Batman: Arkham City
It’s been almost two years since last I donned my cape and cowl. Through that time Rocksteady didn’t disappoint. Well ok they kind of did but you won’t notice. Arkham City starts off where Arkham Asylum left off and injects itself with some of Bane’s venom. The first thing you see when pressing start is Vicki Vale reporting outside the city lines of Arkham City. Then Bruce Wayne passes by and goes up on the podium to tell the press he is against this Arkham City project. Just as he finishes speaking Arkham City security known as Tyger come to knock him out and arrest him. From here you meet Hugo Strange who let’s on he knows you’re Batman. This leads to a Half Life 2: Episode One feel of you walking into a prison funneling system. There you’ll hear inmates yelling at you and even see Black Mask getting his butt kicked in the corner by guards. After you are directed to move forward into the city with Violence you happen upon a midget man and his horde. The Penguin wants to teach your handcuffed self a lesson over something he doesn’t like about you. So without haste he flings his cronies on you. This leads to you kicking the tar out of them and then Pengie himself. All while in the middle of fighting breaking those shackles that binded you. After the rumble in scumville you radio Alfred to send you your suit. Springing into action and scaling the building you find your true self. Then you become the night.
Arkham City plays just like the first but better. The city is full of villains, side quests, and new gadgets. The best part about the game is you’ll actually want to do the side quests. The side quests have been given enough care and attention that makes it feel like the main story. This new version of the Bat adventure has you grappling and flying around an open world type city that was not really given in the last game. I felt like the graphics were scaled up from the last game, which really to be honest didn’t need scaling up. When you start your roof jumping you can’t help but want to look and see everything. This game is beautiful, well in terms of roaming crime stricken streets. The game has an amazing cast of characters in it. I felt as if any Batman hero or villain could drop in and it sometimes would happen. The game felt more like a movie comic than just a game with iconic DC characters in it.
As far as improvements go there are some but really you can’t tell save a couple. The Detective mode is back and hasn’t been improved. While I tried not to use it so as to see the world around in all its glory, I couldn’t help but need to. The investigation mode used in Detective mode feels more like a CSI episode but really it’s the same as before. The best improvement is the new grappling hook. This is an add on you earn by doing a AR (Augmented Reality) mission that lets you, mid grapple, boost yourself to vault over your target, and high into the air. This leads to a Spiderman web-slinging style flying/gliding that makes getting around fast, and enjoyable. Another improvement are the Riddler missions that have been scaled up to over 400 of them. There are so many they literally spam the word as you first begin to roam it. It almost felt like what pop-up ads are to the internet. The last addition is the ability to play as Catwoman throughout the campaign if you bought the game new, or bought a Catwoman access code.
This leads to my problem with the game it’s the same as the first. So now I can play as Catwoman through a couple of missions if you buy the game? If you preorder the game from X store you can play challenge missions as Robin, or in new Batman skins? Really? To their defense they are releasing the Robin, Nightwing, and Batman skins to purchase later but this is a step back. This adds no replay value. I think Rocksteady thought if they added a Play Plus mode that let’s you start again with everything you’ve earned you would want to. I’m sorry but after you beat this game until you are satisfied I doubt you will play it again. That’s the biggest problem I had with the pervious game. No Replay Value. I was hoping we could play some of the campaign with Robin, Nightwing, or that it had a co-op mode with said players. Don’t get me wrong this game is great but at its core it’s really just the old game with a new face-lift. Well ok, and some awesome side missions!
So overall the game is a great time, and blast squel overall. I would say make this a rent unless you are a hardcore Batman fan buy it. But once you’ve had your fill I don’t think you’ll pick it up again. At least not with all the new titles coming out very soon. So it’s a good time that you’ll spend lot’s of time on but maybe not anymore. So to leave you here is the opening scene of Arkham City.
