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--