Hello Batfans! How the devil are we all this fine day? Its been a little over two weeks since I last wrote about my obsession with the Batman and I am here to tell you… I still am.
In my last article I told you guys I was starting the “Commissioner Gordon” Batman run and I was also starting my playthrough of the critically acclaimed Arkham Asylum. Well I have done both of those now so it’s time for our now-weekly chat!
Let’s start with Arkham Asylum! After smashing my way through Origins, I honestly found Asylum to be a bit of a slog. I appreciate the games improved substantially after Asylum and whilst Origins is still my least favourite of the bunch, I felt a little lost with the removal of some quality of life improvements but this was mostly within the games combat – Which let’s face it, is still EXCELLENT. It’s really some very small gripes I had with the games combat in honesty – Like the sound that’s made when you finish an enemy is used far more frequently in Asylum which can cause some confusion to those who played the others first.
The pacing of the game, whilst fantastic in what it wanted to do, felt a little slow after the adrenaline pumping ride of Origins.
Speaking of something that was a bit of a slog. The commissioner Gordon run as Batman is one of the worst comic runs I have had the displeasure of reading in recent years. I appreciate they needed to drag this out for a while to make Batman’s sacrifice worthwhile after Endgame… But they put Bruce right back into the comic in the first issue of Gordon’s run! Amnesiac and with no money but still… So annoying.
The main point of this arc felt mostly like they wanted to use this time to introduce a new and improved Batman and Bruce Wayne at the end of it by using the memory implants that Bruce built (apparently, nobody knows when or how he managed it without even Alfred noticing the fuck off big machine in the Batcave but that’s neither here nor there I guess).
It almost feels like to me though that they have taken a cowards way out of what makes Batman so great. It’s the development and learnings from each of his scars that makes him who he is and having a new, healed Batman genuinely feels a bit like a cop out.
I trust Snyder and Co to take it where it needs to go however and I am once again excited to see where this story goes.
In the past few weeks though, my viewing of Bat-related materials has taken a downturn. I have spent a lot of my time away on business so haven’t had much time for viewing the films and TV shows.
However, I have now started to crack my way through Arkham City and I am reading a bit more of the current Batman run of comic books. I also plan on finishing the Nolan trilogy and dipping my toes a little into the animated Batman films. I am especially excited to watch through Hush.
So stay tuned to Respawning.co.uk for more Batman musings and everything you could ever want to know about video games!
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