There’s no denying that Arkham City is a far more spacious environment, that envelopes you into the seedy complexities of a City cumulatively manipulated, by various devious factions, all vying for ultimate control over Arkham City’s criminal wrong doings. Seriously, Arkham City is crammed with more dastardly villains than a Taliban convention. The Penguin, TwoFace, Hugo Strange, Mr Freeze, Catwoman, The Riddler, The Joker and so many more besides, pure heaven for DC fans, it’s like the gluttons equivalent of being trapped in a warehouse full of chocolate gateaux’s, armed with only a tablespoon in one hand and whipped cream in the other. For Batman, it’s like a day out shopping with Paris Hilton, torture, utterly laborious, mental anguish. But sure Arkham City is bigger, but is it really better?
The undeniable fact is that Arkham City does so much more than Arkham Asylum, and progressively better. Combat is much more eloquent (if you can describe pummeling a goons jaw in, before effectively, kicking his face into the ground with some kind of whirly kick thing as eloquent). Gliding through the city feels substantially effortless with the aid of grappling and dive bombing, meaning you can effortlessly span huge distances without ever touching the ground. But once you’ve mastered this, you soon become aware of how small the City is as you glide from one side of Arkham City to the other in under 5 minutes, reminding you that despite the cities vastness, your essentially trapped in a far more elaborate prison than Arkham Asylum. But there are other areas to traverse, buildings and sewers to explore, that more than make up for this very minor locality, challenged problem.
The combat which I’ve already alluded to as being a more fluid experience than its predecessor, is also a far more barbaric affair. Stealth is still an acceptable and safer alternative, but there is something far more engaging about just disregarding tactical awareness and just glide blindly into combat with 10 of the jokers heavily armed pawns, and pummel them into unconsciousness, and this mindless form of brutality, also compliments the environment that your ensnared in. The plot is filled with developing twists that will hopelessly compel you to proceed, though many will be left despondent by the games surprising but abrupt end.
It’s a lot more difficult to compare Arkham Asylum with City, where as Asylum was more “The Shining”, discombobulating your mental dexterity by unnerving your senses, City is more akin to “Die Hard”, boombastic in its execution with a cast of villains only Rupert Murdoch could shortlist better. Arkham City does everything that Asylum did, just more of it. More Villains, more combat, more…..well everything.
Game, Complain, Repeat 