SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Not the best of the trilogy, but as each game of the series has done it still promises to make you feel like Batman with more gadgets, upgrades and a new addition of the Batmobile.
The finale of Rocksteady's critically acclaimed Arkham trilogy. Arkham Knight almost delivers on what was promised. Its gameplay, already thought to have been perfected by Arkham City, has somehow been improved. The world is bigger than ever, and our hero can glide through the skies of Gotham without any of the restrictions previously placed on the player by Arkham Asylum or Arkham City. And the story is compelling, but sometimes predictable. Finally, the most exciting yet troublesome addition to the game is the Batmobile, something a lot of people were glad to have but also not so happy with the utilisation of it.
The game introduces a Gotham in disarray as an unprecedented number of Batman’s enemies resurface. After the Scarecrow threatens to flood Gotham City with his fear toxin, the city is plunged into chaos. With his enemies resurfacing and a gang war on the streets, Batman must take charge and stop them on what promises to be the longest night of his crime fighting career.
It’s fair to say that Arkham Knight isn’t as great as Asylum or City. However, some of the most common frustrations with the game are misplaced. The answer to the question of whether this game still delivers on its promise to let players be the Batman is still yes. You get to play around with gadgets, and a new suit with a new feature that lets you execute a quick takedown on several unsuspecting enemies at once. Of course, players will be familiar with a lot of his gadgets from playing Arkham City, though here they’ve been polished into fitting tools for your new traversal and combat needs, including the Line Launcher which now lets you perch above enemies from a glide or fall as long as you are between two standing structures, or how they’ve implemented gadget takedowns like pulling an enemy with you into the air with the Batclaw and smashing them to the ground.
Over the last few Arkham games, we see that Batman has been facing more challenging threats as he grows older. Arkham Knight puts our hero through the wringer, not only by challenging his mind and body, but by forcing him to face his greatest fears. This game is a true continuation of Arkham City, taking into account the consequences of what happened during his time there and how those events have affected him.
Though Scarecrow was marketed as one of the main antagonists of this game, he doesn’t actually make much of an appearance. For the most part, the Arkham Knight, a new villain with insider knowledge of Batman takes his place, and unfortunately there seems to have been a bit of a slip-up. You’re initially fascinated by the character. But Rocksteady’s writers, who want the player to keep guessing the identity of the person behind the mask, soon drop the ball and spoil the surprise. They do this by dropping backstory hints that make the answer far too obvious, even to players who know next to nothing about Batman. It’s especially annoying since this could have been easily avoided with a small change to game structure.
Kevin Conroy doesn’t disappoint as the voice of the Caped Crusader. At this point it’s hard to differentiate his voice from Batman’s. This is an experienced and intimidating Batman, with a growl and barely concealed anger, keeping his temper in check. John Noble, who voices Scarecrow, does a fine job too. His Scarecrow is chillingly calm, unlike in the last two games, which makes him a menacing villain. In every situation, he seems calculated and even gentle. But that’s not all that makes him compelling. His new character design adds a lot to the effect: Scarecrow looks frightening. There’s a lot of backstory just wrapped into his design alone. The Arkham Knight, a calculating and tactical, if short-tempered individual, is voiced by Troy Baker. Baker is able to find and hold a balance between fury and cold military precision with finesse. Rather than being a one note character, he has depth and reason behind his very personal anger towards the Dark Knight.
The world is filled with activities for you to do, with many side missions to capture an assortment of villains from Batman’s rogues’ gallery, who are out causing trouble in the city. The streets are full of thugs, so if you ever feel like fighting a crowd you can always glide into a group of enemies and knock them out one by one. The design of Gotham City means there’s a lot of freedom to glide and drive around as you please, whether it’s grappling to its highest points to look at the city from above, or using underground tunnels to cut through the streets.
We need to talk about the Batmobile, because it’s where many of the game’s problems come from. It’s a welcome asset that really overstays its welcome. Thankfully, it’s fast and surprisingly easy to handle, and the tank mode is really something, but maybe it’s a bit overkill for Batman. The tank mode serves no real purpose other than to push players into vehicle combat against the Arkham Knight’s drone tanks. It’s easy to see how the developers got carried away with the Batmobile, since it is a kind of fun power fantasy. Unfortunately, it’s a big part of the campaign, and used to solve puzzles and power through certain parts of the game. It’s even used for an incredibly disappointing boss fight, which isn’t fun at all. Trying to drive around to avoid being detected by tanks before shooting them and running away again really makes you start hating it. A major element of previous Arkham games was giving players many gadgets to choose from, and letting them use the ones they most enjoyed. Forcing players to use the Batmobile is a step in the wrong direction.
Given the huge success of Arkham City, we certainly had a lot of high expectations for Arkham Knight. From that perspective, not being able to meet those expectations is understandable. And with Arkham Knight, Rocksteady does excel at a lot of things that compliment the trilogy as a whole. They’ve improved upon every aspect of the game since Arkham City, and gave us the Batmobile, which is best seen as a gift to fans even if it is overused. It delivers on many of the promises that fans have been asking for, and as an ending, it’s still ends in a highly satisfactory note.
Comments