Batman Arkham City begins a few months after the events of Asylum. The former warden of Arkham, Quincy Sharp, is now the mayor of Gotham City and has moved the villains of Blackgate Prison and the inmates of Arkham Asylum to an isolated neighborhood in the heart of Gotham. This is Arkham City, run by Dr. Hugo Strange, and Batman’s job is to see what the hell is going on inside.
It’s an interesting story that begins with one of the best discoveries in modern games. After two years of dreaming about what the sequel would be, Batman: Arkham City satisfied and won me over. This can be said of most of the game. Fans of Batman: Arkham Asylum will immediately feel at home in Arkham City, because developer Rocksteady has taken the basic gameplay, refined it and made it more polished. You fight with one button, contract with another, and jump when you feel like it.
Batman received many new counterattacks, including the ability to take out multiple enemies at once, and the ability to use almost any gadget in combat thanks to the hotkey system. Although the system may seem simple (if you don’t pay attention to combos and multipliers), the variety of attacks and battles makes the game interesting. I wanted to take on the bad guys rather than sneak past them. Perhaps because of the promise of more experience points and unlockable power-ups, but more likely because we wanted to see Batman twist another elbow.
About
Developer: Rocksteady Studios, WB Games Montréal
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Release date: 18 October 2011
Price: $19.99
System Requirement
OS: Windows XP 32-bit
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 2.4GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 5450 256MB or NVIDIA GeForce 315 512MB
RAM: 2 GB
HDD: 18 GB
DirectX: 9 Compatible Graphics Card
Gameplay
If you thought Arkham Asylum was all about the game’s controls and combat mechanics, prepare to be amazed with Arkham City. Best of all, the controls are suitable for both amateur and professional gamers. The overall gameplay is divided into two parts: platforming and moving around locations and combat. Platforming and moving around: Newbies to the franchise might think that the Dark Knight is limited in his movements, but if you spend some time with the controls you will be amazed at how natural they feel.
Since Arkham City is an open-world game and Rocksteady claims that the environment is five times larger than that of Arkham Asylum, Brucie has some new tricks up his sleeve in terms of movement and navigation in the environment. It is possible to glide from one end of the city to the other without touching the ground. The glide mechanics are very intuitive and engaging, and maneuvering them is so much fun that it would put any Superman game to shame.
Batman also has his trusty arsenal of gadgets that will come in handy not only in combat but also in navigation. You can use a grappling hook to reach remote places, use freeze bombs to create platforms to walk on, use a batarang to reach inaccessible switches, and so on.
Combat
The battles in Arkham City are fantastic! We repeat: fantastic! It’s so simple that we handed the controller to a friend who doesn’t play, and he was able to get the Dark Knight to perform some spectacular moves. The controls are simple even for amateurs. You press the attack button to attack (yes!) and the counter button to parry (double yes!). But it doesn’t end there. You can use numerous gadgets to spice up the game.
Are you blocked by an excessive number of well-armed enemies? Just throw a smoke bomb, use a freeze bomb to freeze enemies for a moment, a batarang to stun them, a grappling hook to pull enemies closer, and so on. The number of permutations and combinations in combat is so varied that you will be forced to try new tricks with the billionaire superhero’s gadgets.
Did we mention that it is now possible to destroy three enemies in one shot? Yes, it is possible! These are some of the most satisfying tricks imaginable in an action game. Add to that the ability to use the environment to make stealth grabs, slide to destroy enemies, and use destructible objects in the environment, and you have a game that will never stop you coming back.
Graphics
Batman Arkham City looks extraordinary. The current generation consoles are five years old and still manage to create impressive games. The environment is dynamic, with themes borrowed from the animated series, comic books and even some dark themes from Chris Nolan’s films. One only has to climb the highest tower to admire the scenery and beauty of the world created by Rocksteady.
The animation of the characters is also extraordinary. Everyone from the supervillains to the bandits roaming freely around the city looks fantastic. The way Batman’s cape flutters at his heels as he runs, the battle animations and even the glide mechanics are incredible.
The only graphical flaw we noticed was that the lip sync was a bit off in places and some characters were not animated very well. The dark, dystopian look of the city, as well as the thematic neighborhoods run by supervillains, add variation and unique life to each environment visited.
Sound
An orchestral soundtrack provides the background to the game, the intensity of which varies depending on the situation in which you find yourself. Fast music plays when you have to do something urgent, while a melodramatic piece plays when you have little time to complete a task. But this is not the real highlight of the game. It is the voice acting that completely steals the show.
The legendary Kevin Conroy plays the title role and Luke Skywalker, a.k.a. Mark Hamill, voices the Joker, bringing back nostalgic memories of our childhood when we used to watch Cartoon Network. The infamous Nolan North voices the Penguin and Black Mask. Danny Jacobs did a great job as the vengeful Victor Zsasz. The voice acting in the game is superb and the Joker’s shrill laugh still gives us chills.
Conclusion
Batman Arkham Knight offers a great sense of closure for this series. Rocksteady leaves some plot threads afloat to tease and provoke us, but the dark story that began in Arkham Asylum is over. We came out of Arkham Knight shocked, satisfied, and in great need of someone to discuss the story with. Rocksteady has built a special experience that dazzles with its intelligence and ability to switch between emotional Batman moments and scenes taken directly from some of the greatest Batman comic book stories. Lock yourself in, avoid social media and friends, and finish this game.
