Publisher: Warner Bros
Genre: Third person action
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Rating: 10/10
Gamefreaks
Batman is really angry. Not surprising really, considering the mess Gotham is in. Gangs are running the streets, super criminals are fighting over territory and people are dying all over the damn place. It's snowing, corrupt officials are in office, things are exploding. What qualifies as a very bad day for Bruce Wayne, however, makes a very good day for gamers.
Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to Rocksteady's 2009 hit Arkham Asylum, a game which managed to blow the gaming world away by being a superhero game and a very good game at the same time. Arkham City is actually the name of the large open-air prison-slash-nuthouse which used to be the Gotham City slums. Former asylum warden Quincy Sharp has been elected Mayor by taking credit for Batman's work, and subsequently walled off a large portion of the city, filled it with every lunatic, psychopath and ne'er-do-well and called it a day. Batman is dumped inside unceremoniously by the person in charge of the massive prison suburb, Dr Hugo Strange, who casually informs Bats that he knows his secret identity and then whistles nonchalantly for the next eight hours.
The scale is the first thing that sets Arkham City apart from its predecessor, with Batman now given the freedom to roam a massive open area instead of skulking around in corridors. There was trepidation about this change post-release, but thankfully these fears were unfounded. Navigating Arkham is a breeze, with Batman able to effortlessly glide and hookshot his way from building to building. Gliding is as simple as holding a button and steering, while grappling to high ledges requires a simple tap of the shoulder. Soon enough you also get access to the line launcher, which lets you zoom along horizontally like a bat-shaped Jason Bourne. There are times when grappling doesn't lead where you thought it would, or a leap goes awry, but the game makes it simple to correct your mistakes and still look cool.
It may be because the city itself is incredibly distracting. Not only is it incredibly dense - fences and parapets and gargoyles lining every inch of every wall and rooftop - it's also pretty gorgeous. Asylum was praised for its attention to the details of each set, and Arkham City stretches that quality over a huge area. Every building appears lovingly produced, and the haphazard architecture ensures that there are unique structures and landmarks wherever you turn.
Comic book fans who inevitably pick this up will be delighted to catch recognisable Batman locales on every corner, including the Ace Chemicals factory (where certain versions of the Joker fell into a vat), Penguin's Iceberg Lounge, the Gotham Police Department, Sionis Chemicals and even the Wayne Enterprises skyscraper looming in the distance.
Rocksteady have already proved their respect for the Batman universe and mythos, but it did seem like they were trying to cram an awful lot of characters and ideas into this game. But again, it turns out they can handle it, as every one of the iconic comic villains and heroes is well represented, and in some cases given a nasty new interpretation. Familiar faces such as Bane, Harley Quinn and The Joker are present - the latter severely affected by his exposure to hazardous super-chemicals - but a plethora of other Batman bad guys have carved their own piece of the city out. The new interpretations on old themes are welcome, such as a newly-British Penguin who has a broken bottle jammed into his face in place of a monocle.
The acting on all fronts is top notch, from the recognisable names of the animated series - Kevin Conroy's Batman and Mark Hamill's Joker - all the way down to the common thug on the street. The writing backs all this up very nicely, weaving a surprisingly engaging tale which will keep players moving forward. Each character remains true to their origins, while also managing to seem very real and fitting into the parallel universe of the games. That a game about a vigilante dressed as a bat fighting disfigured mental patients is one of the better written modern titles is both a testament to Rocksteady and a slight jab at the industry as a whole.
Combat will be instantly recognisable to anyone who played Arkham Asylum, with a strike, counter and stun button to do most of the work. Rocksteady already managed to make it really feel like you were fighting as Batman, and that system has been polished practically to perfection. Fights flow like water, with the player perfectly capable of dropping into the centre of 20 thugs and walking off without a scratch. Gadgets have been integrated into the combat more this time around, and by holding down the trigger and pressing a face button Batman can quickly fire off an electric stun shot or drop some explosive gel on the floor. The result is a sometimes confusing but always fun and satisfying experience which makes you seek out fights at times just to have a good time. There are a lot of commands to remember in the thick of battle, especially when you throw knives and riot shielded enemies into the mix, but quick thinking and variety will generally bring you out victorious.
Boss fights crop up often in the course of the game, and they are much improved on those in Arkham Asylum. The main complain about the previous title was that the main fights almost all boiled down to dodging a large guy and punching him when he wasn't looking, including a spectacularly silly final boss. Arkham City's bosses are much more varied, and while they aren't always the most original, they do feel appropriate to the situation and are fun. A battle against Mr Freeze, of all people, provides a particularly entertaining sequence where Batman is completely outmatched and requires a little lateral thinking.
But Batman is also about stealth, and there are plenty of chances to use his shadowy nature. Most missions lead you into a smaller building or other enclosed area, which opens up more sinister possibilities for taking out the enemy. As in Arkham Asylum, you will often be presented with a room full of armed goons and required to take them out without being seen. Few moments in gaming are more satisfying than dropping the unconscious bodies of clown soldiers into public view and watching the remaining henchmen lose their nut as their buddies vanish one by one.
You can also make liberal use of your gadgets as you explore and fight your way through various locations, and Batman has no shortage of wonderful toys. The classic batarang is there, useful for stunning enemies and - in the case of the remote controlled version - hitting switches, as well as the aforementioned line launcher, explosive gel and stun gun. On top of that there are sonic batarangs, a batclaw for grabbing objects and people, freeze grenades and even a cryptographic sequencer for hacking terminals and listening in to nearby radio signals.
If it's starting to sound complicated, don't worry. While there are approximately a million moves and a billion different things to occupy your time in Arkham, things are kept surprisingly focused. For the most part, the plot of Arkham City is linear, leading you from one location to another with a minimum of fuss. That said, you're bound to get distracted as you make your way across the city. Your in-built surveillance devices will let you listen in to various discussions, usually had by wandering bad guys. These chats are always amusing and usually about the recent goings on locally, but sometimes they will gain enough of your attention to investigate further - such as a political prisoner being beaten to death or two guys mentioning that a certain villain might be hanging around in the city. Side missions will also pop up on your map, ranging from a mysterious flare on a rooftop to a series of mutilated murder victims begging for the World's Greatest Detective to step in.
The Riddler, not content with merely asking you to take silly pictures in the first game, has graduated to a fully-fledged criminal menace. His trophies are scattered all over the city, begging to be picked up by anyone that figures out how to get to them. On top of that, he has kidnapped innocent emergency services personnel and dares the player to navigate various deadly puzzle rooms reminiscent of the Saw films. And then there are the Catwoman sequences, which switch control to the sexy burglar for short periods as she follows her own separate story through the game. Catwoman controls in a totally different way to the buff bat man, trading raw power for speed and acrobatics. Her darting movement style and sassy dialogue makes for a nice change of pace and tone, even if it does feel a bit out of place.
All these sideline activities do threaten to eat your time, and make the game less tightly paced than Asylum, but they also add a ridiculous amount of content and replayability. There is even a New Game Plus feature which allows you to replay the game with all your previous gadgets and Riddler challenge progress intact. Outside the main quest, there are loads of challenge maps to keep you busy and skilled up for crime-fighting, including a separate set of maps specially for Catwoman. All in all, there's enough to keep players coming back for a long time.
Arkham Asylum felt like the perfect Batman game, but Arkham City manages to improve on that in almost every way. There are more gadgets, bigger and badder villains, an entire city region to explore and an engaging story to watch unfold. The game looks great, sounds great and plays like a dream. The only way you're becoming more like Batman is if you get rich and someone murders your parents.
Thank You : ~ tvnz.co.nz
Genre: Third person action
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Rating: 10/10
Gamefreaks
Batman is really angry. Not surprising really, considering the mess Gotham is in. Gangs are running the streets, super criminals are fighting over territory and people are dying all over the damn place. It's snowing, corrupt officials are in office, things are exploding. What qualifies as a very bad day for Bruce Wayne, however, makes a very good day for gamers.
Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to Rocksteady's 2009 hit Arkham Asylum, a game which managed to blow the gaming world away by being a superhero game and a very good game at the same time. Arkham City is actually the name of the large open-air prison-slash-nuthouse which used to be the Gotham City slums. Former asylum warden Quincy Sharp has been elected Mayor by taking credit for Batman's work, and subsequently walled off a large portion of the city, filled it with every lunatic, psychopath and ne'er-do-well and called it a day. Batman is dumped inside unceremoniously by the person in charge of the massive prison suburb, Dr Hugo Strange, who casually informs Bats that he knows his secret identity and then whistles nonchalantly for the next eight hours.
The scale is the first thing that sets Arkham City apart from its predecessor, with Batman now given the freedom to roam a massive open area instead of skulking around in corridors. There was trepidation about this change post-release, but thankfully these fears were unfounded. Navigating Arkham is a breeze, with Batman able to effortlessly glide and hookshot his way from building to building. Gliding is as simple as holding a button and steering, while grappling to high ledges requires a simple tap of the shoulder. Soon enough you also get access to the line launcher, which lets you zoom along horizontally like a bat-shaped Jason Bourne. There are times when grappling doesn't lead where you thought it would, or a leap goes awry, but the game makes it simple to correct your mistakes and still look cool.
It may be because the city itself is incredibly distracting. Not only is it incredibly dense - fences and parapets and gargoyles lining every inch of every wall and rooftop - it's also pretty gorgeous. Asylum was praised for its attention to the details of each set, and Arkham City stretches that quality over a huge area. Every building appears lovingly produced, and the haphazard architecture ensures that there are unique structures and landmarks wherever you turn.
Comic book fans who inevitably pick this up will be delighted to catch recognisable Batman locales on every corner, including the Ace Chemicals factory (where certain versions of the Joker fell into a vat), Penguin's Iceberg Lounge, the Gotham Police Department, Sionis Chemicals and even the Wayne Enterprises skyscraper looming in the distance.
Rocksteady have already proved their respect for the Batman universe and mythos, but it did seem like they were trying to cram an awful lot of characters and ideas into this game. But again, it turns out they can handle it, as every one of the iconic comic villains and heroes is well represented, and in some cases given a nasty new interpretation. Familiar faces such as Bane, Harley Quinn and The Joker are present - the latter severely affected by his exposure to hazardous super-chemicals - but a plethora of other Batman bad guys have carved their own piece of the city out. The new interpretations on old themes are welcome, such as a newly-British Penguin who has a broken bottle jammed into his face in place of a monocle.
The acting on all fronts is top notch, from the recognisable names of the animated series - Kevin Conroy's Batman and Mark Hamill's Joker - all the way down to the common thug on the street. The writing backs all this up very nicely, weaving a surprisingly engaging tale which will keep players moving forward. Each character remains true to their origins, while also managing to seem very real and fitting into the parallel universe of the games. That a game about a vigilante dressed as a bat fighting disfigured mental patients is one of the better written modern titles is both a testament to Rocksteady and a slight jab at the industry as a whole.
Combat will be instantly recognisable to anyone who played Arkham Asylum, with a strike, counter and stun button to do most of the work. Rocksteady already managed to make it really feel like you were fighting as Batman, and that system has been polished practically to perfection. Fights flow like water, with the player perfectly capable of dropping into the centre of 20 thugs and walking off without a scratch. Gadgets have been integrated into the combat more this time around, and by holding down the trigger and pressing a face button Batman can quickly fire off an electric stun shot or drop some explosive gel on the floor. The result is a sometimes confusing but always fun and satisfying experience which makes you seek out fights at times just to have a good time. There are a lot of commands to remember in the thick of battle, especially when you throw knives and riot shielded enemies into the mix, but quick thinking and variety will generally bring you out victorious.
Boss fights crop up often in the course of the game, and they are much improved on those in Arkham Asylum. The main complain about the previous title was that the main fights almost all boiled down to dodging a large guy and punching him when he wasn't looking, including a spectacularly silly final boss. Arkham City's bosses are much more varied, and while they aren't always the most original, they do feel appropriate to the situation and are fun. A battle against Mr Freeze, of all people, provides a particularly entertaining sequence where Batman is completely outmatched and requires a little lateral thinking.
But Batman is also about stealth, and there are plenty of chances to use his shadowy nature. Most missions lead you into a smaller building or other enclosed area, which opens up more sinister possibilities for taking out the enemy. As in Arkham Asylum, you will often be presented with a room full of armed goons and required to take them out without being seen. Few moments in gaming are more satisfying than dropping the unconscious bodies of clown soldiers into public view and watching the remaining henchmen lose their nut as their buddies vanish one by one.
You can also make liberal use of your gadgets as you explore and fight your way through various locations, and Batman has no shortage of wonderful toys. The classic batarang is there, useful for stunning enemies and - in the case of the remote controlled version - hitting switches, as well as the aforementioned line launcher, explosive gel and stun gun. On top of that there are sonic batarangs, a batclaw for grabbing objects and people, freeze grenades and even a cryptographic sequencer for hacking terminals and listening in to nearby radio signals.
If it's starting to sound complicated, don't worry. While there are approximately a million moves and a billion different things to occupy your time in Arkham, things are kept surprisingly focused. For the most part, the plot of Arkham City is linear, leading you from one location to another with a minimum of fuss. That said, you're bound to get distracted as you make your way across the city. Your in-built surveillance devices will let you listen in to various discussions, usually had by wandering bad guys. These chats are always amusing and usually about the recent goings on locally, but sometimes they will gain enough of your attention to investigate further - such as a political prisoner being beaten to death or two guys mentioning that a certain villain might be hanging around in the city. Side missions will also pop up on your map, ranging from a mysterious flare on a rooftop to a series of mutilated murder victims begging for the World's Greatest Detective to step in.
The Riddler, not content with merely asking you to take silly pictures in the first game, has graduated to a fully-fledged criminal menace. His trophies are scattered all over the city, begging to be picked up by anyone that figures out how to get to them. On top of that, he has kidnapped innocent emergency services personnel and dares the player to navigate various deadly puzzle rooms reminiscent of the Saw films. And then there are the Catwoman sequences, which switch control to the sexy burglar for short periods as she follows her own separate story through the game. Catwoman controls in a totally different way to the buff bat man, trading raw power for speed and acrobatics. Her darting movement style and sassy dialogue makes for a nice change of pace and tone, even if it does feel a bit out of place.
All these sideline activities do threaten to eat your time, and make the game less tightly paced than Asylum, but they also add a ridiculous amount of content and replayability. There is even a New Game Plus feature which allows you to replay the game with all your previous gadgets and Riddler challenge progress intact. Outside the main quest, there are loads of challenge maps to keep you busy and skilled up for crime-fighting, including a separate set of maps specially for Catwoman. All in all, there's enough to keep players coming back for a long time.
Arkham Asylum felt like the perfect Batman game, but Arkham City manages to improve on that in almost every way. There are more gadgets, bigger and badder villains, an entire city region to explore and an engaging story to watch unfold. The game looks great, sounds great and plays like a dream. The only way you're becoming more like Batman is if you get rich and someone murders your parents.
Thank You : ~ tvnz.co.nz
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