Let me start on a positive with Batman Arkham Knight the game looks beautiful a real feast for the eyes, even if Batman isn't your thing you can't deny the breathtaking visuals of this game. The voice acting is superb all the actors knock it out of the park. Free-flow combat was already a perfect mechanic in this franchise but it has been improved once again, I wouldn’t expect anything less from the studio that invented it, every time I threw down in the streets of Gotham I always felt like I was in control of the encounter whether I take them by surprise jumping in the thick of it like a whirlwind of fists and fury this is the most important thing in these games is to feel like Batman and I did. Having the previous 3 games before under my belt I felt at home on the rooftops looking for my next target it was welcoming to be back in this world . Theres a lot to love in this game from swan diving off Wayne tower and soaring through the city to tearing up the streets in the Batmobile pursuing Riddler’s informants.To the many easter eggs scattered throughout Gotham for the fans of DC comics
I loved playing this game, truly I did but there is so much Rocksteady didn't improve on and thats what hurts this game. You so badly want to role play and be lost in the world of the Dark Knight the mechanics and gameplay should blend in the background and not be so prominent and in your face where you can see the patterns. Games like this need to truly immerse you with the advances in technology you would think adding more random elements would just enhance the experience. The controls were tight and responsive and if you were finding it tough and getting beaten it wasn't the game, it was you. Maybe you were going about the situation the wrong way not observing your environment for vantages or scenarios where you can capitalise on your prey or you didn't read the warnings properly and were getting overwhelmed in combat it’s what I loved about these games they always making you decide.
Here is where I get bit negative about the game even though I enjoyed playing it.
Arkham Knight has already started on shaky ground from the get go yet we still praise Rocksteady like they could do no wrong but with over hyping PR messages to huge install patches day one, PC crashes and a whole collectors edition wiped 6 days before launch WB Games has to really look at there business model and pull there head in to win back it’s fans and this is with there biggest gaming franchise here.
You know what I don't love there were no boss fights what so ever everyone knows from little kids to old men that Batman sorts out the villain with his fists and I know I've had people already tell me that you don't need boss battles in games and that Batman villains are weak/normal and don't stand a chance against Batman’s fighting skill. which is true to an extent I don't expect Penguin to put up a hard fight.
But then you have Deathstroke who is more than a challenge for Batman. He’s telling you after every step of you crippling his remaining militia force of how much he is going to kill you, how he has trained for years for a rematch with you. It got me excited and anticipating the confrontation because you earned it doing all these repetitive bomb disarm’s and facing wave after wave of drones. But you will discover if you haven't already reached this part of the game, it’s the same boss fight in a tank you already have done against AK and that was the worst boss encounter if you want to call it that it was tedious to say the least something you don't want to do twice and even when you go through it and beat his tank the game excites you for just that moment that split second of awesome when you see Deathstroke leap at you unsheathing his sword ready to attack only for a two second cutscene to take what you hoped was going to happen a duel between the two most dangerous men in all the city ! He’s had 10 years to train and Batman is well seasoned it should of been EPIC but within a second he gets K.O-ed with one punch.
And this is Deathstroke, no flop in my book it shouldn't have gone down like that not in a million years yet it did and I continued on cleaning the rest of the city up !
Fans debate all the time on who would win but everyone would agree Deathstroke ant getting dropped with one punch. Even the random thugs on the street take at least a few punches to go down but one of the worlds greatest assassins goes down with one punch I call BS this encounter left a bad thought in my head about this game and I’m a huge Batman fan.
I know it takes a lot to make a game and to bring this product to market but this was just so disappointing a team that has had far less time and experience working on the Arkham franchise delivered epic boss battles on a game most gamers dismiss because of bugs.
When you get to this part no matter how much you want to admit it Origins had great boss fight with Deathstroke if only Rocksteady learned from WB Montreal and built upon that and putting those sort of fights in this game imagine what that would of looked like fighting in the middle of the streets or a rooftop, AK would of been so much more satisfying.
It’s not just the major fights it’s the villain side missions aswell while fun at the beginning were becoming repetitive and you seemed to do the same thing over and over until the villain appeared.
Example Two-Face is robbing banks as you enter in and start taking out his men in a more aggressive predator sequence, the first time I encountered this I was hooked it’s never been done in a Arkham game I always had to be quite and it felt very different and thats awesome !
But you know whats not awesome doing it two more times exactly the same way and when Two-Face finally rocked up on the scene to take me on he was the second person that got taken out he was nothing special at all. This is Two-Face one of Batman greatest villains he should know Batman’s tactics and start shooting gargoyles and ordering his men to double up and start blowing some vents. It should feel instantly harder it wasn't even his thugs were better equipped than him,it’s funny & pretty ironic that a guy obsessed with duality ends up being the second guy I K.O.
But its not just Two-Face its all the villains from Man-Bat to Firefly theres very little to no storyline or motivation going with these villains and thats was quite odd especially this game which narrative driven. In Arkham City every villain you encountered had a motivation and story that leaked into the main plot involving the main villain.
I don’t mind having a choice to take on these villains but I want to be sucked up in a side story involving that particular character I chose to pursue. What would of worked better is entire sequences that differ from each part but had a beginning, middle and end that felt different from each encounter previous regardless of how short it is. Even if you failed to stop the villain this time you could always pick up there trail do some detective work you know Batman stuff.
While I’m talking about storylines there where quite a few cliff hangers that didn't didn't pay off or got shafted quickly and to anyone that has played AC and haven’t played AK yet your going to be disappointed I’m talking about HUSH his kinda a big deal in the comics because he hates Bruce Wayne not Batman and thats such a great dynamic because his attacking the man not the persona so many others a fixated on but Rocksteady decided to just wrap that villain’s plot up in about 3-4 minutes which was a huge letdown.
If you have played the game then you know the elephant in the room The Joker.
He took Black Mask’s thunder in Origins and made him look like a chump which is far from what Sionis is and he did it here again to Scarecrow.
It’s like every writer that gets a chance to do a Batman story wants to use the Joker because they may never get another chance.
So he is defiantly becoming over used and it hurts Joker and a lot of the other villains that have potential to challenge Batman in a new adventure and have there own definitive story but almost all of them are thrown under a bus in favour for Good old Mr. J.
But in Arkham Knight he ended up being the best part in the game which is funny no less, but my point above still is firm but when you have amazing voice talent like Mark Hamill it’s hard not to give him centre stage. When he first showed up right infront of me gun pointed at my head, I was shocked, surprised and confused. Even in death he wont leave you alone !
I loved the idea that he was a byproduct of Batman’s negative effect to Scarecrow’s new fear toxin and I welcomed the jokes and few jump scares from Joker.
What I think was a massive turn around was the main plot changing from stoping Scarecrow, to Batman becoming more focused on a cure for people turning into Joker including himself which bleed over the original plot. Even though one of the main plots from AC was curing himself from Jokers toxic blood so to have something similar just to have Joker be the Ultimate bad guy within in my mind is a unnecessary and a unearned plot. I for one would have just accepted that he was a hallucination trying to break you down.
So I have to mention this, the game is named after this bloke after all the ARKHAM KNIGHT where do I start, when this game was first announced WB and Rocksteady said he is a new original character with his first appearance in this game. I was excited a new villain to face Batman awesome idea right just like Jim Lee back in the day with Sin Tzu a villain also created for a Batman TAS game. Its is always good seeing someone create something new and adding to the Batman mytho’s and I couldn't think of anyone more deserving than Rocksteady to take this challenge. I will say that AK looks cool I love the Batman reflection he has but thats all he has going for him. every encounter with him his bitching about how much he hates you but when it’s time to throw down he wimps out.
ARKHAM KNIGHT ISN’T ORIGINAL HIS JUST A RESKIN OF A CHARACTER THATS ALREADY WELL ESTABLISHED !
Jason Todd/ Red Hood is a great character with a great story already set in place a former Robin, apprentice to the Bat only to pay the ultimate price for following the Dark Knights crusade to come back from all that as an enemy to a man you looked up to like a father. He knows everything about Batman he’s a pretty formidable foe. I don't care what his like now in the comics but when he was first introduced as Red Hood he was a villain taking over Gotham’s underbelly and becoming a major player not only creating rivalries with big villains but becoming a force Batman didn't know how to tackle.
In my book thats a huge threat to Batman’s war on crime and I can see why Rocksteady wanted to tell that story it’s a interesting dynamic and fans have wanted to see the Red Hood make an appearance in the Arkham games. But in there efforts Rocksteady failed with this storyline that quickly was wrapped up and pushed him aside. The game is named after him yet his story gets cut short it didn't make sense to do that.
Ive noticed a plot hole in the story so Jason gets tortured by the Joker at Arkham Asylum and is left there to rot in some forgotten wing. Hey didn't we go through that place in the first game head to toe.
Batman even has a secret Bat-cave under the asylum surely he would know every inch of the island facility.
So then he escapes becomes this mercenary adopts the mantle of Arkham Knight and trains a military force in techniques he learned from the Bat these guys could easily take a small country if they wanted to, He’s a bad-ass yeah so why is he taking orders like a young boy from a half cripple Scarecrow. The Red Hood in the comics was easily a better version than this re-skin creation.
He didn't have an army or drones and he surely wouldn't take Scarecrow’s crap he would just blow him away and do things his way, He was trained by Batman he would put it on anyone he needed to and if anyone challenged him he had no problem killing them.
The gangs and villains were more afraid of Jason he wouldn't just put them in hospital with broken bones like the Bat he would put them in the ground with a hole in their head, He made enemies on both sides good and bad dealing what he thought was true justice while hiding his true motives.
All this with the army and drones from thin air are just reasons to have the tank battles Rocksteady designed because they thought it was cool, it kinda backfired because it became repetitive and players are left wondering why am I fighting all these tanks again ?
I know I was left wondering why the Arkham Knight persona was needed at all. If Rocksteady said from the start their bringing a fan favourite character into the Arkhamverse that has never been in a previous game or other media fans would still be excited, but instead they bait and switched us which disappointed fans when he finally revealed himself.
All the major clues shown infront of players didn't leave any suspense or mystery and it’s just another element Rocksteady and the writers failed in the thing that made Arkham Asylum and Arkham City’s so great was that they were completely original using the Batman world and it’s comic history to it’s advantage to craft something familiar.
Arkham Knight had all the elements to be something fresh and new by elevating Scarecrow who was considered a side lesser villain even in the first game he was portrayed as this little imp like man wanting to scare people. I loved how they brang Scarecrow back the way that they did in this game everything from his look to the chilling calm tone of his voice even his motivations were on point Rocksteady did do a great job with him I cant deny that. His dialogue was fantastic and If your the Master of Fear surely you would be a terrorist it works for his character.
l’ll give you something that I thought was the way they were gonna go based solely on the first official trailer released.
They could of done away with all this army and drones thing they ended up going with and have the base story that was only mentioned briefly in the game be about Scarecrow’s return & uniting the villains and their assets with a single goal that on Halloween we kill the Bat.
He cleared the city quickly enough, all it took was a small dose on a populated area and a broadcast.
The city was theres within a couple of hours.
Each villain had their own method of drawing out the Bat and trying to kill him & if they all failed Scarecrow still had plans every step of the way.
This scenario would of been Arkham City on steroids because the villains and there gangs would be hunting the bat.
There well armed from Black Mask & Penguin you don't need an army if all the criminals city wide have a truce and are working together it’s still a war-zone Batman would surely need the Batmobile and new costume for protection while traversing the bullet filled streets of Gotham.
If Rocksteady still wanted to include Red Hood you could his a villain/anti hero and is in a very grey area doesn't mean he has to go along with it and their is your wild card just like the Joker was before him but still an adversary and opponent Batman has to over come.
Also they didn't need to completely end Batman’s career. They could've completed there trilogy with all the plots from AA and AC left to wrap up would of been a nice conclusion to the storyline they started all those years back. Now with this Knightfall idea it’s a big mess now with nowhere to go. It’s is a crying shame Paul Dini wasn't involved for this game he wrote the first two games and set the foundation and overarching storyline and It would of nice to see him there finishing what he started, his one of the best Batman writers and you can tell the man wasn't there in this latest instalment.
Whats with everyone trying to wrap up the Dark Knight legend while in his prime ?
Nolan tried it in the movies that failed, Rocksteady tried it here with AK and it was confusing and failed.
Batman ends one way in my opinion.
He gets older but new threats force him to step up one last time to save his city ( Dark Knight Returns ) he inspires his city to save themselves that they are strong and can stand up to overcome corruption and evil but that only lasts for so long his body starts to give out he can't continue on with the war anymore.
He has to give up on the vow he made over the bodies of his dead parents in crime alley all those years ago, he does this secretly & personally which is much more powerful then some villain exposing him anyday. Leaving the city he fought so hard to protect wondering where did Batman go eventually his symbol of fear becomes a legend .But he lives on with a glimmer of hope that he can still make the city a better place without taking it to the streets he becomes a lonely old man all his allies have moved on and old friends die, sitting up in his mansion reminiscing about the days he was the night & vengeance while watching Gotham change for the worst but he can't do anything about it until an opportunity comes alone where he can pass the mantle of The Batman to a young man wronged in a way that mirrored his own tragedy and through him the legend will live on.