What else should I jump into after enjoy Batman: Arkham Asylum so very much? Arkham City is the sequel to Arkham Asylum that expands upon its predecessor in nearly every way. The game boasts a more open-world environment with a larger area to explore than the original, new gadgets with which to solve puzzles with, and an expanded roster of villains to bludgeon in your pursuit of peace for Gotham City's innocents.
The gameplay is very similar to the previous game, a reality with which I have no problem. Batman does have some new tricks up his sleeve, but for the most part it will feel very similar. The excellent combat from the first game returns in its essence, but is even better this time. The controls in combat are much sharper and the animations of your assaults on the criminal element of Gotham City are better detailed and more brutal than before. Gadgets felt more impactful in combat, and the game places you in a wider arrange of combat situations than before, forcing you to be very creative about the manner in which you dismantle your foes.
The story, written by Paul Dini, is excellent once again. The game opens with you being arrested as Bruce Wayne (obviously by your own permission) and being placed in Arkham City, a new prison experiment championed by the new Mayor Sharp, and executed by Dr. Strange. No, Dr. Hugo Strange. This one isn't magical at all. And believe it or not, this Dr. Strange actually existed before the Marvel one! Anyway, Batman needs to investigate a sinister plot known as Protocol 10, while also handing side-machinations by Joker, Riddler, Penguin, and other Batman villains. The narrative is well paced and compelling, and the ending to the game is really tremendous. The voice acting is extremely good again, although I do miss the old actress for Harley Quinn, who was awesome. Conroy and Hammill are back as Batman and Joker again, though, and that's what really counts.
The process of getting around in the city is a bit clunky, again. The gliding just feels a bit imprecise, and it's hard to land where you want to. This complicates the game's long post game, as a significant number of solving Riddler puzzles will involve you needing to be in very precise control. Oh well. Hope you enjoy trying puzzles a ton of times with frustrating outcomes!
In the post-game, the city crackles with life in a way that the Asylum never did. Baddies will regularly repopulate the City, in keeping with the endless waves of villains that comic book Batman needs to beat off one at a time. This makes playing the game after its completion much more of a joy than in the original, where it was impossible to find anyone to fight without doing the combat challenges. They replaced the existing system of finding a map with all of the Riddler secrets (lame) with a much better solution of interrogating Riddler informants around the map to find out where they are. This makes much more sense practically (how would Riddler rig up 400 complicated traps in such a short time, without some help) as well as thematically (Riddler delights in the mental games he plays with Batman, and wouldn't just leave maps of his secrets lying around) than the system from the first game. The Riddler secrets themselves are much more creative than in the previous game, with more puzzle solving required to obtain them. Getting them can be frustrating due to the control issues mentioned earlier, however.
All in all, this is a really excellent game. It keeps up with all of the strengths of the original game while adding more of a living, breathing world for Batman to explore and cleanse of the criminals that haunt his city. I wish they could have made the controls a bit better for Batman, but that's my only real complaint here. I'll give this game a 9.6/10.
I'm currently enjoying winging around Arkham City and exploring the secrets it conceals, but I'm also working through another game at the same time during the hours in which my kids are using the "modern games" area. See below for a teaser of what's coming up next. I may even finish it today...
-TRO
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