Arkham City feels unbound by the passing of time. Its ambition and scale is palpable from the second you boot up the game. The opening segment, the pace, the adrenaline. I remember a few of these sequences because a friend used to play this a lot and gosh are these just iconic. City is such a massive leap from its predecessor in terms of everything else that you almost question if they were actually made by the same team. Visually, audibly, mechanically it is lightyears ahead to the point where even today, more than a decade since release it still feels like it came out yesterday. The open-world approach to Batman is completely different from Asylum. Asylum felt enclosed, claustrophobic but City is massive. Traversing the sprawling nightscapes of Gotham as Batman is an indescribable feeling.
The game basks itself in an atmosphere that fills you with this ominous, seeping sensation. The grunts of thugs, the cries for help. The dark, the grime, the wet, the blood and the dirt. The pathetic state of the city. The skyline against the backdrop of a cloudy hemisphere penetrated by a stark moonlight. All of this culminates into a constant image of eerie beauty that is inimitable, but more so oddly soothing. You could spend hours soaking in the feel of Gotham's nightscapes, and that itself is an experience you won't easily find in many games, or even films. Even the latest Batman film is aesthetically derived from Arkham.
Yet if there is one thing from Asylum that City didn't adapt and improve, it's the linearity and focus of its villains. It's the one aspect of Arkham City that hinders it from being a perfect title. That and the main storyline, which aside from being far too short, is also far too unfocused and convoluted. A variety of iconic characters are introduced with unique attributes to test the fluidity of the game mechanics (something which City excels at immensely) and they're all treated as mainline villains at some point just for the sake of it. Asylum had some level of progression with its villains and those villains did have some weight to the story. Here it felt like we were given every villain imaginable, but not one of them left a mark. Except for Joker but even he leaves the spotlight for the majority of the game.
Most would not mind this because of the medium. In a film this lack of focus would be detrimental, but in an open world game where you control your own pacing, it’s not that big an issue. Even so these villains are only tied together by a fine thread, and they don’t bring anything aside from immediate consequences for the plot.
Batman still keeps brooding but he also looks tired. He is tired. By the end of the game he's full of bruises, his cape is all torn up and he looks like he's about to collapse yet he still keeps moving forward. His all black look, and serious tone is well juxtaposed by Selina Kyle, who is elegant, sexy and selfish and even more so by the Joker, who's a joy to watch. His antics are comical. At one point he pulls out a detonator with a big red button. Modern iterations of Batman and Joker, especially post-Nolan, are so self-serious that it sucks the fun out of these stories. These are comic book characters after all and this game is very aware of that fact. Arkham City is a special game made by special people, there's no doubt about that. Yet the story teeters between poetry and conflict. It does not understand who it wants to give the spotlight to and by the time it ends all you can think of is just, "huh, that's it?"
There is no catharsis. There is no satisfaction. The ending is hardly abrupt yet the journey still feels underwhelming. It's so incredibly performed and so vastly impressive yet the story just suffices. Leaving you with nothing but a vague recollection of an immense adventure.
Aside from all that, Arkham City also continues to expand on the lore of hot, flirtatious women with the introduction of Catwoman. This sums up my thoughts on her. There's also a scene where Harley Quinn is tied up and duct taped, and you can remove and put back on the duct tape, how many times you want. I was laughing my ass off at this like the devs have ZERO shame and I’m not even complaining. I know Quinn's relationship with Joker is tragic. It's a manipulative one and Joker is being abusive towards her even when he's on the verge of death. Yet still... goodness gracious…
Rocksteady I was NOT familiar with your game.
8/10
The game basks itself in an atmosphere that fills you with this ominous, seeping sensation. The grunts of thugs, the cries for help. The dark, the grime, the wet, the blood and the dirt. The pathetic state of the city. The skyline against the backdrop of a cloudy hemisphere penetrated by a stark moonlight. All of this culminates into a constant image of eerie beauty that is inimitable, but more so oddly soothing. You could spend hours soaking in the feel of Gotham's nightscapes, and that itself is an experience you won't easily find in many games, or even films. Even the latest Batman film is aesthetically derived from Arkham.
Yet if there is one thing from Asylum that City didn't adapt and improve, it's the linearity and focus of its villains. It's the one aspect of Arkham City that hinders it from being a perfect title. That and the main storyline, which aside from being far too short, is also far too unfocused and convoluted. A variety of iconic characters are introduced with unique attributes to test the fluidity of the game mechanics (something which City excels at immensely) and they're all treated as mainline villains at some point just for the sake of it. Asylum had some level of progression with its villains and those villains did have some weight to the story. Here it felt like we were given every villain imaginable, but not one of them left a mark. Except for Joker but even he leaves the spotlight for the majority of the game.
Most would not mind this because of the medium. In a film this lack of focus would be detrimental, but in an open world game where you control your own pacing, it’s not that big an issue. Even so these villains are only tied together by a fine thread, and they don’t bring anything aside from immediate consequences for the plot.
Batman still keeps brooding but he also looks tired. He is tired. By the end of the game he's full of bruises, his cape is all torn up and he looks like he's about to collapse yet he still keeps moving forward. His all black look, and serious tone is well juxtaposed by Selina Kyle, who is elegant, sexy and selfish and even more so by the Joker, who's a joy to watch. His antics are comical. At one point he pulls out a detonator with a big red button. Modern iterations of Batman and Joker, especially post-Nolan, are so self-serious that it sucks the fun out of these stories. These are comic book characters after all and this game is very aware of that fact. Arkham City is a special game made by special people, there's no doubt about that. Yet the story teeters between poetry and conflict. It does not understand who it wants to give the spotlight to and by the time it ends all you can think of is just, "huh, that's it?"
There is no catharsis. There is no satisfaction. The ending is hardly abrupt yet the journey still feels underwhelming. It's so incredibly performed and so vastly impressive yet the story just suffices. Leaving you with nothing but a vague recollection of an immense adventure.
Aside from all that, Arkham City also continues to expand on the lore of hot, flirtatious women with the introduction of Catwoman. This sums up my thoughts on her. There's also a scene where Harley Quinn is tied up and duct taped, and you can remove and put back on the duct tape, how many times you want. I was laughing my ass off at this like the devs have ZERO shame and I’m not even complaining. I know Quinn's relationship with Joker is tragic. It's a manipulative one and Joker is being abusive towards her even when he's on the verge of death. Yet still... goodness gracious…
Rocksteady I was NOT familiar with your game.
8/10