Recent reviews by Fluppers

In my opinion, "Batman: Arkham City" is one of the best games of ALL TIME. The sequel to the astounding and innovative "Batman: Arkham Asylum," this game had a lot to live up to and trust me, it surpassed all the hype given to it. Without any spoilers, the story follows Batman, as well as his allies when they decide to show up, as they thwart Hugo Stranges evil plans with the Arkham City prison facility and deal with the main gang bosses: Joker, Two-Face, and Penguin. The story integrates many characters from the Batman mythos, even those who I didn't know much about prior to playing the game. And this is one of the game's best qualities: its character dynamics and the characters’ unique relationships with each other. An example of this is the one between Joker and Penguin. Through finding hidden secrets, reading stories unlocked by completing Riddler challenges, and listening in on their gangs, you find that Joker and Penguin have a huge beef with each other, which is the reason why they are in a fully-fledged war with each other (this isn’t spoilery, don’t worry). If you want a video game with characters who have interesting personalities and relationships with each other, "Batman: Arkham City" is certainly the one for you.


The story DLC packs in Arkham City add a lot of content to the base game and are worth their purchase. Firstly, the Catwoman DLC pack allows you to play as Catwoman in 4 exclusive missions at certain points in the story and shows how she fits into the great puzzle that is the Arkham City story. It also allows you to play as her in free-roam and collect her own Riddler trophies after switching to her at certain points at the map. The story pack “Harley Quinn’s Revenge” is a very good expansion that expands on the events at the end of the normal Arkham City Campaign. It follows Robin as he works with Batman from the clutches of Harley Quinn, who has a new nefarious plan in honor of her Mistah J. Playing as Catwoman and Robin are fresh aspects of the Arkham series and I wish they could have been included even more in the story. Also, I wish my man Nightwing could actually have a small story campaign included in his DLC pack, since he did play an integral role in preventing Hugo Strange’s plans and assisting the Bat family.


Another great aspect about "Batman: Arkham City" is the refined gameplay. The gameplay in "Batman: Arkham Asylum" completely redefined the stealth, fighting, and superhero genres, as well as gaming in general. Prior to the release of Arkham Asylum, Batman games and superhero games had very clunky, repetitive, and unrealistic gameplay. That game integrated a new fast-paced, free-flow combat system that most games today, such as “Mad Max” and “Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor.” However, this system was slightly awkward back in 2009 (not to insult it; the system is AWESOME). Arkham City improves on it 10-fold, adding new gadgets like the Ice Grenade and the Remote Electrical Charge to use IN COMBAT, as well as many new moves such as the brutal Beatdown and Multi-Takedown. In addition to the amazing combat system, “Batman: Arkham City” introduces a much-improved predator system. In its predecessor, the predator mode was very innovative but did not have such a vast array of takedowns like in Arkham City.


In addition to the classic inverted takedown and explosive gel takedowns, the game introduces a takedown through weak wooden walls, a reverse ledge takedown, and the Ice Grenade takedown (when an enemy is encased in ice, you run up to them, break the ice, and smash them into the floor). Also, it seemed that in Arkham Asylum enemies killed you unusually fast in predator encounters. Maybe it’s just me, but I always died really fast when I was spotted by an armed enemy in Arkham Asylum. The predator challenges are very difficult and frustrating, but also very fun. I loved attempting to use all my wit and gadgets to take out the enemies efficiently and effectively.


In Arkham City however, this seemed improved to me. Both the combat and predator systems are changed completely, and for the better, by the three DLC characters available: Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing. Each character has a specific feature to them that changes the way you play their combat and predator challenges (Robin and Nightwing aren’t playable in the story even with their DLC packs, but Catwoman is). Catwoman has her whip and caltrops, Robin has his bullet shield and snap flashes, and Nightwing has his wrist darts and his electric Eskrima sticks. I loved playing as these characters, and as Batman, of course, but I wish they could all be integrated with the single player campaign without the purchase of any DLC packs, despite the character packs for Arkham City being well worth it.


“Batman: Arkham City” is a very graphically impressive game for its time. Obviously, graphics have improved greatly since 2011, but I am still amazed when I see cutscenes such as the close-up one with Hugo Strange in the beginning of the game, as well as looking upon Gotham at the top of the game’s highest tower. Also, unlike a lot of other games by large companies (cough cough, Arkham Knight, cough cough…) Arkham City is optimized greatly for the PC. I was able to run fairly smoothly on my Macbook Pro, and it runs like butter on my beast of a desktop (GTX 970, AMD Fx 4300). I’m so glad to see that WB actually cared about the PC buyers by crafting a very good PC port for Arkham City. Lastly, the map is very detailed and filled with easter eggs and references to the larger Batman mythos, but I wish it was a little bigger. Skyrim (another OUTSTANDING game) released the same year and had a massive map, so I think that the developers could have made the map of Arkham City a bit more expansive. However, this is only a minor gripe and should not discourage you at all from buying this game.


TL;DR (probably): In my opinion, “Batman: Arkham City” is the greatest superhero game of all time and in my list of top 20 games of all time (I don’t have a specific ranking for it, though). If you want an action-packed but story- and character-driven experience with some of your favorite superheroes and villains, this is absolutely the game for you. It will run on most PCs, including Macs (just don’t play for too long, your Mac will most likely have heating problems), so you don't have to go out of your way to purchase an expensive rig. The map and atmosphere is fantastic, but could be a bit bigger for its time. It does have a ton of collectibles, but those are optional just like any other game. Finally, even though integrating the other members of the Bat family is an appreciated change for the Arkham series, I wish it could have been done more. However, despite all the minor gripes, “Batman: Arkham City” should be in the library of all superhero, action, story-driven, and Batman fans.


OVERALL RATING 9.5/10!! GO BUY IT NOW! DON’T EVEN WAIT FOR SALE! IT’S WORTH IT!


P.S ~ Still waiting on the remastered version for this and Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady. I payed for both of these games! I want a remaster! For free! Jk I love you guys there, this game is a masterpiece.


P.P.S ~ I nominated this game for the “Game within a Game” award because of the Riddler challenges. They were much improved from Arkham Asylum. You not only find his scattered trophies and solve his many interesting reveals (which I learned a lot about the Batman and D.C. mythos from), but you have to save his hostages who are held in massive mazes that are essentially giant puzzles. I really had fun doing all the Riddler challenges in Arkham City, even though there may be a little too many. (I even felt a little smarter after doing so.)

This game is awesome. The first time I played this game, I couldn't stop. I love the gameplay features and interesting storyline. So, everyone go play tho game... Or the Joker will get you!