toblix

Batman: Arkham City

Recommended Posts

I beat it earlier this week. It doesn't get much harder than that first fight, honestly. Maybe a couple of the boss fights, but really it's not much. There will be dudes with swords, armour, shock sticks, and shields as the game goes on, but aside from having to take them out in specific ways, the difficulty of the dudes you're fighting in the opening is about equal to that of the dudes you fight at the end of the game. I guess that's one of the things about open world.

As for wrap-up thoughts, I have to say that the ending was ballsier than I expected. Really though, it never does THAT much that's different. I put about 25 hours into it according to Steam, and I never hated it while I was playing, I was just always waiting for it to get better. It's mechanically solid and I can't really point out anything wrong with the gameplay (the things I DO think are wrong with it are its confoundingly dumb story and the troubling issues regarding the game's depiction of women, but I've already talked about those) but nothing felt particularly amazing either. Further, the Riddler stuff is ridiculous overkill. I spent WAY too much time hunting down stuff as I went through the story and according to the achievements have only seen half of the Riddler things. I want to fight him, I really do, but I don't know if I can bring myself to slog through all this shit to get to him. Oh well. I'll play something else for a while and make the call as to whether to uninstall Arkham City or finish the Riddler stuff.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Now that I'm a little further away from the game, having finished it about a month ago, I can say that the love died away quickly. While I was playing it was a thrilling ride, but with the benefit of hindsight I echo Miffy's sentiments about the rather stupid, twisty story and it never getting 'better' than it is. It's really good, mind, but it's easily digestible junk food, quickly forgotten.

The Mr. Freeze bits were standout though, and the characterization of the villains was particularly awesome. I also stand by the open world being one of the best ones, tight and compact and brimming with stuff to do and life.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Did anyone else feel like the big intro reveal was completely unnecessary?

I'm referring to Hugo Strange knowing Batman's identity and threatening to reveal it.

I don't think it ever came up outside of an optional spot behind the monarch theatre and conversations with the related dude at the very end. It's like they put that in and just forgot.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The art direction in this thing is stellar, you guys. I keep stopping to look at how beautiful the city is.

I've only played 50 minutes, but I'm forcing myself to stop. I have way too many things to get done and this damn game will kill productivity.

I'm disappointed you say it doesn't get harder, but as long as it makes me feel like I did when I was five and watching the animated series, I'll take it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Updated (well, automatically updated) the game today and I can no longer get play the game [...] unless I log out of GFWL and play offline where it now magically works perfectly in DX11 (etc) :fart:

...and yet they list the problem I'm now getting as one of the fixes in the patch.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I played a bit of this today.

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, finished it eventually. I was expecting something cool as a reward for the advanced ones and was severely disappointed.

Otherwise the game has been very good so far.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Batman is being a huge dick for deciding he wants some gliding lessons at the worst possible moment.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The first few training missions were not that bad, but the advanced things... damn how annoying.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Batman is being a huge dick for deciding he wants some gliding lessons at the worst possible moment.

People were literally screaming for help all around me, but I was too busy doing 180°, so it was actually more like:

"Please! Somebody help me!"

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

"Help! They are going to kill me!"

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

"...."

"Augmented Reality Training activated"

"Oh God, not the tire iron!"

"Augmented Reality Training failed"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So my 50 minutes became 15 hours, but in my defense the game is really good so far. However, the constant barrage of supposed sexy, exemplified by the embarrassing female characters, has become annoying. Video games' attempts at erotica are about as hot as gonorrhea, but this manages to add a layer of sleaze on top that has actually made the game less fun to play. Do people really like this shit?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

To be fair, I never found it a huge eyesore or issue in Arkham City. Only when people pointed out that the females were quite, err, sassy, did I notice it bending over backward (MUCH LIKE CATWOMAN DOES AMIRITE).

BUT, I do agree that most 'sexiness' in video games and hell, most popular culture (film, advertising), is shit.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I had high hopes for it when it started, but it turned out the story was a flat and uninteresting series of cameos. It was fun playing Catwoman (despite her unfortunate attire), but man was her character pointless. However, I absolutely loved the gameplay. I felt like I was batman. Granted, I haven't played Arkham Asylum, so it was probably more novel for me. As an aside, I hate achievements like nothing else (50-something% through the game that I just completed, f-you and your green question mark), but if anything deserved one it was sitting through those ungodly long credits.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I had high hopes for it when it started, but it turned out the story was a flat and uninteresting series of cameos. It was fun playing Catwoman (despite her unfortunate attire), but man was her character pointless. However, I absolutely loved the gameplay. I felt like I was batman. Granted, I haven't played Arkham Asylum, so it was probably more novel for me. As an aside, I hate achievements like nothing else (50-something% through the game that I just completed, f-you and your green question mark), but if anything deserved one it was sitting through those ungodly long credits.

Interesting. Also, FTI Guitar Hero 2 had such an achievement for sitting through their credits, "Teacher's Pet", which I appreciated.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Played this finally, I wouldn't mind a catwoman spinoff game to be honest. She was fun to take control of. Plus swinging around the city with a whip is pretty sweet.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What a great game! The balance between brawling, silently taking down enemies and traversing/investigating is still almost perfect. Also, nothing in the game is nearly as frustrating as those optional advanced augmented reality training sessions.

I'm not into Batman (or comics) so I didn't know most of the characters and wasn't that into the plot (it did its job, though), but I still managed to enjoy the game immensely. Harley Quinn and Joker were as lovely and bizarre as before.

That "I'd bang that bitch to death!" stuff got a bit annoying at some point, though. Still, one of the GOTYs.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, I'm in the museum, in the big frozen room with the shark; I save the first frozen man and the game takes control away from me, Batman is like hey, let me just grapple up to the ceiling and swing this dude back to safety, cool.

Then when I get control back, I'm not allowed to grapple the ceiling at all, come on! I hate that kind of stuff. :frusty:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I bet you would have hated escorting the prisoner back to safety yourself even more.

Yeah, it's a bit dumb but is ultimately for the better, in my opinion.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Finished the game finally (or well, there's still some catwoman bit going on, but the main story seems done). It was surprisingly short. I thought it would be bigger longer etc. compared to Arkham Asylum, but it seems shorter even. I didn't care much about the story, but it was fun to fly around the city with so much room to maneuver. The portrayal of female characters was annoying.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Arkham Asylum always felt consistent with The Animated Series to me: smart, fairly restrained in its treatment of female characters (except for Ivy, but that's kind of the point of that character), and stylish. With Arkham City, it just seemed like most of that way. Female characters were about as sexy as a strip club located off the interstate outside of town, and the way the story was broken up into these vignettes made it actually feel much smaller than Arkham Asylum. Arkham Asylum was this huge, detailed location. Arkham City was, well, a fake city. A studio backlot. Only the museum really stands out as a fleshed-out setting.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I dig that. I really like Arkham City though, I think it's a triumph of open world building: instead of going sprawling, they restricted the size and went for density instead. Every corner has some cool feature. I found it so much more immersive than, say, LA from LA Noire, which was the exact opposite (huge sprawling place with nothing to do).

I also appreciated that Rocksteady was actively pursuing something different, rather than trying to copy Asylum wholesale. Whether or not you enjoy as much, less, or more, it totally up to taste, but it's laudable no matter what.

(Catwoman cat call and weird treatment of women is of course inexcusable.)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, the city was actually quite fun to mess around in. I loved getting the riddler trophies and plan to get them all possibly. Once the credits have rolled

and not rewinded

is there any point where the game ends and doesn't let me play as either Catwoman or Batman any more? I'm not really interested in New Game +, but just want to do all the optional stuff now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now