Review: Batman – Arkham City (Xbox 360) (From Surrey Comet)

Review: Batman – Arkham City (Xbox 360)

9:13am Thursday 27th October 2011 in Video games By Adam Pettifer

Riddle me this, riddle me that. It’s another epic game featuring the Bat. I don’t think anyone was expecting Arkham Asylum – the prequel to this game – to be the huge hit it was. A triple-A title based firmly in the comic book universe, involving exploration, combat, puzzle solving and more exploration. All with the dark, gritty tone of the comics. It was a winning formula then – so it hasn’t been changed, merely expanded upon.

The biggest difference here is that, as the title suggests, the game is set not inside an Asylum, but an entire city. The island in the middle of Gotham has been walled off and fortified – turned into an inhuman penal colony for the city’s most dangerous criminals. It’s reminiscent of movies like Escape from New York, or The Running Man – or even the immigrant detention camp in Children of Men – and it’s a cool, dangerous, crumbling neon backdrop for the story.

The story begins with Bruce Wayne holding a press conference outside Arkham City’s perimeter wall, campaigning for the penal colony’s closure. Bizarrely and without warning he is arrested and shipped straight inside as a convict, with a couple of other citizens. Within minutes, some of the criminals inside descend upon Gotham’s favourite son… and they get a sound beating. The next task is to radio Alfred and arrange for a Batsuit and equipment to be dropped by UAV on top of one the buildings. And then the fun really begins… Every criminal I’ve ever heard of in the Batman stories features in this game, along with many that I hadn’t heard of before. I’m nerdy enough to have heard of characters like Bane, but I hadn’t heard of characters like Sureshot, the mercenary for example. They all have vital parts to play in the story and they all have subtly differing levels of good and evil. It’s difficult to tell the villains from the anti-heroes most of the time – and the story is all the more enjoyable for it.

It’s also difficult to proceed in a straight line with the main story – urgent side quests pop up at all times to take your attention. If you let Batman walk past a ringing payphone and answer it for example, you get drawn straight into a hostage rescue involving… no that’s too much of a spoiler. There are also myriad puzzles and mysteries left to find by The Riddler – even more than in the previous game.

All this means that there is weeks of gameplay here. Regular readers will know that I love games that require exploration and that I’m an obsessive “archaeologist” – I have to check every building, every room, every air duct and under floor path etc. So there is a city full of buildings and each of them is fully detailed and ready to be explored. The developers of this game have gone on record saying that the play area is about five times larger than Arkham Asylum – that seems about right. But it’s also far more satisfying to run, glide and grappling hook around the roof tops. It’s a far quicker and safer way to travel than walking the narrow streets below.

If you do that, within minutes Batman will end up involved in a fist fight. Well gang brawl is a better description. I know it’s not meant to – but it reminds me of the old TV series. There are so many fights where Batman takes on 10 or 20 henchmen at a time and beats them all up – in my head I can’t help but hear the old sound effects “OOF!” “KAPOW” “BLAM!” etc… It’s not based on the TV show or the movies however – it’s based on the comics. This means Batman looks nothing like Christian Bale, nor does his Batsuit look like that from the movies. He’s dressed in grey as per the comics and the villains look as they do in the comics. Joker for example looks like the scrawny, pointy featured man he has always been drawn as. Alfred does not sound like Michael Caine. Catwoman looks nothing like she will in the forthcoming Dark Knight Rises (she still looks great though).

But I like that – it really encourages the player to look deeper into the rich canon of comic lore that’s out there for Batman. There are lots of character bios and background stories to read that you can unlock throughout the game – it’s great stuff.

I’m digressing a bit here. The gameplay offers an enjoyable blend of exploration, stealth and combat. Futuristic gadgets are constantly used by Batman, from Batarangs to Explosive Gel, to X-ray vision etc. The game follows a similar upgrade path as games such as Deus Ex. Choose wisely as you level up, for you can’t unlock everything… And enjoy zig-zagging your way from the main story and side quest after side quest until it is all done.

So it’s another hit Batman game – deep, compelling, gritty and enjoyable. Another great release in the run up to the holidays.

9/10

Batman – Arkham City is out now for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. PC and OnLive versions launch in November.