Jason Todd has now taken the identity of Red Hood, Red X (in Teen Titans it was heavily speculated that it was Jason behind the mask and in one of the Teen Titans short episodes he was one of the people under the mask. While it was never proven 100% that it was Jason Todd, it was heavily implied and I believe that it was him) and lately the Arkham Knight.
The more I play the game, the more annoyed I become with it. These side missions are either very underwhelming or incredibly tedious.
Rocksteady apparently went, 'Ok, so... bigger Gotham and BATMOBILE!!!!!'' and phoned the rest in like crazy.
On to the Riddler challenges. I'm only doing this (and using YouTube to do it) because I want to see the ending properly on my screen, to help the feeling of finality. Sadly, I can't even see me playing the story mode again any time soon.
Yeah, it's surprising to me. Maybe my expectations were too high - but I don't think that's the reason for my mixed reaction. Rocksteady had such a long time to create this game too. The side missions are tired and straightforward - Pyg's is the best, but again, it's easy as pie. And indeed, the bomb disarming, fire fighter rescuing stuff is more of a chore than fun. I'm still underwhelmed with the Arkham Knight's identity too. That safe vibe permeates the game - aside from some great moments - the story isn't a complete loss. I do like the arc Batman goes on, mentally. It's a good game, but not a great one like I was expecting.
Expectations are a funny thing, for too long I've held expectations that creative teams like Rocksteady would actually rise above the cliches and actually add something to the Batman mythology, and each every time I do that they end up disappointing me because they fall back on lazy comic book tropes that have existed for as long as I can remember. There's something inherently built into comic story telling whereby the word 'new' is defined by working within what's already there instead of what it should mean, and I for the life of me don't understand why. Too much faith on my part for Rocksteady to actually leave their own mark on the Batman mythology, instead they've just resorted to the same crap many comic books do when there's some mysterious new character.
So, this is my ranking for the Batman Arkham games:
Story:
Arkham Asylum had good, entertaining stories; perhaps the Titan Joker from Asylum, and Batman not giving a damn about recovering Talia's body instead of Joker's are the minor complains I have. Arkham Origins felt more like a classic Batman story, which I love, even the Joker plot twist makes sense for the development of this story. Arkham Knight is fine, until the whole [BLACKOUT]Identity Reveal, which felt forced[/BLACKOUT] and which I have already discussed:
Alfred: Sir, I really don't understand why we have to do this?
Batman: Do you not realize how much property damage I caused tonight alone? Not to mention the estimated trillions in civil lawsuits I'll have against me within the week.
Alfred: But sir.
Batman: And what will I have to pay for them when Wayne Enterprises are audited to find the cash flow used to pay for my Bat-stuff, how'll Lucius explain that to our stockholders? How will I explain to the IRS I've left a well-funded underground militia off my tax records for the last 20+ years?
Alfred: You mean you're not concerned for your friends or family?
Batman: You mean all the people who are either dead or getting kidnapped anyway?
Alfred: Fair point sir.
Batman: Trust me, faking our deaths is the only I can avoid being accountable for my actions.
Alfred: How noble.
Thank YOU! This actually makes sense!
I'm having trouble with the whole
identity reveal thing. For me, it was forced, just because Rocksteady wanted to end the trilogy.
Considering Batman is a master of stealth and escapology, I can't believe he surrenders (even his identity) to a Scarecrow who is alone and outnumbered by his 'hostages': Robin (who's also trained by Batman) and Gordon, who's pretty experienced himself.
Moreover, Batman is also a mastermind, and I can't believe he did not consider all of the consequences that Levitikus mentions and a lot more that come with his identity revealed; his company (an important instrument to help Gotham) would get in serious trouble, and let's face it, any journalist or person with common sense would deduce the identity of his allies, I mean, Dick and/or Tim are his surrogates sons. Even if he fakes his death, he leaves them exposed. Even with Scarecrow defeated, I can't shake the feeling that he won by exposing Bruce, all the super villains that were captured, people who don't like Bruce/Batman, can eventually escape, take revenge on Wayne's closer ones, Wayne Foundation, anything that is related to him; but then, I suppose the final scene tries to explain that he will appear even as a nightmare/demon to save the day.
IMO, it was a bad written ending starting with the identity reveal, but I try not to think about it and enjoy.
As someone said earlier, perhaps the game would have been perfect if WB Montreal wrote the story and Rocksteady developed the gameplay.
I agree with these opinions regarding the ending, to me, it would all have made more sense if instead of the [BLACKOUT] Identity Reveal, it would have focused on the Bat Family, how Bat’s not alone and they’ll always be on Batman’s side to help him, e.g. Barbara and Alfred taking down Scarecrow communications before the unmasking him, Nightwing / a redeemed Jason helping to take down the rest of the militia/thugs, Gordon, Robin and Batman taking Scarecrow, they were 3 against one! And perhaps foreshadowing that even when things are calm in Gotham, a challange will eventually need the legend, someone will have to eventually take over the mantle [/BLACKOUT]
Agreed,That's my biggest problem with the story and when free roaming after that. When I read the spoiler before playing the game,I knew that Rocksteady doing that would be making their biggest mistake!
If Rocksteady wanted it all to end in such a way then I would have just preferred
[BLACKOUT]Batman supposedly dying after sacrificing himself somehow or that he retired and passed the batman mantle down to Azrael or Dick[/BLACKOUT] and I bet WB Montreal would have done something like that
Agreed. It comes off as unwieldy and something done just to try to be different or distinctive in the finale. To complicate it, it's purposefully open-ended. A scene that shows Bruce and Alfred off somewhere incognito, watching a report on how Gotham City is still vigilant against crime, being emboldened by the Bat Family (maybe even Azrael too) works fine. A shade corny and predictable, but it fits and works a lot better. At least, better than Mysterious Fear Toxin Apparition Man swooping in to save the day. That's even if you want to go with the idea of people not being able to, like you mentioned, piece together who Batman's allies are. Not a dealbreaker, but at the end, it just has me at a combination of laughter and WTF.
Characterization
IMO, WB Montreal was the one to nail all of the characters and their relationships, AA was great and AC had both really good ones (Penguin, Fries, Catwoman) and slightly weaker ones (TwoFace). Arkham Knight confirmed the great work on Joker by Rocksteady, but fails miserably with others: I would have understood if Riddler was the one to hack tanks, but freaking Deathstroke not fighting Batman on hand to hand combat? And don’t get me started with Batman, the smartest man, not measuring every consequences of [/BLACKOUT] revealing his identity (see Story) or complicating himself by taking down each one of the tanks with the Batmobile instead of a quick blast from the Batwing. But I guess that also falls into the Story category because AK was clearly written to fit the gameplay, and not the other way around.
Gameplay
Speaking of gameplay, all of the four games maintain a proven formula, combat and predator mode vary slightly from game to game. AA was the first one, so it can be considered perfect, given the time it was done. AC added the quickfire, cool gadgets, became very fluid and perfected everything AA did. For Origins, I must say that I rarely experienced glitches, and they were minor bugs that did not affect my experience in a negative way. What I love about this game is the speed, if I was really good in combat in AC, this game helped me perfect it, and it did the same with the Predator maps, it was really motivating to become an Apex Predator, and get the unseen tag. The remoteclaw was way too powerful and the fast travel was not fast at all; Grappling was not as easy as in other games, but I guess Batman is not as experienced? Arkham Knight perfects everything done in the previous games and adds the Batmobile and new challenges for it. Maybe the lack of proper predator rooms could be a negative point, the use of multiple fear take downs and the voice emulator being way too powerful could be minor complaints, but I guess that if we consider the dimensions of the open world they had to be this way.
Sidemissions, AA, Riddler, perfect considering it’s just a building. AC, OK side missions. AO, slightly better side missions. AK. OK side missions.
Boss Fights.
AA and AC were ok, I enjoyed Scarecrow from the first game, Freeze and Ra’s from the second one. AO took the best elements from them and gave us very good boss fights: I enjoyed fighting Deathstroke, Bane, specially the first time. The lack of proper Boss fights in AK gives negative points to the game, especially when Riddler becomes [BLACKOUT] the brawler, Deathstroke hides in a tank (negative Characterization points also), and they waste the opportunity to give us a fight with Jason a la “Under the Red Hood” even when the freaking game is named after his character. [/BLACKOUT]
Innovation
AA definitively was a revolutionary game for superhero game gender; AC kept this proven formula and expanded it to a more open world, it added characters both in story and in challenge maps (AA’s Joker was a PS3 exclusive). Origins added minor changes to the detective mode, enemy types and boss fights, but failed with the glue grenade (freeze grenade), and the remote claw, I guess you should not try to innovate gadgets if it is an origin story, it doesn’t make sense that Batman didn’t keep it and instead carries a bulkier and less powerful Line Launcher. In AK, Dual Play, Gotham’s size and the Batmobile’s inclusion (but IMO, overused) are great but it’s the minimum we can expect from current gen power, I really hope WB Montreal gets to develop a new Batman game to see what they can do using this engine, a good story and with the lesson that both AO’s and AK’s bugs and glitches have taught to WB.
Replay Value
AA had challenging maps, AC had several combat and predator challenge maps and multiple characters to play with. AO keeps this formula. AC, AK and AO have side missions but I always try to finish them in parallel with the main story, so AK comes as a disappointment since I hated the [BLACKOUT] identity reveal and I won’t like to free roam with everyone knowing Bats = Bruce. [/BLACKOUT] Removing Challenge Maps for several playable characters, big No-No.
I’ll wait for the Batgirl DLC, to give AK extra points, but nevertheless the ranking won’t move. My guess, it will be the best DLC, but I will be happy if it is the same length and as interesting as Cold, Cold Heart.
In the future, as Benstamania said, just take The Long Halloween as an inspiration for the next game, it can be chapterized since the story takes several months, it could also be united with Dark Victory and have Grayson’s Robin as a playable character, while I gave all of the games good grades, I’m sure there’s opportunity for a perfect Batman game, we’re getting closer.
I don't see the point in adapting The Long Halloween. Not only is it a terrible mystery that resorts to a cheap-out to explain inconsistencies, and a terrible Two-Face origin (seriously, his character is not even examined), but Loeb wholesale used Batrogues for no other reason than to use them. Scarecrow speaks entirely in rhymes, Mad Hatter only in Carroll quotes. Solomon Grundy appears for some reason and never really figures on the story. The rogues do things without reason just to advance the story, and by the end of it what should have been the tragedy of a fallen hero never even really gets around to examining him at all.
It's just a blatant Coppola rip with all the actual character meat taken out, and quotes and explanations repeated ad nauseam. If you're gonna do a Two-Face origin, do it right. Use 'Eye of the Beholder' as an inspiration, another story Loeb blatantly steals from. Without Tim Sale's art and some iconic scenes like the money burning and meetings on the rooftops, TLH would not have the reputation it has.
Played the Harley DLC and loved it, short but sweet! Liked her weapons and gadgets and her version of "detective mode". I've done all the side mission now except for finishing penguin in the main game. And riddler stuff, after that I am set to end the game with 100%. Gonna have to look up some of the riddler stuff online but whatever. ****ing love this game, can't wait for Batgirl DLC and future stuff as a season pass holder
I know I was disappointed. The side missions felt like chores (really I have to do everything to get a proper ending?). They practically designed the game around the (even the boss battles) batmobile, and that arkham knight reveal was too predictable.
a bit annoyed, i had 10 riddler trophies left and the batmobile could no longer be called or accessed remotely despite standing right on a road, i tried quitting out of the game aswell as restarting but to no avail as the car would not return so i had to load an earlier save which has brought my progression back to 86% from 97%
Well I been doing side missions here and there I still not met ourself
Overall I love this game but those drones getting a bit annoying and that helicopter in Ace Chemicals gave run for my money. Also I sorta know who AK is I think.
its Jason Todd isn't it
As for the Batmobile I love it but it gets a bit too much when you have to use it for everything Riddler race track wasn't that fun. I prefer to glide instead that way I can see more of Gotham.
I didn't know Man-Bat was in the game he scared **** out of me. When first saw Joker I thought "huh?"
8/10 for me oh and I prefer on screen to select my gadgets it's take a while to get used to.
Having beat Arkham Knight, I will say that Origins still has the best story in the series. Having said that, I love the heck out of the ending and the 'reveals.' I hope that this is the last Arkham sequel; trying to continue after the solid ending would be akin to making a sixth season of Breaking Bad. Now, I would not have problem with a followup to Origins (and resultant prequel to Asylum) or an In-between quel along the lines. But, if it this the final word on solo Batman games for the foreseeable future, I'm as happy as a pig covered in crap. My only complaints with the game are:
-having to be at a super specific angle to talk to someone/enact function. It gets annoying having to adjust yourself to a perfect ninety degree angle every time.
-grapnel function tends to freeze the screen every five times.
-Catwoman had a better story in AC.
-Ace Chemical mission becoming tedious after a while.
These are all minor complaints; I rate the game at an A, not A-. On a random note,However, I am puzzled as to where the 'season of infamy' will fall chronologically.
Completed the ar challenges with 3 stars yesterday. Overall not too bad, and not as time consuming as Arkham City campaign challenges, but some of the challenges still caused some loud swearing. Have to give my bs award to cobra tank challenges.
Now just 100 riddles left and then I'll probably start new game plus. Guess the game has to be good, I don't usually go for completion and second playthroughs this soon.
On a plus I finally enjoyed taking down the riddler - usually it's some cheap take down, but now it's a decent fight. I am now done with the game as I do not feel like playing "new game +" as tank battles are boring.
In this game's universe, TV signals can be hacked by pretty much anyone. Just thought that was pretty hilarious in this game how even [blackout]the Joker infected dudes[/blackout] did it.
Guys while this could be fan-made (and it probably is with our luck), someone found this. Not Arkham Knight related but DC gaming related. No clue if official or not.
a bit annoyed, i had 10 riddler trophies left and the batmobile could no longer be called or accessed remotely despite standing right on a road, i tried quitting out of the game aswell as restarting but to no avail as the car would not return so i had to load an earlier save which has brought my progression back to 86% from 97%
So, I've finished this game on the past night and my final impressions are pretty good. Rocksteady strikes again, they simply nailed the combat, surpassing all previous games, even AO's broken one. The level of detail on AK's open world is just spectacular, the lightning is great, streets are filled with life, everything to make it even more immersive, when they said "Be The Batman" they weren't fooling around.
I love how this game raised the stakes, sure, it's an unfocused story just like City's, repeating most of the errors, and I think that's due to the huge amount of content inserted on the world. There's some plotholes, like any previous games, but it's Batman so I'm taking it easy.
For me, why this game has the best story is pretty simple; it felt like a very personal one, while Bruce had to save his entire city, he still had to protect the ones he love the most, and even himself. The struggle to stay in control, not cross the line, and sometimes force something on his friends to protect them was bonus points on my book.
Yeah, the Arkham Knight's twist was weak and could be seen months away from the game's release, the game itself should've been named differently. The boss fight was underwhelming like most of them, I wanted a brutal combat, didn't happen. Shame.
I expected nothing less from Scarecrow than what we got, his moments were great, my favorite one being the part when Bruce is cooling down the factory at the very beginning. The finale was also satisfying, wasn't expecting they would do that.
The Harley pack was okay, her combat didn't made any sense to me, but it was fine, despite being criminally short. Red Hood was better, felt like a badass, but then again, too short.
The visuals are true current gen. Motion Blur and Grain Filter being the stuff that annoys most. Fetch quests were overdone (Towers, mine and etc). VA was amazing, no complaints. The Batmobile's gameplay is very, very good, but it's importance to the story was unnecessary. Soundtrack was epic, but City's was better only with it's main theme that played only when GCPD was under attack.
For me, Arkham Knight is the definitive Batman game, while it's main plot is unfocused, the story beats and characterization are great, with a satisfying finale that could've been extended instead of raising more questions. Even with all the glitches (XONE), the game is a polished and immersive experience, being City level, if not greater.
If true, It would have been f'n awesome to see this revealed for the first time at next year's E3 with no leaks or rumors prior but still great to know if actually true and would instantly make me like WBM even more!
If true, It would have been f'n awesome to see this revealed for the first time at next year's E3 with no leaks or rumors prior but still great to know if actually true and would instantly make me like WBM even more!
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