The Robin and Nightwing challenge DLC was really cute, but when it comes to DLC, the fans really expect a bit more bang for their buck. And as big a fan of Arkham City as I am, I want to tell everyone that Harley Quinn’s Revenge is amazing, but honestly, it’s merely a notch above any other DLC we’ve seen from Rocksteady.
Batman: Arkham City: Harley Quinn’s Revenge
Developer: Rocksteady
Released: May 29, 2012
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
*SPOLER ALERT* If you still haven’t finished Batman: Arkham City‘s main campaign, then you won’t want to jump right into Harley Quinn’s Revenge just yet, but this review will, however, remain spoiler free…as much as it can, anyway.
If you’re familiar with any of Rocksteady’s previous downloadable content, then you’re likely familiar with handling Batman’s number two, Robin, whom you’ll be playing as for the majority of this new two hour adventure. When Batman goes missing for two days in Arkham City, it’s up to you, the Boy Wonder, to locate your mentor, assuming he’s still alive.
Gameplay-wise, there is little new here if you’ve already played as Robin in the challenge modes. Sure, you take control of the first side-kick in a more open world aspect, but in this DLC, Arkham City isn’t as open for business as it was previously. You’re confined to the Steel Mill district, leaving the rest of the city prison off limits, and you spend a lot of time in new interior environments. Given how well we’ve seen DLC in sandbox environments like Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto, I was surprised to see Rocksteady didn’t use the full potential of their “Arkham Universe” to deliver on something more grandiose.
After playing through the new campaign several times, I don’t find anything particularly wrong with this extra mission, but I don’t find anything particularly outstanding about it either. Aside from the story and playing as Robin (who essentially plays just like Batman with the difference of a few gadgets), there isn’t much new to be found in Harley Quinn’s Revenge. All the chore missions such as defusing bombs in X amount of time, beating up X amount of thugs, and taking down X amount of foes to get to Harley all return from the main game.
What I found most interesting is how after so much time has passed since the events in the game’s main story, how deeply affected Batman is. Long time readers of the Batman comics will sense a certain amount of sternness and distance between the Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder, but the creators of this mission use that as almost a tease toward the story of their next Batman game. And for those who finished the main story, all your suspicions and speculations may be coming to fruition in some of the strangest ways possible.
This mini-mission holds all the standards of excellence you expect from a Rocksteady Batman, however, as great a legend as he’s become, I wish Kevin Conroy’s one-liners were a bit less goofy. But overall, though not as sweet as it could have been, this revenge by Harley Quinn was good fun. It will be very interesting to see where this particular piece of Batman continuity dares to explore, which, as a Batman fan, sounds just as exciting as it does terrifying.
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Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net
