Batman: Arkham City (360)
Sequels always seem to follow the principles of more, bigger, and better. Arkham City is no exception. Arkham Asylum created a claustrophobic environment for Batman to explore, Arkham City opens up Batman’s world, figuratively and literally.
Since the ending of the last game, Gotham has closed Blackgate Prison and Arkham Asylum in favor of opening a new super prison in a walled off section of city called ‘Arkham City’. In this rundown part of the city, criminals roam free and are looked over by Tyger, a private security group, who report to Dr. Hugo Strange. Strange has a plan for Arkham City and its society of super villains… and an ace in the hole: he knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman.
Where Arkham Asylum played it safe by confining itself to a small group of well constructed villains from Batman’s rouges gallery, Arkham City opens itself up, offering up more of Batman’s villains than Asylum and interconnects them well. Mr. Freeze, Victor Zsasz, Penguin, Two Face and more are present, including a terminally ill, Joker.
Arkham City succeeds where most superhero video games fail because it treats the character with the utmost respect. The story feels intelligent drawing upon the lore behind Batman’s villains and incorporating the story from the first game creating an experience that pushes closer to perfection.
Where Arkham City pushes story a clear step further, combat is a step forward, then a step back. Gone is the combat’s rigidness, but it’s replaced by inconsistency. Moves that should connect don’t, timing seems less important – it overall feels less solid than Arkham Asylum did. At the same time, it’s less structured and more varied. Gadgets, combos and character upgrades play a greater role and enemy encounters are more organic, with less rigid combat vs. stealth setups. So maybe it’s more like half a step forward, half a step backward.
The formula from Arkham Asylum hasn’t changed – Arkham City still follows a Metroidvania design philosophy: play, find a bunch of things you can’t get to, play more of the main story, get a new gadget, go back and find those places are now accessible. However, where Arkham Asylum fell apart towards the end, Arkham City excels and provides the most satisfying jaw dropping ending I’ve seen in a while.
That is, unless you have the Catwoman DLC installed. The DLC, while fun, sabotages the base game’s pacing. If you buy the game new, download the Catwoman DLC after finishing the base game.
Overall, Arkham City inches us closer to Batman perfection and provides another demonstration of what superhero games should be. Perfect? No. Am I eagerly waiting to hear about the inevitable third game? Yes.
The Good
I am batman… again: Rocksteady took the idea of ‘If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.’ and applied it in most of the right ways – save for combat which feels … off.
Everyone hates the bat: The villains list for Arkham City is impressive to say the least. Chances are your favorite is here.
More content than there are gadgets on Batman’s utility belt: Arkham City has a plethora of side content you can explore at your leisure (even after the end of the game) including 400 Riddler trophies – and there’s even more if you have the catwoman DLC.
The Bad
Just out of reach: Combat is deeper in this game, but it feels just slightly off. I found that I was ‘out of range’ of certain enemies at some points or that I couldn’t pull off attacks like I used to in Arkham Asylum. It’s more nitpicky than anything, but it is frustrating when you need to restart a fight because your ‘flow’ is knocked off by the game responding weird.
The Ugly
No keys: No Batmobile this time. And the Batjet only makes a quick appearance. While no vehicle play is probably for the best until they can get it exactly right – let’s hope we get the keys to the kingdom next time around.
