This is biased. Arkham is one of my favorite game series, and I have 100% completed Asylum once on PS3, once on GFWL and now the GOTY here on Steam. Arkham City is by far my favorite game of all time so knowing that I had a bit of pink glasses coming into the game in 2022, let’s go:
POSITIVES:
+Presentation+
Even this many years later the atmosphere is great. The island is dark and dreary and it really feels that a lot of work has gone into every inch. The whole place is dripping with lore. The Riddler’s challenges will focus your attention on some of them, but it pays to look at this game’s assets and discover minor details that will pleasantly surprise comic book fans. The art direction barring a couple of designs for me is absolutely amazing.
+Graphics+
The game holds up even this many years later, especially if you enable some additional bells and whistles in the modded launcher or manually within some game files. Textures and lighting, everything is beautiful, and it is amazing to think that this was a PS3 generation game. I have noticed a couple of shader glitches that got resolved by just reloading a checkpoint, and I do mean just two or three in 27 hours of gameplay. A notable glitch I did encounter was connected to the game’s physics engine. Foliage layers would just hover above the ground sometimes, and stacks of pages that were apparently modeled to fly apart with realistic physics when knocked from desks would instead just spread apart as if in exploded view. Neither physics glitch affects the game.
+Gameplay+
As the first game in the series, the ideas of my favorite combat system are there, but since this is closer to the prototype some of them are at this stage too simplistic. The number of possible takedowns in predator mode is not that big, especially compared to future entries, and the AI is somewhat stunted. Where the game shines, is the crowd combat mechanic. This is basically the dream of the martial artist where he/she is surrounded by enemies that he crumples to the ground with devastatingly precise and powerful strikes. There are essentially 4 enemy types and 3 boss types, each with its own mechanic. Batman chooses from a vast move set that is accessible via the face buttons, and the goal is to enter this amazing flow state, where every point on the combo meter fills great and every move presents an opportunity for triumph or failure. There are a couple of mechanics that seem to not work perfectly, however, which can be frustrating if you are trying to do a perfect freeflow playthrough of the game on hard like I was.
+Story+
The story and characters are all shaped in a classic comic book aesthetic, which works great in the game. Mark Hamill is flawless as Joker, and the rest of the cast is great. The only downside to the story is that while short, there are still a couple of places it manages to drag on a bit, but it’s a minor and easily forgivable sin given the total level of quality.
NEUTRALS:
=Music=
While the soundtrack fit the atmosphere perfectly, and there were a couple of standout moments, there is no singular track or theme that stayed with me after the playthrough. It is by no means bad, just not exceedingly remarkable.
CONCLUSION:
This is the first entry in my favorite game series. Playing the beginning even 13 years later still felt amazing, even though this time I did see a couple of minor stitches in this cozy magical blanket. Playing this game just makes me happy. If you haven’t played it, I can’t recommend it enough.
