TIME TO SUIT UP

We are finally at that time where comic book games are great. Sure, there was a few decent games here and there through out the years, but nothing has come close to what Rocksteady has done to the Batman franchise. Batman: Arkham City is a sequel to the 2009 hit Arkham Asylum. Without giving too much away it revolves around Batman going place to place trying to uncover what Hugo Strange is doing and why Arkham City appears to be in ruins. He runs into The Penguin voiced by Nolan North, Two Face voiced by Troy Baker, The Joker voiced, once again, by Mark Hamill, and Harley Quinn voiced by Tara Strong. Don't worry Tara Strong did a great job as Harley Quinn. There are a few others like Mr. Freeze, The Riddler, and others that I don't want to spoil.

The Story is set in one night at Arkham City and Hugo Strange has something sinister in mind. He starts kidnapping reporters and politicians. Batman is sent in and try to work on what is going on. It leads him to all over the city and to all the villains you could want,

I'M... WELL, YOU KNOW

The gameplay is the bread and butter of this game and that thing is good. The controls are tight and you felt like you are punching some one as Batman takes cares of foes. Once you got a handle on things the game sends you through a loop as the enemies becomes smarter and use more fatal weapons. The bosses in this game is the best I've seen in a long time. This is Metal Gear Solid level boss battles. All of them worthy of remembrance. But, it's not about the combat. The predator gameplay has greatly improved. You still go from one vantage point to another, but its not all gargoyles this time. It's anywhere Batman can go. And go you shall, Jumping off rooftops has never been this fun. Not even Assassin's Creed can have this fluidity. You jump from a building and you can fall to the ground or quickly press the L1 as your batclaw shoots out a claw to the nearest edge.

The difficulty is perfect. One minute you are BATMAN beating the pulp off some of the goons that the main villain has for you. And the next you are surrounded with only 2 bars left and a desperate need to finish off the remainder of the goons you have left. Thankfully, it's not all fighting. There are a few puzzles here and there. And I do mean Here and There. The Riddler has left you to find over 400 challenges to complete. Most of it's the question mark figure that was in Asylum, but instead of it just lying there. There are quite a bit of puzzles to solve to get them. Then there's the combat challenges, They will test how good you are in fighting. Sometimes you do something and then a message will inform you that you have completed a challenge, with out knowing it was challenge in the first place. There are a few challenges that is locked out and as of this writing, I have not gotten them yet.

SO MUCH TO DO, SO LITTLE TO SEE

Arkham City itself is massive, but don't think of it as Grand Theft Auto. It's much better than that.You come across some side quests and if you don't want to do them yet the location will be located in your map for future use. The world is big, but not the biggest you will ever see, but because of that it's rich with detail and the atmosphere that follows it is spot on to the world of Batman.

The entire cast is top notch. Like I said earlier, Tara Strong did a great Harley Quinn. Nolan North did a wonderful job as The Penguin. It almost made me forget that he is also Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series. Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy are amazing as The Joker and Batman respectfully once again. While there were a few cheesy lines spoken by Catwoman the voice actor, Grey Delisle, also did a great job. The music is one of the best around. From low sound of the city streets to the dashing escape from goons, the music knows the best way to present itself and does it in such a way I won't be surprise if it wins a few Best Original Score awards.

RIDDLE ME THIS, RIDDLE ME THAT

But, just beating the story does not mean you are finished. Oh, no there is a lot more things to do in this game. There's Riddler's Challenges where you have combat arenas to test your skill as either Batman or Catwoman. In the four options you can choose from is Regular Arenas where can fight wave of enemies, Another Regular arena where it will test your Predator ability as you pick off a goon one by one. The next option is called campaign where they will give you a mixture of the two. You could have 2 combat challenges and one predator challenge in the middle for visa versa. It's immensely satisfying if you can get a least one metal on it. The final option you have is Custom where you pick out a room and then you can pick modifiers where it changes the style of for you. Want it easy or do you want it hard. Maybe a mixture of both. This was a lot of fun to mix and match.

This much awesome does have it's downside. Catwoman, while is a blast to play, is a little weak compered to Batman. It's a small gripe I have, but it's not that big. The textures would pop in sometimes. and there is a few slowdowns here and there. But the negatives is no match of the amount of positive this game has. Think of Arkham Asylum and if you liked that game, think of this game a massive improvement on a game that was already great.

Batman Arkham City is great game to have. It's got an excellent lengthy Story mode and plus many hours more on side quests, Riddler's trophies, and challenges. This is a worthy game to carry on the Batman name and what ever Rocksteady has planned next, Batman or not, I am sure it will be another great game.

Batman Arkham City is for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The PC version is coming out next month, and the Wii-U sometime next year.