Better With Wii U? - Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition
This isn’t the game Nintendo deserves, but it’s the one it needs.
Batman: Arkham City
Players: 1 Offline Player
Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive
Genres: Action, Adventure
Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive
Genres: Action, Adventure
Release Date: October 18, 2011
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
MSRP: $59.99
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
MSRP: $59.99
Batman: Arkham City builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, sending players soaring into Arkham City, the new maximum security “home” for all of Gotham City’s thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds.
Sage Reviews – Batman: Arkham City
Posted By Bennett The Sage about 1 year, 7 months ago
Sage Reviews – Batman: Arkham City, 
Wow… just wow.
Follow me on Twitter at BennettTheSage
Sage Reviews - Batman: Arkham City
Wow...just wow.
Batman: Arkham City Video Review - ZGR
ZGR Daniel gives you the scoop on Batman: Arkham City! ZGR - Video Review
Batman: Arkham City Angry Review
Batman encounters a mysterious new villain as Angry Joe reviews Arkham City. Can Rocksteady and the Dark Knight live up to all the hype in this highly anticipated sequel? And just who is this new villain's true identity? Find out!
Batman: Arkham City Review
With expectations now sky high, Arkham City doesn't have the luxury of flying under the radar. This only makes what Rocksteady has created that much more impressive.
Batman Arkham City: Harley's Revenge Review
With the fate of Harley Quinn left up in the air at the end of Arkham City, this DLC has got fans excited to find out more. If you haven't found the Easter Egg in the Joker's office and don't wish for spoilers from the original campaign, do not read this review and get away from the internet! 
Batman Arkham City: Harley's Revenge Review
With the fate of Harley Quinn left up in the air at the end of Arkham City, this DLC has got fans excited to find out more. If you haven’t found the Easter Egg in the Joker’s office and don’t wish for spoilers from the original campaign, do not read this review and get away from the internet!
New Trailer for Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC Highlights the Dynamic Duo
The final piece of DLC for Batman: Arkham City is only a few weeks away from release and now a new trailer has been released for players to enjoy.
Harley Quinn's Revenge Announced as New Story Driven Batman: Arkham City DLC
One final mission awaits the Dynamic Duo in Arkham City and BT has all the details you need to know.
Arkham City DX11 Patched, Kind Of
In the dark night, the dark knight got light effects to run tight in spite of slight setbacks to OSes of lower bytes. Will this affect you? It might. How trite.
Batman: Arkham City DX11 Issues Being Addressed
Excited PC players cranked their DX11 settings up this week to look at Arkham City in all its dark knight glory, only to discover the in-game camera to suffer from a condition that induced small seizures every few seconds. Rocksteady has acknowledged the problem, and is on the case! *theme song*
Arkham City: Robin DLC Details And Video
The Robin DLC is finally out for those who didn’t pre-order the game through Best Buy or didn’t buy a code from someone who hocked it on Ebay.
Arkham City PC Delayed
In surely the best year for games we’ve seen in a long time, the increasingly common trend of PC version delays rears its unpleasantly ubiquitous head. Arkham City now also delayed, but not for much longer.
Arkham City Conclusion is AWESOME!
I can’t believe that Robin was actually Harley Quinn the WHOLE TIME! All this and the ACTUAL plot twists in our Arkham City Long Haul conclusion!
Arkham City: Nightwing DLC Details and Gameplay
Once he was an acrobat, then a sidekick, and then he became his own man. Now, you can play as him in Batman: Arkham City.
New Trailer for Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC Highlights the Dynamic Duo
The final piece of DLC for Batman: Arkham City is only a few weeks away from release and now a new trailer has been released for players to enjoy.
Harley Quinn's Revenge Announced as New Story Driven Batman: Arkham City DLC
One final mission awaits the Dynamic Duo in Arkham City and BT has all the details you need to know.
Arkham City DX11 Patched, Kind Of
In the dark night, the dark knight got light effects to run tight in spite of slight setbacks to OSes of lower bytes. Will this affect you? It might. How trite.
Batman: Arkham City DX11 Issues Being Addressed
Excited PC players cranked their DX11 settings up this week to look at Arkham City in all its dark knight glory, only to discover the in-game camera to suffer from a condition that induced small seizures every few seconds. Rocksteady has acknowledged the problem, and is on the case! *theme song*
Arkham City: Robin DLC Details And Video
The Robin DLC is finally out for those who didn’t pre-order the game through Best Buy or didn’t buy a code from someone who hocked it on Ebay.
Arkham City PC Delayed
In surely the best year for games we’ve seen in a long time, the increasingly common trend of PC version delays rears its unpleasantly ubiquitous head. Arkham City now also delayed, but not for much longer.
Arkham City Conclusion is AWESOME!
I can’t believe that Robin was actually Harley Quinn the WHOLE TIME! All this and the ACTUAL plot twists in our Arkham City Long Haul conclusion!
Arkham City: Nightwing DLC Details and Gameplay
Once he was an acrobat, then a sidekick, and then he became his own man. Now, you can play as him in Batman: Arkham City.
Batman: Arkham City Angry Review
Batman encounters a mysterious new villain as Angry Joe reviews Arkham City. Can Rocksteady and the Dark Knight live up to all the hype in this highly anticipated sequel? And just who is this new villain’s true identity? Find out!
Batman: Arkham City Review
With expectations now sky high, Arkham City doesn’t have the luxury of flying under the radar. This only makes what Rocksteady has created that much more impressive.
Better With Wii U? – Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition
Posted By Austin Yorski about 6 months ago
Better With Wii U? – Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition
Sage Reviews – Batman: Arkham City,
Better with Wii U?
The Wii U is launching with roughly half a billion games. You don’t have the time to read that many full reviews (and we can’t write that many), so instead we’ll be bringing you a series of mini-reviews entitled “Better With Wii U?” We’ll still be publishing full write-ups for brand new titles, but these pieces will let you know the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How of every port/re-release for Nintendo’s newest console.
HOW WAS THE ORIGINAL?
“I can confidently say that if you can only afford a few games this season, Batman: Arkham City absolutely has to be one of them. The fantastic story, robust amount of content, and fun factor all mesh together to make, without question, one of the finest games of the year.”- Taylor H.
We loved Arkham City here at Blistered Thumbs. Our official write-up and all three video reviews were highly positive, and the game made the “Best of 2011″ list for many a site writer. The only complaints any of our producers had with the experience were some niggling control issues and some texture pop-in. Even in a year that saw the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Portal 2, Batman held his own.
We scored the game 9 out of 10 with a “Buy it Now!” recommendation. Read the full review right here.
WHAT’S NEW WITH WII U?
The titular armor refers to the new suit worn by Bruce Wayne as he stalks about the open world assaulting thugs and villains alike. As you could probably guess from the header image, the suit’s main feature is adding electricity to punch attacks. This manifests within the game as a meter that charges up while you fight. Once you’ve filled the meter, tapping the associated icon on the GamePad allows you to begin your electro beatdown.
In addition, every gadget and mini-game has been altered in order to utilize the Wii U’s fancy new controller. This means that you’ll be tapping the screen to navigate menus, maneuvering the GamePad to scan for clues, and tilting it in order to aim Batarangs. The controller screen can also be used as your map while you play the game on the television, or you can just play the whole game on the GamePad while someone else watches regular programming on the big screen.
Armored Edition also includes all previously released downloadable game content for Arkham City, including the somewhat controversial Catwoman Pack.
WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US?
GamePad integration is a mixed bag. The overall effect on the game is minor, as the Battle Armored Tech gimmick is all but standard in third-person action titles. I don’t see DmC: Devil May Cry getting a Wii U port entitled Devil Trigger Edition. However, the addition doesn’t interfere with the quality of the original release.
The same cannot be said for some of the other new features. On one hand, using the GamePad to plant explosive gel is fine, but when it asks you to swipe, poke, and tilt every few minutes the experience stops being novel and starts becoming annoying. It is natural for launch titles to feel like tech demos, but when such features are shoe-horned into a game that was awesome to begin with, it becomes all the more egregious. With that said, you can disable some of the motion controls from the options menu if you are so inclined, although much of the functionality is irrevocably intertwined with the game in this version.
On the bright side, there are inspired instances in which new features pull their own weight. For example, the ability to search environments while in Detective Mode with the GamePad is probably the most smoothly integrated augment reality yet seen in a mainstream title. It probably helps that the conceit of the controller as part of Batman’s suit interface is relatively believable. Also, Alfred’s voice comes from the controller! That’s pretty awesome.
WHO SHOULD BUY IT? WHY?
If you’ve already beaten Batman: Arkham City then you can safely skip Armored Edition. Some of the GamePad features are cool the first time, but the experience is not improved enough to justify the purchase. In addition, the PC version appears to be superior in just about every technical metric, including textures, load times, and frame rate. Also, the B.A.T. for which the game is named is laughably irrelevant.
However, if you’re a Nintendo fan who missed Rocksteady’s magnum opus the first time, then you should definitely buy a copy. The included DLC is more than enough to make up for the occasional gimmicky misstep, and the rest of the experience holds up remarkably well. Even if this isn’t the definitive version of the game, it is still a port of arguably the best superhero video game of all time.
A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes and played for about 8 hours. The title was previously completed by the reviewer on the PC.
Sage Reviews - Batman: Arkham City
Wow...just wow. Batman: Arkham City Video Review - ZGR
ZGR Daniel gives you the scoop on Batman: Arkham City! ZGR - Video Review Batman: Arkham City Angry Review
Batman encounters a mysterious new villain as Angry Joe reviews Arkham City. Can Rocksteady and the Dark Knight live up to all the hype in this highly anticipated sequel? And just who is this new villain's true identity? Find out! Batman: Arkham City Review
With expectations now sky high, Arkham City doesn't have the luxury of flying under the radar. This only makes what Rocksteady has created that much more impressive. Batman Arkham City: Harley's Revenge Review
With the fate of Harley Quinn left up in the air at the end of Arkham City, this DLC has got fans excited to find out more. If you haven't found the Easter Egg in the Joker's office and don't wish for spoilers from the original campaign, do not read this review and get away from the internet!-
November 20, 2012 at 06:20pm
I told you, Skitch!
While a lot of developers had learned long ago that the touch screen is used best when used minimally, those were all portable developers. Most American companies don’t work on portables at all, except for phones (and most of them still try to make the touchscreen be used like a regular controller, much to everyone’s chagrin). They were bound to do this stupid crap since they never dealt with it in the first place.
-
November 19, 2012 at 08:54pm
I sorta expected that this game would be the example to point to for how to use the Pad well and horribly wrong at the same time. I just hope that the gimmick of making you swipe and slap at the controller screen for tedious stuff is used infrequently in future games.
Also guiding that Baterang gave me horrible flashbacks of Heavenly Sword’s sniper sections. Admittedly, I’m sure Rocksteady is a far, far more competent developer than Ninja Theory. Hell 5 chimps taped to an Apple II would be a better developer than Ninja Theory.
Arkham City Conclusion is AWESOME!
I can’t believe that Robin was actually Harley Quinn the WHOLE TIME! All this and the ACTUAL plot twists in our Arkham City Long Haul conclusion!
Batman: Arkham City Angry Review
Batman encounters a mysterious new villain as Angry Joe reviews Arkham City. Can Rocksteady and the Dark Knight live up to all the hype in this highly anticipated sequel? And just who is this new villain’s true identity? Find out!
Batman: Arkham City Video Review - ZGR
ZGR Daniel gives you the scoop on Batman: Arkham City! ZGR – Video Review
Batman: Arkham City Long Haul!
What is longer than this cosplay-through? The ICE AGE! Why not CHILL with these COOL bats with some Arkham City… FREEZE PUN!
Better With Wii U? - Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition
This isn’t the game Nintendo deserves, but it’s the one it needs.
Check Out Arkham City's Boy Wonder
Dick Grayson’s out and Tim Drake’s in. Looks like Robin won’t be laying any eggs today.
The Arkham games are a whole lot of fun, best of all so many villains.
i might rent this one, i dont know, i saw arkham assylum as an overated hype beast so i dont really have that much interest in this one, assylum was ok, but just that, so many people out there talk about assylum like one of the best games ever made and it wasnt, it really wasnt, altho this one seems to have fixed a lot of the things the previous one failed at for me, then again, the world seems to be very open in this one, and im really not a big fan of giganto videogame worlds, they make me ocd and make me want to look every damn pixel of the thing and i really dont like to get obssesed at videogames
I am Batman!!!
I think the AI is slightly better, as even plain thugs seem better at tracking when Batman runs off–if you don’t use the smoke bomb.
I also think you should have mentioned that you have most of the weapons you got in the previous game from the start. No Zelda-esque crash that makes you lose your weapons.
I also wonder what people think of Alfred vs. Oracle.
3 videos of Arkham City on the main page? Don’t you think that’s a bit excessive?
Only three? The site must be slacking!
;D
If three different people who get front page billing do Arkham City, then you get three videos of Arkham City.
So basically, they took one of The Best Games for this generation… AND IMPROVED IT DRASTICALLY! How can this possibly be not awesome?
I was surprised by how much Arkham City Outdid Arkham Asylum. I couldn’t find a single thing wrong with the game. The story was incredible, and even while I was able to vaguely guess what it was leading up to, it still managed to keep pulling surprises on me, especially the end. The side missions weren’t busy work at all, but engaging mini-stories against other Batman villains, and the hints it drops for the next Batman game sound downright mind-blowing.
Of course, those hints are pretty vague and can only be found if you look hard enough, so it’s not like a cliffhanger or anything.
Good review sage, fune to watch (I dont always bitch about your reviews…only when I dissagree xD)
I won’t be picking this game up any time soon tho. Mainly because of the busy months ahead.
I still have to finish Dark Souls (yea right) and next week the mail will deliver Battlefield 3. 11 november Skyrim is due and a bit later Saints Row: The Third.
December sees The Old Republic releasing and Q1 2012 Diablo 3 will see the light of day (FINALLY!!). So…busy busy busy.
Hands down the very best game I’ve played this entire year.
They hyped up the game quite well and still managed to exceed my expectations. It’s very well crafted, acted, entertaining, huge and still everthing comes together as one. Nothing feels disjointed.
I pre-ordered from Amazon Germany to get Robin early as a playable character in the Challenge maps and even he feels like a completely unique character with his own gadgets and playstyles. Expect the same from Nightwing, when he is released on November 1st.
It’s a shame to see, how good Rocksteady gets Batman and how little Beenox does get Spider-Man.
Arkham Asylum was great game but Arkham City is even better. Besides option to play as Catwoman is awesome addition.
I wasn’t sure either if they could surpass Arkham Asylum but they got rid of the stupidness that was the ending of that game and somehow made it even funner to play. Glad I picked this game up!
Definitely a very good game. In terms of gameplay, a flat-up improvement on its predecessor, to a surprising degree. The many new moves and gadgets, and new types of enemies that require their use to take down, are just incredibly well-implemented.
To give some criticisms, I did feel that the story – or stories rather, as there are really two major plotlines that really don’t have any real effect on each other (broadly speaking, the Joker’s and Hugo Strange’s) – were weaker than they could have been, especially in the endings, but they’re still a fun ride while they last. I also personally don’t like the sandboxy design and overuse of sidequests, as those always just leave me feeling like there’s too much unnecessary stuff and not enough focus on the core of the game, the main story, but that is a personal taste thing. And the game’s gameplay and the fun ride the story provides for most of it is definitely strong enough to carry it for me in spite of that.
Oh, and Ras al Ghul and Mister Freeze were two of the best boss fights I’ve had in any game in a long time. I give them a lot of credit on those.
GOTY contender.
Beaten this game, yet I still am not done playing. This game is that good!
sage is batman
Only able to see this game in Let’s Play perspective and review perspective so far,I do love how City looks especially the Music. Its one of the best Batman Soundtracks I’ve ever heard next to BTAS and Danny Elfmans score on the first Batman Movie..hell it even sounds like an soundtrack from Elfman.
While I felt the feeling of being slightly overwhelmed at first, I never felt it to be a bad thing. It was exciting to see so much scale and openness, allowing you to feel even more like Batman than before with Arkham Asylum. The story was amazing, everything was extremely well done, and I could not think of any other way this would’ve been a better sequel.
The only downside to this? Where does Rocksteady go from here? lol This will be one hell of a game to try and top or perfect if they do another sequel.
They planted lots of hints to a sequel game in Arkham City.
I don’t want to give anything away, but you might want to go back to the Steel Mill’s office and check the floor there. There are also a bunch of secret radio frequencies, which give out numbers for letters in the alphabet.
And finally, like in Arkham Asylum where you could find Quincy Sharp’s plans for Arkham City in a secret room, there is a secret hatch hidden inside the city. Contact me, if you want to know where.
I actually would like to know about this secret. I know that they COULD do a sequel, with the teases they left and such, but in terms of a game, they couldn’t just do Arkham City 2, so would they go for a straight up Batman: Gotham, with even more scale and all the baddies from before and new ones? I’m not sure, but I’m just excited to see where they go from here.
It’s located in the Industrial District on one of the boats near the collapsed bridge. You can access it with the Cryptographic Sequencer, but be warned: It’s the hardest password in the entire game.
Rhymes with “Pity the Error”.
Thanks for that. I’ll try to remember it when I’m able to get into the PC version next month.
Great review Sage. I’ve been on the fence about this one. I may just pick it up now.