Review: Batman Arkham City Harley Quinn’s Revenge

Words by: Ben Rayner | Posted: 11 months ago | Filed under: DLC, Game Reviews.

Batman Arkham city was no doubt one of the best games to rain down upon us last year, Rocksteady managed to build upon their already amazing previous effort to deliver a bigger and better experience, but here’s the problem… it had to end! noooooooooo!! I hear you all scream. well I was actually screaming with you, until I heard about this next slice of DLC.

Thankfully this time around, rather than settling for extra challenge maps, Rocksteady have delivered a fresh slice of single player story content. Set shortly after the events of the main story, Harley Quinn’s revenge deals with……Ooops before I carry on. A short pause just to remind you all if you haven’t finished Arkham city just yet then read no further, that’s right *SPOILER ALERT*

……Ok so Harley Quinn’s revenge deals with the aftermath of jokers death, which has left Quinn heading straight off the rails (well more so than before) as well as having clearly sent Batman into a spin as he also struggles to deal with the Death of his greatest nemesis.

You start off in control of Robin, searching the steel mill for any signs of the caped crusader, whom two days prior had come to rescue a handful of G.C.P.D officers taken by Quinn for a clearly sinister scheme. This is the first shock I found when I started playing, I initially imagined that playing as Robin would feel like a stripped down batman and in all honesty just be awful, how wrong was I?

Playing as Robin is definitely a great experience, with time taken to make controlling the crusaders sidekick feel completely different, Robin moves much faster with fluid controls, by utilising a staff as opposed to his fists (lets face it, he’s not built like the B-man) Robin comes across as strong in a different way. Armed with some interesting new exclusive gadgets such as the shield and my personal favourite Snap flash, Rocksteady have again given a new edge to Arkham city.

After a short stint as Robin you will eventually gain control of the caped crusader once again, and you can expect more of the magic you experienced from the main game, all the gadgets you have unlocked throughout the campaign are immediately at your disposal to help you through your fight to stop Quinn and her madness. The entire city is once again yours to roam around in freely (which I suggest you do, even if it is just to hear the fresh conversations between Quinn’s new goons) and with the Joker now dead, there are a lot of psychopathic memorials lying around for you to cast your peepers on.

Throughout Quinn’s revenge you’ll come up against Arkham’s harder enemies in typical fashion leaving you to choose how you wish to dispose of them (quietly from the shadows is always great fun) until you get to Quinn and stop her plans, all of this is brilliant but nothing is drastically different which some could say is a bad thing, however I’m not one of those people. One notable choice is the decision to opt out of the typical ending with a boss battle, instead you can look forward to a brilliant scene involving Robin fighting against more enemies than you have ever seen crammed into one room. This single moment has such tension and provided a real challenge that it only went to prove (or at least helped) just how redundant the archetypal boss fight is becoming in a day when games are now so much more cinematic.

Overall Harley Quinn’s Revenge is a very well made add-on, my only gripe is the length of the main story involved which can be completed in around 2 hours or so (this isn’t counting popping all the balloons) this short space of time for me meant I was left wanting more. It seems to have been left open for more however and I really hope we can expect more, especially as I’d love more time to play as Robin. This may be surprising but I think Rocksteady have done such a good job turning Robin into a real tough character rather than the 60′s style sissy everyone expects that I was left on a number of occasions feeling like Batman was maybe a bit too slow leaving me to wish I was back in control of the caped crusaders more nimble sidekick.

Harley Quinn’s revenge is in short, great and I think has definitely set the standard for DLC, if every game had this to offer then we will truly be seeing what DLC was always promised to be.

At 800MS points Harley Quinn’s revenge is an absolute must.

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About Ben Rayner

If he's not saving the world from zombie hordes (yes he works in retail) Ben can found playing almost any game he can get his hands on! Hitman and Max Payne are his games of choice but don't let that fool you, he can hold his own in a game of C.O.D! He also likes Tea, Whiskey and short walks home...to his Xbox! Say Hi! I love to talk!

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