Monday, 17 October 2011

Batman: Arkham City - Best superhero game ever!

I admit, I’m not a huge Batman fan but I do appreciate a good licensed game when I see one because it’s such a rarity in the gaming industry. 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum showed us that games based on comic book superheroes can be uber awesome as long as the driving force behind them is passionate about the matter at hand. And developer Rocksteady games was nothing but passionate as they packed in a well rounded, highly polished experience allowing gamers to explore the psyche of the Dark Knight, something no game has done to date. In doing so they not only won over the affections of gamers but of die-hard Batman fans as well. With Arkham City, they’ve taken fan service to the next level expanding upon what was already a very kickass action game. Batman fan or not, Arkham City is one game you cannot afford to miss out on.
Everyone needs a hero
Everyone needs a hero


In Arkham City, the action has moved out of the confines of the Asylum into well Arkham City, a super prison of sorts that’s now the breeding ground for Gotham’s scum as well as some of Batman’s most dangerous adversaries. Dr. Hugo Strange, someone who I’m not too familiar with is now in charge of this place and it’s up to Batman to find out what his end game is. At the same time, his arch nemesis, The Joker has a few tricks up his sleeve making life even tougher for The Dark Night. Along the way he’ll encounter a ton of bad dudes from the Batman universe, some of which will probably only be familiar to hardcore fans. Thankfully the story unfolds in a manner that can be enjoyed by those who don’t know the difference between Cobblepot and Solomon Grundy.

With the move to Arkham City, gamers definitely have more freedom than before. This isn’t an open world game like GTA IV but there is a stupendous amount of content to play through. Besides the story itself, you have a ton of side quests scattered all over the map. Some could be as simple as rescuing an unfortunate soul from a beating while in the other, you could team up with a certain recurring villain to destroy an ‘X’ amount of Titan containers strewn all over the city. Side quests don’t feel like they’re thrown in forcibly to increase the game’s length as they tie in to the Batman lore in some way or another introducing quite a few surprises along the way. You also have The Riddler making his return with way more puzzles, some of which are actually quite deadly. And finally, you have the Challenge Rooms that will test your skill at both stealth and combat. Based on various maps inspired by the campaign itself, Challenge Rooms will push your skills to the limit as you take on waves of enemies to attain high scores or knock out a roomful of enemies silently in a stipulated amount of time.
Detective mode in the house
Detective mode in the house


While I definitely appreciate the change in scenery, I had a minor gripe with the game’s navigation system. Now that the game’s far bigger in scope, I found myself circling an objective for minutes before I realised an entry point. I’m not saying I want a Fable-esque bread crumb trail but keeping the quasi open world structure in mind, a mini map would have really helped. Another aspect of gameplay I didn’t particularly care for was the game’s unlock system. In Arkham Asylum you revisited parts of the island with newer gadgets and improved abilities so you could access areas you previously couldn’t. This aspect is significantly reduced in Arkham City as you begin the game with pretty much all your abilities from the first game making the unlock system pretty redundant. Nearly an hour into the game and I had most if not all the upgrades I wished to own. This made the whole aspect of levelling up less appealing to me.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/reviews/gaming/batman-arkham-city-best-superhero-game-ever/249662


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