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Entertainment July 5, 2017
Love ya, Batsy!
Batman has always been the moody dude of DC Comics, a vigilante with a moral code.
Born out of comic books, Bruce Wayne has seen his fair share of adaptations in every medium. He first appeared in video games in the late 1980s. But the “Batman: Arkham” series is a collection of some of the most successful Batman games.
Heck, the “Batman: Arkham” series is comprised of some of the most successful video games, period. In honor of the Dark Knight here are some reasons why the “Arkham” series is so great.
* “Batman: Arkham Origins” is not included on this list because it was not developed by Rocksteady and is a prequel to the core series. And also, people don’t like it.
The prolific Paul Dini, the writer of many “Batman” comic books, TV shows and films, took a crack at writing the first “Arkham” game. Mark Hamill (Yeah, “Star Wars” Mark Hamill) has been voicing the Joker for years. He reprised his role as the deranged clown for the entirety of the “Batman: Arkham” series. “Arkham Asylum” is closely tied to a comic book narrative also written by Dini. The asylum provided perfectly contained landscape for the game once taken over by the Joker. Gotham does a great job of keeping all of its greatest villains in one place once captured.
In “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” you play as the Dark Knight entering the Gotham loony bin when returning the Joker. Bruce believes that the Joker was captured willingly and thus accompanies him into the asylum. At which point the Joker escapes Batman’s custody, slips into the asylum with Commissioner Gordon as his prisoner, and releases all of the villains. Batman has to go up against characters like Bane, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and Scarecrow.
It’s a super fun romp. I’m a fan of the challenges from The Riddler, who doesn’t physically appear in the game but provides a ton of mini-goals to solve along the way. (Although they go a little overboard with The Riddler’s challenges in later games.) “Batman: Arkham Asylum” was released in 2009, so you can get it new for PS3, PC or Xbox platforms for $20 and as low as $5 for a pre-owned copy.
Dini teamed up with the game’s director Sefton Hill and Paul Crocker to write the follow-up to “Asylum.” “Batman: Arkham City” takes place exactly one year after the events of Batman’s stay at the asylum.
The city’s new mayor, Quincy Sharp, elects to close the prison doors and relocate the prisoners of Arkham Asylum to an open air facility called Arkham City. At a press conference opposing the new plan, Bruce Wayne is arrested and put into the Arkham City population.
This time Batman comes up against major characters like Mr.Freeze, Talia Al Ghul, Ra’s Al Ghul, the Penguin and Two-Face. Batman has to fight while infected with the same condition that killed the Joker at the start of the game, and he must fight throughout the game for an antidote.
“Batman: Arkham City” was released in 2011 and has a 97 percent rating on Metacritic with a user rating of 8.7. That’s pretty damn good. The awesome news is: You can get a pre-owned physical copy for as cheap as $3 on GameStop and it appears on PS3, PS4, Xbox and PC platforms.
Paul Dini stepped away as writer of the third and final installment of the “Batman: Arkham” series. This game was written by Sefton Hill, Ian Ball and Martin Lancaster. Full of appearances from Batman’s allies and enemies alike, Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, the Oracle (Barbara Gordon). Bruce even teams up with the likes of Poison Ivy to save Gotham.
The main villain for this installment is Scarecrow, which means Batman must fight battles within and without his own mind as he struggles against the fear toxin. The fear toxin is Scarecrow’s weapon of choice that induces a mental state of a waking nightmare.
This game has mixed reviews among fans of the “Batman: Arkham” series. It has an 87 percent score on Metacritic with a 7.7 user rating. Most complaints deal with players being displeased with repetitive story and features from the first three games.
There was also a major issue with how the game ran on PCs. The gameplay is still great and you get the use of a wide array of gadgets, including the Batmobile. It’s available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. It’s a couple of years old, so it can be picked up for $20 at GameStop.
Thanks for being our favorite masked vigilante, Batman!
