Batman Arkham City

Batman: Arkham City isn't perfect, but listing the little things I didn't like gets in the way of all the stuff I adored. The voice acting, the challenges, the amazing opening, the unbelievable ending and the feeling of being the Dark Knight -- these are the things that standout looking back. I've beaten this thing twice and still want to call in sick and chase Riddler Trophies.
Batman: Arkham City isn't just better than Batman: Arkham Asylum, it's better than most games on the market

It doesn't take the world's greatest detective to spot that this is an expertly crafted adventure, one that maintains a breathtaking pace and invigorating rhythm from beginning to end. Dizzyingly extensive and lovingly detailed, Rocksteady has created an intricate, spirited and unequalled playground worthy of one of the most iconic characters in modern fiction.

This game could be one of the biggest and most enjoyable time sinks of the year. Arkham City not only lives up to the standards set by Arkham Asylum, it bests its predecessor in every way and stands tall as one of Batman's greatest moments.

Just so there's no confusion, let's state it plain: Batman: Arkham City is not only the best superhero game ever made, it's one of the best games ever made full-stop. Batman: Arkham City takes the already superlative original and gloriously expands on it. It's a deeper game, more complex, more inventive, more mature. In our view it brings the caped crusader's world to life better than any comic, movie, or television show before it ... To say it one last time: this is what it means to be Batman. And when it comes down to it, who the hell doesn't want to be Batman?

Rocksteady elevated the status of the superhero game with Asylum to a place that commands respect from notoriously hard to please comic book fans. With Arkham City, the studio clearly overcame any added pressure quickly and waded into the sequel with confidence.

It's a belief in the character and, most importantly, a belief in itself that has seen the studio deliver one of the greatest Batman interpretations of all time. And you know what? Maybe even one of the best games ever.

We’ve tried to describe as much of Batman: Arkham City’s awesomeness in this review as possible, but there’s so little space and so much more to admire. The epic, soaring music. The arguably greatest graphics of the year so far. The predictably stellar voice acting, but with a particularly perverse performance by Mark Hamill as the Joker and especially enjoyable take by Nolan North on the Penguin. The menus filled with bonus short stories that address any questions you might have assumed were left unanswered. The Riddler’s Revenge mode that challenges you to clear a room of enemies using specific equipment or strategy. The clever little choices, like having the Bat signal be your custom waypoint marker. Even the bosses are cool!
The worst part of Arkham City, then, is wondering and worrying once more what Rocksteady can possibly do to top it for a third game. We can’t wait to find out.

Batman: Arkham Asylum was the greatest superhero game of all time. The sequel, Batman: Arkham City, is five times bigger and about a billion times better. You do the math.

But more than anything else, it's your adventures and explorations in the city of Arkham itself that make this game extraordinary. The game's boss fights look dangerous and spectacular, but they're disappointingly easy, and on occasion, context-sensitive actions may thwart your efforts. You might intend to evade an enemy attack, for instance, but instead your button press makes Batman slowly disable some device as bullets are shredding your health. But these criticisms are nitpicks in a game that does so much so well. From the speedy exhilaration of soaring high above the streets to the atmospheric thrill of discovering long-forgotten secrets in the tunnels below Gotham, this is an unforgettable adventure that will keep you coming back to the cape and cowl long after you've seen the credits roll.

the mechanical excellence and obsessive attention to environmental detail which surprised in Asylum have only been refined in City, and that's no easy task. Rocksteady has made the greatest Batman game ever crafted, and they've done that before. But breathing life into a staggeringly beautiful world; one which hums not only with opportunity, but ambition? That's a new trick altogether.

So if Arkham Asylum was defined by its limits, Arkham City is a careful, considered exercise in stripping those limits away. Its open city lets players be a different kind of Batman to the stealthy predator of Asylum – this is the Batman of dropped smoke pellets and theatrical getaways, the Batman with an ear to the ground for the strong picking on the weak, and the Batman who floats above the city with a gothic majesty.

Controlling Batman as he completely terrorizes his victims, whether via the invisible predator gameplay or the brutal combat, is an experience rivaled by few others. From its memorable Bourne Identity-esque opening to its shocking ending, Batman: Arkham City secures its place as my favorite superhero game since Freedom Force.

It might not rewrite the book on Batman video games, but when you're building off of such a strong position--and you're only shipping the second game with such similarities, rather than a third or fourth--it's hard to bicker too much about what changes the developers did or didn't make.

BiasedMilanFan3 wrote:Oh yeah guys, if there is a plot twist, do the whole [spoiler) [/spoiler) thingo

Ganso wrote:I cant wait,Asylum is one of my favorite game ever,got a Platinum for it on the Ps3

Lord Spencer wrote:Dark Souls will probably be twice as enjoyable as this one.

As good as Arkham City was, the game-play was very shallow after al the glamor fazes out.

Ganso wrote:got a 9.5 on Gamespot,thats super rare.If it is as good as Demon's Soul,then it must be great

Immaculate_Mole wrote:

Ganso wrote:got a 9.5 on Gamespot,thats super rare.If it is as good as Demon's Soul,then it must be great

Dont about that, Gears 3 got a 9.5

Now a 9.5 in Eurogamer that's super rare

Zealous wrote:I want this game inside me.

Doesn't help that I'm a total Batman fan boy either.

DagenhamDave wrote:pre ordered mine from tesco. steelbook edition with joker dlc £37. Having my CSCS exam tomorow morning then straight to tesco to collect this badboy. unfortunately i spoiled most of the game for myself by looking at the youtube videos, im like a kid on xmas eve.