Batman Arkham Asylum | A Critique Thing | Luke Stephens
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ย. 2018
- Batman: Arkham Asylum is without a doubt a classic, but that doesn't mean it can't be criticized, and that is exactly what we're going to do today. Sit down, relax, pull-up your favorite game, and enjoy this critique at your leisure. Beware though, SPOILERS AHEAD!
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Everyone's communicated that they want a critique on Origins in addition to City and Knight... So guess what? You're getting it!
Aww that's awesome! Give Origins some love! ...or hate...or...well, you know what I mean.
Yeah, i liked Origins a lot and I want to see the other side of the debate to see what i'm supposed to have hated haha
I didn't finish Origins. It deserves some...critique.
Yo Blackgate! It's nice to have something to laugh at
The Arkham Christmas special! Or how Batman met all of his friends during the same night.
I disagree about Scarecrow, his presence in the game was one of the high points for me.
Agreed
I see what he means though. Scarecrow, favoring psychological attacks, is hard to do in a combat system. He's more effective in cutscenes because that's the only medium he can truly shine in. When you're then suddenly just... punching him or his goons in the face, or running from him... Not too scary anymore.
@@kylefrank638 That is probably why Arkham Knight Scarecrow is somewhat better, as being the main villain, he constantly trying to break the Bat throughout the game.
he was still bad as a main villain in arkham knight... knowing alll these dream sequences in arkham asylum scarecrow could have be a bigger threat in the game.... the main villain were the jason todd and the joker again. scarecrow was just behind the scenes
This review is literally the first person I have ever heard say they didn't like the Scarecrow sequences. Basically every review of the first game praised them as the highlight boss fight of the entire game. I lost respect for and stopped watching the video after he said that nonsense.
"Scarecrow is the most disappointing character..."
>turns off video
You're actually sad if you did this
EN7171 you’re actually sad if you took this seriously
@@X-EN7171 you're actually sad if you defend youtubers
No, it wasn't similar to the Nolan movies. It was Batman: The Animated Series getting a long waited finale. Everything about it screams this as factual. All the voice actors made a return, the characters seemed to have matured mildly without departing from that ever forward moving cartoon from so many years ago. Think about it, particularly some of the very last episodes of Batman: TAS, particularly as it evolved into The New Batman Adventures and eventually Batman: Beyond. And they got plenty dark and gritty for kid shows.
I can obviously be wrong here but I wonder if he has even seen the series. Because what u said is beyond obvious
Wasn't Batman Beyond and Return of the Joker finale enough for you?
I lol'd at "They hired a man named Paul Dini, a staff writer at DC who has knowledge of Batman." This dude totally missed the mark on tone. This is a thru-and-thru Batman comic and TAS laden experience. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are trappings of that
Okay, it wasn't me that was like 'wtf is this guy talking about'. I feel immensely better.
@@Syntherus the point is this game is immensely based off the style stories and theme of the cartoons. Hence the fact that the writers producers and pretty much all the main actors were involved. They even said that they considered the series as canon for the games... so this guy is obviously oblivious to this fact.
I somewhat disagree on your critique of Scarecrow, him killing and causing mayhem indirectly through the use of fear is pretty much his entire character motivation, because he's obsessed with fear and sees it as what both holds society together and causes society to collapse. This is portrayed best in Arkham Knight because he's determined to crush the hope of the people of Gotham. It'd make little sense if they had just had him be a vicious up close and personal type killer. Other than that great video
Ikr?! This is one of the few points I dissagree with in the video like you said fear is his motivation so it makes sense he does things indirectly.
Thank you
Yeah I don't think he understands the point of Scarecrow
Watching now.
Me too :)
Sex now ;))))))
Ok...
Nice!
@@GNOLEB Imagine
"...He's literally strapped into a straight jacket."
_shows clip of joker clearly not strapped into a straight jacket._
Scarecrow is one of the best Batman villains, definitely better than Zsasz
zsasz is literally a real life villian id even say if he's done right he can be the best batman villian
If you wanna talk about the right way to play this game it is not about the difficulty settings, it is meant to be played with a controller not with a keyboard and mouse. I use an Xbox 360 controller on my PC and everything just flows.
Just look at this part at 30:27 when you talk about it being frustrating but playing it wrong, you use a grappling hook on an enemy who has a knife instead of the one who has a gun and a cape stun on someone who has a taser instead of someone who has a knife.
It flows on keyboard aswell
The thing you said about Scarecrow
That’s essentially what Scarecrow does.
Inject ppl with fear toxin and cause chaos
He doesn’t physically harm anyone often
I take it your never seen Batman the Animated Series cause that's exactly what this game is based on....not Christopher Nolan
He never claimed to be an expert on Batman lore
Da rock Gaming fucking Christ calm down
They were originally going to make a tie in game to the movie. That’s another reason why they’re so similar
@Da rock Gaming Dude calm down. You need to learn how to respect a person's opinion. This guy is respecting our opinions too so no need to get mad.
@@vincentpalermo3452 And this person never said he had to be.
Luke Stephens: *states all villains*
Bane: “am i nothing to you?”
It is practically impossible for me to choose what game is better, Asylum or Arkham City. Arkham City has more content with an evolved gameplay system and story, but Asylum has the atmosphere and setting that can give a person goosbumps and it's what started it all.
Origins was like a DLC to Arkham City for me and Arkham Knight wasn't bad, but the batmobile gameplay got completely oversaturated and boring. Plus, the story was completely predictable in terms of the Arkham Knight and at the same time random because Jason Todd wasn't in the other games. But the dynamic of Batman and Joker in that game though and how Joker lives on in Batman was absolutely perfect to me.
Arkham Asylum was definitely better than City to me because City just wasn't as memorable to me (except the Dr freeze boss fight), the story felt disjointed and they overdone it with the riddler trophies.
I really like Arkham Knight a lot. Even with all its flaws, it was truly epic, a visceral experience!
Asylum I like a ton b/c of the atmosphere -- not only haunting but claustrophobic. It was so perfect. I agree with balti bay that City's story felt disjointed, that definitely hinders it a bit (same for Arkham Knight), but City has some of the best locations IMO (the open world was so refreshing), the opening and closing were both amazing, and ultimately I was satisfied with it.
Knight is criminally underrated IMO. Specially the GOTY edition with the seasons of infamy and aditional story scenarios.
It's an ode to the batfamily and a really good sendoff to the saga. Such a shame that it's so overlooked due to the batmobile fights (i think the batmobile itself was great) and technical issues). Also the gameplay really is the peak of the series and gotham is the most beautiful city i've played in with it's rain
@@lulish1 I wouldn't call it "an ode to the bat family" since they're barely in the story.
Arkham Asylum has the better story and pacing Arkham City's pacing is a bit off in the second act plus like you said Arkham Asylum nails the atomsphere. But City has a bigger map more content and the better boss battles and there's alot of great character moments in City than in Asylum.
DC being dark and gritty and Marvel being more hopeful is generally not true, at least in the case of comics. DC traditionally is generally much more hopeful and bright, with its being mythic symbols of inspiration and aspiration. Marvel was always way more gritter, with its hero having much more limitations and darker backstories.
Totally disagree with your point 11:50. The elements made sense as they were something Batman was hallucinating, and it all rolled into the plot nicely. The fear of Gordon's death, his parents dying, him not being able to stop it, it's all right there. Even later when Scarecrow is trying to break him, he can't do it. Because he's Batman! :D
The animated series was a big influence on this game(as mentioned elsewhere in the comments) which is expected when it features the cast & the writer as well(who was much more than a staff writer for rocksteady as mentioned in the video)
Batman had been portrayed as a darker character for a while, certainly in the comics. Disregarding the Schumacher movies which were campy in parts the 1989 Batman movie was actually seen as dark for the time coming off of the 60's TV series which is what the mainstream audience was accustomed to from Batman which was entirely campy (but great)
Don't rush the next two essays mate. Make them well, make them polished. Other Than that, a damn great job.
I concur.
*DILLY DILLY*
As a kid when I was 100% this game, in the part where scarecrow makes your screen goes fuzzy and restarts the game I didnt wait long enough and thought it was a very bad glitch. Long story short I traded that copy for a new one and figured out that it was always part of the game... felt kinda bad ever since
Bro you completely missed the mark on scarecrow, he was easily one of the best parts of the game
Great critique as always. I would only want to add that Paul Dini was more than just a staff writer for DC, along with Bruce Timm, he contributed greatly to the Batman mythos starting with the Animated Series. Among other things, the two created Harley Quinn.
Yeah, I'm surprised the critique didn't catch the relation between the game and animated series. Aside from Paul Dinn, there's the associated voice acting from Kevin Conroy (Batman), Mark Hamill (Joker) and Arleen Sorkin (Harley).
Honestly surprised he didn't mention that. I was wondering how old this guy is as a result. I always felt that the Arkham games were the more mature and adult version of the animated series and I think Paul I'd the reason why.
This was really great, I really like this channel a lot. Thanks for doing Batman: Arkham!
The only thing is, it came off a lot like you didn't like the game that much. You clearly stated that you liked it, but I didn't get that impression that much b/c of all the time you spent criticizing it. If I may, I recommend structuring the essays a little bit better, as in if you like a game, then put the criticism first and the praise second, and if you didn't like the game, vice versa. But that's just my two cents, so
One of your first videos I really disagree on, aside from the Witcher 3 video. Sorry, but many of the criticisms you present, especially in regards to Scarecrow, don't hold up IMO.
The Tim Burton movies were considered to be incredibly dark and gritty at the time! That’s the specific reason Batman Forever was made to be goofy and campy.
Please don't skip over Arkham Origins. Its a really interesting game, it itself and the production story.
yea its kind of underrated.
Has the best overall story in the series.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the stellar voice acting from Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. Also for the time the graphics were incredible
Don't skip Origins, it's a great game.
It needs an update like the return to arkham versions.
It really is....I wish they'd do an updated version to origins
I had to restart my game because of a bug a few years after the game came out but minus the bugs I agree it is a good game
It's still shit.
@@NellyM1823 return to aroham wasn't even that much better. Orgins is fine where it is
I wouldn't have said the Burton movies were goofy. Garish and lairy certainly, but they had darker subject matter than Nolan's I'd argue. If you mean the Schumacher films then I'd agree.
Agreed. Burton's take was the first MAINSTREAM interpretation of the characters that was actually Dark.
I’m shocked at the critique of scarecrow. He has always been one of my favorite Batman villains.
For the longest time this was my favorite game. Less than the features you talked about, the cohesion of the world with little easter eggs peppered throughout the map that imply a greater history to the world (such as Ra's al Ghul's body or Hush's name on a list of visiting doctors) as well as the sound and mood in the environment. The underground caverns, the psych ward that has clearly become a prison, the mold and graves and gargoyles that turn the island into Halloween. More than the "action, stealth, and exploration" that you talked about, this was what had captured my heart when I was younger.
what I love about free-flow combat is that it feels like a choreographed movie scene.
The first time I saw Titan joker as a kid it scared the shit out of me
Only just found your channel and I’m in love with it, i love listening to what you have to say about a variety of games! Please keep it up, I’ll be an avid viewer from here on in
"A" man called Paul Dini...
No, no. That's THE Paul Dini. The Paul Dini that's responsible for Heart of Ice. Let's not undersell him.
considering how he relates this game to the Dark Knight first, id say he probably doesn't have experience with the animated series.
My deepest sympathies for Luke Stephens, in that case.
I see a lot of people disagreeing with your view on Scarecrow, but for (from what I can see) all the wrong reasons. You say the Scarecrow sections have no stakes because Scarecrow didn't really pose a real threat to anyone and that is just...I'm sorry, but that can't be further from the truth. It's unclear how much of this was real, but from the first encounter, we see Scarecrow killing people, we see them screaming, begging to be let out of this toxin-filled hell hole. (And I'm pretty sure the cowl said "deceased" when scanning them) To me, the stakes are quite clear. That can be and is currently YOU.....Also that first encounter absolutely NAILED the horror side. The atmosphere to the whispering room, it was perfect.
As for Riddler, you're right. There are no stakes there. He hasn't killed anyone, (as far as we know.) he isn't threatening to kill anyone (Which was rectified in future games, but that doesn't fix the problem in Asylum.) and his only real shtick is that he wants to prove his intelligence. But honestly, I'm okay with that. The only stakes I think are needed here is "Bad guy has escaped, find his stuff to track him down." Now admittedly, it's a bit more imagination then gameplay, but I think it worked for what it was. The puzzles were fun and they were a brilliant way to introduce us to an incredible amount of lore, which opened a lot of doors to sequels. *That Clayface encounter was a Riddler puzzle. Think about that.*
All things considered, I think this essay suffers from an extremely limited perspective on what a game should and shouldn't have.
Plus what seems to be a very limited perspective and amount of knowledge about Batman in general. It seems like this guy is the absolute definition of a casual Batman fan, if that.
It's a misunderstanding of what batman villains are supposed to be. Not every villain is a madman that kills people at the slightest opportunity.
Riddler for instance cares more about posing riddles, and batman is one of the few people that consistently guesses his riddles correctly; which is why Riddler continues to try to pose riddles to batman hoping that one day he can make batman fail to guess correctly. That perfectly fits what Riddler's is trying to do in Arkam Assylum.
Scarecrow doesn't care about killing people. All he cares about is studying, understanding, and manipulating the fears of others. Whether they die or not does not matter.
I like how the comments are defending origins. It IS a good game but the story pacing and glitches were annoying so the game got bashed and forgotten. Origins is FILLED with unnecessary combat and there are very few good level designs, most of them are very linear and riddler's puzzles are also easy so there is no tension but the game shines in the middle which ultimately made it good and the Christmas setting is SPECTACULAR, even the soundtrack is mixed with chirstmas theme and i LOVE it.
+Kaidra OE Aside from all of that I found the story more compelling and cinematic than Arkham Knight's, although I haven't played Arkham Knight, but I have watched playthroughs of it.
+Callum Cowan my PC cant run knight ;_; maybe one day.
I discovered your channel at the start if 2018 and have loved watching every single video since.
Coincidentally I am also playing through all the Arkham games. Playing them in release order and currently half way through Arkham Knight.
I can see from this video that you have really pulled this game apart and analysed every aspect and couldn't agree with your comments more. Very excited to see you cover the rest of the Arkham series including Origins which I personally loved just as much as the other games in the series from a story perspective.
Keep up the outstanding work Luke. All the best.
Mike
Subbing just because of this series. Your "straight to the point" delivery is very refreshing compared to how many reviewers like to fill their content with random skits and jokes, not that that is a bad thing but it does get boring after much repetition.
This reminds me a lot of Matthewmitosis and that's a really good thing.
My opinion on the boss fights in this game:
Scarecrow - Creative and challenging but unexciting.
Bane - Basically a Titan fight, but with it's own details like Bane stopping his charges and ripping out chunks of wall to throw at you. Ultimately not a bad first boss.
Titans - Annoying and repetitive.
Killer Croc - Gets old really quickly and loses it's chill factor.
Poison Ivy - The best boss in the game. Fun, challenging, and original all in one.
Titan Joker - Was this even a boss fight?
Yeah but Scarecrows motivation isn't killing people rather scaring the shit out of them and tormenting them within their own mind for his own entertainment, for his own experiments
Paul Dini was gone by Arkham Knight. To it’s severe detriment.
That's probably because of his terrible work on Arkham City's main story.
+ZANIACK He didnt work on AC....
ZANIACK lol you’re always bitching about Arkham city. (Even on reddit and old forums) wtf did that game do to you?
Arkham Knight is such a disappointment after the God-like game that was Arkham City. Shame Rocksteady didn’t let Paul Dini go with his story rather than the shit show that was the Arkham Knight/Scarecrow/Hallucinatory Joker. It’s got about as many villains as Spider-Man 3.
Between you calling "Burton's Batman Cringy", when Batman '89 was the FIRST Mainstream interpretation of a Dark Batman.
2. Your critique of the Joker's boss battle (which is terrible)wasnt nearly as scathing as Scarcrows.
Scarcrow's threat was mental and emotional. There are several brilliant moments with Scarecrow, that trump the finale.
Also there is a reason why Scarcrow and Croc werent "knock out drag out" boss fights. And thats because Paul Dini dosnt write an invincible combat heavy Batman. He rights a Batman who is component in a fight, but problem solves, first and foremost. The contradictory nature of these encounters however, is the fact that Rocksteady developed a combat heavy experience. Its much less about Detective work and "problem solving" and much more about sneeking in shadows and breaking collar bones....
Even still, I believe you are much too hard on Scarecrow and Croc given their context within the story. Considering Croc is supposed to be a looming monstrous threat, that dosnt necessarily have to culminate into a fist fight.
Also I would have liked more of an in-depth exploration of Batman in games, and why comparisons as to what made Asylum so revolutionary. Especially considering Batman Begin's first implemented a lot of the mechanics that Rocksteady polished.
*Write and *Competent, alot of typos. too much to say.
Nice video. I'm waiting for the next clip!
As always, I'm amazed by the quality and thoughtfulness of your videos, Luke, and I agree with you about nearly everything. There is one point of contention between us, though. I happen to like that the games often give players the freedom to decide how much they want to rely on Batman's tools, that they don't force you to use gadgets if you don't want to outside of specific situations and boss fights. Depending on my mood, sometimes I like to challenge myself by completing predator encounters or fights without using tools at all. There is a predator challenge map in Arkham Knight which inspired me, and now when I want to really push myself to improve, to keep up my skill, or simply to add some extra challenge to a level for fun, I forego the use of gliding, the grapnel gun, and predator vision altogether. I like the idea that Bruce is a dedicated, skilled, and resourceful person who has the gadgets if he needs them, but isn't dependent on them. The player should, therefore, be skilled enough at playing the game to do credit to our badass protagonist. One of the flaws of the Arkham games is that even on the highest difficulties, Batman always has room to breathe if the player needs it. You've got a batarang, a grapnel gun, a smoke bomb, a finisher or two waiting to bail you out of trouble. It's tempting to use these extra advantages or else exploit flaws that experts will notice in the enemy AI to keep things within your comfort zone, the way you prefer to play, as much as possible. As anyone who has played the games enough will understand, though, there is a unique satisfaction from doing something the hard way in an Arkham game, doing it perfectly, and getting away with it.
Saying that the right way to play this game is on the hardest difficulty is a misguided statement. I know you think it's the best way to play because the combat is easy but I think you're forgetting that not everyone is amazing at every game. What seems easy for you can easily be too difficult for other people. Not everyone's brain functions and processes information the same way. That means you might think something is easy but you're just really good at it. To this day I'm mediocre at best at fps games but my friends are several times better. They're really good at strategizing and making split second decisions but by their standards I'm a dumbass. Similarly they're really bad at turn based strategy games while I'm really good at them.
Arkham Asylum was actually supposed to be a Dark Knight tie-in game, then later mutated into its own original thing, which would explain the similarities in tone to TDK
Little late to the punch here, but the Arkham series is my favourite game series ever made, especially seeing as it was the first real game I played other than the original Wii games. I fell in love instantly with the attitude surrounding the setting. The characters were well done (especially the Joker). The points made in criticism of Asylum I believe are fair, although I wouldn’t say that it changes my opinion on how great Asylum is, but definitely my favourite review of this game and it makes me happy to see that people still pay attention to this series a decade after its release as even thinking back to the first time I played these games still gives me goosebumps. Thanks for the well thought out video and I’m definitely subscribing for more!
I LOVE long form analysis and critique of games. Glad I found someone else who provides that content!!
Subscribed to see the next two videos!
So glad you are working on this series! I absolutely love these games and I can’t wait to hear your opinion on them
This game was everything to me. It's still the best entry of the series. I love Arkham City too but it just doesn't give me the same feeling. Arkham Knight I never got to play but I did watch all the cutscenes.
This is really well made I really want those other critiques now
This was one of the easiest “100%” completions I’ve ever done. Not because it was easy to do, but because even looking through guides you don’t get bored actually doing everything. The later games… well clearing a single street of collectibles was aggravating at the very least.
I think there are some things I disagree with on this. You quite quickly dismiss some of the game's better features to overly discuss other features, and that takes something from the Critique. You dismiss this game as a "proof of concept", but I think that's an insult to this game. You have to remember that back in 2009, licensed games like this were sneered upon, that you couldn't have good games based on other properties.
You focus way too much attention on the combat section, but very little time on the predator mode (or "stealth" combat). Again, this takes away what made Batman different at the time to other games. There is a reason Mr Freeze in Arkham City was such a great boss, it was because it was so different. Combat against groups of enemies are in most action games, even if the systems for freeflow combat was new, like the counter system, it still wasn't breaking the mould, but the predator mode was new, it really made me feel like you were hunting down the enemies, and catching them at their most scared. Yes, it got repetitive, but so did combat. What game doesn't get repetitive?
You also dismissed the character moments, particularly the Scarecrow which was one of the better parts of the game, especially how they integrated the fear right into the gameplay mechanics, such as Bruce's Parents in body bags, or the fake crash. Very few games did that sort of thing, which made the scarecrow all the more terrifying.
While I would say City is my favourite in the series (It had an open world mechanics, didn't rely on tired story tropes, didn't have the terrible Batmobile combat), Asylum was a very good game, and it's linearity kept the story going, instead of the distractions the later open world games had. I will agree some things haven't aged well, although no game from 10 years ago would have great graphics today. Some of the critiques are fair, like the fact the final boss was anticlimatic, something Rocksteady never actually improved upon, but quite a few critiques either seemed to miss the point, or approach a little too much from the hardcore side to see how someone who played this for the story might approach the game.
I normally like the critiques (I subbed for a reason), like the Witcher 3 or Fallout 4, I just feel this critique maybe hit a few too many things that I disagree with.
I mean, for such an old game, the graphics aren't THAT bad
Dude difficulty isn't the end all be all for good game design, a game can be difficult as all hell but if I don't enjoy the game itself then the difficulty means nothing. You sound like those people who treat Dark Souls like the second coming of Christ because it's difficult.
there was a video that i saw in like 2011-2012 and I wish I could find it that talked about the gameplay systems as a critique and i remember he said something along the line of somethings that would make batman Arkham city a great game I he mentioned something about the guards never looking up at the vantage points and i wish i could find that video again.
My mans said in the end scarecrow was bland and falls flat.
*what about scarecrow is bland and falls flat*
After you witcher critiques I was hooked on this channel. In-depth and thought provoking
36:17 the moment I realize Arkham Asylum and DC Universe Online have identical exploration rewards
Pretty sure Batman has been Dark and Gritty for a long time now. Well before Asylum was released. And Paul Dini, is most well known for being the co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series. He only worked on Asylum and City. And Scarecrow was totally one of the top highlights of Asylum
I don't think you understand what Normal and Hard mode mean. The intended difficulty devs set for you is normal, with the rare occasion of something like Alien: Isolation, where they openly said they wanted Hard to be the setting people should play at. The enemies on normal in most games, including the Arkham series, are not hampered by lower health, tho there A.I. might be changed, I can't remember because there's also the NG+ mode which makes the game harder I believe. The harder and easier difficulties adjust the enemy health and damage dealt accordingly to make it harder or easier for the player, but Normal is just that. Normal. The intended difficulty.
I feel like you should have found the location of the riddler after finding all of the trophies and actually go into a secret room and maybe have a mini challenge than capture him and turn him in into the police. Instead you get a voice clip.
I remember being siper scared of the Killer Croc level. I was such a noob at games I wasn't able to locate him and throw a batarang at him in time so I always got tackled into the water. I also didn't think to crouch to make less noise until the game told me to on one of the game over screens. Then I watched a TH-camr play this level and he used the line launcher to move quicker through the level. It helped me pass it, but I still found it scary. Nowadays, my opinion has changed though.
You didn't mention detective vision. This is the biggest part of the game as I spent most of my playthrough with that filter on and I know I'm not the only one.
I love the Joker challenge sections, his kit forces us to get creative. We can’t just go onto the gargoyle and items are limited.
As a media uni student this sort of critique video is so helpful. Love the arkham series cant wait for the next video
Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed your video. ;)
Here's the "right way to play a game": The way you enjoy it. I don't know why every now and then someone feels the need to explain to others that they're enjoying themselves in the wrong way.
if I enjoy the game more on an easier difficulty, that is exactly the right way to play it. That's something especially Dark Souls fans seem to have an issue understanding. Also, the hardest difficulty is probably not the one the designers focused the most on... if it was, they didn't do their job right, since most of their audience will not use that difficulty. "Normal" is called "Normal" for a reason...
Also: Ditch the technical explanations, unless you're certain they're correct. Your explanation of why enemies don't "notice" you when you're grappling up to a gargoyle is almost certainly wrong... since it's more work to make this special case "break" in modern engines than just leave it in there. Most likely it's a design decision, just like that enemies don't notice you when you're on a gargoyle ever unless you moved up there while being visible to the enemies. It may not be realistic, but it's a part of the game's rules... most of the rules in the stealth segments are there to make your approach more "plannable" and reduce frustration that way. The behaviour of the enemies in these sections is pretty much entirely foreseeable, for example, which turns these sections into a kind of puzzle.
Yes, the final boss fight sucks. To me, though, the biggest reason for that is that they took a "cerebral" villain like the Joker and basically turned him into another big thug for you to beat up. I just got the feeling they couldn't come up with a scenario that would be fun to play and match the Joker, so they went with a bland, generic "hit him three times after beating these waves of grunts". That said, I would have hated your version even more... because that version would have turned the previous, not necessarily great boss fights, into pointless exercises and wouldn't do anything to make a better Joker battle, unless I missed something?
Overall, though: Good work, keep it up.
Scarecrow is easily one of the most memorable parts about the whole game. Rocksteady managed to pull off some Metal Gear style shit with the character, like the part where the screen goes static and you think your console's fucking broke. And, what the fuck, a villain that uses psychological torture is much more scary than some generic brute type character.
Please do critiques of City, Knight & perhaps Origins. Fascinating video btw
You love to follow the industry narrative. Like most TH-camrs that I have seen reviewing the Arkham series, they love to shit on Origins. Even that the game have new enemies types and really challenging boss battles at difference of the gimmicky Rocksteady boss battles that ones you find the boss weakness is really easy to defeat them, I not even kidding, one of the most intimating and "hard" bosses in City is Solomon Grundy, but ones you know what to do he barely has an opportunity to even strike you.
Just because Origins has a couple of decent boss battles and new enemy types doesn't make it a good game, what are you smoking? Origins in consistently bad in lots of other areas - the level design is dull and contrived, the world itself felt dead and bland and it's story is a waste of potential that sidelines pretty much all of it's interesting villains. And that's not to mention the game-breaking glitches that stopped me from progressing at certain points.
I would've loved an Arkham asylum dlc where we play from someone else's perspective on the island, following their story
Great video! Looking forward to the next one :-)
you must be the only reviewer who says scarecrow parts was not good
i was hoping to get through your whole series of critiques on these games before I left this comment is that I have just become a subscriber and I just finished this video I think there is something that crucial to the combat system that you did not include.
before I begin to start coming off as being a hater I enjoyed the video very much and i am an avid fan of this series but yes i won't say that it doesn't go without its flaws, and your video did a great job putting them to light. thank you again and good job keep it up can't wait for the next one. (hopefully soon)
something very important to the combat system that i think you missed is honestly the scoring aspect of it. how many games today or even then really still left in that arcade style scoring... not too many so that begs the question as to why did Batman. I don't think that the combat is supposed to be hard quite frankly the series gets chastised a little bit for being too easy. you can very easily get through the whole game mashing the punch button and throw a counter here and there. I think the devs knew that and once you are that good the real challenge then is actually maximizing the score. the real game there then becomes how can I include the most points really raise that multiplier to the max and then on top of that include all of the different techniques to maximize that variation bonus. it isn't hard to take down the group of goons and on the hardest difficulty it might be a bit of a struggle but it is when you start really paying attention to those after battle stats that is where the combat system really begins to show who has a mastery and who doesn't.
there is depth in there but it isn't forced on the player the depth is self-chosen a challenge that is very much self-imposed
thank you again for the video and the hard work
i want part 2 already wen will u upload it
Loved this and your arkham city one, looking forward to the next
This video is fucking awesome this is really a well made video. I am so excited for all the other videos in this series except for the Arkham Knight video because I love that game so damn much and I know how flawed it is. Can’t wait to see what you say about the rest of the series!
looking forward to part 2
I actually remember the first time I finished this game, I literally sat back in shock and said "wait, what? It's over?" and I feel like that has something to do with that horrible Joker fight. It totally didn't feel end game at all and I had no idea that it was just going to... be the final boss battle. Didn't ruin the whole game for me though, thankfully.
Great critique. Have been following your work for quite sometime now. And anout game engine. Mostly how games look is based on art direction. For example 'a hat in time' also developed on UE3 but dont look similar to either bioshock or asylum series.
I pretty much agree with everything but I think Scarecrow really played into the themes of the game perfectly.
I like your style of video bc I can either watch or listen, so it's like an advanced podcast. I have this in the background while at the gym right now.
*Stray thoughts while watching* :
Why would you play this with a mouse and keyboard?! It's so built for a controller.
It was directly inspired by the Nolan films, did you know that Arkham Asylum was built off a canceled Dark Knight game?
I definitely want to see you critique the whole series.
You make a good point about DC vs Marvel. It's ironic bc what made the comics popular originally was the opposite of what their general outside of comic media vibes (Marvel was darker and more grounded vs DC was brighter and more fantastic).
Why didn't the Joker let the villians out after Batman would put them back in their cells? I forget if there was a reason.
Thank god they didn't go with the original combat idea, the current arkham combat is brilliant. Though I'd love to see a non Batman game use the proposed rythm game combat
I’ve never played this game before, and this is my first time seeing Titan Joker. Let me just say it’s a sin that you didn’t talk about how awesome his design is for at least 15 minutes.
Great video! I can’t wait for the next two. Maybe I’ll try out one of the Arkham games
Wait, how do you get the endings where either Croc or Crane grab the titan crate, instead of Bane??
Stop saying that the Tim Burton Batman is goofy boy when all you show are the joker parts, that movie revolutionized the dark and gritty Batman that we have today sure darker films have came out since then but you have absolutely no idea that that script took almost a decade before it was picked up and given a green light because it refused to be an Adam West like family super hero film that came out around that time like Superman, they wanted to depict the contemporary Batman comics that came out at that time.
Vault Gamer The movie was notable for being way darker than its contemporaries. But rewatching it now, the movie is still goofy as hell. Batman Returns will always have a spot in my heart; that beautiful acid-induced hot mess.
The fact that something is revolutionary or changed the status quo doesn’t make it good.
Wow, i recently played the arkham games and i just completed Cold cold heart DLC and blackgate And u just uploaded a review! Holy crap.
"this is dark grounded, gritty retelling of the classic Batman stories". GROUNDED. Out comes a 10 ft half man half crocodile out of an elevator. :D
“I’m gonna say something that’ll get me in trouble” immediately says an extremely popular opinion of marvel and dc
Can't wait to see your thoughts on the riddler in city considering how you feel about him here
I didn't know Will Smith was an artist. 2:22
Arkham origins please i know people don't count that to the arkham games but it still plays the same that would be great thanks, great video dou keep it up.
Luke, you seem to have developed a pattern on your reviews, because all I get is what have been said already about the game million times before by journalists and gamers, besides that is your nitpicky pessimistic perspective like an old man whining about a video game lol, I can do it too, look:
"Oh it's just a Freeflow flow combat, it's monotonous. What's that? you could use stealth? but that's monotonous too cause you just jump between gargoyles. Oh yes you have variety of tools but the game doesn't encourage me to do that they just show it in the tutorials, of course the part where doctor young is stuck in a small room and when they blew up the gargoyles are there but that doesn't encourage me enough to get off the gargoyles, What's that? you could explore, get collectibles solve puzzles, look for hidden question marks to complete your awesome trophy collections and complete and read up on your Batman lore in the game if you are tired of exploring? but that's monotonous too because it's not revolutionary. What about the boss fight you say? Monotonous too with Szas you just swing on gargoyles using stealth, with bane you just throw a Batarang and just dodge him and fight the goons, with croc you just run away and use your Batarang and explosive gels while looking for some spore samples, with Ivy you just have to use batarang and explosive gels while staying away from his plants and spore beams, with Harley you just fight his goons while changing platforms to avoid getting electricuted,with scarecrow you just stay away from his line of sight while you just go through his obstacles while you just reach and put the spotlight on him, with Joker he just took the toxins enlarge himself so you just fight him, you just avoid his swings, you just fight his goons with variety of weapons and you just pull him down, he just gets stuck and you just hit him and then you just avoid his swings again."
Edit: Do you know another boss fight that many players fail to acknowledge in the game that is not similar to the others? that is with the Riddler. When you finally completed his collectibles and puzzles, the feeling of satisfaction when you figured all of them out without looking on the internet. Not every boss fight is supposed to be a brawl and that's how great the game is incorporating many villains into certain gameplays.
Excellent critique, as always! Plenty of well thought out points, highlighting the good and the bad. Your videos always help me to find a new perspective on some of my favorite titles.
I'm glad you decided to look at origins. Knight is very fluid in a gameplay sense (for the most part), but Origins has the best boss fights of the series.
Looking forward to your next entry, keep up the fantastic content! ✌❤
Sounds like your understanding of Marvel and DC is based exclusively on films released since Batman Begins and literally nothing else
21:10 the eye math on display is fucking incredible
Good video bro, subbed
Yes please do a critique of city and knight
I played it on normal difficulty but it was pretty hard, because my controller began to deteriorate, and I didn't have money to buy another at that time. So when I used the walking joystick anything could happen, except Batman walking. It's pretty bad when you try to sneak and Batman uses that spray bomb or what and everyone attacks you and not everything goes as you want. For some reason it only did this 2 times in City and 0 time when I played Origins, while happened in every minutes in Asylum. But I played them after another in a week after I bought the Batman Arkham Collection. Still amazing games, and Knight too.
This is one of my childhood games so I adore it I think I was 5 when I first played it with my older brother
I liked this review a lot, but it grind my gears that you talked about the combat system as it was something this series pioneer, when Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks did it half a decade earlier
Did you decide not to do the third vid, or it is still in the works?