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Blog a Day #11

Hello everyone, how are you?

If you've ever read any of my post throughout the years is that you all know that I'm a huge Batman fan. One of my most favorite superhero games are the Arham game, which stars our favorite Caped Crusader. Everything all started with Arkham Asylum and ends with Arkham Knight. There have been 5 Arkham games, okay there's a mobile game but I never played it. Anyway, today I am going to show you where I rank them all. And I'll try to include re-releases and whatnot. To the Batmobile!

 

 

 

We don't talk about this one. Okay, I'll talk about it for a bit. This game is develped by Armature Studios. Blackgate, if you've have played or heard of it, which, I dont blame you, is a side-scrolling Batman. If you've played any of the Arkham games, think that, but instead it plays in 2D. That's pretty much all there is to it. It released on the 3DS and on the PS Vita, I played it on the 3DS and thought it was alright. I was really excited to give it a go since one of the developers of Metroid Prime 3 worked on this, and it isn't a bad game but it isn't a good Arkham game by any means. If you're curious about it, it's available on Steam but I heard that version isn't very good and has input lag or something. It also got re-released on PS4 ut never played it there.

 

 

I'm going to get crucified for placing this one so low. Arkham City is Rocksteady's second game, is often regarded as the best game in the whole series and among the greatest video games ever made and for a good reason. It took everything that Arkham Asylum did and did it better, for better or worse. The map is much bigger and that's great. But the map itself is actually a problem I have. Not with the way it looks, but rather how it's designed. You see sometimes the story would take me to one side of the map and afterwards I would have to go to the other end. It sounds pretty straightforward but the map has this weird horseshoe design. It means I simply can't cut through the middle and go all the way around which makes traveling a chore. The story is great, I love it but I kinda feel it's all over the place with how it was structured, combine that with the way the map is designed and it knda feels like a mess. The gameplay is fantastic though, I love all the new mechanics and I love the new playable characters.

If you are keen on playing this one, well it got a remaster as part of the Return to Arkham Collection for PS4 and Xbox One, but the framerate is weird on that and the character models look off. It also got a port on the Wii U back in the day known as Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition which makes Batman stupidly overpowered with a new piece of equipment that they added. I feel like the Wii U version is the definitive version in a way, but if you don't have a Wii U, then there's the Return to Arkham version. I also believe the original versionof this game is available on Steam, but not sure how well that one runs.

 

Arkham Origins is considered the blacksheep of the series. Developed by WB Montreal, Origins basically takes place before all of the Arkham games which features an inexperienced Batman on his second year of his one man war against crime. One thing I love is how Gotham sees Batman as an urban legend of sorts. It also marks the first time he'll face with what will eventually become his Rogue's Gallery. One thing people seem to agree on with these games is that the boss fights leave a lot to be desired. Sure the Mr. Freeze bossfight from City was great, but fights like that are few and far in between. I feel like Origins has the best boss fights in the series.

So why don't more people talk about this game? Well it has a number of technical issues, it had a lot at launch and even though the game had a number or patches, not all the issues were fixed. That and there is some continuity errors in the game. But I suppose people were kinda tired of seeing Batman games, like Arkham City released not to long ago before this one and it does feel like this could have been dlc for City. A reason for that is that the map is largely the same too. So how can you play this one? Well the thing is this game is stuck on Seventh Gen hardware. Your only options are PS3, 360, Wii U, and Steam. Avoid the Wii U version, I've heard it kills the disc reader. The game is backwards compatible on Xbox One. I wish this game got re-released though.

 

Rocksteady Studios third and final Batman game, Arkham Knight is the conclusion to the whole series. This one is a bit of a weird one for fans since there are a lot of mixed opinions on it. People either love it or hate it. One thing that people didn't lie is the story. The story is great, I actually loved it. But I do see where people are coming from when they said that they feel bamboozled by one of the characters when Rocksteady said was a completely original character. I feel like the character Prometheus would have been a much better villain since he has pretty much the same physical and mental abilities as Batman. Plus Rocksteady had teased him since Asylum, so it's a shame they didn't go anywhere with him.

The next thing people hate the most and I feel they hate this even more than being fooled, is the Batmobile. I love the Batmobile, I love that I could finally get to drive around Gotham. However what I don't love is that you pretty much use it a lot of the puzzles. I feel like had they balanced its use in puzzles and whatnot then it would have been much better received. But I will say that I had a ton of fun driving around in it. As far as gameplay goes, Rocksteady perfected the formula with this game in terms of Batman's abilities. The combat is amazing, I love it. This is Batman at his peak and they weren't joking when they said Become the Batman since you truly feel like Batman. The game is a bit old but it still looks incredible, this is the nest looking game in the series. The game is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. If you don't mind digital, wait for the complete edition to go on sale since it includes all the dlc.

 

Rocksteady's first Batman game and the one that started it all. What I love about it is how it feels like a much more mature episode, or episodes, of Batman: The Animated Series. Heck, it kinda reminds me of that one episode of when Batman was put on trial by all the villains. I feel what helps is that most of the voice cast from the cartoon reprises their roles in the game and they truly bring these characters to life. When I first heard Batman and Joker talk in the game I said "Holy shit Batman, that's both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill!" That was truly magical. The character designs are really great too, some would argue that they have aged well in this day and age but who cares about what they think.

What I love about the game is its overall tone and atmosphere, it feels like a horror game with the way everything looks and is designed. Truly a wonderful experience and definitely feels like something out of Batman. The gameplay is great, Batman's punches feel like they hit really hard and that's one thing I love about the game and how that feels. I love how the gadgets are incorperated into both the combat and the overall gameplay. Like your grapnel gun? That's used to traverse around areas but you can also use it in combat to pull enemies towards to to beat them up. The game is basically a 3D Metroidvania and I love how when you get a new gadget you think "what if I use it for that one area I couldn't get to earlier?" It just shows how well tought put everything was and how well everything comes together in the game.

There are various was to play it, on Seventh Gen consoles, as part of the Return to Arkham Collection, and on Steam. Your choice. One thing that just amazes me is that this was their very first attempt at making a Batman game and they got it right, right off the bat. Truly incredible. It may be the oldest game in the series but I can say that it has aged well and to me it is easily the most replayable one. If you haven't played any of the Arkham games, give this one a go.

 

And that's how I rank all the Arkham games. Remember, this is not which are the best ones or a definitive ranking, but rather how I rank them based on when I played through them. This post wasn't easy to make. How would you rank them all if you've played through them? 

Thanks for reading and...