Without question, Batman: Arkham City is one of the most enjoyable video games of 2011 –- even if you’re not a major fan of the DC Comics hero. For curious types, there are also many secrets to find and side-missions to accept.

Played from a third-person perspective, BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY fuses multiple gameplay elements into one, including stealth (lurk in the shadows to remain undetected) freeform combat (now with twice the number of attacks and animations than the last game) gadgets to use (beginning with your Bat Grappler) exploration (with many places to climb and soar to) and areas that require some puzzle-solving. (This means those who rent the game won’t likely get this extra content unless they opt to pay a few bucks to download it.) And Catwoman is a playable character, too but you’ll need to download these extra missions via a code in the box. Expect to see familiar baddies including The Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, The Riddler, Mr. From the moment Bruce Wayne dons the Batman mask on a snowy rooftop at the start of the game, you’ll venture out in this huge and open-ended city to foil the scheming plots of supervillains, protect the innocent, and attempt to bring some order to the chaos. As you’ll see in the slickly produced introductory movie, part of Gotham City is now sealed off and used as a maximum security prison for all of Arkham City’s criminal masterminds and other no-good thugs.

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