Parent's Guide: Batman: Arkham City Armoured Edition - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

The sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City puts players into the boots of the titular Batman, as you seek to bring criminals to justice. The game begins with the revelation that a large part of Gotham City having been cornered off to make way for a giant facility in which to house the growing number of crooks and super villains the city seems to attract. After registering his disapproval, Batman is captured, and taken inside the prison, trapped with many of his greatest foes, from Mr Freeze, to the Joker, the Penguin, Two-Face, and the Riddler.

Donning the mask, boots, and pants, you will become Batman, with the game doing a great job of making you feel like a super hero. Swooping off buildings, dropping into the middle of a crime, beating up the baddies and protecting the innocent, Batman: Arkham City certainly has its moral compass in the right place.

Most of your time with the game will be spent either solving crimes, tracking down baddies, or protecting the random innocents they find who find themselves in peril. Part crimefighter, part crimesolver, Batman takes time away from knocking criminal's heads together in order to piece together puzzles and figure out an overarching mystery in the game's plot. Using a variety of gadgets and gizmo's at his disposal, Batman can scan crime scenes for clues, finding essential evidence which will eventually lead him to the criminal who committed it.

In terms of difficulty, Batman: Arkham City is enough to put up a challenge, but if you've played similar games, like Crackdown, or to a slightly lesser extent, a 3D platform game like the LEGO games, or Epic Mickey, then although Batman will likely be a step up from that in terms of difficulty, it's not a giant leap. While having a huge city to freely explore may seem a bit intimidating, things are actually fairly straightforward, with the Wii U GamePad's built in map making keeping track of things, and finding your way around the town a lot easier. If you're ever not sure where to go, all you have to do is follow the Bat Signal that's being projected into the sky. While the game is fully voiced, there are several mission objectives, riddles, and other clues that are written only in text, meaning reading is required.

Although it has a rather dark atmosphere, Batman: Arkham City probably isn't as unfriendly as you imagine. While you're in a world populated by unpleasant bad guys, it's your job as Batman to see they all meet their comeuppance - which they eventually do.

That's not to say that some of the themes dealt with aren't a little bit adult in nature. Early in the game, you find a man lying on a medical table, with his head wrapped in bandaged. Talk to the doctor, and he'll reveal that the guy went crazy, stole anaesthetics, and used them to tear his own face off. Hence his bandages. In terms of bad language, the game's surprisingly light on swear words, too, with the strongest language we've heard being "b*tch" and the occasional "b**tard"

The game does also have a penchant for violence, although perhaps not as much you'd expect. While there's no showers of blood and gore, the game does have several scenes where people get hit full force in the head with a baseball bat, complete with a sickening clang. For the most part, though, combat involves a mixture of headlocks, roundhouse kicks, and throws that are no more violent than you'd see on a wrestling show, with the only exception being when Batman sneaks up behind an enemy, and smothers their mouth/nose with his hands. Perhaps as gory as the game gets is actually the one half of two-face's, er, face, which has only muscle, no skin, and looks rather disturbing.

There are a few sexual references too, some of which revolve around Harley Quinn, and others that are just overheard as you move around the city. Again, nothing is too explicit, but a neon sign advertising live nudes, and other references towards porn and sexual relationships are of note.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Nintendo Wii U