Classic Comeback - Games of 2011 | Batman: Arkham City
I still remember the trailer. Oh, the trailer. It was one of those cinematic ones, but from ten years ago, so all the models looked overly shiny, a bit off and like someone had leant on the saturation button for too long. It was Batman stalking these shady military guys on a rainy Gotham rooftop. It was hard to tell what was going on at first, as one of the aforementioned shady military henchmen was being interrogated by a second, even shadier individual. It all culminates in a dramatic zoom towards the dark knight as he surveys the neon-lit skyline; then, from nowhere, a sinister voiceover reveals that *gasp* he’s figured out why Batman and Bruce Wayne can never attend the same social function; they are the same person!
HOLY UNCANNY VALLEY BATMAN!
My 11-year-old jaw was on the damn floor.
Some months later, a steel book arrived in the post, along with the disc for my new obsession. It was everything I loved about Asylum, but just...more of it. More story, more characters to play as, more sidequests, and more of a map to explore. But most of all, and paramount to why I think City is such a brilliant sequel, it felt natural. Victor Zsasz has kidnapped some innocents and is now ringing you on payphones around the city? Of course he is! Mister Freeze is being all brooding about his wife. Sounds about right. Ra's al Ghul is wittering on about immortality. That’s his thing! And yet, none of this feels stale or like a retread of better comics. That all down to the freedom afforded to Rocksteady, the story is allowed to go in ways that you haven’t seen before in any comics (while borrowing from established iconography).
Wait I know those people! It’s Mr. Question, OG We Live in a Society Dude, The Yackler, Everyone’s Favourite Bad Impression to Pull Out When Drunk and Osolfod Colblerman.
It’s worth mentioning Arkham Asylum, the predecessor to and only reason City even exists. Set entirely within the eponymous Asylum, it was a superhero game like no other before. It quickly became thought of as one of the best-licenced games ever made. It also introduced the attack-attack-counter system to mainstream games, replicated dozens of times since in a variety of successful titles but always still being the gold standard.
From a mechanical point of view, the game design is incredible. The combat springs Batman from one ridiculously-dressed henchman to the next, and the improved gliding (barely used in Asylum) makes navigating this slice of Gotham incredibly fun. The movement in City also allows me to live my dream of being the Dark Knight, and gliding across the moonlit skyline going “weeeeeeeeee!”.
Arkham City let’s you feel like Batman while he is giving those forced to turn to a live crime CTEs.
The superhero games that do the best are the ones that let you be the superhero. That sounds obvious, but some superhero games are designed in such a way, it doesn’t feel like it’s your eyes behind the mask (or hood, or goggles). Arkham City nails this. The game sees you inhabiting the mentality of the Caped Crusader. The gadgets are slightly finicky and awkward until you get to grips with them, but being able to quick-use them in combat is gratifying and hilarious when the physics flips out and (non-lethally) throws the goon off a building.
The classic Animated Series VO combo of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill doesn’t hurt either. For many, those two are the definitive versions of Batman and Joker, and it adds a layer of authenticity and credibility to the original video game story. Not that it needs it, of course. Batman has had interstellar conflicts against a giant telepathic starfish. A prison state popping up in his hometown is pretty tame, all things considered.
From the word go, the game grabs your attention. Bruce Wayne is arrested and sent to jail? Now he’s being tortured? Oh dear! This Hugo Strange fellow loves to hear himself speak, doesn’t he? And that beard was a deliberate choice. Then before you know it, you’re in a cage while 50 criminals literally cheer for your death. One brief incursion from Penguin later, you’re suited and booted in less than 10 minutes.
It’s an intro that accomplishes so much in so little time. Hugo is basically all-powerful within Arkham City, and he’s just letting the chaos run wild. All the big hitters are present, correct, and still as villainous as ever. There’s a slight move away from the bread-and-butter detecting of Asylum, which frequently saw you following purple splotches for a couple of miles, and the first act twist of “Joker’s dying, and guess what? Now you are too” adds a ticking clock to the whole affair that makes the game hard to put down.
Who cares about the Suicide Squad. I’d kill for a Rocksteady Catwoman game… Actually considering how she was handled in Arkham Knight nevermind.
The game also does right by one of Batman’s greatest frenemies/lovers, Catwoman! Unlike the sequel, where she’s kidnapped in Riddler’s basement for the whole game, Catwoman is available as an alternate free roam character. The highlight of her addition to the game is her ridiculous yet incredible whip, which somehow allows you to swing from building to building but forces you to think differently about how to get around. However, her character is not the most developed thing in the world (and attracted controversy at the time, when on-disc DLC was a hot button issue). Thankfully the DLC attempted to compensate for the lack of things to do as Catwoman. Robin and Nightwing were introduced reasonably early in the game’s story, and while you can’t freely explore the main map as either of them, the challenge maps that came with their DLC feel designed to make the most of their unique skill sets.
It’s difficult to articulate just what Arkham City meant at the time of its release. Back then, it felt so much bigger; the only point of reference any of us had was Asylum (and maybe Spider-Man 2). That said in comparison to Arkham Knight, City does feel a bit pokey, and when you compare it to the most recent open-world games, Arkham City shows its age even more. But this is hardly surprising, as we’ve had a whole decade of technological advancements, gaming innovations, and of course two more games in the franchise (although depending on who you ask, there’s only one real third Arkham game).
Many, many games have attempted to replicate Arkham City’s mechanics over the years, you could argue quite a few have improved upon them. But if you want the blueprint for a huge chunk of the modern sandbox ecosystem, and a game that 10 years later still feels revolutionary, look no further.
