Batman: Arkham City is, of course, the sequel to Arkham Asylum and they have made another incredible Batman game. Arkham City is somehow a MAJOR improvement on what was already the best Batman game to ever come out.
I'M THE GODDAMN BATMAN" is the feeling you get most when playing Rocksteady's latest addition to their Batman next gen game franchise. From the stealth to the combat to the gadgets, to the detective/investigation elements to the characters to how Gotham looks/feels you truly get to be your favorite superhero in this game and that makes it a complete success in my book.
Rocksteady did not break any new ground with Arkham City nor did they break ground with their first Batman game. Both Arkhams are exercise in collage. They take elements from other games most of which I noted in the pargraph above.
Rocksteady's Batman games have the stealth of the best stealth games (Spliter Cell, for example) the badass feel of the best action games (God Of War for example), the city exploration of your favorite urban parkour game (Infamous, Mirror's Edge, Assassin's Creed, and even Uncharted ), the gadgets of Ratchet and Clank, the world exploration/scanning of Metroid Prime and, epic (yet simple) Beat-em-up throwback combat AND they do the ubiquitous "RPG Elements" that every game has now VERY well.
The story in this game is nothing special but I think it is a very "Batman" story. The best comic book superhero stories DO NOT focus on origins (even though everyone seems obsessed with that, right?). They just tell a story in the character's universe. Everyone knows Batman's origin by now. Batman Begins was successful in re-invigorating the series, but that was mostly due to Nolan's genius as a storyteller.
What makes Rocksteady's Batman games work is how they are just another "day in the life" of Batman. Both the first and second Arkham game have not focused on backstory but on the moment at hand and let our knowledge of Gotham guide us Batman fans through the game.
The Arkham games do re-invent characters to make them more "realistic" (kind of), but not in a way that makes them unfamiliar. Every character in the Rocksteady games (and I consider Gotham City a character) is familiar to those of us who grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series or reading Batman Comics.
Speaking of TAS, the voice actors doing Batman and The Joker ARE, of course, the people you and I grew up with. It's Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamil as The Joker. While these games are not based on The 90s Animated Series (that COMPLETELY changed the game for superheroes, by the way...) the creators did tastefully harken back to the Batman we grew up with. That is all, I think, part of their mission to make this game get at the "essence" of Batman while being its own, standalone, Batman universe.
Arkham City is a massive achievement and is the first game I have bought brand new (aka for 60 dollars) in some time. I bought it the day I found out a had a sinus infection. So, when I boarded the red line T for home on the afternoon I purchased Arkham City I had the game, antibiotics and nasal decongestant in my backpack.
Finally, yes I did quote Frank Miller in saying "I'M THE GODDAMN BATMAN" (from his All Star Batman & Robin series). I say this all the time, but I need to say it again: Miller is a biggot and a conservative crazyman (to say the least...) and his thoughts on Occupy Wall Street just make it more clear he is NOT a good person. But, "I'M THE GODDAMN BATMAN" is a good quote, so I had to use it.
Re: This being a major improvement on what was already the best Batman game - Kinda like The Dark Knight was for Batman Begins. Good review, and it's interesting that you point out how this game is a collage of a few other genres. I definitely see some strong similarities with Mirror's Edge, in particular, just with a much dingier city.
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