Batman Arkham City is a next-gen title on a current-gen console. It’s a genuine miracle that my beat-up old Xbox managed to run this game without succumbing to a mechanical aneurism. Then again, miracles are all part of the caped crusader’s repertoire of skills.
Arkham City is brilliant because it makes you *feel* like Batman. Gliding effortlessly from a vantage point on high into a gang of Joker’s henchmen below, before reducing them to a heap of broken bones, encapsulates all of the Dark Knight’s strongest attributes: grace, beauty and brute power. And there’s nothing more iconic than a fully stretched bat-cape silhouetted against the pale glow of the moon.
The open, free-roaming city is both spectacular and intimidating. Perched on a gargoyle overlooking the sprawling city of Arkham, it soon becomes clear just how tightly packed the game is with incidental side quests: a ringing phone, a desperate cry for help, a flashing green question mark– all of these sights and sounds will lead you further in to the dark, gothic nightmare of a city turned sour.
Thankfully, the World’s Greatest Detective is up to the task. Batman is a painstakingly modelled swiss-army-knife of justice. His improved grapnel gun - unlocked after completing four Augmented Reality tutorials – allows for even faster movement around Arkham City. The ability to glide, dive bomb and grapple - all in one seamlessly fluid motion - is one of gaming’s greatest thrills.
What else? Well, there’s Catwoman. And I’m not ashamed to say that her stealth-crawl animation is the sexiest conglomeration of pixels I've ever seen. Okay, maybe I'm a *little* ashamed I just said that. Still, she can also kick ass, seducing enemies mid-fight, luring them in for a kiss and then knocking them unconscious when they let their guard down. And the feline femme fatale is just as mobile as old Brucey too, using her claws to climb the sides of buildings rather than grappling.
Its predecessor, Arkham Asylum, is one of this generation’s best games, but Arkham City takes it to a whole other level. Yahoo Games even went as far as to award the game 6 out of 5 saying, ‘Batman Arkham City improves on the original so much that it feels like gluttony.’ It’s not hard to see why this game has garnered such fevered praise. It’s the kind of game you’ll dream about in your sleep, long after you’ve turned off your console.
Rocksteady Studios – a British video game developer based in Kentish Town – deserves a place among the industry’s great and good. They have after all, given us one of the greatest gifts possible: the chance to be Batman.
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