This is late, but I just had to get my thoughts out and write a Batman Arkham Knight review.
I first played the Batman Arkham series starting with Asylum on PC. From there, I played the second game Batman Arkham City on the PS3. It was with great expectations that I bought Batman Arkham Knight for the PS4. My feeling about this game is with mixed emotions and I’ll explain why.
Batman Arkham Knight review -Things done right
Lore
This game continues the story that started with Asylum and I wasn’t disappointed. The developers at Rocksteady studios truly appreciate Batman and make full use of all the characters from the Batman universe. This is the final game in the trilogy, so the story comes to a conclusion.
Voice acting
Fan favorite Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy reprises his role again as Batman, something that I really enjoy. I grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series, so a lot of Batman adventures in my mind usually have Conroy speaking in them. I can’t spoil anything, but there are other surprises in the game if you’re a fan of Batman cartoons.
The Batmobile
The newest feature to the Arkham series is the most coveted Batmobile. Everyone had been asking for it since the original game, including me. I love being able to summon the Batmobile at any time and have it drive up to me. I probably haven’t felt this way since The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time where you summon your horse Epona from anywhere.
This has been a fantasy of mine as long as I can remember. Ever since I saw the 1989 Batman movie by Tim Burton with the Batmobile, I’ve wanted to somehow experience the same thing as Batman. Yeah, I know there are dangers of the Batmobile hitting someone or crashing, etc. Come on, Batman is a comic book character, so let’s not worry about that. Through the magic of video games, my dream has finally come true. I can be Batman, roam around the city, and jump into the Batmobile at any time.
DLC
Okay, so you’ve made a really amazing Batman game that has this vast 3D world. How can we further enhance this for Batman fans? How about designing different Batman costumes and Batmobiles from different eras in the comics and movies?
EXCELLENT idea and a great way to keep the game fresh after people complete the game. Now I can play the game as 1989 Batman and it’s like I’m watching new adventures by Tim Burton.
As soon as I saw that the 1989 Batman costume and Batmobile were available for purchase, I bought it. I think this is a great way to make extra revenue but also a way that fans from all eras of Batman can be satisfied.
What Batman Arkham Knight got wrong:
The Batmobile (Battle Mode)
You know, I was really excited to learn that the Batmobile was going to be a playable vehicle in this game. However, my excitement started to die as soon as I was thrown into a tank fight early in the game. These tank fights are not fun for me and feel like I’m playing a completely different game.
There are certain times in the game where you MUST do these tank missions or events, and I frustratingly replayed them over and over again until I could successfully beat them. The problem was I didn’t have any upgrades for the Batmobile, which made tank fighting really difficult.
Using the Batmobile in this way was a huge misstep by Rocksteady in my opinion. If you make it required to do the tank battles, the Batmobile stops being special and becomes associated with a menial task. Not something I wanted. It’s probably my rage through these battle mode missions that ended up leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth enough to write this Batman Arkham Knight review.
What Rocksteady SHOULD have done was restrict the Batmobile to chasing cars, solving puzzles, and joy-riding around the city. That would have been more than enough to please fans, in my opinion.
Season Pass
I’m somewhat of an old school gamer, so I don’t really buy DLC very much and I certainly wouldn’t consider buying a “season pass” that promises to give me all DLC released for 6 months. I know this problem is not restricted to Batman Arkham Knight, but it’s a trend that I don’t really care for in the gaming industry.
Earning experience points
In the previous game Arkham City, players could wander the city and beat up thugs. You could earn experience points by simply exploring and taking care of bad guys or saving the innocent. I absolutely loved doing this because I felt I could experience “another night in the life of Batman” when I wasn’t doing the story or big side missions.
This experience point earning method has been scrapped in Arkham Knight. I can’t enjoy going around Gotham City, taking care of enemies in an alley, and get experience for it. To get points, you MUST complete missions. I guess Rocksteady was worried people would use the Batmobile to try and grind or something, but I really enjoyed having the freedom to wander and as a benefit be rewarded for going around the city. Nope, not happening this time. This was really disappointing.
Batman Arkham Knight review -Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed playing Arkham Knight, but the Batmobile Tank fights SERIOUSLY reduced my enjoyment of this title. If these missions weren’t there, I would most likely call this the best Batman game ever made, but unfortunately, I can’t do that. I think the crown for best Batman game still goes to Batman Arkham Asylum.
This was the first game to make me think that I would have been better off watching a “Let’s Play” on Youtube than finishing all the side quests in order to unlock more of the side story. I simply didn’t want to go through all the frustration of the tank missions to unlock everything.
What do you think?
What did you think of my Batman Arkham Knight review? Have you played any of the Arkham games? Which one is your favorite and why? Let me know in the comments.