{"id":78096,"date":"2024-03-22T12:47:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T17:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=78096"},"modified":"2024-03-22T12:47:26","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T17:47:26","slug":"batman-arkham-knight-an-imperfect-but-still-fantastic-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=78096","title":{"rendered":"Batman: Arkham Knight – An imperfect but still fantastic finale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By NICK McCOY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warning: This article will contain some spoilers for \u201cBatman: Arkham Knight\u201d and \u201cBatman: Arkham City\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early to late 2010s, the \u201cBatman: Arkham\u201d<\/a> series was at the height of its popularity and was still at the forefront of most people\u2019s minds. From the phenomenal and beloved \u201cArkham Asylum\u201d and \u201cArkham City\u201d to the still great but unfortunately forgotten \u201cArkham Origins,\u201d the next entry was something fans were excitedly waiting for. That entry would come out in 2015: \u201cBatman: Arkham Knight.\u201d Serving as the epic conclusion of that original saga, \u201cArkham Knight\u201d wraps up the story and legacy of Batman in a nice little bow while also refining the combat and predator mechanics to perfection. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill deliver some of the best performances of their career, with a new terrifying and menacing main villain in the form of Scarecrow, alongside the title character, the mysterious Arkham Knight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once again developed by Rocksteady and published by Warner Bros., \u201cBatman: Arkham Knight\u201d also saw the second absence of DC writer Paul Dini, following 2013\u2019s \u201cArkham Origins\u201d. Rather than hire an outside studio to write the game\u2019s main story, like in \u201cOrigins\u201d, Rocksteady instead wrote the story in-house, primarily creative director Sefton Hill.\u00a0<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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That being said, a number of the choices made in the story, the use of the Batmobile and the lackluster boss battles, turn \u201cArkham Knight\u201d into a contentious and unfortunately imperfect entry in the series. That being said, Rocksteady still provides an excellent gaming experience that expands and perfects basically everything about the gameplay, and still provides a satisfying payoff to the story of one of the most beloved and iconic versions of Batman in recent memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Release and Additional Info: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Released in June of 2015 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PCs. <\/li>
  • Developed once again by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. <\/li>
  • Written by Sefton Hill and other Rocksteady staff in place of Paul Dini<\/li>
  • Supported by large amounts of DLC following its release <\/li>
  • Released Nintendo Switch in 2023 as part of the \u201cBatman: Arkham Collection,\u201d alongside \u201cArkham Asylum\u201d and \u201cArkham City\u201d. <\/li>
  • A spin-off, \u201cSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League\u201d, was released in 2024. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cArkham Knight\u201d serves as a direct sequel to \u201cArkham City,\u201d taking place nine months later. In \u201cKnight,\u201d Batman\u2019s long-time enemy Scarecrow returns following his supposed death in Asylum, releasing his new, highly potent fear toxin in Gotham City, resulting in mass hysteria and several deaths. With the threat of another fear attack and a new devastating weapon called the Cloudburst, Gotham is completely evacuated, leaving it in the hands of various criminal gangs and different villains, who turn the city into their own personal playground. \u201cKnight\u201d follows Batman as he, alongside his various allies, attempts to stop Scarecrow and his new weapon. At the same time, a new, mysterious figure known as the Arkham Knight, along with a heavily armed militia, soon occupies Gotham, with the Knight having extensive knowledge of Batman\u2019s tactics and an obsessive desire to kill the Dark Knight. While all of this is happening, Batman must deal with his exposure to the Joker\u2019s Titan-infected blood, as the Joker haunts him long after his death in Arkham City, and threatens to take over his psyche. Ultimately, Batman takes on a large number of his rogues gallery in one night, enacting his final crusade for the city of Gotham and for his allies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The story of \u201cBatman: Arkham Knight\u201d is, sadly, kind of a mixed bag. There are undeniably some amazing elements present here, and as a send-off for Batman, it proves to be a satisfying and heartfelt conclusion. Batman\u2019s relationship with his allies is greatly expanded upon, especially his dynamic with various members of the Bat Family, including Nightwing and Robin, as their relationship with the Dark Knight is much more prevalent here. Jim Gordon is another great aspect of Batman, as his relationship with the Caped Crusader is greatly tested when his daughter Barbara gets involved. Speaking of Barbara, she serves as a major catalyst for the events of the story, and the payoff to that is as relieving as it is intense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Batman\u2019s flirtatious relationship with Catwoman also continues as they begrudgingly work together to overcome the Riddler, with the extent of their strained romance ultimately seeing closure. Batman\u2019s butler Alfred, of course, makes a return alongside Waynecorp CEO Lucius Fox, both of whom help ground Batman and provide him with much-needed support. Batman\u2019s various enemies also get time to shine. Seeing Scarecrow take center stage is a true breath of fresh air, as he maintains a foreboding presence that not many other villains can match. Various other villains, including Penguin and Two Face, don\u2019t stand out as much as they used to, but are still entertaining thanks to great performances and unique encounters. The Riddler once again returns to taunt the Dark Knight in easily his most annoying portrayal yet (more on that later), as he places different puzzles and riddles all over Gotham. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The entire game is propelled by some absolutely amazing performances across the board: Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are amazing as always, and give it their all as their characters’ stories come to a close. Other highlights include Jonathan Banks of \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d fame as Jim Gordon, who portrays easily the best version of the police commissioner in these games. Of course, a major standout is John Noble as the main villain Scarecrow, whose menacing performance goes a long way toward making the fear-obsessed villain the truly terrifying presence that he should be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    \u201cArkham Knight\u201d continues the trend of the series\u2019 amazing vocal performances, with actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill returning to voice Batman and the Joker, respectively, following Roger Craig Smith\u2019s and Troy Baker\u2019s performances in \u201cArkham Origins\u201d. Alongside the typical cast, several notable actors were added; Jonathan Banks (left), best known as Mike Ehrmantraut on \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d, voiced Police Commissioner James Gordon, while John Noble (right) gave his performance as the game\u2019s main antagonist, Scarecrow.\u00a0<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Unfortunately, in spite of everything great present, there are also plenty of aspects that completely fall flat. In each article I\u2019ve written about the \u201cArkham\u201d games, I\u2019ve always mentioned DC writer Paul Dini, as he is a major factor in what made these stories great. His work with Rocksteady in \u201cArkham Asylum\u201d and \u201cArkham City\u201d birthed some of the best writing and story beats of any superhero game. I\u2019m certainly not saying a DC game not written by Paul Dini can\u2019t be good. Despite some story decisions I didn\u2019t really like, Sekretagent Production provided an excellent narrative in \u201cArkham Origins,\u201d and Rocksteady themselves delivered some excellent story bits here. At the same time, however, Rocksteady also made a series of truly baffling decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A lot of the choices made just feel like wasted potential, the perfect example being the Arkham Knight himself. He starts off as an interesting foil for Batman with an extensive knowledge of his tools and tactics, along with a personal grudge. But as the game progresses, he becomes nothing more than a footnote in Batman\u2019s psychological war with the Joker, and the \u201ctwist\u201d regarding his true identity is insanely predictable. Other villains don\u2019t fare much better, with Deathstroke and Hush getting the worst of it. Following his legendary boss battle in \u201cOrigins,\u201d Deathstroke is given one of the most pathetic and mind-boggling fights you will ever see, and Hush, despite having possibly the best side mission in the series in \u201cArkham City,\u201d has his story end on a pitiful note, and is defeating with a single button press. Whether they were crunched for time and this is the best Rocksteady could come up, it\u2019s a shame seeing these villains go out the way they did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There\u2019s also the Joker, who appears as a hallucination who repeatedly taunts Batman throughout the game. While I\u2019m sure many fans were tired of the Joker by the time \u201cKnight\u201d came around, his battle with Batman over control of the Dark Knight\u2019s mind is an interesting subplot, albeit a rather unnecessary one. The thing is, the whole idea of Joker basically being a disease is pretty bizarre, especially considering that it wasn\u2019t Joker\u2019s blood that made Batman sick; it was the Titan in his blood. Plus, the whole subplot of several people, including Batman, turning into the Joker was undercooked and just as stupid as it is admittedly pretty fascinating. While I still enjoy the Joker in this, his inclusion could\u2019ve been easily removed. It\u2019s just a shame that Rocksteady doesn\u2019t seem to be able to move past the Joker completely, when it would\u2019ve greatly benefited the overall story, despite how interesting I found his entire subplot to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then, there\u2019s the Batmobile, which is still one of the most polarizing inclusions in the entire series. \u201cArkham Knight\u201d is the first game in the series to implement the Batmobile into gameplay, and for one thing, driving around Gotham in Batman\u2019s iconic car is good fun, especially when used in conjunction with his gliding. That being said, the Batmobile quickly overstays its welcome, and way too many of the game\u2019s mechanics. Easily the biggest sin this game commits is the Batmobile tank battles: At way too many points in the game, you are forced to use the Batmobile battle function to destroy unmanned tanks deployed by the Arkham Knight. These battles happen way too often, completely kill the pacing and feel like they belong in a different game altogether. This has the consequence of turning a lot of the major boss battles into tank games, unfortunately giving \u201cKnight\u201d the worst boss battles in the entire series, and is the reason why the fight against Deathstroke is so painfully bad. It seems like Rocksteady listened to all the fans who wanted the Batmobile and drastically overcompensated for it. There was a lot of potential here, and I still find driving and racing around in the Batmobile to be great fun, but the combat and its overuse in the story completely kills it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thankfully, the main gameplay present in \u201cKnight\u201d is absolutely amazing. Basically, everything that has been built up from \u201cArkham City\u201d, from the combat, stealth, and open world traversal is the best it\u2019s ever been. First off, Gotham City in \u201cArkham Knight\u201d is just behind \u201cArkham City\u201d in terms of the best maps in the city. Gotham here truly feels like the gothic, gritty, seedy city that a character like Batman would feel right at home in, complete with a bleak yet beautiful backdrop and perfect ambiance. This is helped by the fact that \u201cArkham Knight\u201d, despite being nine years olds at this point, is one of the best-looking video games ever. The lighting, the rain, and everything else look absolutely perfect, and they make Gotham feel so much more real. Exploring Gotham is also made infinitely more fun with the new Gliding mechanics, including a much larger grapnel boost that sends Batman flying across the sky. When you use the new glide system in combination with the Batmobile\u2019s eject feature, you have some of the best traversal mechanics a game has to offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    \u201cBatman: Arkham Knight\u201d saw an even greater expansion and update of the series classic formula, redefining the combat, stealth, and open world to its fullest potential since \u201cArkham City\u201d. Gotham City is fully explorable and features numerous side quests that the player can partake in. Batman has access to even more gadgets and moves to use in combat, with stealth also seeing great overalls. \u201cArkham Knight\u201d is also the first game in the series to make use of the Batmobile, although its inclusion polarized fans and critics.\u00a0<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The combat and stealth has seen the greatest improvements, as \u201cArkham Knight\u201d easily has the best combat in the entire series, even surpassing the excellent system in \u201cArkham City\u201d. Batman moveset has been expanded and refined, allowing him to use even more combat moves in conjunction with his gadgets, including using the environment against enemies, and several sequences where you team up with Nightwing, Robin and Catwoman and perform some absolutely brutal dual team takedowns. That\u2019s really the best word to describe the combat here: Brutal. \u201cArkham Knight\u201d is the first game in the series to have an M rating, and while it doesn\u2019t overindulge in the gore, all of the bodily harm Batman delivers to thugs and militia troops just has that much more impact. Glide kicking an enemy through a window, sending them flying into a light post and even taking them out with the Batmobile is so satisfying to pull off. The stealth has also been greatly expanded upon, featuring more obstacles and enemies, such as troops who can home in on your position while you\u2019re in Detective Mode, or turrets which will tear you to shreds if you get caught. Using all of Batman\u2019s tools and skills in both combat and stealth is an amazing feeling, and it\u2019s one aspect of \u201cArkham Knight\u201d I can confidently say is perfect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I have one last thing to talk about with Arkham Knight, that being the side missions. Unfortunately, this is another aspect that is a mixed bag. On one hand, there is some excellent side content here, and ones that provide decent fun. The \u201cPerfect Crime\u201d mission, where Batman must investigate a series of disturbing murders, really brings out the detective aspect of his character, and makes great use of Professor Pyg, a fairly recent and very disturbing Batman villain. The mission involving Man Bat is also a highlight, mainly for the jump scare that starts it off, which is guaranteed to catch any player off guard. Other missions, such as disabling Militia Watchtowers and taking down Penguin\u2019s weapons caches also provide some nice distractions. That being said, there are others that miss the mark; \u201cThe Line of Duty,\u201d where Batman must rescue the members of a Fire Crew, is painfully boring, and a mission you simply stumble on to, not one you actively look for. Plus, missions like chasing APCs and disarming mines quickly prove tedious, thanks in large part to how overused the Batmobile already is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The worst offender is easily the Riddler trophies. Gathering all of the trophies and solving all of the riddles left by the Riddler has become a staple of the series, and while I thought they were awful in \u201cCity,\u201d there are so much worse in \u201cArkham Knight.\u201d What\u2019s funny is that there are actually less of them in \u201cKnight\u201d than in \u201cCity,\u201d with 243 instead of 440. However, they are so much more painful for a couple of reasons. First off, way too many of them require the use of the Batmobile to gather. I don\u2019t mean to beat a dead horse, but using the Batmobile to collect these stupid trophies makes the experience so much more tedious than it needs to be. Plus, \u201cKnight\u201d continues the trend of making some of the solutions so cryptic that they are nearly impossible to solve with a guide. There are some new inclusions, such as Batmobile race tracks and working with Catwoman, who has been captured by Riddler, and these are the parts I have the least problem with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But then, the biggest sin: In order to get the game\u2019s full ending, called the \u201cKnightfall Protocol,\u201d you have to complete these challenges. In every other entry, the Riddler missions were nothing more than side activities you only had to complete if you wanted to. But in \u201cKnight,\u201d if you want to see the true ending of the game, you have to complete these ridiculously tedious challenges. While it makes sense story-wise, as this is the last night Batman is defending Gotham, it doesn\u2019t make it any less frustrating and stupid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Other criticisms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Facial models just look bad <\/li>
    • A lot of the side content just involves wandering aimlessly and hopefully finding it <\/li>
    • The absolute stupidity of the Batmobile\u2019s cannon being non-lethal (It\u2019s literally a tank, come on)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      All in all, \u201cArkham Knight\u201d is a very decisive game, I would say even more so than \u201cArkham Origins.\u201d Every good decision and fantastic moment in the story is unfortunately tainted by a completely baffling, or just plain bad decision, whether it\u2019s pathetic boss fights or completely wasted ideas. On the other hand, even if the use of Batmobile left a lot to be desired, the combat, stealth and traversal mechanics are at their all-time peak, and Gotham City looks better than it ever has before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By NICK McCOY Tiger Media Network Warning: This article will contain some spoilers for \u201cBatman: Arkham Knight\u201d and \u201cBatman: Arkham City\u201d.  In the early to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":78097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,10490],"tags":[15645,10119,14765,15260],"class_list":["post-78096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-video-games","tag-arkham","tag-batman","tag-nick-mccoy","tag-video-game-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Arkham-Knight-Feature.png?fit=512%2C293","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78096"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78105,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78096\/revisions\/78105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/78097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}