BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY
(release date) 10/11/2012(developer) Rocksteady Studios
(publisher) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
(platforms) Xbox 360 (reviewed on), PS3, PC
I'm not really a huge comic book fan. They never interested me.
So when Arkham Asylum came out it didn't really pique my interest, but I
eventually played it and ended up loving every second of it. Fast forward to
2012 (yeah I know, I'm late to the party) and I can't wait to dive in to
Rocksteady's latest entry as the Dark Knight.
Months after the events at Arkham Asylum, Gotham city is
still as dangerous as ever. Former asylum warden Quincy Sharp is now the mayor
of Gotham and has appointed everyone's favorite psychopathic psychiatrist Dr.
Hugo Strange to run Arkham City. The city itself is a giant open air prison
filled Gothams worst super villains. Swarms of inmates patrol the night,
pledging their fealty to whoever they fear most. Bruce Wayne is not happy about
the mayor's new project and at a press conference held to voice his displeasure
he is arrested by Strange's TYGER mercenary group. He is thrown into Arkham
City as Bruce Wayne. After an airdrop from Alfred, he finds his gear, and
transforms into Batman. Now we can have some fun...
PRESENTATION:
The first thing you'll notice when you're out in the world
is the world itself. Rocksteady has truly created a visual masterpeice with
Arkham City. The game does a amazing job of blending dark, realistic visuals
with over the top comic-book flair. Looking out over the city from atop a
skyscraper is something you'll not soon forget. City streets are messy and
dimly lit, with drum fires burning in dark alley ways. Groups of henchmen walk
in packs, patrolling the night on the lookout for Batman or beating defenseless
political prisoners to death. The game just oozes atmosphere. The music is also
top notch. It reminds me a little of the Dark Knight soundtrack; very heavy and
aggressive. It does a great job of setting the tone right from the menu screen.
One thing I cannot stress enough is the quality of the voice
acting. Every character, from the most maniacal super villain to your common
street thug, was given 110% in the booth. Almost every big name returns to
reprise their roles from Arkham City (some from even older entries in the Batman
universe). It really helps add to the overall feel of the game when the quality
is this good. I can't remember a game with such well rounded voice acting. No
weak spots at all. I'm beginning to think that Mark Hamill as the Joker could
be my favorite performance of all time. It's that good.
GAMEPLAY:
For anyone who played the previous title, they'll feel right
at home. Rocksteady took their tried and true combat system from Asylum and
refined it, made things tighter, and added a few new tricks up the Dark
Knight's sleeve. The basics are all the same: the X button strikes, the Y
button counters, and A dodges. You now have the ability to counter multiple
enemies at once which is much needed when you see how many foes you'll have to
take on at any given time. A convenient hotkey system is used with the d-pad to
equip all of your favorite gadgets on the fly making it a breeze to drop Freeze
grenades or Batarangs in the heat of battle.
I've often heard this game described as "GTA: Arkham
City". This couldn't be further from the truth. It really just feels like
a bigger version of Arkham Asylum. True, the game does take place in a giant
closed off section of Gotham City, but I just don't get the open world vibe. No
cars, no pedestrians, and no real freedom. In fact, the play space isn't really
that much bigger than Arkham Asylum at all. The addition of side missions is a
nice touch, but even at that there are only a handful of them and the focus is
still mostly on the main story.
Beat up enough thugs and you'll eventually level up. When
you level you you'll be asked to choose a new upgrade. These come in the form
of new combat techniques (the Batclaw disarm is a good example: you can rip the
weapon right out of the bad guys hands), armor upgrades (being able to take
more melee or bullet damage), or even upgrade the power or range of your
existing tools. At the completion of my play through I still had plenty of
items and techniques to acquire. Plus, if you like using Catwoman (provided you
have the DLC), you can upgrade her as well, but not to the level you can for
Batman. Her skill set is much smaller. The bad guys also get significant
upgrades the farther you progress. They utilize stun rods, shields, and armor
and they all have to be dealt with in their own specific way. This really
forces you to switch up your plan of attack in the later fights because just
striking won't get you far in a room full of thugs outfitted in different ways.
A quick word on Catwoman: (if you downloaded her DLC), she
joins the game at various points of the single player campaign. She has her own
reasons for coming to Arkham City and her story does tie in mildly with
Batmans, but other than some of the super villains getting more screen time
(mainly Two-Face and Poison Ivy) I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone who
doesn't have it. There just isn't enough variety in her missions and the combat
is a downgrade from Batman. She doesn't have a wide range of toys to play with
and after getting used to playing as Batman for 90% of the game, this is a bit
of a downer. She just doesn't bring enough to the table. Only for diehard
Catwoman fans. Wait.....do those exist?
Challenge rooms are back and include the combat and predator
maps. The combat maps focus on Batman taking down waves of bad guys and the
predator maps have you using stealth to take out your enemies. I wasn't too
interested in these modes though. They're fun to mess around with, but I tend
to get bored with them after a few rounds. I'd rather play through the campaign
a second time then spend a lot of time on the challenge maps. They have added
Riddler challengers, however, and these can be more interesting. These put
challenge maps and gameplay modifiers (low health, time, etc.) into the mix and
can really help you sharpen your skills for a tougher NG+ play through. It’s worth
your time.
FINAL WORDS:
The game isn't without it faults, but in the end they're so
minute that it doesn't detract at all from this amazing game. The voice acting,
the dark atmosphere and visuals, the fast and frenetic combat, and the ending
all make for a can't miss experience on this generation of consoles. Do
yourself a favor and get a copy of this game. Now.
-Andrew Schwaiger
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