December 14, 2011
Batmens City
I have played through the Batmens. Well, okay, I’ve played through Batman: Arkham City. Well, okay, I played through Batman: Arkham City without the Catwoman code, because everyone said that was the worst and most frustrating part of the game, and I didn’t need that. I got frustrated enough without it. But yeah, okay, I played through Batman. This is established.
It was pretty eh.
I mean, it was still a good game. I enjoyed my time with it. I punched some dudes, and silent-takedowned some others. There was a really, really fantastic boss battle with Mr. Freeze that was only unfortunate in that the reasons leading up to meeting and fighting Mr. Freeze were pretty stupid. I don’t know. There were a lot of stupid plot points in that game! But yeah, the gameplay was satisfying.
Of course, the problem is, like everyone else in the world has said, that the gameplay was so… same-y. It didn’t feel like a revelation at all. It felt like the exact same game I played when I played Arkham Asylum, only now the plot was even stupider, and I had to deal with this stupid overworld all the time. Batman was constantly being more of a dick than usual, generally having way, way too high an opinion of himself for no real reason, while making like… the worst strategic decisions, which is very un-Batman. It was everything that made Arkham Asylum good, but less so. It was a lesser game, and was hurt by being a sequel to such a fantastic game.
I’m not saying not play it. Like, I’m saying as I’m being negative, it’s still fun, and there’s plenty of good content. I mean, there are tons of sidequests that actually sound pretty interesting if you care about Batman. (Stupid Riddler Trophies don’t count, just… forget those exist). I mean, I didn’t do any of them, but I’ve heard stories of all kinds of cool encounters with Batman villians in this game, so if you give a shit about Batman, maybe that’s something you’ll enjoy? I dunno. Batman is a cool dude, but I’m not that thrilled about him in general, so, you know, I didn’t worry about it. But I could have been! I guess!
I’m glad I played it, but yeah, I just wasn’t wowed.