Batman: Arkam Asylum was named one of the best games last year, and next year is the sequel arrives. The Joker is defeated for now, but Arkham Asylum is devastated. Thus, there is no place to go for all the psychopaths who were previously locked away behind its thick stone walls. Quincy Sharp, previously a jailer at Arkham, has taken the credit for the Joker’s defeat, and during the years since its predecessor elected mayor of Gotham City.His measure to overcome all the crazies were buying much of Gotham City’s poorer neighborhoods, building solid walls around the area now known as Arkham City. Proprietor of the risky project is psychologist Hugo Strange, who on the other hand seems to have his own agenda. And Two-Face has no plans to stick to the deal but would like to enjoy respect. Something he intends to achieve by killing off Catwoman.

Batman himself is mildly skeptical of the whole idea of Arkham City – a place where evil and madness thrives just outside Gotham City. And he has also had a romance with Catwoman, and has no plans to let hsi ex-girlfriend fall victim to Two-Face. Arkham City is a direct continuation of Arkham Asylum. That means Batman hangs on to all the cool stuff he collected in the predecessor. There’s also some new, fresh stuff to collect.

Compared to Arkham Asylum, which mostly consisted of tight spaces where Batman was using his wits to get around, the Arkham City game is an entire city. So there is a lot more space to move around. To more easily get around the vast area, Batman gets a new radio gadget that can be used to eavesdrop on what the enemy is doing in the city a Bat Claw that allows him to access remote objects and smoke bombs to quickly escape crowds. Both the Joker and his henchmen, Harley Quinn and Two Face will return in Batman: Arkham City as well as a lot of other scum who are shut within the walls.

The long distances are preferably traveled by flying, as befits a real bat, and this particular feature has been revised substantially. Now there is much more control over what you can do. You can grab onto objects while you fly so you can quickly get around houses, land on power poles or high statues and so on.

Arkham City is also divided into districts of different gangs that have taken over parts of the city, led by villains such as the Joker and Two-Face. Combat is not possible to avoid, and the already excellent battle system from the first game has improved further.

The Riddler is also back with new puzzles to crack. This time, he has not had the time to prepare their insane puzzles, however, and it’s up to Batman to go up a bit rude with the criminals in order to obtain clues. For example, you scan a crowd and see who is judged to have important information, and then try to wallop all but that particular person. Which is easier said than done when you bounce around in a crazy combo and decorating the face of the mountain of meat after meat mountain. Then you have to interrogate the person for the necessary clues.

Batman: Arkham City looks to be extremely good and might just be the game of the year for 2011.

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