Arkham City: Comics Airpower

[Abishai100]

Batman: Arkham City is a 2011 action-adventure video game developed by Rocksteady Studios and released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and Microsoft Windows. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the sequel to the 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum and the second installment in the Batman: Arkham series. It was released worldwide for consoles, beginning in North America on October 18, 2011, with a Microsoft Windows version following on November 22.

Written by veteran Batman writer Paul Dini with Paul Crocker and Sefton Hill, Arkham City is based on the franchise's long-running comic book mythos. In the game's main storyline, Batman is incarcerated in Arkham City, a huge new super-prison enclosing the decaying urban slums of fictional Gotham City. He must uncover the secret behind the sinister scheme, "Protocol 10", orchestrated by the facility's warden, Hugo Strange. The game's leading characters are predominantly voiced by actors from the DC Animated Universe, with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their roles as Batman and the Joker, respectively. The game is presented from the third-person perspective with a primary focus on Batman's combat and stealth abilities, detective skills, and gadgets that can be used in both combat and exploration. Arkham City expands Batman's arsenal of gadgets and combat attacks and offers a more open world structure, allowing the player to complete side missions away from the primary storyline.

The game received critical acclaim, particularly for its narrative, character and world designs, soundtrack, and Batman's combat and navigation abilities. It was tied for the highest-rated video game of 2011 according to review aggregator Metacritic, and was the recipient of several awards including: Game of the Year, Best Action Game, Best Action Adventure Game, Best Adventure Game, and Best Original Score from various media outlets, and it is considered one of the best games ever made (source of information from top: Wikipedia).




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Arkham City is an achievement in video games, comic book art/storytelling, and criminal insanity ethos.

The Insanity Defense is a complicated aspect of criminal law, and it expounds on loose-ethics discussions about undeveloped rehabilitation treatments and necessary tranquilization. Since the modern age has seen all kinds 'public access Court TV' programs such as Law & Order and The People's Court, intriguing legal concepts such as the insanity defense received much social attention.

Arkham Asylum is the ultimate incarceration center for the criminally insane in comic book literature, and Arkham City is a video game and entertainment symbol of 'legalese consciousness.'

Arkham City features iconic Bat-nemeses such as Joker and Mr. Freeze challenging Batman, Catwoman, and Robin in a deadly game of 'criminal insanity courage' and therefore offers us Batman (DC Comics) fans a window into Gotham's darkness.

This game boasts great gameplay, atmospherics, storyboarding, gadgets/weapons, labyrinths, and characterization and can therefore be used liberally in various discussions about comic book graffiti. We can ask questions such as, "How are comics art satellites representative of ratings marketing?"


MR. FREEZE: Arkham is a breeding ground for terror.
BATMAN: Arkham just might save every vigilante.
MR. FREEZE: Arkham feels like a disease.
BATMAN: Arkham will be dystopian at worst.

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Batman: Arkham City

 

[Abishai100]

Systems Drawing

I like comparing Batman in Arkham City to the protagonist from the visionary Wachowski Brothers' systems-paranoia film The Matrix, Neo, a Messianic computer-hacker who discovers the universe is controlled by a parasitic species of A.I. robots who must be defied to save humanity's basic imagination.

Batman has to scour through a gloomy urban landscape and deal with unsavory figures who force him to deal with the odiousness of violent/criminal insanity just like Neo has to deal with 'systemic claustrophobia.'

Atmospherics/storytelling has been a key component in new age video games, a market trend which arguably began with the release of the realm-adventure Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda.

The ironical question is, "If virtual reality technology does not become as popular as, say, the iPhone, will our current mosaic of video games provide fans with the necessary 'escapism-intelligence experience'?"

Maybe the pendulum will swing back and video games will once again be action-oriented and less story-driven. However, I predict that games such as Arkham City reveal an evolved fan interest in atmospherics-based 'thrill-rides,' and the string of story-fun comics-adapted films (fertile for video game adaptations) should only boost satellite video game sales.


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BATMAN: So, you believe you're oppressed by machines?
NEO: Doesn't your nemesis Ra's al Ghul create oppressive fascist models for 'revolution'?
BATMAN: Yes! However, machines are not criminally insane.
NEO: True, but oppressive machines with no democratic intentions are just as 'unruly.'
BATMAN: Perhaps, but 'Arkham City' requires direct governance.
NEO: I see what you mean. All I have to do is destroy machines, but you have to 'cure' insanity!
BATMAN: Correct. Your machines are brutal but honest; Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow (etc.) are deceptive.
NEO: What do you think 'my' machines are honest about?
BATMAN: Machines/computers could theoretically measure human fatigue (nothing vague).
NEO: Oh. Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow (etc.) needle humanity about more than fatigue (e.g., eco-pollution).
BATMAN: Correct. However, I too feel 'oppressed' by a system of 'doubt.'
NEO: Seems to me your 'liberty' is found in the choice of defense-oriented weaponry.
BATMAN: Yes, well, I never use weapons that are mayhem-oriented like Joker/Riddler (etc.) do!
NEO: In that case, 'Arkham City' is something like a 'Metropolis Matrix.'
BATMAN: Criminal insanity is a true study.
NEO: Maybe they should make a Batman-Neo double-portal 'crusader video game.'
BATMAN: It would be oddly representative of human interests in 'lifestyle virtual reality'!

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