'Batman: Arkham City' videogame review

I know that this is very late and that nobody will probably read this and that this game is SOOOO LAST  YEAR, but around the time when it was 'all the rage', I didn't even know about, it so I torrented it a few months ago and it took me over so much, I had to review it. I haven't played its predecessor Batman: Arkham Asylum either, so don't expect any big comparations, just my simple toughts on it. So Arkham City is an action-adventure game in which you control Batman, which gets trapped in the controversial superprison, known as Arkham City.  Batman must uncover and foil the notorious plan by the evil Dr. Hugo Strange, only known as  'Protocol Ten' as well as intersecting in all the gang wars, battles for control and  other connections made through the veins of this vast prison, which is basically like a small town, except that it's full of power-thirsty psychopaths with no regard for human life.

Now this game got a shitload of praise and you know what? It fucking deserved it. First of all, the graphics are amazing. The whole wide world of the Arkham City superprison is awesome and greatly matches the dark tone of the Batman story.  Second, the gameplay is amazing. One of the reasons, that the game is so popular, is because people love being bad-ass. And people love being Batman. And what's better then being a bad-ass Batman? A very bad-ass Batman indeed, as you're able to glide off a building, doing a dive bomb downwards and crashing like a ninja, then releasing a shockwawe to stun several nearby hostiles, then punching one in the face, while already kicking the second one and countering a third one's attack in the same second, evading a bullet and throwing a few batarangs, then smash two guys's heads together and generally being the biggest bad-ass you can be. I have a little slow graphics driver, so the fight sequences sometimes got a bit Guy-Ritchie-y, but it was still very enyoyable to kick the enemie's asses. Oh yeah, and playing with Catwoman (you can do that, duh) is pretty bad-ass too, it's good to be a little faster and more agile sometimes (and sexier). 

I don't think the story is a very important factor of the game, but it sure is one of the best things in Arkham City. It's so good, movies could be made after it, has a lot of unexpected twists and a pretty shocking ending, which sadly the marvellous world of the Internetz has spoiled for me before I even downloaded the game. With such a story the game really has a nice cinematic feel to it, as I really enyoyed watching the cutscenes, reading the character bios and basically understanding the whole story, that makes you feel even more like Batman, not just playing as Batman. The great original score makes the feeling even deeper, as it slightly resembles, betterly said references Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for the Nolan's Batman movies, but is still original and very good on its own.  Altough some people complained that there are too many villains in the game. I agree, that too many villains are not very good in movies (Batman & Robin), but in video-games...not as much. I actually liked the game much more because it featured so many majestic characters, backed up with excellent voice acting.

The story is also very well-made, as it lets a lot of different missions. There are some in which you fight, a few boss fights, some where you have to think and puzzle, some where you have to travel and explore the city, some where you have to go all CSI with the detective mode...My favourites are the stealth ones, where you have to go all Ninja Batman and throw a smoke pellet and the grap hook to escape then observe the situation, swing between vantage points and glide behing  the baddies to perform the silent takedown, rescuing the hostages or simply taking the bad guys out. They are hard, but enyoyable as hell. As I've said before, Ninja Batman is very bad-ass and people love being bad-ass. It's basically like seeing those  scenes from Batman Begins, when Batman goes to that port and hunts criminals for the first time and everyone's like "WHERE ARE YOU!!!", except from Batman's point of view. Pure awesomenes.

The game is also very vast – the world of Arkham City is big, the main story mode is long, there are also several side missions, Riddler's quests (you have to find all of the trophies scattered around the town, solve puzzles or even complete physical challenges, like gliding for over  100 metres and such), other hidden secrets and Easter Eggs to keep you entertained til' kingdom come.  It's also cool, that the Catwoman missions are a bit distanced from the main story, as you sometimes simply do what Catwoman wants to do and have a bit different point of wiew. You also have a game mode called »Riddler's Revenge«, which I first tought you had puzzles and stuff like that, but you actually have either fighting challenges either stealth missions. They are even harder as in the main story mode, but enyoyable as hell as Robin is a much bigger bad-ass then I tought he would be.  

Arkham City is also a sanctuary for Batman fans - you have character biographies, concept art, 3-D character models from The Earth One Batman to The Animated Nightwing  (you're even able to play with these in the Riddler's Revenge mode) and tons of unlockable stuff like that.  But now that we spent so much time praising the game, we have to move on to the bad stuff, as like 99 % of things, Batman: Arkham City isn't flawless.  Firstly, it has that really loud and kinda creepy Nvidia logo at the beginning. Secondly, Robin and Nightwing look a bit emo with that eyeshadow. But that's pretty much.  No, seriously, there is one thing that really, really bugged me and that is the glitch. Yup, there's a glitch and this isn't much of a spoiler - Somewhere in the first half of the game, after the Ra's Al Ghul boss fight, Ra's takes hostage of his daughter Talia and tries to convince Batman to kill him with the sword he is holding and lead the League of Assasins. Then Batman drops the sword on the floor, takes out the batarang and defeats Ra's, like a sneaky prick (just saying). But in many cases, he won't drop the sword. He just stands there like a fucking statue. Some people had to play with lower graphics, some retry a few times (meaning having to do the boss fight a few times) and some actually had to restart the game. But the good stuff is still simply so good, that the gkitches cannot hurt it. Therefore in conclusion, Batman: Arkham City is a great game, with great graphics, great gameplay, a great story, with great voice acting, great music and lots of great greatness.

Total rating: 10 / 10 

So what did you think about Batman: Arkham City? Did you like/dislike it, why? Which were your favourite missions/characters/parts of the game? Comment, below, let me know! Also, check out these amazing Arkham City trailers, here, here and here!