Unless you have been living underneath a rock, you've heard the growing buzz over a little game called Arkham City, a direct sequel to the ever popular Arkham Aslyum. Both of these games star DC Comics favorite Dark Knight as he uses a whole cornucopia of gadgets and martial arts to bring law to the lawless, and sanity to the insane!
I'm hesitant to really write any spoilers, but essentially Arkham City is a section of Gotham that has been turned into a fortified prison state. Think of John Carpenter's Escape from New York...except this is Gotham/ Arkham and there is no Kurt Russel. Arkham City starts off in a fairly unique way and introduces players(both new and veteran) back into the ways of combat. Even the greenest of newbies will be flipping over inmates and cracking skulls in no time, and will be fluidly swinging around the city in a manner that would make Peter Parker blush. You can clearly see that the makers of Arkham City have a special place in the hearts for Batman, as there is a painstakingly high amount of attention paid to both details and characters. Favorites missing from Arkham Asylum get introduced fairly quickly, and what would a non-live action Batman be without the voice talent of Mark Hamill playing the Joker? The force is indeed strong with that one.
As stated before, the villains get their chance to shine. Suppose giving them their own little section of the walled city to call home and influence with their own feng shui breathes a certain amount of life into this game. Vines, teddy bears, and Greek lettering boldly proclaim who and what controls that section of the city. I played the game for several hours and spent most of it just sight seeing. There is just something about a high powered grappling hook and gliding that makes me giddy. I would have thought it would have gotten old after some point, but it didn't. If anything, as I grew more comfortable with moving about the city it became a work of art, like water moving past an obstruction.
The gadgets have been giving a serious reworking as well. Batman can certainly whomp a lot kiester, but he is also the world's foremost detective! Using the random assortment of tools and technology make you really feel like Batman. Other games often require you to build up to a certain level of skill before being truly powerful. Not this game; it is clear from the start that you are the G-D Batman. I found myself saying that out loud in response to a lot of the characters in the game as they spoke. Perhaps that is one of the greatest reasons to play this game – to satisfy the latent Batman in all of us.
Arkham City introduces several elements not really seen in Arkham Asylum. Side quests become attainable from 'hacking' into radio signals. Don't feel like chasing down the Joker quite yet? Might as well save those trapped prison guards. Some time to kill before meeting Poison Ivy, because after all, it is fashionable to be late? Might as well help the starving political prisoners. We also get a chance to play around with Catwoman, who has her own slew of deadly toys to match her rapid speed and helps to highlight the strength and weakness of Batman. It seems their will be plenty of motivation to come back and play through multiple times to find and master all of the additional content. To beat a dead horse, the people that made this game truly love the Batman and it shows as clear as day.
So, is Arkham City worth all the hype? A resounding yes. Arkham City will be the new benchmark in what a superhero game should be – capturing all of the essence of a character and letting the player channel it.
Below is a sampling of some of our Arkham City t-shirts, you can see our full selection at Arkham City T-Shirts
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