I found it much easier to focus on just hitting, and dodging enemies than worrying about all the extra abilities which would have granted me reasonably little in terms of actual combat advantage. Batman is also able to use any gadget from his arsenal in fights, such as batarangs and his new plasma gun, but the trade-off for this often seems a little lacking. There is also a vastly expanded selection of upgrades, including everything from ballistics armour to the ability to summon bats in combat. Freeze grenades and smoke bombs are among the new additions, and altogether the game manages to give you just the right amount of equipment to make things seem interesting without it getting too overwhelming. The game also provides a few new gadgets alongside everything in Batman’s previous utility belt. The rhythmic flow of the combat remains hypnotising throughout the game and long after its completion, and the animation stays smooth and fluid, with Batman’s attacks looking elegant and effortless, while simultaneously hard-hitting and brutal. From this basic system the game is able to derive a surprising amount of challenge. For those not familiar with the fundamentals of the combat, X is the basic attack, Y counters enemies about to attack, B can stun enemies and A is the dodge button. Naturally the combat is as satisfying as ever, providing a simplicity which lends itself well to repetition, as well as a system where button mashing is permitted for those who want it, but well-timed hits are rewarded more than anything else. Gameplay, visuals and audio once again combine to provide deliciously impacting combat. Overall this allows Arkham City to feel refreshingly different from its predecessor, while still delivering everything we loved about the first game. The game also features a number of optional side missions to take on which gives it more opportunity to deal with interesting characters who weren’t prominent enough to be part of the main story. However, with Batman’s grapple and improved gliding abilities, getting from A to B is not only easy, it’s also genuinely fun. There is a single, linear, main storyline which keeps the narrative well-focused, but reaching missions and finding collectibles involves traversing the streets and rooftops of the open world environment of Arkham City. While Asylum was a largely linear game, often involving plenty of backtracking and spending time indoors, Arkham City takes more cues from open world games.
#BATMAN ARKHAM CITY REVIEW METACRITIC PC FULL#
The same core gameplay that made Arkham Asylum so memorable returns in full force too, but this time in different trappings. The voice performances serve as the real icing on the cake though, with Mark Hamill’s delightfully twisted Joker once again being a stand-out piece of voice acting. The story takes some interesting twists and before the game ends you’re almost guaranteed to be impressed with where it manages to go. From the get-go Rocksteady manage to once again present a gritty and suitably atmospheric environment filled with well-characterised interpretations of Batman and his adversaries. When Bruce Wayne is taken into the city himself he dons the Batman costume and uses it as his opportunity to shut down Arkham City, but with the Joker allegedly dying things have gotten complicated. Set months after Arkham Asylum, in Batman: Arkham City an area of Gotham City has been walled off, and is being used as the new site for housing Gotham’s infamous criminals. In late 2011 its sequel Arkham City arrived, and once again Rocksteady proved their ability to make high quality Batman experiences. But in 2009 Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum hit shelves, showing us that licensed video games can’t just be good but also truly great. Save for a few exceptions they’ve largely been mediocre titles rushed out to squeeze money out of people who don’t know any better than to scoop up anything labelled with the name of a franchise they like. Generally, licensed video games have had a bit of a sorry history.
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