Batman Arkham City PS3 Review

It is a rare time when I can say that a video game about Batman can tell a story better than the Christopher Nolan directed movies of the Dark Knight, but Batman Arkham City does just that and more. Batman Arkham City takes place after the event of Arkham Asylum, with the asylum being shut down and patients/prisoners being taken to the Arkham City prison facility. Hugo Strange is in charge of the facility and has a plan called Protocol 10 that he will enact soon to change the face of Gotham forever. Bruce Wayne begins lobbying to close the facility down because of the perceived dangers and launches a media event outside the prison to voice his concerns to the public. Bruce Wayne is subsequently kidnapped by Hugo Strange’s thugs and thrown into the prison population. Strange knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman and threatens to reveal him to the world if he interferes. The adventure takes off from there with players interacting with various common foes of Batman lore such as the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, Joker, Harley Quinn, and others.

The game plays almost identical to the previous game but fortunately tones down the detective mode of the first game that washed the scenery in blue and prevented the player from enjoying the gritty scenery. Now the player can enjoy all of the splendor of the Arkham City prison and free roam almost everywhere. There are a few new gadgets for Batman to utilize this time around like the Freeze Blast that allows Batman to temporarily freeze enemies and traverse certain liquid areas. There is also a Line Launcher that allows Batman to travel horizontally across areas and a Remote Batarang which leads to two annoying mini-missions of directing the Batarang to a switch. There are quite a few other gadgets as well, but these are the most memorable ones.

The campaign is about 8 hours long if the player just sticks to the story, but honestly there are so many side missions the player can engage in to open up more backstory and explore more of Arkham City. For players who purchase the game new, there is a downloadable Catwoman DLC that opens up a few missions for her as a playable character. Player who buy the game used can purchase the DLC on the Xbox Live and Playstation Store markets. It is not necessary to play the Catwoman DLC to complete the story, nor does it affect the storyline. Catwoman is dynamically different from Batman. She uses a whip and her claws to climb from building to building, is more acrobatic in her combat combos and is overall weaker when it comes to taking damage from physical hits and bullets. Catwoman has three missions that mostly require stealth to complete successfully versus Batman can use brute force to win almost any conflict. Thegame also has optional challenges for the player to take on based on certain areas and gadgets in the game.

The ending to Batman Arkham City is the best Batman ending to any game or movie based on the character and I highly recommend gamers to purchase this game. This game is perfect in every way and deserves praise for what most sandbox games fail to deliver on; solid gameplay and phenomenal storyline. The game is a definite purchase for the mutlitude of hours of gameplay beyond the main campaign and one of the best stories ever told through a game.