Gotham City is one of the most iconic cities in all of pop culture. Even though Gothamis fictional, it has a deeply distinct atmosphere that takes the worst of all cities and combines it with an excellent cast of characters and an unrelenting sense of hope. The city is gloomy and cold, but at its heart it is filled with a rich and compelling history that has created decades of interesting tales that all layer additional complexities to the already infamous city. To recreate this wonderful dark cityscape seems a daunting task, and time and time again video game and film companies have botched the creation Gotham and its Dark Knight.
However, Rocksteadynailed the grittiness of Gotham Cityright out of the gate with Batman: Arkham Asylum and continues to do so with their newest installment, Batman: Arkham City. One of the more poignant messages that I gained from watching Arkham Asylum’sin-game development diaries was that the team behind Arkham Asylum and Arkham City made it a staple to gather and read a plethora of Batman comics in order to find the Caped Crusader’s core, while recreating Gotham’s macabre ambiance. Without adhering to the source material Rocksteady’s Batmanseries would be nowhere near as successful as it is.
Batman: Arkham City
Plot
Arkham City takes place immediately after the events of Arkham Asylum, so individuals who have wrapped up the first title should recognized a lot of the original framework that Rocksteady built. For those who haven’t played the first title I would highly recommend doing so; it is an excellent foray into the adventures of Batman, which are very loosely based upon Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth.
The game begins with the creation of Arkham City, which is essentially a walled ghetto meant to house all of the inmates of Black Water and Arkham Asylum. All of this is seemingly at the behest of Mayor Quincy Sharpe; however, Dr. Strange is truly the mastermind and Sharpe is but a puppet. Bruce Wayne becomes pressured politically and inevitable tries to use his status by publically decrying the new institution. Dr. Strange and his cohorts have other plans though and during Wayne’s protest speech he is forcibly captured and thrown into Arkham City with several other Gotham Cityresidents.
From here, the story unfolds as Bruce picks up his equipment in order to transform into Batman, thus thrusting him into a war between all of Gotham’s felonious with Dr. Strange at the very center of it all. Two-Face, the Penguin, and the Joker have all cut out sections of the city and quickly gathered lesser criminals together in order to patrol and guard their new respective hideouts. Batman has to avoid or battle these patrolling goons in order to move throughout the city from objective to objective, which keeps even the most basic interactions interesting because as the plot progresses the henchmen become quite lethal.
The rest of the story unfolds fairly quickly and involves countless Batman villains and antiheroes right up to the surprising and twisty conclusion that easily sets up Rocksteady for a sequel.
Visual/Sound
Visually Arkham Cityis gorgeous. The city is sculpted masterfully and each area has a very distinctive feel to it. The city is broken up into the Bowery, Amusement Mile, and the Industrial District. As aforementioned, specific villains have etched out these districts into hideouts of their own, but as Batman transverses them in order to complete the varying objectives and quests it is almost impossible not to stop and gander at the beautiful scenery.
The Bowery is wonderfully depicted and is most akin to Gotham City, meaning that much of this area is complete and undestroyed. Amusement Mile is mostly underwater due to catastrophic earthquakes, and the Industrial District is an unusual amalgamation of smoke stacks, smelters, and amusement park rides—a perfect residence for the Clown Prince of Crime.
Beneath the expansive outer layer of Arkham City reside numerous buildings and sublevels (including a sizeable subway system). All of the buildings provide a distinctive ambience and usually represent a specific villain. For example the oldGotham City Police Department is coated in frost due the influence of Mr. Freeze.
Essentially the graphics and art direction are near perfect and uphold the source material brilliantly. The sound is also superb and tops off the immersion with its carefully chosen soundtrack, background noises/music, and fantastic voice acting. As an aside, it has been publically announced by Mark Hamilthat this will be his final gig portraying the Joker.
Gameplay
The gameplay is quite similar to that of Arkham Asylum. Batman comes equipped with various gadgets and as the story progresses Batman’savailable arsenal increases allowing him access to certain areas that he wouldn’t have normally been able to reach. One of the vast improvements to the series is the inclusion of the glide. Previously it didn’t make sense to have this mechanic, but because Arkham City is open world the glide and grapple mechanism allow the Caped Crusader to travel around the city with ease and a fluidity that would not otherwise be allowed.
All of these gadgets have several upgrades that can be earned after a certain amount of experience has been gathered. The upgrades usually pertain to Batman’s combat or increase the ability of the gadget allowing him even further admittance to new areas—usually to gain access to a hidden Riddler trophy.
Also, included this time around are a dozen side quests that include a wide range of DC Comiccharacters that flesh out the story and gameplay. The Riddler side quest is by far the most enthralling of the dozen. The Riddlertrophies, riddles, question mark quests far outweigh its predecessor and together is by far the longest of the sub-campaigns.
Besides these improvements the overall gameplay remains essentially the same, which honestly doesn’t hinder its newest installment in the slightest. The blend of combat and predator modes creates a compelling campaign that once topped off with the plot and DLC makes for a fantastic, near perfect game.
Downloadable Content
The replayability of Arkham City is immense! Personally I have sunk more hours after the credits rolled than I did playing the actual campaign. This is not to say that the main story is short, just the opposite in fact! The side quests, collectibles, challenge maps, and downloadable content easily add forty-hours of gameplay to the already stellar title. All in all you’re looking at forty to sixty total hours.
The Catwomanexpansion pack adds Catwoman, three character skins, and a small campaign comprised of four separate missions that can be individually accessed from the main menu, or experienced interwoven throughout Batman’s campaign. Her missions are short, but her maneuverability, speed, and gadgetry make for a quick paced, pleasurable experience.
The Nightwingexpansion is personally my favorite of the DLC packs. It adds Nightwingto Arkham City’s roster, two playable skins, as well as two additional challenge maps.
Releasing November 22nd, Rocksteady will be adding Robinto the mix, which will include challenge maps and additional skins.
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Relevance to the Comic Industry
In tandem with Rocksteady, DC Comics included a five-part comic series that fills in the gap between the first two games, so if anyone wants a little more filler and detail into the lead up and causality of Arkham City then these comics would be a perfect fit. Also, a one-shot comic was available for purchasers of the Batman: Arkham City collector’s edition came with a special one-shot comic that I thought more succinctly tied Rocksteady’stitles together. The art and story within this one comic was of a lot higher caliber than the miniseries and if given the chance I would recommend the one-shot over the miniseries, but both provide an excellent array of information for those gaming completionists.
I thought that the miniseries and the one-shot both did a great job framing the plot of Arkham Citynicely, but Rocksteady also did a fantastic job by not making them a requirement. The game’s plot is still fully understandable without the aid of the comics; the comics merely had an additional layer to the story by tying the two mediums and industries together.
Summation
Overall, I give Batman: Arkham City five-out-of-five stars. If interested you can pick up the graphic novel form of the comic book tie-ins at Merlyn’s in downtown Spokane at 19 West Main Avenue. Also, the Batman: Arkham Cityis available at the varying Spokane GameStoplocations for $59.99 new and $54.99 pre-owned.
