Oh yeah, I am really really late to the party with this review!
Much like DOOM, I'm here now to review what is yet again another wonderful game.
Ever since the first Arkham game no series has ever done such justice to an iconic super hero like this. It is a series I will say has given consistent quality gameplay and with each new entry making you feel more like Batman.
Alas, it pains me to say that this is the last entry into the Arkham series (Yes I know Arkham VR is coming but I doubt it'll be a sequel to Arkham Knight) and it is amazing to look at this game, think about the original Arkham Asylum game and be amazed as to how far the series has come.
This is how it ended....this is how the Arkham series concluded
It's Time to go to War
We find Gotham in the after-math of the Joker's death, following Arkham City. Crime has gone down and it seems like Gotham is in a time of peace. That is, until Scarecrow attacks.
Scarecrow threatens the city with a toxin that is more powerful and deadly than any past toxin he has used and it will destroy Gotham in the fear that his toxin will bring. The city evacuates and leaves the city empty of citizens to allow criminals and crime lords to take over. While the city is empty, that does not stop Scarecrow from finding a means to amplify his new deadly toxin to not only destroy Gotham but a majority of the East Coast as well. Now the city is under siege from Scarecrow and his strange new militia army backing him up with a leader that is new to the scene of Gotham. The Arkham Knight.
Batman of course steps into the fight and is bringing some new gadgets of his to fight all of the criminals and super-villains present in Gotham. However, when Batman meets the Arkham Knight it seems like the Knight knows an awful lot about Batman. The suit's weaknesses, what it's made out off and where he got it from, Batman's tactics and how the militia can counter all of Batman's moves.
Who is the Arkham Knight?
On top of Batman having to try and stop Scarecrow from using his toxin on Gotham and the East Coast the mystery of who the Arkham Knight is must be solved.
The story is quite good, although, there are some moments where it felt like the story took lazy ways to introduce a character or give us hints about who the Arkham Knight was. A big criticism of mine on the story is the Arkham Knight mystery. For months people were debating and theorizing of who the Arkham Knight could be and unlike how in the Bioshock series the big twist is jaw dropping, the twist in Arkham Knight is given a way to you whilst playing the game.
When the reveal of the Arkham Knight finally happened, I was not surprised and nor were a lot of other people.
Another gripe of mine is the full 100% Knightfall ending.
SPOILERS! PLEASE IF YOU HAVE NOT ACHIEVED 100% AND HAVE NOT DONE THE KNIGHT-FALL PROTOCOL SCROLL FAST DOWN TO THE REST OF THE REVIEW AND DO NOT READ THESE NEXT FEW LINES OF TEXT!
In the Knightfall ending, we see Bruce Wayne coming back to his mansion after finishing his duty in Gotham and after Scarecrow revealing to the world that Batman is Bruce Wayne, Bruce decides it is time to enact the Knightfall Protocol. Where he supposedly is killed in an explosion in his mansion.
What I dislike so much about this ending is that it does not show us what happened to Bruce Wayne after that. Although the end suggests that Bruce is still taking on the role of Batman but rather as the spirit of Batman still haunting the criminals of Gotham; there is no explanation to what has happened to Bruce and what he has done despite the fact he was outed as being Batman,
Love what you've done with the place
Good god the graphics! Lord almighty the graphics!
I want you to keep in mind how Arkham Asylum and Arkham City looked and then just take a quick glance at Arkham Knight.....yeah, quite something isn't it?
The graphics of Arkham Knight are superb and add so much detail to the world that despite that Gotham City is under siege, trash all over the place, buildings on fire, graffiti all over the walls and stores being destroyed. It still looks really good!
What I love about the graphics is that it also allows some awesome screenshots to be taken thanks to the added Photo Mode that Arkham Knight introduces. So most of the photos you see in the review are screenshots I've made with Photo Mode.
Be the Batman
Like I said, with each entry into the series of Arkham made you would feel more like Batman, Arkham Knight gives me the strongest feeling that I am Batman.
In Arkham Knight the combat is much more fast paced and aggressive, with enemies adopting new tactics and new enemy variants that force you to change your approach to combat. Stealth has also been given it's own improvements to make stealth sections feel more fluid and fast paced rather than slow and methodical with new gadgets, combos and tactics that give players additional means in order to silently take out entire rooms of armed thugs without anyone in the room even having a single clue of where you are or change your approach to silently taking out the thugs and guards or being forced to find the guards and thugs with Detective Mode being made useless in certain sections of the game.
World traversal has also changed significantly. Previously Arkham City gave players the option to grapple from rooftop to rooftop in order to traverse through the world, here, you can do that and in fact it has been improved with better take off controls and the ability to upgrade take off speed and altitude when you launch off from a rooftop. Added to the game in terms of traversal is the Batmobile or Battank depending how you look at it.
Although this is a pretty cool feature and the Batmobile does serve a purpose in solving some of Riddler's puzzles and moving forward in the game, the Batmobile simply put, isn't as effective as flying through the city. A majority of the areas you will be going to you need to fly or will be in areas even with the use of the Batmobile you simply could not reach the area you need be at. The Batmobile is fun to use though, don't get me wrong, when you are in the Batmobile driving around is fun and does make you feel like you're Batman intimidating the criminals of Gotham by the appearance of your tank and you do feel like a lawman with your trusty steed.
Side-quests this time around have much more meat on their bones as some sidequests can only be accomplished once you've completed certain portions of the main storyline.
On top of the main quests, side-quests, Riddler collectibles and riddles to find and solve there is also the AR challenges that now with the addition of the Batmobile also include race tracks and car combat challenges. ON TOP of that you can now play through these challenges not only as Batman but you can also play through them as other characters such as Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman and even Azrael which comes back from Arkham City.
Overall all these changes make Arkham Knight quite the experience for a Batman game as there is so much to do and quite a bit of replayability with the AR challenges. The combat improvements make combat even better and more fluid for more amazing combos with the gadgets at your disposal and the new combos that Batman can now pull off. The improvements into the stealth aspect of the game make the stealth portions much faster and allows you to show off your Batman skills in a much more stylish way.
If you had fun beating up on bad guys and villains in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City you will surely, without a doubt enjoy that and more with Arkham Knight.
Verdict
Batman Arkham Knight while may not be the highest of highest notes that it can end the series on it does send it out on a strong one with a massive graphics boost and an alright story, with some lazy shortcuts to answering some questions players would have had in the story or not going far enough in the narrative.
Combat and stealth portions are a blast to play through and feels even more satisfying when you take out a room full of thugs that are clearly more readily equipped to take you on as the Batman yet you walk away the fight without a scratch.
The AR challenges add TONS of replayability for hard-core challenge driven fans of the Arkham series in a very nicely wrapped up Batman game package.
Batman Arkham Knight gets a fantastic 8 out of 10
Much like DOOM, I'm here now to review what is yet again another wonderful game.
Ever since the first Arkham game no series has ever done such justice to an iconic super hero like this. It is a series I will say has given consistent quality gameplay and with each new entry making you feel more like Batman.
Alas, it pains me to say that this is the last entry into the Arkham series (Yes I know Arkham VR is coming but I doubt it'll be a sequel to Arkham Knight) and it is amazing to look at this game, think about the original Arkham Asylum game and be amazed as to how far the series has come.
This is how it ended....this is how the Arkham series concluded
It's Time to go to War
We find Gotham in the after-math of the Joker's death, following Arkham City. Crime has gone down and it seems like Gotham is in a time of peace. That is, until Scarecrow attacks.
Scarecrow threatens the city with a toxin that is more powerful and deadly than any past toxin he has used and it will destroy Gotham in the fear that his toxin will bring. The city evacuates and leaves the city empty of citizens to allow criminals and crime lords to take over. While the city is empty, that does not stop Scarecrow from finding a means to amplify his new deadly toxin to not only destroy Gotham but a majority of the East Coast as well. Now the city is under siege from Scarecrow and his strange new militia army backing him up with a leader that is new to the scene of Gotham. The Arkham Knight.
Batman of course steps into the fight and is bringing some new gadgets of his to fight all of the criminals and super-villains present in Gotham. However, when Batman meets the Arkham Knight it seems like the Knight knows an awful lot about Batman. The suit's weaknesses, what it's made out off and where he got it from, Batman's tactics and how the militia can counter all of Batman's moves.
Who is the Arkham Knight?
On top of Batman having to try and stop Scarecrow from using his toxin on Gotham and the East Coast the mystery of who the Arkham Knight is must be solved.
The story is quite good, although, there are some moments where it felt like the story took lazy ways to introduce a character or give us hints about who the Arkham Knight was. A big criticism of mine on the story is the Arkham Knight mystery. For months people were debating and theorizing of who the Arkham Knight could be and unlike how in the Bioshock series the big twist is jaw dropping, the twist in Arkham Knight is given a way to you whilst playing the game.
When the reveal of the Arkham Knight finally happened, I was not surprised and nor were a lot of other people.
Another gripe of mine is the full 100% Knightfall ending.
SPOILERS! PLEASE IF YOU HAVE NOT ACHIEVED 100% AND HAVE NOT DONE THE KNIGHT-FALL PROTOCOL SCROLL FAST DOWN TO THE REST OF THE REVIEW AND DO NOT READ THESE NEXT FEW LINES OF TEXT!
In the Knightfall ending, we see Bruce Wayne coming back to his mansion after finishing his duty in Gotham and after Scarecrow revealing to the world that Batman is Bruce Wayne, Bruce decides it is time to enact the Knightfall Protocol. Where he supposedly is killed in an explosion in his mansion.
What I dislike so much about this ending is that it does not show us what happened to Bruce Wayne after that. Although the end suggests that Bruce is still taking on the role of Batman but rather as the spirit of Batman still haunting the criminals of Gotham; there is no explanation to what has happened to Bruce and what he has done despite the fact he was outed as being Batman,
Love what you've done with the place
Good god the graphics! Lord almighty the graphics!
I want you to keep in mind how Arkham Asylum and Arkham City looked and then just take a quick glance at Arkham Knight.....yeah, quite something isn't it?
The graphics of Arkham Knight are superb and add so much detail to the world that despite that Gotham City is under siege, trash all over the place, buildings on fire, graffiti all over the walls and stores being destroyed. It still looks really good!
What I love about the graphics is that it also allows some awesome screenshots to be taken thanks to the added Photo Mode that Arkham Knight introduces. So most of the photos you see in the review are screenshots I've made with Photo Mode.
Be the Batman
In Arkham Knight the combat is much more fast paced and aggressive, with enemies adopting new tactics and new enemy variants that force you to change your approach to combat. Stealth has also been given it's own improvements to make stealth sections feel more fluid and fast paced rather than slow and methodical with new gadgets, combos and tactics that give players additional means in order to silently take out entire rooms of armed thugs without anyone in the room even having a single clue of where you are or change your approach to silently taking out the thugs and guards or being forced to find the guards and thugs with Detective Mode being made useless in certain sections of the game.
World traversal has also changed significantly. Previously Arkham City gave players the option to grapple from rooftop to rooftop in order to traverse through the world, here, you can do that and in fact it has been improved with better take off controls and the ability to upgrade take off speed and altitude when you launch off from a rooftop. Added to the game in terms of traversal is the Batmobile or Battank depending how you look at it.
Although this is a pretty cool feature and the Batmobile does serve a purpose in solving some of Riddler's puzzles and moving forward in the game, the Batmobile simply put, isn't as effective as flying through the city. A majority of the areas you will be going to you need to fly or will be in areas even with the use of the Batmobile you simply could not reach the area you need be at. The Batmobile is fun to use though, don't get me wrong, when you are in the Batmobile driving around is fun and does make you feel like you're Batman intimidating the criminals of Gotham by the appearance of your tank and you do feel like a lawman with your trusty steed.
Side-quests this time around have much more meat on their bones as some sidequests can only be accomplished once you've completed certain portions of the main storyline.
On top of the main quests, side-quests, Riddler collectibles and riddles to find and solve there is also the AR challenges that now with the addition of the Batmobile also include race tracks and car combat challenges. ON TOP of that you can now play through these challenges not only as Batman but you can also play through them as other characters such as Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman and even Azrael which comes back from Arkham City.
Overall all these changes make Arkham Knight quite the experience for a Batman game as there is so much to do and quite a bit of replayability with the AR challenges. The combat improvements make combat even better and more fluid for more amazing combos with the gadgets at your disposal and the new combos that Batman can now pull off. The improvements into the stealth aspect of the game make the stealth portions much faster and allows you to show off your Batman skills in a much more stylish way.
If you had fun beating up on bad guys and villains in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City you will surely, without a doubt enjoy that and more with Arkham Knight.
Verdict
Batman Arkham Knight while may not be the highest of highest notes that it can end the series on it does send it out on a strong one with a massive graphics boost and an alright story, with some lazy shortcuts to answering some questions players would have had in the story or not going far enough in the narrative.
Combat and stealth portions are a blast to play through and feels even more satisfying when you take out a room full of thugs that are clearly more readily equipped to take you on as the Batman yet you walk away the fight without a scratch.
The AR challenges add TONS of replayability for hard-core challenge driven fans of the Arkham series in a very nicely wrapped up Batman game package.
Batman Arkham Knight gets a fantastic 8 out of 10
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