Anyone who knows me knows that I do not care for superheroes and have not done since even before the MCU took over. I am a certified hater and have been for a long time. However, in 2009 before I received my Hater Certificate from Based University I played Batman: Arkham Asylum and actually wound up enjoying it a lot.
So I'm gonna make a confession. I kinda like Batman. I don't really care for the character himself (cliche backstory, generic personality, silly looking costume imo) but I like the world of Batman, I like Gotham; the villains, the darkness, the (somewhat light) social commentary, I think it's all pretty neat. When Batman: Arkham City came out a couple years after Arkham Asylum, I was pretty excited to play it. But I remember messing around with it for a few hours and it not really jiving with me, perhaps related to the Hater Certificate I had received shortly after my Dad & Brother dragged me along to see shitty-ass Iron Man 2
In the years since, Arkham City has generally gone down as the best of the bunch - an even better game than Asylum and one of the best superhero games ever and I've always been curious to give it another try and see for myself. Some 12-or-so years later, I've come back to give it another whirl and, yeah. I mean, whaddaya want me to say? "It really makes you feel like Batman"??? Well guess what!! It does!! It just fucking does!! That is a true statement! That is an extremely correct thing to say and I'm tired of pretending like it's not! It pulls a bit of DNA from Metal Gear Solid, Metroid and honestly a little bit from Legend of Zelda, but also still manages to create something wholly its own. Over 10 years later now, Arkham City was doing so many of the things that people still pine for from modern video games.
It set the bar for combat in a third-person action game. It hardly looks sophisticated by today's standards, but its job is to make you feel cool - like badass mfin Batman and it succeeds to the point where practically every superhero game since has been copying its style of target-switching, counter-based combat. Almost every combat encounter is fun owed to incredible sound design, responsive and fluid controls and that awesome zoomed-in camera on the final hit of every fight. It's open world, but said open world is not this big, obnoxious, bloated mess of towers and checklists; it's carefully crafted, beautifully detailed and mercifully small. It's not big, it's DENSE. You can get from one side of Arkham City to another in like less than 5 actual minutes, but there's something worth doing in almost every dingy alley and dilapidated building you glide over. Also on the note of the world, a quick shoutout to art and environment design. Well over 10 years after its release Arkham City is still an absolutely peak videogame interpretation of the world of Batman, there is so much detail and artistry in just a single hallway, let alone all the neon green and towering setpieces that adorn some of the game's most memorable locales like the Museum and Wonder City. Penguin's "exhibits" in the Museum are one of the highlights of the whole game for me.
It fires on all cylinders in regards to being a game where you are Batman. Hell, even his running animation looks ripped straight out of the old cartoons from the 70's, it's perfect. With tons of cool gadgets to experiment with, some serviceable stealth and some incredible voice acting performances to match fascinating depictions of so many legendary characters from the mythos, it really does not set a foot wrong in what it sets out to achieve. It's a pretty short game in terms of main story (which was honestly welcome in 2023) but it packs so many awesome moments in that short time, including one of the coolest (pun not intended) boss fights I've ever seen against Mr. Freeze. The story gets spread a little thin between too many villains in the final act, and the last boss is pretty underwhelming, but it's not enough of a blemish to negatively impact my opinion at all. And hey if you didn't get your fill out of the main story, there's tons of worthwhile side content and DLC to boot! It achieves everything it sets out to do to near-perfection. It's goated. Fuck superheroes
So I'm gonna make a confession. I kinda like Batman. I don't really care for the character himself (cliche backstory, generic personality, silly looking costume imo) but I like the world of Batman, I like Gotham; the villains, the darkness, the (somewhat light) social commentary, I think it's all pretty neat. When Batman: Arkham City came out a couple years after Arkham Asylum, I was pretty excited to play it. But I remember messing around with it for a few hours and it not really jiving with me, perhaps related to the Hater Certificate I had received shortly after my Dad & Brother dragged me along to see shitty-ass Iron Man 2
In the years since, Arkham City has generally gone down as the best of the bunch - an even better game than Asylum and one of the best superhero games ever and I've always been curious to give it another try and see for myself. Some 12-or-so years later, I've come back to give it another whirl and, yeah. I mean, whaddaya want me to say? "It really makes you feel like Batman"??? Well guess what!! It does!! It just fucking does!! That is a true statement! That is an extremely correct thing to say and I'm tired of pretending like it's not! It pulls a bit of DNA from Metal Gear Solid, Metroid and honestly a little bit from Legend of Zelda, but also still manages to create something wholly its own. Over 10 years later now, Arkham City was doing so many of the things that people still pine for from modern video games.
It set the bar for combat in a third-person action game. It hardly looks sophisticated by today's standards, but its job is to make you feel cool - like badass mfin Batman and it succeeds to the point where practically every superhero game since has been copying its style of target-switching, counter-based combat. Almost every combat encounter is fun owed to incredible sound design, responsive and fluid controls and that awesome zoomed-in camera on the final hit of every fight. It's open world, but said open world is not this big, obnoxious, bloated mess of towers and checklists; it's carefully crafted, beautifully detailed and mercifully small. It's not big, it's DENSE. You can get from one side of Arkham City to another in like less than 5 actual minutes, but there's something worth doing in almost every dingy alley and dilapidated building you glide over. Also on the note of the world, a quick shoutout to art and environment design. Well over 10 years after its release Arkham City is still an absolutely peak videogame interpretation of the world of Batman, there is so much detail and artistry in just a single hallway, let alone all the neon green and towering setpieces that adorn some of the game's most memorable locales like the Museum and Wonder City. Penguin's "exhibits" in the Museum are one of the highlights of the whole game for me.
It fires on all cylinders in regards to being a game where you are Batman. Hell, even his running animation looks ripped straight out of the old cartoons from the 70's, it's perfect. With tons of cool gadgets to experiment with, some serviceable stealth and some incredible voice acting performances to match fascinating depictions of so many legendary characters from the mythos, it really does not set a foot wrong in what it sets out to achieve. It's a pretty short game in terms of main story (which was honestly welcome in 2023) but it packs so many awesome moments in that short time, including one of the coolest (pun not intended) boss fights I've ever seen against Mr. Freeze. The story gets spread a little thin between too many villains in the final act, and the last boss is pretty underwhelming, but it's not enough of a blemish to negatively impact my opinion at all. And hey if you didn't get your fill out of the main story, there's tons of worthwhile side content and DLC to boot! It achieves everything it sets out to do to near-perfection. It's goated. Fuck superheroes
Martint
5 months ago