So, I just finished Arkham City

How do you not love a game as beautiful, as amazing, as spectacular as Batman Arkham Asylum?
In 2009, Rocksteady made the Batman Begins of videogames. While other Batman games let us control the character, define his actions and lead him in directions, this one made us actually feel like him; whether it was facing off against Bane, beating up Joker's thugs, or scaring the living shit out of a bunch of armed criminals. Yeah. Asylum truly was a triumph that it let us actually feel like the protagonist.
And Arkham City just turns up that feeling a thousandfold.
Arkham City is 9 hours + of fanservice, amazing gameplay, beautiful graphics and Batman. I love how it gives you the illusion of being in a city, roaming a map larger than Arkham Asylum, when actually, the map is, if not as big as, smaller, than Arkham Asylum. Yet, it does a wonderful job of setting up that illusion, due to highly detailed environments and too many easter eggs to keep count off.



The combat stays, more or less, the same, with many added animations, a few more quick combos and a better response time than the earlier game. Batman's fight mechanics have been perfected by this new system, but I can't say the same for Catwoman. Her response time is not as great as Batman's, but she's got some pretty slick moves, so that makes up for it.


The movement mechanics have also improved greatly. Here, you have to jump from rooftop to rooftop, guide over buildings and can even divebomb into a group of thugs. As Catwoman, the movements feel very reminiscent of Spiderman; clinging to ceiling walls, scaling tall buildings.
Catwoman, while not handling to well during a fight, handles near-perfectly while in motion. She's quick. She's fast and flexible and nimble. So playing as her when roaming the city is an absolute treat.
Once you perfect the gliding mechanics, you'll no doubt spend hours and hours soaring over rooftops and singling out thugs, because it's absolutely wonderful. There's this amazing bit you can do while gliding : you divebomb into the streets, and if you get your timing right, and soar up, you'll accelerate farther and even achieve a greater height. It looks and feels brilliant and comes in very handy during a certain sequence (involving Ra's Al Ghul, bytheway).
The stealth mechanics, as usual, are brilliant. Batman's stealth sequences are quite different from Catwoman's, and they handle very, very differently in this case.And Detective Mode feels more realistic this time. And we are forced to use our normal vision as well, because these thugs aren't dumb. They've got signal jammers, laserscope snipers and thermal imagery and you'll need to make use of your normal sight to beat these guys.
Remember those Scare Crow sequences? He's not there in the game, but there IS something reminiscent of that and it doesn't deserve spoiling.
A bossfight involving Mister Freeze makes great use of these mechanics. This fight challenges you to vary your techniques, plan and strategize in more ways than one. I remember trying to fall asleep while thinking, 'I've got to beat this guy next. How do I do it?' and a thousand ideas popped into my head. The Mister Freeze fight is one of the most innovative and unique boss fights I've ever fought. Brilliant stuff.


The story, by Paul Dini, is, unsurprisingly, brilliant. Well, except it is predictable for Batman fans. When Hugo Strange mentions that there's some greater force behind him, you instantly know who this greater force is, if your Batman mythology is proper. What I hate about the story is most definitely the ending. You get something so crazy to be true, and so removed from Batman's continuity, that you simply can't believe it. And that, by the way, is the only major flaw in the game. The ending. I don't love it. I'm just okay with it, because something really clever happens before it. A very, very good third act twist. Also, the entire third act is brilliant. You just faced off against Joker and his thugs. You're standing on a crane, looking at Arkham City as it burns and crumbles to the ground. There's helicopters all over the place, shooting missiles, killing people, and you're helpless. You get a very The Dark Knight vibe off this and the amazing score helps as well.


The score is simply amazing. The way it builds up to a crescendo in the moments that lead up to the final battle, as you take on six-seven snipers off the rooftops is absolutely thrilling and feels like reliving the last moments of The Dark Knight where Batman rescues hostages dressed up as clowns from the building.
Darn. I wish we had more of that.
Also, besides the main story, there are side missions involving villains from Batman's amazing Rogue gallery. Of course, there's the Riddler, but then there's Deadshot, there's Mad Hatter, there's Azrael, there's Ivy, there's Zsasz and there's Hush. And I bet, they're going to release a Maxie Zeus Side mission as DLC soon. And I can't wait to buy it.
There's another side mission that involves helping "Political Prisoners". There're guys in Arkham who've been put in just because they picked a bone with Strange and you've got to save them from being eaten up by the Arkham thugs. A nice addition. After all, he's Batman. He's got to save people.
Another thing I absolutely loathe is that the thugs keep on calling Catwoman a "bitch". I mean, I can stand some foul language, but there's a limit and they cross it. But, then again, it keeps me on my toes. Anytime someone's about to say that, I kick him in the face.
The voice acting for most part, is very good. Daphne voices Catwoman, bytheway. A brilliant, brilliant choice. Penguin's accent is weird, but then it grows on you and you start liking it. Kevin Conroy fits Batman like a glove. Freeze, Strange, Joker and Harley Quinn are absolutely spot-on. Who I don't like is Ra's Al Ghul. The guy voicing him sounds too young to voice a psycopathic mastermind who's 600 years old. Two Face is also a bit off for me.


Some of the character designs didn't sit in with me, either. Deadshot looks like that fat Rebel guy from A New Hope and Penguin and Mad Hatter are too tall for their characters. Ra's is another character that felt too overdone. He's got tattoos and shit now. WTF. Tattoos? On Ra's Al Ghul? Are you freaking serious? Talia's costume has also been sexed up more, but I could stand it. Can't say the same about Harley Quinn, though. Wish she had the BTAS costume on.
But, let us not forget, that these are but minor quibbles in an amazing game. Just go and fucking buy it. Support the game industry. BUY IT.

Remember how hyped The Dark Knight was, and then it came along and exceeded expectations? That's what happened with Arkham City. This is a serious game, for Batman fans, of Batman fans, made by Batman fans that even non-Batman fans can enjoy. It's a fucking brilliant marvel of a game.
9.5/10