And here we are, just over 25 years since the classic Batman game by Sunsoft was released in the US. The culmination of a two-decade journey just hit the store shelves this Tuesday, and from there on, all eyes of Batman game fans will be on Arkham Knight, as it meets, exceeds, or maybe even dashes the hopes and expectations that the greatest superhero game franchise has resting on it’s armored shoulders.
But that’s the end of the story. The beginning of the end, such as it is, started in the consoles of yesteryear (literally), the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3- and maybe a little Nintendo Wii/Wii U as well.
When we left the 6th generation in the mid-2000s, Batman had some mixed results from his time there. To recap, we had a couple of decent-to-good games based off the Animated franchise, a so-so one based on the modern trilogy movies (missed that one), a high potential but mixed execution Justice League game, and the worst Batman game of them all.
So, when it came time to revive Batman for a new era of gaming, it wasn’t Rocksteady that rode to the rescue first. It was Lego. Developer Traveller’s Tales teamed with WB to create this infectiously fun little game that has since become a monster franchise of it’s own. The first game ran a pretty straightforward plot of recapturing Arkham’s escaped villains which differed from the Lego titles by having an original story, instead of adapting one.
Even after the Arkham saga had begun, this “pocket” franchise got a sequel in 2012 which expanded the roster to include more DC characters, and upped the ante by switching the hilarious grunts and sound effects to actual voice actors, the first Lego adaptation to do so. And there’s really been no looking back ever since. Lego Batman has made the jump successfully to the 8th generation as well, with the 2014 sequel Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham bridging the two gens and selling ridiculous amounts on both sides. An even bigger roster, open worlds to mess around in, and power-up suits and villain team ups to ratchet the crazy all the way up. I apologize for not getting too into detail on the Lego games, but the truth is, these are extremely well-crafted games for any age Batman gamer to enjoy.
The other Batman-related games of this generation are occasionally considered the worst of the trifecta, but that’s like being pretty good in the company of awesome. The first was Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, released in 2008. Contrary to some Mortal Kombat purists, this game is considered the 8th in the franchise, and while it did have some toned down fatalities, it also had some solid fighting mechanics, very clean graphics, and a lot of replay value.
The only true failure of the game was the lack of DLC or unlockable content. This was more than likely due to the closure of Midway as a company, and the lag time that followed before their purchase by WB. Honestly, like Lego Batman, I still enjoy the hell out of this game, and hope they will revisit the mash-up someday. It did get a sequel of sorts with Injustice, and they definitely were able to get the DLC delivered there. I’ve talked about Injustice at length in other articles, so I’ll leave that one as another excellent fighting game that spawned a “pocket” DC Universe that is well deserving of a sequel- supposedly sometime this year.
That should cover the non-Arkham games, at least at a glance. Check back in a few weeks if/when I can get that damn 100% completion, and then maybe I can talk about the trilogy as a whole.