So I recently got Batman: Return To Arkham on my PS4 because it was on a crazy summer discount. This included Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, remastered graphically for the newer-gen Consoles. I already had Arkham Knight, which I had purchased and played through already last summer, but since I wanted to replay it now, I figured I'd look to see if I could also get the other two Arkham Games, and to my luck they were, like I said, on crazy sale. So here I am, having finished all the Arkham Games (Except for Origins which I will review in a separate post one day because I haven't played it for myself and the review will be based solely on story) in a sense, even though I still have a few side missions left in Knight and City and have to do some of the Challenges in Asylum (Which I am not looking forward to, I hate the challenge modes). I figured I'd compile all of my thoughts on this "Trilogy" of sorts into one post, give them ratings based on separate aspects of the games, and overall, both whine about and praise the Arkham Games we all know and love.
Batman: Arkham Asylum had my favourite story of the three games I played. Maybe it was because it had the nicest flow of a story to it and it was the most exciting, but I preferred this story slightly to the more beloved Arkham City Story. Asylum also had the least to do in terms of that bitch Riddler who made you do a bunch of his Riddles in the next two games but very little in this one, which I appreciated. Plus the Riddles were easy to find because of the Maps hidden around the Asylum that granted you hints as to where the Trophies, Riddles, or Cyphered Messages were located in an area of the map. Combat-Wise, this game would’ve been amazing when it was released, but by today’s standards it leaves something to be desired. After playing Arkham Knight and feeling like Batman with the amazing amount of refined Gadgetry, Predator, and Combat, returning to a game from 2008 with its graphics was underwhelming to say the least. I shouldn’t be so hard on it, I know, but it still bugged me when you hit someone as hard as possible and it sounded like a slap on the ass with a piece of steak. The map in this game is a freaking maze too. I really wish there was a waypoint system with GPS, because I had to constantly be checking the map to see if I’m exiting the right door into the next room. I had to look a ton of directions up on Youtube, which is hilarious considering I looked up more directions on where to go in the game than I did look up answers to Riddler Objectives. The map is relevantly medium sized but it’s a ridiculous hassle to find where you’re going, and I get claustrophobic and nervous if I’m lost for too long in a tight hallway in the Asylum. I forgive this all though because of the story, like I said, being incredible. I’m surprised I enjoyed this game’s story more than City’s. The final boss should’ve been a little trickier for all the build-up but it was still fun at least. Joker’s plan is thrilling to slowly discover, and going through the story encountering the likes of Scarecrow, Bane, and Killer Croc was exciting. My favourite character in this game was Joker, because he made me chuckle on various ocassions and he was a terrific piece of the story.
Story: 10/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Bosses: 10/10
Conclusion: 8/10
Overall: 8.8/10
Maybe it was because I rushed through Arkham City in the span of one night only that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I predicted I would, or maybe it was because I legitimately enjoyed Asylum far more. Even still, the second installment in the Arkham Series holds up as one of the greatest Superhero Games of all time and its story is phenomenal. The twist at the end had been spoiled for me long before I even knew what order the Arkham Games were arranged in but that part in particular is still one of my favorite moments in any game ever. This game’s combat, while miles better than Asylum’s, is still sub-par, but again my criticism is biased due to how polished the combat in Knight is and that being the game I played first. Arkham City is fantastic and even though I prefer Asylum I still love this game. My biggest gripe is that there is a lot of story flow breaking, for example and most notably when you have to rescue Mr Freeze from Penguin at the museum but before getting into the Museum you must destroy the Interference Thingies Penguin has set up, two of which are on Rooftops and one underground that requires a long and tricky Stealth Section to proceed into destroying the objective. Then you must return to the museum, rescue a bunch of cops, go to the Lounge to catch Penguin, but you have to find Freeze before that to get an answer as to how to override the Freeze Gun Penguin has stolen, and then Freeze has you go to a different room to get his suit for him, which requires another Stealth Section to surpass, and then finally when you have the Disrupter, you get the gun from Penguin but have to face Solomon Grundy before dodging Penguin’s missles and taking him down in one hit. That sounds like a ton to do but it’s only a minor fraction of the main story and plot in this game. That shit is a hassle, but it doesn’t ruin the game too much for me, just brings the excitement of the experience down. The conclusion to this game is so satisfying, even if the Clayface Boss Fight is relatively easy (I’m noticing a theme here with the Final Bosses). Arkham City is epic.
Story: 9/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Bosses: 10/10
Conclusion: 10/10
Overall: 8.7/10
Ah yes Arkham Knight. I can’t tell whether I’m going to be really mean or really patient with this game. We’ll find out as we go along I guess. Knight was the first game I played from this series and I enjoyed it thoroughly mainly because I turned my brain off and went with everything. Now that I’m playing it for the third time I’ve really organized my older and newer complaints into one tidy binding of gripes. First things first we gotta address the good shit here because this game isn’t bad. The story in this game, while not flawless, has a collection of fantastic ideas and really good parts. I like the idea that Batman is infected with Joker’s blood and is slowly turning into the posthumous Clown Prince Of Crime himself, and is studying all these other people to find a cure before he goes insane. Scarecrow’s Fear Gas speeding up the process of this change is brilliant and satisfying to observe. Scarecrow and Joker are my favorite characters in this game by far. The idea of Arkham Knight being Jason Todd doesn’t bug me at all but it was spoiled so hard when you go through the story and are reminded Jason exists just for the sake of revealing him to be the Arkham Knight. If we had gone through the Flashbacks right after Jason was revealed I would’ve been way more fine with the reveal. It wouldn’t be a perfect way to show Jason’s Backstory and why he’s the Arkham Knight but it sure is better than how it really was dealt with. The environment and map in this game is brilliantly designed, and I especially like the details of the world when you’re in the story mode and hallucinating Joker everywhere, in altered posters and even in physical forms on top of various buildings. These gave me a good laugh. The Batmobile in this game is really fun and even more than what some of us wanted with it. People really need to realize they’re not complaining about the Batmobile being in the game or the Batmobile itself, but the fact it was drastically overused and shoved into the game at any point possible. Driving it around and smashing into cars is just the most enjoyable thing ever and I couldn’t ask for more. The DLCs in this game are dope, too. Season Of Infamy was fantastic, at times even better than the main story. The other DLC Stories are all pretty dope for the most part. Playing as the Arkham Knight himself is just the greatest in any scenario. Of course the best thing about this game is the gameplay itself, because it is the most adapted and refined version in the Arkham Series. Gadgetry is fun to play around with and combat is insanely cool. Predator Sections are a blast too so long as they aren’t overused or dramatically unrealistic. All the good stuff out of the way? Good. Now here’s what I have to say about what the game fucked up. Of course, the overuse of the Batmobile. Rocksteady’s mindset was that all these gamers were begging to be able to drive the Batmobile around Gotham, so let’s make the Batmobile but also make it a Tank and you know what would be great but to spend half of the story driving around in it. You know it’s bad when you have to do Parkour with your car to get it up onto a roof at one point in the story. Honestly it’s hilarious how much you need the Bat Tank Mobile for this game’s many missions. Like I said, the story isn’t flawless either. The conclusion felt so unsatisfying honestly, and minus the many tedious parts such as Stagg’s Airship and the Panessa Studios Missions, the story feels very flow-less too. The Side missions weren’t any better either. The Firefly Mission was incredibly boring and tedious (My use of this word will start to feel tedious in a little bit), it’s tie-in with the Fire Crew parts, while really cool, was structured poorly at times, the Militia Missions were sooooooo boring and… tedious… and its conclusion with the Deathstroke Fight AKA this game’s biggest joke was just so fucking dumb. For all the buildup and all the Militia related crap you have to do, the Deathstroke Fight should’ve a) been longer, or b) NOT SPENT IN THE GODDAMN TANKS. We’re going to cover the hilarity of the Riddler bullshit in a second but I’ll quickly address the only two Side Missions I liked: The Perfect Crime and Creature Of The Night. Creature Of The Night was mainly so good because it was a surprise; it’s not a mission that’s built up to or hinted at too much, you literally discover it either if you look to the sky and see a giant winged creature moving around in it and you say to yourself “What the hell” or if you try to grapple to a building and shit your pants when your grapple is interrupted by a heart-stopping scare from Man-Bat himself. The eeriness of this mission was so cool and very enjoyable. The second one I mentioned, the Perfect Crime, also had a really intelligent buildup, and I had no idea it was Professor Pyg behind it all until I entered his Boss Fight’s location. I thought this story was really well put together, and even though i didn’t like the Boss Fight that much, the mission itself was very enjoyable. But hoo boy back to complaints because we really gotta go over the Questionable Elephant In The Room, which was why the fuck there was so much Riddler Shit to do in this game. I mean honestly the Riddler’s Revenge Side Mission could’ve been released separately as its own game there was so much to do. I can’t even list it all here, but just know, there’s a lot, and it frustrated the fuck out of me. Siiiiiiighhhhh…. I think I’m done with my complaints here. Overall I still really like Arkham Knight, I just love it less than I used to. Now I know what my gripes are and I can list them all in a post such as this one. I’m rambling now so I’m cutting my review of Knight short, though there’s so much more I might say on some other day.
Story: 6/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Bosses: 3/10
Conclusion: 6/10
Overall: 7.9/10
Best Of The Best
Best Story: Asylum
Best Gameplay: Knight
Best Missions: Asylum
Best Side Missions: City
Best Boss Battles: Asylum
Best Open World: Knight
Best "Feel" (i.e. how much feels like Batman): Knight
Best Character (Asylum): Joker
Best Character (City): Joker
Best Character (Knight): Scarecrow (2 is Joker though)
Best Story Pacing: Asylum
Best Combat: Knight
Best Stealth: Knight
Best Gadgets Use: Knight
Best Gadgets Array: Asylum
Best Boss Fight (Asylum): Scarecrow
Best Boss Fight (City): Mr. Freeze
Best Boss Fight (Knight): Arkham Knight (Excavator)
Best Conclusion: City
Best Suits: Knight
Best Suit (Any Game): Batman Beyond Suit, Arkham Knight
Best Batmobile Appearance (Knight): 1966 Themed Batmobile
Best Robin Appearance: New 52 Suit, Arkham Knight
Best Catwoman Appearance: Primary Outfit, Arkham City
Best Nightwing Appearance: New 52 Suit, Arkham Knight
Best Harley Quinn Appearance: Primary Outfit, Arkham City
Best Line (Any Game): "Do you want to know something funny? Even after everything you've done... I would've saved you."
Best Game: Asylum
Big thank you if you actually read all of this, it took me more than two days to finish compiling my thoughts into a rough draft of this post. As for what I mentioned with my Origins Review, I'm going to read up on what I missed from the story and share me initial impressions and thoughts on it. If one day they decide to remaster Origins for the PS4 or 5, I'll be sure to pick it up and play it, because I'm under the impression it gets too much hate. The Arkham Franchise is epic though, and if you haven't played it yet, I command you to do so.
