Batman: Arkham City

Batman: Arkham City (PC, X360, PS3).

Story: 1.5/2.0
It is actually surprisingly good. better then i expected. the ending even managed to genuinely surprise me.
The game starts by answering a question that bothered me for a while about super heroes. "Why do they hide their identities?"
It is answered by "Hugo Strange" (strange name for an strange guy), one of the three main villains in this game.
the answer is "It is much easier to catch Bruce Wayne then Batman." (his words)
He is mind behind the Arkham City project, a district sized, open-air concentration camp for all Gotham's criminals. In it the criminals are allowed to do whatever they wish, as long as they stay in.
anyway, back to the topic. Dr. Strange ( :P ) surprises Bruce during one of his anti-Arkham-City speeches.. with a SWAT assault team. they drags just him into prison while he can't throw around batarangs.

It gets half point off because it sometimes feels like a villain showcase. what do i mean by that? here is an summery of the less interesting third (more or less) of the game (while avoiding spoilers).
You're looking for some item and you find out that Dr.Freeze making one, right now. You go to his base to beat it out of him. But when you get there, you find out that he was kidnapped by the Penguin, so you go to his hideout to nicely ask him to free the good doctor.
When this doesn't work, you beat the **** out of him. Then freeze tells you that in order to complete the said item he need an ingredient that is hold by Ra's al Ghul. see the pattern here?
note that I cut off large chunks of story in between. it isn't THAT simple storyline.

Gameplay: (divided into 3 categories)
The game kinda reminds me an zelda game.
You have relatively open world that you can roam in and so some short side quests. while progressing the main story often throws you into dungeons full with combat and puzzles. each category will be reviewed separately.

"Dungeons" (for the lack of better name) 1.5/2.0
Most of them are well build involving both well placed combat and puzzles.
Although the puzzles can't be called complicated, they aren't meant to be solved by brain dead grade school students and may force you to pause for a while. (This sadly can't be said about many, many other games)

Free Roaming 0.5/1.5
Nice! we have an whole city to explore! Sadly it is filled by one thing, and one thing only. Riddler trophies. 440 of them! .. this may not put it on perspective.
You literally can't walk 10 feet without bump into into one.
At any given point, all you need to do in order to find one is just look around. you probably even won't need to do whole 360 degree looks.
Good, I spotted one. now what?
The good news is 90% of them require you to solve some kind of non-trivial riddle or show some un-trivial skill in order to get it.
Also you don't just collect them for bragging rights, they are part of a nice quest. (i'll let you guess who's the villein behind the Riddler trophies).
Sadly except for those the town is pretty empty. there are some other side quest, but they aren't memorable.

Can get repetitive.

Combat 1.0/1.5 (polarization +0.5, -0.5)
Very similar to Arkham Asylum if you played it. you have 2 battle mode.
Regular brawling based on counters and gadgets. one video worth.. lots of words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-IgizeI3mg

And the "Predator" mode. i.e. you strike from the shadows take out one or two goons and disappear leaving them in complete terror. then you strike again!
the latter is mainly used against armed goon. unlike superman, you aren't bulletproof.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNH9l5TxyMQ
(watch till 3:10)

Can get repetitive by the end of the game.

Graphics: 2.0/2.0
standard.

Replayability 1.0/1.0 (polarization -1.0)
Had hard time about this point. from one hand, it have ton of post-game content. from another, none of it is too shiny. you get:
1) The ability to continue playing after finishing the game. (trophies, side quests, and you can use catwomen now.) nice but you ca finish those in the main story (except for catwomen)
2) New Game +: you keep all you levels and equipment. the enemies get allot stronger.
3) Challenges: special combat sequences you can access from the menu and try getting high scores. (not very fun by my opinion)
4) Harley Quinn's DLC. this "Awesomeness" is something like 45 minuets long. yay.
I think it took them a year to make it. -_-
You do get to play as Robin. so that's a plus.


Final score 7.5/10 unless you'll feel that it is repetitive. then you'll rate it lower.
I would probably give it the "Better then the sum of it's parts" medal for additional 0.5 points leaving it as 8/10. but meh.

TLDL:
the story is good. the gameplay is enjoyable but doesn't offer anything new neither to the genre nor even to the series (compered to Arkhem Asylum). can get repetitive for some people.
If you enjoy the gameplay, you'll enjoy the game. but it nothing to write home about.