Batman’s my favorite superhero. Not going to lie. The man himself, his supporting cast, and his rogues gallery makes for, in my personal opinion, the single best universe of comic book lore. Coming off of Arkham Asylum (one of the best video games of 2009, by the way), I was highly excited to see what would be made of this game. In short, this game takes everything great about Asylum and adds some new ideas into the mix, in its own way, improving upon perfection.

The freeflow combat system is back, with strikes, counters, stuns, and aerial maneuvers, as well as quickfire gadget use to really become the Bat in close quarters combat against groups of enemies. Most of your gadgets are upgradable, be they automatically acquired as the story demands them to be utilized, or by choosing to level them up through an experience and leveling system. For example, you get the Line Launcher only when you get to the point where you need to use it. However, you can only obtain the Sonic Batarang (and its explosive upgrade) by acquiring them via level-up. Many gadgets, however, such as the Batclaw, Explosive Gel, and Remote Control Batarang, are available at the start, despite having to be obtained throughout the course of Arkham Asylum. This level-up system can also be used to heighten Batman’s defenses and other techniques.

The ability to quickly navigate through the city is one of the game’s finest updates from Asylum. Instead of being confined to the relatively small and crowded Arkham Island as in the game’s predecessor, you’re in the open world environment of Arkham City. Be it quickly gliding around and using your Batgrapple to patrol the skies or taking to the ground, you’ll find that simply moving from place to place is quite an experience.

Many concepts from Arkham Asylum make their return in this game. For example, hacking systems via decrypting passwords is back, allowing you to gain access to locked away places. You’ll need to upgrade this gadget in order to access more military-level passwords, as well as the Riddler’s puzzles, however. Detective Mode is also back, allowing you to quickly scan entire areas for enemies, distinguishing between armed and unarmed thugs, as well as scanning evidence and picking up a trail. The Riddler’s challenges are also more present than ever, and now take multiple forms. There are Riddler trophies all around the city to pick up, as well as times when the Riddler will give you a riddle and you’ll have to figure out the answer before a trap in the room activates (these will typically require the use of gadgets not already acquired). Lining up question marks are also back, and the Riddler also now makes use of hostages, where you must answer riddles in order to learn of their whereabouts to save them. Most Riddler challenges will unlock something, such as concept art, challenge maps, etc.

The main story is fairly short, but quite an experience. Due to an overdose of the Titan formula from the last game, the Joker has found himself to be fatally ill, and decides to put on a show for a last laugh. Meanwhile, Hugo Strange (genius professor and psychologist) is placed in charge of Arkham City, an expansion of Arkham Asylum in an effort to give the housed criminals more room and freedom, in order to keep them from wanting to escape and lowering crime in Gotham. However, due to the strict laws of Gotham, even the smallest crime means being sent to this entire city of the worst of the worst, something even politicians manage to fall victim to. As Bruce Wayne decides to enter politics in an attempt to help his Batman alter-ego keep the citizens of Gotham at ease, he ends up on the business end of a few fists, and finds himself imprisoned in Arkham. Before long he manages to escape confinement, suit up as Batman, and get to work cleaning up the place, and he starts by saving Catwoman from the clutches of Two-Face.

Catwoman plays a strong role in the storyline, and that role is made much stronger if you unlock the DLC to play as Catwoman (comes with the collector’s edition and I imagine was a pre-order bonus in some places). Catwoman fights similarly to Batman, but navigates quite differently. She can pounce onto gated ceilings to move out of detection, and uses some modified gadgets, as well as use of her signature whip for both grappling and for incapacitating enemies. She is used in “episodes”; one at the very beginning of the game, two throughout the main game, and one post-game, after which you’ll be able to switch between the two characters at specified switch points. Catwoman also has her own Riddler trophies to find that Batman might not be able to access (and if he can, there’s a static aura preventing him from picking them up). In addition to Catwoman, future DLC includes Nightwing (Dick Grayson) and Robin (Tim Drake), the latter making an appearance in the story.

One of the game’s most notable features are the boss fights. While some classic villains such as the Penguin and Joker rely on throwing a bunch of thugs at you in intervals, there are some intense one-on-one fights, such as the one against Mr. Freeze. You’ll also do battle against Solomon Grundy, Clayface, and the great Ra’s al Ghul through the main storyline as well. You also end up fighting Two-Face as Catwoman. Something that did kind of disappoint me is the lack of Scarecrow missions from Arkham Asylum. I won’t deny that the effects of the scare toxin followed by the straight up missions themselves were horribly missed in this sequel.

While the campaign itself is fairly short, taken out in around 10 hours on a standard runthrough, there are a load of unlockables to take out in the game. In addition to the Riddler puzzles and challenges, there are a number of Titan tanks that must be found and blown up (Bane makes an appearance through helping out with this), finding ringing phone calls and intercepting signals to save hostages being held captive by Zsasz, and if you count them, simply finding Calendar Man in his cell on specified holidays (talking to him on all 12 days marked on his calendar will award you a trophy/achievement), for example. Then of course, simply upgrading all of your equipment, completing the augmented reality training courses (definitely helpful when learning how to glide, though this is typically done near the beginning of the game), and after you’ve had your post-game fun, you can also take on a New Game+ that allows you to start the game over with all of your current equipment, but the enemies are tougher, and the counter symbol won’t appear, requiring you to pay close attention during combat. It should be noted that during New Game+, all collectibles such as Riddler challenges are shared between the two modes, as they’re shared on the same save data.

I’m not going to spoil this game for anyone, as this game is truly one that you have to experience for yourself. I will however state that there is very little room for a sequel, that Arkham City could quite possibly be the last of the series. It does end the legacy started by Arkham Asylum on a very high note, however, further cementing the duology as quite easily the best superhero video game series of all time. I will definitely recommend this to any fan of Batman, games that involve a lot of gadgetry, stealth, puzzles, and/or straight up in-your-face combat – this is a game that can truly appeal to a large group of gamers – or, hell, pretty much anyone. With stunning performances by Mark Hamill (Joker), Kevin Conroy (Batman) and a cast of performers that make their respective characters truly their own, ambient but pumping music in the background, every audible sound effect from the gusts of wind while flying to the impact of a Batfist to the face, the amazingly dark scenery, and so many other small things seamlessly just coming together to create this love letter to Batman fans everywhere. Cheers to Rocksteady, for once again reinventing the definitive Batman experience.

7/7