Batman: Arkham City review

We’ve tried to describe as much of Batman: Arkham City’s awesomeness in this review as possible, but there’s so little space and so much more to admire. The epic, soaring music. The arguably greatest graphics of the year. The predictably stellar voice acting, but with a particularly perverse performance by Mark Hamill as the Joker and especially enjoyable take by Nolan North on the Penguin. The menus filled with bonus short stories that address any questions you might have assumed were left unanswered. The Riddler’s Revenge mode that challenges you to clear a room of enemies using specific equipment or strategy. The clever little choices, like having the Bat signal be your custom waypoint marker. Even the bosses are cool this time.

The worst part of Arkham City, then, is wondering and worrying - once more - what Rocksteady can possibly do to top it for a third game. We can’t wait to find out.

Is it better than…

Batman: Arkham Asylum? Yes. Yes. Yes. Anything and everything you loved about Arkham Asylum has been preserved, then improved beyond your wildest imagination, for the sequel. What seemed like a revelation in 2009 now seems like practice in comparison. We just pray Rocksteady can make this giant a leap for the third entry. Batman: Gotham City, please?

For those who skipped straight to the end

Batman: Arkham Asylum was the greatest superhero game of all time. The sequel, Batman: Arkham City, is five times bigger and about a billion times better. You do the math.

Oct 14, 2011