Arkham City somehow manages to top Asylum in almost every department. The combat feels more polished, there are plenty more gadgets to spice up stealth/puzzles and boss battles are far better designed with the Mr Freeze fight arguably being one of the greatest in any game. Arkham City itself manages to pack plenty of variety and engaging side content within its walls. Some of the standouts involve Mad Hatter and Deadshot, though Riddler can shove all 440 of his trophies where the sun doesn’t shine! However, what stands out above all is the story. Mark Hamill’s performance as the Joker is sublime and you never know what to expect next with so many twists and turns, climaxing with a jaw dropping ending. It’s not perfect, but Arkham City is still an absolute masterpiece that needs to be experienced.

A tedious Greatest Hits collection of Batman villains and shallow mythology encased in an impressive tech showcase. Without inherent context there is no poignancy so as a result the plot progression is hollow, mostly existing to pander to focus-tested players and comic book fans. For all of its issues at least Asylum was efficient gameplay wise (combat here remains stiff) and had a focused narrative. For not having a lengthy campaign it still took me weeks to power through this due to the bland mission design and how inconsequential the plot felt. The open world here may be refreshingly succinct compared to what we get nowadays but it's nonetheless crammed with the endless noise of radio chatter, objective markers, and menial clutter to get distracted with. It's an overbearing mother of a game that never learns to shut up and allow the player to soak in the visually rich atmosphere without having to scream it in our face and hold our hand in every which way. As much as I despise the term "style over substance" I feel as though I can can truthfully apply it here. It's a massively ambitious AAA title for its time but most of that ambition derives from surface level attributes that feel as thin as the ice that Batman treads on. Something that ultimately skirts on sheer mediocrity.

At first I thought this pretty great back when I played it as a teenager. The game offers a lot of good content and some great cinematic AAA moments. The best open world combat system. So much so that every other open world game basically copies Arkham's combat system. However, as time waned on I didn't really think all that much about it again. It was a great experience for sure, but it didn't really leave me an lasting impression. Really an great open world game with fun mechanics and stuff. Story was decent. However, I think I'm basically missing out by not being a fan or the fact that Arkham is really held back by being a comic book adaptation. That is, it relies on the archetypes of the heroes and villains that have been built upon in the few decades. Good and probably exciting if an fan but I think it really just stifles the characters and the story. I don't really care for smart subversion or a new take on a character if they leave very little development to them in the first place. No real connections to be established. Great AAA game though.

Pretty much builds on everything introduced in arkham asylum. Excellent freeflow brawling, probably the best arkham game for predator gameplay, contending with arkham origins. The arkham game with far and away the best side missions, the best riddler challenges, the best story and again contending with arkham origins for the best bosses. This is what i call a perfect batman game. Kevin conroy and mark hamill are better than ever and the ending is fucking amazing. Catwoman is a great addition and the side missions introduced story threads so interesting and cool that they managed fuck up all of their follow ups in Arkham knight. I will also say that the open world is pretty great for the most part. Its rich with depth and interesting places to go and explore. The environments and character designs still hold up and look better than they do in the awful return to Arkham remaster. I spent like a whole year as a kid just playing this game and i love it.

Literal straight perfection.

I could (and have) play ‘Batman: Arkham City’ for years on end.

5/5