The Batman Arkham series and the Insomniac Spider-Man series. Two of the greatest super hero video game franchises of all time. But which one is the best?
The Batman Arkham games, for me, have a better story. It's so dark and brutal that really has me on edge on what's about to happen next. They're so good.
I think that they are both a great set of video games with incredible stories, gameplay and voice actors. Both will be remembered in gaming history and both will serve as an example and set the bar for future video games to come. My opinion
I think spiderman can take a lot from arkham going into there final game of the trilogy, Would live to see mysteriums make a return but be fully expanded upon and making them the actual equivalent to challenge maps from arkham To fix stealth I think they need to increase the fire power of all enemies in stealth to be all have super lethal guns so if you go into close combat your fucked. Secondly make it so that you have a completely separate Arsenal of gadgets and abilities when going into stealth mode but they All have long cool downs (camo and web lines would fall into this with stuff returning like trip mines etc) Like you said other playable characters like black cat, wraith and venom in challenge modes would be great to
Jesus I forgot how vicious Batman was with how many times he punched those goons over and over again, how the goons didn't end up in a coma or hell dead after taking that many blows to the head who knows 😂
I am very much a fan of the optional stories and bios in the Arkham series, a lot of times I need to look up who the spiderman villains are in order to understand what is happening.
Arkham wins no doubt just by how some games are older and they can still compete with Spider-Man says it all. Spider-Man obviously is good it uses all its new technologies to its advantage and it look beautiful and feels amazing, but Batman really was the reason why Spider-Man is what it is it was the Superhero game to match or beat and it still is.
Think the argument is won with just one point...Mr. Freeze boss fight beats the whole collective games of Spiderman 1/2. And the web slinging in the spideman games you can pretty much do in City and Knight. And for narritives, asylum could be the standard.
I love both series! Both series did a remarkable job of taking iconic franchises and reimagining them and putting their own spin on the world, characters, and story. The game play in both is also fantastic. But where the Spider-Man games win for me is connecting me to that world and characters. Because we spend as much time dealing with the fallout of Spidey's actions affecting Peter, the interactions are more impactful. All the characters are built up over the course of the three games so well, that there was real emotional depth and connections. With the Arkham games I just felt like I was seeing snapshots of that world and characters. They come and go, there's some mentioned history but it doesn't feel like the established relationships of the Spidey games.
I would disagree, I believe the characters in arkham, including the villains as well were done perfectly to characterize them and give them life and really show them as a reflection of Batman’s character, and the sheer amount of them and with the added depth added to them by better voice acting in my opinion just sells them as having more of a soul for me, but I respect your opinion.
@@Lilbomber23 I agree wholeheartedly about the villains in the Arkham series, and their connections and relationship with Batman. That stuff is great, they handled that Batman/villain dynamic perfectly. But its still all about Batman, and I feel like adding some more Bruce and the family stuff in the earlier games would've made some of the stuff with Jason, and the rest of the Bat family hit harder in Knight. That's what I meant about snapshots and mentions.
@@Geek_Speak_Gaming well they did that with the dlc in knight especially towards barbara, red hood, nightwing, and robin. But idk we’ll just have to agree to disagree
@@Lilbomber23 again that's what I mean, by then it felt like an after thought to me. They should've used dlc to build those characters up in the previous games. Instead we got a great story, with characters we barely met, so the emotional payoff wasn't really there, and then we found out the back stories later. Had we gotten to know just a bit about Jason, Dick, Barbara and Tim other than the stuff we get in bios in Arkham City, all of those beats in Knight would've hit harder is all I am saying. For example, take the Dark Knight Trilogy. What if they hadn't introduced Rachel until The Dark Knight. Her death would not have been as impactful because we didn't have all that back story, and character building in Batman Begins.
@@Geek_Speak_Gaming i mean it didn’t feel like an after thought to me, especially if they did eventually end up doing the dlcs for knight anyway which helped extensively for their character building and if you played origins, asylum, and city we already had much of character building moments with oracle and tim anyway so idk where you thought they were an afterthought when they were involved in some key parts of the game and previous dlcs. I understand Jason Todd but even then, he was supposed to be the villain for Knight and his flashbacks with the joker, characterization in general helped a lot with his character. But idk how you felt they were a after thought, I certainly didn’t. Then again we’ll just have to agree to disagree, maybe you just felt more in personal touch with the spiderman universe which is fine, I just felt more in touch with Batman. I guess it’s up to preference. The only one I can kind of see for this is probably dick, cuz he was absent for almost entirely of the first three games, but not so much anymore as most of his character building was done in knight in the story and dlc. also movies are really not a good comparison, as you can play one game which gives you many hours of content and are able to consistently feel for them in just one game and doesn't require backstories from previous games, jason todd is a good example, he may have not been talked or shown at all in the previous games but his character has been built up the most out of the bunch in one game.
Idk about the story being better, the first spiderman game had a fire story but the second one was more generic along with miles morales having some underutilized or half baked elements.
@Wizofmincraft maybe saying the story is BETTER is a poor choise of words, but id say the spiderman games are better story wise because they use more of spidermans supporting cast throughout those games the batman games only really have alfred barbra, and robin in one cutscene and the harley quinn dlc in city and is completely sidelined in knight , nightwing doesnt make any appearance in arkham city beyond the challange missions, and one side quest in arkham knight and red hood doesnt show up until the end or arkham knight ware he randomy switches sides at the last miniute
Arkham games. Spiderman 1 I'd say the story is good but miles morales is a weaker version of that story with all the rehashes necessary (they can only do the Spiderman and the person behind mask lives collide before it gets old) Spiderman 2 definitely left a lot to be desired with it being a rehash of stories that were done better in the past. Arkham has its story but unlike Spiderman it doesn't spoon feed the player everything as the story is told through the environment environment as well. With each game giving the player something if they are willing to look for it (like strange manipulating everyone and everything in arkham city).
The arkham games are great. Especially Arkham Knight. But i find myself replaying Spider-Man way more than Batman. The combat is a fun spectacle in the Arkham games but its not very challenging but the stealth is amazing. Spider-Man has better combat and traversal for me. Ultimately, a video game boils down to which one gameplay loop is the most fun to play, so in my eyes Spider-Man takes the win! The Arkham games have a lot of stuff that bears the Spidey games but the mot the absolute most important aspect.
I agree with you but ultimately Batman’s combat requires wayyyy more skill if you want that no-hit perfect run. Yet I still find Spider-Man’s combat to be wayyyy more fun, wayyyy more… spectacular (no pun intended), and has its own characteristics that the Arkham combat doesn’t have at all like aerial combat and rechargeable abilities for example
I agree with you but ultimately Batman’s combat requires wayyyy more skill if you want that no-hit perfect run. Yet I still find Spider-Man’s combat to be wayyyy more fun, wayyyy more… spectacular (no pun intended), and has its own characteristics that the Arkham combat doesn’t have at all like aerial combat and rechargeable abilities for example
I would disagree, arkham games have got to be the most replayable games of all time, with it’s almost addictive gameplay loop, with better AI’s and story. But to each their own
It has better combat, it has better puzzles, better side content, better writing, better boss battles and better stealth. It's so disappointing how the Spiderman games took inspiration from Arkham but is incredibly diluted.
Explain to me how exactly how SM2 is a “Movie game” and no you do have to think about the best enemy’s to target and whether or not you should use your gadgets or abilities on spastic enemies. Thinking about the best paths to move and gain the best looking and fastest swinging in the open world. The only reason you think it’s brain dead is because you are brain dead.
At least you didn't pre-order Spiderman 2. The game is definitely not worth full price (I could've gotten the RE4 remake instead) Stealth is even more braindead I don't know that's even possible. The QTEs complete themselves (might as well have them disabled) Combat is gimmicky as well being worse since they castrated it of suit powers and decreasing the number of mods to spice things up. The story definitely sucked as far as I'm concerned. Web of shadows still has it beat with symbiote gameplay. Braindead game riding on pretty graphics nothing more nothing less
@@solid5502 Yeah but I’ve always believed it was Batman’s arc to ultimately get over his parents death and use his money and influence to ultimately help Gotham and the main reason he stops villains is to help them get a second chance in life. Like the animated series or even 2004 or even the Justice league show Instead Batman doesnt get over his parents. Everyone is apparently worse off when he’s involved. Absolutely no villain besides poison ivy, catwoman and Mr freeze I guess I redeemed. And even then turning good just ends in there deaths except cat woman she’s just doing the same as ever. And Gotham gets constitutionally worse and worse Also another thing I noticed and makes me sad is that Batman doesn’t really change as a character. The only time he has an arc is origins but beyond that he’s pretty much the same through the trilogy. I guess he’s more suicidal in Arkham knight tho. Because seriously he’s a master escape artist and he just lets scarecrow tie him to a share I guess Also to sum up my thoughts, if all the hard work and time was ultimately for nothing. What the hell is even the point? And why should I care?
@@randomgamer625no arc in arkham knight? he has a whole redemption arc in the conclusion with his internal struggles with himself/joker. Idk if you actually comprehended the game correctly, that you weren’t able to notice that but yeah sure batman brings out all the crazies but without him, Gotham would be in a worse situation to the point of being apocalyptic. There is not any form of philanthropy or programs that can reform villains who are beyond reform, his Bruce Wayne persona already does this on the daily to no avail. and reforming Gotham itself which is essentially cursed to be forever riddled with crime. It’s the same thing that makes Batman and jokers dynamic work so well, they were both created by the same system, except one found solace in chaos and destruction and the other in relying on hope and justice. Two sides. Same coin.
@@Lilbomber23 I really don’t understand what you mean by redemption arc. Batman didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t even kill anyone. Joker was 100% his own fault even though he tries to guilt Batman in Arkham knight And what you’ve said only makes the world worse. According to you villains simply can’t be reformed and Gotham is truly just cursed to be a crime infested city. Which means that all the crime fighting and the whole no killing rule is absolute pointless because again. Nothing got better It doesn’t matter if there’s solace in the chaos. Again you didn’t change anything and clearly more good people die than bad people. I mean Arkham knight shows that the crime population is so bad that they can single handily run and riot the entire city. And this is after Batman has been around for years
@@randomgamer625 His redemption arc when he gets rid of the joker’s personality, his internal struggles with the joker are just a manifestation of his fears, he overcomes that in an amazing way during the conclusion of knight and overcomes them. You see, after arkham city and before knight, Batman was more reclusive then normal pushing everybody away, more of his fears coming to life brought upon by the joker toxin, he truly believed he’d do something to hurt his own family, that’s why he always pushed them away and wasn’t the same after joker or talia died. But after the ending in arkham knight, when he decided to let go of those fears and become a new myth, a legend, he went through probably one of the best arcs in the series in knight. Also Yes, of course Gotham is forever cursed to be crime infested, but that doesn’t mean crime fighting in general is meaningless, without Batman and the rest of the batfam, Gotham would be a constant warzone, it would be almost apocalyptic like I said, doing something to help is better than doing nothing at all and letting the city rot to the core and all it’s inhabitants. Batman atleast makes Gotham a livable place, rent would be astronomically low and you’ll see crime almost every other day of the week, but atleast you’ll be alive unless any of the supervillains decide to commit a city-wide attack which won’t happen anyway because Batman’s always their to stop them and he always does. It’s kind of like a metaphor, where Batman is the single ray of hope in the darkness and forsaken city of Gotham, without him there would be no city, it would just be in ruins. Crime fighting is necessary to bring atleast a established order. Also by solace in chaos I clearly was talking about the joker and his dynamic with Batman and why I think is probably one of the best dynamics in fiction but yeah
Batman Arkham series is my favorite Game of all time.
The Batman Arkham games, for me, have a better story. It's so dark and brutal that really has me on edge on what's about to happen next. They're so good.
I think that they are both a great set of video games with incredible stories, gameplay and voice actors. Both will be remembered in gaming history and both will serve as an example and set the bar for future video games to come.
My opinion
I think spiderman can take a lot from arkham going into there final game of the trilogy,
Would live to see mysteriums make a return but be fully expanded upon and making them the actual equivalent to challenge maps from arkham
To fix stealth I think they need to increase the fire power of all enemies in stealth to be all have super lethal guns so if you go into close combat your fucked. Secondly make it so that you have a completely separate Arsenal of gadgets and abilities when going into stealth mode but they All have long cool downs (camo and web lines would fall into this with stuff returning like trip mines etc)
Like you said other playable characters like black cat, wraith and venom in challenge modes would be great to
Lets not forget, Arkham had Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy...just the dawgs that voiced the characters for roughly a decade in animated media
Jesus I forgot how vicious Batman was with how many times he punched those goons over and over again, how the goons didn't end up in a coma or hell dead after taking that many blows to the head who knows 😂
I am very much a fan of the optional stories and bios in the Arkham series, a lot of times I need to look up who the spiderman villains are in order to understand what is happening.
has anyone got the bug where harry just doesn't move in the boring emf mission?
Arkham wins no doubt just by how some games are older and they can still compete with Spider-Man says it all. Spider-Man obviously is good it uses all its new technologies to its advantage and it look beautiful and feels amazing, but Batman really was the reason why Spider-Man is what it is it was the Superhero game to match or beat and it still is.
Think the argument is won with just one point...Mr. Freeze boss fight beats the whole collective games of Spiderman 1/2. And the web slinging in the spideman games you can pretty much do in City and Knight. And for narritives, asylum could be the standard.
I love how i have to use my brain for arkham, but for spiderman i literally turn my brain off lmao
Bro i think you got him
I love both series! Both series did a remarkable job of taking iconic franchises and reimagining them and putting their own spin on the world, characters, and story. The game play in both is also fantastic. But where the Spider-Man games win for me is connecting me to that world and characters. Because we spend as much time dealing with the fallout of Spidey's actions affecting Peter, the interactions are more impactful. All the characters are built up over the course of the three games so well, that there was real emotional depth and connections. With the Arkham games I just felt like I was seeing snapshots of that world and characters. They come and go, there's some mentioned history but it doesn't feel like the established relationships of the Spidey games.
I would disagree, I believe the characters in arkham, including the villains as well were done perfectly to characterize them and give them life and really show them as a reflection of Batman’s character, and the sheer amount of them and with the added depth added to them by better voice acting in my opinion just sells them as having more of a soul for me, but I respect your opinion.
@@Lilbomber23 I agree wholeheartedly about the villains in the Arkham series, and their connections and relationship with Batman. That stuff is great, they handled that Batman/villain dynamic perfectly. But its still all about Batman, and I feel like adding some more Bruce and the family stuff in the earlier games would've made some of the stuff with Jason, and the rest of the Bat family hit harder in Knight. That's what I meant about snapshots and mentions.
@@Geek_Speak_Gaming well they did that with the dlc in knight especially towards barbara, red hood, nightwing, and robin. But idk we’ll just have to agree to disagree
@@Lilbomber23 again that's what I mean, by then it felt like an after thought to me. They should've used dlc to build those characters up in the previous games. Instead we got a great story, with characters we barely met, so the emotional payoff wasn't really there, and then we found out the back stories later. Had we gotten to know just a bit about Jason, Dick, Barbara and Tim other than the stuff we get in bios in Arkham City, all of those beats in Knight would've hit harder is all I am saying.
For example, take the Dark Knight Trilogy. What if they hadn't introduced Rachel until The Dark Knight. Her death would not have been as impactful because we didn't have all that back story, and character building in Batman Begins.
@@Geek_Speak_Gaming i mean it didn’t feel like an after thought to me, especially if they did eventually end up doing the dlcs for knight anyway which helped extensively for their character building and if you played origins, asylum, and city we already had much of character building moments with oracle and tim anyway so idk where you thought they were an afterthought when they were involved in some key parts of the game and previous dlcs. I understand Jason Todd but even then, he was supposed to be the villain for Knight and his flashbacks with the joker, characterization in general helped a lot with his character. But idk how you felt they were a after thought, I certainly didn’t. Then again we’ll just have to agree to disagree, maybe you just felt more in personal touch with the spiderman universe which is fine, I just felt more in touch with Batman. I guess it’s up to preference. The only one I can kind of see for this is probably dick, cuz he was absent for almost entirely of the first three games, but not so much anymore as most of his character building was done in knight in the story and dlc. also movies are really not a good comparison, as you can play one game which gives you many hours of content and are able to consistently feel for them in just one game and doesn't require backstories from previous games, jason todd is a good example, he may have not been talked or shown at all in the previous games but his character has been built up the most out of the bunch in one game.
The main reason why i prefer arkham games is the batmobile and catching opps lacking with it
The story on the spiderman games are better but the gameplay in the arkham games is better particularly the combat,
Idk about the story being better, the first spiderman game had a fire story but the second one was more generic along with miles morales having some underutilized or half baked elements.
@Wizofmincraft maybe saying the story is BETTER is a poor choise of words, but id say the spiderman games are better story wise because they use more of spidermans supporting cast throughout those games the batman games only really have alfred barbra, and robin in one cutscene and the harley quinn dlc in city and is completely sidelined in knight , nightwing doesnt make any appearance in arkham city beyond the challange missions, and one side quest in arkham knight and red hood doesnt show up until the end or arkham knight ware he randomy switches sides at the last miniute
Arkham games. Spiderman 1 I'd say the story is good but miles morales is a weaker version of that story with all the rehashes necessary (they can only do the Spiderman and the person behind mask lives collide before it gets old)
Spiderman 2 definitely left a lot to be desired with it being a rehash of stories that were done better in the past.
Arkham has its story but unlike Spiderman it doesn't spoon feed the player everything as the story is told through the environment environment as well. With each game giving the player something if they are willing to look for it (like strange manipulating everyone and everything in arkham city).
Arkham stumps low diff.
It’s not much of a challenge. The Spider Man Games were always ass particularly the last one.
The arkham games are great. Especially Arkham Knight. But i find myself replaying Spider-Man way more than Batman. The combat is a fun spectacle in the Arkham games but its not very challenging but the stealth is amazing. Spider-Man has better combat and traversal for me. Ultimately, a video game boils down to which one gameplay loop is the most fun to play, so in my eyes Spider-Man takes the win! The Arkham games have a lot of stuff that bears the Spidey games but the mot the absolute most important aspect.
I agree with you but ultimately Batman’s combat requires wayyyy more skill if you want that no-hit perfect run. Yet I still find Spider-Man’s combat to be wayyyy more fun, wayyyy more… spectacular (no pun intended), and has its own characteristics that the Arkham combat doesn’t have at all like aerial combat and rechargeable abilities for example
I agree with you but ultimately Batman’s combat requires wayyyy more skill if you want that no-hit perfect run. Yet I still find Spider-Man’s combat to be wayyyy more fun, wayyyy more… spectacular (no pun intended), and has its own characteristics that the Arkham combat doesn’t have at all like aerial combat and rechargeable abilities for example
I can tell you definitely suck at Arkham combat.
I would disagree, arkham games have got to be the most replayable games of all time, with it’s almost addictive gameplay loop, with better AI’s and story. But to each their own
@@ci825 I don't see how spider-man combat is fun. it just feels too easy on ultimate difficulty even
Batman has environmental puzzles, you actually have to use your brain, while SM2 is brain dead zoomer movie game. I regret paying full price for SM2
It has better combat, it has better puzzles, better side content, better writing, better boss battles and better stealth.
It's so disappointing how the Spiderman games took inspiration from Arkham but is incredibly diluted.
Explain to me how exactly how SM2 is a “Movie game” and no you do have to think about the best enemy’s to target and whether or not you should use your gadgets or abilities on spastic enemies. Thinking about the best paths to move and gain the best looking and fastest swinging in the open world. The only reason you think it’s brain dead is because you are brain dead.
At least you didn't pre-order Spiderman 2. The game is definitely not worth full price (I could've gotten the RE4 remake instead)
Stealth is even more braindead I don't know that's even possible.
The QTEs complete themselves (might as well have them disabled)
Combat is gimmicky as well being worse since they castrated it of suit powers and decreasing the number of mods to spice things up.
The story definitely sucked as far as I'm concerned.
Web of shadows still has it beat with symbiote gameplay.
Braindead game riding on pretty graphics nothing more nothing less
I prefer spider man. I just hate how sad Batman’s character and universe is. No hope, no happy endings for anyone despite how hard they fight
Well yeah. Batman's universe is a dark, gritty one.
@@solid5502 Yeah but I’ve always believed it was Batman’s arc to ultimately get over his parents death and use his money and influence to ultimately help Gotham and the main reason he stops villains is to help them get a second chance in life. Like the animated series or even 2004 or even the Justice league show
Instead Batman doesnt get over his parents. Everyone is apparently worse off when he’s involved. Absolutely no villain besides poison ivy, catwoman and Mr freeze I guess I redeemed. And even then turning good just ends in there deaths except cat woman she’s just doing the same as ever. And Gotham gets constitutionally worse and worse
Also another thing I noticed and makes me sad is that Batman doesn’t really change as a character. The only time he has an arc is origins but beyond that he’s pretty much the same through the trilogy. I guess he’s more suicidal in Arkham knight tho. Because seriously he’s a master escape artist and he just lets scarecrow tie him to a share I guess
Also to sum up my thoughts, if all the hard work and time was ultimately for nothing. What the hell is even the point? And why should I care?
@@randomgamer625no arc in arkham knight? he has a whole redemption arc in the conclusion with his internal struggles with himself/joker. Idk if you actually comprehended the game correctly, that you weren’t able to notice that but yeah sure batman brings out all the crazies but without him, Gotham would be in a worse situation to the point of being apocalyptic. There is not any form of philanthropy or programs that can reform villains who are beyond reform, his Bruce Wayne persona already does this on the daily to no avail. and reforming Gotham itself which is essentially cursed to be forever riddled with crime. It’s the same thing that makes Batman and jokers dynamic work so well, they were both created by the same system, except one found solace in chaos and destruction and the other in relying on hope and justice. Two sides. Same coin.
@@Lilbomber23 I really don’t understand what you mean by redemption arc. Batman didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t even kill anyone. Joker was 100% his own fault even though he tries to guilt Batman in Arkham knight
And what you’ve said only makes the world worse. According to you villains simply can’t be reformed and Gotham is truly just cursed to be a crime infested city. Which means that all the crime fighting and the whole no killing rule is absolute pointless because again. Nothing got better
It doesn’t matter if there’s solace in the chaos. Again you didn’t change anything and clearly more good people die than bad people. I mean Arkham knight shows that the crime population is so bad that they can single handily run and riot the entire city. And this is after Batman has been around for years
@@randomgamer625 His redemption arc when he gets rid of the joker’s personality, his internal struggles with the joker are just a manifestation of his fears, he overcomes that in an amazing way during the conclusion of knight and overcomes them. You see, after arkham city and before knight, Batman was more reclusive then normal pushing everybody away, more of his fears coming to life brought upon by the joker toxin, he truly believed he’d do something to hurt his own family, that’s why he always pushed them away and wasn’t the same after joker or talia died. But after the ending in arkham knight, when he decided to let go of those fears and become a new myth, a legend, he went through probably one of the best arcs in the series in knight. Also Yes, of course Gotham is forever cursed to be crime infested, but that doesn’t mean crime fighting in general is meaningless, without Batman and the rest of the batfam, Gotham would be a constant warzone, it would be almost apocalyptic like I said, doing something to help is better than doing nothing at all and letting the city rot to the core and all it’s inhabitants. Batman atleast makes Gotham a livable place, rent would be astronomically low and you’ll see crime almost every other day of the week, but atleast you’ll be alive unless any of the supervillains decide to commit a city-wide attack which won’t happen anyway because Batman’s always their to stop them and he always does. It’s kind of like a metaphor, where Batman is the single ray of hope in the darkness and forsaken city of Gotham, without him there would be no city, it would just be in ruins. Crime fighting is necessary to bring atleast a established order. Also by solace in chaos I clearly was talking about the joker and his dynamic with Batman and why I think is probably one of the best dynamics in fiction but yeah