Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsBatmobile- Arkham Knight
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2015
First off, before I review this game, let it be known to anyone reading this that I have almost every Batman game that ever came out from Batman Returns for the Snes to Arkham Knight for the Xbox One. (I even bought Batman Begins and Arkham Origins which were a little better than given credit for) And now, onto the review-
Graphics-
For a next-gen only title, I'm somewhat disappointed in the graphics. While they're not bad at all, they're nothing like what we saw at E3. Textures are nice, particle effects are awesome, even minor things like Batman's cape being generously peppered with raindrops or tracks in the mud left behind from your Batmobile are a nice touch. Characters faces have never looked better; but this game doesn't exactly say "next gen" in my honest opinion.
BAK is still plagued with glitches like character clipping and weird animations ater a knockdown. In fact, it's one of the key complaints I had about past batman offerings...dropkicking a baddie should literally make him fly backwards, instead, he falls down right in front of you with a disappointing thud. Other times, the animations can be downright brutal looking and speedy.
In the very beginning of the game, rain falls for what seems like forever, and it didn't look good to me graphically speaking. In fact, it looked like some weird film grain.
What Arkham Knight gets right is the look of villains. Scarecrow looks more menacing than ever, the Arkham Knight looks cool with his armor on, Batman, Alfred, Barbara Gordon, Robin, Nightwing and others sport convincing facial detail that's a serious step up. Still, when I've played games like Ryse- Son of Rome, Metro Redux, and even Farcry 4 took advantage of next gen hardware far better than this game. The one noteworthy aspect about this game is the sheer size of it...it is huge!!! Getting from point A to point B can take quite some time.
Score- 8/10
Sound and music-
Gone are the epic and climatic songs of Arkham City during a boss fight and you get more of an ambient score to go along with the barren and grim atmosphere. The voice acting is top-notch. To hear dialogue from some of your favorites is a real treat...and the villains sound epic. I really had no complaints about the sound other than there being a lack of climatic music to bring close to a great encounter.
Score- 9.5/10
Gameplay-
Here's the good and bad about the game.
First off, the combat has been updated in a good way. Fights are fast, fluid, and harder. Takedowns have been subtly updated. Arkham Knight also introduces the Batmobile...and this is where the game goes downhill.
At first, it's refreshing to finally be able to use the batmobile. The first time you blow up a tank/drone and watch the sparks fly seems really badass. Then it becomes apparent that the batmobile is featured way too much. You'll use the batmobile to get to locations (which is optional), to fight drones, to solve puzzles, to save batman, to power up generators, and to solve more puzzles and fight more drones.
When you're on foot, the fighting is excellent, and then ever so often, the batmobile pulls you right out of this experience by forcing you to use it again and again and again.
Gameplay elements like solving crime returns, but not in the same way. I felt that Origins was a step in the right direction when it came to solving crimes...with complete scenarios that required you to actually apprehend the criminal and bring justice...Arkham Knight on the other hand does feature light elements of this, whilst tossing in something that feels off. For example, Riddler has an entire slew of side missions dedicated to him, that requires the batmobile to solve...why? Now, you can even skip riddler puzzles if you take too many attempts to get them done...but only on foot...in the batmobile, you'll have to do driving challenges while he taunts you the whole time in order to free Catwoman, whom he captured.
Batman isn't the only character you're able to use. You have Azrael, nightwing, robin, catwoman, and sadly, a brief DLC campaign with Harley that can easily be completed in under a half hour...you may not even get the chance to spend 15 minutes on Harley's DLC to complete it...(there's also the Batgirl campaign, just released), there's plenty of unlockable side quests, and one thing I liked about this game is when you bust a villain, you get to actually see them locked behind bars.
Without spoiling the story much, the very best part about this game is JOKER!!!
I won't spoil the story for anyone who hasn't played it. It's basically a big ol' mystery, batman-style, and it is good...but with so much batmobile in the game...it just comes off as a decent batman game that's the victim of a good idea overdone.
There's also the issue of the Season pass...40 dollars? Really? When the game itself isn't really worth 60 in my opinion...this is travesty. Shame on Rocksteady...and going against the grain...if you're expecting to be mindblown by Arkham Knight, think again...not a bad game, but a definite step down in content. There's about 2 boss fights which fall flat. (I wouldn't even consider them boss fights. Remember fighting Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Deathstroke, Killer Croc, Joker and all those villains...not the case here. In fact, you can sneak right behind Two-Face and knock him out with a takedown...what a flop)...
If you can find this game for considerably less than 60 dollars...even used for 30 bucks, and purchase the season pass, I'd recommend it, but at full price, plus a season pass, this game does not justify the 100 dollars it asks for.
