Batman Arkham City Notes

Controls

Left analogue stick    Character movement.
Right Analogue stick    Camera movement.
Left trigger       
Right trigger        Crouch.   
Left bumper        Detective Mode.
Right bumper        Grappling hook.
Y            Counter attack
X            Attack       
B            Flap cloak.
A            run and climb.           
dpad            Select gadgets       
Start           
Select
Clicking right stick
Clicking left stick

After saving the first thing I am asked to do is enter my 1st purchaser code for the Catwoman player model. Not something I would lament if I didn't get, or even use when I have, but I am all for the discouragement of second hand buying.
What I wasn't prepared for was the download of about 250mb, I thought this would simply be an unlock code.

An intro cutscene shows that Bruce Wayne has been captured by someone called Dr. Hugo Strange
A flashback shows Vicki Vale, a reporter, talking to camera before a press conference called by Bruce Wayne. It seems that the new Arkham city Prison is disliked by Wayne who is campaigning against it. Hugo strange is involved with something called protocol 10.
Bruce Wayne awakes tied up in a chair in Arkham city, a video playing on a nearby screen shows Strange giving a talk on the rules of the prison.
The room is like a small cell or torture chamber, maybe an interrogation room, there is a reflection in a glass wall showing Wayne sitting handcuffed hands and feet to a chair.
I am prompted to rock left and right and tip the chair over, when I do a guard comes in. I am prompted to press Y to counter when he tries to kick Wayne. This triggers an attack and Wayne grabs an item from the guards belt, breaking his nose in the process. The guard recovers and leads Wayne out into the prison proper.
Inmates scream abuse and threaten Waynes life, guards snarl orders. We are to move into line A.
Strange is waiting at the end of the line
We are led into an airlock type room, and meet someone called Jack Ryder, a reporter who was at the press conference.
We are then tipped out into a gauntlet, prisoners swarm over a fence and start attacking, we can counter with Y and attack with x, we have to press A to save Jack Ryder.
The Penguins voice can be heard crowing about Wayne being in prison. He comes towards us, flanked by inmates, a prisoner from behind clubs Ryder and Wayne down with a pipe and then Penguin stamps on Wayne's head.
We see Wayne being dragged by two inmates behind the Penguin.
The Penguin, who is known to Wayne as Cobblepot, is angry at Wayne for ruining his family, he puts on a pair of knuckle dusters and gets ready for revenge.
I counter the Penguins attack and then Wayne Breaks free. We have to take down a mob of inmates.
We now have to climb higher to get past a gate. We can run at objects and scale certain types, like dumpsters. Scaling a ladder we use a running jump to reach a vent.
On top of a building we contact Alfred using a wrist communicator. Batman asks Alfred to drop equipment onto the roof of the nearby Ace chemicals building.
We now have to climb up the building.
This is done by clambering around the side and using ladders. At the top we get a capsule air dropped in and it contains the bat suit.
We have to use a communicator stolen from the guards to listen in to their conversations. We find out that Catwoman is being held prisoner in a town hall building by Two face. Batman wants to speak to Catwoman, he thinks she will know what is going on in Arkham city.
We can now glide using Batman's cape, also fire a grappling hook.
I arrive at the nearby town hall and fight a pile of inmates outside.

Mission 1
I enter the Solomon Wayne Courthouse.
Two doors are locked, we have to move up to a balcony. Two face has Catwoman hanging from a rope above a vat of something green. Two face uses his coin to judge her, he starts spouting to his audience and we obviously have to do something before he kills Catwoman. I climb a ladder and come out in the rafters of the room, a guard is knocked out using a silent takedown.
We can drop down and attack the group below. Two Face is behind glass and unreachable.
I have to fight the inmates until they are downed, then Two face shoots Batman. Catwoman reveals that she wasn't entirely helpless. She is caught by Two Face however, and about to be shot, when Batman saves her, tying up Two face.
Batman and Catwoman talk, The Joker tries to snipe Catwoman while they do.
Catwoman leaves and Batman tries to work out the direction of the Joker following his bullet trajectory. I have to enter detective mode and find the bullets entrance point and impact point.
I find a prisoner named Calendar man in a basement cell. He talks of Saint Patrick's day being special this year.

Mission 2
It seems I have to follow the path of the bullet to a large church type building.
I arrive at the church and take out the guards outside.
Inside is a more familiar scene from the first game. We are greeted by Harley Quinn who informs us that the Joker is not feeling himself. She leaves and we have armed thugs with hostages. we have to use a smoke pellet and then vanish up into the roof. From the roof we are to take out the thugs one by one. We can break through thin walls to get at one, drop down from above scaffolding to take out another. The last two are done using a double takedown as they are standing side by side. The hostages are saved, we can now climb up the tower At the top we find the gun used to shoot at catwoman, it is being remotely controlled by Joker from another location.

Mission 3
I now have to find the source of the signal that the Joker used to control the bomb.
I trace the signal which is shown as a distance meter on the screen, it leads me to a place aptly named the Jokers fun land.
I hear a phone ringing, it is Victor Zsasz, he tells us that he has a game for Batman.
I eventually find the source of the signal, Batman speak to Alfred and we have to now enter the Sionis steel mill through the only available entrance, which is the chimney.

Mission 4
Inside the chimney we cut scene inside and find ourselves hanging on a tightrope over a huge furnace.
I come to a place where steam is blocking the way, I am shown how to use the batclaw to grapple a distant door and open it by pressing A a lot. Water spews out and cools down the way.
We are also shown how to use explosive gel on specific destructible areas.
Then to use batarangs to hit switches that are out of reach.

Mission 5
We come into a tunnel and find a large number of the jokers men, Harley Quinn throws the failed Doctor to them to kill, for failing to help the Joker. A clown with a huge hammer is going to kill her, when a stay of execution is granted. We can move around in the tunnel, but not get out to help.
Harley tells the men to go and collect the Mr. Freeze to help the Joker recover.
I move through the pipes, I have to shut of steam using the batarangs, then come out and fight a bunch of inmates.
Harley Quinn appears and tells us to stay away.

Mission 6
I have to use an alternative entrance to get behind some more armed guards, as I move through the factory.
I come to a room where the doctor is being held, I rescue her, she tells us that the joker is poisoned by something he calls Titan.
The Jokers men seal up the room, hoping to keep Batman caged.
I gain a remote electrical charge gun to use.

Each time you kill a henchman bats are released, these give you Xp and you can get upgrades by pressing back and selecting them from a menu. There are things like upgrades to your armour and new moves.

Mission 7
I now have to head back to the loading bay, the doors are sealed, so an alternative must be found. I use the electric gun to power some shutters which open, the pieces of equipment you can use the electric gun on are marked with electricity danger signs.
I have a fight with the inmates who were waiting on the other side of the door, the electric gun can be used to stun enemies as well.
Back to the loading bay I go, and now we can use the electric gun to swing a crane hook into the locked doors high above the room. With this done, Batman can now grapple up there.
As he does a cut scene shows the large clown with a hammer attacking him and knocking him back down to the loading bay.
We now have to fight the clown and inmates. As long as you steer clear of the hammer, the clown goes down fairly easily.

Batman climbs up into the office and finds Harley sobbing over a dead Joker. However, it is a trick and this corpse may look like Joker, but it isn't. Joker grabs Batman from behind and puts a gas mask on his face. Batman reels around obviously affected by the gas and then Harley knocks him down with a baseball Bat.

Mission 8
The scene shifts to Catwoman who is outside, in an interesting twist we are going to be playing as her now.
I have to go to Catwoman's apartment to retrieve some equipment, it seems she needs the help of Poison Ivy. Catwoman can climb into places using grates in the ceiling. She also moves around in a different manner to Batman, instead of grappling she climbs up buildings in jumps, holding on using her claws.
At the apartment we get a caltrops weapon, also a bolas.
The next waypoint leads us to Poison Ivy's lair, it is guarded by three armed thugs.
To get in I have to sneak under a bridge past a locked  door, using the Catwoman grate to enter.
Inside we meet Poison Ivy who has no love for Catwoman either it seems. We have to fight through three floors of inmates who are controlled by Ivy. Then in cut scene Ivy hold Catwoman prisoner as she asks Ivy for help.

Side Mission
I see a flare, and enter a building, Bane is inside, he tells us that he is intending to destroy the titan formula. It was created from his body. There are twelve container in the city, we have to find six and Bane will also find six.

Mission 9
The scene shifts back to Batman, who wakes up tied to a wheelchair with Harley and the Joker beside him. The joker is ill, titan is real and Mr. Freeze was making a cure. To ensure Batman helps him with this cure, the Joker has infected Batman with the titan poison.
He has also been shipping it to hospital around the city and infecting hundreds of innocent civilians.
It seems Batman must now help Joker to live in order to save the people.
Joker sets Batman free with his new mission, in his usual style by kicking the wheelchair out the window.
I follow a tracker to the coldest point of the city, it is the old Gotham city Police department. Outside some of the Jokers men are trying to break in.
I take them out then find my way inside, which takes a while. I eventually notice that the door frame has a power box above it. Using the electric gun opens the door but only a small crack. You then have to run and slide under the door.

Mission 10
Inside the police department we find the Penguins men. We have to take one of their radios and tune Batman's gear to receive that signal so we can hear what they are up to.
Inside are a bunch of thugs to take down stealthily. The Penguin taunts us and tells us that he is in the museum and to come and get him if we dare. He has some surprises in store.
When only one thug is left he surrenders and we can interrogate him.
Bombs start going off somewhere close by, the room shakes.
I am not sure where to go next, which seems to be a common theme recurring. Eventually I work out that I am to backtrack. As I try and leave the police building shutter slam down.
We now have to hack the security doors to get out of the police department.
This is done by using the cryptographic scanner, which means wiggling the right and left sticks until you get it right.

Mission 11
Outside the Penguin is blowing bridges to make movement around the city harder.
I head to the waypoint and find the museum. I have to hack a door lock to open the shutter gate. Inside we are introduced to inmates with blades. I was beginning to think the combat was easier than the first game.
These blade guards need to be countered by pulling the left stick in the opposite direction and pressing Y. This does a grapple attack on them and take the blade from them.
Now there a barred door which drops down when we pass through some invisible beams, of course we can see the beams in detective mode. I find a way into an office by blowing a hole in the wall with the batfoam. However, Penguin can jam our signals and we can't hack the computer door. We need to find his jammer and destroy it. I need to go up on the roof and find the Jammer. I find it with some inmates and break it. Oddly enough I have to smash three bits of it to break it. There are another two jammers to break. I find the next reasonably close. The last is deep underground in a subway system. As before thugs and break the jammer, then back up to the surface to the museum.

Mission 12
Now we can get inside the museum, a huge t-rex exhibit makes an appearance.
Inside the museum, we get armoured guards, which need to be beaten down with repeated punching. Pressing and holding B then pressing x repeatedly does this.
Some police have been sent in by commissioner Gordon, they have been captured by the joker, we have to help them. I find a switch that is distant, we can now throw remote controlled batarangs to hit distant targets.
I move through the museum, some exhibits have been perverted by the Penguin. We eventually come to a room like an arena. Here the Penguin taunts us and we have to fight lots of inmates.
Then we get a titan infected huge mutant inmate. We have to use the confuse move three times, then lay into it. Once done we climb on it's back and can use it to hurt the other inmates that are attacking.
Once done you have to work your way out of the arena. Throwing a batarang around a curved course opens a switch. Then a puzzle with a lift using electric boxes and exploding foam.
Breaking through an ice barrier we find a  huge ice palace, with Penguin freezing people using an ice ray.

Mission 13
I get down on the ice and have to move slowly otherwise you fall through and are eaten by a shark. I rescue the cop who has been frozen. I have to rescue another two cops who have been frozen. There is a raft which can be brought down and pulled using the batclaw, once on it, you can pull yourself about. Now we come to a large room full of guards.
This is complicated by the guards having night vision goggles, which basically makes it far harder to hide. Mr Freeze's suit is here in a display case.
I eventually clear the room, and then speak to the cops i have saved. They say that the last two are in the iceberg lounge.
I head to the iceberg lounge and find the Penguin in the centre of a circular boss battle room, he is firing Mr Freeze's ice gun and is behind a shield.
There is no way to get near him, we are told to go and find Freeze. I find him kept in a cage, after fighting a large one armed scythe boss we get to release Freeze. He tells us that there is a security override that we can use.
I travel back across the frozen lake to the room with freeze's suit.
Here Batman takes the override, we now have a weapon with which to get at the Penguin.
We can now wait for his gun to recharge, then get close enough to use the override.
We knock the Penguin down, however he has a backup plan. Batman is tipped down into an arena to face a huge Character called Solomon Grundy.
Grundy is a huge humanoid with two ball and chains attached to his hand. He is fairly untouchable, the key too killing him to to drop foam bombs onto three circles on the ground. These provide him with energy and once they have been bombed he falls. This must be done three times, with increasing interference being run by Grundy each time.
Once he is done the Penguin comes in to attack, all you have to do is dodge his rockets enough to get close and pound him into the ground.

Mission 14
Batman returns to Freeze, and finds that the cure is indeed real and made, however the problem is that it cannot survive long enough to cure the victim. It needed to be bonded with human protein before it can survive long enough in the body. Freeze tells Batman this process would take years. Batman tells him that he knows of someone who has been exposed to the poison for many years. Ras Al Ghul is the man in question, and he is dead. Batman needs to find his body. Handily his daughter is trapped in a cage nearby by the Penguin, she hears of Batman's plans and escapes. We now have to follow her blood trail to Ras Al Ghul.
I follow the blood trail through the city for a while. Then an assassin tries to attack me. We have to chase the assassin down and fight them, during the fight Batman places a tracker.
The assassin is then allowed to win the fight, she warns Batman off and then Robin arrives to help Batman. Batman is none to pleased at this. Seems there is tension between them.
The assassin is gone and the tracker planted. Robin leaves us with a line Launcher.

Mission 15
We are now following the tracker, leading us to the assassin's base.
We go into the subway and sewer system. We have to use the line launcher, and learn how to use it to turn corners while riding it's lines.
More henchmen to fight, then a hack to open a door into a subway yard, this is the same area we came to to find the jammer that penguin was using.
There is a door here that was unavailable earlier and we move into more tunnels.
I come to a large armed guard takedown room. A nurse is held captive and we rescue her.
Moving through a door we come to a new area called Wonder city.
Batman is getting ill from the effects of the poison.
We move through a set of electric controlled doors and then fight a group of three sword wielding female assassins.
We come to a place called Wonder city, which appears to be an expo for some kind of futuristic city dream.
Inside the fake city we have to scan around six robots to get security cam data which shows the assassin opening a secret door.
We then grab on to use their sword as a key.
Inside is a tunnel.
Batman collapses and sees his parents beckoning him into the light. He only has minutes to find the cure.
We find Talia Al Ghul, she wants us to join her in leading the assassin's army. She wants us to take some trials.
We go through a door and a ghostly Ras Al Ghul makes us complete tests of our skill.
We have to fly through a broken up landscape, making dive bombs and soars to keep our speed up.
We also have to fight demon warriors.
We then are told that we must fight Ras Al Ghul himself. Back out of the room, we find Ras.
He wants us to kill him and take his place. Batman refuses and we are taken to the demon realm again to fight Ras.
This is a boss battle, Ras attacks at times and we must fight demon sand warriors. Then once they are gone Ras becomes  a huge sand warrior with his real form at the base. Sand warriors move around him and shield him. We must use the electric gun to hit him and avoid the attacks that come our way. We have to do this twice and then Ras is downed. He tries to threaten Batman by killing Talia, who Batman has had relations with in the past. We have to use a special boomerang Batarang to stop him. Talia leaves disgusted with both of us and Batman takes a sample of Ras's blood.
We have to backtrack, back to Mr Freeze. There are new inmates with riot shields. Specific attacks must be done to take them out.
As we are leaving the subway system Strange comes over the loudspeakers and tells the inmates that Quincy Sharp, the old warden of Arkham Asylum is now an inmate. He invites the prisoners to have their fun with him.

Mission 16
Batman connects Strange and Sharp and wonders what Sharp may know, we have to go and save him from the prisoners. We find that Strange is being funded by someone else in this.
I go back to the GCPD department, Jokers men are in the way. It seems that Joker doesn't believe Batman is working on the cure anymore.
I get into the lab and find Freeze, he make the cure for us then withholds it. He wants us to get his wife who the Joker has prisoner. Batman becomes angry and demands the cure. We then have to fight Mr. Freeze.
This is a fairly good boss fight, freeze walks around slowly, using his shield and rapidly offensive freeze gun. Being seen by him is quickly very bad news for Batman. You can use all the surprise attacks at your disposal, though only once, each time they are used Freeze adapts and deploys a counter measure that makes it impossible to do the same thing twice.
Once he is down Batman opens the safe to get the cure and finds that Harley Quinn has broken through the back wall off the safe while they have been fighting.
We now have to go and get the cure from the Joker. Freeze begs us to find his Nora and gives us a weapon to help.
This is a freeze projectile gun, which can freeze water and people.

Mission 17
As we leave the GCPD building to go and find Joker again, Vicki Vale can be seen snooping using a helicopter. Joker shoots her down. We now have to go and rescue Vicki Vale.
The jokers men now have snipers rifles, which leave the usual laser trail back to their user. We have to clear the snipers then go and speak to Vicki.

Mission 18
On to the Steel Mill again, to find Joker. Snipers are making travelling across the city much harder than earlier.
The steel mill is guarded well and the furnace is burning at maximum, this means that we can't go back in the chimney. There is a heat exchanger that can help us.
I find the back door heavily guarded.

Mission 19
Now we have some puzzling with water. We come to a flowing river inside the plant, and have to put down freeze blasts which make little floating platforms of ice. We can use these in conjunction with the grappling hook to move around the river and avoid obstacles.
There is a puzzle here that isn't explained well, you have to use a batarang to hit a fuse box, however, you have to also guide the batarang through an electric arc which charges it up first.
Nobody mentions that, I was hitting the box about ten times and not knowing why it wasn't working.
I move on and start to find areas of the steel mill that I was in earlier. We meet the doctor we saved earlier and she tells us that the jokers men are laying mines for us.
I come to a large room that we did earlier and have to take out the inmates.
Then moving back through the areas we have already done, thankfully without much enemy interference. I come back to the loading bay area.
Harley is tied up and gagged in a random location, maybe she likes being bound and left. She tells us accidently where Joker has stored the cure.
Joker's office is empty, There is a door nearby, I enter and it is an arena type box room. Joker is there and he appears to want to fight Batman one one one. I sense a trick.
It is, as we start to fight him, more henchmen arrive, there are also funhouse trains roaming the room which hurt you and the enemies.
After defeating every minor boss so far and loads of henchmen, Batman has the joker at his mercy. Of course he has one last trick up his sleeve and he brings the room down around the pair of them with an explosive. Batman is left trapped under a pile of rubble. The joker is about to kill him when Talia Al Ghul appears and offers the Joker immortality in return for sparing Batman's life. The Joker agrees, and leaves with Talia. Talia points at Batman's tracker which is on her chest before she leaves, indicating that she hasn't gone totally crazy.

Mission 20
Back with Catwoman and Ivy, it seems like a while since we last saw them. Ivy agrees to help Catwoman get into Strange's vault, he has a very rare plant of hers in there, so their agendas coincide for now.
I arrive at Strange's vault and have to fight some guards, then enter a manhole. Poison Ivy is already attacking with her plant roots.
Inside the facility we have to get access cards from the guards, also we can't be caught or they will lockdown the vault, even to authorised access.
We must move around the room and steal three cards, the guards who have them are marked, and instead of doing a silent takedown sneaking behind them sees Catwoman steal the cards. we have to take the cards to the computer, which then opens the vault. We must now take out the guards as normal.
After we do it, we hear Strange telling his men that Protocol 10 is now active.
Inside the vault Catwoman finds a briefcase with something she likes inside, we can't see what it is. Strange's men corner her in the vault and we have to fight them.
Once done Catwoman picks up two briefcases and we can now leave the vault.
We are given a choice it seems, go and save Batman or escape with the loot.
I choose to help Batman, we have to go back out into the city. When we do a cut scene shows Catwoman helping Batman out of the rubble.
It seems that it wasn't the Joker who triggered the explosion after all, it was Protocol 10, which after all the big build up appears to simply be Strange deciding to level Arkham city by firing an awful lot of rockets from helicopters.
Batman wants to get straight after Talia, Alfred reminds him that Batman should save the greater amount of people in danger first, even if they are all prisoners.

Mission 21
We now have to get into  Wonder tower and stop Strange's plan, we need to get an access code from a helicopter.
This means we have to roam around the city scanning the helicopter. Once we find the right one we grapple onto it and download the program. This allows us to enter the guard room of wonder tower. Two snipers guard the entrance and we have to hack a door to get in.
Inside I drop down through some pipe tunnels then we find some guards who have captured some prisoners. Strange tells the guards to execute them, continuing what seems to be the systematic execution of every inmate in Arkham City.
After taking down the guards, who have stun stick, which means we need to attack them from behind using a combo move. Strange starts talking to us from a large television screen. He tells Batman that he is to blame for the super villains. If it wasn't for the catalyst of Batman the criminals would not have to have evolved to be a match for him.
He sends in a bunch of Tyger guards to kill us, after taking them down the way seems to be leading down to a manhole cover. We drop down into a old ruined derelict part of the city.
We have to use the line launcher to move around, then blow out the floor to progress. We find ourselves back at the entrance to wonder tower's foundations.
We now have to clear this room of many tiger guards.
Then we hack a lift door to get in and make it go up. We rise up the tower a little way then get stopped by some guards, we have to fight them, you can jump up into the top of the lift and surprise attack the guards from above.
We now have to hack a door and then climb up the outside of the tower to another entrance.
We move through vents and hack another door to reach the top of the tower. Where we have a room full of guards to clear.
Strange is in a control room, we have to hack the door. Batman beats Strange and then let's oracle shut down Protocol 10.
Ras Al Ghul appears and stabs Strange. It was he who was behind the whole thing.
Strange activates protocol 11 with his last breath, which blows up the tower. Batman and Ras end up fighting in freefall. Ras is stabbed with his own sword and impaled when he lands.
Batman lands safely and sees a tv screen with the joker on it.
Joker has Talia and wants us to come to the movie theatre to save her.
The movie theatre is surrounded by many snipers, we have to take them out to even consider approaching.
Inside Talia and the Joker are standing waiting for Batman. The Joker asks for the cure, Batman is puzzled, as he thought he had already taken it. Talia kills the Joker easily, revealing that she was never in any real danger.
Batman begins to piece things together, this isn't the real Joker, Talia had the cure, she took it from Harley, that is why she was tied up and gagged. The Joker thought that Batman had the cure. Talia is shot by a sniper as Batman works it out. The ill joker appears, and reveals that a shapeshifter called Clayface was imitating him. Clayface turns into his normal form and we have to fight him.
He uses slashing long arms attacks, rolls into a ball and charges, and jumps at Batman. We have to use our freeze blasts to slowly freeze him. We do this one and take out the sword and use it on him. Then rinse and repeat with different attacks, on the same theme. There are explosives in the corners which we can use to hurt him if we get him to roll his ball at them.
Once downed for a second time, Joker blows the floor and we plunge down into Ras's Lazarus pit room.
Here clayface splits himself into many attackers and we use Ras's sword to kill them.
We have to still throw freeze bombs at the larger clayface mass.
Once downed this time, Batman takes the cure vial and uses it.
Joker tries to use the Lazarus pit, Batman stops him, though Clayface is knocked into it.
Joker tries to take the cure from Batman and in doing so stabs Batman making him drop it.
Joker then appears to die. Batman carries his body out of Arkham City. Police commissioner Gordon asks batman what happened and he keeps on walking.
The Credits Roll.
New game plus mode is now unlocked.
There appears to be a final mission to play through as Catwoman after the credits.
We have to go to her apartment to get her loot, then escape Arkham City. At the apartment a trap bomb goes off as we enter. Two-faces thugs are waiting and we have to fight them. Interrogating a thug Catwoman learns that Two face has her stuff.
We have to go back to the museum, inside we fight through more thugs, backtracking through the entire level to the large challenge room, two face is inside and we have to take him down along with his armed men. After finishing this mission we are met by Batman, and we can now switch between the two at specific points. All that is left to do is the many many side missions.

15 hours.
315 Achievement points for play-through of the main story only.