Arkham City stands out alone as a awesome Batman game, but also a fantastic follow up from 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum
2011 marks the first major hit for The Dark Knight with the amazing follow up for AA in the form of Batman: Arkham City, a game which takes what the first established so well and ranks it up to 11.
Taking place some time after the events at Arkham island, Gotham City finds a large run-down area of the city itself walled off and turned into a new prison. Aptly named Arkham City, this new super-prison houses the super-criminals of both Arkham Asylum as well as Blackgate, and every thug and crook Gotham City has to offer.
Knowing that this new prison, run by the intelligent and downright creepy Hugo Strange, Batman knows there is something afoot in Arkham City and vows to stop it.
The details of the actual story are best to experience first hand, as I fear anything I do divulge about the opening, or even any part of the actual story, will ruin the game.
Though for this sequel Rocksteady have included various Bat-villians, both well known and others who may have faded into obscurity. From Joker, to Mr.Freeze, Poison Ivy to even Deadshot, it's a who's who of villains. From the copious amounts of reveal trailers for the various villains in the game, plus many more that weren't revealed, you'd think they would heavy bog down the story. Rest assured, that only a few select have their roles to play in the main story, with the rest making a splash of their own for the various side-missions of AC.
So how does the game handle in comparison to it's 2009 original? A lot better. I read over my review for AA and in it I described the combat as 'button-masher like', and briefly going back to it while playing AC to compare, I can say its pretty much right. AC doesn't really expand on the whole button mashing feel in combat, however the expansion of quick-use of various gadgets by holding down the left trigger on a 360 controller and hitting one of the face buttons will see Batman use a different quick gadget to use in the heat of combat. Granted, this may have been a feature in the first game, however was not as apparent as seen in AC. The use of quick use gadgets really makes you feel like Batman, as you can use gadgets in the thick of combat to control all of the enemies, regardless of where you are on the battle field.
Speaking of gadgets, I'll quickly touch on those. When you start the game you naturally are awarded most of the ones you ended with in AA, though in their basic form. As you progress through the games dungeon like levels, you'll get upgrades or new gadgets altogether which will allow you to progress further and even backtrack to earlier visited places to get those pesky riddler trophies you couldn't get.
Some of the new gadgets featured in AC, such as the ice grenade and the smoke pellet are run to play with, especially in the predator style rooms.
I've touched on the gadgets, and the combat in AC, but what how does the one vital feature everyone went bat's about? The gliding. As AC features a map vastly larger than AA Rocksteady finally implemented a fantastic gliding mechanic that allows the player to soar, glide and romp across the skyline and rooftops of Arkham City. With the ability to 'dive bomb' and then pull up at the last second before hitting the ground, which sees Batman soar back up majestically into the night sky, this truly fulfills players fantasy of 'being Batman'
It may be a little flustering at first to pick up the gliding mechanics and truly master them, though the game does a good job of providing in-game challenges to 'train' you in all of the complexities of gliding.
I guess one of the main concerns of the original that apart from the main story, there wasn't much for Batman to actually do. I can see this from a natural perspective. What else but stop the Joker and his goons could Batman do in a locked down prison? Apart from collect riddler trophies (more on that soon). In AC Rocksteady have more or less thrown in copious side-missions to really expand and extend the games experience. From simple training challenges, to solving a murder to even rescuing 'innocent' prisoners from dangerous inmates, AC really excels in side-missions (and refreshingly actually stays away from the whole 'fetch' stereo type).
Though where the game truly stands out, possibly even more than the main story, is the Riddler's entire side mission. Again the green one has scattered his famous trophies all around Arkham City, along with challenges and riddles for Batman to solve. At a pivotal point in the game players will be directed to a face to face (of sorts) meeting with the Riddle himself, who announces he has taken hostages, and if Batman does not find and solve enough of his riddles, he will not be able to save them all. If you do collect enough, you'll be rewarded a trip to one of the various Riddler rooms hidden in the games map and go through a SAW like maze in order to rescue the hostage.
This one aspect of the game was downright amazing. It seemed like a natural progression from Riddler's presence in the first game, and it makes me excited to see how Rocksteady extend on this character in a follow up (side note: I wouldn't mind if they came up with a SAW like game entirely based on the Riddle side mission in this game)
You put all of this together and you get essentially the best Batman experience. The writing is stellar, the game engine looks remarkable, with so much extra and fine details pushed into it. The game-play makes you feel like Batman, even more than 2009's AA, which is really a golden star in of itself.
Of course the game does have a few weak points in being; the story is perhaps shorter to that of AA's, though not weaker, and boss battles are rather simplistic and sometimes less eventful than made out to be.
These things aside, which doesn't really deter from the greatness of this game. Throw in all of the side-missions, cameos, challenge maps, and of course the optional Catwoman sections of the game, Arkham City is really the be all and end all of the Batman experience.
Story: 9
Visuals: 10
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 10