Review: Batman Arkham City
Icarus, Jesus, Rocksteady Games. What do these three entities have in common. It’s not an affinity for sandals, or a desire to get closer to God, no: they are all victims of their own success. If I was in charge of Rocksteady Games I would have packed it in right after Arkham Asylum because crappy boss fights aside, that game was pure perfection.
A taught mix of refined mechanics: varied, honed and designed with focus and precision, Arkham Asylum was the stuff my gaming dreams are made of. A throwback to the era of Nintendo’s dungeon-romping heyday: full of winks to Link and Samus and presented to our willing minds in the guise of a superb characterization of this generation’s most beloved comic book property. How the fuck do you top that? More to the point, how the fuck do I review Arkham City without making reference to its predecessor at every turn? Fuck it! Caution: take flight!
Like any sensible games designers, Rocksteady have started with what was right. The world and its characters are rendered with a staggering amount of detail and individuality. Every poster, every piece of debris, every outfit is given as much care and attention as could possibly be afforded. As such, like its predecessor, Arkham City simply oozes personality and charm. Arkham’s wandering gangs of thugs wear their supercriminal allegiances with pride and display Rocksteady’s trademark flair for re-interpreting a well-worn property and doing their best to make it their own. Of course, I could be wrong and absolutely every element could have been lifted from several different Batman stories, but shit, let me have this. Okay!?
Literally hundreds of words could be wasted telling you all about the rogue’s gallery on display; how cool some of the villains are and how whether or not I think their interpretation of Catwoman is a bit shit or not. But I won’t bother, because I like you, and I want you to like me. You’ve seen all that through the relentless drip-feed of teaser trailers and well-documented Internet gush-a-thons. What is worth a mention though is Dick Van Dyke reprising his role as Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep, or The Penguin if you want to be factual about it.
My initial fears for this sequel were somewhat confirmed when I was cast out into the big bad world of Arkham City. I love Asylum’s tight, focused directional style and superb pacing and I was completely convinced that the shift to a more open world format would see all of that being thrown out of the window. After a somewhat lackluster introductory section and a baffling lack of tutorials my worst fears seemed to be coming true, but then, slowly but surely, the unique character of Arkham City began to reveal itself. If Arkham Asylum is Super Metroid, then Arkham City is Rocksteady’s Hyrule. The city is host to some superbly designed dungeons that show the spirit of Zelda is still alive and that the format can still be taken in interesting new directions. Gadgets are tailored alongside your progression once again and the environments continue to tease you into returning once your arsenal is full. To accommodate this even more you now have the option to ‘scan’ Riddler trophies so that they appear on your map: a handy feature for the completionist-obsessive. Similarly, Riddler trophy locations can also be revealed by interrogating informants (bad guys that glow green). This made me feel like a bad ass some more.
Enemies and allies continue to revel themselves throughout the campaign and beyond: appearing seemingly at random in your eyeline when on an innocent rooftop jaunt, making the city feel as if it is either in absolute chaos or eerily quiet. The ultimate Batman power fantasy: you stalk the rooftops, systematically taking down your would-be attackers and putting your detective skills to work. Whether it’s the seemingly never-ending Riddler challenges or the hot-and-cold trail of gun for hire Deadshot – the city teems with the lowest, yet most entertaining forms of life. Listening in on thug chatter is entertaining enough and provides a few moments of humour whilst also, on occasion, tying in neatly with a few side missions.
Just like its predecessor Arkham City still provides an infuriating range of challenges. Some tasks are laughably easy: your gadgets giving you the upper hand and allowing you to make fools of even the highest level enemies. Then, out of the blue you’ll find yourself in the middle of a sequence so obtuse that there is one-and only one-solution. The problem with this is that so often you can only find the right solution through failure. A whole heap of failure in my case. Maybe I’m just bitter.
Arkham City only ever falls short because it had so much to live up to. There was so little to improve upon that Rocksteady should be applauded for not completely copping out and re-making an already solid game. Those aforementioned boss battles are all but gone and those that remain are greatly improved and pleasingly varied. The freeflow battle system is back and more satisfying than ever: allowing you to chain together counters for multiple opponents, allowing even more quickfire gadgets and, generally speaking, more ways to allow you to appear to be the ultimate bad ass.
I can’t convince myself that I haven’t seen this all before, but it would be unfair to criticise Rocksteady of resting on their laurels. Arkham City once again displays a grand talent for classic game design and a passion for the property.
I can’t deny that the narrative conclusion felt a little abrupt and that the nagging sensation that I had seen this all before hung over the whole experience. But, only a miserable and jaded prick would piss and moan because he had to endure the same fantastic experience twice. Damn girl! You sure know how to suck dick! But you try that shit again and I’ll kick your ass out for lack of originality. What a jerk.
If you’re looking for exciting, new, virginal pastures then save your money. If you’re looking for boner-inducing superhero power fantasy to the power of ten: then you’re already home.
In summary:
A Number: 7 or 8
A Feeling: Getting head from your nearest and dearest
A Meal: Double Bacon Cheeseburger with curly fries and your favourite dressing but they forgot the onion rings. You don’t complain because you’re drunk and generally speaking, a pretty chill kinda guy.