Batman Arkham Trilogy Switch Review

If there’s one thing the Switch console is lacking, it’s some AAA Superhero games. Sure, we got the exclusive (and fantastic) Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but nothing quite on the scale of Rocksteady’s much-revered Arkham Trilogy… until today. Now, to preface this review, yes, I’m aware that other consoles exist, and yes, I’m aware that these games are available on those platforms too. So instead of running comparisons to what might have been, I’m taking a look at the Arkham Trilogy as it is on Switch. Is this the Trilogy Switch owners deserve but don’t really need right now? We will review this trilogy, because we can buy it. Because we need a superhero game. An SD Card Guardian, a dork knight.

The Collection

The Arkham Trilogy consists of Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Arkham Knight, and all DLC’s including the current exclusive Robert Pattinson’s Batman Skin. There’s a lot of content here, and a lot of gameplay, and with great games comes a great 58gig install size for digital buyers, and 39gig for physical purchasers (sorry… wrong franchise.) The game installs as 3 different icons on the Switch home screen, which is a shame, because it could have been a great opportunity to bundle them together in a slick collection screen with bonus features but alas, the ports will have to suffice. I think the worst thing about it is that only Arkham Asylum is included on the cartridge, meaning cartridge owners need to clear roughly 40 gig of space to make way for justice.

The games all follow the same formula, with each iteration adding something new. Arkham Asylum is a more linear adventure, Arkham City opened up to a free-roaming adventure, and Arkham Knight added vehicular combat. There’s a whole lot of game packed into this trilogy, much like the Metal Gear Solid collection, that will keep you entertained for hours. The trilogy has exceptional voiced acted characters and Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill bring gravitas to the roles of Batman and Joker respectively. The trilogy is dark and brooding, much like the Batman franchise, and has many unexpected twists and turns that shock and entertain. As the name implies, this being a trilogy means that Arkham Origins is not a part of this package.

The combat is a highlight of all 3 of the Arkham games, allowing you to take on multiple enemies with a variety of attacks and abilities. You can dodge and counter with timed prompts, making you feel like vengeance as you beat your way through hordes of bad guys. While this review covers the Trilogy as a whole, let’s take a look at the games individually to see how they perform, and what each title brings to the table.

Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum does a fantastic job of setting up the dark and brooding atmosphere of the game. The intro of the game sees you escorting the Joker into the Asylum when things go horribly wrong. So begins a more linear (but not in a bad way) adventure where Batman must fight his way through minions and bosses with the ultimate goal of restoring order to the Asylum and stopping Joker and his nefarious scheme.

Arkham Asylum expertly unravels a gripping narrative, matched with outstanding combat and set pieces that give you the true sense of being the Dark Knight. Detective mode allows you to further investigate puzzles, and find out more about your enemies, something also driven by henchmen discussing current events. There’s a great incentive for the player to hang back in the shadows to plan your attack, allowing you to take down armed assailants one by one, as opposed to putting yourself in danger, prematurely ending your incursion into the asylum.

You will also run into some very familiar infamous faces such as Killer Croc, Zsasz, Harley Quinn, and the Scarecrow, who has some intense nightmare scenes that are akin to a deadly game of cat and mouse. These scenes can be jarring, but they also create a rare feeling that you as the player have become the prey.

Unfortunately, this port has choppy framerates and dated graphics, and for some reason instead of rendering cutscenes in the game, it switches to a lower-resolution FMV with a hyperactive bloom that makes it blurry to look at. It feels like a careless port that should run much better, considering the age of the game.

Arkham City

Arkham City opens up the series to an open-world adventure with much larger stakes and a larger cast of both supporting and playable characters. Again, it’s superbly voice-acted and there’s no denying the chemistry between Cat and Bat as you flick between the two at times as playable characters. While there is a linear mission structure, Batman is free to explore and fight thugs all over the City how he sees fit. There’s the return of the WayneTech Upgrade system to level up Batman to become stronger or learn new combos for fighting.

Arkham City fares much better in both presentation and performance. The graphics are sharp, detailed, and visually impressive. There is minor texture pop-in when entering areas, but the game holds a steady framerate and fluid combat. There are some framerate dips when exploring the city, but overall it’s very playable and enjoyable if you haven’t visited it before.

Arkham Knight

Arkham Knight adds the Batmobile in drivable sections which can transform into a Bat Tank. While this sounds great by all means, these sections are fairly lackluster and often end in frustrations. The rest of the game is also open world like Arkham City except this time you will be exploring Gotham itself.

It’s very strange that in-game captures have been disabled for this title only, and the other 2 are free to record. I doubt this is an oversight considering Arkham Knight is easily the worst performing title of the Trilogy.

Arkham Knight originally had a very rough start upon its original release, with the game being pulled from sale for PC mere days after launch, so I was keen to see how it fared on the Switch. The first thing I noticed was there have obviously been compromises made compared to the bigger console counterparts, but this doesn’t impact my final score, what does impact the score however is the distinct performance hitches, textures, or assets not loading, and framerate drops that frequently surface while exploring the open world. The Batmobile chase sections run at an awful framerate to the point of it being almost unplayable, sometimes pausing to a dead stop to load for a second or two. It’s clear that the delay was most likely to get this game into a playable state, but unfortunately, it failed to do so.

Conclusion

All in all, The Arkham Trilogy is a very hard sell. Whilst I can somewhat understand why Arkham Knight would perhaps be cut down to perform on the Switch, it’s completely unplayable, looks awful, and in my opinion is possibly the worst port on Switch to date in its current state. There’s absolutely no reason for performance issues on Asylum and City, especially since Arkham City appeared on the Wii U with a polished engine that featured stellar performance in the Armoured Edition. While the games themselves are top-tier AAA titles in their own right, The Arkham Trilogy on the Switch almost feels like an insult to the legacy of these amazing games. Only 2 out of 3 are in a playable state, and the games, and the fans that love it, deserve better.

So What’s it Like?

The Arkham Trilogy has the investigations of Detective Pikachu, with the combat of Mad Max (Well Batman did it first…)