Batman: Arkham City (released in 2011) is the first sequel to 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum. And, depending on who you ask, it's generally considered to be even better than the first game due to introducing some fun new mechanics, and rebalancing the combat and stealth elements to be more challenging and less easy to cheese, respectively. It also brings in even more characters from the DC lore, like Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, Catwoman, and the Penguin, while also bringing almost everyone from the first game back (the lone exception being Scarecrow).
Taking place six months after the first game, Batman Arkham City has Bruce Wayne (Batman's true identity) thrown in the titular city/prison. Wait a minute! Isn't Batman a good guy (or as good as a bat-themed vigilante can be)? Why is he thrown into a prison? Because a psychologist known as Professor Hugo Strange discovered who the Dark Knight really is, and Arkham City is a prison not meant for "burglars, killers, maimers, and kindergarten teachers" (easily the best Joker quote from the first game!) but is meant for the Caped Crusader himself. All the other inmates are just icing on the cake.
Oh, and to make everything more complicated, Joker poisons Batman shortly after he arrives and now has roughly 10 hours to stop the more dangerous inmates from causing trouble, make sure Hugo Strange doesn't reveal the truth about billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and brooding guardian of the night Batman being the same person, figure out what the mysterious Protocol 10 is and how to stop it AND find a cure for Joker's poison. If he doesn't do all that, he'll die a slow and painful death. Arkham City itself is basically what would happen if you threw almost every Batman villain ever into the movie Escape from New York. Heck, they even put in Calendar Man. And before you ask, yes. There actually is a Batman villain called Calendar Man. Google it and be amazed.
Am I the only one who's noticed that Penguin is
the only inmate that's not American?
Anyway, the story is more complex than the first game, and has plenty of plot twists. The only thing that I didn't care for was the reveal of what Protocol 10 actually is. I'm not going to spoil it, but I found it really anticlimactic. What made it worse was the rather mundane execution. I mean, in the first game, Joker planned to turn his goons into Hulk-like abominations to conquer the city of Gotham. Spoilers for the first game? I guess? But Protocol 10 just feels so... Rushed.
.
Solomon Grundy would like to remind you all
that he was born on a Monday.
But on a more positive note, Arkham City's gameplay is superior to the original's in a lot of ways. Stealth segments have been rebalanced to force you to think outside the box, as some enemies can now spot you if you are on a vantage point and will check in grates and over ledges if they find a fellow goon that was taken out near those areas, all of which was literally impossible in the first game. And in open combat, there is more variety to the enemies, like how some henchmen will carry riot shields and stun batons, making frontal attacks impossible and forcing Batman to attack from behind, or how there are armored enemies that can only be defeated by either the Combo Takedown ability or by stunning them first. This all makes the combat even better than the first game, as long as you know what you are doing. Another improvement over the first game is the addition of optional side missions, that usually involve Batman going toe-to-toe with some of the finest members of the Rogue's Gallery (Deadshot, Bane, the Riddler, Mad Hatter, etc). But the biggest difference is the fact that the game encourages exploring Arkham City, as it has literal tons of collectables and secrets to uncover, thanks to the simple fact that Arkham City is now an Open-World Action/Adventure game. Also, in a matter similar to an RPG, Batman can accumulate EXP and level up, and leveling up gives you skill points, that can be spent on upgrades such as more health or better gadgets.
Now something important to note is that the version I played was Batman: Return to Arkham, which, in addition to sporting HD graphics, also has content that wasn't in the original version of the game, such as the ability to play as Catwoman (who has her own story campaign that's almost completely independent of Batman's campaign). Catwoman also has completely different abilities and gadgets compared to Batman, trading health and power for agility and speed. Unfortunately, Catwoman doesn't have a grappling hook or a glide ability (both of which belong to Batman), and thus navigating Arkham City is actually slower as Catwoman (ironic considering she's an acrobat...). Playing as her is notably harder than playing as Batman, mostly because to further reinforce the fact that you need to dodge/counter attacks rather than taking them head on, Catwoman only has half as much health as Batman, even if she's been fully upgraded. Now I'm not sure if it's my imagination, but it FEELS like Catwoman takes a lot longer to react than Batman when using certain moves, like the Ground Takedown ability. Another complaint I have with Catwoman is her Thief Vision ability, which works similarly to Batman's Detective Vision (a returning mechanic where the Dark Knight can scan his surroundings for clues and/or enemies). My biggest gripe with it is while Batman's Detective vision color codes enemies based on what kind of weapons they have (Blue for unarmed, yellow for armed with a melee weapon like a knife or riot shield, and red for guns), Thief vision doesn't color code enemies at all, thus making it harder to tell which enemies to prioritize when fighting. After all, the inmates of Arkham City, even though all their combat experience comes from getting their rear ends handed to them by the Caped Crusader (some of the henchmen are actually inmates from the original Arkham Asylum!), their aim is somehow better than that of the Imperial Stormtroopers from Star Wars, despite the fact that Imperial Stormtroopers have supposed years of combat training but can't hit the broadside of a Star Destroyer even if their lives depend on it.
Another major difference between the original Arkham City and Return to Arkham is the addition of Harley Quinn's Revenge, a third story campaign starring Robin (Batman's cloaked protege/apprentice) and Harley Quinn (whose voice is no longer annoyingly squeaky because they changed her voice actor). However, please note that if you decide to play Harley Quinn's Revenge first, it will have massive spoilers for the other two story campaigns. It's notably more linear than the other two campaigns, akin to the original Batman: Arkham Asylum. It's also by far the shortest of the three campaigns. My only real gripe with it is how even though the star is mostly Robin, you still play as Batman during some segments, which is a little annoying to me because it's supposed to be Robin's time in the spotlight. Oh well. At least he gets more screen-time in this campaign than in the main story, where he shows up in literally one cutscene and is never seen again.
As for visuals, just like with Arkham Asylum, I can't speak for the original release, but the HD remake sports nice graphics. Thankfully, it's less easy to get lost thanks to a compass and waypoint system that honestly should have been in the first game because it's ridiculously easy to get lost in that game. The character designs are also good, as they, again, keep the characters recognizable, but with a darker twist. Also it took me way too long to realize that the Penguin's monocle isn't a monocle at all (it's the bottom half of a wine bottle permanently attached to his face!). But the best character design in the game (in my opinion) goes to Mr. Freeze, who looks like an icier, heavily armored version of the fish dude from HellBoy. Raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about.
Mr. Freeze!
And finally, the sound. The music is honestly forgettable in my opinion, but let's face it, people don't play super hero games for the music. However, the voice acting is especially top notch. I honestly can't go too deep into why I like the voice acting, because if I did, I would be repeating what I said when I reviewed Arkham Asylum. Although there are few things I would like to say, namely about Harley Quinn's new voice actress. I personally feel that Tara Strong (current actress) does a better job as Harley Quinn than the original actress, partly due to her voice being less annoyingly squeaky.
In all honesty, Batman: Arkham City is definitely better than Batman: Arkham Asylum, thanks to smart improvements to the gameplay. I still stand by my opinion regarding Protocol 10 being really anticlimactic, among other gripes, but other than that, it's a solid title. I give Batman: Arkham City a 9/10. Oh, and seeing as it's a direct sequel, something to note is the game has massive spoilers for events of Batman: Arkham Asylum. So make sure you play that game first if you really care about spoilers. Or not. It's a free Internet after all. Unfortunately for me, the final chapter in the Batman: Arkham franchise is rated M for Mature (thanks to, among other things, Scarecrow's disturbingly grotesque redesign) and such I will not be covering it given my policy of only playing Teen rated or E10 rated video games. But there is still Batman: Arkham Origins, a prequel that takes place a few years before both Arkham City and Arkham Asylum that is rather conveniently rated T for Teen.
P.S. Since Mr. Freeze has the best design in my honest opinion, I guess you could say that he looks ice.
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