Batman: Arkham City

Several months have passed since Batman defeated the Joker's attempt to take over Arkham Asylum. Unfortunately, the asylum was almost overrun by Poison Ivy's out-of-control plants in the process, rendering it useless. To replace it, a section of Gotham City's run-down docklands has been sealed off and converted into a new prison and asylum, with most of the city's most dangerous criminals incarcerated there. Appalled, Bruce Wayne enters politics in an attempt to shut down the facility, only to find himself arrested and thrown into the prison. He has to survive, find a way of resuming his Batman persona and bring down both those running the prison and defeat its array of inmates at the same time.

Arkham City is the direct sequel and follow-up to 2009's Arkham Asylum. Arkham Asylum was the game that, after dozens of failed attempts, finally 'got' the Dark Knight and made him into a credible computer game character. It did this by giving Batman a strong, dark storyline to follow, an array of gadgets to use (both in investigations and combat) and welding together the 'gritty' approach favoured by Christopher Nolan's movies with the more colourful and bizarre world of the Batman comics. It also had a great combat system and some solid stealth mechanics.

The follow-up is, inevitably, bigger and more epic. Arkham City sprawls across a much vaster area than the old asylum and is open to exploration from the very start (the asylum unlocked section-by-section as you went through the game and was more linear). The game is also divided neatly into both the main storyline and a series of side-missions, some of which are quite lengthy and involved in themselves. The main storyline involves Batman having to face (and, in some cases, work alongside) villains such as the Joker, Two-Face, the Penguin, Mr. Freeze and Ra's Al Ghul before taking on the director of the prison, the sinister Hugo Strange. However, a ton of other villains show up in the side-missions, including Deadshot, Zasz, Killer Croc (though only in a brief cameo), the Mad Hatter and Bane. Rather than feeling over-saturated, like almost any superhero movie with more than two villains, this gives the game the feeling of existing in an already-extant world, with a large amount of optional information available (via the Batcomputer) to fill players less-versed in the DC Universe on who these people are.

As with Arkham Asylum, the game involves tracking down clues to solve mysteries and beating a quite staggering number of thugs into unconsciousness. The game's setting also allows you to spend quite a lot of time perched precariously on building corners, gazing broodily into the night before spotting some passing thugs beating up a civilian and swooping down to deliver some vengeance. The setting allows you to 'be' Batman even more completely than Arkham Asylum, which is highly satisfying.

That said, the open world environment does offer some problems as well as some improvements over the first game. The first game benefited highly from its focused, linear structure that gradually opened up the asylum as you progressed (and allowing you to backtrack and reach previously-inaccessible areas with later-acquired gadgets). This second game sprawls flabbily in its opening sections, with the game taking a while to give you some sense of what you are trying to do. Once it does and you're alternating the main storyline with optional sub-missions the game kicks into a higher gear, but it's a slight disappointment that Arkham City isn't on fire from its opening moments the same way its predecessor managed.

The biggest surprise from the game is that the bigger setting doesn't necessarily translate into a notably different experience from the first game. There's about half again as much content (I completed Arkham Asylum in 11 hours and City in about 17) and a few more major locations, but the game's bigger canvas often translates in you taking three minutes of rooftop-swinging to move between locations rather than a minute of running as in in Arkham Asylum. The game - surprisingly - reuses the same locations several times over missions just as Asylum did in a clear cost-saving move, and after a while you realise that more than 90% of the buildings in the city cannot be entered or interacted with other than swinging from their rooftops. The much bigger location certainly gives rise to some new gameplay experiences, such as chasing down a serial killer on a time limit before he strikes his next victim, but it's not as transformative to the gaming experience as you might expect. In fact, after a while I was regretting the fact that we didn't have a full Gotham City game, with you being able to explore the city of Gotham as a whole and using vehicles to help complete missions as well as Batman's gadgets (which, a few minor additions aside, are pretty much the same as in the first game).

Still, if Arkham City is less of Grand Theft Gotham and more Arkham Asylum Redux, that's no bad thing. Combat is still physical and rugged, undertaken with impressive animations and combos. There's a greater variety of moves and opponents which makes the combat varied without becoming over-complex. The stealth mechanic is still enjoyable, with the game being at its best when you can take out a whole room of enemies with no-one realising where you are. The investigation side of things is still somewhat lightweight, but at least nods at Batman's detective origins. The story is decent and the voice-acting is as superb as its forebear, with Mark Hamill again taking top prizes for his gleefully deranged role as the Joker in what is his swansong appearance as the character. The scene where the Joker is taunting Batman only to get side-tracked into a puzzled analysis of the final episode of Lost is definitely the game's comic highlight. The game is, overall, a ridiculous amount of fun once you get over the slight hiccup of the start.

Arkham City (****½) is available now in the UK (PC, X-Box 360, PlayStation 3) and USA (PC, X-Box 360, PlayStation 3).

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Once again, Batman has defeated his arch-nemesis, the Joker, and returned him to incarceration at Arkham Asylum. Unfortunately for Batman, this turns out to be a trap. The Joker's men take over the prison and release the insane inmates, including several of Batman's most dangerous foes (such as Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and Bane). Evading capture himself, Batman has to regain control of the prison and stop the Joker's plan to create an army of insane and powerful soldiers loyal only to him.


Ah, Batman. The Dark Knight, who takes on a host of villains with a combination of martial arts, impressive gadgetry and cool vehicles. You can't get a superhero (even if his superpower is merely being incredibly rich) better-suited for computer games. It's a surprise, then, that very few games based on the character have been much cop.

Arkham Asylum makes up for a lengthy run of mediocre to poor Batman games by being very good indeed. The developers, Rocksteady, haven't hit upon this by accident, but have apparently looked in depth at a whole host of titles whose game styles could be adapted for a Batman title. Playing Arkham Asylum, it's impossible not to be struck by echoes of older titles. The physicality of the combat recalls Starbreeze's superb Riddick games, whilst the drug-induced hallucinatory levels are reminiscent of the Max Payne series. The use of Batman's growing repertoire of skills and gadgets to cross seemingly impassable areas, complete with the camera hinting at what to do next, has more than a touch of Prince of Persia (circa the Sands of Time games) to it. The heavy emphasis on stealth and silent takedowns also hints at influences from the Splinter Cell and Thief series. Yet, whilst Rocksteady clearly have been making notes, they have still created a game that feels like it builds on what has come before, rather than ripping it off.

Gameplay-wise, Arkham Asylum is a third-person action game where the player guides Batman through the asylum and the surrounding buildings on Arkham Island, which the Joker has sealed off from the mainland. The main storyline sees Batman pursuing the Joker through the Asylum, but being sidetracked by confrontations with both the Joker's allies (most notably Harley Quinn and Scarecrow) and other supervillains he has put away over the years. Most notably, Killer Croc, Bane and especially Poison Ivy also interfere with Batman's mission. Though the game has a linear plot, the setting is open, allowing Batman to deviate from his main mission to revisit previously-explored areas. In addition, Batman is not alone in his mission. Commissioner Gordon is also trapped on the island, along with a large number of security guards and Asylum personnel, whilst Batman is helped with certain puzzles and objectives by Oracle (a former Batgirl paralysed in a shooting, who oversees Batman's progress from the Batcave).

The game has a notable combat focus, which allows for complex fighting moves to be executed using a simple system (one button to attack, another to counter an enemy's moves, telegraphed by symbols appearing over their head). This system is well-implemented, with combat given a heavy, physical feel to it. Unusually for an action game, there is no option to use firearms. This is of course in keeping with the Batman mythos, but it means that a strong emphasis must be placed on stealth and the use of gadgets to separate and overcome enemies, especially those armed. Batman can take a few bullets but is relatively fragile compared to many gaming protagonists. Refreshingly, there is no in-combat regenerating health (though his health does return once the area has been cleared of enemies), forcing players to adopt a more thoughtful approach to playing Batman.

Arkham Asylum's greatest success is making the player actually feel they're playing Batman (perhaps to the point of screaming, "I'M THE GODDAMN BATMAN!" after pulling off a particularly awesome 25-move combo. Erm, not that I ever did that). He's formidable but not immortal, and solves a lot of the problems through ingenuity and detective work rather than head-on confrontations. There's also a lot of use of gadgets, including grappling hooks, hacking tools (to short-circuit control panels and open doors), ziplines and batarangs. Vital to the game is a visor which allows Batman to see enemies through walls and doorways and assess their threat value before engaging them in combat. Particularly satisfying - if somewhat implausible - is the ability to hang upside down from ceilings and snatch passing enemies, knocking them out without alerting other foes nearby. Entering a room with a dozen gun-toting villains and then taking them out one-by-one, hiding in the shadows, executing stealthy knock-downs or hiding under floor grills and then emerging to strike, is ridiculously good fun.


The game features universally great voice acting, particularly from Batman: The Animated Series regulars Kevin Conroy (as Batman) and Mark 'Luke Skywalker' Hamill, whose performance as the Joker is nothing short of stunning throughout. Arleen Sorkin also hits the right note between annoying and accomplished as the deranged Harley Quinn. Paul Dini, a veteran writer for both the animated Batman series and DC Comics, does an excellent job with the dialogue for the game, tailoring it to be more expositionary than normal (for the benefit of gamers not particularly versed in the intricacies of the Batman world) whilst still feeling relatively natural. It's one of the more accomplished transitions of a prose writer to gaming we've seen recently (certainly better than Richard Morgan, whose gaming work on Crysis 2 was unremarkable).

The game is also brave for not trying to establish a new canon for the Batman mythos. Instead, it takes place firmly in the DC Comics universe, making continuity references to earlier comics and stories (the Joker references the events of the Alan Moore-penned The Killing Joke several times). Yet the game does not expect players to be fully versed in the backstory. Instead, it provides fact files on Batman's allies and enemies for the player to read, and interview tapes from psychiatric evaluations of the villains can also be found lying around the Asylum. These do an excellent job of bringing the player up to speed on events without bogging things down with lengthy explanations of what's going on. The tone is also well-established, with things definitely being more grandiose, funny and colourful than the Christopher Nolan films, but avoiding a descent into out-and-out camp.

It's hard to think of any major problems with the game. It's well-written, well-acted and relentlessly enjoyable. Combat is well-executed and the use of stealth and gadgets is perfectly executed. It has a plethora of optional side-missions, achievements and collectibles for those who want as much game as possible for their money, but the central plot is compelling and long enough (at roughly 10-12 hours by itself) and features some genuinely surprising twists (including a late-game event that completely changes the nature of the environment). A repetitive nightmare mini-game featuring Scarecrow feels a little bit out of place, and the running battle with Killer Croc in the sewers is a bit tedious, but neither are particularly major features of the game.

Batman: Arkham Asylum (*****) is terrific fun from start to finish, an accomplished and smart game that distills 100% pure comic book fun into a great gaming experience. Recommended. The game is available now in the UK (PC, Mac, X-Box 360, PS3) and USA (PC, Mac, X-Box 360, PS3). A sequel, Arkham City, was released last year.