Review - Batman: Arkham City

Review – Batman: Arkham City

Pros: Excellent game play with a well thought out story line.

Cons: Mark Hamill's last time playing the Joker

Final Judgement: Easily one of the best games released this year, fans of both adventure games and the Batman Franchise will truly enjoy the play through.

http://community.batmanarkhamcity.com/game/

Available for: PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Back in 1992, when I was but a lad, I stumbled upon a show that would change the way I thought of cartoons. It depicted a dark world with psychological adult oriented plot lines. The characters in the show fought each other by punching, kicking, and using honest to goodness guns on each other. Guns that fired god damn bullets and not “fru-fru lets all hug” laser beams. Oh and best of all, the heroes and villains got hurt, and they bled actual blood and sometimes they even died.

The show was Batman: The Animated Series. I was hooked immediately.  I continued to watch the show long after they stopped production.  When I couldn’t find it on TV anymore I bought the entire series on DVD.   The show has now been around for almost twenty years and I still find myself throwing it on the home theater a couple times a year.

Seriously, go watch these... You'll be glad you did.

I could honestly go on for hours singing the show’s praises, but for the sake of time and people’s attention spans, allow me to rattle off a few quick facts about why this show was so damn great.

-          The series was inspired by Frank Miller and his timeless graphic novel “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns”.  Note I said, The Dark Knight Returns, which I recommend every one reads and not Miller’s glue huffing dog’s lunch of a sequel “Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again” which is so terrible I refuse to even link to it out of fear some misinformed reader will accidently purchase a copy.

 

What the hell was Miller thinking when he wrote this? I think it may have been "Contractual Obligation".

-        The actors all recorded their lines together in the same recording studio as opposed to being in separate rooms and never meeting face to face. This allowed the actors to play off each other and create more natural and authentic character interaction. At the time it was the only cartoon recorded in this fashion; this method has since become a standard for all DC Cartoons.

-        Throughout the shows run it won four Emmy’s and was nominated for six others. IGN called it the best comic book cartoon of all time and the second best animated series of all time.

-        The show has been celebrated for having a very high production value including hand painted backdrops and original orchestrated pieces by eight different composers, including Danny Elfman.

-         Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman, used two distinct voices to depict Bruce Wayne and his alter ego Batman. This was the first time an actor playing Batman had done so. This was Conroy’s own idea.

-         Mark “Luke Skywalker” Hamill re-launched his acting career as a voice actor playing a homicidally whimsical Joker.

-         Harley Quinn, The Jokers sidekick, was created exclusively for the show. As well, Mr. Freeze, who before was only a bit part mad scientist, was reimagined in the show to be a tragic and vindictive figure lamenting his doomed wife. Both Quinn and the deep complex Mr. Freeze were so popular that DC Comics actually changed the canon of the Batman Universe. Quinn was made a recurring character and Freeze, who had been killed off years before was brought back with a personality and back story taken from the animated show.

Though she was a bit more "PG" looking in the cartoon

Now the reason I’m prattling on so much about the animated series, aside from the fact that it’s awesome, is because both Batman Arkham City and the previous game Arkham Asylum are very heavily influenced by the Animated Series. Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and several other voice actors from the series come back to reprise their roles and lend their talents to the game. More to the point however, both games were written by Paul Dini who was the writer for twenty three episodes in the series as well as the theatrical movie that accompanied the show, Batman: Mask of the Phantasam. I would not be surprised if Rocksteady Games made these games for the fans of the Animated Series as they really feel like an extension of the show for the now adult audience that was first captivated by it back in the ninety’s.

For those who haven’t played Arkham Asylum, allow me to sum it up, Batman captures the Joker and delivers him to the asylum which is currently over crowded as a result of a fire at the nearby Blackgate Penitentiary. Of course getting caught is all part of the Jokers master plan to stage a takeover of Arkham Asylum with the help of side kick Harley Quinn. As Batman face-punches his way through the Asylum he faces off with Poison Ivy, Bane, The Riddler, Quinn and The Scarecrow. During this time Batman learns the Joker is using the asylum to manufacture the super steroid “Titan”, the drug which makes Bane look like he’s been power lifting exclusively with his neck muscles. The Joker injects himself with Titan.  Then Batman and The Joker have a throw down on the roof of the Asylum while TV helicopters circle and I can only assume broadcast the entire spectacle. Batman wins the day and all is returned to normal… Or is it?


No, of course it isn’t, after all this is the Batman universe, nothing stays normal. What would happen if the Joker just stayed in Prison for more than a week? Are you going to read a comic about Bruce Wayne reviewing his stock portfolio or planning a trip to Ibiza?

"Tee-hee"

So in the lead up to Arkham City, here’s whats been going down;  Arkham  Asylum is fucked worse than a frat house after frosh week. It’s now been about a year since the Joker tried to steal Mark Mcgwire’s bit and Hulked out. The former warden of Arkham Quincy Sharp, has been elected mayor of Gotham.  Quincy being the proactive prison warden turned mayor that he is, has converted the slums of North Gotham into Arkham City. A giant walled off section of the city in which all the insane and hardened criminals of Gotham could totally wail on each other. A giant re-enforced cement wall which was apparently built in less than a year. You know, because that’s totally do-able, I mean they`re building a bridge near my house which has taken almost three years and its only half done, and that’s just a bridge. This is a two hundred foot high re-enforced cement wall with gun emplacements, surveillance equipment and missile launchers.  

Anyway, Batman being the only sane person in Gotham sees that the super prison probably isn’t a good idea and starts using his alter ego Bruce Wayne to get all up in Arkham City’s business politically. For his troubles he’s arrested by the security company in charge of Arkham City and is caber tossed over the wall faster than an acrobatic fat kid breaking in to a pie factory.

That’s how the game starts, Bruce Wayne locked up in Arkham City. Before long you change into the Dark Knight and start face punching your way through many more mindless thugs along your path to uncover the master plan of Arkham City and its warden Dr. Hugo Strange.  Along the way you’ll encounter the Joker,  the Riddler, Penguin, Two Face  and others including Mr. Freeze who I must say has an excellent fight sequence.

Arkham City is beautifully crafted.  The character models and environment look great and really capture the dark feel of the source material. Batman’s villains have all been given makeovers to give them a more sinister edge but any fan of the show or comics will still instantly recognize who they are supposed to be. For example the Penguin was changed from the Danny DeVito malformed hunchback into more of a sleazy businessman and arms dealer with a penchant for sadism and torture. 

Thats a broken beer bottle shoved into his left eye by the way... Ouch.

Arkham City eschews the previous games linear progression for an open sandbox style setting, allowing Batman to freely roam the prison, with all areas of the game available to the player from the start of the game. Needless to say this game is huge. It has easily twenty five to thirty hours of game play, split between the main story, side quests and Riddler challenges. There are even easter eggs tucked away in the game for people to discover, such as Crime Alley where Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered. The chalk outlines of his fallen parents recreated by Dr. Strange as part of his attempts to get into Batman’s head.  There is also a code for DLC included with the game that allows you to play as Catwoman. She plays a supporting role to Batman and has her own side story a side story that can trigger an alternate ending to the game, depending on a choice she has to make. No one will leave this game wanting more from it or feeling that they didn’t get their money’s worth.

"What do the five fingers say to the two-face?"

As for the gameplay, basically take the Stealth Action of Metal Gear Solid, and instead of being a mulleted rip off of Snake Pliskin from Escape from New York, you’re the god damn Batman. The out and out street brawls where Batman or Catwoman take on hordes of thugs all at once are exciting and fast paced. You can wade into the middle of battle and convincingly lay the smack down thanks to icons that appear over a thugs head when they are readying an attack. All you have to do is press the counter button, and the attack is countered, that’s it. No complex combos, no moving the analog stick in the direction of the attack, just tap the counter button and you’re done. If there is more than one attacker coming at you just tap the counter button twice.  It’s simple and keeps the game fun and you actually feel like a super hero. This isn’t to say that it makes combat easy, far from it, counters do minimal damage and if you want to thin the ranks of bad guys you need to go on the offensive. This is where the game can get difficult.  While you’re trying to finish off one bad guy you may not notice the other two thugs sneaking up behind you.  

Does Batman look worried? He isn't.

However, more often than not the game focuses on takedown scenes where Batman is locked in a room with several armed thugs. In order to survive you need to use stealth and Batman’s utility belt of gadgets to strike from the shadows, snatching and subduing your opponent’s, leaving only an unconscious thug’s body behind for the remaining ones to find. During these sequences the music switches between stealthy subdued themes to booming crescendos as you move between waiting in the shadows to pouncing your enemies. These scenes are incredibly fun and while they do require a bit of patience and planning, nothing is more rewarding than watching the hard boiled thugs go from calm to terrified as you pick them off from the shadows.

They have no idea that they are mere seconds from "Go Time"

Arkham City is a well thought out, well-polished game. I have real trouble finding fault with any part of this games experience. Given that Batman is a household name and everyone is more or less familiar with who he is, anyone can pick up Arkham City and enjoy it.

Everyone loves a little Batman/Catwoman sexual tension.

I’ll end by saying that Mark Hamill has confirmed that, after close to twenty years, this is the last time he will voice the Joker and that he wants to leave his role as Batman’s nemesis on a high note. Well, you did a hell of a job Mark, thanks for a memorable grand finale.