Customer Reviews

Batman: Arkham City

5 star:		(214)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Anybody who has played Batman: Arkham Asylum and loved it knows precisely why it was such an amazing game. Take one part Matrix: Path of Neo for epic, super-human martial arts beat-em up; ad in another part Splinter Cell style sneaking around in dark environments for tense moments that test skill and patience; throw in some cool gadgetry to help you along the way like in Ape Escape; mix it in with amazing graphics, superb voice actors, and arguably the greatest super-hero ever and you had Batman: Arkahm Asylum.

So, how much more can such an already amazing game offer us if given a sequel? Apparently, a whole lot more.

If you can believe it, the intro to Arkham City is even better and more pulse-pounding than the intro to the first. You start off, not as Batman, but as Bruce Wayne, who is lobbying against Arkham City. I won't give anything away about what soon happens to our seemingly mild-mannered aristocrat, but I will say this...laying the beat down on some thugs as the boy-billionaire is one of coolest experiences I've had in gaming.

Soon afterwards, you suit up. Now you are Batman, but this isn't a self-contained island you're dealing with anymore. This is a no man's land. Pouncing on an unsuspecting group of baddies isn't as simple as it used to be; there are always more goons lurking around the corners, ready to jump into the fray like a vicious pack of wolves. More than once you'll find yourself overwhelmed and having to flee a fight while the stinging insults of said goons follow in your wake. Take my advice and just let it go. Survival is the name of the game.

If you've been watching Youtube then you've no doubt seen Batman's new flight mechanics. These are as fun in practice as they are to watch, although there is a learning curve to gliding effectively. There's also a pesky helicopter searching for you at all times. These guys are Tyger, Hugo Strange's own henchmen. Avoiding the helicopter can be tricky, but also fun.

As you'd expect, Arkham City plays almost exactly like the first one with a few tweaks and upgrades. Batman starts off with most of the same gadgets he had at the end of the first, including the grapple gun, the cryptographic sequencer and the remote batarang. He also has several new moves for melee situations. Batman must've been taking lessons from Chuck Norris because his martial arts are better and flashier than ever. He now has the ability to perform a counter-attack against two or more assailants at a time instead of just one. He has a new punch combo attack where he repeatedly thrusts with each press of the button. As Batman lays down an 18 punch combo on a single guy, or gigantic goon, I can't help but think of Kenshiro! "The one-hundred crack fist of the North Star! You're already dead!" Oh, but...this is Batman so minus the brutal killing of your foes. Let's just say he's more like Donkey Kong when beating up some Tikis.

The new combat moves make the game as fun as ever but also makes NOT using them an exercise in restraint. As stated before, enemies can show up when you least suspect and they sometimes pack heat. This will undoubtedly force all of us to use our brains even more when devising effective plans of attack. To aid in stealthy takedowns are a new set of "predator moves" where Batman can use far more takedowns from different hiding positions than he had previously. Again, a new set of moves and abilities to augment the ones we had before in Arkham Asylum. It's almost like the first game just laid the foundation and the sequel built onto it!

In addition to the main story mission are additional side missions that will pop up along the way. These may have you saving random inmates from other, worse inmates, to working with Bane to dispose of drums of Titan chemicals (Titan once more plays into the game's story) to solving mysteries planted by the Riddler. (By now we've all heard the "Riddler is Jigsaw!" equations made by everyone so I won't bore you with that. I don't even like Saw). You may want to hold off on the missions that involve Zaasz making you run across Arkham City to answer telephones until you've unlocked some flying upgrades. Certain henchmen will be highlighted in green. These are henchmen you can interrogate to acquire more info about the various crime lords they are working under. Taking them out last to initiate interrogation is a tough and not always fun exercise that we will nevertheless do in order to gain more precious XPs.

This game has a dark look and feel that pulls you in. Jumping across rooftops as the Batman is a whole `nother experience from doing it as Spiderman. The dingy, grungy look of the city, the background music and ambience. All of these together invade your subconscious until you feel alive with primal, survival instincts. I can't even describe it, really. You feel like a predator, but also like the prey. You're always walking a narrow line between seeming invincibility, and utter helplessness. This game puts you in a place all of us have been our whole lives without always realizing. When we dreamed we were running from danger, or dreamed we were conquering obstacles to achieve glory. This is just a personal opinion, of course, but I'd swear I've seen this in my dreams. Maybe I was just dreaming of being the Batman. This is as close as any of us will likely get.

The villains look fantastic. Mr. Freeze, interestingly enough, has a huge suit that reminds me of the Mr. Freeze suit from Batman and Robin. I apologize for even bringing THAT movie up, but the suit in that movie was still cool looking. Mr. Freeze looks menacing and sounds awesome with the voice talents of Maurice LaMarche (the guy who was Brain in Pinky and the Brain and about a million different voices in Futurama!) Penguin looks viscious and cruel and is twice as ruthless, no doubt to overcome his own size. Twoface looks somewhere between The Animated Series version and the Dark Knight version. Then there's the unexpected appearance of Solomon Grundy who looks like a nightmarish Frankenstein's monster and who is even bigger than Killer Croc!

In summation, Arkahm City is anther step forward for an already revolutionary game franchise. There are the usual shortcomings, however. You may find yourself wandering around, not knowing what to do until you trigger the right event to move the game forward. Figuring out some of the new controls may be a chore even to veteran players. And the boss fights still feel like, well, boss fights. Run around, dodge attacks and wait for the inevitable weak point to expose itself. Standard video game stuff, really. Of course, that's just all part of the experience. If it was too easy we wouldn't enjoy it as much, would we?

There's no reason for anyone who liked Arkahm Asylum to not like this one. If you didn't like the first one then I don't know how I could recommend this to you. It's the same game, just much bigger. If you don't like sandbox sandbox games and prefer something linear you can still focues on just the main mission. On the whole it's the same game, just with more stuff. That may be good news to some and bad news for others. For fans of the first, it definitely delivers. We finally got the new Batman Game, now just three more weeks til Skyrim!

**Update**
Some people may compare this game's story, not unjustly, to Escape from NewYork. Maybe they're just nitpicking, though. Even if that's the case, there are still plenty of twists and turns to keep players genuinely surprised right up until they get to of the end main mission.
I'm afraid I can't comment much on DLC since they have it in such a way that different people get different things. I've heard after a certain point, though, we'll all be able to download the same content...for a price.

To simply put it, this game is way beyond awesome!

This game is very easy to pick up and play even for the most casual of gamers. I like that in a game. Don't get me wrong, I certainly love a challenge, and Batman: Arkham City is definitely a challenging game, but it's not a frustrating kind of challenging. It's more of a "hmm, okay, well, that didn't work, and a I died, so what else should I try?" kind of challenge. I love that about this game. It really forces you to learn from the mistakes that you make and think about what you're doing.

The graphics in this game are just superb. The environments are imaginative, and so beautifully rendered as are the character models. While the thug character models that you'll find scattered throughout the game do get repetitive, the actual environments do not. Buildings vary in size, shape, and look, lending to the authenticity of looking like a real city. The main bad guys are just as stunning as the Caped Crusader himself. The animations as you swing through Arkham City, run through buildings, and in combat are incredibly fluid. I've had no problems whatsoever with either laggy movements, or the camera getting stuck in an awkward position.

The voice acting and sound is just as top notch as the graphics. None of the lines seemed forced, nor are they some cheesy lines thrown in there just for the sake of speaking. Each line spoken by any of the characters found throughout the game serves a purpose to advance the story and isn't just some throwaway line. The music in the background is soft and very appropriate for setting the tone of the game. Environmental sounds, such as a batarang clinking off some metal, are also well done.

In terms of controls, yes, it is true that you only have to hit one button to strike opponents. However, if you want more of a challenge, try using the directional buttons too to select weapons such as your batarangs in the middle of combat to help take down enemies. Also, your takedowns aren't one button, and cape stun is a completely separate button from the strike button. Really, I've seen some complaining that this is a button masher since you only press one button to strike, but, if you get creative, this is no button masher. The controls in this game are also very responsive. I've played some game before where there appears to be a slight delay in the reaction of the on-screen character following a button press, or the character just doesn't do what you want, despite pressing the appropriate button. This does not occur in Batman: Arkham City. If you want to punch someone, you will, and you will do it just as soon as you press the button.

There have been complaints from some people that you play too much as Catwoman. I really don't think that is the case at all. Honestly, I was hoping to play as Catwoman even more than what was allotted. Seriously, don't let those saying there's a ton of Catwoman play deter you from buying this game. You really only play as Catwoman for maybe like 1 or 2% of the game if that. 98-99% of the time, you're Batman. And, if you don't like Catwoman, don't use the DLC code, and avoid the little bit of gameplay with her entirely. It doesn't affect the story at all.

All in all, I love this game. It is probably as close to a perfect game as you're ever going to find.

I really enjoyed Batman: Arkham Asylum so I expected big things here. Thankfully, Arkham City keeps all the good elements of the first game, makes some improvements, and adds enough new elements that the experience still feels fresh.

The one major downside to Arkham Asylum to me was the need to almost constantly use the X-ray vision mode to see where thugs were lurking around corners in order to plan stealth attacks in relatively small spaces. This time around, the city environment allows for much greater movement, and the lighting makes it easy to see enemies without going to X-ray mode, while still keeping a dark atmosphere. Strategy is still needed since some of the bad guys carry guns, but I no longer feel like I'm playing the role of a ninja, taking out one guy and scurrying back into the shadows. It's very cool to look to the sky and see the bat-signal indicating the direction of your current primary objective.

The number of melee attacks you can unlock is so extensive it felt overwhelming at first. Fortunately you have the option to have a prompt come up at the bottom of the screen when your combo meter is high enough to use advanced attacks. The more sophisticated and varied your fighting style, the more XP points you get to unlock more abilities and upgrade your armor.

Then there are the hundreds of Riddler trophies to obtain. Some are merely hidden from sight, while others are in plain view but require solving a puzzle to free them for collection. There is even a device that involves chaining letters together to form words to solve some of the riddles. There are also various challenges like gliding a certain distance, performing certain attacks successfully, and destroying Joker teeth, each of which awards a Riddler trophy. Just collecting all the trophies is like a game in itself, and is a nice way to break up the action. Also, you can hold down the L2 button to mark a Riddler trophy on your map if you can't currently retrieve it. Tip: If there is no evident way to get to a trophy, mark it and move on. Many require gadgets that you may not have yet, and the red ones can only be obtained by Catwoman.

Catwoman has really nice martial arts attacks, can use her whip and other weapons, and can make repeated jumps to scale a building in place of Batman's grappling hook. She definitely feels fully developed and in no way tacked on as a promotional gimmick.

Batman's gliding ability combined with being able to grapple from midair makes it easy to get around the city. It's fun, the physics are well done, and it is practically useful.

The graphics in this game are some of the best I've ever seen. I never have that sensation like in some sandbox games where the buildings look painted into the background and unrealistic. It really feels like a living, breathing world, especially since there are always optional side missions popping up and bad guys lurking and chatting about what's going on. The voice acting is very good, especially Mark Hamill's portrayal of The Joker.

AI in this game is impressive. If I take out one in a gang with stealth and the others find him, they go on alert and actively search. This means altering their patrol patterns, staying closer together, and turning around much more often to watch their backs. It's a refreshing change from games where guys go on alert for a minute, then return to mindlessly walking the exact same path and begging to be picked off. The game is challenging but never cheap, and if you have trouble with certain elements of fighting you can upgrade accordingly. The ability to throw down a smoke pellet when coming under gunfire is a great addition.

I don't have a bad thing to say about this game. I'm not one to go overboard with praise and ignore flaws, but there are no issues here. No bugs, no collision detection problems, no slowdown despite the huge scale of the city, no painful logic gaps in the story or motivation. You can tell Rocksteady had a great engine to start with, and spent their time fixing issues and expanding gameplay in creative ways. Too often I get frustrated during a game and wonder "didn't the developers care if this is actually fun to play?". During the many hours I've spent in Arkham City, I have only asked that once, which was when I was first learning how to glide. There is no tutorial and I had to go online to figure out how to dive and pull up. That temporary problem aside, the game is nonstop fun, with enough challenge that I've died numerous times in ways that left me saying "I need to plan better next time". This is the sort of game where you're saying goodbye to months of your life when you pick it up, which you should do right now.

I played Arkham Asylum and thought it was perhaps the best superhero game ever. It remains at the top of my list, and I enjoy playing it to this day. Arkham City takes the formula of Asylum and changes things up quite a bit. Whereas Asylum feels claustrophobic and almost a bit like a survival horror, Arkham City is much more open and less scary in its presentation. Instead, it feels more like an action movie with all the big set pieces and twists and turns in plot. The two games are entirely different, so if you come to this one expecting another slow-paced exploration model with a small world...think again.

That said, the open world was a bit of a disappointment for me. Open worlds are only as fun as the means of travelling them, and I constantly felt limited by the glide/boost mechanism. Often divebombing would get me some more air time but I'd get in too tight to buildings and hit one and fall. Or, I'd be grapple-boosting from place to place in a very....non awesome form of travel. The world was nice, don't' get me wrong...but traversing was a bit of a chore.

Combat was improved in many ways from the first, with counters much easier and more combos available with different things to do. Mine main issue was that some special baddies had annoying to counter abilities. The shield carriers and stun rods in particular were a chore. You couldn't smart-target away in combat their shields or weapons with the grapple hook, and pulling off the combos that allowed you to disarm them in a mass of melee fighters could be near impossible...as such I felt punished every time I saw a guy with a shield because I knew I was in for a long frustrating fight. In many ways, I think I preferred the simpler combat of Asylum.

The storyline, which I've mentioned earlier, played out in a different fashion that I"d foreseen. Instead of having a large amount of villains meaningfully attached to the plot, you end up with a metric ton of them tossed into the mix in cameo fashion at best. I can't say that the presence of most of them did the story much good. Additionally, without going into spoiler territory too deeply, I found the ending of the game to be a bit dark, drawn out, and just bloody. I didn't feel as satisfied by the ending as I'd want...and the whole direction the story took about halfway through just didn't do anything for me. This, I realize, is entirely subjective and your mileage may vary.

Overall, I feel Arkham City took a lot of risks with gameplay. Some of these payed off, but too often for me I found myself being annoyed or limited by some of the design choices. Instead of fighting my foes, at times I felt like I was fighting the game designers and their game systems...which is never a good thing. That said, Arkham City was fun to play through overall...so I won't begrudge it less than four stars...it just didn't reach the heights that I hoped and didn't eliminate my opinion that Arkham Asylum is the best Batman game thus far.

If you've read my review for Batman: Arkham Asylum, then you know that I loved it, yet I only rented it due to my "code" which demands that I only buy games based off Marvel comics since I'm a much bigger fan of that series as opposed to DC. However, I couldn't stand not being able to play the game again, so I eventually gave in and bought it... and I loved it even more. Naturally, I had to get Batman: Arkham City as well. Was it worth it? The answer to that question would be a big, fat "YES". Much like Arkham Asylum, Arkham City is a wonderfully crafted game with excellent combat, superb graphics, a gripping story, and simply oozing with dark atmosphere. If you have the DLC for Catwoman installed, then the game opens with the player in control of the thieving feline beating up some of Two-Face's thugs so she can get to his safe and steal something from him, only to end up getting captured by the duality obsessed thug himself. We are then switched over to the standard opening of the game and given control of the man himself... Bruce Wayne. That's right, we get to play for a bit as the impeccably dressed billionaire as he finds himself speaking at a televised protest for the purpose of closing down the newly built super prison Arkham City, which is basically an area of several square blocks of Gotham City that has been walled off to hold the vast collection of crazies that used to reside in Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison. The new warden of this ill-advised facility, Professor Hugo Strange, has his TYGER security guards bust up the protest and arrest Bruce Wayne, presumably for speaking out against the prison. However, the real reason that Strange had Bruce arrested was because he knows his dark secret... he knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Now with Batman captured, Strange can proceed with his master plan simply known as Protocol 10. After being thrown into Arkham City and being introduced to it's welcoming committee consisting of Penguin and his thugs, Bruce gets his gear dropped off by the Batwing, courtesy of Alfred. Now, fully suited up, Batman begins his mission to stop whatever Protocol 10 is, as well as a presumably different plot being hatched by the Clown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker. The Dark Knight will be doing the usual beating up of stupid thugs, sneaking in the shadows to take out gun-wielding thugs silently, solving lots of puzzles, and doing lots of gliding and grapnel gun zipping along the rooftops of the prison. These gameplay elements, as well as the controls, are basically identical to those in Arkham Asylum, but since there was nothing bad about them in the first game, then it's actually really good that they haven't changed too much in this one. In other words: "it ain't broke, so why fix it?"

As we all know, Arkham City is much more of a free-roaming environment than the more streamlined Arkham Island from the previous game. It's comparatively much smaller compared to the free-roaming environments found in other games such as Infamous, Prototype, and Red Dead Redemption, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. First of all, Arkham City is much more detailed in design (in a dark and dilapidated sort of way). Second of all, Arkham City is filled to the brim with all kinds of things to do and find. Plenty of iconic and interesting locations such as Penguin's museum, the Solomon Wayne Courthouse, and the Monarch Theater appear in Arkham City (even the location where Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered can be found somewhere in the city). There are also plenty of those ever so cleverly designed Riddler challenges and trophies. Seriously, they're EVERYWHERE. You will literally find Riddler trophies hidden just several feet away from other ones in certain locations. If the environment were any larger, then it would simply be too much in my opinion. Even with the way it is, one can't help but feel a little overwhelmed with all the stuff there is to do in Arkham City when you first step into it, although eventually it becomes more manageable and that overwhelming feeling gets downgraded to staggering. Anyway, back to the Riddler trophies. Most of them will be unobtainable when you first find them, as they are usually locked in these little domes or hidden behind other traps that can only be opened/unlocked with one of Batman's many gadgets. Fortunately, Batman can mark these Riddler trophies on his map and come back to collect them after he has acquired one of the later gadgets that are needed to reach these trophies. Speaking of gadgets, Batman starts the game with most of the gear he finished the previous game with: his batarangs, remote controlled batarangs, explosive gel, grapnel gun, and batclaw. He also has smoke pellets (useful against gun-wielding enemies) and he eventually regains the line launcher. He'll even gain other useful gadgets such as a remote electrical charge, which fires a small blast of electricity that can be used to activate electrical machinery and shock enemies. He also gains a disruptor, which lets him disable enemy firearms and turrets. Batman's Detective Mode also makes a return (thank God) and it is again essential when finding hidden items and getting a lay of the land when sneaking around in the darkness during the predator (stealth) sessions peppered throughout the game. Batman can perch atop gargoyle statues or other high platforms and take down enemies in the same manner as he did in the previous game. Occasionally, some enemies will lay down mines to make walking around more dangerous for Batman, and other enemies will have jammers that will disrupt his Detective Mode: taking out these enemies first is of course a high priority.

Batman's vast array of butt kicking and head cracking moves are just as fluid and graceful as ever with his familiar attack, cape stun, counter, and dodge roll moves making a comeback, but the Caped Crusader has a few new tricks in his utility belt. With the new "quickfire" mechanic added into the controls, he can now integrate more of his gadgets like the explosive gel, remote electrical charge, and others into his attacks, along with the standard batarang and batclaw attacks from before. Batman can also now counter two attacking enemies at the same time, counter enemies who throw things at him, as well as pummel a single enemy repeatedly with a flurry of lightning quick jabs (this move is appropriately called the "Beatdown"). All these moves and gadgets can of course be upgraded with experience points. As one would expect, Batman's "traversal moves" have also been upgraded. While gliding around in the sky he can perform a divebomb move that lets him shoot downward at great speed, then when he pulls up he gains more altitude for gliding, letting him cover longer distances. He can now even use his grapnel gun while gliding to zip himself to a building or simply glide out of his grapnel swing to gain even more altitude and speed. Some of these new additions to the controls do take getting used to, especially the gliding and "quickfire" gadget attacks, but before long you'll be doing it all seamlessly and stylishly. The other playable character, Catwoman, actually plays very similarly to Batman and has her own collection of fancy moves that let her beat up a small army of thugs. Her weapons are a whip, bolas, and caltrops, all with their own "quickfire" attacks. She's also a bit faster with her attacks. Her traversal moves aren't as seamless or easy to execute as Batman's, but they still work; she uses her whip to swing towards buildings and then latches onto their walls with her claws, allowing her to leapfrog (or "leapcat") up the side of the building. She also has goggles that give her what can be called "Thief Mode", which lets her see things in a purplish haze and highlights enemies and important items, but no sidebar descriptions accompany what she's looking at like with Batman's Detective Mode. Her Thief Mode is ultimately less useful than Detective Mode, but it still serves its purpose. Catwoman can also climb up and along certain walls and ceilings with her claws, allowing her to silently take down enemies from above, reach areas that Batman can't get to, and collect Riddler trophies that have been left specifically for her.

One other change to the gameplay is the somewhat more challenging enemies. A lot of the standard types of thug enemies from the previous game return, with the only changes being their appearances which depend on what villain they work for, whether it's Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, etc. The tougher enemies include guys armed with knives, guys with riot shields, guys wearing body armor, and... even ninjas. Battles against large groups of these types of enemies can be very dangerous for Batman. The boss fights have also improved and are more well-rounded with Batman facing a couple of other TITAN-infused thugs, as well as an arena type battle with Solomon Grundy, mystical fisticuffs with Ra's Al Ghul, a unique game of hide-and-go-beat up with Mr. Freeze, and a more appropriately challenging final boss battle against a rather surprising enemy. Aside from this already impressive gathering of villains, others appear in the game's side missions which are all miniature adventures with their own stories attached to them, and they all have multiple stages/levels before they can be completed. One consists of several races against time where Batman must get from one side of Arkham City to the other and answer a ringing phone before the clock runs down to zero, otherwise the psychotic Zsasz will kill a helpless victim. Another has Batman following bullet trajectories with his Detective Mode to hunt down Deadshot as he assassinates political prisoners in Arkham City. Probably the more memorable side mission is where Batman must rescue hostages from these elaborate traps set up by the Riddler (who has obviously seen several, if not all, of the SAW films). These and most of the other side missions eventually culminate in a final encounter between Batman and the villains in question. Sidenote: as someone who has come to truly loathe the Riddler and his little games, I found the final confrontation with him to be by far the most euphorically satisfying.

This may not need to be said, but there are indeed a lot of villains and characters in this game, with a couple of them appearing only for mere minutes. With all these different characters and stories packed into this one game, I agree with other reviewers that the story does tend to get a little jumbled here and there, and certain other villains get less camera time than they probably should have, especially Hugo Strange; his knowledge of Batman's identity could have been used as a very interesting story element that could have proved very threatening for Batman, but alas it doesn't get touched upon enough to be of much importance to the main plot. Still, the story we get proves to be quite interesting on its own, especially during the last few missions where a few genuinely "wow" moments are thrown at us. If I had to leave a solid complaint, it would be that there are simply too many Riddler trophies and challenges in this game (more than twice the amount found in the first game). Most are easy to find, but take work to get to. However, a relatively select few are an absolute chore to locate, even if you check and recheck every possible nook and cranny in the city... and there are many. I also don't see why the Catwoman missions couldn't have just come directly with the game instead of having to be added as DLC. Even after the main and side missions are done, we've got plenty of those awesome challenge maps to pass the time with. Another quick praise has to go to the superb voice acting in this game, with Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy once again working their magic in their respectively iconic roles of Joker and Batman. In closing, Batman: Arkham City really is somewhat of an "expansion pack" of Batman: Arkham Asylum, but it's a darn good one. While there simply wasn't much to improve on with Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady has managed to actually take it further and add just enough new stuff in Arkham City to make it an overall better game, if a little less cohesive with the story. Other reviewers made the classic mistake of letting the hype for this game get to them and in the end they found this game to be disappointing. To those of you who haven't played this game yet, don't get caught up in the hype because it can kill any game if you let it, even one as great as this one. If you go into this game with an open mind and take your time to familiarize yourself with its subtleties and the rich world it puts you in, then you will most certainly enjoy it. Buy it, rent it, conjure it through use of the dark arts, I don't care... just give this game a shot.

This wont be like my MW3 review, but in contrast, will be more brief and informative for this is how I like to present them.

This game is hands down amazing! There are no other words to describe it. From end to finish I was fully immersed into the story and gameplay. So what exactly makes this game so awesome you might ask. Well, let me elaborate a bit about the key features that really drew me in. The new combat moves are sick! I felt like a champ owning the cpu's in Arkham Asylum, now, In Arkham City, Im feeling like a boss tearing through these guys like a martial arts virtuoso. In short, you are going to have a lot of fun with this. Now, on to the storyline and gameplay. This is probably the most important feature of the game and it does not disappoint. Nowadays, most games rely on great looking graphics to fill the gap that the horrible story creates. Luckily, that is not the case for Arkham City. In this game, it seems as if both awesome graphics and amazing storyline coexist creating this single player masterpiece. I think that future developers should take note of this, and use it in upcoming titles. During the game, I found little to no dull spots. There was always something keeping my attention, which is great. There was also very little repetition, so you cant really get bored of the same thing recurring. The last thing I'd like to talk about is the dialogue. Your probably thinking, how is that important? Well, Its something you really cant tell is good, until its gone. I have had many instances with other games where the dialogue was so bad, that it threw off my entire gaming experience. As you might have guessed, Arkham City excels in this area as well. The voice acting was executed superbly and was like music to my ears hearing realistic responses and arguments. Overall, this game is fantastic. I believe the developers of this game have really outdone themselves here. A truly awesome experience. I'd recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the batman series or just loves superheros. This game will not disappoint.

If you found this review helpful, please leave a positive vote. Thanks. Also, If you have any questions regarding the game or this review, feel free to leave a comment and I'll be sure to answer them as best as possible.

I bought this game because I heard alot of good things about it. I could not find any "legitimate" bad reviews. All I can say is this is a great game from start to finish. Anyone I have let play it has become completly hooked. It doesnt hurt that it was just voted as game of the year. Well deserved and highly recommended!

If you are looking for a game that takes you on an adventure and does everything great, this is that game. This game gives you remnants of Infamous, Deus Ex, Uncharted, and probably a couple other games, and they do it perfect. Everything from the fighting to the storyline are great. I'm not sure if its because I already played Arkhmm Asylum or not but I started out with all the equipment/perks that I had from the original. The new fighting perks/moves are phenomonal. I like how Batman uses the environment to fight. As a finishing move I took one of the goons heads and slammed it against one of the concrete blocks I was fighting next to. It is open world with lots of side missions. I haven't played much of the story yet and I'm 4-5 hours in. You can look for Riddler's trophies, which require some thought and skill to get some of them (you'll see) or you can help others in side missions and even stop muggings (exactly like Infamous). You can also do the WayneTech challenges to upgrade you skills and earn new equipment. There is so much more to this game that I have left out, but there's something for everyone. I have spent probably an hour just gliding around looking at the city with a few fights in between. It's just that immersing.

Believe me, this game will more than hit the spot for what you are looking for. This will get Game of the Year without a doubt (even with Uncharted 3 coming). It has everything. I can't see how someone really couldn't like this game unless you don't like fun, exciting, action-filled games or Batman. You will NOT be disappointed.

Full disclosure: I bought this knowing with 100% certainty that I will never ever play it. And, since we got it, I haven't. But I'm going to approach this review from another perspective entirely: that of the girlfriend.

My boyfriend's birthday was the day after this game was released. I picked up Batman Arkham Asylum: Game of the Year Greatest Hits for him last year and he loved it, so I was well prepared this year and placed my pre-order months in advance. When he finally was able to open it on his birthday, my boyfriend was thrilled and couldn't wait to play the game that had been hyped as the best game to be released in 2011.

Now, I don't avoid playing these kind of games because I'm a girl. I'm well aware there are heaps of girl-gamers out there who will eat this game up, but I'm not going to lie and pretend I'm one of them. I cripple under the pressure of playing dark and gloomy high-stakes video games. I'm one of those people who panics when the characters are shooting at me so I'm usually dead before I've even completed one percent of the gameplay. Little Big Planet 1 & 2 and the Lego games are more my speed (lame, I know...) That said, I'm the kind of person who enjoys being the co-pilot, so to speak. My boyfriend will play this game for hours on our HDTV and, if nothing better is going on, I'll sit beside him and watch. I often catch little things he misses, like the side missions, Ridler trophies, level up's, etc. I'm sure this could probably get annoying, but I try to keep my mouth shut as much as possible and act only as an occasional assistant.

But from the perspective of the girlfriend who loses her boyfriend for hours (and sometimes days!) at a time while he's fully immersed in the gameplay and hogging our television... this game is pretty sweet. What I like most about it is that there is so much going on all at once. It isn't the same old repetitive thing where a bunch of hostiles come around a corner and sneak attack you and you spend the entire time taking them down one by one. There are puzzles to problem-solve, there is definitely a strategy to it, you have side missions with the Ridler and Zsaz... It's more like watching an interactive movie for the person who isn't playing the game, which keeps me interested instead of annoyed.

As compared to the last installment in the Batman: Arkham francise, this game seems to have at least four times as much content to it. It's longer and it involves a lot more multi-tasking than the last one. Which is great in the bang-for-your-buck sense, for sure. I like it because it wasn't cheap, but I feel like it's going to take my boyfriend a while before he gets all the way through it.

So, all in all, if you're considering buying this for your spouse/significant other/roommate/family member, but you don't want to be bored out of your mind while they become a game-zombie: fear not! Even from the perspective of the outside observer, this game is a great choice too!

After thoroughly enjoying Arkham Asylum, I found myself wondering how the "sandbox-style" take of its sequel Arkham City would play out. Arkham Asylum had a fairly straightfoward storyline, and the environment changed to control how you stepped through the story: breaking down that linearity might not go so well.

I'm happy to say that this game succeeds in every way. It makes me wonder how I settled for something as small as Arkham Asylum and I see a huge amount of replay potential as I try a variation or two in this rich open world.

For those of you new to the Arkham games, the concept is this: the first game portrayed a failed attempt to put Blackgate Prison and Arkham Asylum (the prison for the violently deranged supervillains that plague Batman's universe) together on the same island. After this colossal failure, a bizarre turn of fate leaves a flood-damaged section of Gotham walled off, filled with bad guys (and political dissidents!) who are left to fend for themselves, and the whole environment patrolled by a paramilitary security company. What this means for you is that while there is a core storyline that needs you to go through some side stories to keep the main story moving, you are also free to tackle these challenges at your own pace. You can spend the rest of the time wandering the environment and choosing what you want to do.

This could lead to some confusion and missed opportunities, so the game gives you a bit of a knowledge boost in the form of a map, a radio, and some tie-in events. Your map will light up all sorts of items related to the 'quests' you've picked up and will now let you tag the one you want to work on. Your radio (and microphone in your suit's cowl) will pick up chatter as you pass through an area and you can decide to look into what you're hearing or just move on. And last, there are times when you see a group of thugs might have one member who can be pumped for information: if you take out his companions first and finish him last, you can get an XP bonus and a lead on the supervillain he works for.

I called my review of Arkham Asylum "The Batman Simulator", and that's exactly what we get in Arkham City: just about anything you've ever seen Batman do in movies and in the comics is something you'll have a chance to do here. Unlike Arkham Asylum, you don't have to start from nothing. You get several gadgets to begin with and more seem to come along fairly quickly. I won't spoil all the surprises, but I'll say that some of your gadgets can be used in multiple ways: for example, early on there is an electrical weapon that can be used to stun an opponent, to control machinery by zapping it with a charge, or to create a distraction by making a device fire up from a distance (and cause your opponents to run towards it while you lay a trap or get away).

There's another new twist in Arkham City, and that's the introduction of Catwoman. There are times you can play as her, and when you do there are secrets that only she can unlock. There are also times where the two of them need to work cooperatively: for example, a trophy Catwoman can pick up might be behind a wall that Batman needs to blow up with his explosive gel. Catwoman doesn't move or fight like Batman, but the differences don't limit her greatly: for example, she might not be able to grapple onto a roof, but she can use her whip and her claws to pull herself up, leap, and climb to the same spot just as quickly as Batman's grapple. Her combat lacks as many gadgets, but has more elements of surprise and speed.

Overall, it's as if everything in Arkham Asylum was closely examined and the game's creators figured out ways to make them better. Clues on the map can now be tagged for later so you don't have to go searching for them again. Your cape's glide capabilities are drastically improved, giving you more distance and the ability to do all sorts of aerial maneuvers. Skills that you upgrade can have their 'tutorial activated', which means that when the opportunity comes to use the new skill, you'll get tips on how to do so on-screen, with suggestions like "too soon". Batman has an alternate mode of viewing the environment called "Detective Mode" it looks sharper now, and while it has always popped up relevant information in your HUD, in Arkham City it tends to do so more when you need it instead of constantly flashing in the corner of your vision. Catwoman has this too, in the form of her goggles (though they aren't quite as good).

There are only two flaws to Arkham City that I've uncovered. One is that there is a side story that Zsasz has gained control of the payphones and is using them to taunt you. When a phone rings near you, you need to answer it or he will kill someone. Then he may send you off on a mad rush to find the next phone. These can get really annoying when they cause you to get to a destination, get a phone call, backtrack, return, get another phone call, go somewhere else, and have to come back. They're optional, but I can't see myself skipping them. This is a minor flaw because at a certain point the phone calls settle down and I stopped getting them for a while.

The other flaw is in the 'Augmented Reality Training'. This is an optional set of tasks you can do to get bonus items. For example, you can improve your gliding skills by taking 5 challenges of gliding through increasingly complicated series of hoops. Some of the maneuvers are downright tough, but you really find yourself getting better at the game's mechanics if you complete them.

If you're new to the Batman games, Arkham City won't be the easiest to jump into, but you can pick it up. Take the easier difficulty and over time you will be rewarded with a great game. If you've already played Arkham Asylum, "More of the Same" is nowhere near as accurate a description as "Better Everything."

Either way, Arkham City will be one of my favorite games for a long time to come. Highly recommended.