This post was originally posted in my IGN blog. You can go read it over here.
Recently I went to the Playstation Experience in Vegas, and let me tell you I had a great time. This was my first trade show I've been to and it didn't disappoint at all. There was plenty to look at and play. My main reason for being there was to attend the Podcast Beyond panel. I've always wanted to go to the live shows they have, but wasn't able to until last weekend.
Now, just because I went there for Beyond doesn't mean that I'm not going to enjoy myself while I'm there. You've got to enjoy life, people. Make the best out of every situation. Every single moment is precious. Now that I got my motivational speaker out of me, let's get back to what I was talking about, shall we? There were plenty of games to see and interact with. I wanted to try Morpheus, but by the time I got in line, it turns out they were handing out tickets beforehand and already ran out of them -- and guess who didn't have one...
Sorry brother, but you ain't even getting near me!
There were too many games there that just stood out to me so much, like Uncharted 4, The Order 1886, and plenty others. So much content to digest in such little time, guys! Because of it, I want to just focus on Arkham Knight. When I first caught a glimpse of the gameplay for Arkham Asylum (wait, I thought you said Arkham Knight...) before it came out, I knew I wanted that game. I didn't need a review or preview to tell me that. My gut just told me I needed to have that game. Sure, I read some previews and the review, because I just wanted to see more of it, but sometimes you just know.
Even if the review doesn't turn out the way you'd hoped it would (which wasn't the case this time). It's like love at first sight. You don't care if the game is bitchy to your friends or acts as if it was the boss -- which it definitely isn't -- there's this hook that draws you in. Same thing happened to me with Arkham City, which to me is much better than Asylum, but what Asylum had going for it is the fact that it established Batman in the video game world. That initial reaction didn't happen with Origins for me. No disrespect to Warner Bros. Montreal, I'm sure they're a fine developer, but I had to brush up on my reading for that one. I actually ended up not playing that one, not because I thought it wasn't a good game, it didn't catch my eye, that's all.
Rocksteady earned my trust, so anything they put out after that, I will buy. Now, that doesn't mean that the trust can't be broken, don't be mistaken. What I'm telling you here is that they have a little bit of credit with me. That doesn't happen with every developer or game franchise, for that matter. There are some games that I love and I just wasn't sure if they'd be any good before I actually played it. You know the old adage: "don't judge a book by it's cover." I can assure you, you've probably been burned by that one too many times. I know I have. Sometimes though, that cover is just really impressive and you can't help but fall for it.
So when I saw the Arkham Knight booth at PSX, I thought to myself "Hey, why don't I just go check this game out? I mean, I'm already here!" The booth was awesomely decorated, they had different sets of Cowls and Capes all in separate glass boxes, for a moment I even thought "Why the hell are there Batman decorations?" Obviously it hit me immediately after that (Okay, it wasn't that immediate, but my brain got there!). Suddenly I saw the huge line that awaited. I'd already seen a couple of trailers when it got announced, I knew I wanted this bad boy. I figured, you know what, I'm getting this no matter what, so let's just go onto the next one.
You mean to tell me there's no more pumpkin pie!?
I know it might sound weird to write about a game I didn't even check out when I had the chance, but there's just that something about it that gives me the feeling I'll buy this no matter what. What are your thoughts on Arkham Knight? Sound off in the comments and we can talk about unicorns.