Batman: Arkham City Review

In respect to "journalistic" integrity, I probably shouldn't be the one to write this review. I've already outed myself as a Batman nerd on several occasions, and that might make me a tad biased. In my defense, I did my damnedest to not let my love for the character (no homo) influence my opinion. It is worth noting, though, that fans of the comics or the animated series WILL take more away from this. There's simply so much there for fans to appreciate. But worry not the rest of you. The gameplay is perfection.

The main problem here is that I really don't want to spoil anything. Not even the very beginning. All I will say is that it takes place about a year after the first game and that a whole section of Gotham has been fenced in, to say the least, and every major criminal and thug who was in custody (and a few who just didn't want to leave the area) are stuck in what has been dubbed Arkham City. Throw in a conspiracy or two and it's something Batman just has to get involved in. And he does. But duh

Besides, Strange just has the face of a man who needs a good wailing

 With all of that out of the way I will say this, Arkham City makes Arkham Asylum look like a good warm-up try. The map is bigger, the weapons more diverse, the combat has more choices, and major villains and cameo's are freaking everywhere. They don't even completely Samus you (take all the weapons you earned in the last game away near the start of the game). The only original weapon I think you're missing at the opening is the line launcher. There are a few upgrades you don't start out with either, but, of course, by the end you'll have access to everything from an electronic pulse gun to ice grenades. Throw in an ability to quickly use much of your arsenal during actual combat and you've added a whole new element to beating thugs to a pulp. Too many guys running your way? quick draw your pulse gun and stun a few. Or maybe you want to do a quick flip in between them and lay down some explosive gel that you can detonate almost instantly. Mix is up a little bit. Your enemies will only be too happy to oblige you once you really get good at it. AND THEN there's the new upgrades. There's literally too many to go into detail on. How does using your line launcher as a tightrope sound, though? That's one of many.

Noogie time

 Back on the subject of combat, it works the same way as it did in Arkham Asylum, but it has undergone a bit of fine tuning. I managed to pull off way bigger combos and make my victims seem all the more hopeless. It also feels a tad more visceral, as the enemies' limbs seemingly crack louder when twisted the wrong way. Oh, and then there's the double counter where you... well counter two people at once. Simple enough, but it's such a welcome addition. You can also catch thrown objects in mid-air to get rid of those pesky chairs to the back of the head. And that's just the tip of the iceberg (lounge duuuur). Once you unlock the multiple batarang ground finisher no group of baddies will last long. You know, if you manage to not get hit.The more open map also allows you to approach combat and stealth situations from so many new angles. Sure, there are situations like in Arkham Asylum where a room is solely for stealth or mass combat, but I'm talking about the city proper. The area where, once you master the dive and rise technique, you can soar to your heart's content. See a whole building covered in armed guards? You can approach however you want. Sneak in from below, dive down from the sky with a glide kick or ground pound, pick them off one-by-one by hanging off ledges, the choice is yours.

"I knew you were too chicken to fight me, Batma-HOLY SHIT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MY BONES!"

The amazing thing is how much time you can spend in this world. The map isn't huge compared to games like Oblivion or Grand Theft Auto IV, but it's incredibly detailed and immersive. A fan of Batman mythology will recognize so many buildings and locations. Ace Chemicals, the Gotham Police Department (where they even included Commissioner Gordon's old freaking parking spot); I think I even stumbled on Crime Ally. The amount of love and detail put into the game is absolutely mind-boggling. Of course, besides sight-seeing, something has to keep you exploring the world, and that something is side-missions. There aren't a huge amount, but there are enough and some of them will take the whole game (or beyond) to complete. I refuse to spoil any of them, because they usually involve an awesome character cameo. I won't be spoiling anything, however, by saying that the Riddler is back. As with the first game, he has placed trophies everywhere and written plenty of location specific riddles. Then there's also the "destroy all of x" or "perform y in combat." The big difference this time around is that picking up the trophies will take a bit more thinking this time around. You will have to use all of your weapons (and your ingenuity) to claim many of your prizes as they are often locked behind a puzzle mechanism. It's addicting and THERE ARE 400 OBJECTIVES (including trophies, riddles, and whatnot). There are 440 of them if you count Catwoman's trophy challenge. Along with the other sidequests you can spend around 50 hours scouring Gotham and you'll enjoy every damn minute of it. It's amazing how they made such a seemingly tedious activity so addicting.

This man has waaaaay too much time on his hands.

 As I said before, there are plenty of cameos, but the main cast is simply amazing. Mark Hamill provides an amazing performance for his last go as the Joker and Kevin Conroy it just as fantastic as ever. Once again, they have solidified their places as being the best Joker and Batman respectfully. On top of that, the Penguin is portrayed as being downright terrifying. Displaying dead bodies, torturing cops over the PA system; I was kind of caught off guard. My only issue is Two-Face, who seems to have one personality trait: calling Catwoman a bitch. As you probably know by now, there are segments where you do play as Catwoman. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of them. She was characterized fine, and I liked what she was doing, but her abilities are just to lacking in comparison to Batman's. If she had her own game that played the same way her chapters do, then it would be pretty fun. But making us go from Batman, who has way more stealth capabilities, weapons, and can get around much faster, to Catwoman, who has three weapons and mediocre stealth takedowns, ruins the flow. She's just not as fun to control, but her music is playfully appropriate. So there's that. All in all, the chapters aren't long so it's not really a huge deal.

I literally don't have much else to say. There's so much to love and there's so much going on that I don't have the words to encapsulate it all. Too be honest, and with my Batman bias aside, at this moment it is my top contender for game of the year. As cliche as this might sound, this is one game that absolutely must be on your shelf.

10 out of 10