Quality of Villain
Arkham Asylum Tightly honed is needed to be used again here as its significantly less villain count than City helps elevate it to higher levels; as they give more strength and devotion to each one. The Joker above all else is superior in Arkham Asylum where there is the advantage of no split focus to keep him a constant and captivating threat. Part of Asylums brilliance comes from the fact that The Joker is always the top of the tree and every other villain is seemingly being orchestrated by his elaborate plot and Batman needs to defeat each one to uncover more of the mystery and help further his goals. Scarecrow as well is an exceptional addition to the fray who consistently elevates this game to new heights and feels like a constant threat; and the sporadic nature of his arrivals keeps you constantly on edge.
Villain Rating: 5/5Arkham City
Where tightly honed is the best description for Arkham Asylum it can be constantly said that Arkham City suffers from Over reach and this is consistently applicable; especially with its villains. Theres just. So. Many. Of. Them. Where this should have made the game more interesting and more challenging; it just deadens the novelty of seeing these great individual villains. The people who suffer the most are Two-Face and Penguin who really offer very little to the proceedings. Penguin feels like an uncharismatic and threatless Joker you just want to squish with your massive Bat-boot. Similarly making both Hugo Strange and The Joker major players at the top is handled so poorly that at times you forget about the other one as a threat. It tries so hard to be a bigger game than Arkham Asylum that it negates the great aspects of the focused villains in the first one.
Villain Rating: 3/5