Simply put, the Arkham series takes the The Problem with Licensed Games and kicks it to the curb with the fury of a thousand fists, leaving behind a bruised, bloodied and broken (yet somehow, still alive) wreck, heaving on the sidewalk. Lovingly crafted, it just might be my favorite take on the Batman outside its original medium. Rocksteady are to be commended for not only making you feel like the character you're controlling, but for that character being Batman of all people, who has been horribly misused in earlier attempts.
Most commendably, the series perfectly balances the brute strength and intellectual cunning of the Dark Knight. For one, the surprisingly deep combat system is executed with such simplicity and grace that you'll be racking up combos north of 50 without ever getting hit in no time at all. And it never, ever gets boring. At least it hasn't over the course of the 3.5 games released thus far. It's no wonder Rocksteady's benchmark for third-person combat has inspired imitators in subsequent years.
Equally as rewarding and fun are the Metal Gear Solid-inspired "Predator" encounters, in which you must take out a number of armed guards in one area. Usually, going all Leeroy Jenkins on these guys is a one-way ticket to the morgue, so it's up to you to use gadgetry and cunning to take them down. There are so many ways to go about this (they even increase as the series goes on) that you really feel like you're the predator, merely toying with Gotham's "finest" henchmen on offer.
The series' big flaws relate to narrative and storytelling. Though ambitious in scope, the games' stories always come off as a little disappointing. In fact, I'm gonna have to give props to unfairly-maligned series blacksheep Origins (developed by another studio) for having the most cogent and effective narrative in the series. Anyway, the biggest problem is just the lack of character focus. There are just a few too many plot threads dangling around at once. To me, the strongest Batman stories tend to focus on a smaller, more intimate cast. That's a lesson well learned.
While the series reached an insurmountable peak with its very first outing, at least the sequels' flaws can be attributed due to experimenting with the formula a bit too much, and not through complacency.
How Batman himself would make a Batman game.
Simply put, the Arkham series takes the The Problem with Licensed Games and kicks it to the curb with the fury of a thousand fists, leaving behind a bruised, bloodied and broken (yet somehow, still alive) wreck, heaving on the sidewalk. Lovingly crafted, it just might be my favorite take on the Batman outside its original medium. Rocksteady are to be commended for not only making you feel like the character you're controlling, but for that character being Batman of all people, who has been horribly misused in earlier attempts.
Most commendably, the series perfectly balances the brute strength and intellectual cunning of the Dark Knight. For one, the surprisingly deep combat system is executed with such simplicity and grace that you'll be racking up combos north of 50 without ever getting hit in no time at all. And it never, ever gets boring. At least it hasn't over the course of the 3.5 games released thus far. It's no wonder Rocksteady's benchmark for third-person combat has inspired imitators in subsequent years.
Equally as rewarding and fun are the Metal Gear Solid-inspired "Predator" encounters, in which you must take out a number of armed guards in one area. Usually, going all Leeroy Jenkins on these guys is a one-way ticket to the morgue, so it's up to you to use gadgetry and cunning to take them down. There are so many ways to go about this (they even increase as the series goes on) that you really feel like you're the predator, merely toying with Gotham's "finest" henchmen on offer.
The series' big flaws relate to narrative and storytelling. Though ambitious in scope, the games' stories always come off as a little disappointing. In fact, I'm gonna have to give props to unfairly-maligned series blacksheep Origins (developed by another studio) for having the most cogent and effective narrative in the series. Anyway, the biggest problem is just the lack of character focus. There are just a few too many plot threads dangling around at once. To me, the strongest Batman stories tend to focus on a smaller, more intimate cast. That's a lesson well learned.
While the series reached an insurmountable peak with its very first outing, at least the sequels' flaws can be attributed due to experimenting with the formula a bit too much, and not through complacency.