Title: Batman: Arkham City
Developer/Publisher: Rocksteady Games/ Warner Brothers
Game Genre: Action
Multi-player: None
Age Rating: 15
Length: Medium (5-10 hours for story, Over 20 hours for completion)

My Impressions

Batman Arkham Asylum was rightly lauded as one of the best Comic book hero adaptations that has ever been made and given it’s success, it came as no surprise that there would be a sequel in the form of Batman Arkham City.

With sequels there is always a danger of a quick rehash or the game being a massive disappointment. Fortunately Arkham City is neither of these and the game has been given many plaudits on the big gaming sites. That being said I did not think the game is quite as good as is being made out to be and thought it inferior to Arkham Asylum.

The reason for this is that I did not find the game’s story to flow as neatly as the first game, and I found that the predator sections (hiding in shadows and taking down enemies) were not nearly as engaging this time around. There was also the inevitable “inflation” of collectables which at times turned an enjoyable hunt into a frustrating experience. This most often occured when I needed to have split second precision in order to collect some of them, and when destructable walls did not want to be destroyed due to not being able to use explosives on them due to glitchy controls or I did not collide with them in the exact manner the game wanted.

These minor gripes aside though Arkham City is still a very enjoyable game as most of the elements that made Arkham Asylum a good game are still present, though sometimes in a tweaked form. You still have a vast array of gadgets with some returning from Arkham Asylum and others being introduced for the first time over the course of Arkham City. Being based in a City also meant a bigger and different experience to that found in Arkham Asylum even if its increased size did at times lead to a sense of disjointedness when doing some missions.

The main story is again strong, and while the events of Arkham Asylum felt like they could be retconned into the mainstream comics, the events of Arkham City do not given that there are some significant deaths along the way (though admittedly some of the deaths have easy “outs”).

The main weakness to the story is that the gameplay does not take advantage of inbuilt time constraints to the story the most notable being “Protocol Ten” which is an ingame countdown, sadly this is checkpoint driven rather than actually being time driven which would have added an extra element of tension to the game. Similarly at one point in the game you get poisoned and have to find a cure but again this was checkpoint driven rather than time driven. Though I should note these are minor issues, if one far too many games share.

Moving on to the Day One DLC, as is sadly now becoming the norm Arkham City came with some “free” extra content in the form of the Catwoman DLC which adds 4 Catwoman missions in the main game, along with some extra challenge missions and the ability to explore Arkham City as Catwoman after the main story has concluded. On the whole these where an enjoyable addition to the main game though the final Catwoman mission suffered from concluding in a section which is set up as a predator section when in actuality you are just meant to go after one character and survive long enough to defeat them.

I also felt like the game was originally designed to have more Catwoman sections with a longer better developed storyline with you alternating with Batman at more points in the game. As things stand while an enjoyable diversion there is little to the Catwoman story.

As with Arkham Asylum there are also additional challenges in the form of arena battles and predator missions that can be played direct from the main menu once unlocked in through collecting riddler trophies in the main game. I haven’t explored this option too much as I am more into story than challenges but there are more than enough to keep you occupied if you are into this type of gameplay.

Overall I would say that if you go into Arkham City expecting a game similar in quality and style to Arkham Asylum you will not be disappointed, if however you go in expecting one of the best game ever made as some reviewers are making out you probably will be. For while Arkham City is an excellent game for me there are enough small flaws to make it a slightly less enjoyable experience than Arkham Asylum.

My Recommendation and Rating

Buy

Doesn’t quite live up to the hype but still an excellent game worth buying if you enjoyed playing the original Arkham Asylum.