Where Asylum’s level design was corridor-heavy, City has expanded its scope exponentially, setting you loose in the massive titular area: a hellish maximum-security “home” for Gotham’s worst criminals. From an urban-development standpoint, it’s an awful idea, but as a potential playground where Batman can set things right, it’s fantastic. This is Rocksteady’s first open-world game, but it doesn’t feel like it at all: You’re given free rein to patrol the city from the rooftops, careen around it Pilotwings-style, or stalk your prey from the ground. When you tire of the lengthy main campaign, there are surprising alliances to forge (early on, Bane seeks Batman out, wanting a partnership); a Die Hard 3-style cat-and-mouse game with Zsasz, involving ringing payphones and hostages; and lots and lots of fights to pick. Thanks to a vastly improved combat system, which allows you to whip out those wonderful toys at a moment’s notice, it gets to the point where a 39-on-one fight isn’t just welcome, it feels fair.
Unfortunately, these diversions usually wind up being far more satisfying and exciting than the main story’s thrust, which quickly devolves into a two-pronged routine: Chase person X to location Y, or face a sudden detour to location Z when location X has an unforeseen roadblock. For example, after you break into the museum, you discover the Penguin has jammed your cryptographic sequencer, so it’s back outside to smash his jammers. It’s a little telling when the game itself keeps shoving you back outside, and understandably so: Who’s gonna stop you? You’re the Batman.
