I just finished playing Batman Arkham Knight the other day and I’ve got a few things to say. This will be kind of a review…. to a 2015 game. Yup, I’m right on time!
Batman Arkham Knight is a follow up to Arkham City, which is an amazing game! Now, I don’t want to talk much about graphics as I’m not an expert at that sort of thing. But to my average human eye, it looks fantastic! For a 2015 game, it definitely holds up to today’s standards. The constant rain makes everything look better. The glistening of Batman’s armour and cape, the batmobile and the puddles on the ground are really gorgeous.
That’s all about graphics from me! Now for the juicy bits, the gameplay and story. I’ll start off with story first.
Story
The story is fantastic! Which is a running theme for all Batman Arkham stories. This one is way more grittier (yep, grittier than the already gritty games that came before), constantly reminding you that this might be Batman’s last days of crusading. The story starts off with Scarecrow unleashing his fear…. Gas? Toxin?… Into a diner. A perfectly normal night at the diner turns into a bloodbath due to it. We experience this part of the story in the first person mode as an officer. It really is a surprising way to start off a Batman game which, as you progress through the story becomes an integral part of it. Surprise and shock works very well in the story with many moments where I was left questioning what I had just seen. Insanity and fear is a massive part of this story and it really does set itself apart from the previous games in terms if story. Sorry, I’m diverting from the story. So anyway, after the attack on the diner, Scarecrow announces that this would happen to the rest of Gotham too. Afraid of this, all the citizens are evacuated. This leaves the streets of Gotham empty inviting all the criminals to take over. This sets up one of the craziest and unpredictable stories I have ever experienced. There are many filler moments along the way which is used to extend the play time, but these aren’t too bad and sometimes they are really fun!
There are many sidequests in the game and it really encourages you to do them with Alfred (Batman’s amazing butler) giving us a constant reminder of the crimes going on in Gotham City. I haven’t finished all of them, but from what I’ve finished, I can say that some of them are a hit while others are a miss. There are some repetitive missions like the Penguin side quest where you have to do the same thing 3 times before being able to take him down. Now this is a bit annoying, but I’m always motivated with the fact that at some point I will finally be able to punch him in the face. And I did! Like this, every sidequest has satisfying endings that makes it all worth while. I haven’t gone through any of the DLC missions either… So won’t be able to comment on that.
Gameplay
Moving on to gameplay. The gameplay of Arkham Knight is very similar to the previous Arkham games. With two core mechanics being reused and one brand new addition coming in the form of the Batmobile. I’m going to start off with the Predator and combat stuff which is basically the same as the previous game with a few extra additions. The combat of the Arkham games are what helped to make the series famous. The free-flowing combat is as satisfying to pull off as the previous games and sometimes more so with new animations that makes Batman’s movements more realistic. It is combo based with the primary goal to prevent the breaking of your combo streak by continuously attacking and avoiding damage. This is done through attack, counter and stun with a few more moves done by chaining commands. For example, you can pick up an enemy weapon to use against them by pressing the A and X button together. Gadgets can also be used in combat which help to deal with certain enemy types.
Moving on to the Predator gameplay. This is stealth focused and used to avoid combat with enemies with firearms. This is where you’re supposed to use your head and innovatively take out all the enemies in an area. You can either take em out from a vantage point, sneak up behind them, attack from vents and use gadgets. There is also a function known as detective mode which is used to keep track of enemies. Using this you can see enemies even through walls which is a massive help. There has been a new inclusion to the stealth system in the form of fear-multi takedowns. This really helps in taking out larger crowds at once. Now, I mostly ignored the gadgets as I’m not super creative to think about different ways to take out enemies (which explains why I suck at stealth games). But this is definitely fun to play even if you don’t like stealth games.
Finally, we reach the Batmobile. This to me is the most conflicting part of the game. I love the Batmobile to use it to get from point A to point B quickly and in style! The vehicular combat is also fun but sometimes it is really over used, leading to mild annoyance. The combat is all about weaving through missile fire from drones and shooting them back, thus destroying them (luckily for Batman, they are unmanned! Honestly, what would he do if there was someone actually in it?!). There also puzzle and platforming sections which use the Batmobile which I despise. It’s just so unnecessary and really not much fun. Now, the Batmobile leads to a lot of problems regarding Batman’s rule of no killing, which the game tries it’s best to explain (as mentioned above, the massive drone tanks are unmanned). But seriously, if you drive into people, they get shocked and thrown away, which just doesn’t make sense! It will run them over for God’s sake! But no…. Logic doesn’t apply here. Now yes, if you don’t think too much, this won’t be a problem for you. But it kept on bugging me. Leaving aside logic, I really felt that the batmobile was over used. Towards the end, I almost hated that thing. The same repetitive combat being used over and over again in the story really made the Batmobile lose it’s lustre.
There was one point in the game that really got on my nerves. SPOILERS AHEAD! So at a point, the batmobile gets destroyed by the Arkham Knight in the tunnels. I thought… Huh… I guess it’s over for now then. The rest of the story won’t be needing it. But NO! In no less than 15 minutes, when Batman and Oracle is in quiet a pickle with drones shooting at them, I wondered what they were going to do. The batmobile is destroyed, time to look for a new way to take care of the drones. The batwing maybe (which is criminally underused in the game). But all of a sudden, BAM! Batman has an extra batmobile! A prototype! This pissed me off a lot! I wasn’t happy about the fact that the batmobile was destroyed was so insignificant. Anyway, I’m done with my ranting of the batmobile. Back to the rest of the game.
There are also various upgrades that you can make to Batman like improving his health, expanding his combat moves, making the batmobile stronger and upgrading your gadgets. These upgrades do help a lot through the course of the game.
Navigation is also a big part of this game. This is done through a mixture of The batmobile and gliding. Both these methods are very fun and useful for navigating the massive city of Gotham.
Now, I must say that the locations you visit during the course of the game wasn’t very memorable to me as it was in the previous games. It just seemed like the same thing from the beginning of the game, till the end. There were a few interesting areas like the Zeppelin kind of thing in the air, not sure what it’s officially called. This was a change of scenery from the otherwise same feeling buildings of the rest of the game.
There is lots to do after the main questline with a proper ending to unlock after finishing the large number of side quests. This game is absolutely massive and I don’t see myself completing this game anytime soon (especially with the bloody Riddler trophies to collect….. DAMN YOU RIDDLER!). There is a lot of content here for those looking for it and is definitely worth getting just for the amount of time you can put into the amazing world of Batman.
Conclusion
Overall, I love Batman Arkham Knight! It’s a fantastic game with a lot of positives and a few negatives. But the positives definitely outweighs the negatives! It is a must play for any Batman fan and also…. For most people who like superheroes… And action! Basically, if this game seems even a bit interesting to you, you must try it! I can easily recommend this game to everyone. It’s just a fantastic game!
Enter The Tainment 