In 2009, the way gamers look at comic book based video games change with the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum. The second game Batman: Arkham City is trying to reignite that same fire with a large game, more enemies with all the same greatness of the first game Batman: Arkham Asylum.
It’s too easy to just jump out and scream that this game is awesome no matter how true that statement might be. Now I have just let the cat out of the bag but it I want to focus on a few problems with this game. One of the biggest reasons I’m going to start out with problems has more to due with the lack of them rather than their abundance. First and foremost the biggest problem with the first Arkham title was size of the game. With this game being placed in to a city, or rather a portion of Gotham you would expect to see enough real estate to move around. However, this game is still a little too small for all the content packed into this game. Again as mentioned with Arkham Asylum, too much content is never a problem. The second problem you’ll run into is the pace of the game’s story. With so much content, so many available villains, you should never feel rushed but at what should have been a perfect mid-point in the game I just kind of felt like I was getting thrown into a pit of madness. The same could have been said for the first game but at that time we couldn’t see the bottom of that pit. For those of us that have taken that trip in the past, we clawed the walls trying not to land.
This all being said, the game is still one of the best games I’ve played this year or in a few years for that matter. Batman: Arkham City sets a new bar for all action video games, comic book or otherwise. This is the perfect transition from first title to second and the story is so good and so well written that the small plot holes don’t matter. What does matter is that the game has too many DLCs for any gamer. First the game came with a code to play as Catwoman, if I got the from one retailer I would have gotten another code or I could wait to throw down extra cash to download the content at a later date. This is kind of off putting but that’s the nature of the game industry.
Overall, Batman: Arkham City is gem. The game perfect for every gamer. It’s one of the first must have games of the year and if you’re still looking for that perfect gift, here it is. My only hope for future titles is a larger landscape like maybe all of Gotham city. The only problem with that could be my continued complaint that the game still isn’t large enough but is that really a problem in the long run?
No matter if you read comic books, watch movies based on them or play as them in video games, the idea of becoming a mutant or superhero is something every fan has envisioned from time to time. This makes the idea of playing a game where you work to become a member of one of the greatest comic book teams in history so appealing. However, no matter how good that idea can be, it has to be executed properly. If you had the chance to play as a member of the X-Men or their greatest adversaries it sounds like a great idea almost instantly but how far can that really carry a game? When you play X-Men: Destiny you can find out for yourself.
Modding isn’t something new to gamers. If you’ve travel to or join in on a LAN Party or even a computer show, you’ve seen these artistic pieces of machinery. However, for console gamers this artistic approach to gaming is something new. Every so often you might see a custom made console from a game producer or from a single ambitious individual but these units are either one off units or hardly available due to high demand, limited supplies or again something made for a single individual’s use.