After beating Earthbound, I’m now playing Batman: Arkham City: Armored Edition for Wii U. I had only played it a couple hours or so before today, so I’m still very early in the game. As you load up your game, some static screens are displayed that show what happened last time. This serves to refresh your memory of what’s going on, as well as give you a reminder of what your next objective is. I really think that’s a great idea.
Once you’re out in the city, you’re free to roam around. Using Batman’s grappling hook, you can quickly scale skyscrapers for a great view. You can use your cape to glide around, and grapple back up when you need to. It’s pretty fun just exploring the city on rooftops without ever touching the ground.
Of course there are objectives for you to complete, but the game doesn’t rush you. And you can drop in on some random thugs for some action anytime.
But eventually, I got to the location of my next objective. I had to sneak into the steel mill through the chimney.
There are puzzles to solve, many of which involve the use of Batman’s gadgets. The game uses a lot of buttons, button combinations, and the GamePad screen, so the controls can be confusing at first. For example, you need to press ZR + B to open a hatch or L stick + B + B to dive through a window. Not the most intuitive controls and I’m still trying to get the hang of it all.
Even though I’m not the biggest fan of stealth in games, it is put to good use in this game. Batman can grapple up to vantage points where people on the ground/floor level can’t see him. He can then drop down behind a bad guy when the time is right and silently take him out without being spotted. Hey, if he can do it in the movies, why not in the game too? Pretty cool stuff.
I will be playing more Arkham City over the coming weeks. I’m currently only 5% through the main story mode, and only 1% through the game overall. But this blog won’t be limited to just Batman. Zen Pinball 2 comes out for Wii U next week (supposedly), so I will give that a try. The game itself is free, but the tables are sold individually as DLC. They do let you sample at least some of them though, so I will definitely give them a try next week. I may also revisit some other games in the near future, so stay tuned.