When comparing South Park: The Fractured but Whole vs Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Slant community recommends Batman: Arkham Asylum for most people. In the question“What are the best superhero games on PS4?” Batman: Arkham Asylum is ranked 6th while South Park: The Fractured but Whole is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose Batman: Arkham Asylum is:
Arkham Asylum is the first game to bring us freeflow brawler melee combat in its full glory. It invented the combat genre where you fight a multitude of enemies who take turns attacking you, while the player has a basic attack, a parry+counter and a combat roll. Getting multiple hits in on enemies builds up a combo streak that makes batman stronger. This streak is reset by getting hit by an enemy. Other games, like Assassin's Creed, had superficially similar combat systems, but not as optimized as this and they did not feature hit/combo streaks. Arkham Asylum's freeflow combat system is very suitable to be played with controllers.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Quite funny
While there are plenty of fart jokes in this game, it primarily focuses on satire. At the forefront you have a parody of superhero movie franchises, which allows you to create your own ridiculous superhero origin story, managing to mix in commentary on modern culture, political correctness, and even our unhealthy obsession with social media. There are quite a few laughs to be had in this world seen through a grade schooler's eyes.
Pro Fun turn-based combat
Over the course of the game, you and your superhero friends will take on various enemies. During fights, both sides are placed on a tactical grid and take turns in moving, attacking, and using special moves such as fireballs, explosions, and even fart bombs that stop time. Some abilities even have button prompts to make the combat slightly more engaging. You also have to consider positioning, weaknesses, combos, and when to use your superpowers, giving the combat a fair amount of depth. As a result, whether you're beating up 6th graders, exterminating crab people, or challenging Morgan Freeman to a duel, the combat is really entertaining.
Pro Unique visual style
Playing South Park: The Fractured but Whole feels like watching an episode of the South Park TV show. It's very colorful, detailed, and interesting to look at, especially because everything seems like a cardboard cutout laid out in 2D view. This includes the environments, the houses, the occasional car that passes you by, and even the many characters. There's also very little in terms of animations with characters having jittery, stop motion-esque movements. All of this gives South Park: The Fractured but Whole a very interesting and enjoyable feel.
Pro Freeflow combat pioneer
Arkham Asylum is the first game to bring us freeflow brawler melee combat in its full glory. It invented the combat genre where you fight a multitude of enemies who take turns attacking you, while the player has a basic attack, a parry+counter and a combat roll. Getting multiple hits in on enemies builds up a combo streak that makes batman stronger. This streak is reset by getting hit by an enemy. Other games, like Assassin's Creed, had superficially similar combat systems, but not as optimized as this and they did not feature hit/combo streaks. Arkham Asylum's freeflow combat system is very suitable to be played with controllers.
Pro Fun stealth & gadgets
Remaining stealthy and getting stealth takedowns is important in Arkham Asylum's gameplay. Arkham Asylum gives the player a relatively large number of different gadgets to use for different combat purposes, such as ranged takedowns, cutting ropes, diverting enemies' attention, blasting through doors, traversing longer distances and hacking.
Cons
Con Somewhat buggy
There are quite a few bugs that you might encounter during a playthrough. This includes quests getting stuck, not getting credit when picking up collectibles, and various other bugs, so it's best to have multiple saves in case something goes wrong.
Con Not a game for kids
Even though this game is about grade schoolers playing as superheroes, there's tons of mature content and messed up moments you wouldn't want your kids to see.
Con Dark atmosphere
You won't realize how many shades of black exist until you've played an Arkham game. It's always dark outside, so to people who like daylight and colors in their games, this might get a bit dull after a while.