Batman: Arkham City

By the time I reached the conclusion of Arkham Asylum, I was spent. Exhausted. The thought of beating up another random group of thugs bored me to tears. I needed a break. So I ignored City when it came out in 2011, and sat biding my time, waiting for the right moment to leap from the shadows and back into the man I was born to be. And hooo boy – let me tell you: four years was all the break I needed. Arkham City may fail to reach the atmospheric highs of Asylum, but it is through and through a funner game, and, most important to me, a superior Batman simulation.

While Arkham City borrows the structure of Asylum (a linear story within an open world that is gated by ability unlocks) the world is infinitely larger and more diverse than the Asylum grounds were. But size ain’t everything right? (right?) It’s how you move through the world that makes City, not so much the world itself. Gliding from gargoyle to gargoyle, diving low towards the streets and then swooping up into the light of the full moon - this is Batman as you’ve always dreamed. I cannot stress enough how smile-inducing the gliding game is. It’s a real shame then, with the flight and grapple abilities so nailed down and so fun that Gotham itself is so stunted – it’s a short place in Arkham City; while the developers came within a stone’s throw of the feel of Gotham as far as architecture goes, everything is just too small to really capture the mythic presence of the place.

The narrative conceit which places us in this slice of Gotham is perfectly comicy-booky (“Yes, we in the government think it’s a fantastic idea to wall of this part of the city and create a giant prison managed by a psychopathic doctor!”) and allows Batman to run in to a good selection of foes. There are some small “Stories” hidden around too, places where you might find objects or pictures that relate to a Batman character though they aren’t in the game itself, and these are a real treat. The main quest line is merely pretty good though, and does wrap itself up quite quickly. Considering how much there is left to do in Arkham City by the time you’re done, the game has a kind of lopsided momentum depending on how you personally are affected by completing the story before the game. Arkham City definitely also suffers from conflicting quest logic that Batman would never be subject too. “I have to stop this bomb from exploding over here but on my way I’ll stop to solve some Riddler magnet puzzles, save some political prisoners, and maybe do a gliding test or two.” I found myself wondering very often if designing the game to take place in a single night was really the best decision. At some point, you just start to notice it’s been a really, really long night.

Conroy, Hamil and everyone else who you’ve never heard of all do great work as usual in the voice department, and the writing feels undoubtedly Batman. Conroy’s aging voice and the big burly 5-o’clock shadow Batman go well so perfectly together it’s downright amazing. He really is Batman. And that makes you feel like Batman. When you “interrogate” the Riddler’s cronies they say “I’ll tell ya whatever I know!” and Batman says “I know” then just elbow slams them in the face so hard they crumple like paper and pass out for what’s probably a month – this doesn’t actually make any sense at all (how does the data end up on your map?) but it’s about as Batman as can be. SWEAR TO ME, as the kids say. Oh and a shout out to Mr. Freeze. The Emmy-Award winning villain was beautifully teased in Asylum and gets just as much attention as he deserves in City - no word of a lie, the inclusion of Mr. Freeze is what compelled me to play City, and if there are others like me out there (shudder) you'll be happy to hear that his appearance has been worth the wait.

Like Asylum, City comes with a huge number of challenge maps and bonuses, and there’s also a DLC story mission available which brings Robin in to the game as a playable character outside said challenge maps. If you’re buying the game this late after release the GOTY version is a no-brainer. The extra costumes are generally very awesome – playing as Kingdom Come’s Red Robin was a dream come true – and the characters who aren’t Batman are surprisingly well animated and have their own gadgets to boot. That said, I didn’t always appreciate the forced switch to Catwoman in-game, though at least those segments are over fast. And it’s impressive too. There’s lots of game in this game.

I recommend Arkham City without hesitation to Batman fans and fans of Arkham Asylum alike, so long as you aren’t still burned out from another Arkham game. City doesn’t change the combat or puzzle formula much, instead adding depth here and there through contextually different gadget use and a few more combat kinks to worry about, but this in combination with the greatly expanded world and the gliding make for what is, to this date, the best all-around Batman simulation available. With Arkham Origins out now and Arkham Fatigue officially setting in amongst press and gamers alike, it seems a foregone conclusion that Rocksteady’s next batventure will serve up something different, and rightly so I think. I know price shouldn't really enter the review methodology, but let's be real. The difference between 59.99 and the <5.99 I got this game for is significant. Arkham City is a massive game with sky high production values and it's a true to what Batman is. It has its blemishes but hot damn - you should play it, and you have no good reason not to.