this game is so fun, i took out a room of six bad guys by just waiting in a floor grate for them to pass by. it's so funny

They took everything from Batman: Arkham Asylum and improved on it in what I would call the perfect, logical next step. The combat is expanded. The map is expanded. The roster is expanded. The metroidvania aspects I praised in the first game take a bit of a back seat, but they're still present.

Everything you learned about stealth and combat in the previous game still applies here. All of your muscle memory carries over. The developers did that perfect thing where they looked at the controller, looked at which button combinations weren't being used, and gave them a purpose. None of the existing controls were broken or replaced. They simply added more options. On top of that, they gradually introduce new enemy types throughout the game, forcing you to incorporate those new abilities into your toolkit.

The map is significantly larger, but like the first game, they still manage to make every corner interesting without making it feel bloated. There are no large, empty expanses that exist solely to fill space. Riddler challenges return and are scattered throughout the city. They've also added proper side quests that give landmarks and districts a purpose beyond simply passing through them. Even after the story ends, goons continue to respawn in various locations, giving exploration and combat some life in the post-game.

Not knowing how successful the first game would become, the developers were right to use Joker immediately in Arkham Asylum. That meant they needed a different approach for the sequel, and Dr. Strange was a great choice not used much in other media. Like the first game, Arkham City tells a strong Batman ensemble story. Penguin, Ra's al Ghul, and Mr. Freeze all play major roles, but none of them feel shoehorned into the narrative. Every villain serves a purpose, and every subplot feels like part of the same larger story.

My only real gripe with the game is the expanded combat and predator challenges. There are just so many of them, and you're expected to play as new characters like Robin and Nightwing without much opportunity to gradually familiarize yourself with their movesets. Oh, and the Calendar Man achievement. They were wild for adding an achievement that would normally take an entire year to complete. But, uh... system clock... yeah, I have no shame.

Literally a masterpiece. Love the story, gameplay, world design, and the batman. All that. Play this if you like some batman in your life. You don't have to play asylum first really, I didn't. (But I did after).