Asylum is the original City was a huge leap Knight is... a mixed back Origins is maybe the biggest, cleanest, straight-up Batman game. I think the two "islands" and bridge between make a great, game-sized Gotham. I love the interaction with cops -- especially the late mission where your new friend Gordon asks your help in finding some of the prison escapees. Even though the fights are just regular thugs, I found it very immersive and was excited about helping Gordon. It really capitalizes on the feeling that all of this is happening over one crazy night (Christmas Eve). There's something fresh about most of the villains being new. The Freeze DLC pack was also cool, and happens in a whole standalone half-Gotham with different weather and features. It even has Bruce's training in Asia (Korea?) as a Season Pass inclusion. There are regular homicide cases that Batman needs to solve. The atmosphere in places like the police station is great. All that to say, it's the most complete, cleanest game. It makes Knight feel bloated and messy by comparison, and City maybe too small. It perfectly balances budding relationships with super villains with down-to-earth cops and robbers stuff. Lastly I can't say enough how much I love the Christmas Eve setting. So cool.
If you are interested in these games, watch some YouTube videos of them. Playing them isn't much different from watching them. Like most FMV games, you are on rails, shooting what pops up in front of you. ESPECIALLY if you liked X-Wing or Tie Fighter, this game will seem like a crummy phone app to you. The "on foot" third person parts are especially cheesy. It was exciting at the time to fly around an AT-AT in "3D," but by now, you have done this in Battlefront and a million other games. It was a nice technical experiment for the time, but if you play it today, you will feel very restricted and bored. #2 is better than #1, but ... still, not much fun.
These games are only playable if you played them twenty years ago; if it's your first time, I promise you will turn them off in five minutes or less. They represent a meaningful advance in gaming, but well... so did Pong. I have gone back to these 'nostalgia classics' before and it never goes well. More specifically, games from around 2000 to present may do okay, but these ancient ones are just outclassed these days. If you're new to Ultima, buying this is just donating your money to a 'good old game' so you can try it for five minutes.
