Any video game enthusiast can name award-winning games that changed the way they play – from GoldenEye for the classic Nintendo 64 to Call of Duty – but many of them will readily admit that they would have never expected a Batman game to be on that list. After all, how many times can you reinvent the superhero? But the Oct. 18 release of Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to the surprisingly successful Arkham Asylum, shows that Batman is more badass than ever – even if he is 72 years old.

The brilliance Arkham Asylum was in its simple controls and complex challenges, which made for an incredibly thrilling first-player experience. Armed with just a few gadgets, Batman could rapel between buildings and beat up thugs on his way to meet legendary villains such as Poison Ivy, Bane, the Scarecrow, and, of course, the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill, otherwise known as the actor who played Luke Skywalker). Arkham City mirror its predecessor in terms of gadgets and other technicalities such as detective mode, which allows Batman to view his surroundings in X-ray vision, making it easy for those who have played Arkham Asylum to pick up where they left off.

But where the newest Rocksteady Studios creation overwhelms the first Batman game is in its authenticity to the original comics and sheer enormity of things to do. Batman faces off against every single villain he has met, including Two Face, Mr. Freeze, the Penguin, Bane, and the increasingly psychopathic Joker. If that were not enough, the game offers an array of side challenges, such as racing across the criminal-infested city of Arkham in order to prevent serial killer Zsasz from slaughtering hostages. It’s a dark, chilling game, reminiscent of both The Dark Knight and the original 1989 Batman, but clearly original at the same time. As is true for most video games, time absolutely flies when you play it.

Since playing GoldenEye as a kid, I have had a strange affinity for first-person action-adventure games. The music, the fighting (or shooting, in James Bond’s case), the puzzle solving, the story itself, is engrossing. In the past few years, however, first-person games have exhibited the same patterns – follow the map to the waypoint, watch a short scene, try to kick some ass, run into some roadblocks on the way. Grant Theft Auto 4 and Red Dead Redemption are essentially the same game, except one deals with drug dealers and the other with lasso-wielding cowboys.

Arkham City is somehow much more unique and exciting to me. Maybe it’s because I love the Batman story itself, one of a billionaire-turned-superhero who battles a plethora of psychologically backwards villains and their musclehead thugs. Maybe it’s because the game has incredible CGI to the point that it makes me feel like as if I am in a fantasyland. Maybe it’s because the challenges flow seamlessly and require real effort, as opposed to most of the shooter games available today that a monkey could beat.

Undoubtedly, this latest Caped Crusader installment will be a contender for Game of the Year. In my mind, it’s a contender for game of the decade.

And yes, a girl wrote this.