This game is a masterpiece. It exceeded my expectations when I thought Arkham Asylum was as good as it may get.
You play as Bruce Wayne from the start. You are at a rally to protest Hugo Strange's "Arkham City". Arkham City is a condemned wasteland where all the criminals have been moved following Arkham Asylum and separated from Gotham City and its inhabitants on an Island under watch. Bruce Wayne is suddenly taken prisoner along with other innocent people such as Jack Ryder and Vickie Vale. You find yourself thrown into Arkham City as a prisoner and before you know it you are being attacked by the Penguin and his goons, you make an escape, contact Alfred and receive your Batman suit. Now the game has officially gotten underway.
In Arkham Asylum is was fun to explore the historic and iconic prison that housed some of the greatest villains of all time. Though it was free roam there wasn't alot of ground to cover. In Arkham City however the city is surprisingly big. Batman fans can enjoy finding places like the Monarch Theater where Bruce Wayne witnessed his parents murder and the Ace Chemicals building as well as many other Batman staples which all have major significance to Batman's story.
Many bosses make their appearance in this game, from the obvious Joker to the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Two Face, and Poison Ivy. You'll be surprised to see there are many more villains in this game in the side missions that will have Batman fans loving the game even more.
The combat is much like Arkham Asylums, which was great. This is a sequel and Batman has many new attacks, upgrades and gadgets. There is also the ability to counter multiple enemies at one time as well as take multiple enemies down at one time too. The game has its variety of thugs and henchmen to make sure you have to use a different strategy to win fights.
Not only do you play as Batman but if you bought the game new, or get the new Game of the Year Edition, (might get that one too since I have both versions of Arkham Asylum) you get the download code to play as Catwoman. Catwoman has a unique fighting style and gadgets as well as new missions that will add a little length to the game. Catwoman is also upgrade-able much like Batman.
Throughout Arkham City there are buildings you will have to go to like the Museum, the Steel Mill, the Police Station, Churches etc. You also go underground into the subway, so there is alot to explore. As for exploring Riddler challenges are back and better than ever. This time you can interogate Riddler informants to reveal where they are on the map, as you solve his puzzles he will give you info on where his hostages are, solve all the Riddles and take him down. I don't want to talk about the main story and spoil it but i can say its a great game, it has decent length depending on how hard you geek out on it.
This game has its medal challenges and they've added campaigns which is a variant to the medal challenges that can add time limits, take-down rules etc. These can be played as Batman, Catwoman and even DLC of Robin and Nightwing.
All in all this is one of my favorite games of all time. It has everything a Batman fan could want and plenty for the casual gamer who just wants a good game.