Batman: Arkham City (PS3)

What recent years have done to the once-shameful Batman video game franchise is mind-blowing. Not just because you finally feel like Batman, and not only because this franchise came from a developer whose resume consisted of an average shooter from 2006. What makes this game special is that developer Rocksteady had all of this planned from the beginning. As you stand atop one of Arkham City‘s many towering structures, listening to the rich dialogue and taking in the rich scenery, feeling the same sense of amazement that you felt in Batman: Arkham Asylum, you start to wonder if it can be topped. Then you remember Arkham Asylum’s secret room, and realize that bigger plans may be in store for the Dark Knight’s gaming future. This is an incredible sequel, but it takes more than foresight to create a great follow-up. Great presentation, for instance.

Two-Face actually proves to be an amiable enemy.

Batman: Arkham Asylum received a lot of comparisons to Bioshock, and the connections were fairly obvious. They both were set in a beautiful, but decrepit, art deco world warped by the madness around it. Arkham City, by comparison, feels like an abandoned, dangerous, husk of an already crime-ridden world. That sounds like a negative, but here, it feels right. More importantly, it feels Batman, a feeling compounded by the same attention to detail that made the Asylum such a joy to explore. Two-Face posters cover the area under his control, Poison Ivy’s hideout can be spotted from anywhere, her vines winding and twisting around the walls, and the Batsignal can even be seen from the flooded GCPD building. As you swoop above the city, your suit patches into the radio signals from the rival factions and the new Arkham security, Warden Hugo Strange’s handpicked TYGER Guards. It’s all very surreal, but it helps establish the sense that this is a world populated by real people, all of whom are concerned with nothing but their own survival.

The voice-overs for the normal thugs are great, but almost every major villain not included in the original makes an appearance in this sequel, with a few major (and minor) characters returning. Mark Hamill once again voices the Joker, and, in what is perhaps his last role as the Joker, he shines brighter than he ever has. Opposite the infamous clown is Kevin Conroy as Batman, a role he has absolutely mastered as well. If there’s one negative to say about the entire voice cast, one could argue that Tara Strong’s take on Harley is a bit too squeaky, but even that is nitpicking what is one of the most solid voice casts ever pulled together, video game or not.

"Are these too tight on me?"

The gameplay is based off of the same model as Arkham Asylum’s, but Rocksteady has given Batman plenty of new ways to dispatch with the hordes of baddies you’ll face during your stay in the super prison. Now Batman can counter up to three enemies at once in a normal fight, you can catch projectiles and send them right back to the source, not to mention smoke pellets, a new batarang, and nearly every major gadget is hotkeyed to specific functions on the controller. Nearly everything is fine-tuned, tweaked, or maybe just given purpose to in Batman: Arkham City. The only complaint I have in the gameplay department is the pacing. The original Batman: Arkham Asylum was designed as the longest night of Batman’s life, and at times it felt exhausting. The circumstances are much direr here, but I never felt “worn out” like I did in the first one. Exploring the sewers under Arkham Asylum required you to improvise several times, but this time Batman almost always has a gadget for any specific problem. The few times that I felt like I was coming up with the solution myself ended far too soon, but again, that’s nitpicking, and the New Game Plus mode completely wipes away any feeling of the player just being in control of Batman’s hands rather than having to “use their wits.”

A true sequel should reward the audience for experiencing the original while still finding ways to make itself good for anyone who should take the task of, in this case, donning the cape and cowl. What Rocksteady has been able to do with this franchise is truly remarkable. They have not only been able to prove themselves, but also Batman, in the realm of video games. Not just a great game, not just a Game of the Year contender, and not only a fantastic Batman story, but Batman: Arkham City is one the absolute best games I’ve played this generation and a must-play for Batfans and gamers alike.

The PC Difference: As you all know, the PC version of this game has been pushed back several times already, and it is ready to release November 22. The core game is already worth the wait, but having to sit out for over a month while console gamers get to run around the internet spoiling the great story and boasting about how great it is can be heart-breaking. The good news is that the PC version will look and run even better, with a few more effects adding to the already incredible atmosphere. Dust flies, fog shifts realistically, and one particular weapon looks less like a Super Soaker and more like a freeze ray. This video shows some of the differences. (For clarification, I played the Playstation 3 build of the game and experiences a few bugs, including two crashes. They were both unfortunate, but absent from any subsequent playthroughs.)