Square Enix unleashed Eidos' Batman Arkham: Asylum Game Of The Year edition on Friday, promising a 3D experience on any TV. Here, we give our view on the PS3 and 360 versions of the release...
ARKHAM ASYLUM 3D - PS3
You don't need to shell out your life savings for a new 3D TV to jump on the new 3D bandwagon. Put your credit card away. The new Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition comes with a 3D mode and two pairs of 3D glasses - and it'll work on your current TV.
Even if you (idiotically) play your high-powered games console on one of those thick CRT TVs that your mum has to slap to get a clear picture on Eastenders, the 3D will work.
But the obvious question is how does it compares to proper stereoscopic 3D on a billion-pound (or there abouts) TV? Consider these factors; the GotY Edition package doesn't cost £1000, it works on any TV and - the real telling point - the 'glasses' are those cardboard ones with the red and green lenses you used to get free with issues of those FIFA sticker books.
This is clearly the Happy Shopper of 3D. The homeless cousin. And yet we were pleasantly surprised by how well it actually works. Seriously, it's pretty decent.
Flick on the 3D mode and, looking without the glasses you see the colours on screen go all askew, with slight tints of red and green in areas where the 3D effect is being applied.
Actually, the opening cutscene is underwhelming. It's not until you get into gameplay that the 3D effect really starts to stand out. Batman himself is the main spectacle - he looks distinctively 'closer' to you than everything in the background.
Nothing jumps out of the screen towards your face - not like with full-fat stereoscopic 3D - but during gameplay there's obvious depth. Characters and protruding objects like tables, crates or railings, clearly stand away from the environment in the background. Snooping around on the gargoyles high above your enemies is particularly cool, with Batman clearly right up close and the scenery below dipping further away. It makes swooping down on enemies that little bit more satisfying.
We didn't expect it to work this well. Onlookers from around the office were drawn in - mainly to point and laugh at us looking like idiots with those ridiculously cheap-looking cardboard specs on but, after reluctantly trying them on for themselves, were quick to admit at it's actually pretty cool.
But those old-fashioned two-tone specs come with the same old drawbacks. Our eyes were uncomfortable with it at first, clearly not loving the potent red and green shades covering each eye. But you get used to it and it becomes more comfortable.
The main issue is the loss your ability to see in full colour. That's a pretty major loss particularly for such a nice-looking game, and whatever colour-correction techniques that may be employed just don't work. The game's far more colourful in 2D mode.
So you have a choice; you either play it in 2D as normal, or trade in your perception of a few million colours, along with your pride of appearance, for a bit of three-dimensional trickery that's mild in comparison to proper stereoscopic 3D.
It's is a cool novelty and a unique experience on consoles (until PS3 gets its proper 3D update later this summer, that is), but it's more a neat bonus than a reason to rush out to grab the GotY Edition if you already own a standard version of the game.
If you're particularly fascinated by 3D gaming the PC version and nVidia's 3D vision kit (along with an nVidia GPU and an expensive 120Hz monitor) is the way to go. If you haven't got the kit or £700 spare, you'll have to make do with this, won't you.
Mike Jackson
ARKHAM ASYLUM 3D - XBOX 360
2010 is the year of 3D. Given a hearty kick start by James Cameron's epic Avatar, 3D tech and gadgets dominated CES and even Nintendo has jumped on the 3D bandwagon with the 3DS. It's official, 3D has become the next big thing,
So what are the implications for gaming? Well we've already established that 3D works extremely well on high-end high concept PC shooters like THQ's and 4A's Metro 2033, but the downside of that system, excellent though it is, is it that requires quite a substantial investment that won't for all or indeed many in these cash-strapped times.
No, if 3D's going to sweep the world of gaming it needs to be cheap, accessible and still look great and that means working on the two most popular powerhouse consoles, the Xbox 360 and PS3 without any additional expensive hardware or bells and whistles. Step forward, as if responding to a 3D bat signal projected over the ramparts of CVG towers, Batman: Arkham Asylum the Game of the Year edition which debuts today in a suitably splendid lenticular cover and has options for full 3D on both versions.
Now we've had about a week to get to grips with Arkham Asylum 3D on both machines and while we can't claim to have done exhaustive frame rates tests, hardware breakdowns or technical analysis, what we can offer is pure unadulterated opinion backed by countless years of gaming experience.
Well, for starters the set up is easy to use and Arkham Asylum comes with a rather attractive double set of cardboard Batman and Joker 3D glasses. The game uses a kind of anaglyph 3D technique, where the image on screen is centred and the background and foreground are shifted sideways in opposite directions, which resolved by the chromatically opposite lenses - and your brain of course. That's the text book explanation anyway and in practice what it means is: don the glasses and you'll see in the game in 3D.
And you know, we're pleased to report it works remarkably well. Like most 3D experiences, it takes your eyes a ten to 15 minutes to adjust and relax into it, but when they do, there's a nice sense of depth between foreground and background and some nice enhancements for example when following clue trails through the depths of the asylum which appear to float in front of you. There's some great 'incoming!' moments when objects leap out of the screen for example when Bane's hurling giant rocks and scenery at you.
Problems? Well there's none to speak of really or none that particularly matter. It's definitely not as sophisticated a version of 3D as the high-end PC option sports, lacking the particle-style effects which make objects appear to float out of the screen. On the other hand you could argue it's not trying to be and you also have the bonus of not having to splurge a couple of hundred notes to make it work. This does, straight out of the box for the price of a couple of pairs of cardboard shades.
We did have some concerns that the red and cyan lenses might overpower the rest of the colours on screen, but Arkam's Unreal Engine 3-powered green and grey washed out palette on Xbox 360 doesn't seem to suffer too much from this consideration, although we suppose more vivid colour palettes could. In game, you can switch between 3D and 2D versions at will which certainly helps, so if you get tired of the 3D, or want more definition in your colours, you can simply switch it off.
So overall what do we think? Well 3D on both PS3 and Xbox 360 it's a decent enough addition, works well, costs virtually nothing to add to the game both in hardware and software and is a pleasing enough option to make it worthwhile.
However we also have to say it doesn't quite have that wow factor that makes us think this is the future of gaming. On console anaglyph 3D simply doesn't make a compelling enough case to have us gushing and call it a 'must have' feature for all titles from here on in. The 3D in Arkham Asylum, gently rather than radically enhances an already great gaming experience . It's nice enough option to have certainly, but for the moment we won't be betting the farm on anaglyph console 3D just yet.
I thought that the TriOviz system used in Arkham Asylum had green and magenta lenses, not the red and cyan lenses that are more common for anaglyph 3D.
so much for sony making huge deal out of there system having 3D for 1 thing every system is capable through 3D TV's and PC's even have enviromental things to pot.
Feels more like 2010 is the year of the gimmick, 3d, natal and move all feel like silly tricks which will add little to the experience of playing.
I'm really looking forward to wearing silly glasses whilst waving my arms frantically at the screen. I might wear a bobble hat, mittens and a nice sweater just to complete the geek image.
I bought the GOTY edition on Saturday and I have to say I'm quite impressed, sure the colours look a little washed out but on a predominently dark game i don't think it matters too much.The thing I liked most about it was that the effect was quite subtle, the game is far more immersive in 3D. On my 50" plasma screen it actually looks very impressive. The problem is that everybody will judge 3D against Avatar and if they do that they will be disappointed. i've recently seen a demo of Sky 3D and on a poxy 37" LCD it was rubbish. Personally I wouldn't want a 3D TV for movies because it just can't live up to the cinema but gaming is a different proposition all together. If done right gaming would be awsome and and put gamers where they really want to be: in the game.
3d games rock, i have been using nvision for the last year and there is no going back to 2d, when i play on my ps3 and 360 the games look flat and life less, so here is hopeing sony launches its 3d in june, i remember playing magic carpets in red/blue 3d back in 1994 i still have the glasses good times.
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for 1 thing every system is capable through 3D TV's and PC's even have enviromental things to pot.
