Early impressions of Batman: Arkham City - Batting for a home run?

Being one of my top 5 games for Q4 2011, I was extremely excited to finally get a chance to play the Xbox 360 version of Batman: Arkham City.
So far I've only had time to scrape the grimy surface of Arkham City, but I have gotten enough dirt under my fingernails to bring you some initial observations and impressions.

It's a strange time when one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year is a comic book franchise one

Like Gears of War 3, which I reviewed earlier this week, Batman: Arkham City is a pretty looking game that feels like it is really doing its best to wring out every last drop of graphical juice that can be found in the current generation of consoles.
However, it is also clear that the graphical juices are limited, and I feel that some of the animations, and particularly the facial work, is a bit lacking.

The big question that you're all waiting to be answered is of course; did Rocksteady Studios pull off another stunning Batman game?
Since I'm only a few hours into the game I'm not prepared to give a final answer on that, but I do think that I can already answer this question with a firm yes... and no.

You see, Batman Arkham City so far feels like a really well crafted and solid sequel to Arkham Asylum.
The combat mechanics that worked so well in the first game make a welcome return, as does the sneaking segments, complete with gargoyle statues for our caped crusader to crouch dramatically on.
And of course there is more Joker, more Gotham and just all round more of everything you loved in the original game.

Gliding around Arkham City is probably the feature that feels the most like a significantly new experience compared to Arkham Asylum

But I don't feel that there is anything that makes Arkham City feel like a big step up from Arkham Asylum in terms of bringing something new to the Batman gaming experience.
One of the big new things for Arkham City is the open cityscape that you traverse, which supposedly makes for more open ended gameplay. But in reality the game still feels pretty linear and the side missions don't really make you feel like you're in a big bustling open world game.

I don't want to sound negative about Batman: Arkham City at all. I am having a great time with it so far, and I'm sure I'll play it all the way through and really enjoy myself.
I just think it's important for people to know that this is basically Arkham Asylum with a few new doodads and not a big departure from the gameplay and storytelling of Asylum.

And now I'll return to Gotham and go have a friendly chat with Mr. Freeze..



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