Yeah. I can dream. You've only got that white belt in bloody judo. Oh, yeah.

I could do a flip, though. You could definitely do a flip. By a flip, I mean if somebody comes at me a specific way, I can deflect them. And it's in a dojo situation. If one person sort of knelt down behind you at, like, knee height and somebody else pushed you from the front. You could conceivably do a flip slash fall. Into a garbage can. Into a garbage can. Yeah, anything else you want to say about it

before we talk about some other stuff just quickly? Nope. Worst game ever. Worst game ever. I had a lot of fun, but it has to be the worst game ever. I picked this other version up as well. There's a PS Vita and 3DS version. It's a 2.5D

side-scroller. It's set in Blackgate Prison. I played 10 minutes of it today, just before you came out, because I thought, I've bought it. I want to talk about it. It pretty much gets the combat right. Is it the similar system? Similar system. It's easily, like playing the first 10 minutes of it,

it's the best handheld Batman game I've ever played. And you've played, what's the one on Atari Lynx? Batman Returns on the Atari Lynx, which I'll talk about in a minute. But they really nailed the combat. Apparently it kind of gets very samey as it goes along. And it's getting scores like 7.5 or whatever. But from what I played of it, it's okay. I think you could have actually made it a world kind of game.

You didn't have to make it 2D in it. Because the Vita in particular is capable of making that particular game. I don't know if you played Killzone Mercenary on the Vita. I did. Did you? I borrowed yours, I think. Oh, cool. Because I'm the only person on Earth who has a PS Vita.

Yeah. I really am, though. I don't know anybody else who has one. Maybe I'm a PS fan, boys. I think so. Yeah. Actually, I got given it. It was a gift, actually. It's one of those things I wouldn't buy for myself, but I'm okay that fan boys I think so yeah actually I got given it it was a gift actually

it's one of those things I wouldn't buy for myself but I'm okay that I've got it I don't really play it that much because it's not me that games on it you're making a lot of excuses for this thing

just let it go it's fine I probably will play through that particular game and see where it goes but apparently it's just okay also there's an iPad version it's free

have you played it? no is it free but freemium? it's freemium but you can still do a lot of combat I downloaded it I think it's free have you played it? no I is it free but freemium? it's freemium but you can still do a lot of combat I downloaded it I played

I think it's like 700 meg I played it for maybe 5 minutes deleted it it's the worst game ever well they always are it's not good did you play the Iron Man 3?

no the iPad game is the worst game ever it was kind of that sort of Infinity Blade-ish kind of no not at all

if it were that would be great, by comparison. So it's free, but it's freemium. Yeah. And it's basically it's like Cannibal. It's an endless runner. I love an endless runner. Yeah, but it's in 3D. Yeah. And you just fly through the same environments over and over, and then you get to a point

and there's some robots or flying things, and you zap them with your repulsor, and then you keep flying, and you speed up inexplicably for no reason. Can you slow down? No, you can't slow down. And it just keeps going and going. And that would be fine as a completely average game that's free except every single thing

in the game costs money. Like if you die it takes you like 10-15 seconds to repair the armour and resurrect unless you pay money. Is it just a loading screen? Pretty much.

So it's not really you repairing it, it's just a loading screen? No, it's just a loading screen. You don't have to do it manually. And so then you have to, you can skip that by paying like start credits, which you get by paying real money. And then there's like 18 different armors, and you have to build up experience points to earn them, and then you have to pay start credits to buy them or you can pay real money what why would you pay for a game which

is literally just flying until you get faster and i don't know i have no idea but but basically it's even laid out in the thing if you want enough credits to get all the armors right off the bat like 109.95 not even kidding it's awful and i and i read reviews of this i'm like this because i'd never played a freemium game before this and i and i and i went i'm gonna get read reviews of this and this is gonna they're gonna be like this is an outrage this is horrendous and i got to the reason they're like yeah the pay-to-play stuff is it's okay it's reasonable is it reasonable 109 i think what has happened is that all these little pay-to-play things,

all the framing stuff has snuck up on people like incrementally and now people don't even notice if they have to do that. See, I'm happy to pay for a game outright. I remember I played something

like $12 for a version of Street Fighter on my iPhone which I barely even played. I was happy with it, got all the characters, played it a few times, whatever. It's an okay game. It's pretty good for what it is. I was happy with it. Got all the characters. Played it a few times, whatever.

It's an okay game. It's pretty good for what it is. I'm happy to pay for it if you just give me the whole game. Exactly. Thank you. I'm happy to pay a little bit extra. I don't care if it's $10 or whatever. If it's good, I'll buy it.

Infinity Blade is a really good example of that. Bought the first one. I don't think I bought the second one. Knowing what it was and everything. And it was great. I think Plants vs. Zombies 2 is freemium. Never played it. One? No.

Have you ever seen a plant? Are they like, is there one in this room? Yeah. That's it, yeah. Wow, okay, wow. That heater-shaped thing, that's a plant. Wow, that's cool. How it's giving off heat.

Yeah, it's great. It's a heat plant. That's fantastic. So I do want to talk about other games. Batman games from the past. Let's talk, I just want to talk about other games. Batman games from the past. I just want to talk about my favourite, which is the Batman the Movie game from the 80s, or possibly like 1990.

Yeah. On the Amiga 500. That was my jams. I think just one disc. Wow. One three and a half inch floppy disc. You better believe it. Fantastic.

And it was the standard format of movie time games at the time. They were all exactly the same. Yeah. It was platform level, driving level, puzzle level, driving level, platform level. That's it. Six levels. Yeah. Five levels.

Five levels. Five levels. And they were all exactly the same. Did it follow the movie? More or less. Kind of. So first level, you're in the chemical plant. Sure.

The Axis chemical plant, you're in the chemical plant. Sure. The Axis chemical plant, right? And you fight your way through all these generic bad guys until you find Jack Napier, and then you hit him with a Batarang, and he falls into a tank of toxic waste. Just like the movie. And then you're in a driving, you're escaping from the Joker,

and you have to... It was one of those games that was really, really... Remember back in the day when games were really unforgiving? I do remember that. And he was in this driving... Vividly. The driving level, and you had to get back to the day when games were really unforgiving I do remember that and it was in this driving level the driving level and you had to get back

to the bat cave like a 3D driving level and you had to like the game would point out ways you had to turn like you have to turn left now

and you had to fire out a grappling hook in one direction or the other and quickly turn around a corner but if you missed like one

you'd run out it was time and if you missed one you'd run out of time. But it wouldn't just end at that. It wouldn't end when you missed it. It would make you go all the way to the end and go, oh, you ran out of time. Then generic puzzle level.

Then flying the Batwing level where you had to cut all the balloons in the parade, the poison balloons. And then final level, you're in the cathedral. You climb all the way to the cathedral. You see the Joker escaping on a helicopter. You shoot your grappling hook. It hits him. He falls hundreds of stories to his death. End game.

Brilliant. I loved it. So many hours. How many times did you play that game? So many times. So many times. Good graphics for the time. Yeah, Omega 500.

Yeah. Think about it. I didn't have an Omega 500. Sweet. So sweet. Would you recommend 500. Yeah. Think about it. I didn't have an Omega 500. Sweet. So sweet. Would you recommend it? Yeah, best game ever. Best game ever.

How was the combat? Was it pretty much punch, graphics? No, it was just batarangs. The whole thing? Just all batarangs? No punching. Batarangs. Did people disappear when you killed them?

Not killed, because he's Batman. Except when he pulls that guy off the helicopter and he falls to his death. No, they would fall off the screen. Okay. Presumably to their death. But movie Batman was okay with the occasional killing.

He killed so many people. He'd blow up a building with people in it. Which, is it Batman Returns or the first Batman where there's, I think it's Batman Returns

where there's all the clowns or whatever around his car and he lifts up the car and the car's on a little tripod-y stand and he turns it around and he just fires the engine on them and burns and burns so many people to death.

Yeah. Funny we should mention Batman Returns though, because my Batman game of memory is Batman Returns on the Atari Lynx. How'd that go? Are you familiar with the Atari Lynx? Yes, I'm familiar with the Atari Lynx. Do you have an Atari Lynx? No, but I remember you could turn it upside down for your lefties.

For your lefties who inexplicably wanted to but I remember you could turn it upside down. Sure could. For your lefties. Yeah. For your lefties who inexplicably wanted to play left, you could flip it upside down and flick a switch and it would... That thing was as wide as a bus, though. It was the biggest handheld, I think, that's ever existed. Uh-huh. Again, I was the only person in the world that had one. Uh-huh.

And I got it, like, well after it came out. Right. So it was like, you know, nobody... Nobody cared. Nobody... I think, you know, people who've had the Game Boy Advance probably at that point. And I was it, like, well after it came out. Right. So it was like, you know, nobody... Nobody cared. Nobody... I think, you know, people have had the Game Boy Advance probably at that point. And I was playing it.

But anyway, this Batman Returns game, to its credit, it follows the story pretty closely. Uh-huh. Like, the first one, you... Do you burn some clowns to death? No, you don't burn any clowns to death. But, you know, all the villains match up. Like, you fight clowns who throw dynamites.

But it's one of those games where you don't stop for a second to fight everybody because you'll die. You have to keep moving. There's only four levels. It's a four-level game, but it is as hard as fuck. Penguin Orphanage level. Weird ice charity ball level. Christopher Walken level.

The Penguin Gets Electrocuted level. You pretty much nailed it. First level, running Walken level. The penguin gets electrocuted level. You pretty much nailed it. That's what I thought. First level, running through the street. You fight the penguin in his duck. Duck. Yeah. Well, you have to hit the duck in the eye with batarangs.

Second level, I think you're going across the rooftops of the city. And this level is ridiculous because you run across and there's cops trying to kill you. Some of them have handguns, which is fine. They just take a little bit of damage. Other cops have shotguns. If you jump mid-air and get shot with a shotgun, you fall straight off the building. You've only got like three lives. And it's so easy to get shot because you can't see the edge of the screen.

So you jump thinking there's nobody there. There's ten guys waiting there with shotguns. That is classic old game. Just that cheap leap of faith. Just a cheap leap of faith. And it was one of those things as well where if you didn't hit it, like, you couldn't just hit the edge of the building. You had to get, like, right on it. Otherwise, you'd just fall straight through it to your death.

Arkham Origins question. Why are all the cops in that corrupt? I understand there's a lot of corruption in the game, but you just assume everybody's corrupt and just wail into them. There's a bit later... There's probably just a guy and he's not corrupt and he's just pulling you in a bit of overtime and he's just at the copy machine and you just kick in the door of the GCPD and you

just belt him and he's like, oh, oh, my teeth. No dental plan. Yeah, well, I think there's bits later in that game actually where you fight these cops and they're going to bust into the bridge at the wrong time or whatever. I'm going to stop them. Uh-huh. They're just regular cops. Right.

And you just go down and just pummel them. Great. So they'd be like, thanks, Batman, for beating us up to death, you know? At least we didn't die. We've just got crippling disabilities for the rest of our lives. Well, just quickly, though, you know how they try to make it more an experience? Yeah. There's a bit where he interrogates a thug and he chokes him out.

Yep. I think there's one bit where he's sort of inexperienced and that's it. Yeah. And Gordon's like... Not Gordon. Alfred's like, You're a vigilante with a trust fund. Do you get up to that bit?

Yes. And that's pretty much everything else. He's pretty much the same Batman. Except he doesn't like working with people. Well, you see the thing there is, the way you know he's an inexperienced Batman is people have said it. You know?

Oh, yeah. That's storytelling. Yeah, that's storytelling. Worst game ever. Worst game ever. Sorry, guys. Sorry, yeah. So this game is quickly the Batman Returns.

Nobody cares about this, but I'm going to talk about it as well. You love it so much. You've been waiting years for a platform to tell people about your Batman Returns experience. This is therapy for you more than anything else. Continue. It's fine. I'm going to edit it out

surreptitiously. I'm going to borrow the file and then nobody will ever know. Not many people have apparently, or Fairfield clocked this game, probably because not many people have played it. The last missioned this game, probably because not many people have played it. The last mission, you go through the sewer,

you fight the penguin, which is obviously a very mismatched fight in real life, but you beat him up for a bit, you kick him, and he flies into a big machine, and he gets

electrocuted, and he slides off the screen to his death. In classic Batman fashion. That is classic Batman fashion. And then at the end

of the game, it goes, by the way, I should point out out points in this game mean nothing. Right. You earn points they mean nothing. You can't buy anything

because they mean nothing. Yeah. I can't emphasize that at all. But you can tell everybody that you earned a million

points. That's right. You can take a photo of it of your screen and then get that developed and then send it to a video game magazine.

That's what people did back in the day. I know. Because now like when people even if there's a video on know. Because now, like, when people, even if there's a video on YouTube of somebody getting

a really high score, people are like, you faked it. You used trickery. Nobody believes anything anymore. It's true. You know,

so, back in the day it was a lot of effort. If you were going to doctor a photo, you'd have to go to a lot of effort. Yeah,

you really did. Yeah, anyway, I don't know what I'm talking about that for. Yeah, so,

you kick the penguin and he dies or whatever. End of the game it says something like, Congratulations, you've defeated whoever. Bonus 10,000 points. Fantastic. End of game.

The points don't do anything. No, you can take those points. You put them in your pocket for later. You feel real satisfied. You know what the most annoying thing as well? Oh boy, here we go. Get it out of your system. Tell thousands of people inexplicably. A lot of the games... Get it out of your system. Tell thousands of people inexplicably.

A lot of the games on the Atari links, I think all of them, there's... You put in... Slime World. Rampage. I remember games. That you put in your high score, you put in your initials or whatever, and... As soon as you switch it off, it resets. It's not saved.

Yeah, okay. There's no point to it. Don't put it in. Don't put it in. You're not going to leave it on forever, are you? Okay, so any developers of the Atari links out there who are listening... It's saved Yeah okay There's no point to it Don't put it in Don't put it in You're not going to Leave it on forever Are you

Okay so any developers Of the Atari Lynx Out there who are listening No it's fine I had a lot of time With the Atari Lynx Yeah No I really did

Do you want to buy two And we'll use the Link up cave And we'll play some Atari Lynx Fantastic let's do that Play some Rampage We'll play some

Gates of Zendikon We'll play some Zalor Mercenary Let's do that We'll play some Paperboy We'll play some Tournament Cyberball I had a lot of some zalo mercenary let's play some paperboy we'll play some tournament cyberball i had a lot of atari looks i could tell that was so cheap yeah okay is that it that'll do it yeah let's get out of here fantastic we've both got things to get to

don't we yeah i don't oh well well i'll see you back here next time i burnt all my bridges on the weekend because i abandoned all my friends to play Batman to do this podcast. You're good at that, aren't you? Yeah. I was at a dinner on Friday and I was like two hours in. I was like, well, that's me. And they're like, you just got here. You're literally still eating. I was like, well, what can you do?

I skipped a bikes party. God. Yeah. Wow. No, I didn't really. Anybody important? Nah. Oh, I know who it is.

Nah, you didn't miss it. He's alright. Weird shaped head on that guy though. Yeah, I know, right?. Nah, you didn't miss it. He's alright. Weird shaped head on that guy, though. Yeah, I know, right? His name's Brendan. Oh, God. Good guy. But, yeah.

If, um... Let me think. Why don't you let us know what you think of Arkham Origins if you've played it. Refute each of our points one at a time, in order. I think we were unnecessarily harsh on this game, but I think everything that's good about that game is borrowed from the previous games. If they had to... I think if this particular studio

had to make this game by themselves, they could not have pulled that game off. No, it's just because they had the engine already. They got the engine. They got the mechanics. They got not Kevin Conroy. We miss him. Weird audio glitches in that game as well.

There's bits where the Joker's talking to you over the PA, and I always find that stuff really interesting, but it's really soft, so I can't hear it. Yeah, yeah. You're probably standing in the wrong spot. I was. Yeah. You know what?

I was standing in a different room. That's it. Yeah. So let us know what you think, though. Hit us up on weeklyplanetpod at gmail.com. Weeklyplanetpod Twitter, is that it? Twitter.com slash weeklyplanetpod twitter is that it twitter.com slash weeklyplanetpod

that's the one you're doing really well facebook.com slash twitter slash weeklyplanetpod that's the one or mr sunday to sunday

movie channels I'm doing a Thor review this week do you want to go to my channel and check it out Mason yes yeah so next week

I think we're going to be talking about Thor the Dark Lord aren't we fantastic I'm ready for it some reviews are already saying that there's too much comedy. I'm okay with that. I'm fine with that. Do you think Thor's a humorous character in the comics? No, he's not known for his...

His dry wit? No, he's known for his Shakespearean manner of speech and everything's Armageddon. Isn't he also known for his hammer? Yeah, and the hat with the wings on it. Yeah. Yeah. He barely put that

on in the first one. I wonder if he'll wear it in this one. I doubt it. I'm really looking forward to Thor, though. Me too. As we said last week,

really like the last one. If they botched this movie up, though, like they sort of botched up Iron Man 3, do you think people would be like, Marvel have lost it!

What happened? Phase 2, more like Phase Poo! I think even if they don't watch it people will say that yeah it's largely irrelevant yeah yeah i think they just gotta you know what i think they're gonna do more new properties i think that's what um sequels obviously make the money yep but what i'm most looking forward to actually aside from captain amer which looks amazing Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy I'm on board

yeah and Black Panther if they ever get around to that but they keep every time Kevin Feige goes to talk about it he keeps like pushing it back he's like it's on the cards

it's not on the cards but I think and the same with is there any what other female superheroes Black Panther's not female just so people just so people no there's also female superheroes which they're's not female. Just so people...

No, there's also female superheroes which they're talking about, which I think at the end of the day they probably won't make because... There might be an Alias film. That's one of the projects that they keep pushing. Not Jennifer Garner Alias, but... It was a Marvel Max series about a former superhero who's trying to put the whole life behind her. Now she's a private detective

okay cool what's her power it's like generic she's like flight superhuman strength she's quite durable okay cool like a flying car

like a flying car exactly yeah cool alright so we'll talk about that next week fantastic very excited

thanks everybody thanks for everybody remember go to audiblepodcast.com slash planet yes free audiobook also tell us how much we sold out yeah please do that I'm excited for that too Thanks for everybody. Remember, go to audiblepodcast.com slash planet. Yes. Free audiobook. Also, tell us how much we sold out.

Yeah, please do that. I'm excited for that too. It's going to be great. Thanks, guys. We really appreciate it. Thank you for making this podcast possible. Okay, bye. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship

between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+.