Finally, the long-awaited continuation of the recent game series about the long-eared hero in a black cloak has reached the shelves. In short, this game series is based on the recent comic book series about Batman, inheriting the dark style of Frank Miller, the same one that migrated to the films of Christopher Nolan and presents us with a darker, gothic, brutal and cruel version of the story about the winged avenger. The game, like its predecessor, eschews the events of the last two films and develops its own universe (although Arkham Asylum did make a slight reference to Batman Begins in the similar Scarecrow storyline. Just like in the film, he was going to poison Gotham with his gases using the city sewer system). In the previous part, the action took place on the territory of the Arkham psychiatric clinic, and was a linear stealth action game with a superbly developed combat system. Although free movement throughout the game was still present, there was no free world in the full sense of the word in the game. The new part of the series, on the one hand, is a semantic continuation, but plot-wise it is almost unrelated to the previous game and will appeal to both fans of the Dark Knight’s adventures and those who decided to get acquainted with his exploits for the first time.
Do you remember how it all began?..
"Arkham city" begins one year after the events of the previous game. Quincy Sharp (former director of Arkham Asylum), became the mayor of Gotham and decided to fight crime with revolutionary methods. Blackgate Prison and Arkham Asylum are in near-demolition and the new mayor, instead of using the budget to restore them, decided to spend the money on buying a large block of Gotham and turning it into a prison complex. Numerous criminals were placed there. The new prison was named Arkham City, as it is a kind of small city within a city (the idea is somewhat reminiscent of Nerous Island from the movie Batman Begins, which was also separated from the rest of Gotham and became a dangerous place after the prisoners escaped). All prisoners in it are left to their own devices, so inside the city of Arkham the division of territory and small wars began between groups led by super villains. The prison is surrounded by soldiers of the Tiger detachment, already familiar to us from the previous part. They shoot anyone who tries to escape.
At the head of this complex is a psychopathic psychiatrist, Dr. Hugo Strange, who, together with the Joker, is preparing cunning plans to kill Batman. A lot of people are unhappy with the way things are going, including Mr. Wayne.
Into hell from the first steps.
The game begins with Bruce Wayne organizing protests and calling for the closure of Arkham City, but finds himself captured by mercenaries and becomes a prisoner himself. After a short interrogation in Doctor Strange’s office, he manages to escape and fill several criminal faces with his handcuffed hands. Including, Bruce gracefully knocks out the Penguin with one blow and escapes. It all looks more like he was being released deliberately, and before this the unbalanced doctor mentioned some kind of Protocol 10.
Wayne climbs onto the roof of one of the buildings, contacts his butler Alfred (who in this game plays the same role that the Oracle played in the previous part), and he sends him a Batman suit with all the bells and whistles. The suit, like a meteorite dropped from an airplane, falls in a capsule onto the roof of a building. From now on the game really begins.
Gameplay and real freedom.
Batman stands on the https://balkanbetcasino.co.uk/games/ roof and looks around the city of Arkham. This time we truly have freedom of movement and Batman can literally go anywhere throughout the city. The system is a bit reminiscent of the idea that was originally implemented in the GTA series of games, but at the same time it is strongly tailored to the Batman universe.
All gadgets from the previous part: Batarangs, smoke bombs, Batpistol and others are available from the very beginning of the game and, thank God, with a good supply. With the help of a grappling hook, Batman can instantly climb onto the roof of any building. Use your cloak to glide down and sneak up on another gang hanging around the city unnoticed. The game has both a storyline that takes approximately 25 hours of real time, and a large number of side missions that will take another 15 hours.
The Batsignal in the sky indicates the place where the next story mission is located, but side missions will have to be found while exploring the city. There are also Riddler riddles in this part, but this time there are many more of them and finding them is not as easy as before.
Batman goes down to Solomon Wayne’s courthouse and immediately gets into his first fight. The combat system remains the same, which is good news, but the number of enemies in one fight has increased noticeably. The game will not let you relax: if you gape, the Flying Avenger will quickly get hit on the back of the head by one of the thugs. The enemy AI is still good and makes you feel like you’re actually fighting real opponents rather than the usual predictable bots.
As the game progresses, Batman receives a large number of upgrades to make his attacks more picturesque and spectacular. This is another plus of the local combat system.
Batman enters the courthouse and the first mission begins, in which he has to save Catwoman from Two-Face, who has started a trial of the traitor. At the same time, he is trying to recruit more thugs into his gang, since he is one of the supervillains participating in the division of the territory.
The surroundings perfectly reflect the nature of its owner: part of the building is made in a classical style, hung with carpets and paintings of judges, the other is destroyed and rotting. Level design is one of the strengths of the developers, everything is done to the smallest detail.
Batman will have to sneak past the thugs undetected, using stealth mode and attack them from the balcony. The stealth mode still plays a decisive role in the gameplay: 90% of the levels cannot be completed simply by breaking through, since most often this will end either in the death of the hostages or the quick death of Batman himself. You’ll have to hide, go around and attack one at a time.
After rescuing Catwoman, who is not only one of the playable characters, but also has a separate DLC, as well as Nightwing and Robin, Batman goes in search of the Joker.
The gameplay, as before, is divided into three components. These are the Stealth and Fighting modes already mentioned above, as well as the Detective mode, migrated from the previous part. Visually, it is very reminiscent of the same sonar system that the Winged Flyer used in the film The Dark Knight when he made his way to the Joker. We have to explore locations for clues and thus look for a trace. While talking to Catwoman, a sniper tries to shoot her, but Batman manages to save her. Having traced where the shot came from, Batman goes to the chapel, where he falls into a trap set by the Joker.
In addition to “playing Detective” in the location, Batman will have to be a real detective in the city, since some missions include finding the place where this or that villain is hiding, as well as finding ways to get inside the next lair. As Alfred wittily noted: “It’s not always possible to enter from the front door.”!»
The biggest fear was that the developers would not have enough perseverance, and the city would become just a platform for selecting missions, while the levels themselves would take place indoors, but we were lucky and the city became the same interactive platform for action as the rest of the area in the game.
The Joker and Hugo Strange have prepared something special for Batman; a helicopter with mercenaries is also constantly flying around the city, which you can cling to, for the time being it does not interfere with the events taking place in the city.
As the game progresses, Batman will have to meet a large number of both neutral and strongly opposed characters, and there are truly a huge number of them. If in the previous part the number of villains consisted only of the Joker, Ridler, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Victor Zsasz, Bane and Croc, then in the new game they include Two-Face, Hugo Strange, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Black Mask, Solomon Grundy, Calendar Man, Mad Hatter, Deadshot, Maxi Zeus.
This game truly immerses you in the world of Batman, where you can meet almost all the characters of this universe. But, unlike other versions, where they are all obsessed with the idea of killing Batman, here some of them have other goals and Batman will have to cooperate with them to achieve his own goals.
In the city, every little thing plays its role. Conversations between bandits among themselves are worth eavesdropping on, as you can learn a lot of useful information about the workarounds and traps that are prepared for the hero, and from them you can also understand where this or that villain is hiding. In addition to the riddles in the city, there are many puzzles in the style of the maniac Jigsaw from the Saw films, left by the Riddler, which Batman must solve. This time Riddler finally appears in the game himself.
Overall, the game looks even more atmospheric and even more addictive than its predecessor. The gloomy world of Batman is recreated to the smallest detail, and the abundance of characters makes this game perhaps the most fulfilling and interesting game in the Dark Knight universe. The game has more dynamics than the previous one. There is a more intricate and rich plot, a well-developed interactive world and, finally, the long-awaited nonlinearity. The atmosphere echoes both the classic films of Tim Burton and reminds us of the new films of Christopher Nolan.
The music in the game still has more in common with Danny Elfman’s soundtrack to the first two Batman films. Although during fights the rhythmic drums are more reminiscent of Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack to the last two films. The game “Arkham City” is the golden mean to which the universe has finally come. This seems to be the moment when the Batman franchise grew from the nursery of the 60s, absorbed the hopes of the 80s, survived the adolescence of the 90s, and finally matured into a serious story about a truly Dark Knight who fights for the light.
