Let's Play Batman: Return to Arkham City: Episode 8

I probably shouldn't admit this, but looking back on it, the entirety of Episode 7 could have been lifted out of the timeline without too many adverse effects. Sure, we got the first entrance into Penguin's museum, and the Zsasz backstory will be relevant later on, but the presence of those sensor jammers (even though they're technically part of the main story missions) doesn't have much of an impact on the plot. That said, Episode 8, on the other hand, is jam-packed with plot development, compelling twists and turns, and top notch gameplay action!



Despite all the above sensor jammer-bashing, we do have to deal with the aftermath of that "side" mission at the top of this episode, when Penguin broadcasts to his henchmen who failed to protect his devices, as we make our way back topside. For this little audio interlude, I used the opening theme of Penguin's third dedicated episode in Batman: the Animated Series, titled "Birds of a Feather". In this episode, Penguin convinces himself that he's reformed his villainous ways after a lengthy prison sentence, and attempts to join high society... with disastrous results. I thought the upbeat, operatic string section provided a nice juxtaposition to the brutality he was threatening to inflict on his workforce.

Once we finally get into the museum for real, we're presented with a sticky situation: three of Penguin's goons are torturing an undercover cop, who is part of a strike team sent in by Commissioner Gordon. While this happens, the in-game music starts off as a track from the extended soundtrack, appropriately titled "Trophy Room," since the scene takes place in the Trophy Room. However, once we're done beating down the enemies and we start talking to the cop - the strongly named Elvis Jones - all the music goes away. So I inserted a variant track that's very similar to "Trophy Room," except without the subtle driving percussion. This cue extends though a tour of the trophy room itself, including two separate display cabinets set up for Bruce Wayne and Batman... imagine Penguin's disappointment if he ever managed to catch our hero!

After a confrontation with the Penguin himself, he predictably resorts to throwing a bunch of henchmen at us, in a fight scored by the in-game track "It's Initiation Time." This fight also includes a TITAN-enhanced henchman, which was the inspiration for the next bit of personal music: the TITAN henchmen boss battle theme from Arkham Asylum. This plays while we're explaining the situation to the newest entry to tonight's support team, Oracle (a.k.a. Barbara Gordon), and continues while I explore the way forward. While I start with the full version of the music, as this sequence continues I also utilize the track's component parts: the strings and percussion and the horn section.


And that's it for personal music, excluding the track I used for the "last time on" recap (which was also from the last episode) and the brief moment where I returned to the Arkham Asylum main menu theme for selecting an upgrade. Tune in next time for what would be the mid-season finale, if this series was split in half, a-la the later seasons of The Walking Dead.

Let's Play Batman: Return to Arkham City: Episode 7

It might be hard to believe, but a full two-thirds of Episode 7 of my Batman: Return to Arkham City Let's Play is part of the main story missions. Watch the video below and see if you can which parts are mandatory, and which are side missions:



If you guessed that the first "act" was the one comprised of side missions, you'd be absolutely right. But it's understandable if you thought the rest of the episode wasn't particularly story-centric, since by the end of the episode, we're still not able to progress very far into Penguin's museum, which is the goal of our primary objective. But sometimes you have to go a long distance out of your way in order to come back a short distance correctly.

You see, Penguin had set up his base of operations inside the Cyrus Pinkney Natural History museum, which, as a municipal structure, I should have been able to hack my way inside using the Cryptographic Sequencer. But since Oswald Cobblepot has access to military grade equipment for some reason, he was able to block the signal back to the Batcave using communications jammers, which are inconveniently spread all across the map. So while destroying them is necessary for progressing through the main story, it's also a task that could be pretty easily isolated and lifted out if necessary.

But before getting to that in the episode, I tackle a pair of actual side missions: gliding through advanced augmented reality obstacle courses and chasing after a couple more of Victor Zsasz's ringing phones. This Zsasz element provides the only real opportunity to name this episode after a character, even though we were introduced to the self-scarred serial killer in the previous episode, and we won't complete his side mission until many episodes later. But since Calendar Man's only appearance was in the previous episode and we don't get our first real meeting with the Penguin until next time, I was left with precious few choices.

Meanwhile, the AR side missions provide the only real chance to insert any personal music - namely the Arkham Asylum Main Theme while I'm in the pause menu searching for the next mission. I know I said I wasn't going to highlight any future uses of this track, but it's basically the only one in this episode, so I'm making an exception. Oh, there is one other track I added: after destroying the third jammer, Batman does some VO commentary about how he's now able to get into the museum. This happens after the predator challenge music stings out, so I spiced this moment up with a track from the extended soundtrack (which we also heard earlier in this episode, upon entering the museum for the first time) called "Entering Penguin's Turf."