The follow-up title to many people's 'game of the year' upon release, Batman: Arkham Asylum, has a lot to live up to. The first release was fantastic, offering fans of comic-book superheroes a chance to finally play as one of their favourites in a video game that actually did justice to it's protagonist and all that they've meant to the world throughout the years. The various Spiderman, X-men and Superman games that were generally made as a result of the more successful corresponding movies were, for the most part, terrible, and almost insulting to each respective franchise. Apart from perhaps the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series, which weren't as bad as the aforementioned titles, comic-book fans have not had a truly enjoyable title to experience on the current crop of consoles. Developer Rocksteady changed all this with Arkham Asylum, so how did they go with Arkham City?
The first thing that you notice once you start playing is that they chose to keep the core gameplay almost exactly the same. This is a good thing - the fluid combat system is largely unchanged, easy enough to learn, but much more difficult to master, especially considering the incredible vocabulary of gadgets and trickery that Batman now has at his disposal. Whilst the game looks and feels similar to play, it is equally refined.
The scale of the game has also increased - by a lot - Batman now has an entire city to regain control of, and you will spend much of your time grappling from building to building trying to uncover everything. Whilst it is not quite a true "sand-box" world, it is still large enough to keep you entertained for a while, and there is a huge amount to do. The main storyline of Arkham Asylum did not take too long to finish at all. This remains true in Arkham City, although they have beefed it up a bit. However, the addition of side quests, unlockables, and the sheer number of hidden Riddler Trophies will keep the dedicated interested for a much longer time than the first game could. The completion of certain side missions will also benefit Batman greatly in the overall sense of playing the game, as the extra XP, unlocks, levelling up etc can only be achieved by completing objectives, and even though some are rather tedious, it is still worthwhile.
Overall, Batman: Arkham City is incredible. Though it may not offer the longevity of other titles such as Skyrim, there is still a lot to do, and it is all a lot of fun (especially playing as Catwoman - if you are buying this game second-hand, do yourself a favour and purchase the DLC to play as her, you won't be disappointed). Fans of the franchise will enjoy this game, fans of Arkham Asylum will enjoy this game, even people that didn't play the first one will more than likely enjoy it. Rocksteady have done well to follow such a brilliant game with another brilliant game - here's hoping that a third release (Batman: Gotham City?) hits the shelves in future.