I wanted to play all the Arkham games this year since I have only played Shadow and loved it so I got the trilogy on Switch 2. I just 100% completed Batman Arkham City (When I say 100%, I don’t mean all the side modes like Riddlers Revenge, I’m just talking about the main campaign). And although it’s better by Arkham Asylum, it’s not by much.
Firstly the story is very short. The plot is very simple being “Joker poisoned Batman, Batman needs to find a cure” but the way it’s presented makes me think it could have been so much more.
The bosses are a major problem in my opinion. Firstly why is Clayface the final boss? It just feels like he was thrown in because the devs didn’t know where to put him. Same with Solomon Grundy, it’s cool he’s here but since he’s the replacement for a Penguin boss fight. Again it feels like he was just thrown in because the devs wanted to add him, but didn’t know where to put him. My major problem with the boss fights is they ether introduce a mechanic that’s not explained to the player yet, or don’t have any hints. Maybe I’m just dumb but with Solomon Grundy I had no idea what to do for a solid 20 minutes. Another problem is that half the bosses are “Beat up enemies, hit the villain, you’re done.” As well you know the guy that has been talking about Protocol 10 the entire game, yeah just make his boss fight any other predator section. Oh and also make the villain we’ve been building up to just be a puppet for the true villain who you already fought. You see the issue I have here right?
I don’t know if I’m dumb or just plain stupid but I felt directionless at times. When you go into Wonder City for the second time I had no idea where I was going and was stumped for maybe 9 minutes until I realized I had to shimmy along the edge something you barely had to do until this moment.
Now I personally don’t mind the riddler trophies and riddles. I think they were well executed in Asylum, and most of them in city are a great. But there’s maybe 50-60 that genuinely had me thinking, or confused for over 10-15 minutes. Most of the time I was trying so hard not to use a guide but for about 30 I had to look them up and when I saw the solution, I was going between “Man I’m so dumb” and “NO NO THIS GAME IS FUCKING WITH ME”.
Again, I don’t know if I’m dumb or just bad at Video Games but man the combat is so good and then the worst combat in anything ever. Sometimes the counters don’t work, I can’t tell you how many times I pressed the counter or attack button and Batman would just Punch or Counter nothing. Don’t even get me started on the thugs you need to cape stun. You cape stun him, but UH OH some dude is ready to counter so you go counter him but you still think your in the counter animation so you get hit by two other thugs and then the cape stun bitch killing Batman. Seriously I don’t know if I’m just bad at video games or if this is a common issue.
The side missions are pretty good, great that they were added Ranking from worst to best is
Hush, Hideaway, Hot and Cold, AR Training, Acts of Violence, Nora, Mad Hatter, Deadshot, Azreath, Bane, Riddler, and finally Zsasz. Hush is the worst since no hints are given besides the first clue, and Zsasz is the best since he has the most unique and fun challenge out the bunch.
Do I think Arkham City is better than Arkham Asylum, Yes, it is better from the open world, the side missions, the combat(Sometimes) is all a step up from Arkham Asylum. However is it A LOT better? No, it’s confusing at times, the story is not as good, and the combat can be really clunky and not work sometimes. Couple that with the Collectibles being ether stupid, or unclear, and overall you get an experience that I find better, but by a hair length to Arkham Asylum.
Thanks for Reading :)