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Krzysztof Zięba
Poland
Kraków
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This is another of my Bulletpoint Reviews. The idea of this kind of review is to sum up how I feel about a game in a set of pros and cons, with some points in between. Normally, these points are kept short, but this time around, they will be discussed in more detail than usually. However, if you'd like to check out other reviews of this sort, they can all be found here: Lord_Kristof's Bulletpoint Reviews (VG side)
 YOU'RE THE GODDAMN BATMAN
...and the game lets you know that's the case. The open-worldness of this game allows you to glide around Gotham, grapple onto Gargoyles many metres above streetlevel, observe the thugs on the streets before dropping from high-altitude and dealing with them. The stealth levels are the same, and picking off enemies one-by-one when they're not expecting it works really well in these open levels. The game gives the same "Batman: The Animated Series (but more serious)" vibe as Batman: Arkham Asylum, and that really works for me.
Pictured: Plain Awesome
VOICE ACTING
Another thing this game has in common with the Animated Series is the voice actors. Nearly all my favourites are back - with Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker at the helm. They are joined by terrific voice actors doing the Penguin (Nolan North) and Doctor Hugo Strange (Corey Burton), and also, a thing which pretty much made me have a little geek-gasm, they have reproduced the "machine" voice of Mister Freeze when he's in his outfit (I loved it in the Animated Series and it sent shivers down my spine when I heard it in-game). Unfortunately, Arleen Sorkin didn't lend her voice to Harley Quinn, but Tara Strong, who replaced her, was able to mimick Sorkin's voice so closely, that you wouldn't expect it's another actress "doing" the character. Awesome work in this regard along the board.
COMBAT SYSTEM
The combat system is taken from the first game, but with more options and moves. This itself may not be all that good (see the Gadgets/Skills section of this review), but one thing can't be denied - the combat looks amazing. Some stuff Batman does to his opponents made me mouth a silent "wow" frequently, even though some of it is a bit over the top - but still looks awesome. The additional "multi-block" mechanism adds some variety to it all (some people complained about it not working well enough, but I didn't experience any problems), but the fact that you often fight lots of enemies makes the fight look crowded somewhat. This usually doesn't stand in the way of fun, and that's what the combat system is - pure fun.
Two-Face's thugs are in a world of hurt right now...
SOUNDTRACK
The composers for the game outdone themselves yet again. As much as the soundtrack isn't as good as the one from Arkham Asylum (the former was very atmospheric while the latter is more epic - both work in their own ways, but I prefered the former's character), it's still good enough to be a real contender in my "Best Soundtrack of 2011" competition, and that was full of very strong titles.
GRAPHICS
I like the Unreal Engine 3 a lot - in fact, graphics in games wouldn't have to be any better than this as far as I'm concerned. The regular problems with the engine are here as well, of course - the graphics are rather monothematic colour-wise, male characters are mainly big and burly with a small head (even Bruce Wayne looks like that, which is downright silly) or at least "wide"... but it didn't bug me all that much in this game. Maybe the looks of the female characters in the game, even though kind of wrong in a way (an adolescent kind of way), is the saving grace here - they look stunning.
The Steel Mill, Joker's domain.
STEALTH SECTIONS
Wow, Stealth Sections as a Pro in *my* review? This is probably the only game I can think off in which I actually enjoy those levels. Sure, I still suck at them, and I didn't even bother to check out the stealth challenges outside of the main game, but they are supremely well done, even for a stealth-hater like myself. I guess it had to be mentioned.
"Whatcha doin', Bats?"
"Ah, you know, just hanging..."
/  VILLAIN ROSTER
When I started keeping my eye out for the promotional materials for the game, I was psyched to see so many different villains made it inside. I was super excited about Mister Freeze, Two-Face, and others. This variety is great, but it also has a serious drawback. With so many classic and less-classic Batman villains, each of their appearances seems short and not "used" enough. Some awesome characters are only given a short side-quest, while others, less interesting maybe, get a whole boss fight and more. I had the feeling the game could feel more "whole" and less fragmented, if the story picked 5 characters at most and built the whole story around them, and them only. Even Joker has much less screen time and impact than he had in Arkham Asylum. Sure, his plotpoint is still the major one, but it doesn't seem that way - and that's where the "multiple villains" approach fails most.
One of the "heavy hitters" - Hugo Strange
/ CATWOMAN
Catwoman's plot point was advertised as a part of the whole experience and was supposed to encourage people to buy the game new, instead of used. Well, let me say this straight - Catwoman's missions barely add anything to the main plot, if not for a few (not very crucial) points, it's a completely separate episode in the whole thing. She's a fun enough character to play with, but I found her to be much less powerful than Batman - especially in the stealth sections of the game. Her "Thief Vision" pretty much sucks, she has very little options for running away when seen, and her limited gadgets don't really work all that well when she has to pick off enemies one-by-one. That said, she's a welcome, if a bit stretched and forced, addition to the game. The alternative ending you can get is especially nice, a somewhat "what the hell" kind of twist.
Those heels are made of titanium alloy, surely. Ouch, gotta hurt.
/ OPEN-WORLD APPROACH
Initially, this seemed like a good idea. You get the feeling that Batman would work best in an open environment, where he can really dominate the streets with his presence, glide large distances, drop on unsuspecting enemies. And that part of it works well, although it brings some rather irritating solutions with it (like the fact that enemies constantly respawn - that's understandable, but it was a pain in the ass when all you wanted was to solve Riddler's puzzles after finishing the main plot. I couldn't get one moment of peace with these guys). However, several aspects of the game suffered from this approach (see the points beneath this one), and most importantly, it made the side quests rather sub-par.
That's quite the space you've got there...
/ RIDDLER'S RIDDLES
Another element of the original game which was quite built upon here, and again my feelings are mixed. On the one hand, the more complex puzzles, riddles and trophies are mostly good fun to find. The new method of obtaining the riddles' locations is very thematic and a very amusing (some thugs secretly belong to Riddler's gang - if you leave them standing at the end of a battle, Batman will interrogate them - showing his darker, impatient side: loved it), that's for sure. But I felt like I spent way too much time being derailed from the main plot playing around with the riddles. In Arkham Asylum, the riddles were just there - in your way. You usually only needed a single gadget to get the throphy, or had to look around briefly to find the solution to a riddle. Here, it's all much more complex - and tied in to the, probably, longest side quest, which has the Riddler giving you the locations of the hostages he holds captive in specially constructed spaces... how Edward Nygma ever had the resources, time and money to build those is never explained, but there you go.
/ GADGETS / SKILLS
Many additional options were added, in comparison to Arkham Asylum. New gadgets and moves are good and add to the variety, but I couldn't help but feel there's too much of it. Too much variety, too much stuff to think about while fighting, which kind of got in the way of the free-flow combat mechanics. Several of the Skills are rather specific, one or two are on the verge of being ridiculous (summoning the bats, for example), and the choice of 10 different gadgets is just too much. I found I'm not using them consistently, and they just add buttons I can incidentally press during combat to break my combo.
The ending of one of the more interesting skills - you glide toward a guy, high-speed, and ram him into the ground. Niiiiiice.
/ SIDE MISSIONS
All of them are rather brief (except for The Enigma Conundrum and several which are carried out in short, but frequent episodes), and feel rushed, especially their conclusions. Some of them show a lot of promise when they start out, only to meet an abrupt end and a feeling of "This is it?". Clearly, this could have been done better, maybe if they didn't feel like cramming all those additional characters in.
/ MAIN PLOT
The open-world-like approach damaged the main plot as well. The plot and action of Arkham Asylum was crisp, intense, to the point, and, up until the end (I'm not a big fan of the ending), kept me wanting more. In Arkham City, even though the plot does its best to hurry you along, it doesn't seem like a small detour here or there - especially when encouraged by a side quest or riddle - can hurt. Some plot points were downright silly (like the fact that apparently there's a XIX-century steampunk-like secret city under Gotham... and somehow, everyone has forgotten such a thing exists. Huh.). I also felt that the main villain was a bit Deus Ex Machina, and that Joker played second fiddle for most of the game. It often feels like there's supposed to be something between the missions of the main plot, but it wasn't there to fill in the gaps. I found that a bit lackluster. The bitter-sweet ending was a nice touch, even if completely out of character for Batman's universe.
Bruce Wayne manhandling the Penguin. Satisfying? Hell Yes.
LACK OF FOCUS
This all amounts to my main problem with the game - the lack of focus. While Batman: Arkham Asylum knew exactly what it is - a superbly coherent Batman action game with added in thematic content - Arkham City tried to up the ante... and failed, in my opinion. By getting in more stuff - more moves, more villains, more riddles and more content - it lost what made Arkham Asylum so strong in the first place. Yes, Arkham City is longer - but it's also diluted and stretched at points, and this is where it fails to meet its predecessor head-on.
LATE PC PREMIERE / GAMES FOR WINDOWS LIVE
A PC nitpick of mine - I had to wait more than a month for the game's premiere, and it had its date changed three times. Not cool. Also, the Games for Windows Live platform sucks. By god, it sucks! If not for the DLC I got free with the game, I probably wouldn't decide to create an account there...
DLC'ORAMA
Another minor issue, nitpick really, is the amount of "exclusive" content released so early after the game shipped. Robin DLC? Nightwing DLC? Skin packs? All is good and well, but frankly, I don't like this philosophy of creating DLC - since it has this weird smell of being torn from the basic game just to sell it in pieces...
BATMAN'S GOT AMNESIA?
This one bugged me, but I assume most people didn't care or maybe didn't even notice. As a long-time Batman fan, I may not know all the villains and their plots, or not even a big percentage of that, but I know a bit. And so I found it a bit silly that Rocksteady apparently tried bulding their own continuity - and apart from treating some villains like "old friends" of sorts - needing no explanation for them being around, some "newer" kids on the block got the "Who are you again?" treatment from Batman. And so, he doesn't have the slightest clue who Azrael or Hush are, while apparently having to trouble at all identifying Deadshot, for example. Also, spoiler alert: Spoiler (mouseover to reveal): Talia al'Ghul being surprised her father doesn't value her life was just pushing it too far.
Beginning of the game. The pointer shows Two-Face's Court, where Catwoman is held prisoner.
FINAL VERDICT:
After the amount of criticism I just gave, you could expect that I didn't like it, or thought it was so much weaker than the first game. Well, no, surprisingly. The game still plays wonderfully - what works, works really well, and what doesn't work is just stuff you can excuse, seeing how awesome the rest of the game is. I was disappointed that the game didn't raise the bar even higher than Arkham Asylum, but frankly - that was nigh impossible to do in the first place.
Batman Arkham City gets a solid 8+/10 from me, with my main complaint being that the several missteps it made stopped it from being a 10/10 game. Still, heartily recommended if you're a fan of TPP action games, or Batman - and it's a MUST PLAY if you're both, like me.
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Ben Smith
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Thanks for the review! I like this format.
I'm also a Stealth-hater, and get SO mad when non-stealth games try to force you into a stealth level, often involving taking away all your guns or something ridiculous. Those are pretty much never fun.
But I did rather love the stealth in Arkham Asylum, to my surprise, so I look forward to trying it out in this sequel. I look forward more to brawling with a dozen guys at a time. 
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Krzysztof Zięba
Poland
Kraków
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The stealth in these games is actually the best in an otherwise action-oriented game I've ever seen. In most titles, it's tacked on with no support for the mechanic. Here, it's as difficult as you want it to be. Picking guys one by one isn't too challenging, usually, but if you want to do it in a particular way to challenge yourself - the game allows that and encourages it. I think that's where it shines.
And the stealth is really fun, too. Especially the inverted takedown - that's sooooo Batman.
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Posted Sun Jan 22, 2012 5:48 pm
