Batman: Arkham City Review – Read Before You Buy

One of the deepest, darkest parts of Gotham City is Arkham City.

You really have to appreciate the fact that video games exist these days, because in today’s world, we can all really use them. Sure, we’ve got our movies and our comic books, but neither of those take you out of reality the same way a video game can.

With a video game, you become part of the story when you play one of the featured characters. This kind of interaction with the game itself makes you feel like you’re the one going up against whatever danger there is to face. No movie or comic book can ever beat that experience, and I don’t care how many stars or awards they win.

About Batman: Arkham City

Arkham City is an action and adventure sequel to Arkham Asylum that was released back in October 18, 2011. It was developed by the gaming company, Rocksteady, and, like its predecessor was given high marks by critics and gamers.

With so much success under their belt, Arkham City’s developers were free to re-release several different versions of the game. This, of course, included the ever so popular Game of the Year Edition. Till this day, like its predecessor, Arkham City is one of the most frequently played games in the gaming industry.

Batman Arkham City – Story

Dr. Hugo Strange has big plans for Arkham City.

The story begins with a captured Bruce Wayne being thrown into Arkham City by Dr. Hugo Strange, who has been put in charge of the place. Unsurprisingly, however, it doesn’t take much for Bruce to escape. Once he does, he suits up as Batman and sets off to uncover Dr. Strange’s ultimate plan, which the latter has named Protocol: 10.

The Story Itself

Save The Joker and all of Gotham City or die trying.

Like Arkham Asylum, Arkham City doesn’t pull any punches. This time, however, the game holds back even less, as there are that much more villains for The Dark Knight to face before he can achieve his ultimate goal of stopping Protocol: 10.

The developers, definitely, did a top-notch job of tying in the various sub-stories and making them all flow into one, continuous story. The Joker poisoning Batman and all of Gotham City with his own infected blood is a stroke of genius. It leads Batman to Ra’s al Ghul during his quest to find a cure before Joker’s bad blood kills him and everyone else in Gotham.

There are, of course, other twist and turns that Batman must overcome throughout the course of the story, but I’ll leave that to you, as the gamer, to discover for yourself. Trust me, you’ll thank me later for not spoiling too many of the surprises in this game.

Batman Arkham City – Gameplay

Watch: Batman Arkham City Gameplay

When it comes to basic gameplay, you have a lot more options this time. As Batman, you’re able to glide to much further distances and grapple up to much higher positions. This gives you more area to explore and more vantage points to attack from when fighting your opponents. Granted, it’s still not Gotham City, but it’s a lot closer than the closed-in confinement that you experience playing Arkham Asylum.

Look up Mr. Freeze, Batman’s got you.

There is a much larger variety of villains for Batman to fight this time, and some of my favorites too. In this game, you’ve got Solomon Grundy, Ra’s al Ghul, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, The Mad-Hatter, whew, and these guys are just the tip of the iceberg. You get to face each of these villains in a full-on boss-fight.

Catwoman is not the kind of feline you want to underestimate.

Another fun aspect of this game is that you have a lot more playable characters to choose from, other than Batman. In the main storyline, you have the privilege of playing as Catwoman, as she has own agendas that you must help her carryout. You, also, get to play as the Tim Drake version of Robin. Personally, I’d rather play as Dick Grayson (Nightwing), but I do love the Harley Quinn’s Revenge storyline, and Tim does have his own special moves to go with that come-and-bring-it look of his. Another side-mission includes you playing as Catwoman, once the main game is finished, as she goes on her own quest to collect her loot that has been stolen by Two-Face and his henchmen. At this point, you can switch-off between playing as Batman and playing as The Cat.

Somebody give this kid a real fight, he’s ready for it.

The side-missions for this game are pretty well-developed, I would say. One of my favorites is, of course, the Batman vs Deadshot side-mission. I like this one a lot, because, as Batman, you really have to think like a detective, while you collect clues as your tracking down Deadshot. Ultimately, the final face-off between Batman and Deadshot is a bit anti-climactic, but everything leading up to this point is, still, well worth it.

Pick a skin, any skin.

Once you’ve beaten the game, you’ve earned the privilege of playing a duplicate version of the game. This time, you can choose different skins to play in as you go through the main story yet a second time. The Earth One skin is usually my preference when I’m playing the duplicate version. There’s also a visually appealing Batman Beyond skin in addition to an Animated Series skin.

Batman Arkham City – Graphics

The big, bad boss of the Iceberg Lounge.

I love the graphics in this game. They’re just as detailed as the ones used for Arkham Asylum. The Penguin looks and sounds like a more sophisticated gangster type villain. Others may or may not find issue with this, but personally, I’m totally okay with this version of the character.

The designers of this game really outdid themselves with the expanded world of Arkham City. Even though I haven’t played it myself, I understand that Arkham Knight is even more expanded, but Arkham City still knocks Asylum out of the park, all on its own. Even if you hung me upside down and said, “Make your choice now!”, I still wouldn’t be able to pick a favorite location in Arkham City. There is just so much to appreciate about the general surroundings in this game.

All in all, the graphics are very smooth flowing. I have no complaints at all about the overall look of this game, and I would have to say that this is my favorite one to play in comparison to Arkham Asylum.

Arkham City – Developers

Batman: Arkham City was developed by Rocksteady Studios and was published by Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment. As it was with Arkham Asylum, the developers were very careful about working out the bugs and any possible glitches that might have otherwise occurred with this game. So, once again, my hat goes off to them, just for that.

Arkham City – Game Price

Think you can save Gotham City and stop Protocol: 10? Play Arkham City, and find out.

Like Asylum, I purchased this game at the online Feral Store. It is currently priced at $19.99 in the form of an immediate download. Just one more thing this game has in common with its predecessor. Imagine that.

Pros

Realistic, visually appealing graphics                        
Suspense-building story                     
Top-notch voice acting
More character playing options

Cons

N/A

I rate this game a score of 10/10. When it comes right down to it, I honestly cannot think of anything that I don’t like about the story or the overall gameplay for this adrenaline rush of a sequel. If you’re a Batman fan, or even if you’re not, you should try this game out, as soon as possible. You will love it and all the twist, turns, and surprises that come with it.

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