Arkhum Asylum is undoubtedly the best game in Batman's franchise. It managed nail the combat, gadgets and detective skills that make Batman, Batman. It did this in a way that made all of its predecessors pale in comparison. The story was solid. The voice acting, well, how can you go wrong with Mark Hamill's Joker and Kevin Conory's Batman. The are those characters. When ever I see a drawn page with the Joker laughing, Its Hamill's voice I here. The story was solid and the visuals tight. They were not the best of this generation of consoles but good enough. But enough about Arkham Asylum. We all know it was a stand out game.
Arkham City, if you have played the first game, is basically more of the same. It has everything that made Asylum a spectacle to play. Solid visuals, sound, and game play. Again the story feels like its right off the pages of the comic book. Im not going to go into details here, but its a well told narrative. It does have its plot holes and gaps, though they are really not too noticeable. This game is all about MORE. More villains, more side quests, and more gadgets,well,sort of.
I really liked this game, but to me, it feels lacking to is predecessor. I cant explain why, it just does. Supposedly the game is much bigger then the first. I really, in retrospect, do not think it is. It looks bigger on the map but play it and its about equal to Asylum. Story mode is also kind of short. I thought the first one was short in terms of actually "story time", again, this is about equal. I figure about 8 to 10 hours of story gameplay. If your going for all the side quest and riddler challenges, I'm guessing 25 hours total. The voice acting, in certain places, sounds badly cut. You can actually tell the actors were not in the same room while doing their reading. Its a minor flaw, I know I'm nitpicking, but its really noticeable.
The Visuals are a little tighter then Asylum, but well all know for most of the game, were just going to leave detective mode on. This is something I really hoped they would address. It's a beautiful looking game but its just easier to play with DT mode on. It's really a shame to see all that hard work go to waste.
There are a lot "more" up-grades then in Asylum. They feel a little tacked on. Its your basic fare of bat gadgety and for once you have a wide assortment from the start. You basically start the game with everything you had when you finished the first one. I for one, cant stand when they take away your all your up grades from sequel to sequel. God Of War is the worst offender of this practice. This was a nice change of pace.
Now as for the other playable characters, well the one other playable character, Cat Woman. It's a nice change of pace. She is not just a skin on Batman's character model. She is a totally different creature. Moves are different, items are different even the way you control her is different. There is no "Bat rope gun" here, She pounces her way up structures with aid of her whip in much cooler fashion then Bats. She too has her version of detective mode, called thief vision. its the same thing but with different visuals. She is a blast to play as, but again, her actual play time is short. Seriously, maybe 40 minutes of in-story play. She is also fully upgradeable but I don't see the need. Why waste upgrade points on her when the play time is so short. Another miss-step in my opinion.
There is a lot going on this time around other then the main story. There's plenty to do. From Riddler puzzles and challenges ala the last game. To new side quests, which include tracking down Zsasz via random pay-phone calls. Tracking down Dead-Shot with your detective skills to stop his hit spree. To your basic stop the assault of innocent political prisoners. These are totally optional side quests and add a significant time extension to the game play. Riddler puzzles are a lot more complicated this time around. I found my self not really caring about them.
The challenge maps are a fun time waster. Again same as before, bunch of guys in a room, beat them up or bunch of guys in a bigger room who are armed to the teeth take them down in predator mode. I did not have the option to play as the Boy Wonder as I detest GameStop, but if its cheap enough ill give him a go.
All in all Arkham City is a great game. While it doesn't much improve on the original and actually in many ways lacks its originality, I would recommend picking it up. If they make another I would love to see some more playable characters as well as some Batmobile stages. Heres to hoping!!
RATING 8 OF 10
Rating of Arkham Asylum 9 of 10