Review of Batman: Arkham City

I enjoyed the sequel to the great Batman game Arkham Asylum. I will say I prefer Asylum to this one a bit, but that is mainly due to a couple of factors I will go into later. It is not to far behind as I gave that one and this one both tens. This one has a part of Gotham City being blocked off from the rest of the city and being essentially a holding area for many of Gotham's more undesirable citizens i.e. the criminals. Hugo Strange is behind this insane effort and Bruce Wayne becomes one of the latest inmates. Well Penguin gets his hands on Bruce, but Bruce proves to be a much more physical and tough rich boy than the Penguin was expecting and Wayne soon finds his way to a rooftop where he is sent his bat suit and he now stands as Batman over the bleak city. He must traverse this city full of his most deadly foes such as Two-Face, Penguin, Mr. Freeze and of course the Joker. He must find out what Hugo Strange is planning as he most certainly has an agenda, however things become complicated when Batman's greatest nemesis injects Batman with his own blood because the Joker has contracted something thanks to the Titan formula he used in the previous game. So Batman must find a cure for himself while trying to figure out Strange's plan. The game plays a lot like the first game as the fighting and such is nearly identical. It just occurs over a much greater area this time. The story is top notch and once again Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker are great. It amazes me how well both do with their characters. The main problems I have with this one is the Riddler puzzles are very tough in this one, whereas in the previous game I found all but five without any assistance here I was just to overwhelmed with the amount of riddles laid out before me. Also, the difficulty was very high in this one once the sniper rifles came into play. Trying to get into the theater was an incredible nightmare, I had less trouble with the final foe. Finally, I was expecting to be able to play the game as Catwoman, however, you apparently have to be online to download her and her stories which means to bad for those of us who do not have an internet connection. The boss battles are improved though and overall the game was grand fun with a strangely somber ending, one thinks to themselves that what happens should not be sad, but one still feels a bit bad. At least I did. Here is hoping for a part three that incorporates all of Gotham and lets you drive the Batmobile.