Top 10 BATMAN GAMES!

After demonstrating that exploring the emotional frailties of characters was pretty much their bread and butter in hit games like The Waking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, Telltale’s episodic formula seemed like the perfect match for the Caped Crusader, and for the most part we weren’t disappointed. Diving into psyche of Bruce Wayne while along giving us some pretty badass moments as Batman, players were treated to an ongoing mystery surrounding the Wayne legacy as well as a reimagining of some of the comic book icon’s greatest villains. Oh, and we totally had the option to bang Catwoman. Awesome.

Despite it pretty much boiling down to being a side-scrolling beat-em-up, this Sega title is nonetheless a damn good side-scrolling beat-em-up! Then again it does feature Batman so that’s automatically an elevation from mediocrity. With something of a sharp difficulty spike, the variety of enemies and bosses aren’t the easiest to take down, requiring players to have to mesh button-mashing with actual strategy if they want to win the day. All in all this golden oldie is still a fun time worthy of the Dark Knight’s name.

Taking the fun of the original and sprinkling it with some impressive voice casting and even an intriguing narrative, our second venture into the world of Lego Batman was nothing if not a ton of fun! With seventy five characters to play as in a vast brick-layered open world setting, not only did we get to enjoy all the bells and whistles that stemmed from the first game, but it was also a much funnier experience thanks to the brilliant voice work provided by actors like Troy Baker and Clancy Brown, all contained in a genuinely well-told and hilarious narrative. Who says Batman always has to brood?

Taking a page out of Ninja Gaiden’s book, this classic on the NES in many ways helped lay the foundation for many future Batman games by having the Caped Crusader actually be able to leap around the stage while lashing out with all manner of bat-gadgets. With this extra bit of freedom, for the time this put it far above other superhero themed games, actually retaining some of the identity viewers had seen in Michael Keaton’s much darker portrayal of the character. It also gave us a series of then-unknown DC villains (in video game form anyway) such as Deadshot, Heat Wave and KGBeast. We all have to start somewhere.

Fans of the masterpiece that was Batman: The Animated Series were given quite a treat when this little number for the Super NES came out. Not only did it perfectly capture the feel of the show with its atmosphere and artistic style, but also gave us a platformer that included both puzzles to solve and a whole slew of supervillains to chase down, as each of Batman’s greatest foes had their own stage and unique set of challenges to overcome. Much like the show that it was based on, this game upped the ante for the dynamic duo in the best way possible.

While not quite the ending diehard fans were hoping for, the finale to Rocksteady’s Arkham trilogy was in no way a failure of a game, in fact some of it was downright majestic. Whether by grapple gun or by Batmobile, we got to explore Gotham City in all of its macabre glory as we pursued various side quests that featured our favourite villains, all the while having to contend with remnants of the Joker’s madness as well as the threat of the enigmatic Arkham Knight. Could it have been better? Sure. But there’s no denying that no other entry in the series was packed with as much darkness and tragedy as this one.

Who would have expected that the World’s Greatest Detective and virtual building blocks would go hand in hand together? Taking the open world formula that had made the Lego Star Wars games such a success, players were given freedom to mess around Gotham as any member of the Bat Family or as one of Arkham’s most notorious inmates. It also featured a hefty campaign filled to the brim with collectables and secrets just waiting to be uncovered, all the while assuming the mantle of a far more miniature yet still awesome Dark Knight.

Netherrealm Studio’s first Injustice game had already set a strong precedent for Fighting Games with engrossing stories, but Injustice 2 is where the studio truly brought their A-Game. Following up from game, Batman are a dictator version of Superman are forced into an uneasy alliance to stop Brainiac from abducting cities across the Earth. While it sounds like standard comic book fare, it’s the interactions and friction between former Justice League members that gives comic fans the DC equivalent of Marvel’s Civil War they’ve truly been waiting for. Dare we say that in the end, the story ends up being a far better Batman V Superman story than … Batman V Superman.

Taking the Caped Crusader out of the shadows and into the madhouse, the first entry in what would become the legendary Arkham trilogy took the gaming world by storm by delivering the definitive Batman experience. Combining additive and well-orchestrated combat, actual detective work, a mature narrative as well as the return of the voice cast from the original animated series, we’ve never felt as beastly or as vulnerable as we did than when we traversed the dark corners of Arkham with nothing but our wits, gadgets and fists to protect us from its psychotic inhabitants. Whether for the action or the scares, we won’t be forgetting our time in the Asylum anytime soon!

How do you improve on perfection? By giving us everything we loved about Arkham Asylum, setting in an open world and weaving it together with a thrilling narrative that sees Batman battle against the Joker in a twisted but ever so fitting finale. Trapped inside a city-sized prison with some of his most dangerous adversaries, the Dark Knight finds himself dealing with the devious ploys of Hugo Strange, the shadowy operations of the League of Assassins, as well as the Joker’s last, desperate gag. Combine this with some of modern gaming’s best boss fights, plenty of side quests and hundreds of Riddler challenges to conquer, and you undoubtedly have Batman’s finest hour.