Asylum was fresh, interesting and surprising. I honestly didn't expect it to be so much fun. I really enjoyed stealthily swooping down and tying people up etc.

City was more of the same with a big open world city and somehow felt far less enjoyable to me. I felt bored by the repetitive combat which never really changed from asylum. I also felt that I took less advantage of the various moves batman had this time. Perhaps this was because I didn't really spec for stealth. I didn't feel that the openworld city hub really added that much to the gameplay. I don't think the plot was half as good as people make out. The characters in the whole Arkham series were all really well done but city's plot felt full of holes and like an excuse to throw together a bunch of characters. I know City is the most highly regarded so maybe it was partly my state of mind at the time.

I probably enjoyed Origins just as much as city, if not more, (Aside from getting my character stuck in the environment and other annoying bugs). I thought the crime scene analysis was cool and I liked the plot.

The games aren't totally fresh in my head but I wonder if it might be a good idea for them not to force you to choose between being tough or having fun stealthy action. It might still make sense to unlock abilities over time, I'm not sure, but if you don't spec for the right moves you might miss out on lot of nice tricks and it could make the playthrough a lot more boring. I know throwing in basic RPG elements are popular with many AAA games but that doesn't mean it's necessarily better for it. I liked how Origins seemed a little simpler in this area as well. It might be best to give you full freedom to tackle the villains as you feel at the time. Charge in if you like or do some fun stealthy tricks.

City. It's become cult popular to say the first game, but City is objectively better.

Asylum doing a few things better =//= a better game overall. And it's bosses were terrible.

Not to say Asylum is a bad game, because it's actually great. But people feel more attachment to it because it was the first great Batman game in a long time.

Asylum for me. Preferred the level design and had that Metroid sense of exploration that I love while feeling true to the source material.

Everything about City was awesome: the story, the characters, the bosses, the visuals, the soundtrack, the exploration aspect, etc.... EVERYTHING!

Batman Arkham Asylum for me.

Of course, somebody has a differing opinion to you therefor they must be saying it because they're following some popular trend and not expressing on honest opinion how much they enjoyed (Or didn't enjoy) the game... Well that's a little condicending.

They all were equal to me. I've played them all

Arkaham city by far. Asylum was wonderfull too, but it had a weak ending and city is more expansive. I haven't played origins.

It's true that a lot of people who say the first game are following popular trend, and true that a lot of people are attached to it because it's the first in the series/nostalgic.

Just because a case can exist where my generalization is untrue does not make my statement incorrect. I'm claiming this is the majority, regardless of the minority scenarios.

Arkham Asylum