Batman: Arkham Knight Review

By Andy Bartsch

    Rocksteady Studios is back with the final installment of the Batman: Arkham series and once again, they do not disappoint. This time, Batman is up against the fear inducing Scarecrow, who threatens Gotham with a bomb that will spread his fear toxin throughout the city.  Gotham is evacuated, leaving behind several militia soldiers, a handful of GCPD officers, and of course the Dark Knight.  Scarecrow recruits the help of some other familiar faces including the Penguin, the Riddler, Two-Face, and the mysterious Arkham Knight, who knows all of the Caped Crusader’s deepest secrets.  

    Story-wise, in my opinion, it’s quite possibly one of the best Batman stories ever written.  Talking about this game is very hard without getting into some spoilers so I’ll try to tread lightly.  The opening monologue speaks of “The Batman died”.  Not “ended”, not “concludes”, but “DIED”!  Throughout the entire game, there is a heavy feeling of dread and there are several moment where it seems that this could be Batman’s final battle.  He takes precautionary measures in the event of his departure.  He speaks to Nightwing as if he may never see him again, but Dick blindly reacts to Bruce’s comments as if he is subtly saying,  “It’s okay, Bruce. I got this”.  There are side missions where Batman trains Azrael to take over for him in the event of Bruce’s death.  

Azrael: "I will strike fear into the hearts of criminals... BY DRESSING LIKE AN AMBULANCE!"

    The story definitely has quite a few surprises.  Early in the game, a twist literally had me gasp out loud, and, for a lack of a better term, “nerdgasm”.  Unfortunately, I can’t get into details without spoiling a huge plot point of the game, but trust me when I say fans of the series will really enjoy Batman’s new “companion”.  Speaking of new characters, let’s talk about the Arkham Knight.  Unfortunately, I was able to figure out the identity of the Knight long before Batman ever did.  In fact, I was pretty disappointed when it was revealed, that Batman was actually shocked to find out the Knight’s identity.  I’d like to think the Dark Knight Detective would tell the Knight he knows his true identity, forcing him to remove his helmet.  Other than that, I was really satisfied with how the game’s story played out.  There are several moments where the game plays with your emotions and sometimes even downright fools you. 

Arkham Knight: "You'll never guess who I am, Bruce!"

Batman: "Dad...?"

Arkham Knight: "<sigh>...Yes... I'm your father..."

    If you’ve ever played any of the other Arkham games, you’ll be very familiar with the gameplay mechanics.  Detective mode, the gadgets, the simple but insanely fun combat.  Rocksteady knew not to fix what wasn’t broke.  A new addition  to the combat system is the team-up dynamics.  If you’re fighting a group of enemies with a partner (Robin, Nightwing, or Catwoman) you can switch characters mid-battle.  So if Batman is getting the guano beat out of him, you can switch to your partner and resume your beatdown without a problem.  Once you’ve beaten an enemy enough, you and your partner can combine your strength and do an awesome team takedown!

Batman: "I'll take that short, skinny guy with the limp.  You get the rest."

    Another drastic change in the gameplay is the use of the Batmobile.  Finally we get to cruise around (and pretty much destroy) Gotham in Batman’s trademark whip.  When you’re not tearing down the narrow streets of Gotham, you are blowing them up when the Batmobile actually MORPHS INTO A FRIGGIN’ TANK!  If you thought the Batmobile only made a few appearances in the game, you were dead wrong.  About 40% of the gameplay revolves around it and is used to solve some of the games more interesting puzzles (including those damn Riddler challenges!). The controls on the car are pretty good for the most part.  Unfortunately, it took me some getting used to because I just finished GTA V, and the same button that’s used for the brakes on GTA V fires a gatling gun in Arkham Knight.  

Chicks dig the car.

    As with the previous games, there are plenty of unlockable skins, this time not just for Batman but also for the Batmobile as well.  Unfortunately, from what I’ve seen, there aren’t that many interesting skins.  The only one that kind of grabs my attention is the Adam West Batman skin.  However, I was a tad disappointed when the Batmobile skin that came with it was not the classic car from the late 1960‘s show, but instead the same Tumbler inspired design repainted black and red.  

    Sort of a pipe dream, but I wish there would have a been a “Design Your Knight” mechanic where you can design your ideal version of Batman using the costumes he’s had throughout the years.  I would’ve loved to have seen a Neal Adams bright blue cape design with the armor from Arkham Knight.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to make your own Batmobile from scratch?  The Tumbler with the big Batman face on the front?  Oh, well I guess that’s what fanart is for.  Someone get me in touch with that Ben Shaw fella! I got a job for him!

    As usual, the cast of voice actors is amazing!  The always incredible Kevin Conroy still does a perfect job voicing the Dark Knight.  The guy has played Batman for over twenty years!  Who else has played the same character in so many projects for that long?  I challenge someone to give me an answer!  John Noble actually does a great job making the usually silly Scarecrow quite intimidating.   

Gordon: <whispers> "I'm Batman."

Batman: "Did you say something?"

Gordon: "No..."

    There are a few Easter Eggs in the game as well.  There’s a moment where Catwoman say’s she tried stealing something from Queen Industries.  And of course, what made me happy were the Superman references littered throughout the game.  There is a  LexCorp building somewhere in the high rise buildings of downtown Gotham.  Lex Luthor also leaves a threatening message on Bruce’s answering machine.  Hopefully this is a hint towards the next superhero they’re going to make a sweet series of video games from!  Please, Rocksteady!  Only you can do it! 

"Roman numerals are stupid!"

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Andy Bartsch is a feature contributor to GGR: The Great Geek Refuge