A day at Atari

We headed down to Atari’s office today to test out some of their upcoming games. We got to get to get our hands on Batman: Arkham Asylum, Mini Ninjas, Tekken 6 and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast. Keep reading to find out our initial impressions with the games.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

The first game we tested out was the new Batman game. We started out the game as Batman was bringing in his long-time nemesis, Joker, into Arkham Asylum. The first thing we noticed was the awesome voice-acting. Mark Hammill plays the Joker in the game and his experience playing the character in the animated series really shows in the fantastic voice-acting in the game. The graphics were just as impressive with Batman and Joker both looking as menacing as we’d expect them to.

Early in the game Joker manages to escape and reveals his plan to trap Batman in Arkham Asylum, from there Batman has to fight his way through the many inmates as he tries to bring the Joker back to justice. Combat had a very solid feel and as we beat up enemies we could really feel the weight behind the caped crusader’s blows. We also got to try out the detective mode which allows Batman to identify clues in the environment which help him track the Joker. The game has stealth elements where Batman can grapple up to higher areas and leap down on unsuspecting foes. Overall the game is looking very polished and should be a great title to check out when it hits stores later this month.

Mini Ninjas

Mini Ninjas was the second game we tested. The game has a very cute, kid-friendly look thanks to its colourful, light-hearted graphical style. We took on some bad guys and were pretty impressed by the combat in the game. It looked simple at first but as you progress you can learn a variety of magical spells and abilities that add depth to the combat. Despite the cute graphics Mini Ninjas has a surprising amount of depth and content.

Tekken 6

The largest and final fighting game of 2009 seems to be shaping up very well. We played a version of the game with all the characters unlocked and were really impressed by the massive roster of characters available. The game is visually stunning and the combat is rock solid, exactly what you’d expect from the Tekken series. Most of the characters have the same move sets and styles so veterans will be able to jump right in. One of the new features in the game is the Rage system which activates when your character is at low health and gives their attacks a powerful boost. The arenas in the game were packed with detail and quirky, the one which took place in the middle of a tomato fighting festival caught our eye the most. Unfortunately we didn’t get to try out the beat em’ up styled Scenario mode.

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast

The latest in the Dragon Ball fighting series is looking to be a strong addition. We only got to try out an early demo so we were limited to the arcade mode and a smaller cast selection but even so we had a lot of fun with the game. The game plays similar to the older games in the series but it has received some graphical tweaks. We fought in a huge canyon arena and flying around blasting each other out of the sky was as fun as always.