Batman: Arkham Series Retrospective (2017 - Obsolete)

A look back at Arkham.

--- PERSONAL NOTE ---

This video, and my general attitude toward videogames contained therein, is more than somewhat out of date. My ultimate conclusions presented as to the quality of each game here are very clouded by emotion, and not fully supported by the contexts in which these games were developed. My opinions may still be fairly similar in some of the larger points today, but if I was to make another Arkham Retrospective, it would be a lot more investigative of the games as individual works, be far more detailed in it's presentation of each game's development teams, significant contributors, constraints imposed on the development of each and generally contain a lot more information as opposed to so dominantly presenting emotional reactions, and in combination with my changed outlook on this medium on whole, I have a strong belief that would alter the content of the Retrospective significantly enough to render this current one obsolete.

This video will, as per request of those who've enjoyed my channel, remain public, but for all intents and purposes the driving force behind it has been reconsidered by me, it's author. I do think the video has some value, but I've made many statements about it's outlook and methodolgy in the time since I produced it. Please view my more recent work for a better understanding of how I approach games criticism in the present.

- Micah Edmonds, March 2020.

...

Batman Arkham is a gaming franchise unlike many others - it has a level of detail, polish and creative direction that many other series fail to make a priority. I had always been drawn to these ideas and to the series on whole, but had never truly thought through the games on a critical level. In 2017, I sought to place my established opinions aside and find new things to say - how does this series operate at it's core, what can we learn from it to apply to other games, how did it evolve or regress? Most importantly, how do these games make the player "feel like Batman," and what does that even mean?

TIME STAMPS:

[ 3:09 ] - Introduction/ World Design
[ 16:23 ] - Combat/ Stealth
[ 29:25 ] - Arkham Origins Overview
[ 46:50 ] - Arkham Asylum Overview
[ 57:05 ] - Arkham City Overview
[ 1:10:55 ] - Arkham Knight Overview
[ 1:40:45 ] - In Conclusion

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All the games were played on a PC at 1440p, max settings, with an Xbox One Controller. I replayed every game twice, having completed each multiple times previously, and captured all the footage from the second playthroughs. There was a fair bit of hitching in my game capturing, so my apologies for that, I’ve done the best I can to work around it. This is my first longform video, so thank you for taking the time.

Massive thanks to Lachlan (from In Opposition) for his contributions to the video, and for sparking my mission to rethink the series. It wouldn’t be here without you.

Thanks also to Joseph Anderson and Matthewmatosis for creating great longform game analysis videos, and for inspiring me to try making one of my own. Check them out (if you don’t already know them) for some top notch gaming content.

MY TWITTER - @banneromen

Видео Batman: Arkham Series Retrospective (2017 - Obsolete) канала Micah Edmonds