Arkham Review

     So since I have done a lot of these posts I have decided I may as well try my hand at reviewing this game. I haven't gotten three stars in all challenges (sorry if you thought otherwise) but I have completed the whole game and activated the full Knightfall Protocol (if you don't know, you basically have to do everything).

Story

    I find the story to be a mixed bag. There are elements that I like, and ones I found disappointing. I will avoid spoilers, but there might be a few minor story points in here.

The Set Up

Tell me again how this Bat-Skype helps

     Arkham Knight uses an almost generic scenario for Gotham. In a somewhat interesting set up, where Gordon claims this is the story of how the Batman died. You start by watching the Joker being cremated, probably a decision by the writers so no one would constantly think this was Arkham Origins where the main bad guy ended up being the Joker. Then there is a short scene where you play in first person as a GCPD officer. Basically that ends with a diner being consumed with Scarecrow's newest fear toxin, and his subsequent threat against the city come morning. This leads to a mass evacuation where a city the size of New York is evacuated with little preparation in a few hours flat. Being from the south and knowing hurricane evacuations I find this a little unlikely, but hey its a comic book video game. This puts you in a city where almost everybody you meet on the street is a rioter you can feel good about beating up. Also there doesn't appear to be any women generic bad guys. I can't decide if thats sexist or trying to avoid showing Batman beating up women (who arn't dressed as clowns).

The Beginning

     The game starts with you tracking down leads on Scarecrow. This leads you to Ace Chemicals, which was shown in pre-release footage. Ace is one of the best story sections in my opinion. It helps introduce you to the Arkham Knight who is the co-villain for this game with Scarecrow. This section is where I like him the best. He seems confident without being cocky, and is pretty interesting. When you first see him face to face he taunts you calmly while also telling his men exactly how to shoot to kill you. The writers make his knowledge of Batman's tactics and weaponry very evident. I feel like later in the game he becomes too one dimensional, and just a generic revenge seeking bad guy. Also typical plot driven inconsistencies. In the beginning of the Ace section, Scarecrow stops AK from killing Batman, then at the end locks you in a chamber thats about to explode. MAKE UP YOUR MIND CRANE! Do you want him to die before or after you make him afraid. 

The Middle

     The actual story is pretty decent. Although not particularly noteworthy. For those who haven't played I will avoid spoiling what I thought was the best part of their storytelling, and one that persists until you finish the main story. I will just say it starts at the end of the Ace Chemicals section. Basically you do a few story missions, and then get a message saying "That will take some time, drop by such and such when you're ready." (Basically as soon as you want) "In the mean time here are some more side quests." This actually works in breaking up when you unlock sides missions, and reminds you there is other stuff to do. Also, new to Arkham you get upgrade points by completing these. So bravo to the devs for making side quests more rewarding. Unfortunately aside from some parts this story just feels very generic superhero story.

The Ending

     I LOVE the ending. The final "Confrontation" (with whom is a spoiler) is just amazing and any Batman fan will be going crazy with excitement. Also I will say that while I feel as though most of the boss fights in this game are a step back from AC's, the final fight with the Arkham Knight is great, and tests your abilities as a master of shadows. That being said I found the Full Knightfall Protocal ending a little lackluster. It has a "leaving it up to their imagination" type ending that I don't like. At least it had a feeling of being a defining ending, so hopefully Rocksteady won't be releasing a new Arkham game unless they have a really good reason (more money isn't one).

And people think clowns are scary

Villains 

     Let me start by saying that thankfully the Joker is dead and gone. No AO style plot twists with the Joker being the Arkham Knight or something (good because the Knight is way too different from him). Despite what the first trailer would have you believe, most of the other big bad guys like Two Face and Penguin don't have some big part in the story at large. Yes they have their own side missions, and funded the AK but other than that they aren't important like in AC. Harley actually has some part in the main story,   although it really isn't important in the scheme of things. Scarecrow is by all measures the main villain. Let me tell you he looks TERRIFYING. A big jump from this appearance in AA. He is a constant presence throughout the story and, unlike many villains' plans in comic-book adapted media, his plan is actually pretty large scaled evil. Its also nice that his more serious tone is a good difference from the Joker.

     Finally, there's the Arkham Knight. He is the big mystery of this game. Unfortunately all of that stuff the devs said about him being a completely new character was just misinformation. Unless you consider an old character with a new look original. I will leave who exactly is under the cowl a secret, but of all of the "twists" in this story it is the most foreshadowed. I don't have a problem with hinting to a reveal before hand, but with the AK they practically shove who it is down your throat, especially at one particular section. At least he has a somewhat interesting motivation (if unoriginal).He wants revenge for something you don't know. He knows all of your tactics and taught the militia how to counter them. He has a sense of confidance bordering on arrogance that is fun to listen to at times. Unfortunately it seems that as the game goes on he loses some of his cool and becomes more and more just an off of the rack revenge seeking bad guy. One interesting aspect that doesn't seem to be brought up a lot is that the guys in the militia believe he cares for them (as much as a villain can). I feel like they should have written some moments later in the story to highlight this, like him giving up a chance to kill Batman to save a milia person, then lord it over Batman that he didn't leave a person to die (would make sense if you know who he is). Finally, his name has no real significance that I can tell, its just so they could make a game title fitting with the others.

Allies

"Robin, you and Harley go play while the adults talk"

     When I saw the "All Who Follow You" trailer I got really excited. I thought that finally Nightwing, Robin, and others would actually be useful in the main story. I was disappointed. Nightwing and Catwoman both basically just help you out in side quests, and while Robin is in the main story some, he doesn't really do anything to help after one section partway through. I was hoping that since they were playing up all of the bad guys coming together that this would mean all of Bruce's allies would play an important part in the conclusion. But despite clearly being able to use some help, Bruce constantly tells the others that he doesn't. Perhaps its in character, but I would have liked Batman to accept that he needed help in arguably the most dangerous night of the series. The GCPD don't really even do anything except play the helpless sidekick in need of rescuing when Robin isn't around. The only member of the gang who plays a big role throughout is Oracle, AKA Barbara Gordon. I won't spoil the story with her, but she is at least part of it for a good portion.

     I can at least say that the Duel Play system works well. You basically go into fights with an ally, and can swap between the two at any time. You can also do Duel Takedowns when you switch after filling up a meter, but the animations get dull quickly. There is also a predator version of this where you can use both characters to take down mini-gunners quickly, or let your ally takeout a target while your current character watches. Unfortunately this feature is used precisely ONE time throughout the story. Thankfully one of the dlc challenge maps uses this feature. I hope that more dlc uses this as it is fun to have two heroes taking out thugs together.

Gameplay

     

     This is where Arkham Knight shines. They wisely kept many features, while adding fun new ones.

Traversal 

     One of the big improvements is to traversing the city. The glide mechanic received some significant work. This works in tangent with the new design of the city. A bigger emphasis on vertical scale gives you more room to dive and rise. The grapnel boost has also received improvements. You can now upgrade it to help slingshot you even farther, and faster through the sky. One feature I really like is that you can "queue up" a grapple. While zipping towards an object, if the geometry matches up well enough, you can press the button again to immediately latch onto a higher point as soon as you land.

     Then of course there is the Batmobile. While very controversial among the community, I enjoy its addition. I have already given a description of its many features in a previous post. For those who played Titanfall you may have enjoyed ejecting out of the titan, Well you might enjoy the feeling of flying out of the Batmobile. Thankfully this won't be as such a one-time deal as with the titan. You can fly out of the car while barreling through the streets of Gotham. Like the grapnel boost this can be upgraded, you can eventually charge it up by holding X to fly like a jet out into the sky.

     Be it in the air, or on the ground, Gotham's Knight can be there.

Combat

Why do they never aim at the shield guy's exposed feet?

     This has been one of the Arkham series's strongest points throughout all of the games. Thankfully the devs realized this and kept it largely unchanged, except for a few well received improvements.

     I have already gone over many of the changes, and new features in previous sections, so I will let you look them up, and not restate everything here. You would be looking for the "Into the Fray", and "Gothic Knightmare" posts.

The City

This is right next to the City?! And people blame Batman for all of the crazies

     Exploring Gotham City is one of the fun parts of this game, and is essentially everything outside of challenge maps and missions. There are groups of bad guys to take on (unfortunately you will only really find the basic ones). At certain points you can access the challenges. There are "riddles" to solve. Note, if you plan on completing everything I highly recommend completing riddles, and interrogating Riddler informants as you go through the story. It'll make it a lot easier than waiting for after the story.

     One new feature in Knight is that thugs in cars will be driving around. You can take them out easily in the Batmobile, and they will try to run if they see you in the car, TRY to run. However if they spot you on the ground they will try to run over you. Oddly enough after running over a well trained, heavily armored martial artist they think, "We got this" and get out and try to fight you. Usually miffed about getting run over, I bring in MY car. Finally, one of the things in the city I love most are the easter eggs. I'm not just talking about all of the references to Batman's world and characters, but to other DC characters. Running around the islands you'll see ads for LexCorp, see the Gotham branch of Queen Industries, and one of my favorites, some militia thugs discussing the "freak" in Metropolis (There are several references to the Man of Steel.

Design

Man! That was a new suit too!

     Overall I like the look of the characters, the team really made use of the stronger equipment of the the current gen to up the look of everything.

Characters

     I must confess the character models are a bit of a mixed bag for me. Batman looks AMAZING! Look at Batman in the new suit. It looks awe inspiring. You can see the plates moving the look is just terrifying. The other designs for Batman look just as highly designed.

Again, Joker IS NOT the Arkham Knight

     Robin, Nightwing and the other playable characters all look good as well. Although I think I like Robin's hood in AC. The villain's as well look great. Scarecrow looks terrifying, and the Knight is pretty good looking, just check out his visor. Man-bat (minor spoiler) is pretty well designed.

      However, and perhaps this is more opinion, but I don't like how Barbara, Jim, and some of the non-masked characters look. Of course I guess if the devs specialized in any look, costumed character would be the prefered. The same goes for the unmasked villains, I don't care for the look of Penguin and Riddler in this game.

Did Jim become President since Arkham City?

City

     The city looks good as well. While obviously not as highly detailed as the Batman costumes, it still looks good. In fact, I'd say it looks more like a comic-book Gotham than AC or AO. There are a lot more unusual structures throughout the city, like the monorail station. The underground tunnels you traverse, the garden, and Wayne Tower all look like they could be in a comic. While I won't go into detail about what, something happens that dramatically changes the look of the city for a short time. this is really well done. Its strange, and cool to see the familiar city suddenly become anything but.

Verdict

     I love this game. Its fun, inventive, and at parts, challenging. It keeps what is fun, and engaging about the previous games. It also brings new elements, like enemies, tools, and the car, that