When it’s predecessor, Batman: Arkham Asylum came out, batfans worldwide lost their minds. They couldn’t put the game down as it had that free flow combat action that had Batman kicking butt from one end of Arkham Asylum to the other. Great graphics, great puzzles, a roster of arch villains and lots of mutants. The game won lots of awards and fans couldn’t wait for the next version which is the upcoming Batman: Arkham City. Can it make it into our Top 10 PC games list? Will it be one of the best action games released, or will it fail to live up to the hype?
From the looks of it the developers listened to the fans and provide what they couldn’t do in the first game. That is to expand the environment to an open realm encompassing a great deal of Gotham City, in particular a section known as Arkham City where the officials have allowed the released inmates to roam free.
It’s here that Batman gets his bat thing on with the help of Catwoman and other familiar bat allies and semi-allies. Alfred the Butler is on board too as Batman relies on him this time around instead of Batgirl/Barbara Gordon who has been in a wheel chair for years as ‘Oracle’ using her computer skills to help Batman. In this latest game, fans will totally lose it as they travel across the rooftops of Gotham City using new bat tools and new combat moves against a veritable army of criminals. The Joker is back and his girlfriend Harley Quinn too.
Two-Face and his goons join in for some serious action and there’s just so much more to the game that it’s more like being in a movie you take part in which is what a great video game is supposed to do nowadays.
Batman: Arkham City is developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Paul Dini who created the popular Batman the Animated Series and wrote the Arkham Asylum game is back as writer of the game. That means there will be some in-depth look at the characters instead of them just standing around waiting to get beat up. For technical specs the game is using the Unreal Engine 3 and is developed for the PC, Xbox 360, Wii U, PS3.
This open world game is a monster this time around. People who thought Arkham Asylum was a chore, just wait till they try all the challenging detective and sub missions this game has to offer. This new version probably has ten times as many considering the size of the landscape and villains involved. Also because you can play some missions as Catwoman you have to know her skills, weapons, and strategies as well. So don’t think this is going to be a game you can knock out in a day. Replay-Value certainly helps when it comes to entering our Top 10 PC games of the year.
Don’t worry bat-fans, Robin the Boy Wonder is supposed to appear during some missions. In addition you can expect the aforementioned villains as well as Hugo Strange the psychiatrist villain who figures out Batman’s true identity, the Penguin, Mr. Freeze and his sub arctic arsenal, Calendar Man who was suggested in the first game, Black Mask, Talia al Ghul who is the daughter of the wizard Rhaz al Ghul whom we saw in the first game lying in a morgue but every batfan knows you can’t keep a good Ghul down. So there’s going to be some extra surprises but to what extent fans will have to be patient.
So basically, Arkham City is sectioned off into turfs so that you’ll fight the Joker on his turf with his henchmen and Harley Quinn and then move on to the Penguin or Mr. Freeze’s turf. This doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy as each arch criminal has their own special skills and weapons including ingenious traps designed just for the Caped Crusader.
So a bigger landscape, lots more villains, lots more combat moves, lots more weapons and we’re talking probably the PC game of the year award again. It’s due out in October 2011 so get ready to get your bat thing on.
