Batman: Arkham Knight
After several delays and much hype, Batman: Arkham Knight, the final entry in developer Rocksteady’s acclaimed Arkham series, is finally here. What players will discover is Batman in his greatest battle yet— against himself. Still haunted by the death of his arch-nemesis, the Joker, and his own past failings, Bruce Wayne finds himself thrown against the resurgence of Scarecrow and hunted by the mysterious Arkham Knight while battling his own fractured mind. While the central mystery of the Arkham Knight ultimately fizzles out, Arkham Knight is a suitable sendoff for this version of the Dark Knight, hinging on the relationship between Batman and his support team. Indeed, some of the game’s most poignant moments come with Batman’s insistence of working alone rather than putting his friends at risk. More than any of the previous game, Arkham Knight explores the effects of being a masked crusader have on Batman’s psyche.
On Halloween night, Scarecrow returns to Gotham with plans to bathe the city in his fear toxin. Assisted by the vengeful Arkham Knight, who seems to know how Batman operates, and his militia, Scarecrow hunts down Batman’s allies, intending to make the Dark Knight suffer. The voice acting helps anchor the 12 hour campaign and makes the characters feel like real breathing people. John Noble brings a hypnotic presence to Scarecrow, creating the most sinister version of the villain yet—one that is more nightmare than man. Kevin Conroy returns to the role he’s most arguably famous for, giving his most nuanced performance of Batman yet. The premise of the game is a strong one, but the execution falters at moments. The reveal of the Arkham Knight was never going to be as dramatic as Rocksteady intended, and at times, it felt like the studio couldn’t part with the Joker, who without getting into spoilers has a big presence in the game. Despite this, Arkham Knight caps off the Arkham City in a satisfying way by focusing on the man behind the mask and whether his crusade has done more harm to the city he protects than good.
The tagline playing in the commercials promoting the game and on the box is to “Be the Batman.” For aspiring vigilantes, Arkham Knight proves to be an entertaining if flawed experience, building off gameplay elements of the previous games in the series. What players will find is more of the series’s staple combat using a simple three button process to evade, fight, and stun enemies. By sneaking up on enemies, Batman can now perform fear takedowns, slow motion attacks that can incapacitate three or four enemies in rapid succession during predator segments, and during brawls, he can pick up enemy baseball bats for added damage or perform environmental takedowns. While Batman can often feel too overpowered (especially at the beginning against common thugs and goons), the game tries to offset this by introducing a variety of different enemies, including heavy set goons that can carry knives and can withstand a great deal of damage and medics that can revive fallen enemies. Some of the game’s most enjoyable moments involve using all of Batman’s gadgets and techniques to clear a room full of enemies, which appear on screen in larger mobs of 20 or 30 minions this time around.
Gotham has been fully realized, allowing players to swoop across the city’s three areas and explore areas from the comics minus, for some reason, the Batcave. The gothic architecture and flashy neon lights give the city a sense of flair and character. The citizens of Gotham are again absent, having conveniently evacuated at the beginning of the game. Their absence makes the streets feel emptier, but the amount of criminals running around distracts from it. Rain pummels against Batman as he soars above the world, stalking his prey. With upgrades to his suit, Batman can glide faster and higher than ever before, literally flying across the world. If you get tired of gliding, Batman can always hop into the Batmobile to tear up the city streets in pursuit of fleeing criminals. Driving the Batmobile is an exhilarating experience that really brings across the idea of fear that Batman represents to the criminal population. Less fun is its tank mode function and the many tank battles players will come across through the game. It’s not that they’re not entertaining, but these segments feel like they’ve been spliced in from an entirely different game. By the end, I felt less time should have been focused on creating a tank mode and more time focused toward creating memorable boss fights.
With a range of villains from the Dark Knight’s rogues gallery including Two-Face, Penguin, and ManBat, it’s a shame that the game doesn’t provide interesting fights against them. Disappointingly, the final fight between the Arkham Knight revolves around a generic predator battle where Batman has to take out the Arkham Knight’s goons before sneaking up on him, which triggers a cut scene. A climactic boss fight would have went a long way to adding stakes to the game, especially regarding the Arkham Knight’s identity. In fact, while playing through the game, players will rarely come across boss fights of any kind. Most of the enemies are taken down through cut scenes, interactive quick time events, or these predator segments that hardly scream “epic.” In one of the game’s unintentional funnier moments, Batman can take down Two-Face like one of his typical goons for hire. Another moment prepares you for an epic fight against Deathstroke that turns out to be another generic tank battle. While many of the boss fights in previous games proved to be clunky, their exclusion all together leaves something to be desired.
In place of boss battles, Arkham Knight introduces cinematic fights at certain moments where Batman teams up with a partner including Robin, Nightwing, and Catwoman to take down a room full of enemies. Players can switch to these partners at anytime during the fight, creating a scene straight out of the comic books as Batman fights a shield–carrying goon and Nightwing shocks a group of enemies and slings a thug into Batman’s outstretched fist. Duel takedowns offer a variety of different animations like this where at a press of a button, Batman and a partner tag team a particular enemy. While it makes sense from a story perspective, these segments were so fun that I wished they would have been implemented more often. Arguably, Robin gets the most meaty of these moments with Nightwing only playable for a few moments and Catwoman spending the entirety of the game held hostage in the Riddler’s traps.
Speaking of the Riddler, the Scarecrow and Arkham Knight may be the main villains of the game, but he is arguably the proverbially thorn in the player’s side. After three previous games of hearing him constantly nag Batman with his riddles, he comes across as grating and annoying in the game. Thankfully, there’s only 243 riddles to solve this time around, but players will have to track down each and every one of them if they want to unlock the true ending of the game. After completing the main storyline, players will get a short ending, providing some closure, but to see the credits roll, players must complete the game to a hundred percent. For completionists, that’s no trouble, but I fear the casual consumer will give up before they make a dent in the Riddler trophies, which is a shame because the final scene offers an interesting finale note for the series to end on.
Despite its flaws, Batman: Arkham Knight accomplishes a lot over its 12 hour campaign, providing a polished entertaining experience that explores the inner workings of Bruce Wayne’s mind and his relationship with the supporting cast. Where the game excels is its focus on making players feel like Batman in a detailed realized city of Gotham. From stalking goons from afar and taking down a room full of enemies to zooming through streets in the Batmobile, Arkham Knight proves again that Rocksteady knows what it takes to make a good superhero game. Overall, Arkham Knight, despite being unable to recapture the lofty heights of its predecessor, is a fun and satisfying end that’s sure to please fans.
