@shagge said:
Like most folks with Deus Ex, I feel the strong desire to replay Arkham City whenever a thread like this comes up. Fuck, I love that game.
I don't blame you, because this game was bloody incredible. I find it weird how completely not blown away I was with Asylum--while I still enjoyed it a lot--and yet City is the one that I've grown an attachment to. It's probably because the story was so much more engaging, and there was a better and even more varied pantheon of Batman characters this time around. Plus exploring the city is so much fun; Arkham City in general feels like a noticeably bigger game overall, yet it still sticks to the same high level of quality throughout.
Much better Batman this time around too. I mean this is undoubtedly one of Kevin Conroy's best Batman performances across his career I'd say. Oh, and the Mr Freeze boss battle really was pretty cool... Oh God did I really just...?! Though unfortunately like Asylum before it, it's perhaps the only good boss battle in the game. Ra's Al Ghul was at least stunning from an aesthetic point of view, but he wasn't exceptionally fun to fight; Batman's rather clunky dodge maneuver just didn't seem to mesh very well with the amount of precise movement it required. Fantastic ending, though, even if, again, the boss battle itself wasn't the greatest moment. But the actual reveal and the way it was handled was really well done, as was the final dialogue between Batman and Joker.
One of the main problems that really stand out to me, though, is that the Catwoman segments suck. They're super short and really inconsequential overall, and exploring the city as Catwoman just isn't as fun as Batman. She can't solve any of the riddles, and her severely limited array of gadgets means there's very little overall progress she can make. What was also annoying is while hunting for the Catwoman exclusive trophies, some of them would actually require Batman to like, blow open this wall first or something, which only made Catwoman feel all the more redundant in the grand scheme. Throwing you that decision to make between taking the money or saving Batman was also sort of out-of-place and meaningless. I'm to understand that if you take the money and run then the game just ends? If that's the case then why even put it in there anyway? It sorta reminds me of those faux-decisions you're given in JRPGs, where you're asked so and so, and you can reply with yes/no, but saying no doesn't actually do anything and you're actually meant to say yes. Her finale against Two-Face was especially piecemeal and underwhelming as well, and as I mentioned earlier, she's just a really annoying character at that
I also think that the Mad Hatter didn't get his due; his side-mission was super trippy, especially when you're fighting while wearing that incredibly creepy rabbit mask of his. I was hoping that this Mad Hatter storyline was going to give you a lot of mindbends ala the Scarecrow from Asylum, and for it to end just after that one one fight was really disappointing. Plus bringing in Peter MacNicol and to have him do so little was downright criminal.
They're the only two major complaints that crop to mind, though. Otherwise this game was so consistently engaging; it's been a fair while since I've spent my time playing a game up till like 5am because I just wanted to keep going and explore more. I was always eager to play the next story beat, find a few dozen more riddler trophies, make some more progress with the side-missions, fail time and time again at that blasted Advanced AR1 mission...
From a story perspective I think that Hugo Strange's appearances were a bit few and far between. Plus the whole ''he knows Batman's identity'' plot device never really went anywhere or served much purpose. Though it didn't hamper my enjoyment too much; the character interactions between Batman and the villains is what people should really be here for anywhoo. As of now I'm still messing about the city, picking up as many more of these Riddlers Trophies that I can be bothered with, and I'll more than likely give NG+ a go. Plus there's also Harley Quinn's revenge I need to play alongside some more messing about in the combat rooms.
Just one Hell of a damn fine game.
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