Batman: Arkham City Review

Game: Batman: Arkham City
Time Played: 27 hours
Difficulty: Normal
Achievements: 27/44

A big prison in the middle of the city filled with almost all the super-villains and super-criminals, that you can imagine? Why the hell not! At least you got them all gathered up. So you can beat the living crap out (of most) of them as Batman. Or Catwoman. MEOW, MOTHERFUCKER.

Meow...

Arkham Asylum and Arkham City are not directly related. But I would advise to play Asylum first. Because of two things: the story of the first one does fill out the story of the second, although indirectly and in smaller details. It doesn't mean it's necessary, but you can enjoy that feeling where you can mumble for yourself "aha, aha, I was there, I helped create that face imprint in that asphalt!". Secondly, combat is more varied and more fun in the latter game. It's more floating (sometimes literarily). This means that it may be hard to go back to Asylum's way of fighting, if you were to decide to play Arkham Asylum after Arkham City.

So life goes on as it did. Super criminals still call Batman a flying rodent, and Batman can still kick their ass in approximately ten different ways, that is before he gets really inventive. The atmosphere experience is even stronger in this one. There is a mix of cold and warm in Arkham City area. It is always snowing and you do get that feeling of never-ending harsh winter (may remind of Mafia II). But the area of this city is filled with dark, yet warm colours, that fit the world of Batman very well. This creates a very unique atmosphere, of such distinctiveness that it left a strong impression, and I see that seldom in other games. It consists not of how things are drawn, the style of art, no - it's a mix of colours, physics and camera behind Batman's back as you control him. It's very unique and well done, and definetly adds to identifying Arkham City as one of the best games released during recent years.

Arkham City very much filled with content. You can roam the city as you see fit most of the time. There are approximately 10 side-quests to solve, and most of them present a short story in addition. One of them is Riddler's mind games again (does anyone else think he sounds like Sheldon?), with secrets to find, objects to discover, riddles to solve. As in previous game, if you succeed, you unlock what not only gives a short story of its own, but also provides background information about Arkham City and its villains in various forms. This is partly what makes Arkham City feel so well crafted. Some may even say that Arkham City is too filled with content, because in the end you actually get to meet extremely many characters. It may be so that with lesser characters, one could get a longer and deeper insight in fewer chosen ones. However, I have no regrets. What Arkham City's world does for me, is present a very rich world filled with stories that go long back in time and encourage you to dig deep into this world. I admit though, I would have loved if these stories were longer. Making Arkham City's side quests/stories drag out more and give extra content through them would definetly make it an even more exciting experience.

Arkham City is once again very funny. As one plays it, it is advisable to stop for a while and listen to general inmates talk. It not only fills out the story with smaller details, these dialogues are very well written and will make you smile more often than you expect. Of course, the biggest laughs come from Joker himself (well, DOH!). I can't stress enough how fantastic this guy is presented and how entertaining every scene with him is. Not to say that other characters in the story aren't worthy or believable, but the Joker is the man.

Batman: Arkham City is where you as a gamer, feel taken seriously. It plays very well on PC, and customazible controls are there (I spilled beer on my gaming keyboard, so letter E doesn't work). Arkham City is not just a "game", it's an exciting and humorous adventure story told through the game, and that is what I love to see more and more of. It strains for atmosphere through music, perspective and art style, and succeeds well at that. This game is also stunningly beautiful.

I was flapping my batwings above the rooftops that night, and little did I know..

..That I would raise questionsmarks about almost everything, but never actually raise a questionmark about why it is always night, suddenly have breasts, find even more ways to hurt people who have been judged as bad by society, chase snowflakes, and constantly be tempted to do in-game photography.