Today, Peter and Patrick are discussing the Arkham City DLC: Harley’s Revenge, originally released May 29th, 2012.

Peter: If you have not played Batman: Arkham City, or the new downloadable content Harley’s Revenge, do not click and read any more of this article. This is Retcon Punch’s reaction and review to the new content and our post contains LOTS of spoilers. We don’t want to be the people that ruin your gaming experience by spoiling anything. We love this game, and we love our readers, so we don’t want to hurt you in anyway. If you have played, or you just don’t care about spoilers, go ahead, click the link, and enjoy.

Harley’s Revenge stats out with Tim Drake’s arrival in Arkham City. Bruce has been missing with for 2 days. Harley Quinn has got him. Tim infiltrates the Steel Mill and finds Bruce’s utility belt. Flashback to 2 days ago: Batman shows up in Arkham City. In the wake of Joker’s death, Harley kidnapped some SWAT officers. Batman heads in to rescue them. He fights his way into Steel Mill and confronts Harley. Heroically, Batman takes a bullet for a cop, and is taken hostage.

Robin finds Batman in a big hamster-ball-like cage. Robin steals a key-card and liberates Batman. Turns out Harley stole bombs from the GCPD and rigged the Mill to blow. As Batman, you go around an defuse the bombs. As Robin, you go and save the cops, in a Predator Mission from Harley and a bunch of thugs. As Batman, you fight the Wonder City Robots, dressed as Jokers, and they set off a bomb. Batman barely escapes. He believes for a moment that he has lost Robin. But, Robin is fine, and so are the cops! Batman runs off to continue his work.

While I was excited that this DLC was a story continuation, instead of another Riddler’s Revenge character/costume/levels, I have to say I was still a little underwhelmed. This content touted itself as 2 hours worth of continuous gameplay. That sounds like a lot, but in the scope of the rest of the game, it’s really not. For me, that’s like one evening of gameplay. It could have been longer, but I’m not really going to complain on this point, because any more of Arkham City is still more of ARKHAM CITY. It’s awesome, regardless.

But I will say the the DLC eliminated things I really liked about the original game. One of the best parts is the free-roam. You don’t get that in HQ’s Revenge. This is a stand-alone mission. Even if you still didn’t get to play as Robin in the free-roam, I would have still liked to see full city Batman integration; more like an expansion pack than just additional missions. I would have loved to see the dynamic of the Arkham City landscape change with Harley’s rise to power.

Honestly, the Robin/Batman mission was even a little underwhelming. It didn’t include a lot of new elements (which was fine) or enemy dynamics or new player-friendly integration (which is also fine considering it’s position in the storyline). Robin’s moves and gadgets are cool, but aren’t anything new if you played his challenge maps . This  made me want to see more Robin in future releases, and of course: Nightwing.

In the end, this release really just made me want more. I want to know what happens to Bruce. What is he thinking? What’s going through his head? Will he get over it? Are the Joker and Talia really really dead? How do Nightwing, Catwoman, Gordon, Tim, Barbara, and Alfred reacting to this new, even broodier Batman? We didn’t really get any of that character insight while while playing the extra content.

So, is this it? Will there ever be more DLC packs? Or will I have to wait until the next full game installement, which could years!!?? Thoughts, Patrick? As the only other Retcon Puncher who played the game or it’s DLC, what did you think? Did you find yourself wanting more, or were you satisfied with what you got?

Patrick: I am reasonably satisfied with what we got. Like you, I am happy simply for an occasion to play Arkham City again. So the fact that the story was sort of anemic and the game-play offered little in the way of novelty didn’t really keep me from enjoying myself. To that tune, I played this DLC pack twice: Two times.

If they put out new content like this with any degree of regularity, I’d buy it every time. And I’d have fun each time. But the cumulative effect of all that sustained fun would be an intense affection for the sum of its parts. The complete Arkham City experience could be an on-going, active part of my life for months – possibly even years. As it stands, I played the game for about a week a few months ago, and then again last Saturday. The game already made a lasting impact on me (and my perception of Batman), but that kind of interactive serialization would have elevated it even further.

Speaking in abstractions about imaginary scenarios! That’s my fancy-pants way of saying that I want more. MORE! Even if it’s insubstantial, any reason to pick up the controller and whip some batarangs around is a good reason.

Was it just me or was most of this absurdly easy? Notably, Batman’s last brawl with the re-purposed Wonder City robots was a walk in the park. None of them carried any weapons or special protections (shields, body armor, etc.), and they even seem a little slow on the up-take. The only road-bump is that their attacks aren’t telegraphed by those little lighting bolts, theoretically making their attacks difficult to parry. But their attack animations are REALLY OBVIOUS, even without the special warning. I played it twice and not once did they land a hit on me. #notbragging

Also, running around Arkham City as a totally leveled-up-Batman renders any number of armed goons ineffective. I found myself recklessly sending Bats into battle against six dudes with guns. Sure, he takes a few slugs to the belly, but whatevs. Toss some ‘rangs, throw down a smoke pellet, freeze a few, disarm someone with the claw: even these “tricky” fights can be won with a handful of quick-fire gadgets.

There was one room I really liked though: Robin versus Harley and her goons on the dry dock. Robin’s attack animations are just a little bit longer than Batman’s and his bag o’ tricks isn’t as diverse, so I actually had to start that one over a few times to pull it off without either dying or letting a hostage die. It’s weird: it’s basically just like a Robin Predator Challenge map, but giving it even the thinnest story context made me markedly more excited to play it.

Hey, how’d you do on the Harley Quinn balloons? Just as there are tons of collectibles and things to destroy in the main game, HQ’s Revenge scatters 30 balloons throughout the game-world for Batman (or Robin!) to pop. Normally, there’s a way to show the locations of these things on your map, to make some sense out of hunting them all down. There is a counter that keeps track of how many balloons you’ve popped, but that’s about it. I got all but three of them (guess what I’m never going to finish).

For a complete list of what we’re reading, head on over to our Pull List page.  Whenever possible, buy your comics from your local mom and pop comic bookstore.  If you want to rock digital copies, head on over to DC’s website and download issues there.  There’s no need to pirate, right?