Console: PS3
Date Released: October 18, 2012
Date Reviewed: January 14, 2012
Reviewer: Reid
Pros
* Great combat system, easy to pick up, and fun to play
* Well written story line with great voice acting
* Huge amount of challenge maps and DLC
Cons
* Loading times take quite awhile
* Robin is not playable in the main story
* A note to the multiplayer must-havers: Batman works alone.
Presentation : A
Graphics / Animation / Sound
Arkham City does a wonderful job of showing what the slums of Gotham should look like. There is a massive amount of detail not only on the rooftops, but in the streets below. While most of the buildings have a unique feel, they do a great job of tying the city together with multiple types of building styles and locales. The graphics look great creating a cold miserable feel to the city.
Animations in the cut scenes are very well done, but most impressive are the expanded animations done for the combat system. Even on my second play through, new scenarios unfolded where i noticed Batman smashing the faces of thugs in new ways i hadn’t seen before. I found the character models in the cut scenes to have particularly nice detail, such as the penguin’s monocle looking like the bottom of a beer bottle, or pieces of Jokers face falling off.
The sounds in the game do a great job of creating a live City experience. Thugs shouting obscenities, complaining about being hungry or cold, or taunting Batman add to the score, which also heightens during combat.
Single Player : A
Game mechanics / Length / difficulty
Arkham City is a massive game to explore. Both the rooftops and street levels contain plenty of dangerous and diverse bad guys to injure. You have an amazing story mode to play through, but I found that the side missions were just as satisfying. i played through most of those first. This combined with solving riddles, or finding trophies can make for a long game, if that’s what you want. It is not necessary to complete any of the side missions to make it through the entire story, but it’s highly recommended you do, because it only deepens the experience.
Rocksteady gives you a HUGE amount of weapons to use in the game. The game does a really good job of reacting to what you are trying to do. Thugs react especially well to smoke and batarangs, and you can take them out with most of your arsenal. The selection menu mapped to the d-pad is convenient and easy to use, and i found that I didn’t just stick with one kind of weapon, as a lot of different situations called for the use of multiple weapons. Besides the amazing combat system, the controls for gliding, running, or line launching are great. You also have a great sub menu that contains among other things, a detailed map, and checklist for side missions.
The Riddler trophies and riddles are very tough to figure out. There is a lot of trial and error involved, and they number well into the 400’s. You can get the locations revealed by interrogating certain thugs, but you will have to do it multiple times for multiple sections. Play around with your gadgets and see how they react to the environment, this may help you figure some out. When you finally admit that you’re not as smart or clever as you thought you were, break out the online walk-through and see how mind bending completing some of these tasks are. I will say that actually tracking down the Riddler and solving all of his riddles and challenge rooms was actually my favorite part of the game.
You choose between the usual difficulty modes, normal being the default and providing a decent challenge. Once your done with the game, playing through on the game plus mode will definitely test your skills…and patience.
A ton of characters from the batman series are included in the game, all which have a purpose. Catwoman has playable missions in the game and helps add diversity to the story mode. Her combat is similar to Batman’s, and her weapon arsenal is very effective. Catwoman’s riddler trophies add more gameplay but are not difficult to retrieve.
The challenge maps in the game have a wide range of difficulty. They do a great job of making the environments cool, and mixing up the challenges. The challenge maps are also a great source of practice for when you engage in combat in the game. Robin is a playable character here and he contains all sorts of interesting animations and weapons.
Multiplayer : –
Game mechanics / features / Online features
A real-time leader board system does exist for the challenge map section, other than that there is no multiplayer or true online function. I had thought that perhaps a split screen mode, or online co-op mode, where Batman and Robin fight side by side could be interesting. I’m sure that Rocksteady considered this as well, but I do not feel that it would necessarily make the game any better. So for this particular game, having no multiplayer, in my opinion, should not reflect in a score either way.
Replay Value : A
Lasting appeal / Bonus Content / DLC /
The appeal to play as the Caped Crusader has been around for a long time. There are a lot of Batman games out there, but only Arkham City realizes the full potential of rooftop jumping, or gliding seamlessly without ever having to touch the ground, and the combat system is second to none. You’ll find that a second play through, on game plus is VERY difficult. Like, 28 bad guys at one time, mostly armed with sledgehammers, knives, and baseball bats difficult. When you combine the degree of difficulty with all the challenge maps to choose from there is a lot of replay value.
There is a lot of bonus content you unlock throughout the game, including interviews, character models, character bios, and story plots. All of these are very interesting to read and give insight on things like who the Tyger security company are, and what their role in Arkham City really is. There is so much bonus material to unlock, it takes quite awhile to get through it all.
They have released quality DLC for Arkham City. The Skins pack, in my opinion, is by far the coolest. It’s a blast to play through the game with different Batman looks. They have added new challenge maps as well, with cool locations like the bat-cave.
A lot of effort went into this game. It is well thought out, and made to explore and play multiple times. The action in this game is quite addicting, and really showcases most everything you could want to do with Batman while fighting crime. Maybe in the next installment Rocksteady will throw us the keys to the batmobile. One can only hope.
Overall : A
Nice review guys!