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Ranking the Batman: Arkham games

eot

eot

Banned
Eidan said:
Man, I'm consistently baffled when I see people rank Asylum above other entries in the series, especially City. There isn't a single thing that Asylum does better than subsequent entries (haven't played Knight yet). I assume it can be chalked up to some people's view that a small environment equals a "tighter" experience. Which means very little to me.
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I wouldn't call the Asylum small, but I think it's a much more toughtfully designed environment. The horseshoe layout of AC's city is awful to navigate. For me it was something that only got in the way of the interesting parts, which all take place in closed off areas. So it removed something great about the first game (the light metroidvania elements) and replaced it with tedious traversal through a poorly designed environment. City also started the awful trend of having way too many Riddler things to do. I happily 100%ed Asylum, but I said fuck it to the trophies early on in City. The Riddler stuff in the first game encouraged you to carefully explore small environments, whereas in the second game it's about going over every inch of a samey looking city. No thanks.
 
S

Spring-Loaded

Member
eot said:
I wouldn't call the Asylum small, but I think it's a much more toughtfully designed environment. The horseshoe layout of AC's city is awful to navigate. For me it was something that only got in the way of the interesting parts, which all take place in closed off areas. So it removed something great about the first game (the light metroidvania elements) and replaced it with tedious traversal through a poorly designed environment. City also started the awful trend of having way too many Riddler things to do. I happily 100%ed Asylum, but I said fuck it to the trophies early on in City. The Riddler stuff in the first game encouraged you to carefully explore small environments, whereas in the second game it's about going over every inch of a samey looking city. No thanks.
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How was Asylum better to navigate? It takes longer to get from one side to another than in City, and all you can do is run from point to point. I don't get how walking through empty hallways is more interesting than having a choice of running, gliding and climbing. You still have the "light Metroid" progression with gaining/using items in traversal and combat, just without the transparent masked linearity of AA.

And Asylum's Riddler content involved nothing more than stepping off the beaten path slightly. Even if City had too many trophies, it actually had the "interrogation -> saving Riddler captives" metagame, and almost every trophy had some type of actual puzzle attached. Asylum had you running back through completely empty hallways and rooms just to blow up a weak wall. In no way was AA's Riddler stuff better than AC's, outside of there being fewer to find — I'd rather there be more to collect while having interesting gameplay than to have a smaller, yet extremely boring collect-a-thon.
 
S

Sande

Member
I've only played Asylum and City and preferred Asylum. I felt like the formula was wearing thin in City and the open world didn't do it any favors.
 
R

roflwaffles

Member
Haven't finished Asylum, but I want to breakdown my list -

Story: Origins>Knight>City
Music: Origins>City>Knight
Setting/World Design: City>Knight>Origins
Gameplay Mechanics: Knight>City>Origins
Replayability: City>Origins>Knight
Boss Battles: Origins>City>>>Knight
 
T

Tansut

Member
Knight > City > Origins > Asylum

I honestly don't know which of the first two that I prefer. I'm still working on 100%ing Knight, so I haven't had any real separation time from it yet.

City has better fight boss fights but the amount of Riddler trophies is absurd and I only ever got enough to actually capture Riddler. I also feel like the story loses focus after awhile; you really get an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink vibe from it. The ending is really great, though.

Knight flows better and has a more compelling / intense story in my eyes, but the over-reliance on tank batles hampers things a little bit. This comes from someone who really enjoyed the Batmobile stuff overall, it just got a little heavy near the end of the game. But otherwise my goodness this game is so good.

I'll never understand the disdain for Origins. It didn't add much to the series in terms of originality or new concepts, but it probably has the most focused story of the whole series. The size of the map felt just right and I really enjoyed the boss encounters. If it had a little more polish I would honestly consider it to be right there with Knight and City.

I also don't quite understand the amount of love Asylum receives. Don't get me wrong, I adored and still adore this game, and it was a fantastic start to this awesome series... but I don't know what makes it stand out at this point other than having the best atmosphere and setting. I'm not usually a fan of open-world games, but for being the Batman it works sublimely.
 
eot

eot

Banned
Spring-Loaded said:
How was Asylum better to navigate? It takes longer to get from one side to another than in City, and all you can do is run from point to point. I don't get how walking through empty hallways is more interesting than having a choice of running, gliding and climbing. You still have the "light Metroid" progression with gaining/using items in traversal and combat, just without the transparent masked linearity of AA.

And Asylum's Riddler content involved nothing more than stepping off the beaten path slightly. Even if City had too many trophies, it actually had the "interrogation -> saving Riddler captives" metagame, and almost every trophy had some type of actual puzzle attached. Asylum had you running back through completely empty hallways and rooms just to blow up a weak wall. In no way was AA's Riddler stuff better than AC's, outside of there being fewer to find — I'd rather there be more to collect while having interesting gameplay than to have a smaller, yet extremely boring collect-a-thon.
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First of all, I'll disagree that all you did was run from place to place in Asylum. The traversal is not exactly complicated, but there's still more than just running. Secondly, I find it more interesting because you're navigating through areas you're familiar with. I like having an area recontextualised, which could be traversing through it in a different direction, with different enemies (often without enemies the second time), or with different tools. Traversing the city in Arkham City has none of that, the environment doesn't matter because I'm not seeing it, I'm gliding over it and barely interacting with it. That's why it's tedious, not because it takes longer (which you say it doesn't, maybe you're right), but because it's just a blank time fill.

As for the Riddler stuff, I didn't do the interrogation side quests. I ignored as much of the city parts of the game as I could because a) nothing about that interested me b) the game let me ignore it. The sheer amount of things to do also put me off even going down that road. The Riddler trophies in the first game not being off the beaten path is precisely why I collected them. And again, I didn't mind backtracking through the Asylum, I enjoyed it. I enjoy building familiarity with it, revisiting it and seeing what I missed. It's varied, it has places I remember. The city is just a collection of interchangeable tall apartment buildings I grapple to.
 
B

BeautifulMemory

Member
Best part of asylum for me is the cartoonish artwork for each character when you open up the recording tape.. And you get to listen to them (understanding each character's background} while exploring the asylum is awesome!!!
 
M

Mattenth

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

Edit: One random question, but did any of the games ever have a good DLC? It's odd that they never seemed to ever get anywhere close from what I saw...

Contrast that with Borderlands 2, which had amazing DLC.
 
I

Iceternal

Member
BeautifulMemory said:
Best part of asylum for me is the cartoonish artwork for each character when you open up the recording tape.. And you get to listen to them (understanding each character's background} while exploring the asylum is awesome!!!
Click to expand...

Knight lacked this sense of immersion and discovery that Asylum and City had.

There were details and easter eggs referring to Batman's history in every corner.
 
T

Trace

Banned
City
Knight
Asylum
Origins

If they hadn't added so much random trash into the combat system in Knight it would be top for me.
 
V

Verger

Banned
Asylum above all else. The "open world" feel just did not work for me at all in the subsequent games.

Much preferred the Metroidvania interconnected level design rather than the sprawling space filled with...filler.
 
R

roflwaffles

Member
Trace said:
City
Knight
Asylum
Origins

If they hadn't added so much random trash into the combat system in Knight it would be top for me.
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What random trash was added to the combat?

Mattenth said:
City > Knight > Asylum >>>>>>>>>> Origins

Edit: One random question, but did any of the games ever have a good DLC? It's odd that they never seemed to ever get anywhere close from what I saw...

Contrast that with Borderlands 2, which had amazing DLC.
Click to expand...

Cold Cold Heart is the best by far.
 
F

family_guy

Member
eot said:
First of all, I'll disagree that all you did was run from place to place in Asylum. The traversal is not exactly complicated, but there's still more than just running. Secondly, I find it more interesting because you're navigating to areas you're familiar with. I like having an area recontextualised, which could be traversing through it in a different direction, with different enemies (often without enemies the second time), or with different tools. Traversing the city in Arkham City has none of that, the environment doesn't matter because I'm not seeing it, I'm gliding over it and barely interacting with it. That's why it's tedious, not because it takes longer (which you say it doesn't, maybe you're right), but because it's just a blank time fill.

As for the Riddler stuff, I didn't do the interrogation side quests. I ignored as much of the city parts of the game as I could because a) nothing about that interested me b) the game let me ignore it. The sheer amount of things to do also put me off even going down that road. The Riddler trophies in the first game not being off the beaten path is precisely why I collected them. And again, I didn't mind backtracking through the Asylum, I enjoyed it. I enjoy building familiarity with it, revisiting it and seeing what I missed. It's varied, it has places I remember. The city is just a collection of interchangeable tall apartment buildings I grapple to.
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This so much. City didn't even feel like a real city despite the name. It also feels like with City and the later games that they took the Ubisoft open world formula and just started littering a bunch of crap everywhere to pad the games.
 
K

keltickennedy

Member
BeautifulMemory said:
Best part of asylum for me is the cartoonish artwork for each character when you open up the recording tape.. And you get to listen to them (understanding each character's background} while exploring the asylum is awesome!!!
Click to expand...

Carlos D'Anda. Look up more of his work. You should like it. He did the Arkham City prequel comic and also some of the new Star Wars stuff.

BMARK_04_.jpg
Click to expand...
 
N

Nick

Junior Member
Knight > City = Asylum >>> Origins

I ranked Knight as my #1 because of the sense of speed this game has. Nothing is quite as thrilling as being ejected from your batmobile and soaring through the skies at blazing speeds. The batmobile is fun (if a little repetitive after a while), and I loved the story.

City and Asylum are so close in quality to me, I consider them one large game. Only problems I can think of with these two are the boss battles.

Origins is by far the worst in the series, but the story is serivcable. Still, I beat this one once, and I never plan on going back to it.
 
S

Spoo

Member
1) Arkham Knight
2) Arkham Asylum
3) Arkham Origins
4) Arkham City

I like City, but it's my least favorite. Asylum was my favorite until Knight came along, and Origins was really great in a lot of ways.
 
Z

ZeroX03

Banned
ZeroX03 said:
Asylum & City tied for first. Knight following behind them. Origins far behind in dead last.
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Reiterating this after completing more of Knight. Knight's combat is not as tight as the previous two entries and there's too much Batmobile. If they fix up combat, add challenge maps back and the rest of the DLC is good it'd probably get kicked up a knotch.

10/10 Asylum
10/10 City
08/10 Knight
05/10 Origins

Mattenth said:
Edit: One random question, but did any of the games ever have a good DLC? It's odd that they never seemed to ever get anywhere close from what I saw...
Click to expand...

City's additional playable characters is good DLC IMO, but only if you're interested in challenge maps.
 
W

WordsintheWater

Member
BeautifulMemory said:
Best part of asylum for me is the cartoonish artwork for each character when you open up the recording tape.. And you get to listen to them (understanding each character's background} while exploring the asylum is awesome!!!
Click to expand...

Man, that was so freaking great, Asylum just oozed atmosphere in every part of it. Had this really creepy vibe at points to that the other games lack.
 
Solidsoul

Solidsoul

Banned
Other than a few people here and there saying how much the despise Origins, it is a testament to the franchise that out of four games, which has the best quality is so divisive.

They are all really good, with so many highs and also some lows, but the franchise definitley has more highs. I love all four games, I hope that we get more somehow. I always feel a little skeptical saying that because usually the quality starts to drop at some point.

What would be the best direction for the franchise if they were to do more? Sequel, prequel etc?
 
A

Andrain18

Banned
I'll have to say in my opinion that Arkham Knight is the the best from an obvious Grpahical aand gameplay stadpoint. better freeflow combat, yet it'd have been cool to see the nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor in the game. Also the writing is absolutely perfect.
The jokers dialog is best in the series and Red Hood is the Arkham Knight.

Its not that any of the games were bad but here is my list:

Arkham Knight - Superb Writing, gameplay and storytelling.

Arkham Origins- My favorite story from the Arkham games as well as the best boss battles.

Arkham City - Awesome open world, slick narative and cool use of rouges gallery.

Arkham Asylum - Setting of the game is fantastic and really makes it a believable comic experience.
 
R

Rekki-Maru

Banned
Asylum, is the best for reasons already mentioned. I also like how Rocksteady showed respect for the IP in Asylum, it just felt like a legit Batman story. A single night on that island, Batman stopping The Joker- The End. Everyone dying in City just felt like Rocksteady was trying too hard to tell an epic story.

On a side note I've come to the conclusion that Riddler is the main villain in all the Arkham games, nobody else forces the player to use every gameplay mechanic, every gadget, like the Riddler does.
 
B

Bashtee

Member
eot said:
First of all, I'll disagree that all you did was run from place to place in Asylum. The traversal is not exactly complicated, but there's still more than just running.
Click to expand...

Finished Asylum 2 days ago. Was mediocre at best. It's rather slow and you either run around or climb a bit. Backtracking depends on the preference, but it was a bit annoying at times.

City is better gameplay wise, but I'd say in general that the series is profiting from the massive IP. I also don't like the approach of tossing in as much enemies as possible. It made sense in Asylum, but it were still too many. The end battle was boring, too.

I like Batman and the representation is good, but the pace feels off in Asylum and City. Will wait for massive price drop until I jump on Knight.
 
brickarts295

brickarts295

Member
1. City (10/10) (U2 levels of perfection)
2. Origins (9/10) (Exceed in Story and Boss Battles)
3. Knight (9/10) (Exceeds in Open World-ness and Gameplay)
4. Asylum (8.5/10)
5. Blackgate (7/10)

I think apart from Spider-Man 2 or the Ultimate Alliance games, it'll be a hard feat for future devs to achieve a licensed super hero video game franchise of the same caliber as the Arkham Series.
 
Solidsoul

Solidsoul

Banned
If we could have Rocksteady's Gotham City from Knight, with the combat of Arkham City but also the boss battles and story of WB Montreal's Origins and less batmobile....

That game would be mind blowing.

Just beat Knight, love the game! Still stuck between my two orders....

It's City>Asylum on top for sure. Probably followed by Origins>Knight....but damn there is so much good about those two it's hard to decide. Origins city sucks so much.
 
J

JDHarbs

Member
They're all pretty much even to me. Each one had their strengths, and made some kind of contribution to the series except for Origins which was just City with a better story.

I will never understand the hate that City gets for going open world. The metroidvania style level design fit Asylum's themes, but it wouldn't have worked as well for the rest. The goal is the ultimate Batman sim so an open world Gotham was inevitable. Knight is the closest we've come to that goal so far even if the batmobile doesn't entirely feel at home in it.

I really feel like we're only one game away from getting there. If we could have a GTA V kind of open world with switchable protagonists and civilians walking the streets then we'll have the perfect batman sim plus more time to refine the batmobile's mechanics. That's really all that is missing now from this series.

Asylum - Best atmosphere + best level design + props for being the one that started it all
City - Best combat (what this series is known for) + best boss fight (
Mr. Freeze
)
Origins - Best art style + best story (even if it isn't by much)
Knight - Most complete experience + best predator gameplay (in my opinion) + best graphcis

The order is really just determined by your taste in games. The combat is my favorite part of this series so that makes City my favorite.

Asylum gets more love on GAF than it really deserves. It's a great game, but the sequels all improved upon what it started. I find it hard to go back to it now with some of the refinements that have been made.
 
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