Batman: Arkham City

SCORE: 8 (great) arkham city takes the formula established in asylum and expands on it greatly. the story is much more fun to follow, the combat and stealth have been improved upon, the environments are more varied and fun to navigate, and the interesting sequences from asylum are matched, and sometime surpassed here. despite this, the game still suffers from uninteresting side content that feels tedious rather than rewarding to complete, and a general lack of finality to its story, seeing as the open world has to remain open. the addition of catwoman and robin, along with some other established characters help flesh out the lore, and the experience never overstays its welcome. overall another solid step forward for the series, but one that cannot quite shake the repetitive and overall mundane open world formula that plagued this generation of gaming.

I always liked Arkham Asylum better then this but upon replaying this i am realizing how much advanced Asylum actually is and what a huge step back this Game was with its "we need a Batman -Open World" approach. The thing is that this Game was born out of the false idea that Batman in an Open World must be so cool but guess what it´s boring as hell. The Worst Thing is that nothing seems to really feel coherent and immersive. I feel constantly taken out of any sort of enjoyment of the Gameplay rather by annoyingly having to cross half the City to get from A to B or by being distracted by trivial nonsensical things that are in itself not really rewarding such as collecting riddler trophies or stretched out side quests that require you to do the same thing over and over again like 10 times until you finally face the supervillain in a half assed finale to these boring missions. Where Arkham Asylum fascinated with its dense metroidvania like level Design the leveldesign in this feels plumb and empty. I just feel so bored while playing this Game, the only highlights really are the Boss Fights and maybe the detailed atmospherical designs of different areas that are part of the main story (which asylum already did much better and immersive a few years before)

Pros
- Boss Fights
- Mr. Freeze Boss Fight
- Sub Areas
- Anything Similar to Asylum

Cons
- Batman Open World Simulator
- Boring
- Repetitive uninspired Side Quests
- Half a Million of RIddler Trophy Hunting Madness
- Getting from A to B
- Open World Exploration sucks
- Trivial Distractions

The first game in the series, Arkham Asylum, was very well received by fans and critics, but one negative of the game was that it mainly took place inside Arkham Asylum and you navigated enclosed areas. In Arkham City, the game is a bit more open including more side-quests to give you that freedom of exploration. In a lot of ways, it is similar to Assassin's Creed Syndicate; there's plenty of side-quests and distractions, which will involve plenty of fighting and sneaking around. To navigate you will be gliding and hook-shotting around the city which is very satisfying.

There are plenty of villains in the game, many returning from the first game, and many more making small cameos. You could say there's a little too many since their stories and motivations aren't well fleshed out; it's mainly fan service.

One year has passed since the events of the first game where The Joker took control of Arkham Asylum. Now the former warden Quincy Sharp has bordered off Arkham City and populated it with inmates, leaving Hugo Strange in charge. Gangs loyal to The Joker, Two-Face and Penguin now fight for control within the city. After Bruce Wayne protests about this, he is captured and thrown into the city. The Joker is ill from the effects of the Titan formula from the events of the first game. After capturing Batman and infecting him, Batman also needs to find a cure.

All the gameplay ideas from the first game are here, so you will be required to use stealth in certain sections, fight against a horde of enemies, or use platforming to traverse the environment. There seems to be even more Riddler trophies scattered around, usually locked behind simple puzzles.

Batman starts off with the majority of the gadgets he had in the first game, but many more are included this time and a lot of them can be used in combat to vary up your attacks. The amount of gadgets you have can be quite cumbersome. I found it hard to remember which button uses which gadget during combat. Outside combat, you are pressing the D-Pad multiple times to cycle through gadgets.

The main combat mechanic remains unchanged, so Batman can dodge, punch, counter and stun enemies. You are rewarded with more XP when you achieve combos, so you are always looking to counter and dodge to avoid the hits. Although Batman can take a good few punches, he doesn't last long against bullets which means you must dispatch gunmen with stealth, or take them out as a priority in combat. As you progress through the game, you are introduced to new enemies such as armoured (which need to be stunned, then attacked with the 'beat-down' move), shielded enemies (where you need to leap over them, then slam into them), and enemies equipped with stun batons (cannot attack from the front).

The Catwoman DLC was bundled into new copies, and certain versions of the game. This allows you to play as Catwoman across four additional story missions which are interspersed through the main story. She has her own set of Riddler trophies, so if you find them with Batman, then you can only tag them to add them to your map. It's easy to control Catwoman as she essentially has an equivalent move-set. She is a more agile version of Batman, and can use her whip to swing around Gotham Spiderman-style. She can crawl on certain parts of the ceiling, and scramble up walls. I enjoyed Catwoman's parts and would have liked even more missions.

Once the credits roll, there is Catwoman's final mission, then you are left to play on (with either character) to find the rest of the trophies and complete remaining side-quests. You can also play a New Game Plus, taking across your upgrades and playing with increased difficulty.

I think Arkham City is a great sequel because it takes everything that made the first game good and builds upon it. The flaws with the game are minor, and it's enjoyable for both hardcore and casual Batman fans.

It's a decent enough extension of Asylum, and the setting is fine, but the open world actually undercuts the tension a lot by removing a lot of the nuance required in successful stealth. This is made up for by way better setpieces and boss battles, and with enough improvements to the base combat to at least make the adventure worth seeing through, but your mileage will vary on the ending. Personally? Hated it.

Arkham City is easily the highlight of the Arkham series. Where the first game you were restricted to a single facility, in this you have a whole city to explore, and the side content in this feels better. I remember playing this game during my Sophomore year in college, I brought my system to the lobby of my dorm and then my friends all started watching. I remember that day too because that was the day Ron Paul came to give a speech at our college and I went to that before returning to play this. The main story is actually really short and I beat it in about 2 days, I feel like it was over before it even began. Then I replayed the game again that Summer and collected all the Riddler trophies and did all the side content, which was a little tedious but fun. Its just a fun big World to explore and the free flow gliding is so fun, but on the other hand the story itself, while a stronger story than Asylum, just is a bit too short, and the combat does become a bit tedious and comes down to timed button presses. But its still a really solid open World super hero game and easily the best Batman game, and the story is solid along with a crazy twist ending that nobody saw coming.