Wild Rant: Catwoman limited to 4 small segments in Arkham City

By BatRastered — October 25, 2011
Tags: blog dlc opinion wildrant

After teasing us with Catwoman gameplay trailers and demos at E3, did Rocksteady and WB deliver on the hype?

Given that this is a rant, you can probably guess my answer to that question is "no". First of all you only get 4 Catwoman missions that take place during the campaign. You aren't allowed to switch out dynamically like they showed us at the E3 demo until after the main story is complete and you're in "free roam" mode to finish up any remaining side-quests. That was a huge disappointment to me.

Catwoman gameplay trailer

I'm not even going to complain about the fact that you don't even get the Catwoman missions on the disc, they are instead a DLC code included in the retail package to make some money off of used game sales. That has been covered by numerous other Jimmies already. That and the game works just fine without it.

Actually that's one of my biggest problems with the Catwoman pack, its optional nature makes it feel really tacked-on when you're thrown into a Catwoman mission. Batman is in a precarious position and the game just switches over to Catwoman for a little while doing something completely unrelated (like fighting through Poison Ivy's hideout). There is one interesting point, at the end of the third Catwoman mission, where you're given the option to go out one door to help Batman or the other to leave him on his own. You should check out what happens if you leave the Bat on his own if you have the cat-pack, but it's not worth buying because of it.

Another issue, is you are given the option to upgrade Catwoman's abilities in addition to Batman's. I shouldn't have to tell you what a waste of XP that is given there are only 4 missions. Pro Tip: Upgrade Batman first, only spend upgrades on Catwoman after Batman is maxed. The first two Catwoman missions take place very early in the game (the first, in fact, before you even see Batman) and the last two take place very late in the game (the last after the main story is complete) so there is a very long time in the middle where you will not hear from Catwoman. Save those upgrades!

The Riddler's puzzles for Catwoman are also a bit of a joke. Most of the trophies are simply acquired by using her "cling to the mesh ceiling" ability to collect a trophy that is in plain sight, but seemingly out of reach. Half of those you'd have to walk over anyway to progress through the room. Then there are the ones behind locked doors, these are simply picked up after Batman has unlocked the door earlier in the story. Huge sad face.

I'm playing through the "new game plus" mode right now, and I can't say I'm looking forward to any of the Catwoman scenes, which is disappointing to say the least. You can also use her in the challenge rooms, but they are the exact same rooms as Batman, do you really care to beat-em-up with the Cat instead of the Bat? I don't.

I still love this game, and give it a Buy rating, in fact it is probably my GOTY so far... but don't be afraid to buy it used or borrow from a friend, you won't be missing anything important in the Catwoman DLC. That, at least, you can flush.

Batman: Arkham City

Wild Rant: Catwoman limited to 4 small segments in Arkham City

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