Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition Review

Back in November 2011, I gave Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham City the perfect score of 10/10, praising the game for its storyline, atmosphere, gameplay and characters. Since then, the developers have done anything but abandon their creation, with new DLC (one of which expanded the title’s shocking ending) and a whole range of merchandise, including figures and comic books, being released left, right and centre. Yet in the last few months, rumours have been circulating surrounding the next title in the series, suggesting that perhaps Arkham City is over, however with the introduction of Nintendo’s latest console, the Wii U, Rocksteady have shown that perhaps there is still life to squeeze out of this masterpiece, providing players with a port, including the entire game and all of the aforementioned DLC, plus integration with Nintendo’s GamePad.

Because Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition is effectively exactly the same game as to the one that was released just over a year ago, this review will work slightly differently, instead focussing on the title’s new features regarding the GamePad and whether they’re good enough to invest in, especially if you’ve already put countless hours into the game on other consoles. If you’ve never played the game before in your life, then know that the game is fantastic and is easily one of the greatest this generation has ever seen. If you’re more interested in what the Wii U contributes to the experience, then you may not be so ecstatic to hear that, whilst the core gameplay is as good as ever, the whole title feels no different on the GamePad than it did with a normal controller.

There’s nothing drastically wrong with Rocksteady’s port, but it’s hard not to feel that the whole effort was pointless. The Wii U is an exciting new console with a great main concept, giving such a fantastic game the potential to become something so much more, yet its new features just feel bland. Every time the title required me to switch to the GamePad, I never once felt that what the game was getting me to do was a worthwhile and effective use of the system. It was all vastly underwhelming.

Detective Mode in Arkham City plays a large part of the GamePad integration, with players using the tablet to scan environments for clues. This sounds fine on paper and whilst it has no fundamental problems, it just doesn’t have the impact it should have and feels very empty. This goes for everything else that the GamePad is used for: selecting gadgets from Batman’s inventory is cumbersome with the lack of being able to select items from the directional buttons on the tablet and the addition of the new sonar feature to help detect enemies is just pointless, as the on-screen Detective Mode has worked in the past and still operates now in being able to see where the bad guys are.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to port a brilliant game onto a great console but for it to work successfully, there needs to be a genuine reason behind it and that’s what Arkham City Armored Edition lacks. There was never a moment throughout the game that made me realise why Rocksteady had decided to give Wii U players the chance to experience this masterpiece and that was a shame. But what it lacks in reasons for its existence, it makes up for in polish as Rocksteady have done what most developers usually fail at: porting a title to a new console with the technical side of it still intact. Arkham City Armored Edition still looks beautiful, despite the fact that is has of course been toned down in terms of detail, and it has very few moments of slowdown, meaning that no matter what console you play it on, Rocksteady’s hard work shines through in the graphical department.

Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition is still, just over a year later, a fantastic game, with a gripping narrative and fantastic gameplay, and whilst Rocksteady’s Wii U port is technically brilliant, the integration of the latest console lacks clarity. Never once does the game suffer because of this but it’s just a shame that the developers didn’t do more to make Arkham City on the Wii U feel like it needs to exist.