2011 is a tough year for cash-strapped gamers. With AAA titles such as Uncharted 3, Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 just around the corner, you may be finding it difficult to consider parting with any more of your hard-earned money. Here are 5 reasons why Batman: Arkham City should make you consider pulling your wallet out once again.
The awesome early reviews
97% from GamesMaster magazine; 10/10 from Official PlayStation Magazine Australia; 10/10 from GameInformer magazine – it is reprehensibly cliché to say “you simply cannot ignore those numbers”, but honestly; you simply cannot ignore those numbers.
When GamesMaster is boldly stating that Arkham City is “the gold standard by which all future videogames should be judged”, the only ones among you who shouldn’t be considering rushing to the store come release day and purchasing it either have two broken thumbs or a Nintendo Wii.
Robin is in it, isn’t awful
I don’t hate Robin with the intensity that most Bat-fans do, but when my love of the Batman series stems from its maturity in comparison with most other pants-over-the-leggings comic book heroes, a wise-cracking teenage sidekick is definitely not the kind of guy I’d want accompanying me on my mission to clean up the streets of Gotham City.
However, Rocksteady have somehow taken the much-maligned Boy Wonder and not only turned him into a character that Batman fans would find tolerable, but one that they would find playable; even Christopher Nolan found that too big of a task to take on.
It’s not a rushed sequel
Let’s face it: if Rocksteady would have hurriedly and haphazardly developed and released Arkham City in order to swiftly capitalize on the success of Arkham Asylum, enough gamers would still have bought it to earn them a sizeable profit without them having to put the time, money and effort required to make a good game.
The fact that they actually wanted to give us something worth playing rather than just trying to wring all the money out of our pockets instantly places them above 80% of their competitors.
The Villains
Batman has always taken a backseat to the incredible cast of foes he comes up against, and Arkham City looks set to greatly improve upon the number of famous villains we fought in the Asylum. If early reviews are to be believed then Rocksteady have put in a lot of work to improve upon their almost-classic debut of their take on the license, and this should mean that the under whelming boss fights will be a thing of the past.
There is already talk of the games “big ending” (talk that I have thankfully managed to avoid lest infesting my ears with spoilers), and with the introduction of iconic characters such as Two Face and Catwoman (and the first proper debut of The Riddler), fanboys should find their hunger for evil well and truly sated.
A licensed game... that doesn’t suck?!
Out of the almost-universal praise for Arkham Asylum, about 50% of it was dedicated to the games own merits, and the other 50% to Rocksteady’s ability to take an adored license and not manhandle it until we’d all forgotten why we liked it in the first place.
Arkham Asylum was released in 2009, so we’ve all had a good two years to get used to the fact that not every videogame developer just wants an expensive one-night-stand with us. However, according to the aforementioned reviews and every piece of information we’ve received of the game thus far, it seems as though Rocksteady are still content with treating this license with respect. Don’t they know how much money they could be making by just shoveling out the same sh*t on a yearly basis?
