BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
System: Xbox 360 & PS3 (Oct. 2011)
Genre: Action-Adventure, Stealth
Because
this is my second video game review here is quick link to my rating
system. In the future, I will continue to link this article.
STORY
In the first game, Arkham Asylum, the Joker had himself incarcerated to take over the Arkham Asylum and to exploit the experiments done on the inmates to create a new super steroid chemical called "Titan". Batman managed to foil the Joker, as well as a half dozen other super-powered villains, and ramped up each moment/boss fight with incredible theatrics. The game stumbles at the end where the last boss fight is against a Titan infused Joker (think Carrot Top with green hair) and, rather than a boss fight that is special, it feels like we're fighting another brute. Batman manages to defeat the Joker and save the day.
Arkham City picks up a year or two later and the stakes have been raised with a more intense and exciting setting. Hugo Strange, a madman and psychiatrist obsessed with Batman's identity, has been put in charge of a civil works project straight out of a John Carpenter film; the worst section of Gotham City has been sectioned off and isolated to become a self-governed prison of Arkham Asylum inmates and Black Gate prisoners alike. This fascist institution is the sort of thing some versions of Batman would get a hard-on for, but luckily we're dealing with the Kevin Conroy's Batman from the Batman: The Animated Series (more or less) and he is Chaotic Good (in other words, he knows this is effed up).
Bruce Wayne tricks Hugo Strange into kidnapping him so he can get into the prison and begins trying to unravel the mysteries of who is behind the prison and what the Joker's plans are; that's right the Jokers back, but he isn't his old laughing self. Mr. J was poisoned from using Titan and is dying; or so he says. Its up to you, using all the gadgets of Bruce Wayne, and (if you buy a new copy or the DLC) with the help of Catwoman, to tear this "city" apart piece by piece and villain and villain.
PRESENTATION
The graphics of Arkham Asylum could sometimes slip, but were probably some of the best I have seen a video game in this generation. The series has managed to take the style of the animated show and swell it into a more modern feeling and realistic universe that makes it even dirtier, even meaner, and even more beautiful. The question is: how does its sequel take these standards and improve them?It is a little difficult to see in a screenshot, but the textures, lighting, and elemental effects (like fire and gas) are even more impressive than its predecessor. Arkham City is a living breathing open world environment and the first time, hell every time, you go soaring over the city or just skulking around you will be awestruck by the amount of detail poured into every nook and cranny of the city from the dark alleys to the neon lights to the frozen bay to the museum's exhibits. The game is filled with eye candy; the character models are bar-none the best I think I've seen in a game and the animation/movement is fluid and natural.
As for the sound, the soundtrack is superb as with almost anything Batman-related and I never felt like it was overbearing. The game uses music cues to create tension and heighten the player's awareness to danger. The voice-acting is so impressive that every game should follow suit of the impressive casting and just the fact that every character in the game talks and there must be hundreds of pages of dialogue. The performances are all superb, but most notable is the swan song performance of the Joker by Mark Hamill.
All in all, the performance is superb and unmatchable in my mind by any other game I've played this generation. Every game that wants to be simultaneously attractive, realistic, and awe-inspiring should look to Arkham City as a bat-signal in the sky.
GAME-PLAY
Rocksteady had a lot to build upon with Arkham Asylum; that game had a unique combat system that felt fluid and bad ass, while still putting you in a position where you felt like you could get your butt-kicked. It also had some of the coolest use of gadgets to solve puzzles and platform that I have ever seen in a non-Zelda game. Arkham City did everything that Assassin's Creed does, but better and well, more Batman.
As for Arkham City, like the presentation, everything has been kicked up a notch and improved upon its predecessor. The combat system is superb; I never felt bored when knocking out a single opponent with a stealth knock-out blow before his buddies noticed or taking on an entire mob of armed minions, muscle-bound freaks, and gun-toting maniacs. They managed to take the feel of claustrophobic stealth and combat of the last game and expand it into a open-world environment. The best part? It feels harder; the villains are more likely to have guns and, in the open environment, there are not as many places to escape to when you're in trouble. You're best bet when you're getting overwhelmed is to throw down a smoke-bomb and grapple your way to a gargoyle.
Did I mention the grappling hook? Because the platforming in this game is almost some of the best I've ever seen. "Ambitious" is a word to describe the game that allows you to glide, rappel, grapple, and so much more to get from point A to point B. You feel like the Bat and you feel the power of being able to outmaneuver and take out almost anyone and anything in the game. The only place where it slips in is the difficult of some of the challenges.
In the first game, the main challenges were finding secrets; from codex information about characters to Riddler Trophies. In this game, it focuses more on a variety of side-missions that lead you to take out villains, often in the middle of the game's main storyline of going from crook to crook and beating the snot out of them, and most of the missions are satisfying. Where the game gets extremely challenging and time-consuming is in the Riddler Trophies; hidden in what feels like hundreds of places, these puzzles and challenges are quite taxing, and honestly as someone who loves and excels at puzzles, a tad tedious.
But, the game doesn't demand you to take part in tedium at any time and this game feels like a roller coaster ride in a cape and cowl.
PROS VS. CONS
+ The story is engaging and the side-stories are interesting. The best Batman story in the medium.+ The most impressive graphics, sounds, and design of any game I've ever played.
+ From kicking butt to platforming, you play as the Batman and you feel like the Batman.
+ All the little details that make this world and its characters so amazing are here.
+ Challenging, sometimes a little tedious, but never frustratingly so
CONCLUSION
5/5.
As if I could give this game any other rating; the only competition it had last year for Game of the Year was probably Elder ScrollsV: Skyrim. The world of Arkham City is smaller than Skyrim and there is less to do but that's what makes the game so amazing; all of the characters and details and everything are so perfectly constructed that you are in a constant state of awe.
If you're a Batman fan or a video game fan, you basically have no excuse not to pick up this title. I recommend picking up a new copy to play as Catwoman. You can pick up the original game for around $30, and the "Game of the Year Edition", for about $45 (a must-buy for all Batman gamers because, for $15, you get a ton of awesome content).
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| Amazing. |
