The Batman Quadrilogy

Started by kit saginaw, August 17, 2015, 08:38:56 PM

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kit saginaw

2015 has been a horrible year for games (including Batman: Arkham Knight, which is horrible), so I've been revisiting old games.  I'm replaying City now.

release chronology:
Arkham Asylum.........Rocksteady Studios
Arkham City.................Rocksteady
Arkham Origins............Warner Bros. Montreal
Arkham Knight.............Rocksteady


storyline chronology:
Origins
Asylum
City
Knight


quality and/or replayability:
City
Asylum
Origins
Knight


Rocksteady ran-into a problem.  And it's an example of what happens when copyrights are signed-away...  With the Joker as the main antagonist, the studio changed his character motivation.  Then they killed him in the second game.  So Origins attempted to go back and justify the plots of Asylum and City

In Arkham Knight, the Joker is an ever-present ghostly mother-in-law, nagging Batman incessantly.  -With an awkward attempt to lull the player into suspecting he's not dead.  It's all rather convoluted.  The studio obviously regrets they killed him.

Because Mark Hamill's genius-legacy is as the voice of the Joker.  Not Star Wars.  There's a consistent demand for new Hamill/Joker material in gaming-circles. He, and composer Christopher Drake's score are what really makes the series shine.

It's a beautifully-visual series, with fluent gameplay and puzzles.  Catwoman's a knockout.  You play as her in City for small stretches... and in some DLC for Knight.

My quibbles with the series have to do with plotlines and scripts.  Too many 'world domination' threats via diseases and toxins.  Too much 'Batman as a freak' rhetoric.  And too much name-familiarity between the characters.  The Penguin is the Penguin.  Not Cobblepot.  The Catwoman isn't Selena...  It's ridiculous.  Uniformly, I rate the series as a 7.9-out-of-10.