A fun way to kill a weekend, but not much more than that
A Review by Chris Camz of UnfashionablyLateReviews.blogspot.com
Batman has become more than just a superhero, he's become an icon generation after generation. I don't exactly understand the rabid fandom of Batman followers, nor do I want to if it means sitting through Christopher Nolan's trilogy more than once in theaters. Batman just seems like a crap hero in my eyes. It seems like he has a little too much going for him to be properly motivated to stop crime. He's young, a genius, rich, famous, good-looking, owns a multi-billionaire dollar company AND he just happens to know kung-fu and own the greatest detective mind of our time? So why does he choose to don a cape and punch people of lower social classes? Then again, I have always preferred Marvel comics, so I guess the subject isn't in my jurisdiction anyway.
My disregard for Batman is also the reason I never played Arkham Asylum, a mistake which many friends of mine refuse to let me live down. I decided to play Arkham City on the condition that it was the Game of the Year edition, which means that I also got to experience the Harley Quinn DLC pack. After all was said and done, however, it slipped out of my mind the same way jell-o slides down one's throat. It simply failed to grab me and pull me into the experience. Which is strange, to say the least, generally if I have a problem with a game's sense of immersion, I can cite one or two instances in which it needed to change or where the story disappointed me, but that's not the case for Arkham City. Sure there were a few decent twists in the story and I can find dozens of plot holes large enough to park jets in, but it all just rolled off my plate as soon as I stopped playing it.
The basic story is that, for whatever reason, Hugo Strange has sectioned off a large portion of Gotham City and designated it to the rehabilitation of known felons. Rehabilitation by way of absolute anarchy, actually, but details, details. Seriously, though, this may be the loosest attempt at creating a functional asylum of all time, and the only reason the place isn't shut down from the outside is because there is an enormous wall between them and the asylum, upon which are armed gunmen. Inside, hundreds of convicts have joined up with known villains like Joker, Two Face, and Penguin and are fighting over territory within the city. It turns out that Hugo Strange sent Mad Hatter to "convince" the mayor of Gotham to green light the project, which was funded by Ra's al Ghul to convince Bruce to become his successor. Seems awfully elaborate, but I guess after a few dozen negative responses, you need to start getting creative for the sake of variety. There is a larger part to the story than this involving Joker getting a disease through his abuse of the Titan formula, and him sending out a vast amount of his own blood to hospitals all over Gotham, which would spread the disease, but Batman creates a cure with the help of Mr. Freeze like it's no big deal, so why Batman needs to do anything g to help Joker remains a mystery to me. It seems that Batman doesn't want anyone to die…ever. Seriously, for all his jaw punching and exploding gadgets, Batman doesn't want anyone to die, even though he knows that he will ultimately just have to fight them again, because Gotham City penitentiary approaches security with a remarkably casual attitude considering they are holding a psychotic clown and a man that has been cross-bred with a crocodile.
I could go on to explain how the ending was a let-down, but really, the entire story is a let-down. Nobody comes to Dubai for the sand, however, and all the best parts of the game come between the cutscenes, when Batman isn't talking. The combat is nothing sort of fantastic, the gadgets are all useful inside and out of battle, and even traveling through the city is full of fruitful rewards for those willing to stop and smell the roses. There are collectibles everywhere, fights to be had, discoveries to be made, and challenges to be won. The game is stuffed to burst with things to do, and the only real negative to this is that there is precious little to be earned through doing these side missions. I could spend my time searching the city for another Deadshot victim, but what good does it do me? I could run from phone to phone chasing Zasz while listing to his life-story, but the only thing to be gained from doing it is a headache. There is very little reward for your efforts.
Since I have all the DLC, I also got to play as Catwoman, who gets a few episodic adventures that tie into the main story, but the episodes are short on action and take less than an hour to finish entirely. She gets her own Riddler Trophies, but there isn't even an achievement for collecting them all, so there really is no good reason to get them either. So once you finish the story mode, all that's left to do is enter the Challenge Series, which is a collection of fights and stealth sections in which you score points based on performance. There are about a dozen achievements tied into each character that can take part in these challenges, but they are so difficult I, for one, quit long before I collected any of them.
The game isn't a bad one, by any stretch of the imagination, it just fails to excite. The fighting is fun, the stealth sections are interesting, boss battles are a good challenge, but when it's all said and done, I don't feel particularly motivated to do it again the same way I was for Portal, Mirror's Edge, or Fallout 3. Still, the game is popular enough to earn itself a sequel, and I do plan to pick that game up whenever it gets released. By that I mean after about a year so I can get all the DLC bundled with it, of course. I have a reputation to uphold.
Gameplay…10
Everything is fun from combat to puzzles
Story…6
Good, but not great. Definitely forgettable.
Sound…6
Nothing special for your ears to enjoy
Visual…8
Despite the unlikely nature of the Asylum's existence, it certainly looks and feels chaotic and dangerous
Replayability…5
Not much reason for a second playthrough for this one
Overall…7
A fun way to kill a weekend, but not much more than that