Batman: Arkham Shadow

Man, before the Arkham Batman was killed off unceremoniously in the Suicide Squad game, he sure had a lot of adventures. It turns out that there is still an entire timeline that can be filled in with rich Batman lore, and it's still entertaining, regardless of the fact that we all know it ends with a bad joke. Batman: Arkham Shadow has arrived on as an exclusive on Meta Quest 3, bringing along with it the stellar development capabilities of Camouflaj, the creators of Iron Man VR (otherwise known as the best superhero VR game ever). And while this game is a bit rough around the edges at points, it's clear that with a little more love, it will take it's place among the series' greats. 

There were times while playing Batman: Arkham Shadow that I thought to myself "These guys have absolutely nailed this." Arkham Shadow is one of those Meta Quest games that looks so good that it's tough to believe that there isn't a high-powered rig pumping the visuals into the headset. Shadows flicker as fans turn overhead, smoke rises from chimneys, and windswept papers blow through alleys. The vibes are right, the visuals are right, and the sound - both the music and the voice performances - are incredible. 

The story being told is nothing to sneeze at either - and I won't divulge much more than the basic set-up already revealed in trailers and announcements, though there is one spoiler that is somewhat unavoidable in discussing the game. Gotham City is under siege by a new gang known as The Rats. Specifically targeting the legal system, The Rats have been kidnapping and killing public servants associated with "the cops, the courts, and the clink". Led by the enigmatic and elusive Rat King, they have brought Gotham to a stand-still (it's really a miracle anything ever gets done in Gotham). 

The Batman in this game is still early in his career - this game takes place between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum - and is a bit hot-headed. Incensed that The Rats have taken his good friend Harvey Dent hostage, Batman pretty much loses his grip, going on a rampage through Gotham and beating down Rats mercilessly in a mad tear to reach the courthouse. Once there, he has a very public confrontation with one of the Rat King's primary minions, an encounter that ends in the man's televised death. Cast by the media as a murderer - here's the spoiler, though it comes early in the game - Batman retreats to the underground, going undercover at Blackgate Penitentiary as a convict in order to discover the Rat King's identity and bring the crisis to an end.

Batman spends his days disguised as a convict, getting the lay of the land and working the system to pump both prisoners and corrupt guards for information. Then at night, operating out of an auxiliary Batcave hidden deep within the prison, Batman returns with a vengeance, following up on any leads he has uncovered and generally beating the hell out of anyone that gets in his way. The clock is quickly ticking down to the Rat King's "Day of Wrath", and Batman is definitely feeling the burn to put this one to bed.

This all leads to a lot of very Arkham Asylum-type shenanigans. Just like in that initial game, Batman uses his smarts and gadgetry to uncover new information. Using his Detective Vision (instantly toggled on and off with a tap to the player's temple), Batman can easily see things like door switches, vantage points, and clues. Much of the game is spent sneaking around Blackgate, finding paths to new areas and fighting guards with Arkham Shadow's brilliant VR adaptation of the franchise's storied combat.

Players can wade into groups of baddies and literally beat them down with their fists, following a steady rhythmic flow of on-screen prompts. As the game progresses, more and more combat options open up, allowing cool moments like stunning one bad guy with a batarang, swiping a group with your cape to push them back, and then beating the living hell out of another guy, ending the entire sequence with a bone-crunching leg break. Guys tend to get back up after you knock them down, but you eventually learn some cool finishers that can put them down for good. I loved doing "swoop down from the rooftops" attacks on armored foes, then indulging in an Ip-Man-style flurry of punches to the face to put them down for good before they could even respond. 

This does take a bit of practice. Things improved dramatically for me after I busted a few knuckles on a nearby bookcase, and realized that I didn't have to punch quite so hard for the game to register my hits. There is also a mechanic that I never got the hang of, involving countering guys attacking from the sides. You're supposed to reach out in that direction to pivot your attention, but I couldn't get it to register correctly for me, so I did a lot of manual camera adjusting and real-time dodging.

All of this skulking, gadget-improving, and hidden object finding is a lot of fun, and the story tying it all together feels weighty and very much a part of the overall franchise. Indeed, the only thing holding Batman: Arkham Shadow back from a perfect 10 is the fact that the game is absolutely crawling with bugs. Riddle me this, Batman: Which fight in Arkham Shadow is so unbelievably broken that it almost caused me to quit the entire game and decree it unplayable? Why, that would be the room in which the player must eliminate three thugs before taking on the game's first boss Shrike. 

Just three thugs, you say. How hard could that be? Well, pretty damn hard, as I had to try the encounter at least ten times before I was finally able to get past it. Arkham Shadow inexplicably removes some of your powers for this encounter, insisting that you stay "in the shadows" behind some strategically placed boxes while the aforementioned Shrike waits in overwatch high above with a high-powered rifle, ready to one-shot you the moment you step out of cover. The problem? Batman STANDS UP automatically after the first stealth kill like a big dummy, revealing himself for a nice headshot. He also refuses to mantle out of the handily placed network of tunnels you might try crawling through, again painting a bullseye on his pointy dome. And don't try to position yourself in a place where Shrike doesn't have the angle for a shot - this completely breaks the encounter, and leaves the bad guys standing there staring at you like idiots, not shooting, but also not coming close enough for a takedown. You actually have to come back out of cover to get them, exposing yourself once again for the kill shot. It's maddening.

Other game-stopping bugs abound. Prompts and interactions just disappear in the middle of levels, preventing forward progress. The player gets locked mid-dialogue, and everyone stands there staring at each other awkwardly. And at one point, I fell through the environment, watching the entire prison disappear into the sky above me. I was just floating there. Me and the moon. Every prisoner's dream, floating in infinite space. Not exactly what you want from your VR Batman game.

To be fair, all of these issues (aside from the Shrike nightmare) can be resolved with a quick reboot, so they aren't exactly game-breaking. Checkpoints are plentiful, and the game's linear nature usually means you only have to replay a minute or two to get back to where you were. And I certainly don't blame Camouflaj - the condition of Batman: Arkham Shadow feels like the team just ran out of time before a hard release date, and indeed, there is a Day One patch pending that will likely fix much the above. The highs of the game are so great that they are worth a bit of struggle; it's so fun to see the Gotham skyline in VR, and dangling from a gargoyle to scoop up a thug will never not be awesome. 

There's no way that Meta and Camouflaj aren't going to polish this game up like a shiny apple. In a month or two, all of my complaints will sound like so much whining, and all that will be left is a stellar Batman adventure. We've waited eight years since Batman: Arkham VR to get a great VR Batman adventure. What's another couple of weeks to allow these folks to slap some band-aids on this one? Batman: Arkham Shadow will likely be fixed up faster than my knuckles will heal. 

So get to work, Bruce. It's time to clean up Gotham. Or wait till around Thanksgiving. Cleaning up Gotham might be a little more manageable then.