Batman: Arkham Knight
Developed by Rocksteady Studios
Published by Warner Bros. Interactive
*This is how it happened, This is how the Batman died*
*Please Note: This Review is of the PlayStation 4 Version*
The Story:
Batman: Arkham Knight takes place 1 year after the events of Batman Arkham City with Batman still coming to terms with the events of what happened at Arkham City. Elsewhere in the city; Scarecrow unleashes a new dose of his infamous fear toxin which causes death and insane rioting in a small diner before he threatens to detonate a bomb that will cover Gotham City in the fear toxin in less than 24 hours. The city immediately gets evacuated leaving only the police, the criminals, rioters and unlucky civilians left in the city. In Gotham City’s most desperate time yet; Batman is Gotham’s last hope as the remaining living villains make a plan to finally wipe out the Bat once and for all while a new Mysterious Militia General going only by “The Arkham Knight” comes to Gotham with a personal grudge against The Batman.
All in all, Arkham knight has a phenomenal story that bases itself off of one of the most iconic Batman Story Arcs of all time which I will not mention due to spoilers.
The Gameplay:
Batman Arkham Knight has phenomenal gameplay which builds on the mechanics set in place in the previous entries. For a start the combat in Arkham Knight feels a lot more fluent than in the previous entries with each hit looking a lot more brutal in every single way. This comes thanks to the game’s new suit which allows Batman to be a faster, stronger and much more brutal fighter. The game like all the other Batman games has a really heavy reliance on Stealth aswell with there being multiple ways to take out your opponents including Silent Takedowns in which you suppress your enemies quietly so as not to bring attention, Inverted Takedowns which allows you to take out criminals from a high vantage point and of course; the brand new addition to these special takedowns; The Multi-Fear Takedown which is only achievable through the use of the new outfit. These special takedowns allow Batman to utilize the speed of his new suit to quickly neutralize multiple targets at once (Which is commenced by pressing the square button and then using the analogue sticks to select targets).
As you can expect for Batman; There is also a wide variety of gadgets on offer in this game including many fan favorites from the previous entries such as the Batarang, Batclaw and Explosive Gel however with a new game comes new gadgets at the players disposal with 2 new additions including the Voice Synthesizer that allows Batman to impersonate the voice of another to fool criminals and computer systems (Voices include Harley Quinn, Arkham Knight & Simon Stagg to name a few) and of course the remote controlling of the Batmobile (Which I will go into more detail about shortly). Another feature that has since been improved is the detective mode which has since become a lot more detailed when examining crime scenes since it allows you to scan skin, muscle tissue and bones for clues and evidence towards Identifying Dead Bodies. Before I talk about the Batmobile; I also feel like I should mention a new feature that I adored which was the Tag Team Takedown in which you go into certain fights with Batman and other Heroes will assist you in battle with the CPU taking over the other character, While fighting you build up a meter/combo to the point where you can press the L1 Button to takedown an enemy using both characters and upon finishing the move you take over as the assist character. In the game there is 3 instances of this (Robin, Nightwing & Catwoman) and when you combine this with the Fluidity of the combat; It just works well to the point where you actually feel as though you are viewing a live demonstration of Martial Arts. I also feel I should mention that the flight controls of the glide are a lot better in this game and feel much easier to steer and control as compared to the previous games where flight has felt pretty clunky.
The Final focus of the Gameplay that I will talk about is of course the newest and biggest feature to Arkham Knight; The Batmobile. The Batmobile is of course Batman’s Vehicle which allows him to propel around Gotham at full throttle speeds. In Arkham Knight; The Batmobile certainly is a welcome addition to the game’s many gadgets and in many cases can be extremely fun to use and comes in useful when it comes to taking the big criminals back to the GCPD however it seems like Rocksteady have put quite a heavy emphasis on the Batmobile with it being used for nearly everything in the game (It is even used for 4 Boss Fights) which after a while becomes slightly frustrating and takes the fun away from driving the Batmobile. The steering controls on the car are actually pretty decent and while they may feel slightly uncomfortable at the start; You get used to the controls pretty quickly. The combat mode on the car is certainly interesting and just show’s exactly why Batman is a one man army since the car essentially changes into a Tank complete with Weapons and Dodge capabilities. The Car combat once you really get into it becomes just as fluent as the actual freeflow combat plus the ability to eject yourself out of the car by propelling yourself sky high is pretty damn cool. The Upgrade system in Arkham Knight is pretty easy to use aswell with you earning Wayne Tech points for every mission or segment of a mission completed which you can then spend on upgrades for your suits, gadgets or car.
All in all, The Gameplay in Arkham Knight is phenomenal however I really disliked the overall emphasis on the Batmobile and how much it actually had to be used in the game.
The Sound:
Batman Arkham Knight like the previous games has an incredible music score that really puts you once again into the world of Batman with the overall dark and gritty style music in the background while during fights the music speeds up and gets pretty intense. The score is composed by David Buckley (Call of Duty: Ghosts) & Nick Arundel (Batman Arkham City) and has a unique combination of the music from the Burton Movies and the Nolan Movies yet also keeps a tone of it’s own. As has come to be expected from the Arkham series; Knight has some incredible vocal talent led by Kevin Conroy (Batman Arkham Asylum) who once again voices the caped crusader. Joining him in this games voice talent are Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad), Ashley Greene (Twilight), Matthew Mercer (Resident Evil), Troy Baker (The Last of Us), Nolan North (Uncharted), Tara Strong (The Fairly Odd Parents) and of course; Mark Hamill (Batman Arkham City).
The sound segment of Arkham knight is (Batman) beyond incredible apart from a few moments in which the game went slightly out of sync however this only lasted through certain segments however I still felt it was worth mentioning.
The Graphics:
The Visuals in Arkham Knight are stunning and make the final Rocksteady Batman game look even more like a cinematic blockbuster than the previous games. The visuals look sharper with every fine little detail including the battle damage that Batman’s Suit & The Batmobile take aswell as the opening which of course involves flesh being burnt (Not spoiling the surprise). The visual appeal of Gotham City is beautiful and looks a spitting double of the Gotham City we saw in the Tim Burton Batman Movies while each of the characters had a great visual style with Harley Quinn looking like a Naughty Nurse meeting a Jester and of course; Scarecrow who’s actual face is reminiscent of his original mask after being mauled by Killer Croc in Arkham Asylum. The weather dynamics in Arkham Knight are beyond spectacular with the game featuring near constant rain which is so detailed to the point where it actually bounces off you and you can see every little teardrop plus the lightning effects make it look phenomenal when you are driving, gliding and divebombing through the city.
I did encounter a few visual glitches in which the characters went through the floor after knocking them out but otherwise the visuals on Arkham knight are spectacular.
Lasting Appeal:
Batman Arkham Knight has plenty of replayability since the game features numerous side missions in which you have to save the city and defeat the villains and these missions are broken up into smaller and more manageable segments which you must achieve 100% on in order to fully complete the mission. In addition to this; There is of course the Riddler challenges to complete which on a personal level I started to despise about halfway through collecting because while I like to scan in and solve riddles; I’m still not a fan of searching all over the city for the trophies. It was while collecting the Riddler trophies that I encountered another glitch aswell when one of the riddles that required the voice synthesizer didn’t recognize and so I was stuck trying to get the puzzle completed without success until I rebooted the game.
There is of course the obligatory trophies/achievements out there for the hunters to collect and plenty of upgrades to gear Batman up with however this is the first entry in the series in which you literally need to get 100% in order to witness the true ending to the game and so if you are a real completionist; There will be plenty of time in the long haul for you and then of course there is the New Game + mode which automatically makes the game a lot harder than your previous run-through.
All in all, Plenty of Replay Value.
Final Thoughts:
All in all, Arkham Knight is a phenomenal title with a brilliant story, stunning graphics, Great new gameplay and combat aswell as a phenomenal soundtrack and voice cast however it does have it’s fair share of problems which unfortunately does let it down. Still though; Arkham Knight is a thoroughly enjoyable title and one of the best Batman games made making the true and authentic experience of being the Batman a reality. This is certainly a game for fans of Batman, Action and Comic Books aswell as the perfect sendoff to Rocksteady’s now Iconic Video game Franchise.
My Score = 9.1/10
The Good:
- Dark and brutal story that sticks very closely to Batman Story Arcs
- Combat is a lot more fluent
- A lot more stealth mechanics in play
- More detailed Scanner
- Flight Controls are much better
- Batmobile is fun and action packed
- Score is stunning
- Perfect Voice Cast
- Graphics are stunning
- Plenty of Replay Value
The Bad:
- Multiple Glitches encountered
- Heavy Emphasis on the Batmobile
- Sound sometimes goes out of Sync
- Too Many Riddler Collectibles
Batman Arkham Knight is available now from all good retailers for PS4, Xbox One & PC (Available Digitally in the UK) and is coming to OS X & Linux later this year. Thanks go out to Warner Bros. Interactive for supplying the game and assets used in this review. Be sure to let us know your thoughts on this review in the comments section below and be sure to stay tuned to UGNN for all your gaming news and reviews and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Review by Matt McNamee
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