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17 Nov 2014 - 5 Jan 2015
Batman has only just begun to fight crime in Gotham; this takes place in the second year of his everlasting crusade. The infamous crime boss Black Mask decides to get rid of Batman once and for all, and sets an impressive bounty upon the Dark Knight's head. Batman must defeat the bounty hunters, solve Enigma's clues, and bring Black Mask to justice.
It's funny, but I didn't accomplish any of the above tasks in full.
This is your typical Batman game: swoop in, beat up bad guys, level up, get more gadgets to beat them up even more. Batman never feels incredibly overpowered - even a couple mooks with guns is enough to give me trouble - but if you approach each situation with caution and strategy, you can handily win the day, putting the fear of the law into the criminals of Gotham.
The story is fairly linear, as the games before it. The only real sidequests are the Enigma trophies scattered about, which I barely bothered with. Some require a specific gadget, some just careful thinking. I'm not much good with puzzles; I prefer to cut the Gordian knot. So I skipped them.
Enigma doesn't look like his alter-ego at all. It's a little disorienting that this stereotypical twerp in a sweater vest thinks he can go against the greatest analytical mind of the age. Now, granted, Batman is only just emerging from the shadow of myth and urban legend, but ... OK, I admit it; I just miss the costume. No question mark motif?
He's the only one that feels off. Joker looks great, Bane is his old intelligent self (in a nice nod to his origins in the comic), and Slade is, well, Slade.
The only real difference I have to note between this Batman game and the others is the boss battles. Slade serves as a wake-up boss: timing is absolutely critical for the counters and attacks. Button mashing, which could be serviceable if used in previous games, will straight up get you killed.
That's actually a good improvement. The Batman titles usually straddle the line between Action and Stealth, doing both rather well. There's a clear attempt to make the action side just a bit better.
There are some awful bugs, but they're only momentarily distracting. The 2-D platforming sections aren't thought out very well - there's no reason to allow Z-axis movement on a flat plane, especially when positioning is vital to make the jumps. The best contrast would be to look at the Scarecrow section in the first Arkham Asylum game, and compare it to the Mad Hatter chapter. Bats should stick to the center of the path, or else you can spend forever mistiming jumps and setting explosives in the wrong place.
And sometimes bad guys will just stand around instead of attacking, or are just not able to be interacted with at all (which can break progress).
The worst problem was that I couldn't accomplish the main story goal, which was to defeat each of the bounty hunters. One spot was left empty, even after completing the plotline. Maybe it was dependent on finishing Enigma's collection game? But that's not something I'm going to do any time soon.
These are fairly minor complaints. Even if I were to say that this is the worst Batman game (which is debatable), it's still a high quality production.
Worth playing.