I'm not sure of what to think of this game exactly, on many aspects it surpasses Asylum but also isn't necessarily better on others.

The presentation and map are things I'm mixed on, I like the atmosphere of Arkham City but it feels both too big and small at the same time, gliding around the map is cool but still feels like a chore and collectibles are much less natural to connect. The open world design is also something I'm not necessarily a fan of, the more Metroidvania adjacent style of Asylum made me feel more excited, but this is probably subjective and the side missions are nice.

On the good though, the combat has been polished up and feels much snappier, combos are way more satisfying and you fight more enemies on average alongside having a couple of new enemy types that are sadly rare. Your gadgets start off mostly like what they are in Asylum and you get new ones, with the gadgets overall also integrating better into combat and navigation.

The bosses are more varied and while they're not particularly challenging, I prefer them to Asylum's idea of mostly making them big brutes. They also contribute more to the pacing of the missions.

The story has way more going on and a couple of surprisingly amazing moments coupled with a very powerful ending that hit me hard. Sadly, the GOTY Edition takes away from this by integrating Catwoman's missions into the main game, and they feel awkwardly placed disrupting the pace and even taking away from the ending, I think this could have been handled better because it's nice to switch up the gameplay but it feels like an interruption.

Overall the design of the game map and progression has me mixed, I prefer Asylum but this game is still a great sequel and maybe does deserve its place alongside its predecessor. Play both of them. After playing Origins though, I think you really should play that too, it's City but more focused!

This game is absolutely phenomenal. It's an almost perfect game and a love letter for any Batman and even Non-Batman fans alike.

The story is easily the strongest aspect of Arkham City, it's such a beautifully presented story that you just can't help but love, the pacing works well even with all the things going on. There are parts that feel more like filler than anything, like the Catwoman sections, but other than that it's very solid. The presentation and the atmosphere is unmatched. The gameplay still holds up well although after playing Knight you realize that City lacks some things, the traversal for example, not that great.

Overall, there's not much else I can really say about this game, just nitpicks and what not. It's a masterpiece.

This game made me feel like I was an Italian gay guy playing superhero games.

Batman Arkham City is the perfect way to translate the mythos of the dark crusader on any media: starting from an interesting story going through all the major names in Batman's rogue gallery, written by expert writer Paul Dini who not only wrote the story for the previous installment, Batman Arkham Asylum, but also wrote the best episodes of Batman The Animated Series, which as I said in my Asylum review I loved. All the side quests are just as brilliant, even repetitive ones, you know who I'm talking about...

Gameplay has seen a huge improvement over the previous game, with better free flow, no more batman moaning, and with a new assortment of combo and gadgets that add to both the free roam and combat experiences. Stealth is also greatly improved with more variety of enemies you can encounter. Overall this experience was the best action I could find when I played this game as a kid... And 12 years later, it surprisingly holds up to my standards, being rarely surpassed in how fluid punching criminals is.

On PC the optimization is decently good, prepare for some crashes regardless of your hardware. Though the game still looks beautiful today, it'll be worth it. Arkham City compliments the game with a neo noir setting, full of neon signs and a gritty atmosphere.

I recommend playing it at least once in your life. I think it's not only a perfect game, but a very accessible one.

While mechanically, the game is superior to Arkham Asylum in every way, I still prefer Arkham Asylum, but that's mostly down to personal preference. I think the best innovations the game offers are the changes to gliding and world traversal, as well as much better boss fights this time around. But the game doesn’t quite have the same strong writing and atmosphere as before. It’s decent enough, it works, however the horror elements are pretty much all gone and the story more or less boils down to “go to this section of the city, beat up this bad guy, rinse and repeat”. Still, a fantastic title, and continues the story of Asylum quite well.

I am currently 60% done with the game, which means I have finished the main storyline but have two side quests yet to complete.

This game was pretty damn good. This makes the original Arkham Asylum game look cheap. I loved the first game, but after I completed the main objective I kinda felt uninterested going back and completing everything else. The story was also really impressive as well as the gameplay. The graphic may not have aged too well, but it didn't really bother me.

Can't wait to play Arkham Knight next.