Game review: Batman - Arkham City

Arkham City doesn't waste any time jumping, or rather bat-gliding straight into the action, so I fail to see why this review should.

Roughly five minutes in you know pretty much everything you need to know: how a part of Gotham City's been sealed off and renamed to Arkham City, a quarantined section run mostly by the inmates, supervised by a militant security force called Tyger. How Hugo Strange has come out of the shadows and has been appointed to run the whole project. How he's issued a dubious order to incarcerate Bruce Wayne in it, knowing full well who his alter ego is. How truly kickass Batman is, even without his gadgets. And you know, to your delight, that Batman starts off almost as devastatingly powerful as he was by the end of Arkham Asylum, this time in a whole new sandbox.

Let's get my most hated section of every single one of my reviews out: Graphics. It's using, like its prequel, an updated version of the Unreal Engine. While not groundbreaking, it's pretty, and moody, and atmospheric, and gets the job done. I could use terms like anti-aliasing, v-sync and the likes, but a lot of gamers hardly know what they mean. Or care, for that matter. Hell, even I struggle with some terms. So, instead, look at the pretty screenshot.

And now we venture where the meat is: gameplay.

City promised a great many things before release and though it pains me to say it, it did not quite deliver. Asylum is (justly) considered to be the best superhero game and (unjustly) made every other game of its ilk looks like crap by comparison. And that was largely due to its atmosphere. Much like Watchmen's Rorschach, Batman wasn't locked in an Asylum with an army of psychos, an army of psychos was locked up in Arkham with the goddamn Batman. City, on the other hand, half-impoves and half-foregoes this.

For example, the fabled and much-discussed open environment. I mentioned the word sandbox before, but it wasn't really accurate. If you were expecting a GTA-like city spread beneath your feet, you'll be disappointed.

In theory, Batman, the penultimate predator, the world's greatest detective, should thrive in an open environment that lets him plan his moves, stalk, hunt. In practice the environment is a fairly small and limited one, bare apart from the groups of thugs, minor mini-challenges (such as Riddler trophies and saving political prisoners from thugs), main story hotspots and sidequests which, frankly, seem clumsily thrown in. Zsasz, for example, makes a comeback in the form of phones ringing all over the city. Answer one, you'll be redirected to another one which you have to physically reach in time. Answer enough and you'll be able to pinpoint his location and take him down. Riddler, apart from his staple trophies, has a series of puzzles you need to solve, and his thugs deep undercover within other groups. Leave them for last and interrogate them, get clues, solve the puzzles, save the hostages and eventually take him down. Deadshot is making hits, and you need to follow the trails of the bullets to his sniping vantage points, get clues, track him down and -sigh- take him down. More characters appear in more or less the same fashion: Bane, Mad Hatter, Hush, Azrael. Does it sound exciting? Well, it's not. It's generic, and the game itself doesn't really encourage you to complete them, making for example the Deadshot and Hush clues appear seemingly randomly. A casual playthrough will not be enough.

None of this would matter if the main story made full use of the new mechanics, though, right? Sigh. It doesn't. The main story bits are straight-up, on-rails sections, pretty much like they were on Asylum. And don't get me wrong, some of them are really, really good. I consider the Mister Freeze fight the best fight in a superhero game yet. Best fight in a stealth game, too. You see, you can only use sneak attacks, but every time you use a trick is the last time you can, as Freeze adapts to make himself impervious to the same attack method. Luckily, the Dark Knight has a wide array of options there, all the time avoiding being seen. Your hiding spot will need to change all the time, making this a superb cat-and-mouse section. Others, such as the Penguin bit, are perhaps less inspired. Like Asylum, it doesn't really fail to shine the characters involved in the right light (well, unless you count Asylum's last fight, which I don't). Two-Face, Penguin, Joker, Strange, Freeze, Solomon Grundy, Poison Ivy, Clayface, Harley Quinn, Ra's Al-Ghul are all shown for what they are. And if Killer Croc terrified you, don't worry, there's only a glimpse of him which some players might not even experience. From all of those encounters (let's call them boss fights), some require tackling large groups of thugs, some require getting a new gadget, some require using your gadgets in new ways, some require skill and an understanding of the fight at hand. The story itself isn't bad: just generic.

Other characters make cameos as well, such as James Gordon, Quincy Sharp, Jack Ryder, Vicki Vale, Robin, sometimes as just cameos, other times as someone in dire need of a rescue. Catwoman is a notable exception, being a playable character both within the main game and at the DLC, set story-wise just after the events of the main game. She has her own Riddler trophies to grab and her own story, intertwined with the main one, her own fighting style and abilities. Have you ever played a Spider-man game? That's basically what Catwoman is: an agile, acrobatic fighter that uses her wip as Spidey uses his webs to zip through the streets and rooftops. Oh, and she can cling to ceilings. The similarities are actually quite annoying once you spot them.

Oracle is still on your earpiece, as is Alfred, chatting away every time you find a clue or request schematics or inform them of new developments. In these exchanges, sadly, Batman sometimes comes across as Captain Obvious, stating (after you've spent several minutes using your detective skills tracking down the Joker, all the while chatting about it on radio, confronting him and escaping his trap) "Joker's behind this". Alfred dryly replies "Was there ever any doubt?". I dryly thought to myself "You don't say! Your nemesis who you're tracking down because you know just tried to kill you is behind it and you're only realizing it now?". Come on, Bats, you're better than this.

All of this is sort of glued together by Batman's utility belt. Batarangs, explosive gel, the cryptographic sequencer, the batclaw, the detective vision, the line launcher have all been redesigned and are back. What's more, they're upgradable, sometimes as the story progresses (such as the Batarang, which eventually comes in Reverse and Remote-controlled variations), sometimes by spending XP (such as having the ability to now balance on the rope instead of zipping across, creating new overhead vantage points). New gadgets offer a wealth of possibilities, such as the freeze grenade that immobilizes an enemy for a short time or can also create an icy raft where there's water (steered by currents or pulling yourself somewhere with the batclaw), the disruptor that disables the target's gun unbeknownst to them (this is an invaluable tool when tackling a room full of armed thugs), the remote electrical charge that is used to power-up doors, magnets (that can repel or attract someone's gun prior to a takedown, for example) etc, and what Batman should have had from the very first game: a smoke pellet that's invaluable both in a melee thanks to your handy detective vision or when pulling off Batman's infamous disappearing act. Thugs are prepared, using heat-signature goggles, shields, body armor, guns, stun sticks, knives, blunt weapons and throwing stuff at you sometimes all at the same time, so you'll need to bring your A-game for some of those scraps. And, like Batman (and unlike the US army), always know your exit strategy ahead of time.

Luckily Batman is also bringing with him into the city new moves, new ways to take down individual enemies, new ways to use gadgets (such as the quickfire explosive gel) and the same ability to dodge/counter attacks that enables him to kick the crap out of twenty people at the same time without getting hit himself. Taking down groups is satisfying enough, especially when you do it stealthily or allowing them to catch a glimpse of you, making them more terrified with every passing takedown and prone to mistakes. Sometimes you'll feel the need to instead just barge in and kick people in the kidneys: you can do that, too. But takedowns which strike fear at your enemies' heart are encouraged. After all, in Batman's words, "criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot". Make them fear the Bat.

So, in short, as an open environment game, City fails, being a very limited and bare one. As an atmospheric experience, it is tainted by the environment and while not a fail per se, it's worse than Asylum in that respect, lacking the urgency and atmosphere of its predecessor. While the story does attempt to create both, what with Joker being, well, Joker and Protocol Ten, it somehow fails to live up to expectations. But, unlike Asylum's finale, it does the Joker and Batman's relationship justice throughout. That's gotta be worth something. If that doesn't interest you, you're better off replaying Asylum.