Batman: Arkham City First Impressions – Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

90
Dan Webb

Batman: Arkham Asylum was a bit of an odd duck really. Nobody genuinely thought that it would be one of 2009’s best games, but alas, it was. If anyone says they knew that it would be, then feel free to slap them for their sins. So with 2011’s Arkham City, expectations are undeniably and justly raised and the pressure falls onto Rocksteady to deliver, but in all seriousness, how can one build upon such a glorious start? For Rocksteady it was simple, take those glorious foundations and then proceed to build a castle on it; and that they have done.

Freedom is undoubtedly one of Arkham City mantras and as Dax Ginn, Marketing Game Manager at Rocksteady, showed off some of the opening moments of the 2011 title, that much was abundantly clear. “Most of the game is set in the streets,” says Ginn, noting that the idea is to give the player options, as well as a “sense of power.”

Looking out at the skyline of Arkham City from a rooftop truly is a sight to behold, as Rocksteady have blended the dark of the night perfectly with the faint aura of destruction as damaged neon signs hang from buildings and chaos runs amok in the streets below. Hugo Strange is the mayor, and boy don’t we know it!

Kitted out to the max with the tools of the trade you used in the original title at your disposal, the presentation kicks off with the Dark Knight using his Cryptographer to tap into local frequencies to see what the chatter is on the mean streets. Thanks to intel from your trusty butler, Alfred, Batman has discovered that Catwoman has been kidnaped and is being held hostage in the courthouse that you can see on the horizon. Two Face is the feline’s captor and in order to get more information on what Hugo Strange is up to, Batman has to stop the conflicted villain from making an example of her in a bid to gain the respect of the local thugs.

Using the glide and a new move called the ‘bomb dive,’ Batman is able to travel vast amounts of ground in the sequel with ease and after getting almost halfway to the courthouse, the Dark Knight seamlessly transitions onto a perch, spotting DC Universe journalist, Jack Ryder, taking a little flack below. Swooping down, Batman takes down a few foes using combat moves that were very reminiscent of those found in the original, making sure that the green glowing ‘Riddler informant’ is left till the end. When it’s one-on-one, it’s a mater of ducking in and interrogating the informant, who reveals info about the Riddler, including a few nearby Riddler trophies, and in doing so, allows Ryder to escape a beating.

Grappling up to the roof from ground level, Batman is able to make his way over to one of the Riddler trophies that was just placed on the map. Encased in a mantrap, Batman has no other choice but to use the Batclaw to pull it out and as he does, Ginn notes that the Riddler trophies will be in the “craziest of places” in Arkham City, so extracting info from the Riddler informants is a saving grace.

Stood in front of the courthouse, a few blocks from the Riddler trophy, and all that stands between our Caped Crusader and getting to Catwoman are Two Face’s loyal thugs. In typical Batman style, attacking head-on is the way forward, and dropping in on the foes is the perfect way to catch them off-guard. After some devastating combos and a baseball bat disarm, which the Bat proceeds to use against the thug’s chest, Batman makes his way in through one of the courthouse’s doors, a storey up from the ground level entrance.

Once inside, Two Face – who looks magnificent by the way – fights his inner demons whilst dropping Catwoman – hung by her feet – down from the ceiling and hovers her above a pool of toxic acid. “Hey, have you had some work done?” she says, unruffled by the precarious situation she finds herself in.

Batman on the other hand lurks above. Flicking to detective mode, he’s able to get a visual on the 48 thugs down below, a few of which have melee weapons, while an armed guard with a rifle patrols up above. Using a nearby ladder, Batman’s able to creep up on the guard and silently take down the biggest threat of the crew and then using a nearby wire-walk, the caped crusader can then single out the thug with the machete as he drops down meaning that his two biggest threats are already down and out.

When in the thick of the thugs, some run for cover as the notorious Batman lands volley after volley of attacks. After turning a chair on one of the assailants, throwing it directly into his face, the numbers begin to wilt, until finally, it’s just Two Face and Batman. BANG! Two Face, quick to react, lands a shot and takes down the self-proclaimed superhero, but in the confusion, Catwoman is able to make her escape, disarming Two Face.

“Two guns bitch!” he yelps, but in the redirected confusion, Batman is able to yoink the villain up to the rafters with the Batclaw moments before he can put a bullet between Catwoman’s eyes.

“I thought it was cats who had 9 lives,” she joked, before the pair proceed to discuss the situation in the city. The courthouse was as iconic and archaic as it was dilapidated and decaying, with water dripping through the roof and rubble scattered across the floor while the moonlight dripped through the stained glassed windows. Moments later the perspective switches to the Joker, who has the pair in his crosshairs of a sniper rifle, and as such lets rip and his bullet sizzles through the midnight sky. With bat like reflexes though, the Bat is able to save the Cat from an untimely death.

Doing what Batman does best, the Dark Knight gets his detective on, in an attempt to determine where and who took the pot shot at the pair. In detective mode he uses the bullet hole in the window coupled with the bullet hole in the floor, to track the trajectory and source of the bullet. And with that, Batman leaves, taking to the mean streets of Arkham City via a back door to avoid the oncoming slew of henchmen, only to head across town to the source of the bullet: the bell tower in a nearby church.

Rather than let you traipse around the streets – although the grapple and the ‘bomb dive’ look like an incredible amount of fun – Rocksteady steers Batman using a boost glide – grappling to a rooftop before releasing at the moment of impact, transitioning to a glide… a slingshot essentially – on to a nearby chopper, which in effect, serves as the in-game taxi. While on board, it’s a great time to scout around, using detective mode to spot henchmen hotspots, while also keeping an eye out for Riddler trophies. Upon spotting the church though moments later, Batman leaps off the chopper and power dives into one of the thugs that guards the church. When down, a quick throat grab puts the henchmen out of his misery, but the danger’s not over. After quickly dispatching a couple of regular foes, Batman is left one-on-one with a much bigger thug; one that can block all Batman’s attacks. All apart from a ‘Beat Down’ move though, that combines a cape stun with a volley of punches and an uppercut to finish him off. Not bad for a couple of button presses.

Opting to take the more direct approach of waltzing in through the front door, Batman spies Harley Quinn with a handful of armed henchmen and a bunch of hostages inside using detective mode. Once inside, Harley Quinn, in her new outfit, exchanges the usual snide remarks with the Bat and then continues to charge him. A quick sidestep and throw later, and Harley Quinn is eating church wall. Distracted by the 4 armed guards, Quinn leaves, leaving the guards the direct order to shoot if he moves. Whilst the guards argue as to the fate of Batman, he sneakily drops a smoke bomb and ascends up to the rafters.

From here on out it’s very reminiscent of the ‘predator challenges’ from the original, but with 2 of the 4 guards taking hostages this time amongst the panic down below. At this point, Batman’s inner voice acts as a tutorial of sorts, giving clues about how to approach the situation. Granted, it’s rather off-putting and a bit of an immersion killer, but Rocksteady did tell us that this was just a tutorial and after you’d performed these new types of kills, you wouldn’t hear it again – Phew!

Zipping around the rafters, which again is very similar to the original, Batman manages to get behind two thugs and sneak up on them, taking them down with the same finishing blow. Stylish! From there, it’s back to the rafters and over to the scaffolding nearby that Batman uses to silently down the third of the 4 foes. The last one, however, seems to have backed himself into a corner in a confessional booth, but thanks to a weak wall behind him, the caped crusader is able to punch – yes, punch, not use gel – through the wall and complete the section with all the hostages alive.

A quick thanks from the guards and Batman is into the bell tower, using the grappling hook to climb the interior because Ms Quinn had so thoughtfully destroyed the stairs. Once upstairs in the bell tower, Batman realises it was a trap, and that Joker had remotely controlled the sniper that had shot the near fatal bullet. Quickly scanning the gun to workout the remote frequency, Joker – who’s talking via a TV screen in a Saw-like Jigsaw fashion – has set a bomb to blow. With nothing but stained glass windows around him and no exit down below, he has no other choice than to throw himself out the window and glide to safety, watching the bomb and the bell tower explode behind him.

Before Rocksteady wrapped up the surprise presentation, they hinted at, what is presumably one of many, Easter eggs. On a notice board behind the Dark Knight, was a message and some co-ordinates that once put into the Cryptographer would have an interesting outcome, but Rocksteady weren’t about ready to give that one up. Ohhh! Intriguing!

Despite Arkham City being successfully kept secret from the gaming press that headed to Microsoft’s Spring Showcase in San Francisco this week, it quite clearly stole the show. What ensued was a lengthy presentation, which not only showed that Rocksteady were quite capable of building upon the franchise’s foundations that they laid down in the original, but that they weren’t quite out of ideas on how to improve and innovate it quite just yet. With a slew of characters from the Batman universe, plenty of fresh ideas, that trademark attention to detail and a large open-world, Arkham City looks set to catapult the franchise even further into the stratosphere come the end of the year.

Batman: Arkham City is scheduled for a fall 2011 release.

Comments
90
  • i can not wait for this game, but im going to have too.
  • awesome!
  • I hope they don't put a freeflow perfection achievement in this one.
  • I still haven't gotten around to playing the first one. Damn university. All I know is that now they have raised their own bar so they better deliver or there will be a lot of very disappointed and sad people.
  • This game is sounding really good, the first one was a great game and one of my favorite games of 09. And Batman being my favorite Hero, this game is gonna rock!
  • wow nice!
  • The first game was a hidden gem that I only played after getting convinced by various friends. I'm glad I did start playing it because it was very immersing and fun to play. I hope Arkham City expands the story and doesn't change much game play because the first one was flawless for game play. Great write up like always Webby.
  • @3 would you prefer they switch it for a "press start" achievement or would you prefer to earn it and get a feeling of achi...... Wait for it........evement!
  • can't wait for this, day one purchase for me
  • Sounds like it's shaping up to be far from a letdown. What really caught my attention was the easter eggs though. I enjoy when devs throw those into their games. Linear story is nice, as is open freeroaming...but what good is freeroaming without finding some things that were worth the look? Also, in before that one guy saying "OMG HARLEYZ SEW HAWT".
  • Will be a top 3 game of 2011. Batman or Die ! 1st day buy.
  • Loved the first one, except for the final boss, which just made my thumb hurt. Will rent this one as well though since not much re-playability.
  • na.na.na.na.na.na.na.na.naaa BATMAN!!!
  • So getting this game day one and not dropping it until i become a zombie
  • Oh God, please let there be a Superhero Edition with Batmobile!!! I'll pay whatever it'll cost. Hopefully not over $500.
  • sounds freakin sweet. Hopefully it comes out early fall to leave plenty of time to play through it before Skyrim hits
  • Harley Quinn is sexy...this game is gonna be incredible
  • Are man - sucks having to wait soo long! - Still the time will fly by. And when Arkham City lands - so will my ass to the couch!! lol
  • dam you webb! you constantly tease with this game. i cant take it anymore. give me arkham city now or ill take richie hostage!
  • Only just finished the first - took a lot of effort for couple of those combat challenges but well worth the satisfaction after putting in the practice. Already missing the combat element. Not played a "button basher" with quite that fluidity of combat - can't wait for this!
  • @ Webb, is the amount of enemies on-screen you described accurate ? Not saying that I don't believe what you are saying, but Gamespot have reported that there can be 25-26 badguys onscreen at any one time... "But for the purposes of the demo, Batman heads back toward the courthouse and makes his way in, dispatching some thugs near the entrance with some slick melee moves that smoothly transition from one punch to the next. Once inside, we see a cutscene that shows Two Face rallying a group of inmates and proving how powerful he is by attempting to kill Catwoman, who happens to be dangling over a vat of acid. This isn't a small group of foes either--Rocksteady says that it has managed to increase the number of enemies you can face at once to about 25 or 26." Source: http://uk.gamespot.com/events/msshowcase2011/story.html?sid=6300792&pid=981375&mode=previews&tag=topslot;thumb;5
  • Man I cant wait for this. I perfected the first one on xbox and pc lol and if i could get the goty for both of them i would have 4000 points from 4 versions of 1 game lol.
  • I know it's probably just an error, but is Quincy Sharp not the mayor in this?
  • This and Skyrim? My Uni work is gonna suffer by the looks of it :P I'm pretty sure this isn't gonna be a let down, shaping up well. After re-reading The Killing Joke I went back to Arkham Asylum, amazes me still
  • @3 agree it was the only cheevo I couldnt get the same with afro and couldnt do that as well - I have a problem with freeflow cheevos sound on everything else
  • I had hard time getting my perfect Knight achievement on Arkham Asylum and I said "Never again". I think I'll do it again on Arkham City and I will like that. Can't wait for fall.
  • Pure "yes!", surely we are all looking forward to it :)
  • I'm really looking forward to this one. I was very impressed by the first game, and hopefully, this one will be even better!
  • Looks boring tbh
  • Bring on Perfection 2.0. Batman was a huge surprise for me. I would certainly have not played it at all if a friend of mine didn't initially let me (or, I should say demand that I) borrow it. Arkham City is definitely on my radar now, but there are just... so many games I want between now and then.
  • Holy fuckin shit Harley Quinn looks so sexy in that picture...Joker is a lucky bastard if he's tapping her.
  • is there a video of gameplay yet or are we stuck being teased with pics?2011 is looking like a great year for gamers.
  • Thanks for the nicely written article! I feel like I was actually there, watching the footage. ^_^ Can't wait for this game, I'm so glad that Batman is in such skilled hands. Yihaaa! :D
  • *drools* can't wait... :D
  • I only got the 1st one after hearing so many friends ranting and raving about it, and now I'm one of them, lol. AA was quite easy cheevo wise, the only really hard one was getting all the medals on the combat challanges, so worth it though it was such a great ride. I've even played it through a couple times since I finished it... and I rarely do that. If they can improve upon AA then I think that theres no way that any game for the next couple of years can come close to this level of awsome, lots can try and some may come close but dammit nothing shall beat it. :D x3x10^8 or should that be 0. only physics nerds will get that last joke...
  • I can't read past the opening paragraph. "Nobody geniunely thought AA would be one of the best games of 2009.. slap them for their sins." It's funny because whenever I see this author's pic I want to slap him.
  • Batman was and still is the most enjoyable 1000 I ever got, fantastic game only hampered by bosses but immensely good. Can't wait for the sequel.
  • I definatly think they better work on a fun and tough final boss I was disappointed with the first one I wanted to fight the joker not joker-jacked-up-on-venom
  • Oh and thanks for the new background for my phone epic Harley Quinn shot
  • GOTY will be a battle between this game and Elder Scrolls V.
  • GOTY 2011 for me
  • Hey Webb, at the beginning of paragraph 18, it says "A quick thanks from the guards" and i think its supposed to say "A quick thanks from the hostages" =D
  • This game is going to be AMAZING. I have the platinum on the PS3 and am working on the full 1000 on the 360 version.
  • Other than Gears 3 and Mass Effect 3, This is THE game I am waiting for!
  • My game of the year! /end.
  • Sounds like Arkham Asylum, I hope they packed some new ideas into the game
  • Sweet. Now please follow up with another movie! That would be so freaking awesome!!^^
  • barely done anythin on the first game tbh but this game interests me more
  • This article could have been wrapped up in only two words: Buy it.
  • lol the joker has more prostitutes!
  • @43 - Well, the guards were hostages... maybe I should have said that =P
  • This is definite purchase for me. no birthday presents for my kids this year .
  • I'm really looking forward to this. I just hope it's out a good couple of months before Skyrim or I'll be looking for a lot of time off work!
  • thats amazing its like i see jesus in my house playing the game with me this sequel is goig to be great
  • This is going to be soooooo good! (please let it be good)
  • Already pre-ordered. Can't wait, this game looks awesome
  • hope it was as good as the first one.
  • Am I the only one that thinks that the screenshot of The Joker kinda looks like the Jack Nicolson Joker from the old Batman movie.
  • I can't wait for this game! The first one was badass!
  • Yes for this game. No for more combat challenges.
  • @61 Yes please! I would love more predator challenges though! Those combat challenges were ridiculous.
  • If this game is going to be anything like the first, then its going to be AMAZING!! Arkham Asylum was incredible, can't wait for Arkham City!!
  • I am soooo excited! this game is gonna be awesome!
  • Cant wait for this game!!!
  • Hopefully we'll get another demo. I played the crap outta the first one
  • Does anyone know or have you heard if Mark Hamill will be back as the Joker? When the first AA came out they acted as if that would be his Joker swan song. Just wondering.
  • I am just finishing up playing the GOTY edition and loved the game. I think I will actually pre-order this one as I imagine it might come with some goodies.
  • this game is gonna be awesome cant wait till the end of the year ...just hope it isnt delayed
  • I just really hope they don't mess this game up but i think that will be pretty hard to do
  • @70 no way theyre gonna mess it up. they are rocksteady (in both senses of the phrase :P)
  • Arkham Asylum was INCREDIBLE so i'm sure this will be just as good. can't wait for it to come out :D
  • #41 says that this will be between this and elder scrolls for GOTY... No no no no, it will be between this and Gears Of War 3. ;) Playing both of these in the same year will make my mind blown.
  • if there is more predator and combat challenges I am gonna fucking shoot myself. Otherwise the game was top notch and this one will be too! waiting for this and GOW3 for sureeee
  • this is gonna be awesome!!! (but no collectibles please)
  • @75 The article referred to more Riddler Trophies already :( Can't wait for this picked up Arkham Asylum when it came out with low expectations and was completely floored at how good it was.
  • this can't come soon enough!
  • This needs to be in my system now!!!!
  • Asylum was such an awesome action game once I got it I couldn't stop, everything was visually and gameplay-wise pleasing, Arkham City will be a classic :)
  • Secret Achievement: "play" with the Catwoman 900G
  • ahh can't wait for this game
  • Cant wait for this game
  • I waited and waited for Arkham Asylum, and the wait was worth it, although the game felt a bit short, and easy. but this new one sounds amazing, with many more characters being tapped from the comics. it looks even more impressive than Asylum, which I initially thought wasn't possible, but I'm nonetheless being proven wrong.
  • Is it just me, or does Harley just keep getting more and more sexy?
  • This is my top must have game for the year.
  • This game will be awesome, buying it hands down.
  • Can't wait for it.
  • Harley Quinn is fine as hell
  • Day One Purchase for me
  • So enjoyed the first game, this open world will be so much fun to explore. Nice list of baddies :)
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