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[RichardAM]

Asylum is one of my favourite games of this gen.

City's good, and you get the sense of being Batman watching over the city (or a small part of it) but none of the tension, claustrophobia or atmosphere of the first one. Still good though, we were just spoiled with Asylum.

 

[Moon_frogger]

The league of assassins stuff in ac was better than the whole of Arkham asylum. Also the scarecrow segments? Really? Yes the scene in the morgue was great but those disjointed platforming sections were actually really terrible.

 

[RichardAM]

Also the scarecrow segments? Really? Yes the scene in the morgue was great but those disjointed platforming sections were actually really terrible.

Scarecrow sections/character > Mad Hatter section/character

 

[Kiriku]

Didn't like City as much as Asylum. The story in City was a mess, it's like they only had one clear idea: throw as many villains into the game as possible and hope for the best.
Also, the Arkham novelty kind of wore off after one game, the improvements they made gameplay-wise in City were marginal for me. Wasn't really enamoured by the fighting mechanics in the first place.

 

[chemicals]

this happened to me as well. Had played arkham asylum recently and LOVED it, then picked up City for 12 bucks and was completely blown away by it.

 

[Dawg]

I still remember the panic I felt when the scarecrow broke my tv. Those few seconds, I actually thought either my PS3 or TV were broken.

 

[.la1n]

Asylum claustrophobic setting is what made it for me. I also dislike most open world games and soaring around the city ended up being more tedious than fun. Story also took a nose dive in city and still stands as one of the most disappointing and insulting endings I've experienced this generation.

Edit: also forcing me to play cat woman, no thanks

 

[iSnakeTk]

It still blows my mind how a no name Studio like rocksteady made such awesome Batman games.

 

[Pops Maellard]

Asylum claustrophobic setting is what made it for me. I also dislike most open world games and soaring around the city ended up being more tedious than fun. Story also took a nose dive in city and still stands as one of the most disappointing and insulting endings I've experienced this generation.

Edit: also forcing me to play cat woman, no thanks

Disappointing and insulting..? You can't be serious. It was a great ending to one of the best games of this generation. Asylum is nowhere as polished and coherent as City, especially on a a mechanical level. Speaking of which, if you want to talk about a disappointing and insulting ending... The ending of Asylum was atrocious.

I'm sure it's been said already in this thread, but the series so far has been analogous The Dark Knight trilogy. I have no doubt Origins will be much the same as TDKR; not as great as City but still pretty good with a few incredible moments.

 

[Moon_frogger]

Scarecrow sections/character > Mad Hatter section/character

Sure, but the scarecrow sections were still garbage.

 

[Hystzen]

To me City was trying to hard it put so much pointless shit it padded out game length. Riddler Trophies perfect example just dumped everywhere you got to use correct gadgets for it then forces you to collect to even do the Riddler side missions.

Side missions are also padded out , hey look it Zsaz now repeat the same phone race and tracking 5+ times. It only has 12 missions which are dragged out as much as possible throughout the whole game.

It not a terrible game just imo the more focused AA is a better game and experience. Also the plot of City pissed me off so much, take something interesting like Strange knowing who Batman is then ignore it because hey look Joker is popular that will sell more copies

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

It not a terrible game just imo the more focused AA is a better game and experience. Also the plot of City pissed me off so much, take something interesting like Strange knowing who Batman is then ignore it because hey look Joker is popular that will sell more copies

This is the only part that bugs me. I don't know why they think they should keep doing the "worst night of Batman's life" thing over and over. I'm looking forward to the new game despite it not being RS doing it, because I like younger Batman that the world doubts the existence of. But, pretty lame they're doing the same thing again.

Let the story take place over a longer period of time, with story chapters and a huge (Gotham) world that opens up as the game goes on. Would be a good way to build in some detective shit that really matters by making Batman actually solve a real mystery on the scale of The Long Halloween or something.

Spending weeks/months looking into who the Red Hood is and why he's doing what he's doing, while busting up Mob related drug deals on the side would be awesome.

Instead we get "Batman has to fight every enemy he's ever had in a single night, again!"

 

[rockmanjoe]

Asylum is the better story/experience, City is the better game.

Sounds about right.

 

[Hystzen]

This is the only part that bugs me. I don't know why they think they should keep doing the "worst night of Batman's life" thing over and over. I'm looking forward to the new game despite it not being RS doing it, because I like younger Batman that the world doubts the existence of. But, pretty lame they're doing the same thing again.

Let the story take place over a longer period of time, with story chapters and a huge (Gotham) world that opens up as the game goes on. Would be a good way to build in some detective shit that really matters by making Batman actually solve a real mystery on the scale of The Long Halloween or something.

Spending weeks/months looking into who the Red Hood is and why he's doing what he's doing, while busting up Mob related drug deals on the side would be awesome.

Instead we get "Batman has to fight every enemy he's ever had in a single night, again!"

Just give me a sequel to City where Batman is sulking and we get play as Grayson as the Bat. Then copy the Morrison run of Batman and Robin with Battle for the Cowl as intro.

like you said let a plot take weeks not a night or day, during day time play as Bruce/Grayson walking around a factory that has ties to Black Mask or something.

 

[Omega]

Asylum claustrophobic setting is what made it for me. I also dislike most open world games and soaring around the city ended up being more tedious than fun. Story also took a nose dive in city and still stands as one of the most disappointing and insulting endings I've experienced this generation.

Edit: also forcing me to play cat woman, no thanks

the ending in Asylum was far, far worse

 

[Deleted member 80556]

Asylum claustrophobic setting is what made it for me. I also dislike most open world games and soaring around the city ended up being more tedious than fun. Story also took a nose dive in city and still stands as one of the most disappointing and insulting endings I've experienced this generation.

Edit: also forcing me to play cat woman, no thanks

I don't know what else to say aside from the fact that you have one of the weirdest opinions ever.

City has one of the ballsiest and most awesome endings ever.

 

[Curufinwe]

I was putting off playing it for so long because I kept seeing people on GAF saying Arkham Asylum was so much better. Finally decided to play it so I could get through my backlog and I have to say, GAF totally has this wrong.

This is coming from someone who put an ungodly amount of time into AA. I got the 1000 gamerscore on three different XBL accounts and the platinum trophy 4 times (i made dummy accounts) not to mention trying to compete for the leaderboards before people started cheating. It's one of my favorite games ever.

but Arkham City does everything better.

- The boss battles were far superior. Even the end boss which was pretty mediocre, still better than Titan Joker from AA.
- Combat is so much better. Even little changes like Blade Dodge makes the combat just feel better instead of just cape swipe > mash attack. Also being able to counter up to two enemies
- The added side missions add more replay value to the game while not feeling like filler content (well, the Zsasz side mission does)
- New Game+

I haven't gotten around to playing the Riddler Challenges yet but even if they're terrible, the rest of the game is fantastic and one of the few sequels that actually improves on it's predecessor.

Traversal is the main thing I liked better in City. Flying around town never got old for me.

 

[MasterLeePhD]

I loved Arkham Asylum, but held off buying Arkham City because of the shitty DLC practice. Picked it up once the GOTY edition hit £15.

Finally started playing it a couple of days ago and finished up the campaign yesterday. I personally think it's probably the best comic based game ever made.

My interest in Batman: Arkham Origins has increased tenfold after completing it.

 

[chemicals]

Well I finished it yesterday... I had the whole day off and my girlfriend was at work so I played Arkham City like it was my job. Started around noon and shut the xbox down around 9:15 PM.

This game is amazing. Playing around in this open world with all of Batman's toys is far and away one of the best experiences this gen.

The story is presented well, but I don't think it's one of the better elements of the game. I'm not a comic book fan (and even less of a fan of hollywood movies based on comics) and I realize the stories are over-the-top for a reason, so I can take it or leave it.

Spoiler

The fact that they use the fake-joker gag 10 times in the game gets kind of silly.

Batman is a bad-ass mofo in this game... so many toys! - the combat is super fluid and fun (easy if you want to be basic, more difficult when you get into combos and accessories) moving around is a joy... the controls are spot on... I can't say enough good about this game and the engine it runs on. WOW.

One last thing - the investigating is really one of the most fun parts of the game. It reminds me of Condemned. In fact the whole Arkham series thus far reminds me of the grit and realness of the Condemned series.

Bravo! (now I can get serious about GTAV)

 

[Creamium]

This.

I felt they overdid things in AC. Too many villains, too much collection, and too much fighting.

Agreed. AC felt very unfocused: there were too many villians, and as a result they weren't developed enough.
They went overboard on the collectibles, 400 trophies may be overdoing it a little.
Missions and gameplay were more fun for me in AA as well. Just liked the metroidvania-like approach of Asylum better.

Didn't even enjoy City tbh, just paled in comparison to the vastly superior Asylum.

 

[The Lamonster]

I liked the story better in Asylum, plus the hallucination/flashback crime alley scene was the best part of any Batman game ever, but Arkham City has the better game engine.

In City, Batman has more gadgets, the combat is deeper, and the glide boost ability plus having such a huge area to traverse just makes you feel so much more like Batman than Asylum.

I'm very curious about Origins - I know they've added more depth to the detective stuff, like piecing a crime scene together, and I really like the new Batman design. I'm feeling a little lukewarm about the new voice actors though, it will be hard to adjust to a non-Kevin Conroy Batman.

I hope the next Rocksteady game is next-gen and something like "Gotham City" - basically just a huge open-world game that lets you pilot the Batwing and drive the Batmobile around Gotham.

 

[Lord British]

I enjoyed City a lot more, too. Both are wonderful, though!

Does anyone know if Asylum has been patched with Steam achievements, yet? Might be time to replay.

 

[chancellor]

I agree 100% with the OP, AC is a significant improvement upon AA

 

[EGM1966]

AC is for sure a better Batman Game - but like all open world titles it lost narrative focus as a result.

Both stories are equal on paper really (pretty standard comic book stuff in many ways) but the more linear/enclosed structure of AA delivers better narrative pacing than City (unless you ignore the open world and play it linear) cannot hope to match.

So basically the first post!

 

[lucius]

Replaying AC on hard and new game+ was more fun, but my first time through both games I liked AA main game more.

 

[Korezo]

I liked AA better, I found AC open world annoying, it made me take huge breaks from the game. With AA I played all the way through and platinum in like 3 days on release.