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[Mineshaft_Gap]

I bought this game as part of a two pack with Arkham Asylum at Walmart back when it first came out. I played Asylum first and LOVED it, but didn't go straight into city. Probably because I had my fill and certain aspects of the formula were starting to become repetitive towards the end of Asylum (Titan bad guys... I'm looking at you.) I'm glad I let some time go by before jumping into City because now the experience is fresh again.

Some observations. The game does a good job of balancing the indoor areas with the outdoor areas. Although frankly I prefer the atmosphere and enclosed spaces of Asylum. Asylum had a very Metroid-y feel which I absolutely adored. City has this too but to a smaller degree because of the hub that is the city itself. Overall the open world aspect is nice and I wouldn't get rid of it, but I wish there were more of the other indoor stuff ala the Penguin's museum.

Top notch voice acting from Batman and the Joker. Tzaz, Hugo Strange, Harvey, and the Riddler were all good too. I didn't care for the Penguin's VA though. The cockney accent makes him sound like more of a thug than I envision the Penguin character. The Animated series did Penguin better IMO. Still glad to see him in the game, I just envision a more refined accent. Mr. Freeze's voice acting I don't much care for at all. I recognise the actor as the same one from a ton of other cartoons and it's distracting. All I hear is the narrerator for Futurama (Tales of Interest). Again, I wish they went ahead and got the original voice actor. TAS Freeze had a colder (lol) and more pained delivery.

Random thug dialog is amusing. What can I say? They all sound like complete retards. Quintessential comic book beating fodder. On the one hand it damages my ability to suspend disbelief regarding the absurdity of the whole concept. On the other hand it's campy fun that I enjoy in its own right. "We's gonna get you Bat Freak!"

Don't much care for the excessive use of the word bitch. The swearing in general just strikes me of trying too hard to be edgy. Like a PG-13 movie that tries to be harder than it actually is. Outright loath the swearing in this game. It also makes it impossible to share with my younger siblings and nephew who would LOVE it.

Graphics are superb. Love how the various challenges really force you to pay attention to the meticulous detail. Coming from playing Skyrim I can't tell you how much I appreciate the variety present in this games visual presentation. Tired of looking at the same three environments all the time.

Combat is much faster paced and improved over Asylum.

LOVED being able to play as Cat woman. I wish there were more Cat woman segments. Honestly, wish there was a whole Catwoman game in a similar vein. Loved the movement of the character, the faster combat. Playing as her just feels good. Catwoman has always been a favorite of mine too, ever since I was little and my brothers would watch TAS. I got to play with them too because Catwoman was a thing.

Bulky Batman suit doesn't do much for me. I liked the Batman Inc suit the most actually.

 

[crash13]

My GotY for 2011.

 

[Xav]

Arkham Asylum = The better experience.

Arkham City = The better game.

 

[Totobeni]

City is the 2nd worst game in the series (Vita Blackgate is the worst one) Horrible plot (it's 3 diffrent stories clashing with each other and the result was just a complete and utter mess) with many filler in between. was crowded with unnecessary villains, shitty pacing and really very ugly character designs all over. the only good thing was going was the free flow combat system. AA still the best one and Origin is 2nd.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

City without doubt the peak of the franchise so far, but Origins has a much tighter and focused story. It's just a little buggy, samely and a bit too safe.

 

[nrvalleytime]

Again, I wish they went ahead and got the original voice actor. TAS Freeze had a colder (lol) and more pained delivery.

You know, that actually didn't bother me all that much. If Freeze was the main villain, perhaps it would be more noticeable - as it is, Hamill and Conroy really carry the game. Just incredible voicework.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

City is the 2nd worst game in the series (Vita Blackgate is the worst one) Horrible plot (it's 3 diffrent stories clashing with each other and the result was just a complete and utter mess) with many filler in between. was crowded with unnecessary villains, shitty pacing and really very ugly character designs all over. the only good thing was going was the free flow combat system. AA still the best one and Origin is 2nd.

Quoting myself because the matter of which Rocksteady Arkham game is better gets brought up too much and people take the opportunity to just say why whey like one over the other rather than attempt to explain how AA is better than AC (it isn't)

I'm quoting myself because the matter of which Rocksteady-designed Arkham game is better is brought up (without justification beyond a vague "AA's just a tighter experience" ) too much.

I'm quoting myself because the matter of which Arkham game is best gets brought up too much.

but Arkham City does everything better.

This is pretty much irrefutable truth. Even the story of Asylum isn't better overall; the premise is better and the Scarecrow sequences were great, yet the execution of AA's story was lacking, especially the godawful resolution.

AA managed to fool people into thinking they were playing a pathfinding, Metroid-type game when they were actually playing a completely linear game set against the backdrop of interconnected hubs. You never have to figure out where to go; you're always pointed in the right direction and the abilities you acquire are handed to you as you move forward. There's nothing wrong with the way the game is structured, but it's structure doesn't do anything to elevate it. The gameplay is the main draw and the setting is interesting; the structure of the game itself is not a draw like that of a Metroid/castlevania game is.

Asylum is a good game, it's just is plagued by repetition. There are no changes in enemy type, the boss encounters have good aesthetics, but poor gameplay. The only proper fight is Poison Ivy, the rest have novel ideas but are executed in a middling manner. The final boss is atrocious both mechanically and thematically; just a stain on an otherwise solid experience. The point of the whole experience is considered less important than having a big bombastic (and shallow) physical fight. To top it off, the actually interesting twist that

Spoiler

the warden is insane and was plotting to kill the inmates

was relegated to an optional side mission. It's even a plot point in AC; it should've been the proper ending.

Between the two games, AC's only unique weakness is pacing. It's premise is less plausible than AA's and there are some contrivances that are lame, yet AA suffered from having a shortsighted focus on the Titan formula and physical fights that undercut the story's potential. AC being a bit more open can overwhelm the player and makes them feel like

Everything related to gameplay is superior in AC. Everything. Except maybe throws. There are plenty of predator segments and the fleshing out of abilities (look up "grapnel boost takedown") is perfect.

The overworld is just a more open AA. Why anyone prefers running through corridors and loading screens to traversing something resembling a cityscape (as Batman, no less) is beyond me. The grapnel boost is optional when it should've been mandatory; getting around is much quicker and fun with that upgrade, something a lot of people passed up.

There are too many Riddler trophies, yet almost all of them require some sort of thought to acquire. AA's are all behind a wall or up in rafters. Not only is the process of getting them more involving than in AA, but they're tied to a Saw-style series of deathtraps from which you have to save hostages. In addition, the side missions where you can save some of the non-criminal prisoners in the asylum are good. Actually getting to save people in a Batman game? Beautiful.

The games are both dripping with potential for a good story; all the work that went into the interview tapes and back stories leading up to each game are better than the main stories. Here's hoping that work is put into the main stories of future games.

And then there's the ending of AC. I understand how someone would prefer AA's story overall to AC's, but at the very least, AC had an actual climactic ending with something resembling a considerable conclusion. Batman slipping on a banana peel and breaking his neck would've been better than AA's ending though, so that isn't saying much.

AC is just a better game and a better Batman simulator. Don't let anyone try to tell you differently. The first experience with AA might be better than the one with AC, but any further analysis will show which one is superior.

Arkham Origins has a much, much better narrative than the previous two games (not necessarily amazing, but better). The boss encounters are better than all bosses in AA except for Scarecrow and few are better than the ones in AC except for the Freeze fight. The combat is more difficult, but due in part to it being more janky; enemy attack speed + frequency was increased, but seemingly nothing else was adjusted. There are only two genuinely new gadgets; one is kind of neat but somewhat redundant (concussion bomb), the other is great, but has no mid-combo function (remote claw). The map is too big for what little it has feature-wise. The game's Riddler trophy equivalent is simple, dull and somewhat anticlimactic compared to the ones in AC. The side-missions are better than the ones in AC (and AA had none). Batman's VA's voice itself isn't necesasrily better than Kevin Conroy's but his performance was better than Conroy's in the previous two games. Joker's VA did a good job, though Hamill was better in AA and AC.

Origins is considerably glitchy and some have said the visuals are a bit worse than in previous games, though still pretty good.

Kevin Conroy's VOICE is great. Kevin Conroy has done good-to-amazing work as Batman in TAS, Justice League and various other animated media featuring Batman.

His work in the Arkham games is worse than his work elsewhere. In AA, he's pretty flat with no moments calling for much emotion. This performance seems better than AC's (I'll get to that in a bit), but only because there are fewer chances for it to be bad. What little emotion we do see paints him as kind of temperamental (he gets a random burst of anger when talking to oracle about "not letting Joker win"), when he tells the guards to "put this animal [Zsasz] back in his cell" (that was pretty good) and kind of a wise-cracking person ("I eat chumps like these for breakfast" [ugh]).

I would actually like those outbursts of anger if they were consistent with his overall personality throughout the game, but that's pretty much it. Now, Batman not showing fear/anger when, say, going into Croc's lair is great (he also gets a chance to show of his intelligence and ability to plan by spraying the explosive gel on the weak floor at the entrance of Croc's lair, character traits that gets pushed by the wayside in AC). Batman is mostly completely neutral, which makes those moments stand out in weird, "eat chumps like these"-level corny ways. There's also a few moments where Batman's thinking what he needs to do and he does it in his Bruce Wayne voice, which is just lame considering most Conroy incarnations of Batman use the Bat-voice when in private because that's his "true" identity.

Still, Conroy's AA performance doesn't seem that bad, but only because the extremely linear, stifling design limits the chance of it being noticeably bad. Batman rarely shows how smart he is and is constantly duped/at a disadvantage, but it makes sense because he's on the enemy's turf. He doesn't really show any emotion, but that's because almost everything that happens happens while he's Batman (no private moments with Alfred or anything). The story completely (completely) falls flat on its face at the end, but overall it was a steady ride because of the linearity.

Conroy's Batman in AC is more dynamic, but that just shows how little direction he must have been given. Without even focusing on the writing/plot (which has too many contrivances and questionable character decisions), the voice acting comes across weak. He tries to sound threatening to Penguin, but just sounds corny, like Adam West Batman ("I only came here for Freeze and the hostages, but now I'm taking you down too"). He gets angry at

Spoiler

Ra's Al Ghul

during the big reveal, but his anger sounds generic, and the circumstances don't really warrant any more of an angry reaction than many other situations prior (in which Batman doesn't react angrily); isn't a convincing angry voice either. He jokes about "breaking a nail" with Catwoman while in a terribly dire situation. He's all over the place.

Even outside the main game in AC, he's... weird. He snaps at Oracle during the Identity Theft murders for even suggesting that he may have killed those people while under mind control of some sort (something that does almost happen during the game) after a witness says they saw Bruce Wayne kill one of the victims. It's such a whiny, indignant reaction to a very reasonable suggestions (his rogue gallery includes the Mad Hatter who's capable of mind control, Scarecrow who uses hallucinogens, Hugo Strange who's a learned psychologist, Etc.). He's all "how could you suggest that??? I would never kill! and that's that because I said so!!" Lame. Then after the Mad Hatter sequence, he's all like "stay out of my head, Hatter!" (without calling him by his real name as he does with the other villains, which is doubly lame) as if he feels all violated. He shows no concern with why Mad Hatter was trying to take control of him (which is revealed in the inmate interview tapes), he's just offended at having his personal space invaded.

on top of all that, he gets constantly duped and only makes it through the game by ingenuity and brawn. In all the moments beyond the player's control, he's too dumb to live up to how smart Batman's supposed to be.

In Origins, Batman's VA's voice itself isn't necesasrily better than Kevin Conroy's but his performance was better than Conroy's in the previous games. He's angry at the right times, he sounds worried when he should, even his corny lines sound convincing in context; I thought that "I'm the reason the criminals breathe easier when the sun rises" line was kinda hokey in the trailer, but the scene it takes place in was so on point, and so not contrived (Alfred tried to casually voice his concern before that point, but couldn't keep up the facade) that it became awesome.

In Conroy's best performances in the DC Animated Universe, he was working with voice director Andrea Romano (who has worked on other shows like The Boondocks cartoon) and I believe that's what Conroy needs: direction. Justice League Unlimited was that long ago; he's been okay in some of the animated movies since then. He can still do a good job, but he needs more motivation beyond "sound angry here pls."

.

Totobeni thinks Takuza 4 is a terrible game despite liking Yakuza 3. Both games are exceptionally similar; no matter what opinion someone has about the series, it would be unreasonable to consider these two games to be worlds apart. Very unreasonable. Keep this in mind, whoever may read this

 

[Jintor]

I actually really like Arkham's reinterpretation of Penguin as a cockney thug with airs.

 

[Septimus Prime]

I wish they went ahead and got the original voice actor.

I'm pretty sure he died, so that was not a possibility.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

I'm pretty sure he died, so that was not a possibility.

He died only recently, like within the last year. Don't know what his condition was before that though. He was in his 90s, so there's that.

 

[jimi_dini]

oops, wrong thread. Sorry. The time loop sucked me in.

 

[tycoonheart]

One of the best games of last generation.