14 DAY TRIAL // 
Batman is back for a brand new gaming adventure, this time with Arkham City, the sequel to 2009's Asylum, which broke the mold for superhero and comic book-based games by delivering a properly stunning experience made by Rocksteady Studios.
While the original impressed largely because nobody had high expectations, Arkham City now has a lot to live up to, especially since Asylum won lots of awards and earned a cult following.
With the promise of delivering a fully open world, a huge cast of villains and supporting characters for Batman, not to mention a new story designed to emphasize the increased Arkham City detention facility, the new game needs to definitely improve upon its predecessor.
So, is Arkham City worthy of the Dark Knight's name or should it be put out of its misery with a batarang to the head? Let's find out.
Story Ever since Rocksteady announced Arkham City last year, it's been unveiling a huge amount of villains from the Batman comic books that will appear throughout its story, starting with already infamous characters like The Joker, Two-Face or Mr. Freeze, to more obscure yet still imposing ones like Dr. Hugo Strange, Deadshot, the Mad Hatter or Victor Zsasz.
While this large cast might mean a convoluted story in lots of other games, Arkham City carefully doses each villain, allowing some the overall role, like Dr. Strange who runs the prison facility, or The Joker, who once again has an overarching goal, while others are kept for some extremely interesting side missions, like Zsasz, who you need to track down by answering pay phones and then racing to other phones in the game's world (don't laugh at the concept).
Throughout the main story, which is as impressive, if not more so, than the one from Asylum, Batman also meets with characters like Catwoman, who you can play as, provided you have the special DLC, Robin, or Talia Al Ghul, while keeping in contact with Alfred or Oracle.
Talking about the story would spoil lots of things, so I'll just say that Batman winds up stuck in Arkham City and must figure out what Hugo Strange's master 'Protocol 10' plan is before it's too late. From then on, depending on how much time you spend engaging in side missions, stopping street crimes, collecting Riddler trophies or solving his challenges, you'll spend way more than 10 hours immersed in the experience. Luckily, you won't regret any of it.
Gameplay Arkham Asylum impressed through the careful translation of Batman's variety of powers, gadgets and tools from the comic books to gameplay elements, and Arkham City takes it even further, letting you keep most of the things you earned in Asylum and adding even more new toys and powers to your arsenal.
The same Freeflow combat system is used, this time with added layers of complexity, as both Batman and Catwoman can take down hordes of enemies using their fists, legs and many of their gadgets, from batarangs or exploding gel to whips and other such things. Combos can easily be stringed together, and variety is always rewarded with more XP points that allow you to level up and unlock even more powers.
Batman is still the same martial arts master we know from the first game, perhaps this time even more acrobatic, and you can easily grapple out of a fight in the open world and then swoop back in. Catwoman is more agile in combat, using all sorts of flamboyant moves that emphasize her style, but she's as deadly as Batman when push comes to shove, so to speak.
Enemies have more variety, ranging from classic thugs to ones armed with knives or swords, and even actual firearms that pose a real threat both to Batman and Catwoman. You can also find guys who wear armor or use shields to protect themselves from regular attacks. Opponents will also use objects around the environment, from fire extinguishers to chairs or dumpsters and, if you eliminate one of their weapon-wielding friends, they'll more than happily pick up their rifles or knives.
You can't just jump into fights recklessly, however, especially when some opponents will carry guns. As such, stealth skills are still as essential to overcoming enemies like in Asylum, with Batman using ledges to survey the scene, through his Detective mode, while Catwoman is able to walk on mesh roofs and use her Thief vision to better examine her opponents.
While combat is pretty much the same as in Asylum, albeit with some improvements, getting around Arkham City is a different thing altogether. Compared to the vast open world of the City, the Asylum seems quite cramped, and the new game also has vast interior levels, ranging from subway tunnels to many factories and buildings that need to be explored by the Dark Knight.
Thankfully, Batman gets quite a few new upgrades that help him get around Arkham City, including a special Batclaw one that allows him to keep on gliding without stopping on roofs or vantage points. Guiding Catwoman around is a bit more tricky, as she doesn't have Batman's cape, but her whip is quite adequate, as are her wall scaling abilities.
Arkham City isn't all about fighting and getting from A to B, however, as The Riddler also plays a pretty big role in the story, what with his trophies hidden all around Arkham City, or the challenges that range from pure observation tasks, like finding the hidden question marks in and around the world, to reaching certain physical goals, like using gadgets when fighting or exploring the world.
When completing the game on Normal or Hard, you unlock New Game + which allows you to experience the campaign again, only with all of your gadgets and upgrades, more difficult enemies and no counter prompts above their heads. This is definitely recommended for true Batman fans as you need to really rely on your senses and observation skills to win battles.
You also have Challenge Rooms that unlock as you progress through the story, with a dozen focusing on just brawling, while another dozen consist of Invisible Predator missions, each with three medals for reaching certain goals. You also have Riddler Campaigns, that chain up three regular challenges and apply modifiers like shorter time limit or lower health, that really pushes players to their limits.
There are a few disappointments with Arkham City, as sometimes the combat can glitch out, especially when you have two enemies coming at you and the counter move only triggers on one guy, leaving you vulnerable to the other. I often found myself just jumping over enemies and running from large groups instead of just punching it out with them.
The Catwoman DLC consists of four actual missions that serve to enrich the story and explain some of the things that happen when you're in control of Batman. It also adds special challenge maps for her as well as Riddler trophies that can be picked up only by her in the game's world. While it's not really worth $10, it's more than welcomed when buying the game new.
Visuals and Sound Batman: Arkham City is a great looking game, managing to recreate the dark and gritty look of Gotham and combine it with all sorts of more colorful things, especially when you visit The Joker's Steel Mill section. The action takes place at night, and the imposing architecture of the city looks even more menacing. Thankfully, most of the times you'll see just the roof tops, which are extremely varied.
Character models look great, enemies are pretty varied, and main characters like Batman, Catwoman or the villains are quite detailed. Bonus points goes to Batman's suit, which slowly degrades after multiple enemy and villain encounters. There are a few glitches and blurry textures, a trademark of the game's Unreal Engine, but most of the times you won't notice them, especially since the game flawlessly switches from normal to Detective or Thieft mode without any sort of problem.
Voice acting is once again top notch, as Rocksteady brought back distinguished voices actors like Kevin Conroy as Batman, or Mark Hamill as an excellent Joker, while adding new people like Corey Burton as Hugo Strange, Nolan North of Uncharted fame as The Penguin with a great British Cockney accent, Castle starlet Stana Katic as Talia al Ghul, or Tara Strong as Harley Quinn, taking over for Arleen Sorokin.
Conversations between henchmen are also very well done, managing to convey some great exposition in terms of their employes, from The Joker to The Penguin or Two-Face, while other times they're just funny, like when some bad guy wonders if they ever explained the island from the Lost TV series. Orchestral scores hit the right marks, but you'll often be caught in the heat of battle to notice any sort of sound being played.
Conclusion Batman: Arkham City has flaws, but it's a stunning game nonetheless. Its story is right up there with some of the best comic books featuring the Bat, gameplay can withstand any comparison to other franchises, and the amount of content fitted into Arkham City's open world is nothing short of staggering, considering just two years have been spent developing it.
It doesn't even matter if you're not a Batman fan, although it certainly helps, or if you didn't play Asylum, as there's a helpful little option to showcase what happened previously in the series, so you owe it to yourself to experience Batman: Arkham City.
The game is now available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, while the PC version is expected on November 15, in North America, and November 18, in Europe.
