BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY Reviews Suggest Near Perfection

So, the first reviews are now in, and it looks like Rocksteady have a bona-fide classic on their hands with Batman: Arkham City. Scores are almost uniformly at the very top end, with most reviewers taking away no more than one point from their final evaluation. While we wait to get our own review up, below is a selection of the gaming world authorities who I personally turn to for their opinions. And while I'm wholly jealous that they got their hands on the game first (we'll get it early next week and review it as soon as I can get through the campaign - so the next day I'd wager, since I plan on pulling a sicky), what I'm reading is extremely exciting...

IGN

Rating: 9.5/10

Not quite the full marks that were being predicted from the premiere reviewing site, but a 9.5 is still a very impressive score - and it seems that the reviewer - Greg Miller - is happy to concede that his nit-picking was misjudged given how great the game is overall:

Batman: Arkham City isn't perfect, but listing the little things I didn't like gets in the way of all the stuff I adored. The voice acting, the challenges, the amazing opening, the unbelievable ending and the feeling of being the Dark Knight -- these are the things that standout looking back. I've beaten this thing twice and still want to call in sick and chase Riddler Trophies. Batman: Arkham City isn't just better than Batman: Arkham Asylum, it's better than most games on the market.

Eurogamer

Eurogamer meanwhile talks up the authenticity of the game - in its stunningly executed environments and its promise of and delivery on the experience of becoming the Bat:

Rating: 9/10

First they gave us a hero; now they've given us his ideal playground. And along the way, they crossed off one of the trickiest entries on my own personal to-do list: an entry that's right there in between Meet Ty Pennington and Finish that Robert Musil book . Become Batman. Done.

Joystiq

Rating: 9/10

And Joystiq agree...

Not only has Rocksteady managed to compose a pitch-perfect playground for the player to explore, the studio has, once again, nailed that abstruse feeling of being Batman. It's unfortunate, then, that the team did no small amount of laurel-resting when it came to crafting Batman: Arkham City's narrative.

G4TV

Rating: 10/10

G4TV went a step further, offering a full-marks score card, and suggesting that "Rocksteady has made the greatest Batman game ever crafted", improving even on Asylum. Now that's some good going:

I wrote, earlier this year, that inFAMOUS 2 was the best superhero game ever made. It seems so sad to hold the title for so short-lived a time, but I€™m afraid I have no choice but to wrest the crown from its bearer. Batman: Arkham City is a game so good that I€™m not fully convinced it wasn€™t programmed by alien wizards. Despite my best efforts to prove otherwise, it deserves every accolade it is so sure to receive, every perfect mark it is so sure to tally. Including, of course, my own.

Nowgamer

Rating: 9.4/10

A near-perfect 9.4 from Nowgamer (my new favourite gamer site), who lavish praise on Rocksteady as "one of the most important and untouchable developers currently around":

Essentially a Batman simulator, Arkham City is an absolute beast of a game that lives up to the promise Rocksteady instilled when it created Arkham Asylum. Easily one of the best games you€™ll play in 2011 and beyond.

The Telegraph

Rating: 10/10

And another top marks from The Telegraph's Tom Hoggins:

The individual components of Arkham City are each intricately crafted and beautifully polished, but the greatest sense of achievement for Rocksteady is meshing them into a cohesive whole. All the expansion in the world is worth nothing if you can€™t fill your creation with meaningful distraction. And Arkham City is bursting at the seams.

It's hard to find many suggested faults, though there seems to be some agreement on the one-dimensionalness of some of the villains, who are trotted out as punch-bags, but we have to remember, they are fighting the bat. And not many people come out of that bout unmarked. Come back next week for our full review of Batman: Arkham City, which is released on October 21st for XBox 360, PS3 and PC.