I
finally finished the main story of Batman Arkham Knight. I’m still trying to
clean up all the Riddler riddles, trophies and breakable objects. Two hundred
and forty three seems a bit excessive doesn’t it??? O well, it keeps me playing
the game. I want to get the final ending. It is one thing I really like about
Arkham Knight. I want to finish getting all the Riddler trophies, so I can beat
him. I know Arkham City had something
similar, but I wasn’t nearly as invested.
Once I beat City, I went back a few times to try to get 100%, but my
heart was never in it. The main story in
City was amazing, but the side missions didn’t seem to integrate as well as Arkham
Knights side missions do. All three Rocksteady Batman games have been spectacular,
but I really prefer Knight or Asylum as my favorite.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room first. The Batmobile. I loved the
addition to the game. I got tired of gliding around Arkham City. It was one of
the most tedious aspects of the game to me. It was great to zoom around the
streets of Gotham in the mythic car, and the tank fights are extremely fun. I’ll
grant they aren’t very Batman, but I enjoyed them all the same. They added the
right amount of freshness to the game so it didn’t feel stagnate. The Batmobile does have a downside. They relied
on the Batmobile to heavily in missions. You are forced to use it in the main
quest a few too many times. If they would have just used it for the side
missions, or taken out the side missions which required its use, the batmobile
would have been more seamlessly integrated into the game. No spoilers, but one
side mission in particular screams for hand to hand combat, and all you are
left with is a tank fight. I think this is probably the biggest complaint of
people who didn’t like using the batmobile. If you weren’t forced to use it as
much, it would have been well received. I personally still loved using it, and
thought it a much needed aspect in the game. I however can see why some hate its
addition. Without the batmobile though, Arkham Knight would have felt like a
larger Arkham City with a different story.
Rocksteady
isn’t Bioware, but they come damn close in their storytelling. What comes
across in all three games is their love of Batman. Before Rocksteady took on
developing Batman games, superhero games sucked. The amount of depth and
backstory they use to draw on makes you feel like you are playing in an animated
comic book. Their slogan is “Be the Bat”, and it's very apt. You can lose yourself in the
game. The ending in Arkham Knight isn’t as good as City, not sure how you top that ending, but I think it rivals Arkham City story on the whole.
From the very beginning you are engaged in wanting to stop Scarecrow and find
out who the Arkham Knight is. They also integrate Joker into the story in a
genius way. Mark Hamill is always great as the Joker, and he doesn’t disappoint
in the game. The main story pits you against the Arkham Knight and his army of
mercenaries. They are helping Scarecrow try and distribute his fear toxin to
the entire city of Gotham. You have to stop him, and there are quite a few
twists and turns throughout the game. They aren’t too hard to decipher, but it
is still a very intriguing story. When you take it along with the other side
missions it truly becomes a masterpiece.
One of the downsides to Arkham City where the
side missions. They didn’t seem to flow into the main story. This is rectified
in Arkham Knight. Most of the side missions add to the overall story. If they
don’t deal with the main plot, they don’t pull you out of the main mission the
way they did in City. They are all compelling
enough to make you want to finish. I enjoyed every side-quest in this game,
especially the murder mystery. Rocksteady has used detective aspects in all of
its games, but I especially loved it in Arkham Knight. It was earlier creepy
hearing opera music and having to investigate another corpse. The Man-Bat side
story was another solid side mission, and made me jump out of my seat a couple
of times. There are few moments which made me jump in Arkham Knight. I wasn’t
expecting to jump scares, but they worked extremely well.
There
isn’t much in Arkham Knight which doesn’t work. The game looks beautiful and
runs smoothly on my Xbox One, sorry PC fans. The game has frozen a couple of
times, but nothing too annoying. I’m glad they delayed the game a bit to make
sure they had a good launch on consoles. Guess they should have waited for the PC launch
though. It seems to be an all too prevalent theme for games to be rushed to
release, and then try to recover with patches. I’m not much of a techy when it
comes to gameplay. If it plays well, and looks good, that’s all I really need.
The story and overall gameplay are critical for me to enjoy a game.
If
you enjoyed the first two Batman games, the mechanics haven’t changed. Though
they did add a few new wrinkles which I greatly enjoyed. I liked the fear
takedowns, and the addition of medic enemies. It forces you to evaluate and prioritize
targets in both melee and predator fights. The D-pad is slightly different in
this game than others, and it took me a bit to get used to its new
configuration. Other than that I enjoyed the changes they made to the gameplay.
Batman
Arkham Knight is a must buy and play for anyone who has enjoyed the first two
games released by Rocksteady. If you haven’t played the other games, what are
you waiting for?? Go out and buy the first two cheap and then plunk down coin
for Arkham Knight. It is a must play for any gamer of any degree. The only
downside is the replay value. Once you beat it, I’m not sure you will revisit
it. Though after a few years I can see myself wanting to go back and play the
entire trilogy. I almost want to do that nowJ.
What
did you think of my first game review? I’m
not big on asking for likes, shares, and retweets, but….. I’m going to now. So
if you like my ramblings give me a like,
share or tweetJ.
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