Batman: Arkham City Lockdown Review

Batman: Arkham City Lockdown is a melee fighter set in the Batman: Arkham City universe. The game features swipe-controlled one-on-one combat against a variety of thugs, plus gadget upgrades and purchasable skins. Players fight through four areas of Arkham City, encountering unique boss battles with famous Batman villains at the end of each. Players earn experience and level-up as they play, powering up Batman's abilities. The game might best be described as "Infinity Blade, but with Batman."


Arkham City Lockdown isn't perfect, but it does have a lot to offer. Voice-acted cutscenes, WayneTech upgrades, and unique Batman skins give the game more depth than the typical iOS release. It's especially cool that each skin changes Batman's Health, Damage and Speed attributes, which is a feature not even in the console versions of Arkham City.

Still, the game is far from the greatness of its console big brother. Combat is repetitive, and Arkham City Lockdown sends you on a linear path from battle to battle, without any way to actually explore Arkham City or experience a cohesive story. The game runs on Unreal Engine and looks great, but pales in comparison to visual powerhouses like Infinity Blade II.

I like that Game Center achievements for beating the game with each skin add a bit of replayability, but they ultimately make the game feel even more repetitive. I was able to acquire all of the game's upgrades long before I reached the max level, so there's not much incentive to keep playing.



Diehard fans looking for a Batman fix should pick this up now, but at $5.99, anyone else might want to wait for a price drop. It's worth noting that NetherRealm has promised fresh content through updates, but even with continued support, it's only worth your money if you don't mind repeating similar battles.

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