Post by Steve Farrelly @ 10:14am 23/11/11 | 128 Comments
Batman: Arkham City, one of the year's most decorated releases, makes its PC debut today (available on Steam, Origin and other digital stores, as well as at retail) with a host of PC-specific features such as heady use of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX PhysX, which you can catch in the video embedded below, and for anyone who missed it, we have an in-depth review of game, as played on Xbox 360, which offers a pretty good insight into why you should put Skyrim down, even just for a little bit, and don the cowl of Batman.
It's also worth noting that the second batch of DLC for the game, the Robin Bundle Pack is now also available alongside the Nightwing and Catwoman Bundle Packs, and will set you back 520 MS Points or $11.45 for PSN and PC. Watch the video for it right here.
Click here for our review, or here to watch the below video in glorious HD.
Buy now from ozgameshop.com Only AUD$10.99!
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Posted 10:27am 23/11/11
it's not out on steam until the 25th. looks like they've bundle us in with the UK release date.
Posted 11:44am 23/11/11
Posted 11:48am 23/11/11
Posted 12:04pm 23/11/11
GOTY in my books, hands down.
Posted 12:16pm 23/11/11
Posted 12:26pm 23/11/11
Posted 01:48pm 23/11/11
heh when i go to the store page it says it's not available in my region. hopefully it's working fine at home.
Posted 05:54pm 23/11/11
Posted 10:10pm 23/11/11
Posted 02:56pm 24/11/11
Posted 05:44pm 24/11/11
Posted 05:45pm 24/11/11
Posted 07:30pm 24/11/11
Posted 07:48pm 24/11/11
Posted 07:49pm 24/11/11
Posted 07:53pm 24/11/11
Posted 08:01pm 24/11/11
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/11/23/batman_arkham_city_performance_preview
Posted 08:34pm 24/11/11
Posted 08:45pm 24/11/11
Posted 09:01pm 24/11/11
Posted 09:14pm 24/11/11
Heh, I bought a GFWL key from Intkeys, they neglected to mention that I'd need a copy of the install DVD to get the game onto the system so that I can enter the key.
Posted 09:22pm 24/11/11
Lol. That sucks. Check their page, normally they say if the game is non steam/EADM and requires the game to be already installed. I would take it up with them and push for a refund if they f***ed up the page.
I was checking BF3 prices and found a key store saying activate with steam and loled.
Posted 09:26pm 24/11/11
can you activate the game through GFWL and download it through their client?
last edited by ravn0s at 21:26:25 24/Nov/11
Posted 09:26pm 24/11/11
Posted 09:56pm 24/11/11
Whats the point of buying a key if you still need to torrent it? Unlocks online play and gives you a legit version, but the torrent versions are slow and sometimes buggy. I paid for a key for Batman1 because it deserved it but my torrent version was still buggy and crashed although the key allowed me to post scores online (not that i was interested in that).
GFWL doesnt have a DL client AFAIK.
Its s***** if the key store didnt mention the key was for non-steam version. Dirt 3, batman 1, street fighter are all keys i can recall that specifically said they were non steam.
Posted 12:00am 25/11/11
Posted 12:57am 25/11/11
Posted 09:11am 25/11/11
Posted 11:06am 25/11/11
I can't seem to get the dropping shockwave attack or whatever to work either.
Also, am I meant to be solving all the riddler puzzles? Cos a few I've found are totally f***ed... I'm assuming I will get more abilities later in the game that will make solving them a bit more possible?
Posted 11:20am 25/11/11
FYI, Steve posted some news from Rocksteady about the DX11 issues:
http://www.ausgamers.com/forums/general/thread.php/3144015
Posted 01:38pm 25/11/11
i don't think it's mandatory to complete them. you will have to wait until you get some extra gadgets to complete some. i believe there's also a few you can complete until you do a new game+
Posted 01:44pm 25/11/11
But yeah, a lot of them need gadgets you don't have at the start. Some of them need gadgets you wont get until very close to the end.
Posted 01:53pm 25/11/11
not to mention bf3 has consumed me since being released, and i want to get back onto dark souls at some point
there is one trophy in particular that has pissed me off, it's in the industrial area. you step on this button and 3 hydraulic doors open just down in front of you and there are 2 question marks you have to knock out with batarangs. the question mark to the right has 2 doors in front of it that open when you step in the button as well as the main door to the area. the question mark to the left has no doors guarding it apart from that main one.
when you step on the button the doors open and then start closing slowly straight away.
annoying++
last edited by paveway at 13:53:42 25/Nov/11
Posted 01:55pm 25/11/11
Posted 06:22pm 25/11/11
aha khel, REMOTE batarang! I think I can get a few more riddler trophies....
The one where there's 6 question marks to blow, each in a cage. I figured I can get 3 of them with explosive gel, and batarang the rest, but I always miss it by half a second. It doesn't help that batman is a slow fat c*** with clumsy weapon switching.
Posted 06:41pm 25/11/11
I've got 2 side missions left, the riddler hostages and the identity thief. The identity thief one is pissing me off because all it says is "find further leads to the investigation" and i have no idea what to do.
Posted 10:31pm 01/12/11
Posted 11:31pm 01/12/11
Posted 12:00am 02/12/11
Posted 12:44am 02/12/11
Posted 04:48am 02/12/11
It's a great game. The story isn't as smooth as the first, the completely open world and side missions / novelty elements everywhere is a bit overwhelming / disjointed. But once you get a few upgrades, getting around Arkham City becomes really really fun and I forgot all about that. ;)
Posted 09:28am 02/12/11
also the game always crashes the first time i start it up. it crashes when it says it's searching for dlc. after that it's fine though.
Posted 10:14am 02/12/11
Yep that's what the game sets out to do. It doesn't hold your hand and it leaves it up to you to decide what you want to do, when you want to do it and how. After all Batman is the world's greatest detective. It's just a matter of looking at your map and deciding what you want to do next in terms of major/minor objectives. You can also set custom waypoints so you can navigate the city a bit easier to reach riddles etc. That or you can just randomly dive bomb/glide around coming across s*** and beating up punks to level up. I love the scope of the game because you can never run out of things to do. Something i found lacking in the AA. In saying that one thing I did find overwhelming are all the COMBO
GAMINGmoves i had to learn. Execution wasn't difficult but it was a matter of remembering what to do when.Posted 10:20am 02/12/11
Posted 10:54am 02/12/11
Spoiler:
I was kinda hoping you'd get another cool gadget upgrade or somethingafter completing the rest of the challenges but you never do, just some stupid art work and some trophy. Bit lame cause they were damn hard
Posted 11:50am 02/12/11
ravn0s that was my initial thoughts as well, but it definitely does get better.
Posted 12:45pm 02/12/11
that's the one i was trying. i gave up after 20 attempts. wont bother with them now since you don't get another gadget for them.
Posted 04:32pm 02/12/11
Spoiler:
Mark Hamill Retires From His Role as The Joker After 19 Years - link
Posted 04:39pm 02/12/11
Posted 08:13pm 02/12/11
Now I see what you mean. Holy s***.
Also, this game is just kickass. Have not stopped playing it. It's even distracted me from Skyrim. They really have done a amazing job, and I loved Aslyum, yet they have found a way to one up it. Hopefully the next Arkham title is even more amazing.
Posted 01:23am 03/12/11
Posted 03:15am 03/12/11
Posted 08:31am 03/12/11
Posted 09:35am 03/12/11
Posted 10:44am 03/12/11
Its not Rocksteady's fault that you're not famiilar enough with the source material :P All the villains they used are pretty well established characters in the comics and are all part of Batman's rogues gallery. Except Deadshot, I mean, hes still a pretty well estbalished character in the comics (and was even in some of the animated shows), but hes not strictly a Batman villain, still was pretty cool to see him in there.
My only real complaint about the roster of villains is some felt a bit under-used and too short. Was a bit disappointed that Black Mask only shows up in the intro and then in a DLC challenge map, and that Mad Hatter bit was awesome so I was a bit let down when there wasn't more (I was expecting it to be like the Scarecrow from Arkham Asylum). Same with Deadshot, he really only shows up in time to get taken down and locked in a train carriage, and Hush was not much more than a tease for a future game.
Posted 11:49am 03/12/11
Also realised today, seems just about everybody in the batman universe is caucasian. :P
edit: Also was I supposed to rescue Vicki Vale from the Mad Hatter or something? I did his tea party quest thing, but she was there when he appeared, and now seems to be gone.
Posted 11:56am 03/12/11
Hugo Strange has been around for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages, but hes not particularly interesting so doesn't get used much and is probably one of the more obscure characters in the game. I was honestly quite suprised when early on they announced he was one of the main villains, I was like "Nobody is going to have any idea who this guy is", but they kinda of treated him like he was a new character just being introduced in the game, so that worked.
Azrael is probably another of the more obscure characters, especially since it was the new Azrael they used, who's comic got cancelled after less than a year cos nobody was reading it.
Oracle is the original Batgirl, Commissioner Gordon's daughter. Joker shot her and crippled her and put her in a wheelchair so now she chills out in front of computers and acts as Batman's intelligence network.
Posted 12:01pm 03/12/11
Azrael must be the dude who's missions I haven't finished, I thought that it might have actually been the mask of phantasm character, but that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for batman not to know who that was now.
Strange worked out fairly well overall, Spoiler:
he seemed to be blaring our Batman's identity to everybody within earshot towards the end, but certain explosions might have taken care of that...
Posted 12:18pm 03/12/11
Yeah, hes the dude you randomly find on rooftops, with the flaming sword, and he leaves runes behind. The original Azrael was part of the whole Knightfall saga where Bane broke Batman's back, then Azrael took over as Batman but went power mad and a bit crazy and Bruce Wayne had to stop him. The new Azrael on the other hand is some token black guy who nobody gives a s*** about. They planned a cross-over between the Azrael comic, and Batman, but then the Azrael comic got cancelled before the cross-over came out, so when the cross-over came out it was just stupidly confusing and made people dislike him even more. Not very well played on DC's part.
Posted 12:44pm 03/12/11
Posted 02:39pm 05/12/11
Posted 02:17pm 03/12/11
how did they end up saving Gotham from the virus? Did they just sipher Ra's bloody from his speared corpse (did not see that twist coming btw, was awesome)?
Posted 02:18pm 03/12/11
Spoiler:
I don't think they did Eorl, it was a dark ending all round.
Posted 02:48pm 03/12/11
Yeah, I don't think they did, cos wasn't there a conversation with Oracle at the end where they were talking about how they'd have to monitor the hospitals and blood banks to see if an outbreak was going to occur?
Also
Spoiler:
Sif Ra's Al Ghul is really dead, coming back to life after he gets killed is like his thing, hes pro at that. No more Mark Hamill Joker sucks though :( I did love the ending bit with the Joker though, after the fight with Hugo Strange and Ra's I thought I had finished it and I was thinking "Damn, they had so many villains in the game, but they didn't use Clayface" and then BAM
Posted 03:00pm 03/12/11
Clayface was bloody brutal on highest difficult. Hell the very start with catwoman was difficult on highest difficulty. Truly a great game, might just be my GOTY besides Skyrim. Wonder if the next Batman is just going to be Batman: Gotham City. They could make these Batman games till the end of time, I will buy every single one.
Posted 03:09pm 03/12/11
The clayface twist was absolutely fantastic, so many "what the hell just happened" moments with that right up until the end, with both the joker deaths.
They had a new harley voice actor, it was a little noticeable but still reasonably good. Tbh I didn't like catwoman's voice much, despite the voice actress being one of my favourites (seriously she's in *everything*). The character just seemed too sexualised and too two-dimensional, at least until s*** got challenging for her after the credits.
Posted 03:16pm 03/12/11
Posted 05:18pm 04/12/11
Posted 06:21pm 04/12/11
Posted 07:10pm 04/12/11
Posted 07:35pm 04/12/11
Posted 08:07pm 04/12/11
Posted 08:28pm 04/12/11
Posted 08:37pm 04/12/11
Posted 08:39pm 04/12/11
Posted 08:47pm 04/12/11
Posted 10:10pm 04/12/11
Posted 11:23pm 04/12/11
Posted 11:32pm 04/12/11
i wonder if they're going to do a third game. i would love to see rocksteady try another dc character.
last edited by ravn0s at 23:32:46 04/Dec/11
Posted 11:45pm 04/12/11
Posted 12:16am 05/12/11
Posted 01:19am 05/12/11
Posted 01:25am 05/12/11
Posted 01:27am 05/12/11
Posted 06:37am 05/12/11
And the riddles are very hard to follow. The riddle appears for a second when you first enter an area, and the riddler page in the bat computer is just wtf.
Posted 09:20am 05/12/11
the menu system in arkham asylum was pretty bad too, but i think it was better than the system in arkham city.
Posted 12:34pm 05/12/11
The riddler page is confusing at the start but once you start collecting s*** and marking them off you start figure out what's what.
Posted 02:17pm 05/12/11
I didn't get the collector's edition or anything, but I got the pre-order one that came with Robin. Now that I think about it though, maybe you need to beat the game first before you can do it, cos it definitely lets me pick a costume when I go back in and continue my normal game, but I've already finished the main storyline, so maybe thats what unlocked the ability to do it. I've been playing my normal game as the Earth 1 Batman, and New Game+ as Animated Batman :P
Posted 02:36pm 05/12/11
Any idea if there's any point to that? I did it in one region, and it just cluttered my map with icons...
Posted 03:05pm 05/12/11
Posted 03:09pm 05/12/11
Posted 05:35pm 05/12/11
Posted 07:38pm 05/12/11
Posted 08:39pm 05/12/11
I bought the Nightwing DLC but haven't even played it yet, but its just challenge maps too.
Posted 08:43pm 05/12/11
I haven't even gotten around playing batman challenge maps! some of those riddler trophies are doing my head in..
Posted 09:12pm 05/12/11
Posted 09:24pm 05/12/11
If I had pirated the game I wouldn't have to put up with this s*** and yet they are measures put in place as a deterrent to piracy?
Posted 09:28pm 05/12/11
I just sorta found all that info from arkham asylum
Posted 11:19pm 05/12/11
Posted 09:45am 06/12/11
Spoiler:
were the ones where you need to get up high above the pad, then bomb dive down onto it, to hit it with enough force that it lights up all the arrows. Like that carnival game where you need to hit the thing with a sledgehammer and try and ring the bell.
Posted 09:46am 06/12/11
Posted 10:03am 06/12/11
save batman?
Posted 10:50am 06/12/11
the credits roll. And then it rewinds and you get another chance.
Posted 11:20am 06/12/11
I was surprised when I discovered grappling between multiple buttons, tightrope walking, and the different ways dive bombing can be used to get the trophies. Still don't have them all, I don't think I even have enough to do the last riddler mission - though I'm not sure how that works.
Posted 11:50am 06/12/11
A similar to that one that i figured out last night is:
Spoiler:
There are 4 pads in a square separated by fence and the only way to press them all without stepping on the ground is to shoot straight up, glide around and bomb dive back down again, rinse repeat 3 times and BAM! I'M BATMAN!
OMG you serious, that's a bit s***** because they should tell you how to use a gadget. That's the one trophy that is s***ting me to tears ! i had the right idea i just didn't know how to execute it. I tried everything except that. I was this close to looking it up on the net.
Posted 11:58am 06/12/11
Posted 12:41pm 06/12/11
What % of game completion are you up to? I'm at 66% with only the riddler side mission left and something like 270 trophies out of 400 (not sure if that's 400 batman and catwoman). Still need to save the last riddler hostage and have no idea how many riddles/trophies i need to collect to trigger it.
Posted 01:03pm 06/12/11
I've got most of the riddler trophies, just need a few remaining ones in the subway I think, haven't got all the Catwoman ones but I dunno if that counts towards completion or not (but theres an achievement for it anyway so I'll probably do it). Killed all the cameras and all the breakable stuff and solved all the riddles though, and completed all the challenges.
I've only done a few of the challenge maps though, and haven't finished New Game+, I dunno if those count towards the 100% completion.
Posted 01:00pm 06/12/11
O M F G there are a couple of trohpies i gave up on because of not knowing that
Posted 07:03pm 06/12/11
last edited by thermite at 19:03:28 06/Dec/11
Posted 07:04pm 06/12/11
what could go wrong there
even if you could fly the batwing - what are you going to do in it that you couldn't already do in the ground ?
last edited by paveway at 19:04:06 06/Dec/11
Posted 08:49pm 06/12/11
Posted 09:13pm 06/12/11
Posted 09:42pm 06/12/11
Posted 09:02am 09/12/11
the one in the water in a long cage has been driving me crazy
Posted 10:22am 09/12/11
If so: Spoiler:
Get up somewhere high on another building and then just glide over them.
Posted 11:01am 09/12/11
Posted 11:38am 09/12/11
Have you got the freeze grenades yet? Cos it needs that gadget (if its the one I'm thinking of)
Posted 11:54am 09/12/11
Posted 07:05pm 10/12/11
Posted 07:13pm 10/12/11
Posted 07:13pm 10/12/11
Posted 07:35pm 10/12/11
Yeah I left most of them until after, though
Spoiler:
with deadshot the story referenced to it being about 2:30am, and I'm fairly sure that the sun was rising at the end of the main story...
Posted 01:03am 11/12/11
Posted 12:51am 11/12/11
Oh ffs... how the f*** were we meant to figure that out?
I've been flying remote batarangs around looking for electricity too
Posted 02:31pm 11/12/11
last edited by ravn0s at 14:31:52 11/Dec/11
Posted 03:04pm 11/12/11
Posted 03:12pm 11/12/11
shame mark hamill won't be doing the joker again :(