Thread:Rodangizzardcrusher3/@comment-26687285-20160822213306/@comment-26687285-20171109025444

Rodangizzardcrusher3 wrote: I've never played it. But I'm well aware of the story, just like Injustice. You're in for a treat. :) I sadly had the Black Mask twist spoiled for me before I had even purchased the game. And while the story did get better for me after the hotel portion (I'm currently at the Blackgate showdown with Bane), I do share many of the problems most people have with the game. But first, let me share what I liked about the game so far.

While the cityscape does feel a bit small and restricted and I would really have preferred it if there had been actual people out on the streets, I liked that you are much more free and out in the open this time around.

It's great fun to revisiting locations from Arkham City and seeing how they differ here from how they were portrayed there. I just love it whenever you get to go back to a place like this and see things or go places you couldn't before. I especially love the fact that the map now shows what Old Gotham and Amusement Mile looked like before the events of Cataclysm (one of several Batman stories that have been confirmed as canon in this continuity).

I really enjoyed the Christmas setting (despite it not being terribly original), and the idea of Gotham being covered in a snowstorm feels right at home. The Royal Hotel level in particular made me think of Home Alone 2.

The attack on Alfred was probably the emotional highlight of the game, and felt very genuine and earned.

I liked the quick introduction for Barbara. She feels like the character we know but is also convincing as an inexperienced, yet determined teenager. And while it might have been a bit forced and abruptly resolved, I like that the story shows how Gordon and Batman came to respect one another and be partners.

Now for the negatives.

First off, it's another Joker game. Although I do have to preface this by saying that this complaint is quite double-sided.

On the one hand, there truly is some very good Joker material here. Troy Baker does an excellent job of being consistent with Mark Hamill's performance while still doing his own thing with the role. The "Harley and Joker's first meeting" section where Joker tells her how his life has been forever changed now that he has met Batman, and the player assumes control of him in a long trip into Joker's psyche, was surprisingly entertaining and very true to the spirit of the character. And while there isn't really anything offered here that you need in order to get a complete experience of the Arkham series as a whole or understanding of these characters in the later games, what it does offer is still worthwhile and does provide an intersting jumping off point for their motivations and relations to each other.

Nevertheless, Joker's presence here still feels too much like an excuse to put this guy front and center again as a safe bet because he's so popular. Moreover, they purposefully sacrifice a really interesting Batman villain just to find an excuse to put him in here. Even though there was no real reason for this to be another Joker-centric story. Batman himself even has several moments where he talks about how"he's never faced someone like this before" and "this guy is a whole new level of dangerous", which just comes off as the game telling us how "awesome" The Joker is supposed to be.

Now Arkham Asylum was centered around him, yes. But it was also a very self-contained and simple story. The repetitive nature of the Batman-Joke dynamic was kind of the point of the story, which is why they brought back what are considered to be the quintessential versions of these characters, and what made it acceptable for that game to focus on that aspect of the lore so much. It actually acknowledges how long these two have been doing this same song and dance together. Right from the beginning, where Batman is bringing Joker in, it is made clear that this is pretty much business as usual for all involved. And this basic knowledge forms the basis for the game's premise: "Joker turns the tables on Bats by trapping him on Arkham island." The game itself was pretty much a celebration of, and a tribute to, this old familiar formula.

Likewise, Arkham City not only continued those same themes from the first game, but actually took them to a whole new level by breaking the status-quo in a very refreshing and meaningful way (namely, killing Mark Hamill's Joker).

Now we reach the series' third outing, and what does it turn out to be? ...Another Joker story!...yay...! :|

The problem with this is that this kind of thing simply can't help but feel redundant (and even a bit creatively cowardily) when we've already had two massive stories centered around this character, the second of which went in directions that few Batman stories have ever gone in, and both of which are considered two of the best superhero games of all time. Not only that, but the sequel did as much as it could to build upon the story and established formula and keep them from getting stale.

Some of the dialogue I also thought was pretty lame and uninspired. At times it even sounded a bit like (and I know this is a really tired description, but) fan-faction. There was also often a serious lack of technical audio-visual variety that was not present in the previous games. For example, during the section where you have to save Firefly's hostages from the train cart, the same civillian skin is used atbout two or three times. The same problem occurs with the Royal Hotel staff you encounter in the hallways. They all look the same! And during the GCPD side missions there are only about three or four different scenario's and dialogue exchanges.

While I appericiate the (alltogether not unsuccessful) effort to come up with new Bat-gadgets, items like the Glue Grenade are really just shallow revisions of previous weapons (in this case, the Freeze Grenade)

The game also feels too derivative. So now, because the other games were so successful, we've gotta have another open world map without any civillians in it and either minions or authorities as it's only occupants. We've gotta have a plot twist involving The Joker where one villain masquerades as another and secretly carries out an evil scheme without Batman knowing it. We've gotta have a sequence where Batman is poisoned and hallucinating in an underground location, and uses an antidote dropped off by the Batwing to save himself just in time to save his life. We've gotta have a Bane boss battle. We've gotta have a trippy Mad Hatter side mission. We've gotta have lots of Riddler trophies, etc.

It gives you the impression that WB Games just went: "Well, it's an Arkham game, so let's just do the same thing as the other ones." Even though they could've done something very original and interesting with the game's basic concept: "An inexperienced Batman has to go up against Black Mask and an entire group of professional killers hired speciffically to hunt him down."

It really feels like the creators didn't have nearly as much faith in this entry as they did the other two. They set up an entirely new studio just to crank out a third part because Rocksteady couldn't do it. They did next to nothing about the multitude of game-breaking glitches and bugs (no really, they've literally given up on ever releasing any patches or downloads for the game whatsoever:). They wrote a scenario that feels about 60% lifted from Arkham City. And ultimately pretty much expelled the entire game from the franchise by not even bothering to include it in the Return to Arkham set (Yes, I know there are a few references to it in Arkham Knight, but that's not the point).

Why not use this opportunity to go in a completely different direction with the story? Why does the narrative have to center around Batman's relation to Joker again? Why not commit to having Black Mask as the main villain and give the spotlight to a new baddy? Why not focus on some lesser-known villains like Hercules, Calender Man (who they already portrayed very well in Arkham City), Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum or Scarface, and work them into the story for a change? Why not do a story about the Falcone crime family and Harvey Dent's early days of fighting alongside Batman, and perhaps show Two-Face's origin here as opposed to Joker's?

Infact, the Anarky subplot was one of my favorite parts of the story, and something I would liked to have seen more of.

And this is not even to say that these suggestions would necessarily have made for a great game, or even one that would've been better than the one we got. All I am saying is that this would have been more interesting than seeing Joker again.

Now am I saying that this game sucks? Absolutely not. Infact, even despite it's problems, I still greatly enjoyed playing it overall. And (unlike some fans of the series, and apparently even the creators themselves) I have no problem with putting this on my shelf alongside the other games in the series. I just feel like it deliberately chose to remain within the confines of the Arkham formula rather than extending the boundaries of the series further, and giving us another truly unique and refreshing Batman game.

In the end though, I can sum up my feelings about the game by paraphrasing Dan Stapleton of IGN: "The Arkham games are like Pizza. Even when they're not great, they're still pretty darn good." Which is to say, any Arkham game, even if it's not that great, is still pretty much guaranteed to give you a solid gaming experience simply because it IS an Arkham game. And there is certainly enough quality content here to (at least) warrant a rental, if not a full-on purchase.

P.S. BTW Copperhead sucks! I'm sorry, but she's just not that interesting to me. She feels like just a combination of Catwoman and Poison Ivy. And even though it wasn't bad, I didn't really care for her section of the game.

P.S.S. Am I the only one who thinks it would've made more sense to place this game's story on New Year's Eve and Cold, Cold Heart on Christmas, rather than the other way around? Then again, maybe that would've been too obvious for a story featuring Mr. Freeze? Whatever. Just a thought.