Epic. Amazing. Incredible. Awesome. Spectacular. All of these words describe the experience that is Batman: Arkham City. It's predecessor, Batman: Arkham Asylum was an exercise in well crafted story, environment, characters, and gameplay. This game is all of that and more. If you played Arkham Asylum and you enjoyed it then you will definitely enjoy Arkham City. All the elements that made Arkham Asylum a great game are included only on a grander scale. The main story itself is well crafted and engrossing and the side quests fit well within the narrative. The characters are straight from the Batman mythos, all well represented and voice acted. The combat system from Arkham Asylum is carried over, albeit it's now more refined and easier flowing. The fighting can be as complex or simplistic as you want to make it, either simply by alternating between attack and counter or deciding to throw in special combos and using Batman's wide array of gadgets to mix things up. The environment, although dark and full of a lot of gray, is well crafted and gives a sense of being lived in and abused. The AI is not too smart and not too stupid. Enemies react appropriately to the player's presence, even going so far as to be startled if you catch them unaware. The difficulty level adjusts accordingly as you progress through the story, with the enemy adopting new methods in an attempt to counter Batman's gadgets and cunning. But their attempts to stop you only make it all the more satisfying when you sneak up on them and commence with the beat down. Traversing the city is easy with a combination of running, gliding, and scaling. As you progress through the story and gain more experience points you unlock new combo moves and gadgets, which can be upgraded using your points. While they make the combat more interesting, none of the unlocks are necessary for the story mission, but some are required in order to achieve 100% on collecting the Riddler trophies scattered across Arkham City. The side quests are loaded with Batman mythos and make a great counterpoint to the main narrative, although at times they can seem to derail you from your current story objective. The game also contains challenge maps, which you unlock throughout the story mode. These vary from straightforward points based combat maps to maps that require you to perform certain actions as fast as possible. The scores for your challenge maps can be shared online to compare against your friends, the only multiplayer element to the game. If you like Batman: Arkham Asylum then this game is a must have. If you like Batman and video games then this is a must have. It is a well rounded experience that provides all the right payoffs and has very little short comings.
Many licensed games simply do not capture the atmosphere from the stories they are based on. They create a predictable story, horrific gameplay and repetitive soundtrack which only dampens the experience. Batman: Arkham ... Read Full Review
Arkham City picks up where Arkham Asylum leaves off. The former penitentiary for Gotham City had been completely breached, so the solution was to cordon off an entire section of the city and let survival of the fittest ... Read Full Review
