If I haven't gotten the point across, Batman: Arkham Asylum was a far better game than any licensed comic book game has a right to be. It had some flaws such as the movement and navigation sometimes feeling a little sluggish, an over dependence on the detective mode and of course, the Killer Croc stage. But at the end of the day it wasn't just good, it was a shockingly excellent game all around.
The story for Batman: Arkham City is, without a single doubt, the single most ambitious story I've ever seen for a superhero game. The gist is that after the events of Arkham Asylum, the former warden Quincy Sharp (who is himself a sociopath which only Batman knows), has become mayor and uses those events as well as others to propose and greenlight the construction of a superprison called Arkham City, where the prisoners will have free reign as long as they don't try to escape. The prisoners are not just psychotics but regular criminals and even those who have a criminal past that they've already served time for. Think Escape from New York with Batman.
For this reason, the hype for Batman: Arkham City has been enormous. I even named it my 3rd most anticipated game of 2011 in my first blog post back in January (and that was before Mass Effect 3, which was 1st, got delayed). I've been posting a lot about it and now it's time for the real moment of truth.
Does Batman: Arkham City truly live up to the hype and its predecessor? Let's dig into the review and find out.
STORY
The story for Batman: Arkham City is, without a single doubt, the single most ambitious story I've ever seen for a superhero game. The gist is that after the events of Arkham Asylum, the former warden Quincy Sharp (who is himself a sociopath which only Batman knows), has become mayor and uses those events as well as others to propose and greenlight the construction of a superprison called Arkham City, where the prisoners will have free reign as long as they don't try to escape. The prisoners are not just psychotics but regular criminals and even those who have a criminal past that they've already served time for. Think Escape from New York with Batman.
Meanwhile, Professor Hugo Strange has been placed in charge of Arkham City and has sinister plans, not helped by the fact that he knows Batman's identity. As Batman attempts to figure out what Strange is up to, the Joker appears to be dying from the Titan formula at the end of last game and is also at war with the Penguin. Catwoman is also in Arkham City with a beef against Two-Face, and finally the Riddler becomes more sadistic than ever in his attempt to best Batman.
That's just the set-up and what we already know going into the game, and it only gets juicier from there.
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| What is Professor Hugo Strange trying to accomplish with Arkham City? This mystery will keep you hooked throughout the game. |
As for which game's story is better, Arkham Asylum's or Arkham City's, I'm divided. They both have separate strengths and weaknesses. Arkham Asylum's story was well-focused but lacked a lot major twists and turns and overall ambition. Arkham City on the other hand is much more ambitious and has a greater feeling of urgency, but it als has trouble with its focus especially with all of the sidequests and villains packed into it. This can also lead to some villains getting shafted with much less attention than they deserve.
However at the end of the day, while it's debatable which story is actually better, I enjoyed this storyline more than Arkham Asylum. Partly because of the ambition of the story and how many twists and turns there are and there is a lot of foreshadowing for these twists which makes their impact that much more awesome.
And while some of the villains get the short end of the stick others get a great spotlight. The most shocking one was the Penguin who was probably the most vicious version of the Penguin I have ever seen.
Meanwhile, while the sidequests can get in the way of the narrative they also have some great references to the Batman universe with more obscure villains and characters that is pure and beautiful fanservice to fans of Batman.
So while the story isn't without its flaws, it still manages to be a very enjoyable and pretty well-written storyline that will keep you hooked from beginning to end.
GAMEPLAY AND DESIGN
Of course the big change from Arkham Asylum is in the title: Arkham CITY. As I said, Arkham City was created by cordoning off a section of Gotham and you literally have free reign over the entire map. For this reason, gliding has been refined and is much less restrictive and you can glide HUGE distances especially with the improved grapnel boost, which you can use in mid-glide unlike in Asylum. After completing some sidequests you get an upgrade to the grapnel boost which allows you to continue gliding right after using it.
The environment may not be as big as New York City was in Spider-Man 2 but I feel like there's more to do and what you do is given more meaning behind it. The sidequests are expansive and interesting and there is a lot to see including a few nice easter eggs.
If there's one flaw with the sidequests, it's that they lack major gameplay variety I feel. There are some new things thrown in like tracing a phone call, and they are still interesting, but I wish they would have put more out-of-the-box thinking to a few of them. This also leads to detective mode which I still feel is overly important and relied upon which can take away from the atmosphere.
The Riddler is back in town and this time has left 400 trophies to find, riddles to solve, objects to break, and physical challenges to complete (plus another 40 with the Catwoman DLC). Unlike the first game, you can't just find a trophy and pick it up (usually). You have to solve a small puzzle first. I really liked this as it gave it a real Metroid/Zelda feel, even moreso than the first game had.
The riddles themselves are great as every time you solve one (minus the positioning ones) you get a little bit of backstory on the creation of Arkham City and the different characters' relations to it. This was really cool to see and made me want to solve the riddles even more to get more backstory.
After finding enough riddles, then the real fun begins. The Riddler has taken hostages and put them in incredibly elaborate deathtraps like he were Jigsaw. You have to find out where the hostages are and free them. These are among the best highlights of the game and will really make you want to solve as many riddles as possible.
If you played Arkham Asylum at all, you know how the combat system works. It's a very simple system: one button attacks, another counters, one stuns, and one jumps away. It still works and forces you to really rely on reflexes. Easy to pick up and play but still requires practice. However, Rocksteady has added a few more pieces to the system.
In the first game you could use a quick batarang and batclaw. In this one you can incorporate the batclaw even more into the combat as well as use a few of the new gadgets like the freeze blast and remote electrical charge (we'll get into those in a minute). You can also use explosive gel but I found it to be one of the flaws of the combat, as it's very unwieldy and difficult to use and you can also be caught in it and ruin your combo.
Of course the predator sequences also return and Batman is still just as vulnerable to bullets as the last game. Like the last game, it is so much fun to slowly pick them off one-by-one and see the guys left start pissing themselves. The addition of the new gadgets gives a lot more ways to frak with their minds.
As for gadgets there are quite a few new ones. You start the game with your batarang, batclaw, explosive gel, remote batarang, and cryptographic sequencer. From there you expand your arsenal with things like smoke bombs and a freeze blast. The smoke bombs are particularly badass during predator sequences. Dropping one and coming down, taking out two guys real quick, and swinging back up out of sight absolutely kicks ass.
As for the boss fights, they're definitely improved from last game and given less emphasis so the lackluster ones don't take away as much enjoyment. One boss fight in particular is quite cool and requires you to constantly change your tactics as he always learns and makes sure you can't do the same attack twice. But there are still some weak boss encounters in here.
Challenges return with both predator and brawler levels but there are a hell of a lot more this time around, and there are also separate challenge runs for Catwoman and Nightwing (who's DLC I haven't downloaded yet).
On top of that there's a New Game+ which starts you off with all of your upgrades but makes more difficult enemy configurations with no warning that they're about to attack you. It's a great addition and makes a second playthrough worth it.
As for the Catwoman DLC, it's fun but it also feels like it interrupts the flow of the main story (I know different section) and while Catwoman is very fun to control in a fight, she's nowhere near as fun to navigate with. This isn't really Rocksteady's fault as it just comes with the character.
There's a lot of content in Arkham City and a lot of stuff to do, especially if you're one of those people who wants to see and do everything. Arkham City is going to take a lot of time and the game is so addicting. Mixed with the incredibly fun and satisfying combat, it makes for a combination that will make you feel like you definitely got your money's worth.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
The graphics in Arkham City are not the finest technically. The textures are not the best and just like the first game, some of the character models just don't look all that good.
However, artistically the game looks great. Arkham City is truly a wonder to explore and seeing the skyline of Gotham in the background almost makes you wish you could swing into Gotham as well. The architecture looks fantastic with obvious inspiration from the Burton films and the animated series.
The voice acting is stellar. Mark Hamill delivers his swan song performance, stealing the show with his terrifying portrayal of the Joker in arguably one of the best performances of his career. Kevin Conroy is also excellent as Batman and shows how good he's gotten with the character. Grey DeLisle is great as Catwoman though I feel she lays her dialogue a little too heavy at points. Coming from someone who normally loves her work, I feel that she's done better before. Stana Katic also delivers a great performance as Talia Al Ghul in her video game debut. It's an excellent cast and it drives the story well.
Finally, the soundtrack is outstanding. While the environment design seemed to be taken from the Burton films and animated series, the music is definitely inspired by the Nolan films and it kicks ass.
CONCLUSION
I believe that every year, for each person, a game comes out that defines that year and is good to that person, that they can overlook almost any flaw. Last year for me, it was Mass Effect 2. So far this year, it's Batman: Arkham City. I expected a great game, I did not expect one of the finest action/adventure games in recent memory. Any other game that comes out this year is going to have its work cut out for it.
If you have any kind of love for the action/adventure genre you owe it to yourself to pick up this game NOW! It's fun, addictive, fulfilling, and all-around just an amazing experience and at the end of the day, it's just so much fun to be the Bat. It's a definite buy.
However at the end of the day, while it's debatable which story is actually better, I enjoyed this storyline more than Arkham Asylum. Partly because of the ambition of the story and how many twists and turns there are and there is a lot of foreshadowing for these twists which makes their impact that much more awesome.
And while some of the villains get the short end of the stick others get a great spotlight. The most shocking one was the Penguin who was probably the most vicious version of the Penguin I have ever seen.
 |
| You have probably never seen a more vicious Penguin than this one. |
So while the story isn't without its flaws, it still manages to be a very enjoyable and pretty well-written storyline that will keep you hooked from beginning to end.
GAMEPLAY AND DESIGN
Of course the big change from Arkham Asylum is in the title: Arkham CITY. As I said, Arkham City was created by cordoning off a section of Gotham and you literally have free reign over the entire map. For this reason, gliding has been refined and is much less restrictive and you can glide HUGE distances especially with the improved grapnel boost, which you can use in mid-glide unlike in Asylum. After completing some sidequests you get an upgrade to the grapnel boost which allows you to continue gliding right after using it.
 |
| Gliding through Arkham City is a rush and incredibly fun. |
If there's one flaw with the sidequests, it's that they lack major gameplay variety I feel. There are some new things thrown in like tracing a phone call, and they are still interesting, but I wish they would have put more out-of-the-box thinking to a few of them. This also leads to detective mode which I still feel is overly important and relied upon which can take away from the atmosphere.
The Riddler is back in town and this time has left 400 trophies to find, riddles to solve, objects to break, and physical challenges to complete (plus another 40 with the Catwoman DLC). Unlike the first game, you can't just find a trophy and pick it up (usually). You have to solve a small puzzle first. I really liked this as it gave it a real Metroid/Zelda feel, even moreso than the first game had.
The riddles themselves are great as every time you solve one (minus the positioning ones) you get a little bit of backstory on the creation of Arkham City and the different characters' relations to it. This was really cool to see and made me want to solve the riddles even more to get more backstory.
After finding enough riddles, then the real fun begins. The Riddler has taken hostages and put them in incredibly elaborate deathtraps like he were Jigsaw. You have to find out where the hostages are and free them. These are among the best highlights of the game and will really make you want to solve as many riddles as possible.
 |
| The Riddler returns and rescuing his hostages is one of the highlights of the game. |
In the first game you could use a quick batarang and batclaw. In this one you can incorporate the batclaw even more into the combat as well as use a few of the new gadgets like the freeze blast and remote electrical charge (we'll get into those in a minute). You can also use explosive gel but I found it to be one of the flaws of the combat, as it's very unwieldy and difficult to use and you can also be caught in it and ruin your combo.
Of course the predator sequences also return and Batman is still just as vulnerable to bullets as the last game. Like the last game, it is so much fun to slowly pick them off one-by-one and see the guys left start pissing themselves. The addition of the new gadgets gives a lot more ways to frak with their minds.
As for gadgets there are quite a few new ones. You start the game with your batarang, batclaw, explosive gel, remote batarang, and cryptographic sequencer. From there you expand your arsenal with things like smoke bombs and a freeze blast. The smoke bombs are particularly badass during predator sequences. Dropping one and coming down, taking out two guys real quick, and swinging back up out of sight absolutely kicks ass.
 |
| The smoke bombs are badass. |
Challenges return with both predator and brawler levels but there are a hell of a lot more this time around, and there are also separate challenge runs for Catwoman and Nightwing (who's DLC I haven't downloaded yet).
On top of that there's a New Game+ which starts you off with all of your upgrades but makes more difficult enemy configurations with no warning that they're about to attack you. It's a great addition and makes a second playthrough worth it.
As for the Catwoman DLC, it's fun but it also feels like it interrupts the flow of the main story (I know different section) and while Catwoman is very fun to control in a fight, she's nowhere near as fun to navigate with. This isn't really Rocksteady's fault as it just comes with the character.
There's a lot of content in Arkham City and a lot of stuff to do, especially if you're one of those people who wants to see and do everything. Arkham City is going to take a lot of time and the game is so addicting. Mixed with the incredibly fun and satisfying combat, it makes for a combination that will make you feel like you definitely got your money's worth.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
The graphics in Arkham City are not the finest technically. The textures are not the best and just like the first game, some of the character models just don't look all that good.
However, artistically the game looks great. Arkham City is truly a wonder to explore and seeing the skyline of Gotham in the background almost makes you wish you could swing into Gotham as well. The architecture looks fantastic with obvious inspiration from the Burton films and the animated series.
The voice acting is stellar. Mark Hamill delivers his swan song performance, stealing the show with his terrifying portrayal of the Joker in arguably one of the best performances of his career. Kevin Conroy is also excellent as Batman and shows how good he's gotten with the character. Grey DeLisle is great as Catwoman though I feel she lays her dialogue a little too heavy at points. Coming from someone who normally loves her work, I feel that she's done better before. Stana Katic also delivers a great performance as Talia Al Ghul in her video game debut. It's an excellent cast and it drives the story well.
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| Mark Hamill's swan song performance as the Joker steals the show and is one of the finest of his career. |
CONCLUSION
I believe that every year, for each person, a game comes out that defines that year and is good to that person, that they can overlook almost any flaw. Last year for me, it was Mass Effect 2. So far this year, it's Batman: Arkham City. I expected a great game, I did not expect one of the finest action/adventure games in recent memory. Any other game that comes out this year is going to have its work cut out for it.
If you have any kind of love for the action/adventure genre you owe it to yourself to pick up this game NOW! It's fun, addictive, fulfilling, and all-around just an amazing experience and at the end of the day, it's just so much fun to be the Bat. It's a definite buy.
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