Let me preface this review by saying that I have not achieved 100% completion on Arkham City, yet I have completed the main storyline and multiple side quests leaving me at 35% completion. This is a testament to the incredible depth and length of Arkham City as I am currently at 15 hours of gameplay with much more to go.
One of my favorite superhero video games, Spiderman 2, was one of the earliest sandbox/free-roam superhero games. Batman: Arkham City is somewhat reminiscent of Spiderman 2 as Batman navigates a vast city by either swinging from the rooftops using his grappling hook, or dive gliding from great heights. In the beginning, the player is put right in the middle of Arkham City with the ultimate freedom of where to go and what to do. There is never a shortage of stuff to do in Arkham City, whether it be solving one of the Riddler's numerous puzzles, searching for the lair of your favorite villain (not all of who you can find immediately), or just pounding on random convicts who happen to cross your path. Like in Spiderman 2, the city often presents a brief challenge or quick obstacle for Batman, such as rescuing a political prisoner from the more violent convicts. These challenges come in infinite supply and are simply an optional change of pace from the regular exploring. The controls of exploration and combat are superb, as there is little to no learning curve for both aspects of the game. While combat can essentially be done with two buttons, one can also employ more elaborate combat moves with other buttons based on the player's current hit combo number, which rewards the player for fluid combat. Batman's arsenal of technology is also extremely elaborate, making combat variety and large combinations easier. Detective mode returns from Arkham Asylum, but the player does not have to rely on it as much, which is definitely an improvement. Detective mode is still awesome as Batman can immediately assess any situation with information ranging from the number of bad guys to the individual heart beats per minute and type of weapons present. Arkham City is also stacked with villains ranging from the obvious Joker to the more obscure villains such as Deadshot. The player can also play a separate campaign as Catwoman, which I will discuss later. The game also has immense replay value with allowing the player to not only play the campaign again with all the earned gadgets and skills after beating it the first time, but also the inclusion of the Riddler challenges. These challenges vary in length, but allow the player to hone their skills as Batman while also taking on fresh new gameplay.
Batman: Arkham City doesn't have many negatives so these complaints are essentially just nitpicking. The Catwoman campaign is available to all who buy the game new. However, many copies of the game do not provide the full code, or provide codes that simply do not work. No official announcement has been made in regards to fixing the issue, but if rocksteady games does not amend the problem in some way it will be very disappointing. In terms of the actual game, Arkham City itself isn't that large and the length of the city can be easily crossed in three to five short minutes. Boss fights in the game are also somewhat easy in terms of the game as a whole which is actually somewhat difficult (even on the Normal setting).
Overall, Batman: Arkham City is probably the best superhero game to date. The game is immersive and elaborate, and will appeal to nearly all audiences. This game is definitely worth the buy, just don't fully expect the Catwoman campaign to work if the code is provided with your new copy.
Rating: 9.2/10
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