Video Game Review: ‘Batman: Arkham City’ Soars Over Competition

Printer-friendly versionE-mail page to friendPDF version

CHICAGO – Rocksteady’s “Batman: Arkham City” is everything you’ve hoped it could be and everything you’ve read that it is and more. It is the best game to hit the market since “Red Dead Redemption” and a likely choice for 2011’s Game of the Year unless something miraculously tops it in the next two months. It is “The Dark Knight” of video games, a release that takes what worked about the previous installment in the franchise and makes it deeper, more challenging, and more entertaining. You must not miss it.

Video Game Rating: 5.0/5.0

Why is “Arkham City” so successful? Because there’s not a single element of gameplay in which the developers did not exceed what was required of them. They never took the easy way out. As I was playing the game, I kept marveling at the parts of the production that went above and beyond what they needed to be in order to make a massive hit. It’s easy to make a successful video game and what makes “Batman: Arkham City” so much more than just a smash hit is that the team behind it went well beyond what was necessary in order to be financially viable. They could have made a game half-as-long, half-as-deep, half-as-varied, and this still would have been an excellent title. But every part of “Arkham City” is more than it needed to be and so the increasingly-entertaining and addictive world of the game just gets more and more impressive as it goes along. Never repetitive, never dull, never even remotely disappointing — this is a model for future superhero games.

Batman: Arkham City
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Perhaps the most impressive element of “Batman: Arkham City” is how the complex, challenging storytelling gets richer and deeper as the game goes along. The screenwriting for “Arkham City” is SO good (better than any superhero film since “TDK”) that I wouldn’t want to spoil it here in any way but there are three early developments that essentially set the foundation for the Main Missions of the piece: First, Dr. Strange discovers that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Second, our hero is sent into the titular prison city, a place overrun by criminals and legendary villains from the Batman universe. Third, our caped crusader is not only poisoned but informed that what will kill him soon if he can’t find a cure will also take out most of Gotham. All of these elements — what Strange will do, the poison running through your veins, the constant threat of attack in the city — creates a tension and rhythm to the game that’s spectacular. There’s a ticking clock in “Arkham City” all the time as it feels like you have an actual, story-driven job to do more so than merely getting from point A to point B.

Batman: Arkham City Photo credit: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

The brilliantly-designed and rendered world that gives the game its title is essentially an open-world setting not that dissimilar from something you’d see in a “Grand Theft Auto” game. With levels as high as skyscrapers and as low as subways, you could spend hours just exploring the world, and it’s one that’s constantly opening up new areas and new challenges whether they be Main Missions, Story Missions, or something that fans of the last game, “Arkham Asylum,” will be very familiar with — hundred of Riddler trophies waiting to be found. The world of the game is constantly revealing new things whether they be new locations or new villains.

Perhaps more than any game in history, the Side Missions in “Batman: Arkham City” do not feel like perfunctory, secondary accomplishments. They are “side” to the main story involving Joker, Strange, and the cure, but they feature challenges that would be the best part of most other superhero games. Most side missions in games like this are simple collection assignments — go here and get this. The side missions in “AC” include appearances by Riddler, Bane, Zzsaz, Deadshot, and more timeless Batman characters. They are not just extra material or time-killers. They are essential to the success of the game.

Batman: Arkham City Photo credit: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

And they are essential to the fabric of the overall experience. While I was gliding over Arkham City at one point, I had several side missions going at the same time, was headed to battle Joker again, and was informed of a nearby assault in progress at around the same time that Zzsaz wanted to play a new game with me and I spotted a Riddler trophy nearby. It’s not easy being Batman. The game features a constant string of decisions — do this now or save it for later — that truly add to the sense of authorship of the game. The best games of the last few years have had that individual authorship in which it feels like your game isn’t unfolding in a scripted manner but due to how you play it. “Batman: Arkham City” doesn’t have the moral choices to guide that feeling (like the “Mass Effect” or “Fable” games) but it’s still there.

What about the combat? It’s simply amazing. The adrenalin that pumps through your system as you take on two dozen inmates, some of them armed, through the most rewarding melee combat system in game history, is incredible. And the way the game seamlessly transfers between gadgets like Batarangs, Batclaws, and many more without ever feeling overly complicated is remarkable. With every hour, you’ll get more proficient at being Batman, whether it be timing the right smoke pellet drop to then zip out of range of your enemy or perfecting the Critical Strike. And the game features dozens of challenge maps, which are opened by finding Riddler Trophies, that can help you perfect your combat abilities.

Batman: Arkham City Photo credit: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Visually, “Batman: Arkham City” is unmatched this year by any game. The character designs are spectacular and the detailed settings once again speak to the idea that the developers of “AC” went above and beyond. Every once in awhile, pause and look around. There’s not a dull element of the production at all. It’s a gorgeous game that only gets more so as it goes along.

Do yourself a favor and make sure to get the Catwoman Bundle Pack that either comes with new copies or costs $10 if you buy a used version of the game. Four episodes featuring a playable Catwoman are incorporated into the story and she’s an incredibly enjoyable protagonist with a slight variation on Batman’s fighting system with her own style.

There have been many good games that slowly unraveled as they went along either through repetition, dull storytelling, or other unrefined elements of development. Rarely has there been a game that starts strong and just gets better and better and better as much as “Batman: Arkham City.” When it ends and you’re granted access to New Game Plus and you realize you have around 300 Riddler Trophies to find and maybe a Side Mission or two left uncompleted, don’t be surprised if you instantly jump right back in. There are a lot of exciting games this season but “Arkham City” is going to be a hard place to leave.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com