Gaming Batman: Arkham City PC Review

Same here. I've just watched through seasons 1 and 2 on DVD (love the cameo from Adam West in season 1), and I've been watching some of the feature length animated films available on LoveFilm streaming. "Mask of the Phantasm" and "Mystery of the Batwoman" are both superb.

 

some of the Riddler trophies and all of the challenge maps [and the fact if you want the achievements you have to do each map *four* times] are doing my head in but the main story was pretty good imo.

It ran like a sack of crap in dx11 and crashes occasionally on startup but other than that it's been ok

 

There is an leaked version of the (upcoming?) patch that apparently fixes the DX11 performance issues and reduces the launch time considerably.

 

I dunno about that picture of batman.. it looks like he just came out of nate berkus' dressing room

 

Agree. People are also interested to know about launch problems. The fact that the game has a direct x 11 implementation that seems broken matters to people thinking about buying this game.

There is almost a conspiracy where reviews do not mention these types of problems any more, which just perpetuates the "release it broken, fix it later" mentality that we seem to be getting all the time recently.

Okay, so a game is more than graphics and sound, but could you have not even put one line in about the graphics and whether you thought they were any good or not?

 

I can't believe this review is for the PC version but makes no mention of the serious issues with DirectX 11. Unbelievable. Is it any wonder developers get away with releasing half-finished games that they then patch later if reviewers turn a blind eye to the issues? Remember, this game was supposedly delayed five weeks after the console versions were released for extra "polishing" which, obviously, turned out to be a load of bollocks as DX11 is broken for everyone regardless of whether you have an NVIDIA (embarrassingly for them, this is a The Way It's Meant to be Played endorsed title as well, one that they've been promoting DX11 for for weeks!!!) or AMD card.

Sure, we can play it in DX9 but what was the point in all the promotional DX11 stuff then if that mode was broken on release. There really is no excuse for such shoddiness IMO and this is a yet another PC game in an alarmingly growing list of games that we have to weeks for a fix for in order to play it properly. Getting really sick of it to be honest.

 

This review was quite harsh on the combat system imo...
Although I found too found this repetitive in its nature it still proves a test of skill for the gamepad settings (was joe playing on hard mode? though 360 controller is not essential....it is all about playing this game in hard mode!)

Felt disappointed with lack of dx11 performance sorted for launch.
My gtx570 was giving minimums of 3-4fps in dx11 at 1080p compared to 30 in dx9 with physx set to high still, thanks to awesome high quality game artwork and textures it is just gorgeous to look at in dx 9 mode and I cant wait to see it once patched to appreciate the difference.

One question still looms

WHERE IS THE BATMOBILE!

Really hope the next batman goes proper san andreas on this shizzle

 

I've had this for a week but haven't had the time to play it yet. I'm quite surprised by some of the FPS listed above. A 570gtx is only getting 30fps in DX9 mode? Really? Batman AA came free with my last old gfx card (460) and it played the game fine with max physx. I was expecting a 570gtx to run 60 no sweat.
No chance of me playing in surround then

 

It totally sucks. I should've read a preview, watched some preview, anything at all before downloading this complete lemon.
Oh, well. Hell. At least the damned thing came free with my newest videocard. For once, I'll really enjoy erasing all traces of a completely worthless game. Even the benchmark sucks ballz.

 

I was going to play this game, but then I took an arrow to the knee

 

I personally prefer AC to AA. The free-roaming has much more of an effect on me. The ability to do the different sub-missions in the order you like is a big plus in my opinion. Ran on a good system with some decent surround sound really emerses you in the game and the role of The Bat.

 

Xbox360 or ps3 review labelled as PC by accident? .

The combat for me is excellent & doesn't get boring & is 1 of many of the games strong points, I like it when surrounded by a pack of 10 or more goons , I went searching for the biggest packs getting chase from them to get a giant 1 vs as many as possible brawl on the go pretty enjoyable whooping all their arses banging heads together & then shoot off to a ledge & then sweep in with a big drop kick or even just drop on them continuing the whooping, guess it's as dull or exciting as you play it really, but I found it very enjoyable almost like an awesome new school beat-em-up, batman the counterattack king , the combat flows beautifully & is nicely paced fun game, looks great from my muck around in the game & you can swing around the city a bit like Spiderman & do some free running like assassins creed, great fun .

DX11
Looks even better on max dx11 settings including physx with the nicer lighting & other effects & tessellation but sadly they need to fix it with a patch which they say they are working on getting released ASAP, as we all know it plays extremely up & down in dx11, it can play good fps here & there & then dive into single digits & then back up to good fps but only briefly etc, I'll be holding out until the dx11 gets it's needed fix so I can enjoy it the whole way through that 10% more, it definitely adds more atmosphere to the game so hopefully they won't take too long about it, my bro got a copy of it with a GPU & I bought the code off him for £15 , once the dx11 gets fixed it will be awesome like AA but much better.

I found GFWL & Steam achievements clashing together quite stupid though, never been a fan of game achievements so this take the P .

 

Where's me tights?

 

sorry last post wasnt to clear...

30fps minimum
60maximum
45-60fps average on my GTX570 1.3gb 1080p with everything set to max (physx set to high) so actually really impressed with that performance considering the extra physx effects used appear maybe 20-30% more gpu intensive than arkham asylum was especially when you look at the cloth simulation on each of the 20+ criminals as you beat them adds so much for the level immersion to be found here in arkham city!!! - still dx11 mode once patched should run about the same fps as dx9 mode i reckon.

Given my GTX570's performance on the uniengine tech demo (again at 1080p rez default settings getting a minimum of 30fps average 47fps which considering the intense brick tessellation is pretty good) there should be no problem hitting a smooth framerate for this game once dx11 is sorted.

 

Another poor bit-tech review

 

So when assassins creed is assassins creed, it's bad. But when batman is assassins creed it's good? I think we have a consumer advice here...

 

A good review tells you what you need to know about a product before you buy it; its good points and bad points.

Where there are technical aspects to the product (graphics, sound, game engine, stability, launch issues) it deals with these objectively. (Lets call this the sausage).

Where there are subjective aspects (story, game play, art design, fun) it offers an opinion. (Lets call this the bun)

It seems sometimes with Bit Tech you are getting the bun but not the sausage.

That is not to say that I do not love Bit Tech and Joe's reviews (I love them), but sometimes I feel you are not getting the whole picture. Lets 'ave a bit more sausage in the bun.

Of course there may be a separate Direct X 11 / PhysX performance article coming, which would be good. If this is the case it would be good to mention this in the review.

 

Been playing this game for a while now, absolutely loving it, everything that was great about AA but then bigger. Performance in DX9 is great. When you play it on hard it is a challenge at times, yes it's mostly timed button mashing, but AA was exactly the same, that's why I don't think that's a negative. The story, scenery and everything is so far breathtaking. Love it!

Haven't actively pursued the riddler trophies yet, but seems all right from what I have seen so far. Bit easy perhaps.

 

LOVE this game so far... So many other games could learn a lot from this. I'm playing in DX11 and the frame rate is fine. I find the graphics to not be nothing special most of the time, but it is good looking considering the size of the city and that I can fly around it without any loading etc. Great game, can't wait to play more.

 

Yeah pretty weaksauce review the bad gfx performance from a unreal engine based game is pretty shocking even dx9 proc can stutter at times and some of the gfx options are stupid 32 csaa AA like whats the point after editing and tweaking the config files i found decent performance on both of my pcs

Best looking GFX and Preformance DX9/10 mode

[SystemSettings]
Fullscreen=True
UseVsync=True
AllowD3D10=True
AllowD3D11=False
ResX=1920
ResY=1080
EffectsLevel=3
MultisampleMode=FXAA-HI
PostProcessAAType=7
AllowSubsurfaceScattering=True
MaxAnisotropy=16
DynamicLights=True
LensFlares=True
bAllowLightShafts=True
DynamicShadows=True
MotionBlur=True
Distortion=True
Reflections=True
AmbientOcclusion=True
DetailMode=2
MaxShadowResolution=1024
CompositeDynamicLights=False
bEnableVSMShadows=True
bEnableBranchingPCFShadows=True
bAllowHardwareShadowFiltering=True
bEnableForegroundShadowsOnWorld=True
bEnableForegroundSelfShadowing=True
IniVersion=6.9
TessellationAdaptivePixelsPerTriangle=256

Min 31 Max 68 Average 47 FPS

Hardware used was 2500k @4ghz 8 gig ram 560 gtx for phyx add a 460gtx dedicated

Config files located here
C:UsersAdministratorDocumentsWB GamesBatman Arkham CityBmGameConfig Userengine.ini

lower spec rig e8500 @3.8ghz 4 gig ram 260gtx


[SystemSettings]
Fullscreen=True
UseVsync=False
AllowD3D10=True
AllowD3D11=False
ResX=1920
ResY=1080
EffectsLevel=2
MultisampleMode=FXAA-LO
PostProcessAAType=1
AllowSubsurfaceScattering=True
MaxAnisotropy=1
DynamicLights=True
LensFlares=True
bAllowLightShafts=True
DynamicShadows=True
MotionBlur=True
Distortion=True
Reflections=True
AmbientOcclusion=True
DetailMode=1
MaxShadowResolution=256
CompositeDynamicLights=False
bEnableVSMShadows=True
bEnableBranchingPCFShadows=True
bAllowHardwareShadowFiltering=True
bEnableForegroundShadowsOnWorld=True
bEnableForegroundSelfShadowing=True
IniVersion=6.9
TessellationAdaptivePixelsPerTriangle=0

Min 24 Max 38 Average 30 FPS

hope that helps yeall really enjoying this game