Batman: Arkham Knight

[Daltonio]

You can suffer with me, my friend.

Well at least I'm not the only one.

 

[AnneFan]

Spoiler

Yeah, that was a surprise. It didn't matter though because you get a new one before you can even make it back to the street. I thought that I was actually going to be without the batmobile for a while.

Yeah. Good sequence though - one of the best from the Arkham series in my opinon. I love those sort of escapes where it seems there's no way out.

And there's actually quite a few Superman world references. I guess Rocksteady aren't teasing anything here?

 

[The Caped Knight]

I caved and bought the strategy guide book to uncover all the Riddled trophy and puzzles.

 

[The Joker]

Spoiler

The reasons he was called the Arkham Knight was because he was held by the Joker (you) in an abandoned Arkham wing at the asylum for over a year. That was where the Joker tortured him and manipulated him into hating Batman.

I totally missed that. They certainly didn't dwell on it much.

I caved and bought the strategy guide book to uncover all the Riddled trophy and puzzles.

I don't blame you. I had to go to Youtube for a lot of them. It's worth getting the 100% though to get the full ending. Plus I'm a completionist. Full ending or not I would have gotten them all anyway.

 

[Oscorp]

I don't think I'll even try to get all the riddles. I'll do the ones you scan, but not the rest. Getting kinda sick of them as of now.

Oh, and by the way, there are actually challenges with dual combat. I have one unlocked with Nightwing.

 

[Oscorp]

Ok I just finished the game with the 100% full ending. My thoughts;

Spoiler

The ending had The Dark Knight Rises vibes all over it. Bruce Wayne gives up the mantle of the Bat, fakes his death, Gordon finds out who he is, and someone presumably new takes over as a new Batman. It wasn't the ending I was expecting for this game series but I really enjoyed it.

Gordon became Mayor. Big step up from Quincy Sharp. But where in the blue hell did the Tim and Barbara romance/wedding come from? That was so random. They've never even been slightly romantically involved in the comics. Just so strange and so weird. Don't know where Rocksteady pulled that from. Dick and Barbara would have made more sense.

Scarecrow was awesome in this. He looked so creepy. He was hell bent on destroying the hope Batman brings to Gotham. John Noble did a brilliant job. Probably the second best vocal performer these games have had after Hamill. He really brought Crane to life the way he should be. Dark, demented, scary.

Jason was the Arkham Knight. Playing this game they make it abundantly clear he is long before they reveal it when they suddenly start talking about him so much, and then showing the hallucinations of what Joker did to him. You would wonder why they were spending so much time on a supposedly dead character who's not been in the previous games. But it totally worked for me. Jason is a bad ass as the Red Hood in the comics, and he got to be here as AK, and got that redemption moment when he saved Bruce from Crane. What I didn't like is there so was no explanation or insight into why he chose to call himself AK, and where the hell did he get a whole army to back him up.

Gordon, Barbara, Tim, Dick, Lucius, they were all brilliant and I loved their interactions with Batman.

Joker, how ironic that in the one game that's he's dead, he had his biggest role yet out of all the games. No matter where you went, he was there somewhere. You even got to play as him for a whole segment in the finale. I am still stunned Hamill managed to keep his involvement under wraps considering it was his biggest role yet.

Ivy was great, and her death was done very well. Harley's segment at the movie studios was superb. Man Bat and Professor Pyg were the only good side missions, and they were so well done. Especially Pyg. Two Face and Hush came off the worst. Once again Rocksteady's trailers make it look like Dent would be a major character in the game and he wasn't. His side mission, a boring predator room bank robbery scenario, was a poor way to use such an awesome villain. Riddler and his riddles and Batmobile challenges were a total pain. Even though they cut back to 243 riddles, a lot of them were frustratingly difficult. Thank god for Youtube. But I loved Catwoman's part in them, and it was a blast getting to play as her again.

Speaking of the side missions, they were the worst of the four games here. I got sick and tired of defusing bombs in the Batmobile, fighting tanks, and taking out military towers over and over and over and over and over...

No good boss fights. What the hell happened? Nothing but tank fights, and one chopper one at Ace Chemicals. Worse than Asylum's.

As for the Batmobile, not a big fan. I don't actively dislike it, but it got very tedious very fast. The worst thing is you are forced to use it so much. Seriously the gameplay must be nearly 50% Batmobile at least. And doing things like trying to be stealthy in a big black tank sneaking up on other tanks, that is not only stupid, but it's about as non Batman an activity as you can get. The Batmobile should have been predominately optional to move around the city if you wanted to get somewhere real fast.

Gotham itself looked fantastic. They outdid themselves. The rainy atmosphere was beautiful. I loved gliding around the city in it. The combat was terrific. But those thugs who would charge into you all the time, gosh they were a pain.

Overall I'd give the game an 8.5/10. The Batmobile, the average story, lack of good boss fights and side missions let it down. Now I am onto the DLC's. I think I'll do Red Hood's first.

Now that I've finished the game I can give you a proper answer to that. Overall no it hasn't. There's several things in it that are better than AO, like the graphics and combat for example. However factoring overall gaming experience, story, boss fights, side missions etc, AO is still the top one for me. But you know they're all brilliant games. Any of them is a solid choice for a favorite in my book.

Great review. As of now, I'm a little more than 80% on the main story and I've finished most of the super villain side missions. Right now the game is on a 7.5/10 for me. A score I never expected myself to give a Rocksteady Batman game. I'll write a review once I've finished the main story. Do you agree with any of my rant in this quote?:

Yeah I agree with all this. I had so high expectations for this game, perhaps too high admittedly. I didn't expect this game to have these kind of bad game design choices. There are other examples of this as well, such as the repetitive and (in my opinion) lazy side missions. Like

Spoiler

we see the exact same cinematic animation at the end of every side mission quest (like, the exact same thing happens every time you catch Firefly, or everytime to catch Man Bat). Every Penguin side mission ends up with an exact copy of that same vault. Two-Face's thugs enter the banks in the exact same way all the time. It's just such a bore and it feels like I have to force myself to do them. I was so excited to hear that Man Bat would be in this game, but it's just flying at him three times with the same ending cinematic every time. I was excited to meet Two-Face because I thought Rocksteady would have listened to the criticism about how they handled him in AC, but he ended up being even worse. Making Deathstroke a tank boss is just stupid. I hate to use this word because I know they work hard, but it feels lazy. It's like they took exciting concept and just said "eh, screw it" and threw something half-arsed in. Yes, I'm ranting right now. Technically this game is great and all, but in other way this game is seriously lacking in my opinion. There's no sense of awe and excitement felt in this game compared to the previous ones. They downgrade the challenge system heavily, when they have the best combat yet. Free roaming with other characters (like Catwoman) like they introduced in AC is gone. There's not even the same sense of awe and mystery about the Batman world that can be felt in their previous games. I'm sorry for coming off as ranting, but I haven't been this disappointed in an otherwise great game as now

 

[LEVITIKUZ]

I totally missed that. They certainly didn't dwell on it much.

Well considering Arkham Asylum A Serious House On Serious Earth is basically my Batman Bible....

Spoiler

if you notice, Joker kept Jason in the cell of Amandus Arkham, founder of the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

I kind of wish that maybe they took an influence for the book and while Jason was in the cell, he learned about Amandus due to the fact he wrote writings on the ground. In the comic, a doctor in Arkham Asylum found the cell & notebook of Arkham. Amandus said he mother I believe saw visions of a Bat and said that a Bat brings these evil spirits into the Asylum. Keep in mind Amandus lived in like the 1900s so nearly 100 years before Batman.

Maybe if Jason saw and understood the writings, he knew that Batman isn't helping Gotham but because of Batman more evil spirits exist in Gotham & to completely end crime in Gotham, the Batman himself must die.

 

[LEVITIKUZ]

I feel like the more that fans complain about Riddler and his riddle trophys and races, that means Rocksteady nailed the character.

Riddler is the biggest pain in the ass in Batman's rogue gallery. Always gloating and praising himself as superiorly intelligent to Batman. Always testing Batman to see if he's really the worlds greatest detective. That's why I love Riddler. He tests Batman's mind and pushes his mind in ways no other villain can. You can't simplely fight Riddler physically but mentally.

The more the trophys and challenges piss you off, the more Rocksteady nailed Riddler.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Riddler is indeed the true arch-nemesis of Batman in Arkham games.

 

[godisawesome]

The Bat & Cat dialogue during the Riddler challenges is hilarious:

Catwoman: (dodging a giant wheel of buzz saw blades during the last puzzle piece) How is this a riddle, Eddie!?!?

Batman: (behind a fence, helping her solve it) You get used to it.

 

[LEVITIKUZ]

Holy ****, I just discovered a Swamp-Thing Easter egg.

 

[TX85]

Holy ****, I just discovered a Swamp-Thing Easter egg.

How/Where??

 

[The Joker]

Great review. As of now, I'm a little more than 80% on the main story and I've finished most of the super villain side missions. Right now the game is on a 7.5/10 for me. A score I never expected myself to give a Rocksteady Batman game. I'll write a review once I've finished the main story. Do you agree with any of my rant in this quote?:

Spoiler

Yes I agree with all of that. There was a real lack of creativity put into the side missions in this. Deathstroke is one of the most physically challenging opponents for Batman, and they stick him in a tank? Ridiculous. I didn't expect Penguin and Two Face to be reduced to side missions. I thought they'd be actively involved in the main story.

Which brings up another point; they kept saying that in the wake of Joker's death the villains lobby together to get Batman, but apart from AK and Scarecrow, none of the villains were working together. They all were doing their own thing and none of it involved getting Batman apart from Harley. That was more her own personal revenge thing because Joker died.

Well considering Arkham Asylum A Serious House On Serious Earth is basically my Batman Bible....

Spoiler

if you notice, Joker kept Jason in the cell of Amandus Arkham, founder of the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

I kind of wish that maybe they took an influence for the book and while Jason was in the cell, he learned about Amandus due to the fact he wrote writings on the ground. In the comic, a doctor in Arkham Asylum found the cell & notebook of Arkham. Amandus said he mother I believe saw visions of a Bat and said that a Bat brings these evil spirits into the Asylum. Keep in mind Amandus lived in like the 1900s so nearly 100 years before Batman.

Maybe if Jason saw and understood the writings, he knew that Batman isn't helping Gotham but because of Batman more evil spirits exist in Gotham & to completely end crime in Gotham, the Batman himself must die.

Spoiler

I think it's really weak reason to call him the Arkham Knight, just because Joker held him hostage there for months. Joker could have held Todd hostage anywhere and done those same tortures to him. There was no direct significance to it being in Arkham. It's like Arkham City's main story chasing the cure. That could have been done anywhere. It wasn't directly significant to a walled off city prison.

Arkham Asylum was the only one that actively made use of it's unique setting in the game story.

 

[Sterling Archer]

The game has issues, but I'd say it's on par with City/Asylum and is at least a 9/10. A few story points, some Batmobile sections and the lack of challenge maps keep it from being perfect.

 

[TX85]

I give it an 8.5-9/10

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I needed a few replays to fully enjoy Arkham Asylum, I'm guessing from some of the reviews here the same will happen with this one.

 

[LEVITIKUZ]

How/Where??

One of the military guys talked about a creature in the swamps of Louisiana.

 

[LEVITIKUZ]

Here's how I see it.

Asylum = best balance. Has good story, good villains, good everything but the final boss

City = story not as good but makes up for it in the amount of villain side missions. No way there's as much side missions in Knight as City

Origins = better story than City and bosses. Side missions to me felt like City's but with someone else. For example City had you destroy Bane's Titan, Origins had you destroy Black Mask's containers. Origins also had a better take on Bane. Still mixed about the Black Mask is Joker twist but when we see Joker I feel that Baker's Joker may be better than Hamill's in the series.... Until...

Knight = a much more original story so to speak in terms a new lets say identity that Batman never faced in the comics who has an army. The army's presence feels a lot better than Strange's army who I don't even remember them hunting me. Like how allies are a major part of the story. Also Scarecrow I would say is probably the best lead villain. He gives Joker a run for his money no doubt. Problems are Two-Face, Hush, a little too much Batmoblie, and lack of boss battles.

I think it all depends on what do you prefer in a game. Story? Gameplay? Content amount? Boss battles?

Each game has something special:

Asylum: best balance

City: best content

Origins: best boss battles (Freeze in City is still 1 but I feel Origins had better boss fights)

Knight: best story at least IMO

 

[Drz]

I feel like the more that fans complain about Riddler and his riddle trophys and races, that means Rocksteady nailed the character.

Riddler is the biggest pain in the ass in Batman's rogue gallery. Always gloating and praising himself as superiorly intelligent to Batman. Always testing Batman to see if he's really the worlds greatest detective. That's why I love Riddler. He tests Batman's mind and pushes his mind in ways no other villain can. You can't simplely fight Riddler physically but mentally.

The more the trophys and challenges piss you off, the more Rocksteady nailed Riddler.

Yeah but there are like 243 trophies where some are rather lazily placed compared to Asylum and City, so why should I be bothered when Rocksteady themselves just did some really simple trophy ones?

Quality over Quantity.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Anybody else love the posters in the Panessa Movie Studios, all referencing Batman: The Animated Series:

- Dr Dorian's Island of Mutants (Tyger, Tyger)
- The Ghost in Gray (Beware the Gray Ghost)
- The Dark Interlude (Mudslide)

 

[Snow Queen]

Anybody else love the posters in the Panessa Movie Studios, all referencing Batman: The Animated Series:

- Dr Dorian's Island of Mutants (Tyger, Tyger)
- The Ghost in Gray (Beware the Gray Ghost)
- The Dark Interlude (Mudslide)

Spoiler

There are also posters for Arthur Brown's game show and The Terror.

Am I the only one a bit disappointed with the police officers? I wish we had gotten Renee, Harvey and Maggie in there somewhere.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Spoiler

There are also posters for Arthur Brown's game show and The Terror.

Am I the only one a bit disappointed with the police officers? I wish we had gotten Renee, Harvey and Maggie in there somewhere.

Spoiler

Maggie Sawyer?

 

[Snow Queen]

Spoiler

Maggie Sawyer?

Yep.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Yep.

Spoiler

I liked her more as the captain of the SCU in Metropolis.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

did anybody buy this for PC?