Huh. Fancy that.

I love this game. I don't know how close I am to beating it the story yet, but it is awesome!

I guess they aren't fond of making money after all.
And holy balls, those spoilers are tight! I never would've thought that

Very cool stuff indeed!

Game got leaked right??...Havent played Arkham Asylum yet,fuck....so pumped to play this one.

They made Ra's look like a total bitch at the end. Out of every villain in this game only the Joker looks like a real threat. I'm going to finish the game up tomorrow, but it will take a whole lot for me to enjoy the ending.

I'm only 9% in, but I can safely say I'll be playing for months to come.

Finally somebody had the balls to kill off the Joker. Hopefully it sticks this time if there is a third Arkham game.


Seriously, I like Hamill but the Joker is basically the villain sue of the comics world nowadays.


Also hillarious: Monarch theatre from the 19989 Batman movie? The ne'er same death pose as Nicholson's? The friggin' Bell Tower from that same movie gets blown up? The museum from the Schumacher Movie Not to Be Named?


If any indication, Hush might be a good candidate for a villain up next.

I <3 Selina Kyle.

I really need to sleep more and play this game less but...that's proving difficult to do. Dark Souls had me playing nightly until Arkham City dropped and was subsequently supplanted. I'm tearing through B: AC right now on my PS3 (about 85% completion Story Mode) and it's an extremely well executed game. It's like they took the first game and pumped it full of steroids, or TITAN, or nacho cheese or...whatever, just go play the fucking thing.

I'm still waiting on my copy of the game to arrive. I pre-ordered a handfull of games from bestbuy.com, and it seems to be taking about a week for them to get them to me as they are released. With the games being space a week to two weeks apart, I'm getting shipping notices for the next game, when the previous game hasn't even arrived yet.

I'm definetly looking forward to playing this game though. I even got the Batman beyond skin from the NOS promotion.

I'm getting the game once I can afford it which is probably next month. But I am quite disappointed that you didn't tell anything about Catwoman... Aren't there anything happening to her that is worth mentioning?

You know, I really enjoyed playing as Catwoman. She's a lot of fun in combat, but not so much fun running around the city with since she takes much longer to climb up buildings and run around rooftops.

But, sadly, her role in the story is genuinely pretty forgettable. There's a reason they made her DLC optional, even though it's integrated into the story. She has only about 4 story missions that serve little more than to pad out the game's length. There's a cameo in her story from Poison Ivy, but that's pretty much it. Her missions are extremely short to boot.

But, that said, she is there to pad out the game's length, and there are certain riddles and trophies only she can find and solve (though why Riddler left these for Catwoman isn't ever explained...).

I LOVE Catwoman, and she looks, sounds, and even plays pretty swell in this game... but she doesn't really DO much either. When it comes to the ladies of this game, Talia Al Ghul is far more important to the plot, and even Harley Quinn shows up more frequently. Catwoman, despite being playable, is just a notch above Vicki Vale's cameo.

Aww, that's rather a disappointment. She's one of the main reasons I want to get this game...

Someone on Gamefaqs said that playing as Catwoman is what a Daredevil game would and should feel like. I agree.

Just finished the main campaign. I loved all of it. i loved the fact that all the boss battles were essentially the same, but with enough difference to make each one memorable and fun (Mr. Freeze's was my personal favorite). And I also really enjoyed the fact that they didn't release all of the villains featured in the game, which made Clayface and Ra's that more awesome.

Okay, just finished the game. Could not be more disappointed with the finale. Everything in this game is flawless except for the terrible, terrible ending and complete burial of most of Batman's rogue gallery.

So let me get this straight, Joker, Talia, Ra's, Hugo and possibly Clayface are all killed in the ending? Did Talia really need to die? And what's up with Batman carrying Joker's body like he was some sort of hero? Shouldn't he be, ya know, mourning over Talia instead?

And I cannot get over the fact that Hugo Strange and Ra's look absolutely pathetic in this game. The battle with Ra's should have been the final battle. Strange should have gotten a real fight. They really messed up the order of when things should have happened in this game. Strange and Ra's plans to destroy Arkham City should have taken precedent over The Joker and his crap and should have ended the game.

Above all else, Clayface should not have been the final boss. Why in the hell would you have him be the final boss? The guy had zero buildup and no real motive.

And another thing, wtf was up with the Freeze battle? I mean, it was totally awesome and I love Freeze in this game, but why did they start fighting? And right after the fight Batman and Freeze start working together again like nothing happened. Really odd.

Two Face is defeated before you hit the 1% mark in this game. kk, gg Harvey

I guess Rocksteady stuffed as many villains as they could in this game. While Arkham Asylum had about five or six villains that were fleshed out and threatening, Arkham City has about twenty that don't get a lot of time in the spotlight and as a result look like shit.

Whatever, game's still fun and I can't wait to 100% complete it. Just wish the ending wasn't so shitty.

Hey SubMan799! We're going to have a discussion! WOOT!


"MOST" of Batman's rogue gallery? There's a few notable deaths in the game, but the vast majority of the enemies you encounter either live or even get away entirely. Some of them are tied to the story (Mr. Freeze, Penguin) while many other villains show up in side-missions (Bane, Hush, Zsasz, etc.). That's not even including the ones that never showed up in the game at all (Black Mask, Red Hood, etc.)


Talia's death was MEANT to be shocking, and I don't think Batman WASN'T mourning over her passing. But remember, at the end, Batman got blasted into the basement of the Lazarus pit and the theater they were in basically exploded and got covered in rubble... where Talia was probably buried under.

But concerning Batman carrying out Joker's body, I thought that was genuinely well done, haunting and powerful. As much as they despised each other, Batman and Joker DID have great respect for one another, if not admiration. Even in the Animated Series, when Batman "died", Joker was very upset and held a funeral for his fallen foe, just as Batman honors the death of his greatest adversary. Remember, Batman never wanted to KILL the Joker, and in fact worked to SAVE him, partially because Joker was also a creature he had a hand in creating... but he failed, and with Joker's death that meant the end of an era, both for him and for others. Batman's statements in the game that "all life is precious" doesn't exclude the Joker.


The game did get a bit cluttered, but it was basically two storylines happening at once, one with Akrham City, Hugo Strange, Ra's, and "Protocol Ten", and the other with the inner city gangs, Joker's terminal illness and poisoning Batman with his blood.

BUT the two did tie together, since Ra's wanted to purify Gotham using Hugo and Arkham City, AND that opened the doors to Talia's involvement and Joker discovering the road to immortality. I agree it could've been handled a bit better, but the stakes did feel right to me; save the criminals or save the woman Batman loved... Even the game showed Alfred FORCING Batman to put Arkham City over Talia's life... and she died as a result of that decision. The game ended on the right emotional note, if not the best thematic one.


I disagree slightly. On one hand, Clayface was a very well-done final boss, certainly a massive step up from "monster Joker" in Arkham Asylum. And the guy DID have both build-up and motive. He was a criminal with a grudge against Batman given the opportunity for the role of a lifetime by the Joker, catering to his obsession with performance and convincing acting. It was a role to become someone so convincingly that even the great Batman would be fooled. That was his hook, and it was compelling.

Similarly, he did have plenty of subtle build-up. They weren't overt about his involvement until the very end of the game, but looking back, there are SEVERAL scenes where the "fake" Joker is around, misleading both Batman AND everyone else (including Joker's own gang). Clayface is mentioned several times as "Joker", when in retrospect, we now know the gangs and characters were talking about Clayface. I was VERY confused by a scene of the sick Joker, wheezing and coughing, ugly and frail, putting on his lipstick in the mirror... and then cutting to him clean and healthy seconds later... and looking back it now all makes sense. I was also confused by finding Harley Quinn tied up; I assumed Joker did it when she did something wrong... but the end of the game reveals it was Talia Al Ghul who stole the cure from her and tied her up. Again, it made sense later on.

That said, I DO think they could have thrown more teasers our way to help bridge those gaps. They didn't spoon-feed us the twist, and I appreciate that, and it does make sense, but unless you're REALLY paying attention, it does appear to come out of left felt. A simple scene hinting that Clayface was in the game and city (such as, say, samples of clay around the Joker's hideout) would've made the connections stronger.


Well, it was an excuse for a boss battle. Both Freeze and Batman were on edge and had been at each others' throats all the way thus far. Freeze was having a terrible day, Batman was poisoned and dying, both had something the other wanted and were proving very difficult. I don't think Freeze intended to KILL Batman, but perhaps make him hurt and torture him if he didn't agree to save his wife, Nora. Just like Joker wanted Batman to live to get a cure for him, but he wasn't above making him suffer and bleed a bit along the way.



Two-Face gets a lot more story and screentime if you play the Catwoman chapters. His grudge is more against the local crime lords and against Catwoman than against Batman. The finale of the game with the Catwoman content is Catwoman versus Two-Face, for instance, and he's more of a background character, whose thugs talk about his plans for Arkham City after the death of the Joker (and many in Joker's gang talking about joining up with Two-Face after Joker dies as well).


I agree that SOME of the villains don't amount to much (Two-Face, Mad Hatter), but MANY others are thoroughly fleshed out and EXTREMELY threatening. But you have to WORK to get that.

Zsasz in this game is FAR more threatening, fleshed out, and dangerous than he was in the prior game, making you race across the entire city under a tight time limit to stop his murders. You find the bodies of men with their faces cut off and Bruce Wayne's fingerprints on the murder weapons, building up the mystery of who is killing them, why your DNA is at the crime scenes, and what the killer's motivation is until the grand reveal. You spend a huge chunk of the game dealing with The Penguin. The Riddler is a MASSIVE presence in the game and constantly reminds you that he has hostages he WILL kill if you don't solve his death traps. Deadshot requires a lot of forensic evidence and build-up, as well as an unexpected boss battle. Bane has more plot and character development in this game too, despite not having to fight him. You can't say Ra's Al Ghul didn't have a massive presence in the game either.

I think there were a lot of duds (Poison Ivy, Mad Hatter, Two-Face), and that clouds people's perceptions of so many villains that DID do quite a bit in this game.


I think the ending isn't an "ending" at all... there's too many unanswered questions. Even playing the game after the credits changes the way enemies talk and behave, with several of Joker's gang talking about what they're going to do, Harley being pregnant with Joker's child, and some even state "Joker's died before. He'll be back."

And the League of Assassins even talk about how the Lazarus Pit is still theirs and for their people... implying they might use it on Ra's and Talia. Hell, when Ra's kills himself, Batman just nonchalantly goes "he'll need another trip to the Lazarus Pit" and when you first meet Talia, he states "I'm here for Ra's. If he's dead again, wake him up."

I'm interested to see what's going to happen in the next game, and I can all but guarantee there will BE a next game.

They even poke fun at THAT, with some villains going "Is Arkham City through? What's next? Arkham Nation? Arkham World? Arkham Whole-Friggin' Universe? Pfft. Yeah, like that'll ever happen."

This game sounds epic by the way you guys write about it. Wow.

My thoughts exactly.

It truly is epic. I think an important thing to also state again is just how impressive the landscape is with landmarks. It took me all the way until I played through the campaign and trying to finish up side quests that I discovered Crime Alley..and the spot where the Waynes died.

I don't know about anybody else but I'm freaking PUMPED for Halloween to see what Calender Man's planning.

*cracks knuckles*

Here we go



When I say buried, I mean they weren't given much of a chance to shine or were taken out almost immediately. Plenty of characters look weak (Strange), incompetent (Ra's), or just downright pathetic (Two Face, Freeze). Throughout the main story only Joker and Penguin really look like actual threats towards Batman.

The villains that showed up in side missions were mainly C-list villains (besides Riddler and Bane of course) who were lucky just to make appearances. Most of them look strong, I suppose, but our time with them was very brief.



At that point in the game I was pretty numb to all the deaths so Talia's death didn't really shock me. And even if Talia was buried under the rubble, Batman should have still dug through to look for her. Her death should have been tragic for Batman, but instead he focuses on his arch enemy's death instead.



People seem to have this belief that Batman and Joker have a begrudging, mutual respect for each other. That could not possibly be further from the truth. The Joker views Batman as a friendly rival that he's trying to bring down. He views Batman as his greatest foe and loves battling him.

Batman, on the other hand, holds absolutely no respect or admiration for the Joker. I don't understand how so many people believe he does. While Joker loves their rivalry, Batman is absolutely indifferent to it. Batman views Joker as the embodiment of chaos that he must stop, but can't because he won't compromise his morals. He knows that the two are stuck in a never ending cycle of chaos that won't end until one of them dies. That's the relationship the two have.

The only reasonable excuse I've heard for Batman carrying Joker's body to the police is that in Gotham death is cheap. So maybe Batman wanted Joker's body to be in the hands of officials? I dunno, that's the only thing I can think of that would explain it.



The story could've been written so much better and have been less cluttered. The Joker's storyline, imo, should have finished before heading towards Wonder Tower. They should have had the Joker's death mount on Bruce's conscience as he headed towards Strange.

What really bothers me about Strange's role is that he never uses Batman's secret against him. He never tries to break Batman down or mess with his life at all. Also, why didn't he threaten to reveal Batman's secret when he came climbing up the tower?

And Ra's never really looks strong or threatening. He never poses a challenge to the Dark Knight throughout the story. When he was revealed as the true mastermind behind Arkham City, I was ecstatic! But then he went off and died a minute later. bleh



I'm not gonna argue that he was a pretty awesome boss fight, and I suppose he does have a motive, but I still disagree with his placement in the game. This goes along with my thoughts on the way the events in this game should have been ordered. Joker and Clayface should have been dealt with, and then Ra's and Strange should have been fought.

Oh, and looking back there actually were some really subtle teasers to the Joker being an imposter. Its actually really neat when you play the game over again.



I guess they had to work Freeze in as a boss somehow. It still feels kind of forced.



I don't like that one of Batman's most dangerous foes is turned into an afterthought. Rocksteady should have gone with the patient approach, and held onto a few villains for the next game. Two Face didn't need to make an appearance here imo.



Of the villains that appeared in the main story (Two-Face, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Joker, Harley, Ra's al Ghul and Strange) only Penguin and Joker come off as threats.

One of the things Rocksteady did real well in Arkham Asylum was make every villain look credible. The Scarecrow parts were so well done, Ivy is on another level after she takes over the island, Killer Croc's lair is terrifying and even Harley Quinn gets on your nerves. Only Bane gets shafted at the end of the day.

Here in Arkham City, most of the villains in the main story arc look like punks that Batman defeats easily.

I won't get into the side missions because, once again, those characters were lucky to get in and were mostly there for hardcore Batman fans to enjoy (which I totally did : )



Yeah its going to be pretty interesting seeing what's going to happen in the next game. Azrael sure as hell hyped it up for me.

I got my copy of the game yesterday, and must have spent at least 10 hours playing. I was playing it until 3 am this morning. The game is addicting, and just awesome, just so many things to do, and it's just so easy to get side tricked from the main story with side quests, which is a good thing. They did an amazing job bringing Arkham City to life.

Does anything else happen past Catwoman beating up Two Face? She's one of the main reasons im getting that game. Obesessed wtih her! ^.^

Catwoman has an exclusive run-in with Poison Ivy along the way, and also helps out Batman a tad. There's a few minor things that happen too, but don't expect her to be too heavily involved.

She's got a load more gameplay to her than plot, with 40 Riddler trophies only she can reclaim, so part of her charm is getting around and to areas that only she can reach without the benefit of all Batman's gadgets.