Batman: Arkham City

I had gotten Arkham Asylum a couple years after it came out as part of a Cyber Monday deal on Amazon and it proceeded to stay on my shelf for about a a year or so. I had heard about it but felt no burning need to play it.

Now let me explain, I'm not much of a gamer. Sure I play some from time to time but on the whole it's not something that takes up most of my days. But I love just about all things Batman and figured even if I never played it it would be a nice thing to have.

So I pick it up one day and decide to see what it was all about and from the very start I was just hooked. The story was good. The voices were incredible, the fights and predator events made you feel like you were Batman. I finished the game and immediately went in search of the sequel Arkham City. I found it and immediately ran out to get it.

They had improved the game mechanics, added more abilities and just cranked it up to 11. Now instead of being limited to a small island, you had part of an entire city to explore. And the best part about it was you could literally take the time to play it in whatever order you wanted. There was no "right" way to play it.

The games that came afterwards weren't quite as good which is why I say this one was the best.

I'm just going to say it... This game is fantastic. We all know it but it needs to be said. It totally beats Arkham Asylum with it's graphics, gameplay and story. Firstly, this game is set in a much larger open world space, that being Arkham city, and it's so packed full of enemies, collectables and missions that there is never a dull moment while gliding around the city. All of the criminal inmates have conversations which sometimes hint at other things going off inside the city. The storyline has you on the edge of your seat as it takes you to all the corners of Arkham city. Along this road you'll meet tons of characters from the Batman universe including Two-face, Penguin, Mr.freeze and,of course,Joker. The ending was awesome and even when you finish the main story, you'll still have hours of gameplay left. And that's not even including the new game plus mode. Each side mission feels full and will add to the overall plot. No two side missions are alike and they don't feel tacked on. But still, there's more! The riddler trophies scattered around the city provide a challenge and there are also riddles to work out. Catwoman returns as a playable character and has her own mini campaign and trophies to collect. When you aren't in Arkham City, you're in Riddler's revenge. This is a series of challenges that test your combat skills or your stealth kills. There are DLC characters,maps and costumes that you can buy to play in this mode. Overall this game is not only the best superhero game i've ever played, it's also in my top 3 favourite games of all time. I can't recommend this game enough and you should go buy it as soon as possible.

Pros:

• Great story and characters
• Great combat
• Excellent voice acting
• Fantastic boss fights
• Very good open world
• Ballsy ending

Cons:

• Some lacklustre side mission bosses

Verdict: The greatest Batman (and superhero) game to date, improving in pretty much all ways on the original.

10/10

Wow. Talk about a game completely living up to expectations. The twists at the end were so intense. I don't know, everything about the game was so perfect for me. The story could have been a little longer probably, but I'm sure it was at least ten hours which for a game like this is very impressive. Plus I didn't do any side stuff, which I'm sure will give me another five or so hours at least. The gameplay was brilliant, kept everything feeling fresh and exciting.

Even the basic combat with thugs never got repetitive (which it did quickly in Asylum), and unlike Asylum, instead of just button-mashing you actually have to use a lot of strategy in even the most basic combat. When surrounded by a group of thugs you have to employ Waynetech and prioritize who to go after, instead of just hopping around like in the first game. You also don't have the easy move of being able to use Detective Mode nonstop, which is a huge step up. There's a lot of thinking and strategy needed for many parts of the game and there were definitely a few moments where I had to stop for a few moments to figure out just what to do.

The detail was out of this world, from the dark and perfectly toned scenery to just the simple things like thugs talking about the villains while you fly overhead. I'm so surprised that a game of this nature was fused with such rich and diverse detail. A lot of people, myself included, were disappointed by the lackluster boss fights in Asylum and to say that they stepped up their game with this one would be to really under appreciate just how much they improved on that front. Every boss fight was fantastic (except for the last one, ironically) and challenging, keeping things fresh and utilizing all of the weapons in your arsenal. These aren't just ordinary boring fights like they were before.

With all of that being said, the highlight of the game is absolutely the story. From the brilliant opening to the haunting final shot, I've rarely been more immersed in a story in a game like this one. The emotions were very high, you felt like real things were at stake here and the twists and revelations in the final act were remarkable. Everything from the confrontation with Strange until the last shot had me on the edge of my seat and my mouth hung open. This story is up there with some of the greatest works to come out of this franchise, as far as I'm concerned. A case of a company truly listening to the complaints on a game and fixing every single thing about it. This is one of the closest encounters I've had to something I would call a perfect game.

Batman Arkham City took everything that was great about it's near perfect predecessor and improved it beyond belief. Instead of being confined to a relatively small island you are now in a small area of Gotham City specifically made for the scum of humanity. On the surface there doesn't look like much to do in this small space, but the area is teeming with henchmen from Two Face, Penguin and Joker and they're all going to try and kill you at any chance they get. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Long story short, after the events of Arkham Asylum, Warden Quincy Sharp was named Mayor of Gotham and decided that the old asylum was unfit for prisoners. Thus he created Arkham City, a blocked off piece of North Gotham for Batman's worst foes to thrive. He then placed the mysterious Professor Hugo Strange in charge and now deadly gang wars break out as everyone fights for control of the city. Batman must enter the city and find out Strange's real plan, along with stopping his old foes from killing each other.

This is the basic plot of the story, but there are a number of sidequests you can take throughout the game. From destroying the last Titan drug barrels with Bane, to tracking down victims of Deadshot. The Riddler returns physically in Arkham City and has placed twice as many riddle trophies and puzzles in the area. He has also captured doctors and people who worked in old Arkham. These challenges are deadly and requires a lot more critical thinking then in the last game. With all these sidequests combined with the main story you're looking at many hours of gameplay and with new game plus you can replay the game with all the gadgets from your first game and keep any riddler secrets you've found.

The challenge areas are the same as the first game, but there are a lot more to be played and with all the new combat and silent predator moves in this game you will have a blast taking down nameless thugs with an even greater sense of being Batman. With downloadable characters like Robin and Nightwing you have a lot more reason to play the challenge maps then in the first game.

I could go forever on how awesome this game is. But this is one of those games you need to play to believe. It has everything for long time Batman fans and newcomers. With a great plot with a lot of twists and faster combat this game has exceeded all expectations and is without a doubt one of the best games of the year, if not all time. And I haven't even played as Catwoman yet.