1. 100% of main game
2. 100% of new game +
3. 100% Red Hood Pack
4. 100% Harley Quinn pack
5. 9/9 stars Scarecrow Nightmare missions
Gameplay
The gameplay for Batman: Arkham Knight builds on the same mechanics from the previous games, allowing for easy free-flow between enemies. The game adds a few elements: You can now pick up baseball bats and use them against shielded enemies or brutes, the game's redo of armoured enemies or use certain objects in the environment for instant take-downs. But enemies have a few new moves too: we have the combat medic who can revive fallen enemies and electrify them and Brutes that carry blades, shields and/or electric hands.
With stealth corner, grate and ledge take-downs won't draw attention and you can also perform silent take-downs from above. You also have the new fear take-down move allowing you to take down up to 5 enemies in one swoop. The voice synthesiser can allow you to lead enemies into traps, which can be set off by the remote hacking device (an upgrade from the cryptographic sequencer of the previous games) and a disrupter can disarm weapons (temporarily with a mini-gunner), because of this the number of enemies you face in an average encounter has shot up from previous games, with 10 + enemies in a room being common. You also have new enemies: We have the aforementioned combat medics, enemies with scanners able to detect you in detective mode, and mini-gunners: large enemies that cannot be taken out stealthily (or quickly) and are best left till last. Enemies are also smarter, deploying sentry guns around fallen enemies, mining vantage points if used frequently and using thermobaric charges in grates if they're frequently used.
Detective works are a bit more mixed up this time. There are several different techniques used: crime scene reconstruction makes a return form Arkham Origins (the clues are highlighted rather than marked with red triangle so you actually have to find them) there are also points where you're following fingerprint trails, running deep body scans to identify victims and analysing security footage. It's this amount of variety that really helps with the feeling that you are the Batman.
Gliding through the skies has never been more of a joy, you have an upgraded grapnel boost, allowing you to switch direction once you've reached your point, or select another grapple target. You can also uses a few different gadgets while you glide down for a glide kick if you're careful enough with the glide. I've mentioned most of the new gadgets already but old ones do return. You have the batclaw, spray explosive (which you can now also throw a small charge onto an enemy to stun them and others nearby), remote electrical charge, line launcher, freeze grenade (not needed at any point during the main game) and of course your trusty batarangs. These gadgets are used sparingly during the game so they don't get old.
Dual play is exactly what they advertised it to be. The ability to seamlessly switch between Batman and his key allies including Catwoman, Nightwing and Robin. I prefer Robin as he gets a feature-length segment in the main game as opposed to the others who get only short segments scattered throughout side-missions. The dual play takedown move, which builds up based on the number of successful strikes you have performed is glorious to behold and necessary for taking down certain enemies (it certainly makes short work of mini-gunners) My one criticism of it is its use in stealth. On a few occasions you can call the other player to perform a takedown, sometimes through it's hard to see how much danger they're actually in if they perform it. There is only really one segment like this in the game, so it's a minor complaint.
OK, I've dodged around this long enough. An important aspect of this game is the inclusion of the Batmobile. In race mode, it's a juggernaught tank that'll crash through just about anything and fire locked on immobiliser missiles to disable enemy vehicles. On some occasions you do wonder if anyone survives in the wake of the crashes, especially those brought about from the collisions with the batmobile.
Then of course you have battle mode. Which transforms the car into a tank that's able to strafe. Armed with riot suppressors to take on rioters, a 60mm cannon to to take on unmanned drones (how convenient there's a lot of them in the game) vulcan guns which allow fire quick rounds, useful against air based drones, and missiles able to take on up to 10 targets at once. Now, I'll give them some credit. They aren't afraid of questioning the weaponising of the car. There is a hint of in-story explanation if you look hard enough (look for the city stories from Lucius Fox, there's also a line in the game, but I won't explore that for now)
The batmobile can be driven in person, allowing fast travel between areas and also used remotely to clear out ambushes and the like. The biggest issue with the Batmobile though is just how frequently it's used. There are only 2 major areas that don't require the use of the Batmobile (by a major area I count Ace Chemicals and any area that has its own set of Riddler trophies.) The Batmobile is heavily incorporated into the main story, being a main means of tranportation, used in combat against unmanned drones and stealth against particular vehicles. The problem is with stealth outside the batmobile, you have options. Inside there's only one option, wait patiently, strike and retreat before more arrive (particularly tedious in some of the later battles). It gets tedious very quickly, although there are ways of taking these drones out on foot, they require an amount of precision that'll lead to a lot of quick deaths.
Whilst the batmobile's use in puzzles, particularly the Riddler related stuff, is actually quite clever, the problem is that at least half the 243 trophies/riddles/breakables in this game require the Batmobile. There are also far too many vehicle combat segments so that gets tedious quickly.
I'll briefly overview the Scarecrow Nightmare packs, there's 3 of them, they're time trials where you race around the Island and then shoot at the Scarecrow and his drones. They really don't capture the magic that the Scarecrow missions in Asylum had. The Harley Quinn pack is nice, it plays pretty well, and she has some decent moves, same with the Red Hood pack, the problem with both them is that they're very short, only about 15 minutes each.
Challenge maps are integrated into the main game as AR Challenges scattered throughout the city. These challenges test all aspects of the game, stealth and batmobile included. I think that's a decent touch but it means that you play almost all of them as Batman, albeit with a few dual play sections and some Azreal stuff. There really isn't much opportunity to tackle these as other characters.
OK, I've covered the gameplay, but I want to touch upon the story. Guys, the following will contain a lot of spoilers, you have been warned
Story
The game has 2 main plot-threads running concurrently. The first is the one that starts the game, Scarecrow threatens to detonate a weapon containing an updated version of his fear toxin. (We start off playing an officer who experiences the effects of it first hand) the people of Gotham are evacuated and criminals start running riot on the streets, each with their own motives and agendas. The Scarecrow brings in a militia force, funded by money given to them by the other criminals (through fair means or foul), the leader of which is a mysterious figure called the Arkham Knight.
The second plot-thread begins at the end of the Ace Chemicals level. And it heavily features the Joker. You see the cure Batman had taken at the end of Arkham City may have saved his life but it didn't remove every element of the Joker's blood from his systems. The Joker had found his way into Batman's mind and was awoken by the Scarecrow's fear toxin.
I said I disliked it when Origins put the Joker centre stage again. Here though, Batman is the only person who can see the Joker and the story progresses as if he wasn't there. His amusing commentary on events and moments where he tries to take over Batman's mind compliment the story rather than pushing it to the side. It actually makes for a really interesting as we question the choices he makes. Also, the Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill, it's great to have him back.
For the first time Batman is not the only one to get focus in the game, a not insignificant portion of the game revolves around Commissioner Gordon. He provides the opening and closing narration to the game and his fears and particularly his relation with Barbara Gordon aka Oracle are deeply explored.
But the game is still a Batman game and the focus is still mostly with him. His relationship with his allies is the main focus, with the Joker serving as a subconscious voice telling him to ditch his allies, less they suffer for it. As a side-story to compliment this we learn that there were some others that were infected by Joker's blood but for some reason or another weren't treated and didn't die from the Titan. 4 of them in total, 1 of whom, Henry Adams, didn't appear to be displaying any symptoms. Batman managed to have all of them locked up in his secret base in an old movie studio, he hopes that Henry's supposedly immune blood could help synthesise a cure for the others. (Locking people up to perform medical experiments is bit of a moral grey area, perhaps more of the Joker's influence) Robin was busy trying to synthesise a cure, justifying his absence until later on. Unfortunately it turned out that Henry was playing them and was just as much affected by the Joker. Robin had wasted his time when he could've been out helping and Batman was without a physical cure for the Joker inside him. (I'll admit, some of this stuff might stretch your suspension of disbelief, but it leads to some of the funnest elements of the game)
They made a decision that struck me as odd to make it Tim and Barbara rather than Dick and Barbara to be in a relationship, something I don't think was captured between them in Harley Quinn's revenge in Arkham City. Barbara's capture and "death" about half way through the game provides an interesting point for how Batman reacts to it. Batman feels the guilt of Barbara's death and distances himself from Tim, especially after finding out that the cure was a non-option. Brought on a little by the Joker's repeated taunts, he locks Tim away then tells him the truth, leaving him distraught and angry. Also making him an easy target for the Scarecrow later on.
Both of these plot threads have great moments, the major issues come when you look at the intersection of the two. Which is in fact the Arkham Knight himself: I'm not gonna beat around the bush, he's Jason Todd. In this version of the character, rather than being beaten by a crowbar and left to die in an explosion he was tortured in an abandoned wing in Arkham for over a year while Batman was lead to believe that he was dead. It really does show the cruelty of the Joker intending to break Jason like this, even marking the letter J on his face with hot coals. And the Joker obviously broke him given that the Arkham Knight has a major grudge against Batman and wants him to suffer and die, hence him teaming up with the Scarecrow.
The problem with this is simple. Rocksteady repeatedly told us that the Arkham Knight was an original character and I hate to break it to them but they did not invent Jason Todd. There's also the manor in which he assumes his identity as the Red Hood. His first face-to-face encounter with Batman goes Batman's way. Batman tries to get through to him but it seems to fail and he escapes. The next time we see him he's rescuing Batman having redesigned his outfit with a Red Bat insignia (the Arkham logo having been ripped off in the fight) and using the convenient red helmet under his mask as his new mask. To say it's rushed is an understatement. Then we have his personality: he whines, constantly. We already have the Riddler doing this at every possible opportunity and at least the Riddler's ego amounts to a few comedic moments (his banter with the Scarecrow during the first tape was priceless) no such luck with the Arkham Knight.
They give no opportunity for this plot-twist to have any closure because of the way they decided to end the story. Batman is publically unmasked to the world and to protect his allies he activates Knightfall protocol, which is essentially the explosion of the mansion and the public death of Bruce Wayne and Batman. Exact details as to what happened next are unclear and maybe we'll find out more in coming DLC. I don't care much for this ending. Scarecrow had achieved so much, having him achieve a victory despite his incarceration leaves a bad taste, especially since the consequences are scarcely explored. Although it does lead to some interesting street banter
I'll now mention some side-missions briefly. We have a missing fire crew who had been combating mysterious fires, Two Face bank robberies which are good in gameplay but there's nothing 2-related that screams that Two Face is responsible (there was a mention of one of the Banks funding the mob that ultimately turned him into Two-face) Penguin's gun-running operations allow for some nice dual-play moments between Batman and Nightwing. Firefly is setting fire to fire stations across the city, this is a rather uninteresting but thankfully brief batmobile chase. There's the man-bat story, a rather dark twist on it actually, there's the series of murders leading you to Professor Pyg (how he should be rather than that not-Poison Ivy in Beware the Batman) there's short side-stories involving Hush and Deacon Blackfire, the Riddler kidnaps Catwoman (and she and Batman share telepathy or something given how some of their puzzles are solved) providing some interesting dual play mechanics and a fight against Riddler's mecha-suit which does nothing other than get robots to do the work. Azreal returns to try and prove himself Batman's rightful successor (which Batman considers over those better qualified for some reason) and of course there are several side-missions relating to the Arkham Knight's occupation of the city. This leads a tank battle with Deathstroke which is rather disappointing for those yearning for a physical boss battle which this game lacks anyway.
Once you've locked prisoners away there is some amusing banter between them to listen to. Or you could converse and guage the Joker's response
Design
In this game we get a glimpse of a pretty complete picture of Gotham City, complete with 3 islands, churches, botanical gardens, chinatown, the clock tower, the police station, GCPD, Wayne Tower and other iconic locations. I hesitate to say you get the entire of Gotham City. The Arkham City district is not available and I struggle to work out which island matches the island from Arkham Origins that's at the other end of Pioneer's bridge (possibly founders Island which was under heavy construction in the game). Still, it looks absolutely stunning, dripping with details and references.
The one thing about making it Gotham City is, with the exception of maybe the Riddler, there isn't much of a personal touch to any of the villain encounters, this is a particularly of note in the Penguin side-mission, in which his bases all look pretty much the same once you get down to it. I personally chuck it down to the fact that the bases were established post evacuation and they had to make the best of them in a short space of time but it's a complaint I have seen
I'll briefly mention the bugs in the PC version. It should've been tested properly before going to market. The product shouldn't have made launch in that state. Rocksteady and WB made the right choice to pull the product until the bugs can be fixed, although it doesn't entirely excuse the fact that it shouldn't have been released in that state at all.
Voice Acting
Voice acting is top notch as always, although a few voice actor replacements are a bit head-scratching. Matthew Mercer voices Tim Drake in this game, despite the fact that Troy Baker was voicing Two Face and Jason Todd in the game (perhaps they didn't want 2 Robins under the same voice actor), Ashley Green is voicing Oracle as opposed to Kimberly Brooks (she sounds several years younger in this game, although that's partially down to the removal of the distortion effect in coms) Johnathan Banks is the fourth actor in the Arkham games to voice Commissioner Gordon, they've also removed a lot of vocal effects from Tasia Valenza's Poison Ivy.
Kevin Conroy, Martin Jarvis and Mark Hamill reprise their roles as Batman, Alfred and the Joker and each play them magnificantly, whilst John Noble's Scarecrow is one of the creepiest voices ever, perfect for the character. Wally Wingert nails this version of the Riddler, as does Grey DeLisle with Catwoman.
I'm still not convinced about Tara Strong as Harley Quinn. She is an amazing voice actor but sadly she will not ever quite top the voice of Arleen Sorkin in the role.
Rating
Gameplay 8/10
Story 7.5/10
Design 9/10
Acting: 8.5/10
Overall: 8.25/10
I prefer Arkham Knight to Arkham Origins. It's innovations with gameplay and design and story that's flawed but at least brave in its choices prevent me from being frustrated by it like I was with Origins. However, there are areas particularly with story where I take issue and that prevents it from reaching the same level I rate Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.
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Images used in this review are from Batman: Arkham Knight and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use
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