I can definitely see why this is considered a pioneer for other Superhero games. It did a lot for the genre. Arkham City improves on Asylum's already good gameplay by adding tweaks and improvements just to streamline the whole experince. Instead of an Island, you can run and glide around a whole city which acts as a prison, which I just personally think of as a cool concept. The story is well done even if there are some silly things like the devs clearly forcing a way for Mr. Freeze and Batman to fight. The gadgets have been given way better purpose and with the quickfire ability make using them way easier and quicker. There are more options for stealth. The smoke pellet is here like it should be. Catwoman is playable and even if it is kind of just Batman but with different movement options and situational ceiling climbing, it still feels really cool. The boss battles are way better. Like I said, they're just tons of neat little improvements that help what makes an already good formula from the last game, even better. This game aged gracefully, and truly does deserve the praise it gets for the direction it gave to future Superhero games.