I don't know about you lot, but I've been revisiting
Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Playfire achievements. That game is five years old and still better than most of the stuff I've played over the last year.
It's still very, very good. I'm not sure I'm good enough to get that 50p super-duper-combo achievement though.
Posting here as, somehow, unbelievably, some people have still not played Arkham Asylum. I know, I know.
Some older games, they get dated (graphically technically; gameplay-wise; UI-wise; whatever) - and it's dated so badly, you just can't play it in the modern-era.
Some games, they can just stand the test of time.
I think
Arkham series does stand that test of time.
When a game comes along...gets something so right and/or does things so differently - and it all works, you get something ranging from good to great. I think
Arkham Asylum + Arkham City are both great. Asylum had the fresh-ness of its mechanics, while I think Arkham City improved by...adding the kitchen sink and making the game more open in some ways, TBH. That series' combat system was imitated by other games (i.e. see Sleeping Dogs, in which that was a great twist on a GTA-style game) - so that's already a sign of how great those two Arkham games were when others are copying it and/or also trying to take that combat-system plus toss their own spin onto it.
And that's not even getting into how Arkham series actually got so much of the actual Batman so right (story, gameplay, immersion into the universe), when...well, many Batman games in recent years really didn't get it right.
Back to the topic of playing games on time, late, and/or the feeling of a game possibly being dated - I think this can be different for many people, especially depending on when they originally play the game. Hopefully, it's a lot closer to when it actually came out. B/c when you do a replay way later, you can be more forgiving - b/c you know how it played "back in the day".
For example...
I think some people could have trouble getting into some games mixing FPS or TPS elements w/ RPG elements. A lot of these games - they didn't rely so heavily on the actual shooter elements, they relied more on the RPG stuff. While the had the shooter style of controls for feel + gameplay - they also relied heavily on Level, Stats, Skills, and especially on "dice-rolls."
Vampire: Bloodlines could be one b/c its combat by today's standards, is a bit clunky + dated, especially if they didn't play it back when it came out - it doesn't really do combat nowhere as great as some others that try to mix RPG and action elements (see Mass Effect 2 + 3). But for a RPG, back when it came out - its combat was great...and games mixing RPG, action, and even some FPS elements.
Honestly - I think Mass Effect 2 + 3 did ruin combat for games mixing RPG + heavy shooting elements for many - which could expose a classic like
Deus Ex 1 (you can be more forgiving w/ that b/c it's much older)
+ Alpha Protocol (somewhat more recent title that could feel dated, especially since it came out after Mass Effect 2)
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