Batman: Return to Arkham - PlayStation 4 Standard Edition

Eight years have passed since that Christmas Eve (Batman Arkham Knight said Batman Arkham Origins was ten years before it & Batman Arkham Asylum was two years before it, so if one does the math they may see it hasn't only been five years), and a lot has happened since. The remote claw has been replaced with the line launcher. The grappler accelerator went to the lab to get upgraded into the grappler boost. Batman gave up the shock gloves altogether. Arkham Asylum has been reopened for about eight years (if Frank Boles' database is to be believed) and the man who wanted that has been the warden for three years (who was warden before that, Jonathan Crane?). Black Mask's mask has been grafted to his face. Harleen Quinzel transferred her internship to Arkham Asylum and her first interview there was with her old friend the Joker (the interview tape didn’t say it was their first meeting, just her first Arkham interview), she became Harley Quinn. Enigma became the Riddler. Bane broke Batman's back, but he recovered. Batman is on his third Robin, the first became Nightwing and the second one has been killed. Barbara Gordon was Batgirl, got shot in the spine and is now Oracle. More villains have been discovered. Shiva's master, Ra's Al Ghul has entered the scene and has died. Hugo Strange discovered Batman’s identity, but left before causing trouble.Joker has been apprehend by Batman and is being returned to the Asylum, and that's where the game Batman Arkham Asylum picks up. Batman Arkham City reminds me of that classic film Escape From New York, in which an entire city is a prison. Both games have been remastered to bring the whole Rocksteady trilogy to current gen consoles, (it's a shame we still don't have an Origins remaster). Arkham Asylum now has rain outside the buildings and Batman’s suit gets wet. One thing I noticed is that when Batman encounters Solomon Grundy, all the damage to his suit has disappeared before returning and I can’t remember if that was in the original game. For better or for worse, faces has been changed (some do look better and some just look why). If you haven't played these games or if you're just a collector of everything Batman (or perhaps you want the whole Rocksteady trilogy all on one system), I'd say it's worth the listed price (Arkham Knight sold separately, or now in a boxet

**This is a review of the port, specifically, not of the games themselves**When Arkham Knight came out, I wished that they would remake Arkham City so it could look as good. Then they did. This isn't a lazy port like the Ezio Trilogy that takes the existing game and just sets it to "max settings" and ships it out as an HD port. The developers took the existing games made in the Unreal 3 engine and ported it to the Unreal 4 engine. This game absolutely feels like an upgrade.The games themselves still play the same, which is not terribly surprising, but really works to the detriment of Arkham Asylum, which has aged the worst of all the Arkham games. The combat in Asylum was great for its time, but Rocksteady refined it so much in Arkham City and Arkham Knight that, by today's standards - Asylum's combat feels clunky, awkward, and unresponsive.This is perhaps *too* perfect of a port, retaining Asylum's poorly-aged combat, but I can't take points off for them doing too good of a job on porting this collection to the next generation.If you're a fan of Batman and you didn't play the Arkham games on PS3/360, they're definitely worth your time and this collection is a fantastic jumping point for players who may want to catch up on the story before playing Arkham Knight.

We all saw the early graphics comparison videos to the PS3 versions, and the visuals were extremely dark (if fact we can all agree they looked like they were going to be worse than the PS3 version). Rocksteady then delayed the release of this version (based on the negative response to the graphics is unknown). Now that it is here, I will say they overcompensated for the early negative response by making the default brightness extremely bright. Even the IGN review comments on this... the extreme brightness of the environment kills the atmosphere and mood. HOWEVER, if you adjust the brightness settings to about 1/4 of the full bar the game looks amazing! Everything is crisp, clear, and a massive upgrade from the PS3 versions. Hope this helps anyone on the fence in purchasing. Please click "Yes" below if you found this information helpful... I was definitely on the fence (even after the IGN review) but I'm now glad I did.

Great games, not the worst graphics, and great times!