by Batman: Arkham Asylum, released on Mac last year, pushed superhero games in directions that nobody really expected but everyone wanted (and almost immediately began to copy). Its rhythmic fights were immediately satisfying and endlessly fun. Its wonderfully creepy, secret-filled world was a joy to explore. And its atmospheric detective puzzles and stealth challenges explored a side of Batman that seldom came through in games. So how does Batman: Arkham City top that formula? By giving us much, much more of it.
In place of the creepy asylum, we have Arkham City, a sprawling open-world slum-turned-prison colony that’s become an unhappy home to all of Gotham’s most vicious criminals. A dark jumble of candy-colored neon and crumbling Art Deco architecture, Arkham is enormous, offering up endless opportunities to scale its tall buildings (with Batman’s grappling hook), glide high above its streets on the Dark Knight’s high-tech cape, or dive down into its alleys to brawl with roving gangs of thugs. It’s also crammed with enough compelling (and surprisingly elaborate) scavenger hunts and side-quests to keep dedicated players active for days after the story wraps up.
As fun as Arkham is to explore, it’s the building interiors that offer up the game’s most memorable moments. Instead of a few notable villains, Arkham sets twisted nightmare versions of most of Batman’s rogue’s gallery breathing down our necks. The Joker, Bane, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Harley Quinn, and Ra’s Al Ghul are just a few of the antagonists you’ll encounter, and each one has a separate story arc and a distinctive, hazard-filled lair. Getting through these requires a mix of puzzle-solving and fighting, with the latter improving on Asylum’s near-perfect system of martial-arts beatdowns and carefully timed counters. And if you’re feeling devious, there are plenty of opportunities to mess with each villain’s attendant thugs by hiding in the shadows and knocking them out, one by one, as the “survivors” grow increasingly (and visibly) terrified.
While adopting a “throw in more stuff” approach can sometimes lead to confused, obligatory-feeling sequels, in Arkham City it works beautifully. The story, action, and exploration all come together to create something that stays interesting throughout, and because this is the Game of the Year edition, it’s all supplemented with even more content. All of Catwoman’s story missions, every
