Summary [10 out of 10]

The long awaited sequel to the excellent Batman Arkham Asylum, Arkham City sees an entire section of Gotham City annexed off to form a super prison led by Dr Hugo Strange, one of Batman’s more dangerous and oldest villains who also happens to know Batman’s secret identity. Weird things are going on in the prison and factions have formed around the super villains inside and open gang warfare is erupting in the streets. This would be all well and good if Strange weren’t throwing political enemies in the prison who are innocent of everything but finding out a piece of what he is up to. It is up to Batman to get inside and sort all of it out and that takes him to much darker places than most players are going to be prepared for.

Arkham Asylum is, up until now, the only perfect 10 I have handed out for a game and I thought it would be pretty much impossible to do that again, especially when Rocksteady started monkeying with the formula that made the first one so good. As it turns out, it was not impossible and the expansions to the gameplay work perfectly and enhance the overall experience without taking anything away. I thought the first game was the perfect Batman simulator but this one is even better.

What’s It Like:

• Batman Arkham Asylum: Obviously, given it is a sequel, if you played the first game you will be right at home here. The general structure remains largely the same and your skills will carry over after readjusting to the controls. If you hated Arkham Asylum then you probably aren’t going to like Arkham City. You also might have a real and significant mental issue possibly stemming from some kind of trauma suffered to the head in childhood and should get that checked out for your own good.

• Heaven: If you add in some clouds and loved ones, this is probably pretty close to what Heaven must be like. Also, an unlimited supply of Skittles.

The Great:

• Story: When I first started playing, I felt like the story was stretching itself too thin to accommodate the expanded venue and larger roster of characters and villains but after getting into the meat of it, I realized how deep this story is and how much it draws upon Batman lore. There are a lot of things going on here and when you factor in the side missions, each with their own stories, you have an enormously rich Batman story. It is also a lot darker than most of what we’ve ever seen from Batman in the past. The Dark Knight Returns is about the only thing that comes close to where this thing goes tonally and in terms of intensity. The twists and turns in the plot are surprising and effective and when the story is over you are going to think about it a lot. Any time a game’s story can stick with you like that is noteworthy. In this case, because it is Batman, it is epic in every sense of the word.

• Graphics: I am not sure how deep they had to dig to pull out graphics this gorgeous looking but particularly on the 360 the graphics are incredible. That isn’t to say it doesn’t look great on the PS3 but rather that it is more impressive that the 360 managed to pull them off given the system’s rapidly showing age. The character models, level designs, animation and backgrounds are all brilliant and fit the material perfectly. The scope and detail involved here are staggering and when you are navigating the city by gliding or ziplining through the skyline, it can be downright breathtaking.

• Controls: The controls are again intuitive and easy to use. There was a little bit of adjustment in the beginning of the game and some of the sensitivity seems to be a little different but doing what you want to do is easy and intuitive. Dying and starting over happens in this game but it is because of player area or section difficulty as opposed to broken controls. These are a big part of the immersion here because the controls are so effortless that it is easy to get lost in the illusion that you are Batman because you aren’t thinking about the hunk of plastic in your hands.

• Character Roster: The roster in the last game was impressive and I was very excited to see the characters featured there. Arkham City’s roster is way better. Drawing from a pool of top tier and second stringers alike, the roster is crowded but handled so well that you aren’t going to notice. This isn’t like Batman and Robin where the film was bloated with mishandled characters, this is a game that knows the characters and knows what to do with them. No moments are squandered or wasted and the game uses characters where it needs them and not just to use them. I don’t want to reveal any here as there are some awesome surprises in store but those surprises and the characters involved serve the story and not just a cheap cash in to expand the roster.

• Combat: The combat in the Arkham games is just brilliantly executed. It is the perfect example of simple complexity. You are still only dealing with three buttons and doing what amounts to a rhythm game timed with their attacks and the flow of combat. There are some new moves you can upgrade to through experience points that expand things out but even these new moves fit into the overall frame work and combat is complex in as effortless a way as I have ever seen. Just being intuitive doesn’t mean it is easy and the enemies you face are not pushovers but the system allows you to feel like a pretty huge badass and there is little more gratifying than clearing a room full of thugs and surviving. This, again, contributes to the overall feeling that you are Batman.

• Stealth: I loved the stealth segments in the first game and they are even better here. With expanded tactics, gadgets and environmental exploits, the stealth mode offers up tons of options and again makes you feel like a huge badass. It is one of those great modes in which even if you fail you can change tactics until you find something that works. This freedom of choice makes success feel that much sweeter and keeps the sections from getting too stale.

• Improved Detective Mode: Detective Mode was a great help last game so much so that a lot of people just played with it on all the time and missed out on the great graphics. This time out, the game has been streamlined to allow you to do more out of Detective Mode without taking away the efficacy of the mode. It is still enormously useful but not as vital as last game. I spent a lot more time out of it than in this time around and that is kind of nice. The crime scene investigation segments are also more intuitive and accessible this time out than last.

• Easter Eggs: Like the first game there are a ton of Easter eggs here that pay off on good gameplay and creativity. There is also an impressive variety of types of Easter eggs, from characters to messages to items and set pieces. This expands the world and makes it really feel like a living, breathing incarnation of Batman.

• Improved and Expanded Riddler Challenges: I loved the Riddler Challenges last game and they have expanded them here to an almost ridiculous degree. You have a return of the trophies and the riddles but now you also have victims to save and Riddler spies to find. The trophies are a lot harder to come by now too as some of them are locked in elaborate traps and puzzles. Add to this the challenge modes outside of the story mode have a Riddler theme and you have a character with a much more prominent presence in the game than last time. This is pretty awesome as the Riddler has always been my favorite Batman villain and giving him more to do in this game made me very happy.

• Side-Missions: Because of the expanded scope to the game, Arkham City can now offer side missions of various types. These are pretty awesome as they all have different feels to them and different play styles required to solve them. They also each come with their own little pieces of story that adds a lot of flavor and variety to the game. The only issue with them is that it is pretty easy to get sidetracked and pulled in different directions if your attention span is at all questionable.

• Re-Play: Given everything listed above, it should be clear why this is. All of that listed adds to replay value but not just that, there is a new game + mode that allows you to play through the game again after finishing it with all of your stats and progress but with amped up enemies and a lack of warning when they attack you. This lets you go through and finish up side quests and get rest of the trophies while dealing with an increased challenge. There is a ridiculous amount of stuff to do in this game and even getting 100% on the story mode you are only like 41% done with the game over all.

• Boss Fights: While the fights here are not as difficult as they were in the last game, there is nothing here that even touches the Poison Ivy fight, they are very creative and fun to play. None of the fights repeat themselves and they are all true to the characters and to the franchise. The Penguin fight might be my favorite as it is just so much how things would really go in that confrontation.

The Bad:

There is none.

The New Hotness:

• Catwoman: Not only is she a playable character this time out but she is crazy hot. These Arkham games really know how to sexy up the women and this one is no exception.

Conclusion [10 out of 10]:

A terrific game from start to finish, Arkham City shows that if you have the right team you can improve on perfection. Arkham City delivers a great story, full featured gameplay and terrific controls. Everything is firing on all cylinders here and it manages to up the ante in all areas over the previous game and that is pretty incredible. Arkham City is an incredible game and easily a Game of the year. If you like games, you owe it to yourself to play this game. Do it NOW.