Catwoman Playable Character

Catwoman Playable Character

The rumors that began just before E3 2011 that Arkham City would include the ability to play the game as Catwoman turned out to be mostly true -- as we learned at the Batman booth at E3 and as was subsequently confirmed by members of the Dev Team in the interviews that following the event.

I say "mostly true" because while there was popular speculation that we would be able to play the game as Catwoman if we wanted to, as it turns out that is not true at all...  The way that it works is that Catwoman has her own sections in the game and like the playable Robin character, when the DLC is present in the game for them, their sections will pop up as part of regular game play.  So yes, we get to play as Catwoman / Robin during some parts of the game, but no, we cannot play the entire game as one of the alternate characters.

-- Catwoman is a DLC Package --

It needs to be stressed that the ability to play as this alternate character is a DLC code-based ability, with each of the retail copies of the game coming with a small piece of paper on which is printed the DLC Code that you need redeem to activate this option and download the DLC. 

Now granted it is cool that we don't have to pay for this part of the game when we purchase the game new, but the fact that this is a DLC resource is bad news for gamers who planned to purchase their copy of the game slightly used, and certainly bad news for the gamers who exclusively play using rental services like GameFly -- because obviously they will not have that code! 

There was some confusion initially about when the Catwoman sections activate -- and whether or not it is only a Gameplay feature...  From what we can tell it is neither -- if you have the DLC installed before you start playing your first full playthrough these sections should activate, but not if you have already started prior to installing the DLC because her sections actually play out as a sub-plot and story of her own, so it would not make much sense for that to simply turn on halfway through, right?  In any event, if you have not played her sections and you have the DLC installed, it will start up during your Gameplay playthrough for sure.

The Catwoman -- Good?  Bad?  Both?  Beautiful!

-- Avoiding the Catwoman --

Some gamers have remarked that some of the Catwoman sections of the game are particularly challenging (some even say they do not like them) and so they actively wanted ways to avoid playing them.  Obviously the simple way to avoid playing them is to not install the DLC, and if you are not a gamer who is really in to learning how to effectively use the combat system (a button masher in other words -- and I am not saying anything bad about you I am just saying) then not installing the Catwoman DLC is probably the way to go for you!

So, if you do not want to be forced into completing it and you have ALREADY installed the DLC, you will need to delete the DLC from your console BEFORE you reach the point where that mission is triggered, because once it is triggered it then becomes part of the game save and there is no way to remove it short of starting over from scratch. 

If you delete the DLC after that point in the hopes of not having to deal with that very challenging mission you will find that it is too late!  The game will not allow you to continue past that mission start point until you reinstall the DLC and play the mission, as when you try it will tell you that the content is missing and needs to be reinstalled.

-- Catwoman Online Pass Code Issues --

There are some known issue with the Catwoman Code slip that is supposed to be inside the boxed retail game -- with a very tiny percentage of the codes being bad so that when you try to use it it says that the code is invalid or that it has already been used.  If you find that your code is bad -- or you bought a game that was like the 1 in 20,000 games that did NOT have the Catwoman Online Pass in it -- you will need to contact Warner Brothers Games Customer Service Department.  Seriously.

It is worth pointing out to you that taking the game back to the place that you bought it -- or calling them, whether you call the store or their corporate help line -- is not going to help you, the only place that can help you is the Warner Brothers Customer Support Center.  If you try to take the game back to the store you bought it from, as soon as they see that the seal is broken and the shrink-wrap is removed they will very likely point to the sign behind the counter that says they do not accept returns on opened games or software and tell you to have a nice day.  Since they don't have extra copies of the Catwoman DLC codes anyway....

This largely applies if you are in the USA -- but if you are in the UK or Australia, you are in luck because both  have fairly broad consumer protection laws -- but you will not get anywhere by telling them that the code is missing.  While THAT will not work, if you bring the game back to the shop you bought it at and tell them that the GAME will not work and the disc appears to be bad, what they will do is take it back and give you a new one, and that should have the code it it, and so bonus!  You now have your code and you did not have wait on hold paying $3.20 a minute to ring up Warner Brothers!

If the store will not replace the game for you, then you really do have no choice but to contact Warner Brothers Customer Support -- and you do this either by calling (410) 568-3680, or alternatively you can email [email protected] or visit community.batmanarkhamcity.com/support.

If you are outside the US and you do not have free international calling minutes on your calling plan, I would seriously recommend emailing them, because while that may take longer, it almost certainly will eventually be effective, and when you email you have a record of the conversation in case you end up having to file a complaint with the version of the Consumer Protection Agency in your country...