Thoughts on "Arkham City":

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The Romulan Republic
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Thoughts on "Arkham City":

Post by The Romulan Republic »

A while ago I posted this thread, asking for recommendations/feedback on the Arkham series of Batman games:

https://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic ... 4&t=162764

Well, I eventually purchased Arkham City, and having played the opening stages of the game, thought I'd post some thoughts on it.

On the one hand, I confess that I find some of the maps a bit difficult to navigate (though that might just be me), and I find that the game alternates between holding your hand too much, not giving the player enough freedom, and not providing enough information.

I'm also not a huge fan of the heavily grungy grimdark style. And, let's face it, all the major female characters' costumes have a fair resemblance to stripper outfits (though this is true to the source material and opinions may vary on weather this is a bad thing :wink: ).

Also, can I just say that I find Catwoman's voice really annoying?

On the plus side, I quite like the visual style of a lot of the combat, the scope and visuals of the setting are quite grand if you get past the grungy look, and I love the shear mobility the game offers. Possibly my favourite moments thus far have simply been zipping along the rooftops of Gotham, alternating between running, gliding, and swinging on the grapple. :D You know that scene in Batman v Superman where Batman is dodging Doomsday from building to building? Yeah.

On that note, I can also say that the commentary I read after Batman v. Superman came out comparing its fight scenes to the Arkham games is pretty much on the ball. Though I can also feel some slight Nolan influences.

Another big plus: while part of the "Arkham" series, this game is in some aspects pretty much an adaptation of the No Man's Land premise and story. Gotham (or in this case a section of it) being cut off, surrounded by troops to keep the roving gangs of criminals in the ruined city, Two Face's court and Joker lurking in the background... it just has that feel, even if the details are often different.

Though I'm not a big comics reader, I quite enjoyed the novelization of No Man's Land, so this is a definite plus for me.

As to the story, its fine thus far, though nothing to write home about. But that might partly be because I haven't played the first game.

One last note...

Have you ever played a game and had one character you really, really hated? Well for me, its that sick fuck Zsasz. Having that creep repeatedly interrupt my missions to do his serial killer ramble over the phone and then send me off on a wild goose chase, only for me to have to backtrack across half the map... I have a feeling that one of the most satisfying moments of this game is going to be when I finally catch up to him and introduce him to the Bat Fist.

In conclusion, I have to say that on the whole, if you're a Batman fan, I'd recommend this game.
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Re: Thoughts on "Arkham City":

Post by Grumman »

There are only two parts I didn't like about the game.

First, Games for Windows Live. When I first installed the game, it failed to get its GFWL bullshit set up. What that meant is that when I quit, it didn't save my progress. And then when they removed GFWL, it removed my savegames again.

Two, the ending. Spoiler
I am not one of those people who fawns over the Joker. So when I was forced to leave Talia al Ghul to be killed by the Joker and then was forced to carry Joker reverently out of the theatre instead of doing the same for the woman he just murdered, that annoyed me.
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Re: Thoughts on "Arkham City":

Post by FaxModem1 »

I've only played it on consoles, so I've had a good time. My biggest gripe with gameplay was the abundance of Riddler collectibles. You should collect them anyway, as they unlock small audio clips between characters, giving you moreof a glimpse into Gotham's world.

Story wise, I agree with Grumman on the ending. It's also hard to not totally agree with Strange's Protocol 10 when you've played over 15 hours and every single person in Arkham city is a cutthroat, thug , or violent lunatic.

There is a token political prisoners subplot, but it's so small that you can forget it entirely. Still, this game justifies why you can beat up everyone in the city rather well.

The later games, Origins and Knight, far less so, and they feel poorer for it.
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Re: Thoughts on "Arkham City":

Post by The Romulan Republic »

I run into political prisoners all the time.

Certainly not everyone in Arkham City is a monster.

Besides, Batman will save even villains. After he kicks their asses, of course. ;)
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.

I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
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Re: Thoughts on "Arkham City":

Post by bilateralrope »

I picked up Arkham Asylum and City from a Humble Bundle. Asylum was alright. City I ragequit on after a side mission with a timer had me rush all the way across the city, only to find that the mission pointer didn't indicate height and I couldn't find a way up in time. So I failed it and had to reload a saved game. Never went back.

I bought the bundle because it was a good deal on games I knew I wanted, making the Arkham games effectively free.
FaxModem1 wrote:The later games, Origins and Knight, far less so, and they feel poorer for it.
Orgins had WB annoucing that working on DLC was more important than fixing bugs.
Arkham Knight was a shitshow of bugs that showed everyone why Steam Refunds were such a good idea. Last I heard, WB had given up on fixing the PC version.
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Re: Thoughts on "Arkham City":

Post by General Zod »

Origins was annoying. Bats rescues the Joker from being crushed to death in freefall. Meanwhile, in the movies that the games are clearly trying to emulate, he goes on about not having to save Ra's Al Ghul.
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Re: Thoughts on "Arkham City":

Post by General Zod »

bilateralrope wrote:I picked up Arkham Asylum and City from a Humble Bundle. Asylum was alright. City I ragequit on after a side mission with a timer had me rush all the way across the city, only to find that the mission pointer didn't indicate height and I couldn't find a way up in time. So I failed it and had to reload a saved game. Never went back.

I bought the bundle because it was a good deal on games I knew I wanted, making the Arkham games effectively free.
FaxModem1 wrote:The later games, Origins and Knight, far less so, and they feel poorer for it.
Orgins had WB annoucing that working on DLC was more important than fixing bugs.
Arkham Knight was a shitshow of bugs that showed everyone why Steam Refunds were such a good idea. Last I heard, WB had given up on fixing the PC version.
Origins had a fuckton of bugs that prevented me from making any progress until I got a new laptop. It seems like WB are basically lazy fucks with the Arkham series at this point.
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Re: Thoughts on "Arkham City":

Post by bilateralrope »

General Zod wrote:Origins had a fuckton of bugs that prevented me from making any progress until I got a new laptop. It seems like WB are basically lazy fucks with the Arkham series at this point.
Don't forget about how dodgy their promotion for Shadows of Mordor was.

WB aren't what I'd call a trustworthy publisher.
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