Get the inside of Arkham City GOTY Edition

Also known as: Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. Part of the fantastic Batman: Arkham Asylum series developed by Rocksteady, which continues the atmosphere of the original game, taking players to Arkham City, the new “home” of thugs, gangsters and other criminals of Gotham City minds.

Batman: Arkham City Cheats

Coming soon.

Arkham City, a great action adventure game for all consoles, just got a Game of The Year Edition. It includes the normal game, all DLC that can be bought separately and one of DC’s animated movies “Batman: Year One”.

Arkham City is Arkham Asylum on steroids. This is a huge sandbox, unlike the one before, with tons of side missions and Riddler’s riddles. Unlike pure sandbox games like Kingdom of Amalur or Crackdown, you feel like you have a chance to finish them all. The mobility of the bat is amazing using the grapple hook, and you can never feel too safe when all of these prisoners are everywhere.

I know the main game came out a while ago, but it is worth talking about. The game mechanics continue directly from its predecessor game Arkham Asylum. You really feel like Batman I used to see in the cartoons, hiding on gargoyles, sneaking, using gadgets, handling investigations, and just nearly unbeatable by the cowardly lot. I’m most fond of the remote electrical charge. It’s just a hobby of mine to electrocute people.

On the other hand, thought the bosses were fun, the normal guys were quite boring. There are combos intended to take each and every one of them. I feel the gadgets are only there to spice up the repeatable battles. The bosses are insanely engaging. Mister freeze especially was probably the boss I feared most. The fact he adapted to your actions was awesome.

Something repetitive is that there were basically 3 types of cannon fodders (the non-boss villains), the criminals under any major villain, unarmed or armed with melee weapons, hardly with guns, the TYGER security force, armed with rifles, and Ra’s al Ghul’s assassins that jump everywhere with katanas.

 With such amazing scenery, that made sense in the game and to the lore of Batman, you can’t really say anything bad about the world of Arkham City. Most major villains are there including my favorite, Ra’s al Ghul.

The Catwoman missions were okay. She felt mostly as an under-developed batman in the game. The fact you can play her is fun, but it as might as well be Batman again.

Nightwing, even without a voice actor and all his jokes, is still very fun to play with. I am happy they introduce him as he probably the favorite superheroes for lots of comic book fans.

The challenge maps added are really awesome. They are playable with 4 different characters Batman, Catwoman, Robin and Nightwing and in any costume for your desire. The missions bring the battle aspect to its maximum, changing your goal from survival to destruction. This is a great new facet to the game.

 I really like the fact they have many alternate costumes. Having a Sinestro Corps Batman was annoying when you can’t use the ring.

The plot of the game really spread too thin top incorporate as many villains as possible. Even with that, it was worth it for the great boss battles. The ending is really the coolest water cooler moment ever. EVER.

The characters in this game are shallow. Other than the epic ending, the villains are simply either following the lines to their destruction or just being really ambiguous (Mr. Freeze helping Batman trying to kill then helping him again with transitions that were merely: huh?).

 The surveillance on prisoners was great, the fact you can learn more about the world not buy walking near NPC, but by simply being in the vicinity. I felt it had appeared way too often, and many times contained really time wasting things.

The thing worth mentioning is the New Game Plus feature like in Demon’s/Dark Souls. Both games are a bit non traditional RPG, and in future similar games we will see it again and again. The idea behind it is instead of giving you a difficulty. You gradually level up your player skills in the game. You unlock the difficulty as you finish the previous one to lengthen the game’s lifespan. In games like the aforementioned, it is extremely useful.

Overall, the game is definitely worth playing. It would be worth more if it didn’t feel so repetitive, but I guess it is hard to make it so. With the tools the developers had, they really made one of the best games of 2011.

 

*Spoiler Alert*

From this point until the end of the spoilers I’ll cover the new DLC Harley Queen’s Revenge.

The DLC continues exactly where the game ends. Joker is dead and Harley’s up for payback. Some cops are kidnapped and batman comes after them. Batman is gone missing, so the boy wonder comes in as a playable character. The Robin in this game is Tim Drake. I’m not much of a comic-book so excuse my lack of knowledge about this character.

Robin main gadget that differentiates from Batman is the bullet shield. For some reason this guy has a stick with a pop-up shield that can stop sniper-caliber bullets even at short-range. It can also block hot fumes from pipes. It is a very great weapon against shockers.

 Instead of his fists like Batman, he uses a stick which is completely cosmetic. It gives a feel like this guy is different from his mentor and is very welcomed. (Nightwing uses duel escrimas or duel short sticks, again completely cosmetic).

 

Other than that, the rest of the DLC feels like the rest of the game as it should. It really feels like Batman is a detective, what Batman and DC (Detective Comics) are all about. The other great thing is that it shows the necessity of a Robin on his side. Sadly, in the Dark Knight Rises, we will not see any of the 5 Robins from the main continuity (or any Batgirl).

Mass Effect 3 got a lot of heat from its Extended Cut DLC but both Asura’s Wrath and Arkham City did the same without the hate. I guess you shouldn’t call your DLC a synonym for “you didn’t buy the full experience, buy this too”.

*End of Spoiler Alert*

About Batman: Year One, I’ve seen all DC’s animated movies thus far, and this is probably my least favorite. As compared to game, Batman is soft and a greenhorn who just starts. Maybe they wanted to treat it like the back-story of the dark knight in the game, but it is unnecessary. I would much prefer if they would put Batman: Under the Hood. That showed why the joker is so dangerous and why Batman should be a saint even if he hospitalizes people in their hundreds (I’m pretty sure some of them died from the cold and lack of medical treatment).

 This package is a great pastime. It is not worth buying if you already bought the main game because you can simply buy the DLC separately. The animated movie does not sweeten the deal even though it is worth watching it. In my opinion, if you haven’t bought it until now, buy this edition. Unless you’re a diehard fan, there is no reason to.