If you pre-ordered your copy of Batman: Arkham City from Best Buy, you received a “Robin Challenge Pack” that nets you Robin, three different looks for him and two challenge maps. For those that picked up their copy of Batman: Arkham City from other locations and those who can’t wait until he’s available to everyone, here are ten quick thoughts on Robin and what comes with him.
1. The Robin Challenge Pack gives you two extra skins besides his appearance in the main Batman: Arkham City game. There’s Red Robin and a Batman: The Animated Series version. Both look fantastic and I strongly prefer them to the in-game Robin costume which is an odd mix of Tim Drake and Damien Wayne’s costumes. I should point out that the B:TAS version is actually Dick Grayson’s look and costume rather than the later Tim Drake version.
2. To access the Robin content, you need to start the game, choose “Riddler’s Revenge” and choose him, followed by your skin there.
3. Downloading Robin nets you the Black Mask and Freight train challenges. These can be used in Ranked Challenges, Campaigns and Custom Challenges.
4. Robin handles somewhat differently from Batman. He has shuriken instead of batarangs. Triangle is counter, O is stunning an opponent with Robin’s staff, Square is for striking and X is for running (hold down) and dodging (double tap). L1 + any of the shape buttons gives you a special attack based on what abilities/items you chose at the beginning of the level. The third round puts on top of a train car and the fourth has you fight a one armed giant clown and Black Mask himself.
5. Freight Train has Robin (or any other character) in a side scrolling metro train out of something like Final Fight or Streets of Rage. You have to make your way through the train cars (each round is a different car) and try to rack up a large combo along with netting a high score by using a variety of different attacks. Scores needed to place are 8,000, 16,000 and 32,000.
6. The Black Mask map isn’t a straight up combat map like Freight Train. Here the attempt is to pull off a Shield Bash, a Zip Kick Off and Window Pain and clear the mission as quickly as possible. It’s very similar to the stealth missions in Batman: Arkham Asylum
7. The Black Mask Campaign has you black both dlc quests back to back. First up is Black Mask, followed by Freight Train.
9. Robin feels a lot slower and weaker than Batman and so I probably won’t be using him much. He’s fun to fiddle with and you need him for two DLC trophies (both bronze), but you’ll want to spend extensive time with him to figure out how to play him. You do NOT want to play him like Batman. That will get him killed. At the same time don’t just jump into playing as Robin if you haven’t fiddled around with the main game first. You’ll most likely want to learn the basics before you try him out. It’s tempting I know, and I fell prey to that same temptation. I then found myself dying or getting a low score as I tried out all his different moves and abilities.
10. The Robin Challenge Pack will be available for purchase the week of October 22nd and will cost $6.99. There will also be a Nightwing Challenge pack as well. If you pre-ordered from Best Buy, this means you got a great deal. Robin looks great, is fun to play with and is different enough from Batman that he provides a whole new experience. Enemies even have their own unique commentary on or with him.
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