"If you liked X, you'll love Y!" it may be the cheapest critical praise, but sometimes it's good for nothing else. So here we go: if you likedBatman in Arkham Asylum, you'll love Batman: Arkham City ($49.99 for PC; $59.99 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), mostly because developer Rocksteady Studios and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment leave no choice. Borrowing everything that wasn't set from its 2009 blockbuster predecessor and ripping out pretty much everything that was, Arkham City offers plenty of action, excitement, and (literally) high-flying thrills, but little of the invention that made Arkham Asylum so famous. . so prominent. This makes the new derivative of the game almost to the point of being distracting, but it's still loaded enough with rocket-powered fun that it still stands out as one of the best.best pc gamesyou can play.
Out of the asylum and into the city
At least the game's creators aren't downplaying the relationship between the first game and this one; the two arguably take place in the same universe, essentially unaffected by the recent complete reboot of DC Comics' catalog of properties. (Barbara Gordon is still Oracle and doesn't go back to being Batgirl, for example.) They also take place within a reasonable time frame of one another: Arkham City is set roughly a year after Arkham Asylum has been wiped clean by The Caped Crusader.
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Now, the brilliant psychologist Hugo Strange has convinced former Asylum Director (and now Gotham City Mayor) Quincy Sharp to cordon off Gotham's slums and populate the area with former Asylum inmates and Blackgate Penitentiary inmates, all under the Strange's direct and dictatorial control. 🇧🇷 But after master criminals, petty thugs, and maybe a few people that Strange just wants out of the way are loaded into what's called Arkham City, Gotham decides it isn't too confident in the idea and starts to riot. One of the movement's most powerful voices is Bruce Wayne, who holds a press conference denouncing the Arkham City effort, after which he himself is captured and thrown there.
Where Wayne goes, Batman follows, and it's not long before the world's greatest detective tries to clean up the area from the inside and realizes that things are not what they seem. Neither Sharp nor Strange, for example, may be operating entirely of their own free will, and the Joker is suffering from a strange illness that could endanger the citizens of Gotham if a cure isn't found in time. And what do you know, Batman himself is now suffering from many of the same symptoms...
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Arkham City is a city of action
Arkham City is a city of action
The nice thing about basing, well, all of Arkham City's mechanics on those introduced in Arkham Asylum is that the previous game pretty much nailed them all. You're really immersed in the life of a superhero scientist, and having access to all of Batman's analytical gear, gadgets and pugilistic knowledge means you always have plenty to do and interesting ways to do it.
The combat retains both aspects of its suspenseful, visceral charm. The first is when you take on random prisoners using only your fists - Batman has a wide range of attacks and tactics at his disposal (some of which are unlocked as the game progresses), and you can increase your combo score using them. equally clever counterattacks in an unbroken sequence. There's nothing quite like taking down a dozen bad guys, some of whom are wielding stun batons or full body shields, in just a few moments. Second are the room-based battles, where you try to eliminate a select number of invaders as quickly and quietly as possible. Just like in Arkham Asylum, you can drop down from a hidden position, silently knock someone out, and then climb back up onto the roof before anyone even knows you were there. This type of encounter is the most distinctive and best utilizes most aspects of the Batman character.
If there's a flaw with the fight, it's that most boss battles are uninspired and simplistic, often requiring you to just identify your enemy's glaring weakness and then mercilessly exploit it. Many of the larger group battles need (or at least benefit from) more careful and in-depth planning, and therefore feel more rewarding as a result.
There's a lot more to the game than just combat. Find a bullet hole or a trail of blood at the crime scene and you can use detective mode to trace it back to its source. Discover a computerized locking mechanism and access it with your cryptographic sequencer. Draw your batarang for a quick attack on a distant target, or your bat claw to knock over a railing, or get close to the opposite wall when floating on a raft. Or, most fun of all, jump off the top of a tall building and glide for a few minutes, your cape billowing behind you as you soar silently.
Along the way through it all are the Riddler's trophies and challenges, which have dramatically increased in number (to over 400) and complexity since Arkham Asylum. Many of these unlock a dizzying amount of new content in the form of new characters and location art, single player survival and ranked competitive modes, and even more ways to expand the gameplay beyond the 15+ hours the main story demands. The Riddler even has a subplot of its own elaborate enough to be its own game: many of the other side quests, such as tracking down ringing phones, street heists, or tracking down a mysterious watcher in remote locations, are less complicated and therefore less implicated.
Enter the cat (woman)
However, you're not limited to playing as Batman this time around. In what is by far the biggest departure from Arkham Asylum, buyers of new (i.e. unused) copies of the game can step into the high heels of Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, at several points. during the main campaign. While all of Batman's controls work with her, many of her moves are a little different. For example, instead of fighting his way to the roof of a building, he will run to the side and then jump onto the wall; and of course he can't fly. Their combat moves also differ, though they're so similar that you won't have any real trouble picking them up.
Granted, playing Catwoman is a fun diversion, and she has her own picks of Riddler upgrades and trophies, but it feels a bit gratuitous. Aside from the problems of his skintight leather jumpsuit (with a permanently half-mast front zipper) and hypersexualized combat moves, it adds little to the story. He appears in just a handful of scenes, most of them peripherally related to Batman's shenanigans, and none of them particularly absorbing. While it's a nice change of pace, Catwoman just injects momentarily varied life into the gameplay experience.
Holy unbelief, Batman!
Holy unbelief, Batman!
Catwoman's contributions may not be necessary if Arkham City generates more unique power on its own. For all the good qualities of this sequel, almost everything about its main story mode suggests that the developers didn't want to risk messing with a good thing. So basically they haven't messed with it, developed it, expanded it or improved it. But since the two games are conceptually different, repeating some key choices doesn't lead to uniformly great results.
First is the plot. While the specific details of Arkham City's genesis are eventually explained, and lamely, its existence in the game is something of a scratch. It occupies a large portion of Gotham's waterfront and contains (among other buildings) a church, a courthouse, a museum, a steel mill, an amusement park, even the former Gotham City Police Department building, as well as a number enough . tall skyscrapers that light up to suggest they are not completely abandoned. It's hard not to wonder why all of this was expendable enough to break Arkham City's boundaries.
Then there's the issue of structure versus villains. As was the case with Arkham Asylum, just about everyone you can imagine is here: Joining Strange and The Joker are Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Bane, Calendar Man, Clayface, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Mad Hatter , Solomon Grundy. , Victor Zsasz... and even more. But unlike Arkham Asylum, which made (slightly) stronger attempts at cohesion, most of the bad guys here appear as random, sometimes just to echo something in the previous game. (A mind-blowing confrontation with Ra's al Ghul, for example, looks identical to Scarecrow's mind-bending scenes in Arkham City.)
Sometimes that randomness strains the believability way past the breaking point, and this is the story of a multi-million dollar play who dons a bat costume and chases a guy in clown makeup. Where does Two-Face get the pit of acid that Catwoman hangovers from, or the Penguin, the giant shark he lets loose in the flooded museum? You shouldn't ask. (Arkham Asylum's improvised inmate dynamic left out many of these types of questions; this more sensible, watered-down version doesn't.) They're at each other's throats, then they're friends again, all in the span of two minutes. The characters behave in the way, coherent or not, that they need to at the moment.
Conclusion: same bat-tempo, same bat-channel
Conclusion: same bat-tempo, same bat-channel
Given the incredible amount of detail that went into both games, things like this are frustrating, but far from a problem. Rocksteady has gotten so much into Arkham City that you have to be in awe (if not occasionally overwhelmed) by it all. It offers a larger play area with a much more open feel than Arkham Asylum, though it's not quite as gritty asThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim🇧🇷 Much of its voice acting is excellent, with the likes of Kevin Conroy (Batman), Mark Hamill (The Joker) and others delivering comic book-ready bravura performances. And, as noted, it delivers everything that made its predecessor good.
After all, it's impossible not to have fun when you're jumping from rooftop to rooftop, bombing a tough street, or reducing dozens of the Joker's henchmen to piles of unconscious bodies. But Batman: Arkham City would have been an even better game if that inspiration had been present in every element of it, and less inclined to stop whenever it became marginally inconvenient or threatened to deviate a few millimeters from previously established restrictions. The many unquestionably good things about Arkham City make its shortcomings that much more apparent, though the sequel isn't advanced enough to kill (or even come close to killing) such a professional, polished, and thought-provoking game.
Batman's Arkham City
4.0
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See $16.95 at Walmart (Opens in new window)MSRP $ 49,99
advantage
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Thrilling crime solving and fight sequences.
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Excellent voice acting.
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Huge amounts of unlockable content.
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The ability to play as Catwoman puts a fun new twist on the game.
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Contras
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It borrows voraciously from the previous game.
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Some aspects of the story and gameplay stretch the suspension of disbelief too far.
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Boss battles are very easy.
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Many side quests do not compare favorably with the main gameplay.
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the bottom line
Batman: Arkham City never improves on the qualities that made Batman: Arkham Asylum great, but its richly varied gameplay and near-flawless fit and finish make it one of the most enjoyable games of 2011.
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FAQs
How do you answer the riddles in Arkham City? ›
Use the Cryptographic Sequencer in the Processing Center to get into a room where you can align the question mark that is partially on the window in Detective Mode. Scanning the question mark will solve the riddle.
Is Harley pregnant in Arkham City? ›During the video game Batman: Arkham City, a positive pregnancy test can be found inside the Sionis Steel Mill, where the Joker and Harley are living. The implication seemed to be that Harley Quinn was pregnant.
Why is Batman: Arkham City so good? ›City did well to craft an open-world well beyond what Asylum has in scope. More importantly, the sandbox wasn't barren, with gangs of thugs, Riddler trophies/riddles, side missions along with the main story packing Arkham City with fun, engaging, and satisfying content throughout.
Can a 11 year old play Batman: Arkham City? ›Great game
Batman Arkham city is the second instalment of the Batman Arkham series. It is a perfect gift for those 13 and up to play and has some very cool features such as detective mode and the boss fights.
Yeah, to unlock the full Knight Fall Protocol, you need to collect all the Riddler Trophies and then defeat the Riddler. Suck it up, Arkham City had over 400.
Do you need to break all breakable objects to fight Riddler? ›Note that you will have to find and destroy every object in Gotham to complete the Riddler's Revenge Side Quest in Gotham's Most Wanted, in order to find and capture the Riddler.
Why is Mr Freeze in Arkham? ›Though Boyle was eventually arrested and Nora was saved by Batman, Freeze regarded the hero as an adversary for stopping his revenge against Boyle and sending him to Arkham Island.
Who is Batman's girlfriend in Arkham City? ›Talia to Batman. The headstrong daughter of Rā's al Ghūl and on-again/off-again lover of Bruce Wayne, Talia al Ghūl was the second-in-command of the League of Assassins, who appeared as a supporting character in Batman: Arkham City and was mentioned in Batman: Arkham Knight and the Arkham Knight DLC Shadow War.
Is Batman: Arkham City better than Origins? ›...
Grade: C+
Arkham City is generally considered to be the best game of the series (with Arkham Asylum a close second), but both games are over ten years old and might not meet the visual expectations of someone who is used to modern AAA graphics.
Which one is better Arkham City or knight? ›
This is an incredibly subjective question. Personally, I think Arkham City was the superior game, but probably because I put so much stock into the story of a game instead of the gameplay. From a gameplay perspective, Arkham Knight was superior. Larger city, a surprisingly fun Batmobile, engaging boss fights, etc.
Is the Batman OK for a 5 year old? ›What is The Batman Rated? The Batman is rated PG-13, which means that some material is not suitable for children under the age of 13. For example, movies rated PG-13 might contain violence, nudity, sensuality, and/or brief language. Here, the movie contains some sexual content, language, and violence.
What is the age limit for Joker? ›Is it for kids? No. The MPAA rated “Joker” R for “strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual image,” and that makes it a “hard R.” The violence is extremely graphic, and an air of anger and isolation swirls around the film.
Is Batman Arkham Knight too violent? ›The game has intense violence all throughout. This includes torture, fistfighting and gun violence. However none of it is graphic and not any worse than in the Batman movies. In the book based off the game, it mentions blood sprays, broken bones and cartilages.
How many riddles do I have to solve to fight the Riddler? ›Having a Batman: Arkham Knight Riddler guide to hand is essential if you want to 100% complete the game, because there's a whopping 243 Riddler puzzles to solve and that's a massive challenge to take on solo.
How many trophies does it take to fight Riddler? ›1 in Arkham Origins. 240 in Arkham Asylum. 400 or 440 (with Catwoman DLC) in Arkham City. 243 in Arkham Knight.
Which is the most fragile item? ›Glass. Of course, glass needs to be number one on the list for the most breakable items. Whether it's the glass of a mirror, the glass of a window or simply a glass you use to drink, the fine nature of the material means that it breaks incredibly easy.
What gadget do I need for Riddler? ›For this final exam, you will need one specific gadget - the Remote Electrical Charge Gun. If you haven't already been directed to get it during the Main Story, you can find it at any time just by heading to the GCPD's Evidence Locker and finding it in a glass case - and break it to take it.
How do you stop Riddler bomb rioter? ›Bomb Rioters are unique thugs found among swarms of other looters who unknowingly have a bomb implanted in their brains by Riddler. Only by discretely locating them and defusing them with an electrical charge can Batman save them.
Who is Nightwing's true love? ›Dick Grayson
Who did Catwoman have a child with? ›
In the Post-Flashpoint Earth 2 continuity, Helena Wayne was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman (Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle Wayne). She was also the only Robin to her father's Batman identity and a more ruthless character than previously seen.
Why is Tim Bald in Arkham Knight? ›According to Kan Muftic, their design of Tim Drake for Arkham City, particularly his shaved head, was derived from cage-fighters due to their envisioning him as being one on his spare time. When lying to Tim, Alfred warned that if Robin found out, he would lose him.
Why does Mr. Freeze wear a suit? ›Victor Fries, a German-born cryogenics expert in Gotham City who was caught in a laboratory mishap whilst attempting to cure his terminally ill wife, Nora. The accident drastically lowered his body temperature to sub-zero levels, forcing him to wear a cryogenic suit in order to survive.
Why did penguin kidnap Mr. Freeze? ›As part of the gang war, Penguin wanted to hurt the clown. He stripped Freeze of his suit and weapons. Freeze and his suit were displayed separately in Penguin's War Room and the Armory respectively. Penguin also stole Freeze's Freeze Gun for his own amusement and to torture undercover cops sent by Commissioner Gordon.
What race is Talia al Ghul? ›Though the exact ethnic origins of Ra's al Ghul are debatable, his origin story, Birth of the Demon, identifies Talia's mother as Arabic and Chinese (O'Neil and Breyfogle 1992, 92).
Does Selina marry Batman? ›However, love does indeed conquer all and in Batman/Catwoman #12, written by Tom King, illustrated by Clay Mann, colored by Tomeu Morey, and lettered by Clayton Cowles, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle finally exchange vows to become husband and wife.
Is Arkham Knight a female? ›The Arkham Knight is eventually revealed to be Astrid Arkham, the daughter of doctors Jeremiah Arkham, the nephew of the asylum's founder Amadeus Arkham; and Ingrid Karlsson, a kind-hearted woman well liked by even the most dangerous patients.
What's better Arkham City or Asylum? ›For story, characterization, and atmosphere - Arkham Asylum easily surpasses Arkham City. The characters were more interesting and the story engages with them more than we see in Arkham City. The various villains you encounter generally have a purpose. They are each doing something.
Is Arkham City one of the best games? ›'Arkham City' Is Still One Of The Best Batman Stories Ever Told. Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros. In 2011, Rocksteady Games released Batman: Arkham City and redefined what a superhero video game could be. Arkham Asylum has laid the groundwork just a few years before, of course.
Is Arkham City the best Batman game? ›It provides an authentic experience with all the elements of The Dark Knight, including detective work, the usage of gadgetry, gliding, and iconic villains. The Batman: Arkham series meets all of these expectations, which is why they are considered the best Batman games.
What is the darkest Batman game? ›
Arkham Knight is the darkest Batman game ever, says developer.
Which Arkham game made the most money? ›From what can be gathered, Knight and Origins sold around 7 million copies each. Asylum sold around 9.5 million, and City sold at least 12.5 million.
Is Arkham City a long game? ›The game has approximately 40 hours of gameplay, with the main campaign lasting 25 hours and side missions lasting 15 hours. The side missions, which can be attempted at any time, feature prominent characters from the Batman universe. One such character, the Riddler, provides 440 optional "Riddler challenges" to solve.
Is Arkham Knight bigger than city? ›Batman Arkham Knight set one year later, 'five times larger' than Arkham City. The recently-revealed final game from Rocksteady in the Arkham series, Batman Arkham Knight, will feature "traffic-friendly streets" in a map that's said to be "roughly five times the size" of Batman Arkham City.
How old is Jason Todd in Arkham Knight? ›Evidence to support the theory includes Tim's job as a teacher between Arkham City and Arkham Knight and Jason's age being approximately 16/17 when he went missing, a year or two before Arkham Asylum.
Is Arkham bigger than Gotham? ›Why Batman: Arkham Knight's Gotham is 5 Times Larger Than Arkham City.
How gory is The Batman? ›The Batman is rated PG-13 for violence and disturbing content, but it's fairly light on gore. There is little, if any, blood to be found throughout the film, save for a couple of instances of dried blood at a crime scene or on someone's face.
Is Joker ok for 11 year olds? ›First off let me start by saying, yes this is a very dark, violent, and intense movie and I would NOT recommend it for a child.
How old is batgirl? ›In Batman Beyond Unlimited #18 (set in the continuity of the animated series Batman Beyond), the new Batgirl is a 15-year-old girl named Nissa.
Does Joker have low IQ? ›Joker IQ is estimated to be around 160 IQ, which is not really surprising. Meanwhile Batman's IQ is around 192. The Joker is, in fact, more twisted than intelligent. Joker has chosen to use his intelligence in a different way than his archenemy Batman, who uses it to strengthen his arsenal and improve Gotham.
What mental illness does the Joker have? ›
Antisocial personality disorder
At the same time, as I have stated, Arthur has the symptoms of psychopathy. Although psychopathy is not among the ten official personality disorders listed in DSM-5, it is well recognised as a variant of antisocial personality disorder (301.7, according to DSM-5).
The film's violence isn't as intense or graphic as it is shocking. The film contains a few shootings and stabbings with brief injury detail. While it's not excessively bloody or gory, it's in your face when it happens and mostly used for impact. The violence is realistic and quite strong, but it isn't very detailed.
What scares Batman the most? ›Wayne's phobia of bats is the most apparent. It stems from his childhood incident of falling down a well with bats flying up above him.
Which Batman game is rated M? ›Batman: Arkham Knight has been rated an M [17 or older] by the US ratings board ESRB. This makes it the first game in the series to do so. Batman at his M-rated broodiest.
Is The Batman ok for 10 year old? ›From a sex and nudity standpoint, The Batman is kid-friendly for most ages 10 and up.
What is the answer to the Riddler's riddle? ›RELATED: 10 DC Villains Batman Went Too Easy OnThe riddle's answer is simply "he lies still," meaning that his dead body lies motionless ("still"). It also means that even when a liar is dead, his lies continue to circulate until the whole truth is revealed.
How do you solve the Riddler puzzles in Arkham Knight? ›Looking at Catwoman's numbers, Batman must hit the targets in the following order: 3, 1, 4, 5, 2. After both sides are done, the Riddler will again unleash his Riddler Bots against you, thankfully letting you team up to defeat them fairly fast, and then be rewarded with another key for Catwoman.
Do I answer Riddlers questions? ›Riddler's questions aren't riddles, and all of their answers are literal. The player should just answer them cleanly. During the third question, the player will need to link the missiles to a couple of things, and once the player answers the question correctly, they will escape.
What are the answers to Riddler's questions? ›- “Those who make me are likely to break me” — Law.
- “I can be easy or a dead end. Careful when you cross me”— Street.
- “What's black and blue and dead all over?” — Batman.
2 "What Is The Beginning Of Eternity, The End Of Time And Space, The Beginning Of Every End, And The End Of Every Race?" Some of The Riddler's problems are relatively hard to solve. However, this one is often known to be one of the hardest yet the most obvious when the answer is revealed.
What is the Riddler's famous line? ›
Quotes. The Riddler : If you are justice, please do not lie / What is the price for your blind eye?
What was Riddler's illness? ›The Riddler in the films "Batman Forever" and "The Batman" may show signs characteristic of borderline personality disorder. The Riddler in "Batman Forever" reveals an unstable, incomplete identity characterized by chaos in his moods, actions, and self-concept.
How many Riddler Trophies do you need to confront the Riddler Arkham City? ›1 in Arkham Origins. 240 in Arkham Asylum. 400 or 440 (with Catwoman DLC) in Arkham City. 243 in Arkham Knight.
What is the hardest riddle in Batman: Arkham Knight? ›- 9 Flight School – Arkham Knight. ...
- 8 Advanced Deathtraps -Arkham Knight. ...
- 7 The Wheel – Arkham City. ...
- 6 Roof Top Vents – Arkham City. ...
- 5 Extortion File 7 – Arkham Origins. ...
- 4 Extortion File 3 – Arkham Origins. ...
- 3 Six Button Cage – Arkham City.
Yes you can, plus all the DLC missions too. I always do when I start a new game. You'll need to find every riddle and trophy to take down the Riddler.
Who is the Riddler obsessed with? ›Batman: Earth One
Even though he is not obsessed with finding answers to most riddles, the Riddler does have an obsession with learning the Batman's identity, which he considers to be the "ultimate riddle".
Since childhood, Riddler has been fueled by a compulsive need to prove himself as the smartest person in the room. He craves intellectual validation, and he believes Batman to be his only truly worthy opponent. That's the core of every crime Riddler has committed in Gotham.
What was around the Riddlers neck? ›At the Iceberg Lounge, the Riddler kidnapped district attorney Gil Colson and attached a collar bomb to his neck.