Batman: Arkham City

***Mild Spoilers***

I was a HUGE fan of Batman: Arkham Asylum, with its rich level of detail and inclusion of so many of the classic characters. To me, and many other fans of the Bat, there was just no way to top it. How wrong we were. If there was one fault with the near-perfect Arkham Asylum, it was that there was NO GOTHAM! One of the central parts of Batman is his film-noire, industrial, neon-lit city and the Asylum, for all its lovingly-crafted design, just wasn't Gotham City. Arkham City, however, is. To be exact, the New Arkham is a walled-off section of North Gotham that can hold any super-criminal or other miscreant. Naturally, having a massive hub of the criminal element on your doorstep is not what Batman wants, and so he uses his considerable public presence as billioanre Bruce Wayne to try and have the place shut down. Big Mistake. Before long, Bruce is nabbed by some guards and thrown into the Asylum - which is being run by the nefarious Hugo Strange. A quick Batwing drop-off later, and Batman is ready for action.

Arkham City is like a distilled Gotham City. Flashing neon signs? Check. Industrial factories belching smoke? Check. A giant Bat-Signal on the horizon? You bet! Everything that a Bat-fan could want from a virtual Gotham is in Arkham City, down to Crime Alley (where young Bruce watched his parents gunned down) and the Ace Chemicals Factory (where the Joker was born out of an experimental chemical vat). In fact, anything that a Bat-fan could want in a game, IS HERE! Name a Batman villain, and the odds are - they're in Arkham. I consider myself a Batman devotee and there were some baddies in here that I hadn't even heard of. Let's just say that when I was 20 minutes into the game and I had encountered Strange, Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face and Calendar Man, I knew I was in for a good time.

The gameplay is just as fun as ever, with some subtle changes made to make it flow even better than before and the new Grapple-Boost makes traversing Arkham City easy and fun. The story is, of course, fantastic - the opening is amazing and the finale was truly jaw-dropping (I won't spoil it here, but YOU are in for a shocking treat.

I have nothing but praise for this game. It does everything SO WELL! Any Batman fan should know by now that they MUST BUY THIS GAME! If you're interested but don't really know much about the Dark Knight then buy the graphic novels Batman: Year One, The Long Halloween and The Killing Joke and then play Batman: Arkham Asylum. I know that's a fairly long reading/playing list just to play one game but I highly recommend doing as I have suggested - newcomers may well be lost in the immersion of Arkham City, but anyone familiar with Batman will simply revel in it. As you can probably tell, I love this game (to the extent that I will probably re-buy Arkham Asylum, which I had eventually traded in, just to get me in the mood to play more Arkham City)! You, as a Gamer, owe it to yourself to buy this game right now!

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Note: Some people have complained about the Catwoman missions requiring Xbox Live/PS Network to play. Don't be put off - it doesn't affect the story, and the game really doesn't benefit from them at all.

I was a massive fan of the first Arkham game, Arkham Asylum, this caused me to have almost crippling anticipation that this would be a bigger and better version. Disappointed? I think not!

The story is set a short while after Arkham Asylum (the plot gap can be bridged with the Batman: Arkham City comic book series) where the badly damaged Asylum has had to be shut down, and a new Prison facility has been formed by sectioning off a large area of Gotham City and putting all the inmates there instead, along with the inmates from Blackgate Prison. Bruce Wayne is arrested at the very start of the game, giving Batman access to the area.

Once inside he interacts with an excellent role call of Batman enemies including Joker (Mark Hamill outstanding as usual), Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face, Mad Hatter, Mr Freeze, Bane, and more. Sometimes you co-operate, often you fight, but each character is given their time either in the main story or with side-missions. The story is excellent, engaging, and not entirely predictable. It wouldn't have seemed out of place as a comic story itself!

The game difficulty progresses well and eases you into new actions, gadgets and moves without it ever seeming overwhelming. There's plenty to do, the main story itself is large and constantly interesting. The side quests add extra dimensions and ask different things from you, although they can generally be a little 'go find'. Riddler trophies/challenges are also back and some can be tricky, while seeming rewarding when you finally get them!

Catwoman is also a playable character in the main story (internet connection required I believe), but her 4 missions are among the duller moments of the story. I'd rather have had Nightwing or Robin as the alternative story arc, but hey!

In addition to the story, various challenges are available to play in the challenge modes, similar to the first game, these are great places to hone your skills and trying to beat top scores can be addictive! There is also a harder game+ addition when the main story is completed.

Graphically the game is excellent, it's exactly how I'd picture Gotham being, the sounds are minimal but seem perfect, more may seem instrusive, especially with the game relying on stealth much of the time. The game plays well, the combat seems better in this version than Asylum, which occasionally felt like it could be beaten by button mashing. Here there feels more strategy and has been improved greatly.

For the geekier people (such as myself) character models, concept art etc are all unlocked as you progress and can be a real treat!

Overall this is an improvement on Asylum, it's bigger and generally does things better. Much recommended!

Pros:- Where to begin?
You are Batman, and being batman is fun!
amazing graphics, the game is beautiful
gadgets galor
creative fighting (once u get used to it and remember the moves)
dozens of characters
shed loads of dialog
the city feels alive with variety
game is always changing
catwoman levels break game up nicely
more content and side missions and collectables and trophies and riddles and stuff to keep you busy for ages
nice menue, with bios and info to read
all charaters are well developed and interesting

Cons:- as like th first game i found that on some occasions it can be difficault to know where your supposed to go, or how to get passed a door or progress through a level, or how to deal with an enemy, and this can be frustrating.

If you dont like button mashing fighting this isnt a game for you.

I am a fan of Batman, and i enjoyed the first game, and this game was made with love, and passion, it is perfect!
Batman is the way he is ment to be, a detective and scietist, who can fight, and his whole world of villans is here, the game fits so much in if feels like its gonna explode, the voice talent is brillient with Conroy and Hamil doing the voices just makes it even more perfect, this game is by far the best Batman game ever and is definatly a contender for game of the year, and is a must buy, and sooo much fun, i cant urge you enough to buy it, but then again i am biased i suppose but that aside this game is very well made and full of content it really has been made with lvoe and care and with respect to the material and history.