Batman: Return to Arkham Review (PS4)
Introduction
This is a remastered collection of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, using a different game engine called Unreal Engine 4. This port is handled by Virtuos, and the main difference is that many of the game's cinematics use in-game engine character models. Notably, Batman's character model in Batman: Return to Arkham - Arkham Asylum is different than his character model in the original release. It is also notable that this collection does not include a remastered version of Batman: Arkham Origins. Both games, however, also include all DLCs released, such as Joker Challenges for Arkham Asylum, Catwoman Episodes for Arkham City, and etc.
It is recommended for new players to download the latest updates for both games, as they fixed some of the performance issues existing in both games.
Batman: Return to Arkham - Arkham Asylum
This is the chronologically first released Batman: Arkham game in the series. The story starts as Batman has captured Joker and wants to send him to the Arkham Asylum. Unfortunately, Joker has made preparations for his escape, and made plans to take over the asylum for his evil deeds.
The characters are amazingly done, and the story is incredibly good. Many familiar villains are introduced in this game, such as Joker, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and Bane. The story is simple, but also intriguing and great at the same time. The tape conversations also provide some insights on the villains' profiles and personalities.
The gameplay is action and adventure, where you can travel from one location to another by running or gliding. Although the later Batman: Arkham games utilised open-world exploration, this game does not utilise it since it has more emphasis on interior buildings explorations. You progress the storyline by completing story objectives, which are highlighted in your in-game map. You may also choose to collect collectibles such as Riddler Trophies or complete riddles in the game, Most of the time, you will utilise gadgets to progress in the game, and you may unlock new gadgets as you progress the story. You may also use your Detective Vision to find objects of interest or finding enemy positions.
The game's upgrading system is simple. You will earn experience points by fighting enemies or completing side challenges such as collecting Riddler Trophies. Once you have accumulated enough experience points, you will gain an upgrade point. You can use a point to purchase an upgrade, such as new combat moves or armour upgrades. Some newer upgrades cannot be unlocked unless you purchased certain upgrades.
The game's combat is simple, and it's name is Freeflow Combat system. As Batman, you will move seamlessly as you attack enemies while remain unharmed from one enemy to another. You will rack up a combo as you get more hits, and you can even use your gadgets during combat as well. As you get enough hits, you can use special combat moves to take down enemies faster. You will also gain bonus experience points if you perform well in combat situations, such as variety of moves used in one combo. Thugs come in different variety such as using stun sticks, metal pipes, and etc. Using different moves in a combat situation will be beneficial to you.
The stealth gameplay is simple, yet incredibly effective. In stealth encounters, you will need to defeat armed thugs stealthily, using either your stealth takedown moves, There are few variety of takedown moves, such as hanging a thug down from a gargoyle. You may also use gadgets to help you as well, such as distracting them from your position. Different stealth encounter rooms present you different ways to complete it, such as hiding in vents or floor grates, so take your time to analyse the situation using your Detective Vision.
Boss fights are also available in this game, as you need to use different strategies to beat them. Some require you to stun them before beating them, or some even require you to use only Batarangs to beat the boss. Most of the time, boss fights in this game are harder than regular thug encounters.
The original version's graphics are amazing, but this remastered version looks incredibly great with it's use of Unreal Engine 4. Most of the characters look greater, and not many technical issues encountered while playing the game, thanks to the latest game update.
The soundtrack has some nice themes and ambient, making the whole mysterious thing in the Arkham Asylum area. The real highlight is the voice acting. Excellent voice acting by all voice actors, like Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, Mark Hamill. Each voice actor did a phenomenal job in voicing their characters, and even the regular thugs have great voices and dialogues. Excellent casting, personally.
This game has good replay value. You can play the game again in harder difficulty modes, collect all Riddler Trophies, solve all riddles, solve Amadeus' identity, or complete the game's Ranked Challenges.
This is a phenomenal game, and a true great classic superhero game featuring Batman. Even though this game's combat pales in comparison to other three Batman: Arkham games, this game sets a high benchmark for other superhero games to succeed. The enhanced graphics make the game look prettier, and the game is just amazing. The only real criticism I have is the boss fights, as they lack creativeness in beating them and lack of variety of attacking patterns. The last boss fight is also a bit disappointing despite being a cool setup. Overall, this game is an excellent game.
Pros and Cons
- Good remastering.
- Not many technical issues encountered. (post-update 1.02)
- Batman is super awesome in this game.
- Great, memorable storyline.
- Absolutely memorable characters, especially the supervillains like the Joker, Harley Quinn, etc.
- Easy to learn and addicting gameplay.
- Great voice acting by Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Arleen Sorkin, and other voice actors.
- Superb and awesome graphics, with unique and well detailed character models as well as environments.
- Varied Objectives that will keeps you from not playing the game.
- Good replay value.
- Challenges are fun to do, especially Predator Challenges.
- Great soundtrack.
- Mark Hamill's performance as the Joker steals the show in the game.
Cons
- You don't fight other popular supervillains such as Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, and others.
- Some boss fights lack different attack patterns.
- The last boss battle is slightly disappointing.
Batman: Return to Arkham - Arkham City
This is the chronologically second released Batman: Arkham game in the series. The story takes place few months after Arkham Asylum incident, and Bruce Wayne has been captured by a mysterious man called Hugo Strange. Hugo Strange knows Bruce Wayne's alter-ego is Batman, and sent him to Arkham City. Later, Bruce Wayne escaped, and donned his Batsuit to find out what happened in Arkham City and find out what are Hugo Strange's plans are.
Again, the characters are incredibly well-portrayed, both good and evil. In fact, I like all of the villains in the game such as Joker, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, and others as well. Batman himself is a incredibly likable protagonist, who will not kill anyone, but will resort to extreme measures to get what he wants. Catwoman is an incredibly likable character as well, with good amount of playable story sections in the game. The story is also incredibly intriguing and excellent, tying up many villains into one big plot where each of them have their own roles and shinning moments in the game's story. It is also rather clever of Rocksteady Studios in changing the roles of a number of villains from Arkham Asylum from major villains to minor villains in this game.
The gameplay is largely the same as previous Batman: Arkham game, but this time this game incorporates open-world exploration where you can glide or run freely in a big confined city, as well as complete side missions and entering buildings, The game's progression is simple, as you complete your story objectives by checking on your map. You may also be required to enter buildings, fight enemies, complete puzzles, and fight bosses to progress the story.
This game introduces Side Missions. Side Missions are optional missions that can be completed while playing the game. This game's Side Missions offer you alternative ways to earn experience point to purchase new upgrades. The Side Missions have different variety, such as tracking a deadly sniper, saving political hostages, complete Riddler challenges, tracking a serial killer's phone call, and destroying chemical tanks. Not only do the Side Missions provide more backstory of other villains' stories, they may reward you experience points to purchase newer upgrades.
The Freeflow Combat system remains largely the same, except this time multiple enemies can strike you at the same time and you can counter multiple enemy attacks at the same time. There are also new enemy variations such as armoured thugs, knife-wielder thugs, and ninjas. This time, Batman has some new moves that allow him to take down enemies, such as his Ultra Stun move that allow him to stun enemies a longer time, the Beatdown move that allows him to strike an enemy rapidly, as well as other special takedown moves such as dismantling and disarming an enemy's weapon. You may also fight other enemy types such as Titan thugs as well as one-armed thugs in the game.
The stealth gameplay remains the same, with only three new additions to thugs variety. There are now thugs that can use their thermal goggles to find Batman hiding on gargoyles, thugs that can place mines on the ground, and thugs that can jam Batman's Detective Vision. Luckily for you, Batman also has some new gadgets that allow him to take down enemies stealthily, as well as new takedown moves. You may now take down an enemy behind a weak wall, under the grate, as well as many other stealth takedown moves.
Boss fights are also present in the game, and again, you need different strategies to beat them as some of the bosses have different attacking patterns. Although the boss fights have mild puzzle-like sections during fights, they are mostly varied this time.
This game also features several DLCs. Catwoman Episodes integrate with the game's main story, where you will control Catwoman in different sections. Catwoman controls differently than Batman, especially when climbing or fighting thugs. She also has her own side mission which can only be done post-game. Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC allow you to play as Robin in a short epilogue, and he also has his own sets of gadgets and moves. Other DLCs also include playable characters in Challenges such as Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing. You can play as either of them or Batman in Ranked Challenges such as Combat Challenges, Predator Challenges, and Campaigns. Campaigns consist of different set of three Challenges, and you must complete all three to obtain the best score.
The remastered graphics look excellent. Excellent in-game engine cinematics as well as incredible looking character models. There are performance issues such as frame rate drops while exploring Arkham City while gliding as Batman or exploring using Catwoman, but fortunately there are no crashes encountered while playing the game.
The soundtrack is excellent. Dark, epic, and catchy. It is a definite improvement over the first game's soundtrack. The voice acting is again, excellent. Although Harley Quinn's voice actress is recast to another voice actress, the replacement did amazing job as Harley Quinn. All voice actors did spectacular job in voicing their characters, even the bad guys like the regular thugs or gang members.
This game has high replay value. You can complete all Side Missions in the game, complete both Ranked Challenges and Campaigns as Batman, Catwoman, Robin and Nightwing, Each character has distinct fighting style, such as Catwoman has faster attacking speed while Robin has slower strieks using his weapon. You may also complete Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC, as well as playing the game again in New Game Plus mode, where this time it is harder than your first playthrough.
This is an excellent game that improves many of it's weaker points in previous game, such as improved boss battles and more combat options. Not only that, the game also uses open-world exploration cleverly using Batman's gliding skill effortlessly, a variety of Side Missions, as well as compelling villains. Not only that, collecting collectibles will also unlock Arkham Stories, sidestories that explain many off-screen events pertaining to the characters in the game. The remastered graphics are excellent, with amazing looking character models and environments. My concern is the framerate issues, as I have noticed some of them occur while gliding around fast enough in Arkham City. Regardless, this is a great game, but do not expect the game to perform perfectly until there is a definitive update on it.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Excellent remaster,
- An excellent Batman game.
- Awesome storyline.
- Many improvements from the first game, with many new additions.
- Excellent gameplay system, with a balance of combat, stealth, roaming, and puzzle sections.
- Great musical score.
- Excellent graphics. Well detailed characters and beautiful designed environments.
- Superb and well-rounded voice acting.
- Friendly tutorials during gameplay.
- Very high replay value.
- Variety of mission objectives.
- A lot of Side Missions to do that involve other super-villains, such as Victor Zsaaz, Hush, and The Riddler.
- Riddler Challenges are fun to do.
- More challenging than the first game.
- Many popular super-villains like Two-Face and Mister Freeze appear in this game.
- Creative boss fights.
- Exploring Arkham City is fun.
Cons
- Some boss fights are more easier than the first game's boss fights.
- No creative boss fight like Scarecrow boss fights in the first game.
- Framerate issues while gliding in Arkham City.
Conclusion
- Missing remaster of Batman: Arkham Origins.
- Performance issues still exist even after installing latest updates.
**Images are from official PlayStation game page.
A remastered collection of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City.
It is recommended for new players to download the latest updates for both games, as they fixed some of the performance issues existing in both games.
Batman: Return to Arkham - Arkham Asylum
Stop Joker from his maniacal plan.
This is the chronologically first released Batman: Arkham game in the series. The story starts as Batman has captured Joker and wants to send him to the Arkham Asylum. Unfortunately, Joker has made preparations for his escape, and made plans to take over the asylum for his evil deeds.
The characters are amazingly done, and the story is incredibly good. Many familiar villains are introduced in this game, such as Joker, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and Bane. The story is simple, but also intriguing and great at the same time. The tape conversations also provide some insights on the villains' profiles and personalities.
The gameplay is action and adventure, where you can travel from one location to another by running or gliding. Although the later Batman: Arkham games utilised open-world exploration, this game does not utilise it since it has more emphasis on interior buildings explorations. You progress the storyline by completing story objectives, which are highlighted in your in-game map. You may also choose to collect collectibles such as Riddler Trophies or complete riddles in the game, Most of the time, you will utilise gadgets to progress in the game, and you may unlock new gadgets as you progress the story. You may also use your Detective Vision to find objects of interest or finding enemy positions.
The game's upgrading system is simple. You will earn experience points by fighting enemies or completing side challenges such as collecting Riddler Trophies. Once you have accumulated enough experience points, you will gain an upgrade point. You can use a point to purchase an upgrade, such as new combat moves or armour upgrades. Some newer upgrades cannot be unlocked unless you purchased certain upgrades.
The game's combat is simple, and it's name is Freeflow Combat system. As Batman, you will move seamlessly as you attack enemies while remain unharmed from one enemy to another. You will rack up a combo as you get more hits, and you can even use your gadgets during combat as well. As you get enough hits, you can use special combat moves to take down enemies faster. You will also gain bonus experience points if you perform well in combat situations, such as variety of moves used in one combo. Thugs come in different variety such as using stun sticks, metal pipes, and etc. Using different moves in a combat situation will be beneficial to you.
The stealth gameplay is simple, yet incredibly effective. In stealth encounters, you will need to defeat armed thugs stealthily, using either your stealth takedown moves, There are few variety of takedown moves, such as hanging a thug down from a gargoyle. You may also use gadgets to help you as well, such as distracting them from your position. Different stealth encounter rooms present you different ways to complete it, such as hiding in vents or floor grates, so take your time to analyse the situation using your Detective Vision.
Boss fights are also available in this game, as you need to use different strategies to beat them. Some require you to stun them before beating them, or some even require you to use only Batarangs to beat the boss. Most of the time, boss fights in this game are harder than regular thug encounters.
The original version's graphics are amazing, but this remastered version looks incredibly great with it's use of Unreal Engine 4. Most of the characters look greater, and not many technical issues encountered while playing the game, thanks to the latest game update.
The soundtrack has some nice themes and ambient, making the whole mysterious thing in the Arkham Asylum area. The real highlight is the voice acting. Excellent voice acting by all voice actors, like Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, Mark Hamill. Each voice actor did a phenomenal job in voicing their characters, and even the regular thugs have great voices and dialogues. Excellent casting, personally.
This game has good replay value. You can play the game again in harder difficulty modes, collect all Riddler Trophies, solve all riddles, solve Amadeus' identity, or complete the game's Ranked Challenges.
This is a phenomenal game, and a true great classic superhero game featuring Batman. Even though this game's combat pales in comparison to other three Batman: Arkham games, this game sets a high benchmark for other superhero games to succeed. The enhanced graphics make the game look prettier, and the game is just amazing. The only real criticism I have is the boss fights, as they lack creativeness in beating them and lack of variety of attacking patterns. The last boss fight is also a bit disappointing despite being a cool setup. Overall, this game is an excellent game.
Pros and Cons
- Good remastering.
- Not many technical issues encountered. (post-update 1.02)
- Batman is super awesome in this game.
- Great, memorable storyline.
- Absolutely memorable characters, especially the supervillains like the Joker, Harley Quinn, etc.
- Easy to learn and addicting gameplay.
- Great voice acting by Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Arleen Sorkin, and other voice actors.
- Superb and awesome graphics, with unique and well detailed character models as well as environments.
- Varied Objectives that will keeps you from not playing the game.
- Good replay value.
- Challenges are fun to do, especially Predator Challenges.
- Great soundtrack.
- Mark Hamill's performance as the Joker steals the show in the game.
Cons
- You don't fight other popular supervillains such as Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, and others.
- Some boss fights lack different attack patterns.
- The last boss battle is slightly disappointing.
Batman: Return to Arkham - Arkham City
Find out Hugo Strange's plans in Arkham City.
This is the chronologically second released Batman: Arkham game in the series. The story takes place few months after Arkham Asylum incident, and Bruce Wayne has been captured by a mysterious man called Hugo Strange. Hugo Strange knows Bruce Wayne's alter-ego is Batman, and sent him to Arkham City. Later, Bruce Wayne escaped, and donned his Batsuit to find out what happened in Arkham City and find out what are Hugo Strange's plans are.
The gameplay is largely the same as previous Batman: Arkham game, but this time this game incorporates open-world exploration where you can glide or run freely in a big confined city, as well as complete side missions and entering buildings, The game's progression is simple, as you complete your story objectives by checking on your map. You may also be required to enter buildings, fight enemies, complete puzzles, and fight bosses to progress the story.
This game introduces Side Missions. Side Missions are optional missions that can be completed while playing the game. This game's Side Missions offer you alternative ways to earn experience point to purchase new upgrades. The Side Missions have different variety, such as tracking a deadly sniper, saving political hostages, complete Riddler challenges, tracking a serial killer's phone call, and destroying chemical tanks. Not only do the Side Missions provide more backstory of other villains' stories, they may reward you experience points to purchase newer upgrades.
The Freeflow Combat system remains largely the same, except this time multiple enemies can strike you at the same time and you can counter multiple enemy attacks at the same time. There are also new enemy variations such as armoured thugs, knife-wielder thugs, and ninjas. This time, Batman has some new moves that allow him to take down enemies, such as his Ultra Stun move that allow him to stun enemies a longer time, the Beatdown move that allows him to strike an enemy rapidly, as well as other special takedown moves such as dismantling and disarming an enemy's weapon. You may also fight other enemy types such as Titan thugs as well as one-armed thugs in the game.
The stealth gameplay remains the same, with only three new additions to thugs variety. There are now thugs that can use their thermal goggles to find Batman hiding on gargoyles, thugs that can place mines on the ground, and thugs that can jam Batman's Detective Vision. Luckily for you, Batman also has some new gadgets that allow him to take down enemies stealthily, as well as new takedown moves. You may now take down an enemy behind a weak wall, under the grate, as well as many other stealth takedown moves.
Boss fights are also present in the game, and again, you need different strategies to beat them as some of the bosses have different attacking patterns. Although the boss fights have mild puzzle-like sections during fights, they are mostly varied this time.
This game also features several DLCs. Catwoman Episodes integrate with the game's main story, where you will control Catwoman in different sections. Catwoman controls differently than Batman, especially when climbing or fighting thugs. She also has her own side mission which can only be done post-game. Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC allow you to play as Robin in a short epilogue, and he also has his own sets of gadgets and moves. Other DLCs also include playable characters in Challenges such as Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing. You can play as either of them or Batman in Ranked Challenges such as Combat Challenges, Predator Challenges, and Campaigns. Campaigns consist of different set of three Challenges, and you must complete all three to obtain the best score.
The remastered graphics look excellent. Excellent in-game engine cinematics as well as incredible looking character models. There are performance issues such as frame rate drops while exploring Arkham City while gliding as Batman or exploring using Catwoman, but fortunately there are no crashes encountered while playing the game.
The soundtrack is excellent. Dark, epic, and catchy. It is a definite improvement over the first game's soundtrack. The voice acting is again, excellent. Although Harley Quinn's voice actress is recast to another voice actress, the replacement did amazing job as Harley Quinn. All voice actors did spectacular job in voicing their characters, even the bad guys like the regular thugs or gang members.
This game has high replay value. You can complete all Side Missions in the game, complete both Ranked Challenges and Campaigns as Batman, Catwoman, Robin and Nightwing, Each character has distinct fighting style, such as Catwoman has faster attacking speed while Robin has slower strieks using his weapon. You may also complete Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC, as well as playing the game again in New Game Plus mode, where this time it is harder than your first playthrough.
This is an excellent game that improves many of it's weaker points in previous game, such as improved boss battles and more combat options. Not only that, the game also uses open-world exploration cleverly using Batman's gliding skill effortlessly, a variety of Side Missions, as well as compelling villains. Not only that, collecting collectibles will also unlock Arkham Stories, sidestories that explain many off-screen events pertaining to the characters in the game. The remastered graphics are excellent, with amazing looking character models and environments. My concern is the framerate issues, as I have noticed some of them occur while gliding around fast enough in Arkham City. Regardless, this is a great game, but do not expect the game to perform perfectly until there is a definitive update on it.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Excellent remaster,
- An excellent Batman game.
- Awesome storyline.
- Many improvements from the first game, with many new additions.
- Excellent gameplay system, with a balance of combat, stealth, roaming, and puzzle sections.
- Great musical score.
- Excellent graphics. Well detailed characters and beautiful designed environments.
- Superb and well-rounded voice acting.
- Friendly tutorials during gameplay.
- Very high replay value.
- Variety of mission objectives.
- A lot of Side Missions to do that involve other super-villains, such as Victor Zsaaz, Hush, and The Riddler.
- Riddler Challenges are fun to do.
- More challenging than the first game.
- Many popular super-villains like Two-Face and Mister Freeze appear in this game.
- Creative boss fights.
- Exploring Arkham City is fun.
Cons
- Some boss fights are more easier than the first game's boss fights.
- No creative boss fight like Scarecrow boss fights in the first game.
- Framerate issues while gliding in Arkham City.
Conclusion
A great remastered collection with some issues.
This is a great collection of two great Batman: Arkham games. Unfortunately, both games may have framerate issues unless you install the latest updates for both games. However, the updates do not fix every performance issue in both games, so the games themselves are not exactly definitive editions of the previous Batman: Arkham games. Also, the collection is missing Batman: Arkham Origins, as the game has a lot to offer to Batman fans such as the excellent boss fights and compelling storyline. I suggest players to wait for the collection to get cheaper and wait for Warner Bros to release updates that will fix all framerate issues for both games. For newcomers however, this collection is a great entry for Batman fans. Buy the collection with caution.
Final Score: 9/10
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Great collection of two excellent Batman: Arkham games.
- Include all DLCs.
- Amazing looking character models.
- Solid stories.
- Great and likable characters/
- Great gameplay.
Cons
- Missing remaster of Batman: Arkham Origins.
- Performance issues still exist even after installing latest updates.
**Images are from official PlayStation game page.
The information which you have provided is very good. It is very useful who is looking for Game testing services
ReplyDeleteSo far out of all the blogs, I personally feel this blog is just awesome Excellent goods from you about Game Testing Services, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too excellent on Game Testing Companies. I actually like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what you are stating and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care of to keep it sensible content about Game Testing Services USA. I can not wait to read far more Video Game Testing Companies from you. This is actually a tremendous site..
ReplyDelete