Batman: Arkham City - Game of the Year Edition (Restricted distribution)

This is a review of Batman Arkham City: Game of the Year Edition for the PS3After completing Batman Arkham Asylum: Game of the Year Greatest Hits (At least all of the Campaign Story including the Riddler Challenges) I was all ready for Arkham City. However, the edition I wanted was the newly released GOTY (Released May of this Year) since this not only had literally almost ALL the DLC that came out before, during and after the initial release of the original edition that came in October of 2011 (See included DLC Below) but also included the Batman: Year One Movie for free as a Digital Download from the PSN Network, and the price was almost $50 dollars at the time I originally looked so I decided to wait. Then one day God answered my prayers and had dropped the price for $29.99 with prime for about a week, upon the initial discovery of this I immediately ordered the game and was in business 2 days later. The price eventually did go back up between $45 to $50 dollars, again I was very fortunate. For those who played the first game this is basically Batman Arkham Asylum on Venom, it about 3 times the size, complexity, and overall fun of the 1st game on a much Wider Open End Scale that will have you playing for days. Not only do almost all the characters from the 1st game return (With both Batman and Joker being voiced again by both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil Respectively) but so do some of Batman's other staple villains are prominently featured in this game like Two-Face, Penguin (voiced by Nolan North of the Uncharted Franchise), Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange, Ra's al Gul , Clayface, The Mad Hatter, Deathshot and more. As far as Batman's allies not only are you rejoined by Oracle but you are joined by Robin, Tim Drake, the 3rd incarnation, Playable in the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC Expansion pack and the challenge Maps). Nightwing, Dick Grayson The original Robin, only playable in the Challenge Maps. Alfred Pennyworth (Bruce Wayne's Loyal Butler) who acts as a secondary Intel source and helps supply Batman's arsenal through the game. Catwoman, Batman's on again off again foe and ally and sometimes more, while in Arkham City on her own agenda she does come through for Batman when the situation warrants. She is playable in the Main story Campaign (Due to Catwoman's Expansion pack DLC being integrated into the Main Arhkam City Story Line) and of course all the challenge Maps. This game definitely delves deeper into the Batman Mythos and explores more of not only Batman's character but that of its supporting cast as well.Plot: Almost a year after the events of Arhkam Asylum, Mayor Quincy Sharp (The former Warden of Arhkam Asylum) has decided to close both Blackgate Prison (Which housed all of Gotham's toughest Criminals) and Arhkam Asylum since in his opinion they could no longer "adequately" house Gotham's criminal population and in its stead relocate them into a large district of Gotham's oldest and slummiest district. This relocated district of Gotham would be cut off from the rest of Gotham City and be called "Arkham City". Bruce Wayne, Gotham's most wealthy and respected citizen (Along with Batman's alter Ego) stages a peaceful demonstration on the dangers of the new prison when the new Warden of Arhkam has Bruce Wayne taken captive by his mercenary security. The New Warden then confronts Bruce (who turns out to be Batman's old Nemesis Hugo Strange) of cooperating with his plans or face the risk of his secret identity being exposed. Hugo Strange then promptly turns Bruce over into the Prison population and then is almost immediately taken by Penguin, who holds a nasty grudge against the Wayne Family. Once Bruce takes out Penguin and his thugs he has Alfred Air drop his Batsuit into Arhkam City. Once Bruce dons his famous cowl he then starts his quest to find out who is really behind Arkham City, What is "Protocol 10", and along the way once again Batman squares off with Joker who is slowly dying from the after effects of injecting himself with the mutating TITAN formula from the events in Arkham Asylum, who wants to finally even the score with the Dark Knight once more before his ultimate fate is decided.Gameplay: As with Arhkam Asylum the majority of the Game is played in the 3rd person aspect only shifting to 1st person when going through underground service vents or building air Shafts. The Controls are very similar to asylum on controlling batman with a few exceptions mainly concerning the location of Batman's gadgets. Rocksteady improved the free flow fighting system to make it more rhythmic than the 1st game. You get most of Batman's Gadget's and upgrades that you received at the end of asylum however there are improved modifications that as before you will have to earn the necessary XP in order to receive them. The Riddler's Challenges has not only doubled in quantity of finding or solving (Going from 240 to 440 from the 1st game) but you may have to actually disarm or solve a sequence of combination to retrieve the Riddler Trophy, and some of them can only be retrieved/solved as Catwoman. There are approximately 12 side missions that can be done either during the main campaign story or after including one side mission that is integrated with the Riddler's Challenges. The Predator and Combat challenge maps are back in spades including some that have combined some of the other challenge Maps with a Side Scrolling "Street Fighter" Style Challenge Maps.Plus Mission: The "Plus" Mission is the campaign story of Batman Arkham City that is unlocked after completing the intiail campaign that auguments the challenge of each of the original objectives of the original campaign story and side missions. For example, if you originally say fought 6 or 7 henchman unarmed you are now facing that same objective with maybe one and a half to twice the number of henchman with knives and shock stickes. Another example is on a predator Map instead of the henchmen being just "armed" they are now using the "Armored" henchmen with a gun that cannot be taken down silently from behind. There are a couple of cool things in plus Missions for example you get to use all the upgrades and gadget obtained in the intial campaign story from the get go except if the part of the story you are exploring does not allow you to use the gadget yet. You can choose what Batman Skin you would like to use (See below of list of available Batman skins) instead of the Default Batman Skin. You do not have to "re-solve or re-find" any of the Riddiler's Riddles or Riddler Trophies if you have already solved or found them in the intial campaign, however you may have to resolve a riddle or 2 if the story dictates.Level Of Difficulty: Even through there are only 3 Dificulty options listed (Easy, Normal, and Hard) there are actually a total of 6 dificulty levels once you include the Plus Missions. For example if you play Arkham City on "Normal" when you unlock the "Plus" Mission the difficuly is harder than "Normal" but not has bad as Hard. Overall Rocksteady diffently fixed the "Difficuly" problem from Arkham Asylum where there was only the Easy, Normal, and Hard and the Hard Difficuly felt more like a Normal Difficuly with the exception of the Posin Ivy Boss fight. I orginally started playing Arkham City on hard but actually had to lower it to Normal to play the game the 1st time through.Included DLC (Downloadable Content) With the Game of the Year Edition - Basically everything that was released from the time of Pre-order of the original Edition of Arhkam City to the release of the GOTY Edition of this game is included with this game:- The Catwoman Expansion Pack and additional Skins, Integrated into the main Campaign Story.- The Harley Quinn's Revenge Expansion Pack, takes place 2 weeks after the Main Campaign events in Arkham City. The Story has both Batman and Robin as playable Characters.- Batman Alternate Skins Bundle which include The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Batman Inc, The Sinistro Corps, Silver Age (1970s) Batman, Batman: Earth One, Batman Beyond, Animated Batman, and of course the original skin for the game.- The Nightwing Bundle which include the Animated Skin and additional Challenge Maps.- The Robin Bundle which include the Red Robin and Animated Robin Skins along with the additional challenge Maps.- As an additional Bonus The Batman: Year One animated Movie based on the original Batman Year One Comic Story as presented in Batman Vol.1 #404 thru #407. Available as a free DLC Download on the PSN Network in the Northern United States and Canada until March 31st, 2013.All of this together is approximately worth $60 - $70 dollars if purchased seperately that comes with the GOTY Edition for free.3D: As with the 1st game N/A on the 3D since I feel playing it in 3D would ruin some aspects of the game. However for those who want to take advantage of the 3D aspect be warned this game DOES NOT COME WITH THE 3D GLASSES! You will have to go to the Trioviz web site to order the 3D glasses, just do a google search for the Trioviz website.Plus Side of the Game:- Even through the same Game Engine was used for the games graphics (Epic Games Unreal Engine 3) as in Asylum the Graphics are a lot more detailed and life like than previously displayed in Asylum (The graphics for that were just awesome as well!).- Easier to control the free-flow combat maneuvers than in Asylum- Being able to Play Batman in his other skins once you have completed the intial campaign- The completely Open Ended Map of Arhkam City itself, not as limited as Arhkam Island.- Great Story, Once again wonderful job by veteran Batman writer Paul Dini.- Top Knotch performances by Mark Hamil (Joker), Nolan North (As a uniqely more bestial Penguin), Kevin Conoroy (Batman), and Wally Wingert in a very expanded and more menacing Riddler (His role was basically reuced to 3rd string in Ayslum to only voice).- Great Expansions on Batmans Gadget and Gliding abilities.Minus Side of the Game: While there really is no real minus side to this game (At least to where I would knock a star off) there are a couple of annoyances...- The Controls did not always respond as you would like them to (Same problem as in Asylum)- After the game ends the thugs you take down as Batman do not "Stay Down" for the rest of the after missions which can be annoying when they regenerate a couple of screens later.In Conclusion: Not only is this a Worthy follow up to Asylum but in alot ways superior to the 1st game. This is well worth the purchase and even if you have the original version of this game I would still think twice about purchasing the GOTY Edition if you do not have the additional DLC already. A Must buy for true Batman Fans! If you have not played Batman Arkham Asylum: Game of the Year Greatest Hits go ahead and pick this up first, Arkham City references alot to Asylum and for approximately $17 new you might as well play it anyways.

Good Game

On the 7th generation, I own all Batman: Arkham games, but this seems to be the pinnacle of Batman in gaming. It's epic story brings us deep into the heart of Gotham, uncovering the mystery behind protocol 10 and who is truly behind it.Moving forward with the innovative gameplay that made Batman: Arkham Asylum so iconic, Arkham City decides to make both Predator Mode and Combat even more fast-paced. This time around, Batman can counter multiple enemies, using various animations each time it occurs. Not only that but there are now multiple ways to enter combat, using your cape to stun people and then to enter a beatdown, or to use your gadgets as Quicktime gadgets to be used mid-combat. It all comes together to be quick, deep, addicting, and an engrossing form of combat that I believe to be the best in gaming.The Predator mode remains mostly unchanged, apart from newer takedown methods and an increased variety of opportunities due to the amount of gadgets in your arsenal. The real game-changer lies within the open world, which, however small, is one of the most interesting worlds I have had the privilege to explore as a gamer. The world consists of a locked off portion of Gotham City which has been filled with criminals so they can partake in their own business.Because of this, the city is filled with thugs which you can choose to be a up at your own pleasure. Swooping down from above while gliding (which is a new gameplay feature present in Arkham City, due to the expanded setting) and immediately engaging in a fistfight against ten prisoners feels better than one might expect. Apart from this there also many super villains lurking in the city, which Batman can at anytime battle against (or at least discover their hideout). It feels wonderfully organic, and is a step to the right direction in having the player feel like Batman. Perched on a gargoyle, surveying the city below is an astounding feeling.The other major element of the game is the story, which while as several twists and turns and never becomes boring, I did find it to be rather short, at least in what happened. When looking upon the game, it feels that events occurred to simply pad the game out; these events weren't by any means, but if even one wasn't there, than the game would have been a few hours shorter. Because of this, I highly suggest to play the main story while inserting a few side missions now and then, as it does make the game MUCH more enjoyable.All in all, Batman: Arkham City is a masterclass of gameplay, and has gorgeous visuals to almost distract from a wonderfully detailed and easter egg-filled world. It's story is exciting at many points, and put together it creates a video game worthy of any player.9.5/10

Excellent