Batman: Arkham City

    When I first had the chance to play Batman Arkham City I immediately jumped on the opportunity. Having played and enjoyed its predecessor, Batman: Arkham Asylum, I expected good things from this.

    Batman: Arkham City transports us away from the confines of the asylum on Arkham Island to a brand new ‘super-prison’ in the heart of Gotham City where many of the colourful, yet criminally inclined, characters of the batman universe are incarcerated. It doesn't take long before we see that this ‘facility’ is really an old section of Gotham City that has merely been walled off and fortified. The story begins as Bruce Wayne is captured by Professor Hugo Strange and incarcerated within the ‘super-prison’, though not before the good Professor announces that he will be declared a hero by the people of Gotham once Protocol 10 comes into effect. What is Protocol 10? The Professor will not elaborate and so our quest begins. But first our hero must adopt his alter-ego. He must become The Batman! After a short tutorial, i.e. Mr. Wayne beating down some thugs, we traverse a short distance to find the bat-suit which had so generously just been dropped off for us. Now the search starts proper. A search that takes Batman, and us, through the refuse of ‘humanity’ that Arkham City contains. On out journey we meet the staple villains of the Batman universe; the Joker, Harley Quinn, The Penguin and Two-face, though a number of villains appear briefly in cameo roles.

    The story itself is well planned and organized and presents itself beautifully with the free-roam aspect of the game. The main encounters of the game are well thought out, have a good logicality and flow well from one to the next, even if some encounters do come to be predictable. The main story, as it is presented is somewhat shorter than I would have liked, however, there are also a number of randomly encountered side-quests, and also the return of the Riddler's challenges which promote exploration, some lateral thinking and puzzle solving which help to extend the game hours. The world itself is also well thought through with a good mix of varying heights, uneven terrain, hazards and pitfalls and dark corners for the Bat to hide in. However the problem on the map comes in the form of your Average-Joe thugs. These guys are mostly either spread too thin or too thick for a good fight. Whilst in the early stages of the game the latter isn’t so much a problem, it soon becomes an issue in the later stages when many of the thugs are armed with automatic weapons and shotguns.

    The combat system and controls seem to have been transplanted almost unchanged from Arkham Asylum to this game, though they have been updated slightly in so much as the terrain plays more of a part in combat with new combos, takedowns and gadgets to experiment with. However the combat system is feeling a little dated and after a while becomes a button-mashing-fest as there is little control over the flow of the fight. Press one button to strike, or another to counter is the staple of the combat system meaning that after a while fights become more of an irritation than anything else.

    Like the combat system the graphics seemed to have changed little, though that is rather welcome. Everyone is easily recognisable and overall things look good, however there are a couple of issues with area transitions as sometimes the textures can take a while to load, causing a little lag in the game which can throw you off when trying to race from one side of the map to the other for a timed challenge. However beyond the slow textures there aren't any major issues with the graphics. Yes they look slightly dated but they still work and are able to immerse the player.

    I found the voice acting to be very good throughout. The dark, brooding Batman came across as such through the acting. The Joker sounded as psychotic as ever, Harley as ditzy, you get the idea. However, whilst the voice acting is wonderful it is let down badly by the script. The script provides predictable conversations, painful clichés and at times feels like it goes out of its way to be mundane which, over time, accumulates to dampen the dark atmosphere of the game. The conversations between thugs can be amusing at times but I don’t want to hear how they are hungry and want burgers, kthx.

    Rather refreshingly Batman: Arkham City is built as a single player game, which is a welcome relief for someone who doesn't have the capacity to play online in order to get the most out of what they have paid for. However, for those of you who do feel competitive there are challenge missions out side of the main campaign which are linked to online ranked leaderboards so you can take on the world with your scores. I do believe, for once, that this is one of the few games that would benefit from a co-op mode as the fight in Arkham City can get a little lonely.

  All in all Batman: Arkham City is a rather good game, the characters are fantastic, the city is well planned and it is mentally challenging, true, some of the more key aspects are lacking, i.e. the mundane combat controls, the terrible scripting and the main storyline is short but overall the good outweighs the bad. Despite this my overall comment is that this game is worth a rent and is possibly only worth buying if you are a completionist.

Ratings:

Story: 5 of 6 wings

Graphics: 4 of 6 wings

Audio: 5 of 6 wings

Script: 2 of 6 wings

Overall: 4 of 6 wings

Platforms:

Xbox 360, PC, PS3

Certifications:
ACB: M
BBFC: 15
ESRB: T
PEGI: 16
USK: 16+