Review: Batman: Arkham City

Developer(s)                 Rocksteady Studios

Publisher(s)                 Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Platform(s)                   PlayStation 3,Microsoft Windows, Wii U,Xbox 360

Release date                 PS3 & Xbox 360 (Oct. 2011) PC (Nov. 2011) & Wii U (2012)

Genre(s)                       Action-adventure, beat 'em up, stealth

Mode(s)                        Single-player

Rating(s)                      ESRB: T PEGI: 16

It took me a couple of weeks and experinces just to produce the thought of reviewing this game and get it posted. In all honesty I’m actually terrified to post this review but WTH I’ll just get over it & be done.

A year has passed since the incident in Arkham Asylum and now the prison has been moved within the city of Gotham. Gathring the criminals and put them all in a huge prison called Arkham City controlled by Hugo Strange and his troops of mercinaries. Before the game was released, I have thought and speculated many times & yet I never guessed the exact plot. When I thought that things got complicated from the looks of the trailers well it gets worse once I started it even at few minutes in. And yet the dark knight’s adventrue begins as he unfolds and show you the darkness of that world.

                                                                 When i first saw this i felt i was lost because it's huge!

Presentation:

My appreciation kicked in at the game menu, the music in the background & its visuals were impressive enough to get me in the mood to start it. In game, there are tons to appreciate about the dark corners. When I first checked the map I was left with astonishment and asked myself on how will I proceed and what should I do first (actually it was like “WTH is this!? Now I feel so small” but in a good way.). There were like 400 Riddler trophies scattered in the area and that alone left me scratch headed.

                                             Yeah sure, just glide your way though, it feels better 

Graphics:

Just like the previous title, it’s well appreciated from little things like ripped off bat suit after taking amount of damage from enemies all the way to wall marks when deactivating the Detective Mode (I usually put on detective vision but without it showed me wonders of my surroundings). Each territory and area handled by certain villain and at some area will also give trivia from a certain character from the series. Fans of the Batman world will stop in a corner for a moment and figure out the surroundings for clues and what references that may might find in every corner & that alone wows me.

                                            Detective mode, that's always on when i play at most

Gameplay:

I will have to describe the game in three things. First Action Adventure: where you’re given several missions to explore and discover the main plot of the game by using your starting gadgets and unlocking more to get better grip and effects plus getting more gadgets too. Second is Beat’em up, when engaging a fight, the mode will automatically shifts itself with commands to take down certain enemies, this time there are more combos to execute and most of them are pretty cool in which defines Batman a master in close counter combats. And third is Stealth, whereas you as the hunter and they’re the hunted. A feel of Tenchu and Metal Gear style though with his own awesome tool that helps him to perform awesome stealth takedowns at your disposal and given areas that will help you improvise based on your creativity. Aside from playing as the Detective, you will also play as Catwoman, Robin & Nightwing (as DLCs) with their own cool perspectives. Overall the gameplay is fairly as solid as from Arkham Asylum but with additional gadgets & characters to control.

                                                One of Catwoman's naughty take downs 

Audio:

Props to all who voice acted but I personally give a bit more to Mark Hamill who is back as Joker and to me he alone stole the show in terms of voice acting & to me, that alone is epic. I’m actually an OST junky so like when engaging enemies, the background music can transcend when action intensifies itself and they sounded awesome.

                                                I so want the animated costume so baaaaad 

Overall:

Batman Arkham City is bigger in terms of exploration, customization and discoveries; a lot more to the gadgets and things to do. So far, it’s been nothing short but epic journey in the world of Arkham City and with so many surprises. Some friends asks me how good is the game and I usually reply them that there’s too many good things in the game to mention but giving them away means a spoiler by itself; it has surpassed my expectations so I’ll leave it to that. I would say that it’s for those who are interested to find out so that I would not spoil anything especially my co fans of the hero. However, for new comers, if you have some extra cash I suggest to play the previous one if you want to get more juice from the storyline.

Score             10

Pro(s)

Bigger world

More gadgets

So many surprises along the way

Great plot

Creative stealth kills at its best

Con(s)

So many Riddler trophies to look for

Minor camera angle issues