Let's Play Batman: Return to Arkham City - Episode 6

We're getting to the point in this playthrough where side missions will fill the majority of the next two episodes. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of fun and exciting developments, and we do keep the story going with at least one important plot point per episode. But this is what happens when the "network" extends your episode order from 14 to 21 from last season...



I know I said I wasn't going to detail every time I used the Arkham Asylum main theme to cover time spent in the pause menu, but this episode is significant because it marks the switch from the version of the song ripped from the game's audio files that I found on the internet, to the version on the official soundtrack album, titled "Enter the Asylum." If you'll recall, I don't just restart the track at the beginning each time I use it during a menu sequence; instead, I pick it up from where I left off last time. It just so happened that I reached the end of the track during the last episode, so I thought this would be a good time to showcase the two different versions.

After we rescue medic Adam Hamasaki from the first Riddler room, we're provided with a radio frequency that we have to plug into our Cryptographic Sequencer. After doing so, Edward Nigma tells us that we need to complete more Riddler challenges (i.e. collect trophies, solve riddles, achieve physical tasks, etc.) in order to proceed with the side mission - but he does so all while there is no music playing in the background, so I cut in some Riddler-related ambient music that's not on the game's official soundtrack. Actually, full disclosure, we got a similar radio frequency from Eddie Burlow, the first Riddler hostage in the courthouse, but I ended up cutting that part out of the previous episode. It just didn't seem necessary to have both the frequency AND the introduction of the riddle-solving box that we receive, but in hindsight, perhaps I should have maintained the integrity of the full gameplay experience.

Speaking of the courthouse, that's where we meet Calendar Man, this episode's "title character." He doesn't have anything to do with the main story, and his appearance qualifies as more of an easter egg than a side mission. (If you launch the game and visit him on every date that's circled on that calendar on the wall, he has a different thing to say each time.) But I had to save Victor Zsasz (another more impactful character who we meet in this episode) for Episode 7, since we're short on story-related characters in this section of the playthrough, which is focused on side missions and Riddler challenges.

Later in the episode, I get a little too preoccupied with solving some of these challenges, and take far too much time trying to pick up a trophy that involves piloting a Remote Controlled Batarang through a small tunnel to hit a switch at the end. Rather than trimming out all my unsuccessful attempts and making myself seem more competent than I actually am, I sped up the footage and set it to the ultimate comedic montage music, "Yakety Sax" by Boots Randolph and Spider Rich, as popularized in the Benny Hill Show.

And that's about it for the personal music... minus one more trip back to the Arkham Asylum main theme, but... NO NO PLEASE DON'T CLOSE THE WINDO--

Let's Play Batman: Return to Arkham City - Episode 5

Episode 5 starts out as though we're getting back on track with the game's primary objective, but very quickly devolves into more side mission nonsense. However, one of the missions introduced in this episode has some pretty significant stakes, since it involves... well, I won't spoil the surprise, why don't you go ahead and watch the full episode below:



Pretty wild stuff, eh? My favorite part was when I jumped over the... oh, wait. You didn't watch the full episode yet? That's OK, I'll wait...

...

The first piece of music that I cut into the episode technically happens during the "Last Time On" recap, but I'm not counting that as personal music because it's an extension of the first track that plays in the actual episode. On the official soundtrack, this one is called "I Know What You Guys Are Thinking," and it's my favorite "ambient/explore" theme in the entire Arkham universe - so much so that I set the climactic phrase as my ringtone back when this game first came out in 2011.

The first truly personal musical addition in this episode comes after we defeat Penguin's henchmen in the GCPD lab, while we learn how to use the cryptographic sequencer to hack security consoles. Since it's Penguin's fault that we're locked in here in the first place, I use a track from Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot's first appearance in the Animated Series called "I've Got Batman In My Basement." Since the music is basically the only redeeming quality of that episode, I won't say much more about it, but I do think this track fits amazingly well with this bit of gameplay (with a bit of music editing on my part).

Soon after exiting the GCPD, I get sidetracked by the first of two side missions that will occupy most of this episode. After pausing the game to check on my primary objective, my eye is drawn to a distress beacon on the roof of a nearby building. While I listen in to Hugo Strange discussing the situation with one of his TYGER guards, I pump in the intro of the nefarious psychiatrist's only Animated Series appearance, "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne." This episode presents a much more dramatic and believable method of Strange discovering Batman's secret identity than the explanation given in the game - which you can hear in the Riddler interview tapes, one of the pieces of bonus content you get as a reward for solving the Riddler challenges throughout the game.

It turns out that distress beacon was placed by none other than Bane, the muscle-head from whom the TITAN formula was derived back in Arkham Asylum. The moment where we first enter the Krank Co. Toys factory and see the roided up villain happens without music, so I piped in the intro from Bane's only Animated Series episode, which shares his name. Although actually, since music from that episode doesn't appear on any of the official soundtrack albums, what you hear in the Let's Play is captured directly from the DVD. I probably shouldn't admit doing that on the internet, but... fair use, maybe?

After talking to Bane and unlocking his side mission "Fragile Alliance," I use some music from Arkham Asylum to fill in the space before heading back outside. This is one of the two layers that comprises Bane's boss music from the first game, which is also not on the official soundtrack, but which can be found by the super descriptive name "Boss Bane 02." The fully mixed version of this cue actually plays later in Arkham City, and appears on the extended soundtrack, but we'll save that for when it shows up.

The last piece of personal music happens after we unlock the second side mission in the episode: "Enigma Conundrum," named after Edward Nigma, aka the Riddler. You see, he has taken the doctors and guards from the church hostage, and is forcing Batman to solve his challenges in order to set them free. As part of this, we get to use the Enigma Machine - not the World War II code breaker, but rather a word-matching device to answer riddles. Only problem is, there's no music when we pause the game to use the device, so I cut in the second part of the theme from Riddler's first Animated Series episode, "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" You might remember this cue from when we first met Riddler in Episode 1, but if a piece of music is worth using, it's worth using twice!

Let's Play Batman: Return to Arkham City - Episode 4

I've fallen behind on these blog commentaries to accompany my Let's Play of Batman: Return to Arkham City, because... well, there are no excuses, I just didn't do them. But I'll make up for it with rapid fire posts about episodes 4 and 5, starting right now.



Jumping right into a breakdown of my personally added music, I once again cut in the main menu music from Arkham Asylum while I'm picking my next upgrade, which I believe is the fourth overall. Since there will be a lot more of these upgrades throughout the course of the game, with most (although not all) being accompanied by this music, I'm not going to note each one individually from here on out. The most interesting thing about this particular upgrade is that it is selected not by Batman, but by Catwoman, since they share experience points and can purchase upgrades for each other. Since you only play as Catwoman a handful of times during the game, it makes a lot more sense to always get the Batman ones, which is what I do here.

But even though we play as Catwoman for the majority of this episode, the character I would pick to represent Episode 4 is Poison Ivy. Even though she does significantly factor into the story later on down the line, this is the episode where she gets the most screen time, and it's the only one where we fight against her brainwashed henchmen. Notably, her role in Arkham City pales in comparison to both the preceding and subsequent games in the Arkham trilogy, so check out my Let's Plays of Return to Arkham Asylum and Arkham Knight for your Pamela Isley fix.

After we're done with the Catwoman segment, we get an in-game music-less cutscene when Batman talks to Joker using the smartphone our hero finds taped to his chest. For this key conversation, I use the same cue from the Animated Series episode "The Last Laugh" that we heard back in Episode 2, after scanning Joker's sniper rifle. I don't feel too bad about reusing it so soon, since it is bar none the best example of Joker's musical leitmotif in the series.

This chat is the last time that Batman uses the phone itself, since he knows the importance of using a good hands-free system while fighting crime. For the brief moment when Batman inserts the SIM card into his gauntlet-based Bat-bluetooth, I use the sting from the extended soundtrack cue "Meet Mr. Hammer," which we saw in the last episode.

Immediately after that, we call up Alfred to give him the latest update: Mr. Freeze has been working on a cure for Joker's (and my) infected blood. Since the topic of conversation is everyone's favorite cryogenic scientist, I use the introduction to Mr. Freeze's first Animated Series appearance, an episode titled "Heart of Ice."

The only other personal music in the episode is another brief instance of the track "Watcher in the Wings" from the extended soundtrack, to go over the second part of the side mission with the same name, and then one more use of the Arkham Asylum main theme for another upgrade... but I said I wouldn't talk about those individually anymore. Stay tuned for another blog recap coming real soon, and new episodes every Tuesday!

Let's Play Batman: Return to Arkham City - Episode 3

It's to talk about Episode 3 of Batman: Return to Arkham City, where we finally learn the primary conflict that will drive the rest of the game's action. Spoilers will follow, so be sure to watch the episode (either in its embedded form, or on YouTube proper) before reading on.



First let's get the discussion about the personal music I've added to this episode out of the way, since it'll be quite brief. The vast majority of the action is accompanied by the in-game soundtrack, so the only part I had to score was when I was picking an upgrade after a fight with some Joker henchmen caused me to level up. The most prominently featured piece of music from this episode is a track from the official Arkham City album called "Wham. Gotcha!" That title is a reference to a line of dialogue spoken by a henchman early in the Steel Mill exploration, but the bulk of the track plays during the predator challenge in the smelting chamber, where we have to rescue Dr. Stacy Baker. There is another piece of music that plays multiple times in this episode, most prominently when we fight the giant one-armed mini-boss towards the end, for whom the track is named on the unreleased extended soundtrack.

Since I wasn't able to personalize this episode much through the music, I'd like to talk about a couple of other personal touches I made. The first is the fairly silly way I started the episode, where I tried to liven up the various gadget tutorials by doing my best Alfred impression. I always wondered why there wasn't more open communication between Batman and his loyal butler during some of these exploration sequences, but luckily with my own commentary, I can make that happen!

The only other part really worth mentioning is at the very end of the episode, which concludes with two spoiler-ridden cutscenes back to back. When you play Return to Arkham City, these cutscenes are separated by a Catwoman segment, but I thought it would be more narratively interesting to end this (admittedly short) episode with the plot information imparted in that second cutscene than saving it for the beginning of the following episode after we've cut away to the B-Story. Don't worry, you'll be able to see the continuing adventures of Selina Kyle in next week's video.

That's it for this week! Fair warning, things go a little off the rails next time, as I get distracted by side missions more than I probably should. But what better way to show off the immersive nature of this game than to wander aimlessly around the wonderful world of Arkham City!

Let's Play Batman: Return to Arkham City, Episode 2

It's a new year, which means we're going to be inundated with firsts - first baby born in 2019, first official workday of 2019, first presidential tweetstorm of 2019... and also my first video of 2019! Here's episode 2 of my Let's Play of Batman: Return to Arkham City, the PS4 remaster of the 2011 masterpiece:



I've already explained the idea behind this project in my previous post (also my last post of 2018), so I'll stick to a quick recap get into an explanation of my personal music cues fairly quickly. First of all, it should become clear in this episode that I'm taking a pretty slow-paced, meandering approach to this playthrough - I'll frequently stop to listen to various bits of henchmen banter, tackle side missions as they come, and generally take my time to enjoy the sights and sounds of Arkham City. So, pretty much the opposite of a speedrun. But with a game as deep and detailed as Arkham City, there's plenty of interesting stuff to pay attention to no matter what speed you play.

Now let's move on to the personal music cues I've added to this episode. Again, there aren't many, since most of this early part of the game is scored. And again, the first one in this episode happens during a trip to the pause menu. As we discover right after the "last time on" tease (a feature that I'm pretty proud of, by the way - they'll get more complex as the series goes on), we find out that the events of Episode 1 earned me enough experience points to level up. While selecting my first upgrade (the Critical Strikes, naturally), I use the same music that I previously used for the pause menu: "Enter the Asylum" from the Arkham Asylum official soundtrack. However, attentive listeners will notice that I start the track where I left off in the last episode! Because why should you be forced to listen to the same thing twice?

After leaving Two-Face strung up in the courthouse, there's a mysterious figure watching from the rooftop where I picked up the first Riddler trophy. Approaching this guy causes him to vanish in a puff of smoke, leaving a strange symbol behind. Scanning this symbol with Detective Mode's Environmental Analysis feature triggers the "Watcher in the Wings" side mission and automatically brings you to the map screen, which is where my personal music comes in. What you hear is actually the official theme song of this mission (which appears on the Arkham City extended soundtrack), although it doesn't play in the game until you meet this guy several times.

This episode marks the first appearances of Harley Quinn and the Joker, although the latter only shows up on a tiny TV monitor with his face obscured. This happens after scanning the sniper rifle situated at the top of the church, which Joker was remotely controlling, and it triggers a speech from the clown prince of crime. This cutscene usually occurs without music, so I piped in Joker's musical motif from the Batman: The Animated Series episode "The Last Laugh." I was somewhat conflicted about putting this track here, since Mark Hamill's voice acting is more than enough to carry a scene without any musical accompaniment, but I couldn't resist the chance to put in some unique TAS flair.

Stay tuned next week for the next exciting episode!