The triumphs and failures of a Bat in the City

Batman: Arkham City Review

I had put off writing this review, purely because I don’t really know exactly where my final decision stands on this game. On the one hand, I think it is a triumph in bringing the colourful world of comics together with the dark, and grimness of the real world of crime. On the other, I find it fails in storyline and is oversaturated by the very mechanics that were added to uplift it.

My initial thoughts on the game, when breaking it out of its box, were of sheer awe. The graphics seemed to caress my eyes, and the character concept design was seriously great. I dived head first into the immersive surroundings of a totally new Gotham, a world apart from the Gotham I had grown up with. Within two hours, I was a good third of the way into the game – which isn’t a reflection on the ease of longevity of the game, but more of my voracity – and my enthusiasm showed no signs of letting up.

However, my enthusiasm took a huge battering from this point onwards. The acting, which starts out high-brow and large budget for a computer game, soon becomes droll and flaccid. Possibly my favourite of all of the Dark Knights enemies is Harley Quinn, and yet she is possibly the worst of all the acting in the game. Unlike her colleagues in crime, she is irritating (and not in the good way!) and one dimensional right off the bat. What is truly disappointing is how the game sets you up with such high expectations from the beginning in regards to the voice acting, that when it grows tedious (and believe me, it will!) it seems worse than even the normal standard for computer games. I can honestly say that the only voice-over I appreciate is that of Mark Hamill in the part of the Joker, but even then I cannot definitively say whether it is through merit or nostalgia.

Oh Harley, what went wrong?

As far as graphics go, the game really is pretty good. I won’t go as far as to say anywhere near the best that I have ever played, but they are certainly high end. They ooze character, from the dark and grim over-world, through to the spectacular character concept designs. The use of 3D compatibility is a little overkill, especially in that it isn't used to its full potential but it certainly is a nice touch, and I am glad more games are following the example set by Arkham City. The landscape has been lavished with great levels of detail, with bespoke surface detail, and very little repetition of building structure throughout the entire city. I would almost recommend playing this game purely for the treat it is on your eyes…

Such beautiful landscapes...

Game-play was always going to be something I struggled to commentate on with pure objectivity. My preferred genre of gaming has always been First Person Shooters, with a guilty pleasure being platforming but selectively so. Arkham City was definitely a departure from my usual gaming haunts, and was definitely out of my comfort zone. That said, it doesn't take you long to familiarise yourself with the quirks of a particular genre, especially after 16 years (or more) playing games as avidly as I have done.

I found the controls a little clunky and clumsy in the way they were designed, and the directional movement was a little too prescribed. The combat system was by no means the worst I have encountered, but it was a little mechanical in two respects: 1. You only have to fight one enemy at a time. Despite being surrounded by enemies, they tend to wait they turn. How gentlemanly of them. 2. You really don’t need to figure out the specific combos and buttons associated. You can pretty much button-bash your way out of fights.

The gadgets and gizmos our protagonist is famous for are really kind of cool, and the concept really is great. But, that is all that is great… the concept. In practice, they are a little flat, and they tend to be a little rock-paper-scissors when it comes to their use. Wanna use your grappling line for anything other than zipping upwards in a straight line? Don’t be silly. Wanna use the Batarang for anything other than stunning enemies? Like hitting switches and other useful things? Now you are being a little fantastical. I have never been a great fan of Batman; he really is the runt of the litter when it comes to superheroes, possessing no actual superpowers. What really has kept him tolerable is his awesome gadgets, and in this game they fail to keep him interesting. There is a misfire between the concept of these devices and their actual uses.

The story-line is possibly my biggest bugbear though. Putting genre, developer and graphics aside, the real reason I play a game is for the story. For the immersive universe it puts me into, and the characters and history it envelopes me in. This is why, despite my misgivings and everyone being the polar opposite on the matter, I loved Alien: Colonial Marines. Now, with Batman having a pedigree in story-telling and the wealth of the DC universe to draw from, you would naturally (and forgivably) assume that Arkham City was going to have a knockout story-line  Instead, what you are given is a weak and threadbare excuse to cram in as many of the fan favourite enemies as is possible, and the feeble attempt to justify it. It’s not entirely without merit, with the idea of a sub-city sized prison – where there is only one rule – being absolutely awesome, and a couple of the sub-plots being kinda cool too. But, generally speaking, the story is really awful.

This game isn't going to set the world alight, but it is a good entry into Batman’s venture into the computer gaming world. There are high points, which are sadly dragged back down to Earth, screaming and kicking, by a few low points. The kind of low points that aren't glaringly obvious, but slowly scratch away at your patience, until you have no temperance left. The graphics are really something, and make me even sadder about the low points of the game, because I feel as though they are somewhat wasted on a game without the game-play and story-line to back them up.

Score: 6.5/10