Batman: Arkham City Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC Review [XBox 360]

It isn't revolutionary, but when the main game was as good as Arkham City, that isn't necessary.

rating:4

Rocksteady's first story-driven DLC for the exceptional Arkham City comes in at a respectable two hours and sharing leading man duties between the Caped Crusader himself and long-term side-kick (and sometime fan-boy whipping-boy) Robin. It is exactly what DLC add-ons should be, offering a different experience to the main game, but linked to the main narrative and using the greatest elements of the game as a foundation to offer a respectable, if not quite epic expansion. And crucially (for some problematically) Harley Quinn's Revenge doesn't seek to tie anything up, or explain any frustratingly vague story elements from the full game: because that would have been unforgivable. Imagine the outrage is Rocksteady had reserved narrative revolution for a paid expansion pack, after charging around £40 for the privilege of an incomplete story? It wouldn't have been pretty, so to criticise this DLC on that basis is little more than folly. Set straight after the events of the main narrative, in Gotham's atmospheric steel mill, the self-contained story focuses on the sole surviving super-criminal - Harley Quinn - who went off-grid after the end of Arkham City (which I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't discovered it for themselves). But this isn't the same quirky Harley that we have met in the last two games - she's enraged and insane, and is holding a group of typically inept Gotham policemen hostage inside the mill to ransom. When Batman goes AWOL in his own attempt to save them, it falls to Robin to rescue him and the hostages and save the day. Playing as Robin might not quite be the muscular joy that controlling Batman is, but the Boy Wonder comes with his own pleasures, as anyone who has taken him through the challenge maps will already be aware. He has his own gadgets, as well as his own weaponry, including his extendable pipe and fold-out shield, and it at least feels different in combat to control him. Combat is the chief focus here - which is welcome considering the shorter run-length - and the majority of the gametime is spent dispatching Harley's army of foes, albeit with brief interludes of stealth-play, including an excellent near-end set-piece which is probably the finest of all the Arkham gameplay. To make up for the familiarity that Arkham City fans will feel in the gameplay (even despite the use of Robin as playable character), Rocksteady have turned the difficulty factor up, and skirmishes are a damn-sight harder than they are in the main game. It's not just that there seem to be far more hoods to fight every time, they're also more diversely equipped, so keeping an eye on their weaponry and behaviour is a lot more difficult as well. If, like me, you value difficult gameplay as the most rewarding type, you won't be disappointed, and your thumbs will certainly have taken a pounding well before you meet the end of the story. The DLC's greatest strength lies in the way it celebrates the now noticeably more unhinged Harley Quinn - at times, dare I say it, she actually outstrips the Joker in the main Arkham City game. She was always the most charming of the Rogues' Gallery, and giving her centre-stage, even briefly with this DLC makes perfect sense. While there is a lot of familiarity in the gameplay, that's not a bad thing when it is as good as this, and the new storyline as well as the opportunity to play more as Robin makes Harley Quinn's revenge a very good DLC expansion pack. Batman: Arkham City - Harley Quinn's Revenge is available to download now. Read our five star review of the full Arkham City game here, or follow all of our Arkham City coverage by heading over to the game's dedicated hub-page.
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