Perhaps no picture sums up the community's thoughts on this game than this:
The best example of where this game beats its predecessors is in its boss fights. Asylum notoriously ended with you fighting a roided up Joker and City didn't fair much better, having you fight henchmen while the villian of the hour taunted you from above. But don't get me wrong, this game isn't perfect - far from it. But I do feel that no game in the trilogy was actually perfect, but if you could somehow roll all three into one then you would have a masterpiece. I'm just going to come out and say it (slightly copying Zero Punctuation on the Prince of Persia series): The Batman: Arkham series was the best trilogy of the past generation. And don't worry, I'm not going to leave that hanging there. I'm going to tell you why.
Already I can see people going to the comments (if people actually left comments on my blog) to talk about this or that series of games. Mass Effect, Modern Warfare and Dead Space come to mind but, you know, one is too well written for such generic gameplay, one caused lobotomys in people who played it and one is plagued by original sin. The Batman games, I would argue, has original gameplay, stellar voice acting (even to sub standard scripting in some places) and the obvious: makes you feel like Batman. From taking out roomfuls of grunts with one flawless combo to becoming one with the shadows as you pick off increasingly terrified henchmen, the games don't make you feel like a pixie sitting on the Dark Knights shoulder. You become the goddamn Batman.
Let's start at the beginning shall we? Arkham Asylum came out in 2009 to widespread critical acclaim. It was a world filled to the brim with Batmany goodness. Many of the cast members from the animated series return and was also written by comic book veteran Paul Dini. The game introduced its own combat system called "freeflow" which allows you to bounce around enemies with your fists and gadgets. Never have I felt such organic fighting mechanics since Z-trageting in the Legend of Zelda. Also making its first appearance was a "predator" mode when you hide in the rafters picking off enemies before pouncing on the last one. With any array of Batman gadgets at your disposal, this opens up of wide variety of tactics that means you never have to repeat moves. Unless you feel like hanging each henchman upside down from different gargoyles because that's fun too.
Next comes Arkham City. Released two years later everyone thought that this game was the shit. And admittedly it is probably one of the funnest games I've ever played, even though I still prefer the original. That's because not many of Batmans moves changed between games, so traversing the sandbox location littered with towers can be quite awkward when using mechanics designed for a more linear game. It's a small gripe I know, but thats my reason. Sue me. What I do find fun in this game is gliding around the city. Alternating between dive bombing and gliding to maximise your speed is just as fun as webslinging in the Spider-Man 2 game. A better story is found here as well, where everything you do in it comes together in the end, making it feel like everything was actually there for a reason, which is something other games seem to have trouble handling. While still not great, with some plot holes that can undermine it's rather beautiful ending, this was a solid sequel to the series from a studio who knows how to make good Batman games.
But then of course, because studio executives are heartless machine men, the franchise was given to an in house Warner Bros. games studio to make the third installment. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hammil left the series and Sonic the Hedgehog and Booker Dewitt take their place which upset many fans and I was indifferent about because I can be heartless and machine sometimes too. We eventually found out that the game was going to feature the entire city of Gotham and that's when everyone started to get really excited. This would mean that we could finally have the dream game where you can be Batman in Gotham a la Niko in Liberty City. Also advertised was a new version of Batmans "Detective Vision" (which allows the player to identify enemies and points of interests) that let you dissect whole crime scenes now. At this point, I was pumped. And then the game came out...........
To a great big "meh". No pleasing some people #amiright?
I can understand the reaction though. The Gotham we were promised (or hyped up in our heads) was only full of goons. The new crime scene analysis were overly scripted and... well everything else about the game was pretty good actually. Same combat, same stealth sections. Even the story ties in well to establish whatever the hell the writers think the Arkham series is meant to represent. It's a much simpler story than the last two games but that's because it focuses on the beginning of the war between Batman and the Joker. The new voice actors do great jobs, comfortably fitting into their younger characters. There are even some really interesting design choices, such as when the first footage of Batman is filmed, the player is still controlling Batman and fighting enemies. However, the camera changes to the news cameras point of view. I like that the designers of the game weren't afraid of making stylistic choices like this.
The only critique I have about the trilogy as a whole is that as it went on it lost its cartoony feeling. Not to say that these were meant to be kids games, just that the colourful fun that should come from pretending to be Batman is almost gone by the time you get to the end of Origins.
So there you go, my honourable mention of the year and a rundown on my favourite franchise of the last generation. Hopefully we haven't seen an end to this series, or at leats get a "spiritual successor" so that we don't lose the great gameplay from these games.
But who am I but a gamer with a personality disorder (who thinks he's Batman). What did you think of the Arkham series? Were there any games you felt needed more defending on release? Leave a comment!
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