End of the Knight
*Warning: This review may contain some mild spoilers*
Rocksteady finally brings their Arkham trilogy (Arkham Origins was from another developer) to rest with an explosive bang. Taking several story cues from Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, Arkham Knight delivers one of the most epic stories in the Arkham series, and introduces an all-new villain in the series as well: the Arkham Knight. This mysterious villain has teamed with Scarecrow to take down Batman, whose infection from the Joker virus has proven to take an ever-growing toll on his inner psyche, although it is not easily noticeable at first.
Rocksteady finally brings their Arkham trilogy (Arkham Origins was from another developer) to rest with an explosive bang. Taking several story cues from Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, Arkham Knight delivers one of the most epic stories in the Arkham series, and introduces an all-new villain in the series as well: the Arkham Knight. This mysterious villain has teamed with Scarecrow to take down Batman, whose infection from the Joker virus has proven to take an ever-growing toll on his inner psyche, although it is not easily noticeable at first.
The Arkham Knight himself proves to be a formidable adversary for the Dark Knight. He knows how Batman moves, how he thinks- even the grates that I used so many times in previous Arkham games have proven to be lethal, as the Arkham Knight's henchmen will try to flush you out of hiding now with flame bombs. And those gargoyles you spent so much time perching on? Forget about staying up there too long, as the baddies have now been trained to look up there when they can't see you as well. Fortunately, Rocksteady didn't make the game completely impossible, but I do like the fact that they upped the ante for players, given the intense M rating that it was slapped with.
Naturally, the Arkham Knight is by no means the only villain you will encounter in the game. There's a whole roster of "Most Wanted" villains for you to take out, including Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and many, many more. Most of them provide intricate and thrilling side quests for you to complete, and are always a ton of fun to take out. Each villain requires you to complete a series of objectives over the course of the game before finally facing them head on, which are both challenging and entertaining.
One such side quest involves the Riddler capturing Catwoman and placing an explosive collar on her neck. To get this collar removed, you must complete a series of race tracks created by the Riddler that have many traps within. After each race, you can direct Catwoman to one of a series of keys that can either make her collar explode, or lead you one step closer to freeing her. There are many challenging tracks to complete that are cleverly mixed with a puzzle aspect, and once you free Catwoman, you have the opportunity to face The Riddler head on.... given that you've solved all 200+ riddles that he's placed throughout the city.
One such side quest involves the Riddler capturing Catwoman and placing an explosive collar on her neck. To get this collar removed, you must complete a series of race tracks created by the Riddler that have many traps within. After each race, you can direct Catwoman to one of a series of keys that can either make her collar explode, or lead you one step closer to freeing her. There are many challenging tracks to complete that are cleverly mixed with a puzzle aspect, and once you free Catwoman, you have the opportunity to face The Riddler head on.... given that you've solved all 200+ riddles that he's placed throughout the city.
Mark Hamill reprises his maddening role as The Joker, but he's not here to face Batman head-on. If you remember from the events of Arkham City, Joker died facing Batman when diseased with his own virus. Instead, he appears as a figment of Batman's imagination, a side effect of Scarecrow's fear toxin. He provides a lot of humorous internal monologue for Batman, and yet again proves to be the best character in the game. That's not to say that any of the other villains were bad, but no one takes the crown from the Clown Prince of Crime. Not even Scarecrow. He helps provide some of the more intense psychological parts of the game, which were also my personal favorite parts of the game period. Which brings me to one unfortunate aspect of this game.
The other villains present in Arkham Knight weren't bad, but they weren't necessarily the greatest either. The "supervillains" in previous Arkham games proved to be effective side villains, a nice time-consumer as you tried to complete your quest to take down the Joker. Again. But Scarecrow and even the Arkham Knight himself just aren't as effective as they could have been. Christopher Nolan's iteration of Scarecrow in was very well done, but he only was used as a pawn in Ra's al Ghul's master plan, and when he wasn't needed, he wasn't there. In Arkham Knight, he is presented as a terrifying villain, but not truly powerful. Yes, he has a fear toxin that overtakes the city. But the character himself just isn't that interesting. He can throw all of the gadgets and panache at Batman that he can, but at the end of the day, he's just a regular guy with a mask and some drugs. He has no real interesting character within him, and frankly he was quite boring. I understand that there wasn't really a good way of bringing the Joker back as a main villain of the game, but the developer could have at least managed to give us a different antagonist, or at least make the Scarecrow interesting. Once that ominous voice that terrorizes Gotham City is uncovered, the character simply falls flat, making me wish that director Sefton Hill could have possibly gone with another villain for his final installment.
The other villains present in Arkham Knight weren't bad, but they weren't necessarily the greatest either. The "supervillains" in previous Arkham games proved to be effective side villains, a nice time-consumer as you tried to complete your quest to take down the Joker. Again. But Scarecrow and even the Arkham Knight himself just aren't as effective as they could have been. Christopher Nolan's iteration of Scarecrow in was very well done, but he only was used as a pawn in Ra's al Ghul's master plan, and when he wasn't needed, he wasn't there. In Arkham Knight, he is presented as a terrifying villain, but not truly powerful. Yes, he has a fear toxin that overtakes the city. But the character himself just isn't that interesting. He can throw all of the gadgets and panache at Batman that he can, but at the end of the day, he's just a regular guy with a mask and some drugs. He has no real interesting character within him, and frankly he was quite boring. I understand that there wasn't really a good way of bringing the Joker back as a main villain of the game, but the developer could have at least managed to give us a different antagonist, or at least make the Scarecrow interesting. Once that ominous voice that terrorizes Gotham City is uncovered, the character simply falls flat, making me wish that director Sefton Hill could have possibly gone with another villain for his final installment.
However, I still had a blast playing this game, and up until the ending, I thought it was the best game in the series. The fluidity of combat makes you feel completely in control of Batman's actions, making the player truly feel like they can "be the Batman." The way Rocksteady took this experience to the next level was astounding, and I commend them for being able to make me feel so immersed in the experience. There's so much to do in Gotham City, and some of the missions are so incredibly difficult that it may take you forever to truly complete the game at 100%, unlocking the real ending. I myself have barely managed past the 75% mark (the point you are at when you complete the main campaign) and feel that some of the missions are so hard I might never see the full ending for myself.
Luckily, New Game Plus is also available, letting you take all of your previously accrued XP and gadgets into a new campaign, with a few interesting twists along the way. It ups the difficulty, but since you have all of your previous XP and gadgets, it shouldn't be too difficult a task. The 14 1/2 hour main story alone will eat up a lot of your free time, especially if you die multiple times trying to disarm payloads and rescue firefighters. Some fights may seem overpowering, but with quick wit and a great skill set, you should be able to take on the side missions head-on while barely breaking a sweat or a finger.
Luckily, New Game Plus is also available, letting you take all of your previously accrued XP and gadgets into a new campaign, with a few interesting twists along the way. It ups the difficulty, but since you have all of your previous XP and gadgets, it shouldn't be too difficult a task. The 14 1/2 hour main story alone will eat up a lot of your free time, especially if you die multiple times trying to disarm payloads and rescue firefighters. Some fights may seem overpowering, but with quick wit and a great skill set, you should be able to take on the side missions head-on while barely breaking a sweat or a finger.
My personal favorite new addition to Arkham Knight is full control of the Batmobile. You can drive inside or control it remotely, and you'll quickly learn that it will be invaluable in solving multiple puzzles and completing many side quests. There's another mode that the Batmobile has called "Tank Mode," where it can transform into a tank and use a missile launcher and machine gun to take out drones controlled by the Arkham Knight. If you're near other criminals on the ground, a quick electric charge emitted by the Batmobile will throw them out of danger, and it even fires nonlethal knockout... things... when firing at human targets. Yes, it seemed a little strange rampaging around Gotham City in a huge tank as Batman, and it seemed a little shoehorned that the tank fired nonlethal ammo at human targets, but that doesn't make it any less fun. Payload protection missions are challenging and a blast to complete on tank mode, and there are several thrilling story missions that require extensive use of the hallmark vehicle of the caped crusader.
I couldn't help but be slightly let down by how the game ends, however. Even the 100% completion ending proved to be a letdown, and I feel that Rocksteady could have done a better job at wrapping up their popular franchise. Still, everything up to that point is nothing short of amazing, packing in references to previous entries in the series and other tidbits of trivia throughout the Batman universe. Joker is simply the best part about the game, and the implied "brotherly" relationship between him and Batman is deeply explored in the main story. The delve into Batman's psyche was presented in the traditional format that the other Arkham games have used, but it's all the more powerful in the aftermath of Joker's passing. There is one part of the game near the end (played in a first person shooter perspective) that was one of the most powerful and solidifying moments of the game, and essentially cemented that implied relationship for me. It just goes to prove that no one plays Joker like Mark Hamill does, and it will be tragic when he decides to quit playing him (for good).
I couldn't help but be slightly let down by how the game ends, however. Even the 100% completion ending proved to be a letdown, and I feel that Rocksteady could have done a better job at wrapping up their popular franchise. Still, everything up to that point is nothing short of amazing, packing in references to previous entries in the series and other tidbits of trivia throughout the Batman universe. Joker is simply the best part about the game, and the implied "brotherly" relationship between him and Batman is deeply explored in the main story. The delve into Batman's psyche was presented in the traditional format that the other Arkham games have used, but it's all the more powerful in the aftermath of Joker's passing. There is one part of the game near the end (played in a first person shooter perspective) that was one of the most powerful and solidifying moments of the game, and essentially cemented that implied relationship for me. It just goes to prove that no one plays Joker like Mark Hamill does, and it will be tragic when he decides to quit playing him (for good).
Final Score: 9.0/10
Rocksteady's final installment in their Batman series proves to be the most powerful and intense one. Granted, the intensity probably greatly contributed to the M rating, but the story overall was simply amazing. I found myself able to forgive the somewhat two dimensional villain and the disappointing ending. The endgame is massive enough to take up many players' time, but it's almost too difficult for me to complete all the way through. I was curious enough to look up the complete ending on YouTube, and couldn't help but find it disappointing overall, and a little bit of a rip-off from The Dark Knight Rises. It's not entirely noticeable, but true diehard fans might be a little disappointed by it. Still, Arkham Knight is an incredible ending to Rocksteady's Arkham series, and probably the best entry as well. It's fun while it lasts, and I look forward to more of the add-ons that they have planned for release in the near future.