Batman: Arkham City Review

Batman: Arkham Asylum is considered one of the best games in the video game medium. Not only did it feature total immersion into your character, but it gave you an open and detailed world filled with smart villains, helpful allies, and enough trivia and side content to keep you entertained long after the main story was finished. Now, combine that with the stigma of video games based on comic book properties, and Rocksteady performed a miracle. A sequel was inevitable, and the question becomes; can lightning strike twice? Find out after the break!

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Batman: Arkham City
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC
Single Player
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
Publisher: Square Enix and Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
ESRB Rating: T For Teen
Price: PS3,PC, 360: $59.99

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Pros
Story: Arkham City takes you into the game, fighting masterminds, minor villains, and even allies.. Each story, aside from some hiccups, dovetails into the main narrative with ease, and the player feels the urgency the rest of the NPC’s feel. The dialogue is mostly top-notch, almost everyone feels in characters, and the added story details you unlock, the side missions and the main missions all give you a complete experience very akin to a well written story arc in comics.


Gadgets and Combat: The gadgets you unlocked in the last game are mostly kept, and the new ones add many layers to the game. The wonderful part about Batman in the comics is not only his willpower, but that he can think himself out of most situations. The game fosters that feeling with gadgets that truly make you feel that if you sit down and plan out something, you can achieve it. The reversal system, and the system that allows you to use gadgets in your combat combine to make you feel like Batman at his most Morrisonian (Grant Morrison) “Bat-God”, and leaves a very satisfied player. Altogether, you feel like a world-class martial artist, and a brilliant gadgeteer that can solve or combat anything.


Middle Ground
Graphics: It seems unfair to judge the graphics of the game too harshly, after all most of the game is lovingly rendered. The backgrounds look fantastic, the characters represent themselves well, but once things are in motion, the game has serious issues. The greatest issues are clipping with the cape and other characters, and the camera during fights. The one time you do not want to be confused, is during a fight and the camera has a nasty habit of moving in a wrong direction during climatic exchanges, not to mention the clipping of the voluminous cape can distract during a mass fight, along with issues with stepping through people, being stuck in doors, etc.


Cons
Characterization: The characterizations of the criminals, specifically Two-Face and the thugs are one note, bordering on parody. I know most developers want to save the big moments for the bad guys, but I found the utter lack of differentiation of the thugs problematic. Not only that, but Two-Face was lacking a lot of the complexity that other villains in the game displayed. Two-Face fans may be extremely disappointed in his portrayal here.


Violence and Sex: The disturbing violence in the game should be a warning to all parents who buy this for their children. Batman repeatedly abuses criminals, even some who do not deserve such harsh treatment in the game. Only the lack of blood makes this game a teen rating. The utter brutality in the game (bones breaking, dropping off rooftops, unprovoked violence etc) is disturbing as Batman is deemed heroic or even funny with each crunch.


The other issue is an old enemy of video games; sexism. When Catwoman was announced for the game, a lot of people were excited. Excitement sort of faded when it was revealed that she was only in a few missions, and faded a bit more when it was revealed what she looked like. Media consumption is part of what the rating system is all about, and when you see the game and how it refers to Catwoman and other female characters as “bitch”, the talks about lewd things that the men would do to the women, the costume designs, the camera angles; many might think twice about buying the game. It’s a major issue for the medium, the overt sexualization and misogyny directed towards the characters, show an institutionalized sexism that is impossible to ignore. The characters can be sexual, and perhaps it is in character for criminals to be misogynistic, but the camera angles that act as a voyeur (like Catwomans introduction), the avalanche of derogatory words towards women, the costume designs, the objectivication, the list goes on. Be vigilant when buying or renting this game.


Overall/Verdict
Overall, Batman: Arkham City is a fine game. Lightning will strike twice, but the scorch marks remain. It puts the player into the shoes of the iconic DC hero, and creates a world that is brutal and exciting for the characters and player to explore. The worrisome aspects of the treatment of women and the excessive violence might put off some parents, but overall the game is a fantastic recreation of Batman, and I recommend it with the hope that Rocksteady and DC Comics take the time to improve aspects of the game in a, hopeful, sequel.

The Level Cap: Batman Arkham Asylum Review

Batman, he doesn’t like chocolate ice cream. What he does enjoy is beating the living pulp out of the Arkham Asylum inhabitants, groovy huh? Batman Arkham Asylum takes us under the cowl as Batman to fight some of his most known enemies and stop them from taking over the island. Not to mention that the Joker is also in full force in this game and is to blame for Arkham going to hell in a hand basket. With Joker being the figurative thorn in Batman’s side, Arkham Asylum should make for one of the most interesting and intelligent games out on the market. But with many Batman games in the past falling flat on their faces, will Arkham Asylum prove to be one of the  hottest games this year or will it too suffer the same fate as other licensed games? Find out below!

Batman Arkham Asylum
PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
1 Player
Developer: Rocksteady
Publisher: Eidos
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Price: $59.99, $49.99 (PC)

Pros:
Stealth Action To The Max: The first and foremost important thing about Arkham Asylum is its delivery of the stealth game play. When you are stalking through the shadows hunting your pray you FEEL like Batman not like Sam Fisher or Altaïr and thats what is important. Although it is easy to draw comparisons to Assassins Creed or Splinter Cell, Arkham Asylum in its own right is not like these games, although feels like it is. What is also interesting is the ability to be stealth or not to be stealth. You have a lot of freedom when it comes to this, as you can either go in batarangs blazing or sneak in for the silent take down. Although, some missions do require you to be super sneak. What also adds to the “Stealth Action To The Max,” as I call it, is the ability to duck in and out of vents, floor coverings and grapple on to stone gargoyles. Also sneaking up on a thug and choking them out never gets old.


Environments: This is another great feature that Rocksteady delivers on. They were able to capture the madness of the inmates and create and that showcased that this island is Arkham Island not Gilligans Island. Each area, from the outside to the twisted corridors of the buildings had a certain madness to them, almost capturing the atmosphere of the island perfectly. My personal favorite area was the Botanical Gardens with its rich colors and design.


Graphics: Like any great game on the next generation market, Batman Arkham Asylum has some damn good graphics. Utilizing the Unreal Engine 3, the game delivers not only a beautiful looking game but an interesting one. Along with the environments, the graphics help immerse the player into the game for a better experience. Having played the PS3 demo and the 360 version, the PS3 overpowers the 360 in terms of graphics. Not to fuel any fanboy wars but, the game does look much more streamlined on the PS3. However, with that said the game looks simply downright gorgeous. So if you are a graphics connoisseur Batman is the game for you.

Story: What good is a game without a good story? Not good at all. Not to worry though, Arkham Asylum does a great job story telling, ever-so-much that it feels like you are reading a comic book. What’s important, however, is that everything and everyone has its place in the story and it all pans out very well and nothing seems out of place. What is also important is that there are no plot holes in the story, at least that I can remember. The story also puts you into the mindset of the Joker and his planning, everything has a cause and effect with Jokers plans.


Riddles, Gadgets, and Detective Mode: Along with the stealth gameplay this is also what makes Batman what he is. In the game you have eight different gadgets that you collect and earn while progressing through the game. Each of the different gadgets has its use with the Batarang being the most notable. One of those gadgets, which you automatically have, is the “Detective Mode” which enables you to see things that you wouldn’t normally see. Some of those things being little riddles that a dear old friend has left around the Asylum for you to solve. When unlocking the gadgets as you progress you are able to find more clues and riddles and ultimately get that achievement or trophy.

Scarecrow Halluciantions: At first I was undecided if I wanted to put this in my review but then I realized that this was an important aspect to the game. Without spoiling anything the Scarecrow hallucinations were a nice break from the standard third-person over the should gameplay. When entering said hallucinations you go into a platform-side-scrolling type game. This may seem kind iffy but it really brings more to the game.

Cons:
Boss Fights Are A Cake Walk: This is where Arkham Asylum falls flat on its face. When going into the game you are faced with some mean villains that are holding a hell of a grudge on you. First thing I thought was “Boy they sure are going to kick my ass.” But I was severely wrong. Almost every boss fight had you facing off against a super villain while you chucked your Batarang at their face until their ultimate demise. Mind you I was playing on Normal on my first play through and I barely had any problems fighting the bosses. Needless to say this is something I wish Rocksteady would’ve addressed better.


Countering:This is another issue with the game. During a fight if you are approached by an enemy you have to counter their attack no matter what you are doing. You can be doing a take down and still have to counter said attackers lead pipe or knife. This is a small gripe that can hopefully be improved or fix, but for now it is a little frustrating.

In the end Batman Arkham Asylum is an amazing game that was undeniably underwhelmed for me when released. I did not expect it to be such a smart, fun and immersive game. If you are looking for something that is different than many of the other games on the market than this is the game for you. So Batman Arkham Asylum gets a BUY or for you savvy star people it gets a 5 out of 5 stars.


Side note: One thing I would love to see Rocksteady do is make an open world game like Arkham Asylum but focused in Gotham City. You know, being able to run across rooftops and run around in the sewers while fighting super villians. Yeah thats a dream, Rocksteady take note. :)

Batman Begins/ The Dark Knight: The Mantle

Last week, I talked about the fact that the Batman movies have roots in deeper levels of human understanding and this week I continue on that path with the idea of ‘The Mantle’. The Mantle is referenced both covertly and overtly within both movies and bears discussing because there is a heroic mantle of the man who will bring Gotham peace and justice, and a more sinister mantle that will devolve Gotham into Chaos.

The mantle of Batman starts not with Bruce, but his father. Thomas Wayne and his wife strived to use their riches to make Gotham a better place. It is rare that we see what exactly Martha did, but Thomas was a doctor and left WayneCorp (the company that helped Gotham) to “better men”, a fact that young Bruce has a problem believing, as he looks up to his father.

Tracing the roots back further, we later find out that Bruce’s family was involved in the underground railroad. The first movie makes lot of reference to the Wayne name and how much it means when in fact, it’s never been about the name.  As both Bruce and Alfred later realize, it’s about the meaning OF that name.

Interesting enough, Wayne is the prominent force in Batman Begins and Batman the name is the force in The Dark Knight. In this film, we realize that it’s not Batman’s name that means something.  It’s what he is accomplishing. But why does Bruce do these things?

Thomas Wayne was a doctor and a healer and wished to help people.  That lesson seems to resonate in Bruce, as shown in the flashback to Thomas letting Bruce listen to his heart. The death of Thomas rattled him so much he wanted nothing but vengeance and to cleanse the world of Joe Chill, but Rachel snaps Bruce out of that mindset when she reminds him, “your father would be ashamed of you.” Bruce already knew he wasn’t living to his fathers ideal, but he thought still he was doing the right thing. Now knowing that he was wrong, he journeys to find his path, but becomes lost.

It is with Ducard that Bruce finds his way, but he hasn’t forgotten the lesson of his father. He will not kill, he will not violate the one rule that most doctors, Thomas Wayne included, find sacred. He is seen as foolish for being compassionate, but that was what Bruce’s father was. Later, Ra’s al Ghul belittles Thomas’ compassion as idealism, but it in fact strengthens Bruce’s resolve to know that he WILL defend Gotham. His father stood between a gunman and him and Bruce stands between the scum of Gotham and Gotham itself.

Bruce chooses the symbol of the bat to do his nightly masquerade of taking it to the criminal empire, but it’s the mission that makes him really take up the mantle of the Wayne legacy. He will not kill, he will help those that cannot help themselves. It’s told by Alfred that the death of the Wayne’s shocked the powerful into action and Bruce decides to use the bat personna to shock the people into action. It works, as we see in The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight shows two versions of the bat mantle being lifted. We have the Sons of Batmen, who take the more vigilante aspect of the mission, and Harvey Dent, who goes after criminals using the law. It should be noted that Bruce respects the law more than vigilance. In fact, he actively seeks to end his own vigilance because he sees it as a temporary thing.

Many comic fans have a problem with the idea that Batman doesn’t want to be Batman forever, but in the realistic world, it makes a lot of sense. A man who respects the law and the idea of compassion as much as Bruce Wayne would not want to be a vigilante forever, which is why the arrival of Harvey Dent is such a relief to Bruce Wayne. Much like the tale that Harvey says about a man’s duty to stand up and defend the city and then relinquish it, Batman sees himself doing just that.

No one is worthy of that; Harvey, due to his own want for vigilante justice, and the Sons of Batman for much the same reason.  Batman wishes to inspire others, but not to be like him. I will cover vigilance in a later article, but what other mantle is in the two Batman movies? The mantle of injustice.

When the movies begin, Falcone and his crime family are firmly in control. It takes a more serious twist when Batman captures him.  Inside the asylum, he makes a remark that no one can get him, not in his town. Probably the first shiver a comic fan gets in regards to that thought is in the comics. The gangsters believe the town is theirs and that it is being taken over by the freaks, which is why the next line in the film is so chilling, when Jonathan Crane simply asks, “do you want to see my mask?”

Next, in The Dark Knight, the gangsters realize that, with the presence of the Batman, they no longer have as much power as before. The gangster bank manager realizes that the criminals don’t believe in honor or respect anymore, a very true statement in regards to The Joker. The mantle of of this super villain is firmly held in place due to how he commands a room, how he is a man of his word and how he pretty much decimates the criminal empire. The final nail in the coffin is when the Russian seeks to try and understand him. The Joker says that the city deserves a better class of criminal. Much like Batman might be considered a better class of citizen, a man who stands up to corruption, the Joker is a better class of criminal and stands up to the Batman.

I will be covering the relationship and parallels between Joker and Batman another time, but it’s a fact that they both represent the truist ideas of the superhero genre. The hero who wants to inspire and the villain who wants to destroy. They are the yin and yang, the ones who bear the mantle of hero and villain. Is it any wonder that The Joker believes they will in fact, “do this forever”?

The mantle of a hero is hard to assume, as evidenced by Harvey Dent cracking under the pressure. Likewise, a villain only has a tenuous hold on a mantle, but The Joker is unique in that he represents a clear opposition to the idea of a hero. Next time, we will analyze this relationship and how The Batman, in some ways, is like the Joker.

-DarkSpirit-

Batman Begins/The Dark Knight: What Does it All Mean?

When we look at the Batman movies, we all feel there is something more to them. This isn’t your standard movie about a man in a cape busting super villains to a pulp. This isn’t about the cool gadgets, the spiffy costume or how chicks dig the car. These films awaken in us the deepest yearnings of philosophical meaning, psychological impact, and sociological study.

Or its just a cool way to spend a few hours? The above sounds pretentious I know, but these series of articles are about Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. I want to show and of course discuss how the movies enlighten us, and why we are so attracted to them. Also I want to show a friend that Batman Begins is just as deep as The Dark Knight, and in many ways is essential to viewing.

This week I want to study the idea of Hell and the Devil in the Batman universe. In the movies, it’s the first scene that really delves into the idea of Hell. The man who attacks Bruce says that he (Bruce) is in hell and that the man is also the Devil. Bruce replies that he isn’t the Devil, he is practice. An interesting thought:  Is Bruce actually in Hell?

Yes, if you believe Hell is where you deserve to be. There is an idea in our society that Hell is where people who do bad things go. What bad thing did Bruce do to deserve to be sent to Hell? He feels responsible for the death of his parents. Though Bruce says that his anger outweighs his guilt, he in fact cannot escape the fact that he is responsible for his parents’ death.

In the comics, Bruce routinely evokes God, at one point saying, “God hates a coward” during the Knights End storyline. Bruce was afraid during the play and therefore wants to retreat. The retreat takes him to the alley, and that is where his parents are shot. He never stops feeling guilty for that moment of fear.

But that’s not the only thing Bruce feels guilty about. It’s the guilt of wanting Chill dead, vengeance, and the anger that Bruce has for Joe Chill. Many fans were exasperated by the fact Bruce carried a gun, but I persist in thinking it was a way to show why he would never use a gun again. Bruce, up until Rachel says so, never connected the gun to his parent’s death. He connected his fear to their death. It’s only when Chill is shot dead, Rachel slaps him and tells him that his father would be ashamed, that Bruce realizes that the gun is a coward’s weapon.

It is only when he purges not just his fear, but his wrath, that Bruce finally wants to go back to Gotham. His choice not to kill the murderer is his real test, his choice to face fear is only secondary to that. Only then does Bruce fight back and escape Hell and return to Gotham. But Gotham too, is a hell.

If we view Hell as a place devoid of hope, Gotham is that place. Bruce represents hope, but that is for another article. Gotham soon will no longer be the Hell it once was. But what of the other line near the beginning of the film: “You’re not the devil, you’re practice.”

Obviously Bruce makes short work of this man who thinks of himself as the devil, but he is right. The man was only practice as he faced the true Devil in the Dark Knight: The Joker. What makes the Joker so easy to identify as the Devil? What is the Devil?

The Devil has gone through more character changes than comic iterations of either the Joker or Batman. The easiest way to sum him up is the tempter, the one who tests humanity in some ways for worthiness. The Joker of The Dark Knight takes it up a notch; he is testing them to see if they are as human as they wish they are.

The various tests the Joker arranges in the film are there to test how far our own rules and morality go. What are the extents of society’s rules, their understandings, and their own base needs? With the Joker, he revels in making you break your own rules because he believes the world has none.

The Joker is devoid of origin,  which many say is the influence of Alan Moore, but really you can trace it back to the Prince of Lies. The Joker’s stories reach the point of making one sick over the sadness of each, where he is scarred or causes his own scars. Is there a point to these stories besides frightening you? The stories show the moral decay that each person being TOLD the story might one day endure. The mob boss is seen as a father type by his men. What happens when the father turns against you? Rachel wants to be a bride, but what happens if that bride becomes disfigured?

Finally, imagery plays a key role. Fire is the Joker’s calling card. Destruction, mayhem and the loss of hope are what he seeks. He is creating a new Hell for Gotham to descend into. Even when Batman confronts him at the Prewitt building, three dogs guard him much like Cerberus, the three headed dog that guards Hell.

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight show that the filmmakers are mining various mythologies when creating the ideas of Hell, both personal and literal. Their creation of The Joker is filled with the malice and the characterization of Lucifer. Next time I am going to show how they delved deep into the heart of legacies, something every comic geek knows about, and why “the mantle” makes both films truly connected.

Dark Spirit