Batman: Arkham City. Let me start by saying that the
precursor to Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Asylum, is one of the best
games I’ve ever played. And I’ve played a lot of games.
So, when the sequel was announced, I was both excited and worried.
How could developer Rocksteady top what they’ve already created? Well,
in some ways they have, but a lot has been sacrificed.
Here’s the basics. You play as millionaire Bruce
Wayne. In the previous game, you helped to contain various villains that
were trying to escape from the insane asylum in Gotham City (called
Arkham Asylum). Well, things have gone south. A section of Gotham City
has been walled off and used as a holding place for both the mentally
deranged and the criminally dangerous. My first big question is
WHY?
We are thrown into the game with very little information about why they
would create this. Let’s just let the world’s most dangerous people
hang out and come up with diabolical plans. To top it off, acclaimed
supervillain Hugo Strange has been put in charge.
WHAT? It doesn’t make sense but let’s roll with it.
Bruce Wayne comes out and says “This is a horrible idea!” but is
promptly arrested and thrown into “Arkham City” by Hugo Strange. He
manages to get his Batman gear sent to him and then begins working on
cleaning up the city and containing all of these villains.
So what works?
In terms of gameplay, Arkham City is a great game. The combat is fast
and fluid and it’s easy to manage a battle against 20 thugs. You truly
feel like Batman. When you’re able to escape to the shadows, you’re also
given a huge array of weapons and gadgets you can use both in and out
of battle. These options give you a thousand different ways to handle
stealth missions. You’re faced with a room of 10 thugs with machine
guns. If they spot you, you’re swiss cheese. Maybe you decide to dive
down from overhead. Maybe you decide to crawl under them through the
grates. Maybe you decide to throw out a decoy, wait for everyone to
gather around it, and then swoop in. You can use freeze bombs to
incapacitate, your batclaw to rip their weapons from their hands, and a
remote controlled baterang to knock them unconscious. Each new room is a
whole new set of choices and it’s absolutely thrilling.
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