Intro
Arkham City, it's a dreary and dark place to say the least, where the forecast is always a steady snow. But honestly Batman couldn't have dreamt up a better playground, where every major crime boss has staked out their own respective hideouts throughout the city. Sounds to me like a perfect game of hide and seek.
Game Overview
This single player 3-D compatible game is played from a third person perspective as one of two characters, Batman or Catwoman (assuming you entered the ~25 character code needed to unlock her). From the game menu there are two playable game modes, story mode (campaign) and custom challenges. After story mode is completed on normal or hard difficulty, a hardcore mode known as 'story mode plus' is unlocked. Arkham City features a multitude of optional side quests that are completely separate from the game’s main plot which is told through the main quest line. This allows players the ability to play through their own unique experience as Batman and Catwoman, in a less linear and more 'open world' story than is typical in this story-based type of game. It is able to ensure that the main plot is still told without it being the only choice that the player has. You get to play through the story at the pace and in the way that you decide. In her debut as a separate playable toon, Catwoman makes her mark on Arkham City, with a story of her own that manages to neatly intertwine itself into that of the infamous Bruce Wayne.
Gameplay - Throughout the game's story mode, your role switches back and forth between each character's story. Each pursuing their own agenda (by way of the main quest line), they have no trouble running into the plenty of villains. Leaving them no choice but to beat them up, and in turn, level up. Unlike most in most games, levels are not kept track of in Arkham City. Once you have the required amount of experience (6500 to be exact), you can 'level up' by selecting a new upgrade. These upgrades are acquired from what's known as WayneTech, which is divided into the five categories: batsuit, gadgets, combat, predator and catwoman. Upgrades vary from increases in passive armor to entirely new abilities. A plethora of gadgets including the batarang (manual and remote control verions), batclaw, explosive gel, cryptographic sequencer, smoke pellet, remote electrical charge, line launcher and freeze blast help add versatility and fun to your arsenal; many of which are required at certain points throughout the game to open locked gates, dispatch powerful enemies, and reach what otherwise would have been undiscoverable locations. Some of these undiscoverable locations within Arkham City house Riddler trophies. Many are hidden while others sit in plain sight; each one, when obtained, grants 200 experience in addition to unlocking one piece of hidden content (challenge maps, concept art, etc). Obtaining many of these trophies requires both problem and puzzle solving skills. It is in no way a requirement to be able to defeat the game, but it provides optional brain-teasers and other challenges. In terms of additional content (other than story mode and its more difficult relative, story mode plus), the custom challenge maps offer a refreshing change of pace.
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| A look at the WayneTech upgrade tab |
Challenge maps are completely separate from the game's story mode. They provide a way to test your skills in an instanced environment. There are two primary types of challenge maps: combat and predator. Both have a different 3 medal reward system, which I'll explain in their respective descriptions below.
Combat Maps - As the player of your choice, you take on 4 separate waves of enemies, with a break in between. Each successive wave increases the number of enemies and consequently, the difficulty level. In each round your performance is scored, based on how cleanly you dispatched of your opponents. Bonus points are awarded in a round for not taking any damage (perfect round bonus), defeating all the enemies in one flawless string of attacks (flawless freeflow bonus) and just like in story mode, the longer the combo, the bigger the point bonus. Medals are attained in combat maps after reaching a specified point total for the map.
Predator Maps - In a Predator map you're given three tasks to complete, each task completed counts as a completed medal challenge. The challenge itself is timed, so the faster you can complete all three tasks successfully, the more points you're awarded and the higher your score.
Campaign Challenges are another option. They are a combination of 3 total challenge maps where either 2 are combat type maps and 1 is a predator type or vice versa. Before you begin the challenges you are allowed to select up to 3 modifiers, some that will make the challenge more difficult and others that will provide some sort of benefit.
Combat
The game's combat system is relatively simple and beginner friendly. The three main attacks at your disposal are strike (X-button), counter (Y-button), and cape stun (B-button). An additional attack that can be performed while out of combat is the predator style silent takedown ability (Y-button while hidden from the target). Successful combat encounters are the game's primary source of experience. The amount of experience that is awarded from each encounter is affected by a number of factors, not including obvious reasons such as the level of difficulty (i.e. a 'boss' level opponent such as Mr. Freeze will give much more experience than defeating a few of his henchmen would) or the number of enemies involved in an encounter. The greater the combination (number of consecutively landed blows on opponents without being hit) the greater the amount of bonus experience that is awarded when combat has ended. This rewards players for the level of skill demonstrated in each particular encounter. Other combat bonuses include the intimidation bonus, awarded upon a successful enemy takedown, and the variation bonus which rewards the use of varying kill tactics rather than deploying the same strategies over and over again.
Catwoman (Differences)
Her gadget collection includes bolas, caltrops and the whip; all of which are things I'd like to think a ninja cowgirl might carry around with her, if there were such a thing. Catwoman's thief vision is a downgraded version of Batman's detective mode. Allowing the player to use x-ray vision and make other useful observations, such as identifying whether an enemy is armed or unarmed, discovering hidden clues and showing interactive objects. Although gliding isn't an option she is able to 'leap' a fair distance and instead of grappling with a gun, she makes use of her whip and cat-like climbing abilities to scale buildings and other large structures.
Tips
- Avoid getting caught in the middle of large groups of enemies, or you risk being blindsided from behind
- Make use of your gadgets if you're ever having trouble defeating an encounter
- Use the batclaw to reel in hard-to-reach Riddler trophies
- Use gargoyles and other specifically placed ledges to plan your attack before jumping into a room full of inmates
Pros
- AC is an open world, as a player you're not forced to follow any specific path through the game.
- Riddler trophies provide additional challenge and content.
- Challenge maps are a fun way to test your skills for fun or against friends.
- It's 3-D compatible, which is more than most console games can claim. Sadly, I lacked the proper hardware to test it out myself.
Cons
- You have no access to any type of last resort skill or ability (one time self-healing or 'super' attack)
- In story mode there's no manual save option, instead the game saves at checkpoints
Other Thoughts/Suggestions
- Downloadable content for Arkham City is available through XBox Live. Two more playable characters, Robin and Nightwing, can be purchased for 560 microsoft points (~$7). The catch is that they are only playable on challenge maps and lack their respective playable stories. The character bundles also include 2 new challenge maps.
- When using Batman's grappling gun you will sometimes be pulled through objects (metal beams, railings, signs etc) that are between you and the point you're grappling to.
Bugs
- There was one instance where I attempted to continue story mode from the main menu and it loaded to a gray screen which forced me to restart my XBox, this only occurred on one occasion though.
- Other than that one instance though, Batman: Arkham City was refreshingly bug-free for the duration of my stay
Score - 87
Arkham City is a cohesive beauty that is sure to please both Batman lovers and gamers alike, particularly those who thrive on its 'big brawl' type combat.
Predator Maps - In a Predator map you're given three tasks to complete, each task completed counts as a completed medal challenge. The challenge itself is timed, so the faster you can complete all three tasks successfully, the more points you're awarded and the higher your score.
Campaign Challenges are another option. They are a combination of 3 total challenge maps where either 2 are combat type maps and 1 is a predator type or vice versa. Before you begin the challenges you are allowed to select up to 3 modifiers, some that will make the challenge more difficult and others that will provide some sort of benefit.
Combat
The game's combat system is relatively simple and beginner friendly. The three main attacks at your disposal are strike (X-button), counter (Y-button), and cape stun (B-button). An additional attack that can be performed while out of combat is the predator style silent takedown ability (Y-button while hidden from the target). Successful combat encounters are the game's primary source of experience. The amount of experience that is awarded from each encounter is affected by a number of factors, not including obvious reasons such as the level of difficulty (i.e. a 'boss' level opponent such as Mr. Freeze will give much more experience than defeating a few of his henchmen would) or the number of enemies involved in an encounter. The greater the combination (number of consecutively landed blows on opponents without being hit) the greater the amount of bonus experience that is awarded when combat has ended. This rewards players for the level of skill demonstrated in each particular encounter. Other combat bonuses include the intimidation bonus, awarded upon a successful enemy takedown, and the variation bonus which rewards the use of varying kill tactics rather than deploying the same strategies over and over again.
Catwoman (Differences)
Her gadget collection includes bolas, caltrops and the whip; all of which are things I'd like to think a ninja cowgirl might carry around with her, if there were such a thing. Catwoman's thief vision is a downgraded version of Batman's detective mode. Allowing the player to use x-ray vision and make other useful observations, such as identifying whether an enemy is armed or unarmed, discovering hidden clues and showing interactive objects. Although gliding isn't an option she is able to 'leap' a fair distance and instead of grappling with a gun, she makes use of her whip and cat-like climbing abilities to scale buildings and other large structures.
Tips
- Avoid getting caught in the middle of large groups of enemies, or you risk being blindsided from behind
- Make use of your gadgets if you're ever having trouble defeating an encounter
- Use the batclaw to reel in hard-to-reach Riddler trophies
- Use gargoyles and other specifically placed ledges to plan your attack before jumping into a room full of inmates
Pros
- AC is an open world, as a player you're not forced to follow any specific path through the game.
- Riddler trophies provide additional challenge and content.
- Challenge maps are a fun way to test your skills for fun or against friends.
- It's 3-D compatible, which is more than most console games can claim. Sadly, I lacked the proper hardware to test it out myself.
- You have no access to any type of last resort skill or ability (one time self-healing or 'super' attack)
- In story mode there's no manual save option, instead the game saves at checkpoints
Other Thoughts/Suggestions
- Downloadable content for Arkham City is available through XBox Live. Two more playable characters, Robin and Nightwing, can be purchased for 560 microsoft points (~$7). The catch is that they are only playable on challenge maps and lack their respective playable stories. The character bundles also include 2 new challenge maps.
- When using Batman's grappling gun you will sometimes be pulled through objects (metal beams, railings, signs etc) that are between you and the point you're grappling to.
Bugs
- There was one instance where I attempted to continue story mode from the main menu and it loaded to a gray screen which forced me to restart my XBox, this only occurred on one occasion though.
- Other than that one instance though, Batman: Arkham City was refreshingly bug-free for the duration of my stay
Score - 87
Arkham City is a cohesive beauty that is sure to please both Batman lovers and gamers alike, particularly those who thrive on its 'big brawl' type combat.
I heard from a co-worker of mine from DISH that this game wasn’t bad at all, and after reading your review I think I’ll add it to my Blockbuster@Home queue and try it out before I decide to buy it. With Blockbuster for a flat $10 monthly fee you can rent games and movies, that way if you don’t like the titles, you’re not stuck with them after wasting $50 - $75 buying them new. The graphics on Arkham City look decent and I’ll have to admit I really didn’t hear the soundtrack to notice any repetitiveness like there are in some of the other games out there. But if you’re right about the rest of your review I definitely need to give this game a try.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's definitely a good idea to use something like gamefly or blockbuster to try out a console game before you buy it. If I didn't play most of my games on the PC I would likely be renting myself. As far as graphics go, I'd really like to find out how the 3-D experience feels on a TV. I've been lucky enough to play a few games on a 3D capable computer and they've been pretty awesome. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your rental.
ReplyDelete