Hello everyone. Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind where this month I’m talking about the Batman Arkham games. Why am I doing this? No reason, I just really want to talk about these games and the impact they had on the video game industry. Although in hindsight, this could count as celebrating their 16-year anniversary. Batman is easily one of if not the greatest superheroes out there and no game was a perfect representation of Batman than the Arkham games. Created by Rocksteady, the Arkham games would go on to redefine Batman and video games in the years to come. Join me as we take a dive into the Arkhamverse.
The Current State of Superhero Videogames
First, I think it’s only fair that we discussed the current state of video games during the late 2000s. So Batman games or rather, superhero games weren’t the best. While they weren’t awful, they weren’t anything to write home about. When the last good superhero game is Spider-Man 2 based off the movies, you know we have a serious problem. They were all just mundane games that just tied in to movies and were seen as quick cash-ins. Now to be fair, we got original superhero games such as Infamous and Prototype which were good, but fans wanted to play a good superhero game based on characters from Marvel or DC. As luck would have it, our prayers would be answered in 2009. Batman had made a great comeback on the big screen. Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins was well received by fans who loved the more serious take on the Dark Knight and how he operated. With the promise of a second movie and The Joker serving as the main villain, fans were excited for what was coming next. 2008 came along and the Dark Knight came out. Considered by many to be the greatest superhero film of all time. After this film, everyone couldn’t stop talking about Batman and then at the start of December a trailer was released for a new Batman game called Arkham Asylum. It was amazing, for a young Justin in college I thought this was the coolest game I had ever seen. In the months to come they would continue to build up excitement with trailers, gameplay, and the announcement that Batman the animated series very own Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill would be reprising their roles as Batman and Joker in the game. This game knew how to build up hype. It managed to combine everything from the comics, the TV shows, and films that we loved but still be its own thing.
Batman Arkham Asylum
Finally, in the fall of 2009, Arkham Asylum would finally be released. The game opens on an epic note with Batman taking Joker to Arkham Asylum only for Joker to escape. Rather than try and flee the island like he normally does, Joker instead frees all the inmates, takes over the island, and is now after some new upgraded venom drug to create an army of super criminals. Batman must now fight against the inmates of Arkham, stop the Joker, and restore order to the island before it’s too late. There’s a lot of great things about this game that it’s hard to know where to start, but I think the one thing that really pulled me and a lot of people into this game is the atmosphere. Right away the game separates itself from past Batman properties. The voices of Conroy and Hamill bring nostalgia for those who grew up watching the animated show, but the dialogue and tone capture the mature and dark nature of the comics, while the combat and story makes it feel like you’re watching a movie where the stakes keep getting raised the more you play. It wasn’t going to be kid friendly like the animated series, the characters would take inspiration from the comics but still be new and different versions that you would come to love. Lastly, because the game was animated it didn’t have limitations on the combat. We could control the flow and speed of the characters and get more creative with the gadgets and weapons. Another great thing about the atmosphere was how they brought the creepiness of Arkham to life. We’ve seen past iterations of Arkham, but this game really captures the essence of what makes Arkham such an unpleasant and scary place to be. Everywhere you go, it feels like something bad is going to happen to you or something has happened and now the place feels haunted. It really does feel like there’s something otherworldly resigning on this island. In fact, the game even plays into that with a side quest which sees you hear the spirit of Arkham’s founder Amadeus. While the later games would have great settings as well, none were able to create the atmosphere that Arkham Asylum made.
Second, the characters. We play as a seasoned Batman who has fought his rogue gallery for years. He knows how dangerous they are, what they can do, and is not afraid to have conversations with them. Even playing into their psychological tendencies and getting them to help him. The Joker in this game manages to combine the charm and comedic nature of the animated series while also being a ruthless madman who enjoys killing others for a laugh like in the Dark Knight. These two work off each other perfectly, but they’re not the only characters that stand out here. There’s Oracle (aka Batgirl) and Commissioner Gordon who serve as good supports throughout the game. Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Bane, Killer Croc, The Riddler and Scarecrow serve as bosses throughout the game and they’re each great. If I had to name the two villains that I liked the most it would be Killer Croc and Scarecrow. I love Killer Croc’s design. He’s like a horror movie monster come to life that Batman has to overcome. Scarecrow also has a great design that makes him look like the scariest thing ever and the game makes good use of his fear gas. Rather than just make you see your fears you experience them. They put you directly into a nightmare world that you have to escape who while avoiding Scarecrow. This is where Rocksteady really got creative with the levels and gives us the greatest video game fake out of all time.
Third, the combat. The game makes you feel like you’re Batman. Along with great combat skills, you have an assortment of gadgets that you can unlock throughout the game and use to fight against criminals or reach new areas. Nothing ever feels wasted or pointless to invest in. Whatever you decide to invest in will either help you out now or help you down the line when you come across tougher obstacles. Nowhere is this seen more than with the stealth sections where you take down a room through of armed criminals one by one using your brains and gadgets to outsmart them. Trying to find a negative with this game is almost impossible. I really can’t think of a flaw or a bad experience I had while playing it. I enjoyed this game so much that I actually attempted to collect all the trophies which is something I normally don’t do. Unfortunately, I didn’t complete it. My account was hacked and I lost all access to my trophies. While I still had the saved data and created a new account, I didn’t have time to playthrough again as life presented school/work for me and was getting ready Arkham City.
Arkham City
After the success of Arkham Asylum, fans were excited when Rocksteady announced the sequel for the game, Arkham City. The game promised to be bigger, better, and have more content than Asylum. They certainly knew how to hype the game up as multiple trailers were release showcasing the criminals we would be facing throughout the game including Hugo Strange who knows Batman’s true identity. The game came out in 2011 and I remember the day I got it. I had the day off from work and spent the whole day playing the game from beginning to end. Now the game’s story is a little silly. So Warden Sharp becomes the new mayor of Gotham and in one of the dumbest moves I’ve ever seen in my life, transforms a part of Gotham into Arkham City, a super prison run by Hugo Strange. In this super prison, criminals are given free reign to essentially do whatever they want within the walls of the prison and have formed factions to control it. Bruce leads a petition and rally to shut down the super prison and gets arrested. He soon finds himself thrown into Arkham City and at the mercy of its criminals. Once he learns about Hugo Strange and some plan he calls Protocol 10, Batman searches Arkham City for clues while battling the inhabitants and uncovering the truth behind the prison. Conroy and Hamill return once again to reprise their roles, and the game features a sick Joker who is on death’s door and forces Batman to find a cure. A lot of villains from the previous game appear along with new villains such as Two-Face, The Penguin, The League of Assassins, Solomon Grundy (that was shocking), and Mr. Freeze who gives us one of the best boss battles in the series. Even villains some people may not know about such as Hush make an appearance. Along with Batman, players also got the opportunity to play as Catwoman who is in Arkham City for her own reasons and we also got to see Robin aka Tim Drake who has a very cool outfit. You can play as him and Nightwing in challenge mode.
Now the game lived up to all the hype it had built and advertised. It was an amazing game that built on what Asylum started and made it better. The combat and gadgets were improved upon. The story and writing were better. The world was bigger to explore and there were a lot of easter eggs scattered throughout the game to find. However, what made this game last so long in everyone’s mind was the ending. Major spoiler ahead. Like I mentioned earlier, Joker is sick. The enhanced venom he took in Asylum has corrupted his blood and will soon kill him. In order to find a cure, Joker taints Batman’s blood with his blood as well as other citizens throughout Gotham. So in order to save everyone, Batman has no choice but to find a cure. With the help of Mr. Freeze, Batman is able to create a cure but in the final battle against Joker, the cure gets destroyed and Joker dies. It’s an image that I never thought I would see. Killing off Batman’s biggest villain and seemingly making it clear that there’s no way he’s coming back.
Arkham Origins
After Arkham City, Rocksteady announced that there would be one more Arkham game, but in order to buy them time and keep fans excited, they gave us Arkham Origins. Developed by WB Games Montreal and released in 2013, Origins serves as a prequel to Asylum and shows a young Batman meeting and establishing his rogue gallery. This time the game focused on some of Batman’s more obscure villains such as Black Mask, Firefly, Deathstroke, and many more. It also gave us the first meeting between Batman and The Joker which some people were upset about. We had just seen Joker die so not many of us were ready to see him again. Personally, I thought it was alright because we got to see their first meeting and what started Joker’s obsession with Batman. Conroy and Hamill are replaced by Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker in this prequel which once again made fans angry. I was okay with this because we were dealing with younger versions of the characters and I thought Smith and Baker did a good job voicing these characters. Apparently, Baker impressed a lot of people that he voiced Joker in some of the animated movies and even Batman.
Out of all the Arkham games (from the mainline) this is the one that fans dislike the most. Because it wasn’t done by Rocksteady it wasn’t as well polished and toned as the previous games. Rocksteady set a pretty high bar for these games and WB Montreal failed to meet those expectations. The game featured no new features to push the game forward, the map felt like a reuse of Arkham City with no changes, multiple glitches and bugs at launch, and the story twist. The game teased that Black Mask was going to be the main villain of this game which would have been cool and shined the spotlight on one of Batman’s more overlooked villains. Instead, they play it safe and just make Joker the main villain. Like I said earlier I was okay with this, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say this was a cop out. They could have made Joker one of the assassins trying to kill Batman but failed and slowly become obsessed with him. Hell, they could have had a DLC story like they did with Mr. Freeze. That would have been cool. The one good thing I can say about this game is the writing. The dialogue for this game is really good. The conversations the characters have with each other not only match their personality but sound real and believable. In the end, Origins was just seen as a filler story that didn’t live up to its predecessors and could be skipped over.
Arkham Knight
Finally, in 2015 Arkham Knight came out. Marketed as the final chapter in the Arkham series, Scarecrow takes the spot as the main villain. He plans to release a new fear toxin throughout the city and has hired a new and skilled villain known as the Arkham Knight to deal with Batman. Pretty much all the villains and characters from the previous games make an appearance in this game having their own side mission or story in the game along with some new villains. This game’s newest add-on was giving players access to the Batmobile and letting them drive around Gotham in it. This feature was cool but would go on to become the game’s downfall. The overuse of the Batmobile was ridiculous. Players were forced to use it in almost every mission and in combat sessions. Tank battles and chases with the Batmobile were repetitive and disrupted the core gameplay that everyone preferred and loved. There were two other issues with the game. The first was the return of the Joker. Returning as a hallucination that only Batman can see, Joker once again steals the spotlight from the main villain that was teased, Scarecrow. This was supposed to be his moment to shine, but instead the writers got lazy and decided to make Joker the main villain. I don’t blame Hamill, because he does a good job here, but you just know he was thinking, I don’t need to be in this game. Second, the Arkham Knight was also disappointing. I think I’m not spoiling this when I say Jason Todd is the Arkham Knight. Everyone saw it coming and the game dropped big hints that it was him. People were disappointed by the lack of buildup and originality. I was one of those people as I really didn’t care and once I figured out it was Jason all my interest in the knight were swept away. His motive really doesn’t make sense here as it did in the Red Hood movie and even the fight against him is a huge letdown. What should have been an emotional fight between surrogate son and father becomes a lazy fight.
Despite these shortcomings there are some positives to the game. The visuals are very stunning. Gotham feels alive with neon lights, rain effects, and an immersive world that you can explore with plenty of chatter to keep you engaged. Despite Joker stealing the show from Scarecrow, the psychological and inner conflict Batman goes through is great and the conclusion to the game is ties everything up but left the door opened for a possible return down the line (and looking back I’m wishing they shut the door given what we got). Lastly, the combat is awesome. We get new takedowns and enemy types to face off against and some new gadgets to fight with. If I had to rank the games from best to worst it would be City, Asylum, Knight, and Origins.
Impact of the Arkhamverse
While the last two games of the Arkhamverse may not have been perfect, the series overall changed the way we viewed superhero games. They showed us that superhero games could be critically acclaimed, story-driven, and mechanically innovative. They didn’t have to be rushed tie-ins to movies with shallow gameplay. They could be their own thing, have their own stories while taking inspiration from comics and other source materials. These games were so good that they would inspire the Spider-Man games.
In the end, the Arkhamverse set the stage for all sorts of superhero games to be taken more seriously, and now we have numerous excellent superhero games in today’s video game industry. Batman set the standards, and Spider-Man carries them on for other superhero games to follow. I think it’s cool that my two favorite heroes have the best games and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with the Wolverine game. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.