Game Time: Batman: Arkham City

I'm not a big gamer, but since getting a PS3 two years ago, I've amassed a pretty respectable collection of titles. So while this will by no means be a regular feature, it seems like a fun idea to throw in the occasional game review, considering how much of my time they take.

For those who don't know (or can't figure it out by the title), Batman: Arkham City follows America's favorite masked vigilante as he pummels and ponders his way through (nearly) his entire rogue's gallery in the span of one life-changing night. It is a sequel to the wildly successful Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009), and it follows roughly the same format: lots of action and platforming with a few riddles and boss battles thrown in for variety. Though this installment is probably more successful and engaging, it is not as groundbreaking. The puzzles are more challenging, but the combat system is virtually identical and the graphics are not noticeably improved, though most of the characters do look a little revamped. The gadgets this time offer a little more variety in movement, especially the line launcher, which allows you to launch a new line while still using the old one - this allows continuous movement in almost any direction. The point is that this is largely a continuation of the last game; so while it may not "wow" you, it will definitely satisfy.

Despite the set-up from the end of the first game, Arkham City does not pick up where Asylum left off. Some time has past, and I love the intro because it completely defies expectation: you start not as Batman, but as alter ego Bruce Wayne at a press conference. Then, within moments, you are ambushed - forced into inaction to preserve anonymity, and genuinely caught offguard all the same.

I don't want to give away too many details as that would ruin the surprise, but suffice to say the game heavily emphasizes the "dark" side of the Dark Knight. Batman has always been known for being more gruff and sinister than most popular comic heroes, and the storyline of Arkham City lives up to that reputation. There are passages in the game which will legitimately shock you, even disturb you. It is truly an adventure.

This second installment carries over virtually everything that was great about the first game. The phenomenal voice casting is there - Mark Hamill is brilliant as always, playing Joker - and the graphics and combat system continue to impress. The sound and music are equally effective, building on the score for the brilliant 90s animated Batman series. One area that has ballooned (to an almost frustrating extent) is the Riddler challenges. Asylum had quite a few challenges and trophies to find; City basically quintuples that amount. I'm pretty sure there are close to (maybe even more than) 500 Riddler challenges/trophies in total. That's a little too much.

Going along with that expansion of the Riddler role is the expansion of the landscape itself. Again, Arkham Asylum was big - Arkham City is huge. You couldn't fly from one end of the city to another even if you wanted to. The map is about five times larger than the map for Arkham Asylum, and the Riddler trophies are scattered everywhere. It will take a long, long time to find all of them.

Which is good - because the storyline itself goes pretty fast. For as big and expansive as the game is, if you sat down and played only the main story missions, you could finish the game in a day. A long day, depending on skill level, but a day. The rest is extra. That might frustrate some - it simply shocked me. As certain missions were happening, I knew I was getting close to the end, but I was still surprised how quickly everything wrapped up and how fast-paced it was. And this is not a simplistic story either - there are many twists, turns, crosses, double-crosses, unexpected deaths aplenty... The story moves so well from point to point that you almost have to ignore the side missions and simply come back later.

The point, of course, is that nobody plays the story missions exclusively - they want the achievement trophies; they want to defeat the Riddler; they want the combat challenges. And it is in the "extras" department that Arkham City defines and separates itself from its predecessor. First of all, you can play as someone other than Batman - and that's pretty cool! I love Batman, but variety is after all the spice of life. That other character, of course, is Catwoman, and she's a hoot. Her sexiness dips into campiness, and a lot of her quips are cheese-grade, but it's fun to see her literally dive headlong into a group of like twenty bad guys and sufficiently scratch and claw them into submission. And while she may not be Batman's only love interest, she's the only one who is his equal, albeit often on the other side of the law. There are some great scenes between the two of them, especially toward the finale.

Catwoman is the only other character you can play in the story (in fact, for some portions, you have to play her), but the Riddler challenges offer a plethora of options. Batman, Catwoman, Robin - each with a very nice selection of costumes from their various incarnations - and for a small fee you can even add in Nightwing, though his combat style is basically the same as Robin's, so I'm not sure the few dollars are worth it. The coolest thing to me is that you can actually use the different Batman costumes in the game, not just the challenges. My favorite was the Frank Miller "Dark Knight Returns" costume - it just makes Batman look like an absolute badass, like he wants you to break the law just so he can beat you to a pulp. What would have been above and beyond is if each Batman costume incarnation had its own distinct voice acting, but I realize that's asking quite a bit.

Just look at the Frank Miller (second from left) - doesn't he look tougher?

So as you can undoubtedly tell, I'm a big fan of the game. I've always had a soft spot for Batman-related media - I was a huge fan of the Tim Burton installments when I was a kid (though have grown disinterested with age); I've enjoyed Christopher Nolan's revamps; and the 90s animated series (which provides a wealth of material for this game series) remains one of my favorite cartoons - and I'm excited to see where the series goes from here... although, quite frankly, after two great installments spanning an enormous range of material, villains, and skill sets, I worry for its longevity. What goes up must come down, and I sincerely hope the creative team behind the Batman game series has the sense to stay on the right side of that equation. So far they have.