8:30 AM
The Game Peddler
by Hilary Goldstein
Batman and Gotham City share a special connection. On the rooftops, it's as if the Dark Knight is connected to the soul of the city. He knows every alleyway, every criminal safe haven, every trouble spot. Trapped in Arkham Asylum last game, Batman was disconnected from the city that speaks to him. In Arkham City, Batman is in his element. This isn't Batman trapped in an asylum; this is a city full of criminals trapped with Batman.
Arkham City is a section of Gotham run by Warden Hugo Strange where the inmates of Arkham Asylum and Blackgate prison have been placed. The major criminals have secured their own districts and run them with some autonomy. To ensure gamers feel like Batman at his best, the city is wide open from the start. Each district has its own set of missions, its own narratives to experience. Go where you're needed and unravel the clues to the larger plot and Hugo Strange's true motivations.
Batman starts out strong, with the gadgets he needs. His grappling hook, cryptographic sequencer, Bat Claw, remote-controlled Batarang and more. These items can be upgraded, but you don't begin Arkham City stripped down. Far from it. Arkham City is a large open city and Batman is ready to take full advantage of familiar ground.
Probably the two most crucial pieces of equipment are his cape and the grappling hook. Gliding is a major part of Arkham City, with Bats making use of momentum to adjust his speed. Couple this with the grappling hook and Bats can easily get around the city. He can grab onto billboards, the sides of buildings, even the legs of patrol choppers. Movement was fairly limited in Arkham Asylum, but the city is a very different story. This is Batman's city and he's developed these tools over the years to best take advantage of Gotham's architecture.
The city is quite a sight. It's a gritty underworld filled with seedy bars, dark alleys, and danger around every corner. Though I only saw Two-Face's district, the sense of scale in Arkham City's impressive. The game world's five times the size of Arkham Asylum, but more importantly, it has vitality and a sense of life. It's worn down but seems brimming with activity.
It's amazing to view, but there is one downside. Detective Mode is not only back, but it appears far more crucial this time around. In the span of 20 minutes, there must have been a half-dozen occasions where Detective Mode wasn't just helpful but necessary. Hidden Riddler clues, tucked away criminal, armed guards and so on. I'm really excited for a fully powered Batman to take on an entire city's worth of criminals, but not if I am watching the world through x-ray goggles most of the time.
It sucks to have Batman being such a badass right from the start -- punching through walls, diving from the air and landing with his hand around an enemy's throat, disarming an thug and cracking their head with their own bat -- only to see him relying on the same old Detective Mode crutch.
Detective Mode complaints aside, there are some welcome upgrades for Batman's tools of the trade. This includes the Cryptographic Sequencer, which pops up a small holographic panel above Batman's arm. Batman can then locate signals across the city and hack into them, listening in on what the armed militia or others are up to.
Combat plays out much like in Arkham Asylum, with Batman fluidly chaining attacks between large groups of enemies. But he has more tricks up his sleeve. The Bat Claw can grab and zip baddies towards Batman's waiting fist, new silent takedowns allow for impressive sleeper hold moves, and there's just a higher level of brutality to Batman's combos.
This is the Dark Knight as I imagined him. As a big Batman fan (I own around 200 Batman graphic novels -- yes, nerd) I have a pretty critical eye to all things involving the Dark Knight. 2009's Arkham Asylum was a good start, but this Batman seems more like the one I knew and loved for years in the comics. And this is his Gotham, on the verge of collapse but someone remaining solvent seemingly by the force of Batman's willpower.
Batman's Rogue's Gallery is as important to his identity as Gotham. His psyche is as linked to the criminals as it is to the city they seem so desperate to destroy. The more they escalate their activities, the harsher Batman's response. And things seem to have gone to extremes in Arkham City. Two-Face tries to dump Catwoman in a vat of acid at a dilapidated courthouse and Joker nearly blows up Batman. That's in the first chapter of Arkham City. The bad guys are playing for keeps but so is Batman.
Despite the heightened stakes, there is some evidence that the fun little Easter Eggs that brought Akrham Asylum to life are also in Batman's newest adventure. Early on, Batman finds a babbling Calendar Man locked in a cell. He's murmuring about St. Patrick's Day and a crime he committed, but he won't give details. As it turns out, if you return on St. Patrick's Day (in real life, not in the game world), Calendar Man will give vivid details on his crime's from that day. Each holiday has a story for those who want to revisit Calendar Man throughout the year.
It's these little details that can make for a special experience. I don't know how many of these little touches exist throughout the city, but if Calendar Man is just one small example, then Batman: Arkham City is going to be a real treat for Bat-Fantatics. I've always wondered why anyone would live in a city home to the criminally insane -- people who shoot up the neighborhoods, poison the water, and set off massive explosions every other week. But there's this unspoken contract every citizen has with Batman. They keep the city working, even in the face of madness, and he keeps them safe. This is Batman's city and he's come to reclaim it. I can't wait.
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