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Ranking the Batman: Arkham games

Joey Ravn

Banned
I haven't played Knight yet (it's a tad buggy on PC at the moment), but, IMO:

Asylum > City = Origins.

The problem with Origins is that is was too similar to City for its own good. But the story, IMO, was much, much better. So it evens out at the end.
 

Fury451

Banned
Knight has the unfortunate problem of being the fourth game in the series, so the formula seems a bit stale, but it is easily the most perfect formula and best game in the series.

Knight has a ton of repetitive side missions though, which is what's really a drag. It lacks creativity, whereas the other games, even Origins, tried to keep things fresh.

So it's less about stale, and more about scale. It's the biggest, yes, but it also feels the most empty. There's just a whole bunch of stuff happening, rather than each side event feeling important like it was in the past.
 
The story and setting are the best in Asylum. I like how the entire game is a struggle to catch up with the Joker, and its the best example of how the gameplay objectives and story meshing together. Sometimes it was the most annoying game, though. City improved in terms of mechanics.

Origins and Knight are pretty fun. They have that detective stuff, which I dig. Origins miiight honestly have the best bosses...but dont quote me on that.
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
I haven't finished Knight yet but so far:

Origins > Knight > City > Asylum

Not sure if anyone will have the same rank as me...
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Haven't played Origins, but man, all these games are top-notch experiences, I think so for me it's:

Arkham Asylum
Arkham Knight
Arkham City

Subject to change of course, I haven't completed Knight's side-missions yet.

If I were to rank them soley by the story mode, it would be AA, AC, then Knight. But at the end of the day it's like having three really shiny quarters and figuring out which one is the shiniest.
 

roytheone

Member
City> asylum>>> origins.

I am a PC only player, so yeah, will have to wait a bit before I can start playing Knight for real :(
 

Liamario

Banned
The three rocksteady games are the only ones I've played to completion. Though I did start playing origins.

It's hard to rank them, because they all were better in some areas and weaker in others.

I'd have to go with Asylum, Knight and then City.
Knight isn't as polished as the other two entries. Frequent screen tearing and less frequent drops in frame rate. I preferred Knight's story, but disappointed by the character exploration of the non main villains. Gameplay doesn't feel as solid either.

Would love a full on Gotham city though with civilians walking around and where it's not always raining. Also, why didn't they keep the assets from the previous games in this one. Seems strange to build this detailed world and not have a lot of the already made stuff in the game.
 
I would rank knight above origins if it had longer indoor segments with more puzzles and pits to cross, the only one I really enjoyed in knight was the theatre half way into the game where you spend a good half hour doing stuff indoors, otherwise you pretty much visit an area, got a few rooms deep and then use the batmobile to do something or leave and fly off somewhere the other side of the map.

Or fight more drones in the batmobile....

Oh yeah and lack of boss battles, not even a reasonable fight with the sub-villians? press Y to continue more like.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Origins after that for improving on City and innovating with the detective stuff that Knight took advantage of. Origins also had a lot of stuff to like for me as a huge fan of The Joker. Joker in Knight and Origins feels like an authentic version of the character, Asylum and City's Joker always seemed a little off.

Thats how I see it, it seem like Origins knew its characters and knew the world and how to tell a good story with great pacing in open world game, Knight seems to have actually copied Origins in every way in that respect
City felt jumbled together, seriously if the team behind Origins wants to take over with a series as RS ae killing Arkham off, then I welcome them.
 

Durden77

Member
They're all so good so they're very hard to rank, but if I had to....

Asylum
Knight
City

Didn't play Origins and don't plan to.

Knight has it's problems and is bloated at times, but out of all three of them it's the one that makes me feel the most like Batman. Except when I'm mowing down waves and waves of tanks. And while the story was a bit predictable sometimes, it was the most engaging of the three for me, along with it's fantastic and at times extremely clever presentation.

Asylum is just one of the most astoundingly tight and fulfilling games of all time though. It just can't be topped, only expanded on.
 

Pudge

Member
Thats how I see it, it seem like Origins knew its characters and knew the world and how to tell a good story with great pacing in open world game, Knight seems to have actually copied Origins in every way in that respect
City felt jumbled together, seriously if the team behind Origins wants to take over with a series as RS ae killing Arkham off, then I welcome them.

That's the best case scenario, and we all know WB isn't going to abandon this cash cow. I'd like a game focusing on all these playable characters that Rocksteady makes and then never lets you play with. Maybe a Batman Inc. type game where you can switch between Robin/
Red Hood
/Nightwing/Catwoman/Azreal and then whoever else they want to add in. Would probably be a good way to change it up. And a good way to sell DLC skins :p
 

KainXVIII

Member
-Batman: Arkham Asylum and i don't remember the rest (openworld=trash for me), they not worth it (not played AK yet, for obvious reasons)
 
Asylum by far, one of my goats, city, and then knight at the end, it feels the weakest out of the rocksteady games because of the forced drone fights. Haven't played origins.
 

Tagyhag

Member
I feel like it's too early considering lots of people are still going to be in the honeymoon period for Knight.

I would say: City>Knight=Asylum>Origins
 

jrush64

Banned
Ah true, but Arkham has pretty bad boss battles in general...freeze was the only noteworthy one in City, Origins had a few good ones though

It's amazing how this is the boss fight everyone quotes when talking about Arkham bossfights. It was insanely good.

I'm still playing through Knight so I hope one in the game comes close. I haven't met any boss fight so far though.

Arkham City
Arkham Origins
Arkham Asylum

Arkham Knight isn't ranked yet because I'm not done.
 

Tenrius

Member
Asylum > City >>>>> Origins

Origins was just awful compared to the amazing first two games. Asylum was a great focused experience with a Metroidvania-like feel and an amazing locale. City went open world while somehow keeping that tight feel of a small place where shit goes down from the first game, that was pretty great, but the game still is not as good as the first one due to some filler stuff.

Origins though? The map is bigger, but most of its parts don't even come close to feeling as distinct as what we've seen in AC. The side content is really uninspired, mostly a retread of the previous game, and the spectacle of the story, while certainly packing some punch, doesn't feel as grand as either of the previous two games. And the gadgets were just stupid. I mean,
a glue grenade
? What a huge letdown that game was. The PC version also was poorly optimized and had a pretty serious, almost gamebreaking bug which didn't allow you to progress after a certain point in the game, unless you were lucky (it was a random chance and took dozens of reloads basically).
 
Those people are just fans though, their opinions are no greater than ours.
the critics? I'm not saying their opinions aren't any more valid but in the grand scheme of things their opinions do matter more because that's what gives the game their statuses.
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Being a PC user I can't comment on Knight at the minute.

But as for the others for me it goes:

Asylum
Origins
City


City and Origins improved upon the formula in many ways but I just honestly prefer the first game. Nostalgia a bit here and just that it was the perfect length for me, I also liked it's story a lot. I will also say that I'm one of these people that despises collecting riddler trophies and don't really spend too much time in the challenge rooms so I don't go into the combat in that much detail.
 

Fjordson

Member
Asylum > City > Knight

I like Arkham Knight overall, but the Batmobile drags it down a bit for me. Don't enjoy using it for combat or any puzzles.

(haven't played Origins)
 

KingBroly

Banned
Asylum > City >>> Origins

While City has better combat, I think the story, predator implementation and Challenges are all worse than Asylum. Asylum has a more consistent level of quality across the board. Additionally, City is very bland and drab looking around the city. Everything basically looks like the same gray area.

Oh, and the Riddler stuff. DEAR.LORD. The Riddler stuff in City is ATROCIOUS. Finding the Maps were a lot easier than having to wait for randomly spawning dudes for me to beat up to give me a small chunk of the map of Riddler Challenges. It's TERRIBLE, tedious and just plain not fun to do. Oh, and then the Challenges are obtuse messes. Dive bomb these 4 switches in a row without touching anything. Bomb these 3 grated-off signs by zooming in one-by-one in the game's ONLY attempt at doing as such. It's just a mess. What makes matters worse is that there are 400 of them. The Riddler stuff in Asylum was cool to do and one of the big reasons to replay it over and over since it provided a lot of world building and easter eggs.
 

Anung

Un Rama
Knight
Asylum
City
Origins

They all have their flaws and their own individual strengths but that's how I'd rate them. City and Origins might be interchangeable I'd need to play them again. I think Asylum has a better story than Knight but Knight does everything else super well.
 

Danneee

Member
I'm just a few hours into Arkham Knight but from what I've played of that and the other Arkham games I'd say:

1. Arkham Asylum, it's just so damn good. Not to many tools and a metroidvania like progression through the environment. Awesome easter eggs too.

2. Arkham Knight. Love the batmobile and how it integrates with progression and puzzles. Really nice looking Gotham.


5. Arkham City. OK game, they took AA and tried to make it open worldish. Not really the best idea because AA worked so well because of its great level design. ACs felt more like a chore to traverse and I got tired of it about halfway through.

Haven't played origins.
 
Knight = City > Asylum > Origins

To be clear, I don't dislike Origins but it did feel off somehow so I didn't enjoy it as much as the others.
 

FStop7

Banned
Asylum
Knight*
City
Origins**

* = haven't finished my playthrough though I have seen the entire game
** = Quit after the first boss
 

Ascenion

Member
Asylum >> City >>>>>>>>>>>>> Origins >>> Arkham Knight

Arkham Knight is hot shit. Too much Batmobile and not enough Batman, really a disappointment. Not to mention the whole we've emptied Gotham makes no sense.
Origins is just a lot of garbage, yet was more in line with what I expect from the series than Knight.
City is a nice improvement upon Asylum yet the open world felt unnecessary. The story was lacking and the framing was a stretch.
Asylum was perfect. Made sense, fit the mythos, was compelling and the framing of one night made sense. Rocksteady's best,
 
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