Developer: Rocksteady Studios Ltd
Publisher: WB Games Inc.
Rating Guide: How I Review Games

Review:

Batman: Arkham Asylum was arguably the best Batman game anyone has ever played.  In fact, I’ll say that it brought Batman back to life in a sea of forgotten titles about the caped crusader.  Rocksteady Studios and Warner Bros. had their hands full with the sequel because following up a remarkable game like Arkham Asylum had to be  challenge.

Well it appears that they decided to say to hell with being cautious and they’ve made a game that made me forget about Arkham Asylum.  Is that a good thing?  Hell yeah!

Gameplay, Graphics and Sound

Batman: Arkham City takes place about a year after the events in Arkham Asylum.  Because of the riots and subsequent destruction of Arkham Asylum, there’s no place for all the weirdos and villains to go except in the slums of Gotham.  And that’s where Arkham City is born.  The dubious Mayor Quincy Sharp has decided to cast all the insane criminals of Gotham into this area so cleverly nicknamed “Arkham City”.  On the heels of this turmoil is where your journey to fix Gotham begins.  The game begins as Professor Hugo Strange captures the city’s billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne.

Strange intends to unleash upon Gotham something called Protocol 10 with the help of his TYGER guard forces and it’s up to you to stop his plan.  Along the way, you’ll run into your old friend Joker and his love toy, Harley Quinn.  But Joker isn’t the same guy since you last saw him.  Your first encounter with your nemesis leaves you with a lasting impression that you won’t forget.  That’s about all the story I’m going to give you.  Actually, even if I wanted to give you more of the story I’d have to give you about a dozen explanations because the game has so many different branches of the story.  What you want to know is how the good the game is eh?

Arkham City is bigger and better in just about every way a sequel could be when compared to its predecessor.  The story is better.  The city in which you explore is bigger.  The tools at your disposal are better.  The ass that you kick is more enjoyable.  The villains that you come across are more insane.  And there’s even a cat thrown in to sweeten the deal.  A few people were wondering how this game would handle so many villains in one game but let me assure you that they handled it remarkably well.

It took a little bit for me to get comfortable with the controls again but once I did, I was grappling my way around the city with ease.  I’m happy that I didn’t have to start over with one gadget.  You get a decent amount of tools to begin the game.  You come across plenty of thugs and TYGER personnel to deal justice to with those tools.  I played a little bit of Arkham City as you know before it released but that pales in comparison to being able to take the full game in.  The combos and counter moves are easily done with pressing X and Y accordingly.  I loved the new cape stun move (press B button). It came in handy in numerous fights.  There’s such a fluid response to the fighting mechanic that it almost felt like I was orchestrating a symphony while pummeling bad guys.  The gameplay is that smooth.

There are so many thugs coming at you in some spots that your thumb gets quite a workout.  In fact, I’d have to say that the normal thugs mixed with long range snipers, mine planters, shock troops and others were more difficult to deal with than the actual Boss battles.

I remember thinking at what point in the game .. “damn, those guards” instead of “damn, Solomon Grundy”.  They’re tough.  Oh and the encounter with Solomon Grundy was great.  “Solomon Grundy, Born on a Monday, christened on Tuesday, married on Wednesday …”  Well done Rocksteady, you crazy bitches.

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