Unskippable: Batman: Arkham City - Worst Press Conference Ever

[Graham_LRR]

Batman: Arkham City - Worst Press Conference Ever

Bruce Wayne hosts the worst press conference ever.

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[Thunderous Cacophony]

The time change! It's so confusing! Up is down, left is right, Unskippable is an hour later, the world is falling apart!

Also, I've played the game but I never understood how they got Arkham City set up. Even if they someone convinced people to give up millions of dollars worth of property in the middle of the city, why would you just let the criminals roam free? With the right investment, you could turn an apartment building into a temporary prison and not have to worry about things like "vicious gang wars", "massive walls dividing the city in two" or "paramilitary groups with enough firepower to take over the country hanging out next door."

 

[nyysjan]

I could see them getting Arkham City set up, Gotham is corrupt and enough bribes can get you a lot (plus the mayor is insane).

Now, how the fuck did they manage grabbing Bruce Wayne, one of the richest guys in the whole planet, and throw him in jail, and nobody says anything, that's what puzzles me.

edit-
Well, i guess that it might have been Batmans plan all along (pretty sure it was actually), but it still reeks (why not just jump in from a plane or something?), you would expect more of a reaction for something like that.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm actually surprised you guys are doing this one as I thought this into was pretty good even if the story itself had more than a few plot holes.

 

[kailus13]

Also, I've played the game but I never understood how they got Arkham City set up. Even if they someone convinced people to give up millions of dollars worth of property in the middle of the city, why would you just let the criminals roam free? With the right investment, you could turn an apartment building into a temporary prison and not have to worry about things like "vicious gang wars", "massive walls dividing the city in two" or "paramilitary groups with enough firepower to take over the country hanging out next door."

The tie-in comic says that Hugo Strange hypnotised the Mayor to get the thing set up, then hypnotised a bunch of criminals to be even worse than normal. Presumably this ensured that no-one wanted to live in an area that could be bombed at any random time.

 

[Blarg Blargson]

I could see them getting Arkham City set up, Gotham is corrupt and enough bribes can get you a lot (plus the mayor is insane).

Now, how the fuck did they manage grabbing Bruce Wayne, one of the richest guys in the whole planet, and throw him in jail, and nobody says anything, that's what puzzles me.

edit-
Well, i guess that it might have been Batmans plan all along (pretty sure it was actually), but it still reeks (why not just jump in from a plane or something?), you would expect more of a reaction for something like that.

The whole of the game is supposed to take place on the same night. People probably would raise a hue and cry about Bruce Wayne, Jack Ryder, and Vicki Vale getting trapped in Arkham City, but as long as they don't do anything about it before dawn, it doesn't matter. The basic plan of "get everyone into the deathtrap-prison and activate Protocol 10 before rational thinking can prevail" still works.

 

[shrekfan246]

I'm actually surprised you guys are doing this one as I thought this into was pretty good even if the story itself had more than a few plot holes.

They don't always do bad opening cutscenes.

Just most of the time.

OT: "Bruise" Wayne?

Did the Escapist content creators decide it was pun week or something?

[See Jim's Final Fantasy X review for more context.]

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Also, I've played the game but I never understood how they got Arkham City set up. Even if they someone convinced people to give up millions of dollars worth of property in the middle of the city, why would you just let the criminals roam free? With the right investment, you could turn an apartment building into a temporary prison and not have to worry about things like "vicious gang wars", "massive walls dividing the city in two" or "paramilitary groups with enough firepower to take over the country hanging out next door."

The tie-in comic says that Hugo Strange hypnotised the Mayor to get the thing set up, then hypnotised a bunch of criminals to be even worse than normal. Presumably this ensured that no-one wanted to live in an area that could be bombed at any random time.

I can see that working to get the mayor behind it, but what about the other people? You imagine the ACLU would have a field day with the government trying to claim dozens of blocks in the middle of Gotham for a prison, and as corrupt as the city is the number of civil suits and other legal moves would make international headlines and probably stall the project until it got to the Supreme Court.

It's like a zombie movie: A neat idea that's well-executed once everything's in place, but it doesn't explain how we go from here to there with any degree of reasonableness.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Also, I've played the game but I never understood how they got Arkham City set up. Even if they someone convinced people to give up millions of dollars worth of property in the middle of the city, why would you just let the criminals roam free? With the right investment, you could turn an apartment building into a temporary prison and not have to worry about things like "vicious gang wars", "massive walls dividing the city in two" or "paramilitary groups with enough firepower to take over the country hanging out next door."

The tie-in comic says that Hugo Strange hypnotised the Mayor to get the thing set up, then hypnotised a bunch of criminals to be even worse than normal. Presumably this ensured that no-one wanted to live in an area that could be bombed at any random time.

I can see that working to get the mayor behind it, but what about the other people? You imagine the ACLU would have a field day with the government trying to claim dozens of blocks in the middle of Gotham for a prison, and as corrupt as the city is the number of civil suits and other legal moves would make international headlines and probably stall the project until it got to the Supreme Court.

It's like a zombie movie: A neat idea that's well-executed once everything's in place, but it doesn't explain how we go from here to there with any degree of reasonableness.

I'm going to ha to look in the tie-in comic again but it was, on paper, masterminded by Prof. Strange. Although, since

Spoiler

Strange was really working for Ra's al-Ghul and the League of Assassins, who had a Lazarus Pit in the ruins of Wonder City under Arkham City and set up shop there, this was all part of Ghul's plan. Whatever it was.

I played and beat the game, an enjoyed it, but I forgot what Batman set out to do in there in the first place.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Yay for the ST:TNG reference!!!
Picard and Batman are both winners at being tortured

 

[nyysjan]

HAdn't played the since 2011 or so, and now i'm busy playing it again (good game, even if i was not all that taken in by the story).

 

[BrotherRool]

Will Smith is the lead environmental artist? Hell yeah

 

[sunsethorizons]

But I thought there were four lights...?

 

[Meander112]

It's like a zombie movie: A neat idea that's well-executed once everything's in place, but it doesn't explain how we go from here to there with any degree of reasonableness.

To be fair, that also describes most comic book storylines as well.

 

[leviadragon99]

Well I've had worse welcomes to a new neighbourhood...

 

[RJ 17]

The time change! It's so confusing! Up is down, left is right, Unskippable is an hour later, the world is falling apart!

Also, I've played the game but I never understood how they got Arkham City set up. Even if they someone convinced people to give up millions of dollars worth of property in the middle of the city, why would you just let the criminals roam free? With the right investment, you could turn an apartment building into a temporary prison and not have to worry about things like "vicious gang wars", "massive walls dividing the city in two" or "paramilitary groups with enough firepower to take over the country hanging out next door."

It's all in the data files and the audio recordings that you unlock as you progress through the game.

The short version of it is that back in Arkham Asylum, Hugo Strange was already beginning his work. He had Ra's backing him the entire time and used the help of Mad Hatter to perfect some mind control nonsense. He turned Warden Sharp into his puppet and started running experiments on some of the inmates.

Spoiler: There's actually a secret room in Arkham Asylum that no one ever found on their own for like, 3 years. Rocksteady eventually had to come out and specifically say how to find it. Inside, you can find blueprints for the Arkham City project with a big stamp that says APPROVED.

Basically using the vast amounts of resources and wealth of the League of Shadows, Ra's bought the mayoral election for Sharp, who went on to start up Arkham City. All the details about just how they got away with even doing this are, as I said, in the various data files under the various character's bios. Suffice to say there was a LOT of brainwashing and mind control going on to pull this off.

OT: Damnit...now that I've seen the opening cutscene, I have to play through this game for the 50th frickin' time...*grumble grumble*

 

[RJ 17]

I'm going to ha to look in the tie-in comic again but it was, on paper, masterminded by Prof. Strange. Although, since

Spoiler

Strange was really working for Ra's al-Ghul and the League of Assassins, who had a Lazarus Pit in the ruins of Wonder City under Arkham City and set up shop there, this was all part of Ghul's plan. Whatever it was.

I played and beat the game, an enjoyed it, but I forgot what Batman set out to do in there in the first place.

Ra's plan is what it's always been: to absolutely destroy all the corruption (i.e. criminals) in Gotham. The only real difference between him and Batman - which we see play out when their ideals clash in the game - is that Ra's believes that every last one of the criminals should die. This is why Strange specifically set up Arkham City so that it would fail, giving him an excuse to initiate Protocol 10. He puts the inmates in a confined space under the guise that it's just another maximum security prison...but then he starts giving military-grade weapons to all the major players (Penguin and Joker, specifically). This of course leads to an all-out war between those two rivals which gives allows Strange to go to the city council and say "Well we tried, but things are getting out of control. Do I have your permission to kill them all?" And so the city council gives him the power to execute all criminals inside Arkham City with missile strikes.

This is why the game opens with Strange saying "By the end of the night, I'll be a hero." Because he'll be killing off all of the worst criminals that plague Gotham. He'll be committing mass murder with full approval from the city's government.

As for what Batman is doing in there, it's a number of things, actually. But the first thing he's trying to do is find out just what the hell Strange is up to with Protocol 10. Of course, he gets side-tracked from this by the fact that Joker poisons him and tells him that he's poisoned countless people in Gotham, so Batman's primary objective quickly becomes finding a cure for the TITAN blood disease.