Batman Arkham City: Review

As many gamers know the dark knight has had a less than stellar career in the video game market. Thank goodness that didn’t deter Rocksteady Studios from taking on the caped crusader. Having made the unquestioned best Batman game ever, fans where left hungry for Batman’s return. Recent reports around the globe indicate that Bats has been spotted on consoles across the globe. Time to find out if the return to Gotham is worth all the expectations or if Bruce Wayne should hang up the cowl once and for all in our Batman Arkham City review...

The Breakdown:

Batman Returns to Gotham in his sophomore release by Rocksteady studios to do what he does best, beat up bad guys and be cool doing it. Following the events of Batman Arkham Asylum, the mayor of Gotham has taken credit for everything that happened (no spoilers here) and walled up an entire section of Gotham city to let all of the inmates loose in a fight for survival, type of criminal democracy. With public unease beginning to rise and Bruce Wayne being at the forefront of the protests, things finally come to a head when TwoFace captures and puts forward a plan to execute Catwoman. Queue Batman to throw himself in harms way to save the day once again. Side Note: There is a bit more going on here but I’m not going to ruin anything for you, and for that, you’re welcome. 

The Good:

Batman is back and in full effect. First, the musical score. Batman Arkham City does a great job of implementing the usual sweeping music we have all come to appreciate and expect from anything associated with the dark knight. Next, the visuals are absolutely breathtaking. Rocksteady studios does a fantastic job of recreating Arkham city in all of it’s wet, gritty and “please don’t walk down that alley” splendor. The game itself is dark and disturbing, yet sections of the city are bright and colorful though not in that awful Batman Forever way. Moving on the story does a great job of intermingling the villains and supporting cast in fresh new ways. In Arkham City Batman will learn just how intertwined his adversaries have become as even their henchmen are constantly at odds with what faction they should align themselves with. Speaking of the cast, Bats not only has his hands full with the main storyline, but this time must contend with all manner of side quests and mysterious figures who are also in Arkham. Challenge maps have also made it back into Arkham City giving those who want to test there combat abilities a run against the scoreboard. And finally, the game play; the Dark Knight pulls no punches. The smooth combat style that made everyone feel like they actually could have done Batman’s job is back. The feverish combo system has been upgraded though to add even more moves to Batman’s arsenal of crime fighting. Oh and did I mention Catwoman is a playable character with her own story arc, moves list, weapons, upgrade abilities, and map movement style? Well, there you go then. Fans of the puss in boots get an extra campaign, complete with unique Riddler trophies to find as well.  

The Bad:

Although Arkham City is a fantastic and wonderful experience it is not the perfect Batman game. The fact that Batman Arkham City has gone from a somewhat linear playground to a Grand Theft Auto style sandbox environment is somewhat of a gift and a curse. More in the beginning of the game, players will feel disoriented and lost when wondering what they want to explore or how to go about it. Also, the amount of side quest’s involved can be daunting as well. Players will often feel that the storyline is being assaulted by a barrage of other storylines that are coming after Batman, (that’s not even counting the Catwoman storyline) if the main plot is so time sensitive, why should Batman go off hunting for Titan serum? Another small nuisance is the fact that the game only teaches you how to perform certain quick-fire actions during a boss fight. This can commonly leave you with a “wait, do what?” feeling while your getting pummeled by insert boss name here. Finally, I know this is trite, but if I can play as either Nightwing or Robin during challenge maps then why not in the campaign? Really Rocksteady, it’s a skin swap, what gives?

The Verdict:

Rocksteady Studios delivers on all fronts in Batman Arkham City. Whether your picking it up for the immersive story telling or out of sheer fandom to the caped crusader, you’ll not be disappointed. Besides it being a bit to difficult for the casual gamer, Arkham City is packed with enough content to keep even the most hardcore completionist ‘s busy for a good long while. With two excellent campaigns to play, a myriad of side missions, an assorted number of secrets to find as well as challenge maps to conquer the Dark Knight will have more than his hands full in Gotham, giving players a fantastic opportunity to step into Bruce Wayne’s shoes once again.