This review will contain spoilers
Arkham DLC ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Flameyboy928/list/batman-arkham-dlc-ranked-/
The final entry in the best superhero gaming franchise of all time and probably the most divisive one at that. I think that Arkham Knight features some of the best and the worst that this franchise has to offer. That being said I think that this is still a fantastic end to this franchise.
To start off with the story, I think that this is on the weaker side compared to the other games, the story feels very disconnected from itself and due to the constant breaks throughout it, It can stall quite a bit. To broaden it out, I think the game starts great, dips drastically in the middle, picks up with the Harley segment at the movie studio, dips again for a bit but come back to end strongly. There is a lot I like about the story, first off I love Scarecrow as the main villain. One of my favourite Batman villains so im glad to see him at the helm. So much better than the Asylum version. Batman's battle against the Joker's virus is a good B plot which ties in well with the end of the game. I really like what they do with Ivy's character turning her into a bit of an anti-hero at the end. I like the inclusion and more focus on the bat family, particularly Oracle and Nightwing. Now onto a couple issues I have. I think the Arkham Knight could of been done a lot better, ill talk more specifically about this in a minute but I think that him popping up every now and then only to leave as soon as batman starts to fight back gets very repetitive after the 3rd time. I think that the detonation of the cloud of fear gas comes completely out of the blue and 100% could of been handled better and given a bit of tension. I also think that the story's pace grinds to a halt during the middle section specifically the airship part. Probably 3rd ranked in terms of story as I think it has a better overall narrative than Asylum.
Now looking at the characters, once again I have to mention the amazing work done by the two goats, Kevin Conroy (RIP) and Mark Hamill. They put so much life into these two characters and it is devastating that we will never see the two of them on screen again. I will also commend John Noble for his terrifying performance as Scarecrow, also Jonathan Banks gives the best Jim Gordon performance in the series. Great work as always by the series mainstays like Nolan North as Penguin, Tara Strong as Harley, Tasia Valenza as Ivy and Troy Baker as Two-Face and the Arkham Knight. Speaking of the Arkham Knight, I think it is a safe bet to say that the vast majority who played this game guessed the twist a mile off. Jason Todd being the Arkham Knight is a really interesting idea but it was just done so poorly. The constant hints being fed while constantly feeding into the mystery is really counter intuitive. Im sure most people guessed it from the first time Jason Todd is mentioned as he hasnt been brought up at all during the whole series. I think it would of been better if Batman knowingly had to fight Jason and having to grapple with that. I think that would of been way better than the constant "Not yet Dark Knight" every time he was on screen. Side characters are pretty good, most villains are kept to side quests but we do get proper uses of the bat family which is great. Nightwing, Robin, Alfred and Oracle are prominent throughout the story which is great to have. To quickly touch on the designs. Knight has some of my favourites. What i have noticed is that Knight makes a lot of the characters look messy or unkempt, big examples are Penguin, Riddler and Firefly all looking very sweaty and very dressed down considering what they normally look like. I absolutely love Scarecrows design, with the mangled face and the noose around his neck. I really like that they didnt ignore the fact he got deathrolled by killer croc in Asylum, I actually noticed this time through that he has a leg brace which is a cool detail. Other designs like Harley, Azrael, Two-face and Ivy are nice upgrades from their city counterparts.
Moving onto the gameplay. Arkham Knight perfects everything that the other games had been building towards. The free flow system peaked here, it is so fluid and this game adds lots of little features like the fear multi takedown, environmental takedowns and duel takedowns when fighting with a partner. A lot of enemy variety with the Arkham Knight's militia, now you have medics, drone operators, brutes with knives, sword wielding guys and now thugs will randomly charge you as well. The traversal is perfect also, flying around the city is so quick it is awesome. However there is of course that other means of traversal...
The batmobile in this game was controversial to say the least. Now I fully used to be in the "They overused the batmobile" camp, in fact it I said it in my old review of this game. I still do agree to an extent but during the main story I didnt find much of an issue outside a couple of things, side content however is a different debate, i will touch on that later. My main complaints with the batmobile are that it seems like whenever rocksteady didnt know what to put in an area, they would throw a drone fighting segment in, so there are some parts of the story that really dont seem like they need it. Also I hate the cobra tank battles, vehicle stealth sections should not exits, period. Also the cloud burst battle sucks and leads into my next point.
WHY DOES THIS GAME HAVE NO BOSS BATTLES! Every other game in the series is praised on its boss battles, but in Arkham Knight you are gonna get one of two things, a tank battle or a room full of goons that you have to clear before you can deal damage to the boss. This is my biggest complaint about this game, it truly shocks me why they abandoned literally the best part of all the other games.
Now this is gonna take a bit because this is my favourite part of Arkham Knight. The side content. This game has sensational side content, almost every major villain from the series is featured in Knight's side content. I love gradually filling up the GCPD with the villains and I also like how the game pushes you onto the side content. So I am briefly going to go over most side quests and ill group a few together to save time.
First off the militia side quests are boring, all 4 of them. Dont get me started on the fucking deathstroke fight which is literally the fucking Arkham Knight cloudburst battle again expect without the fear toxin. A bastardisation of the Origins fight. These quests really add to the overused batmobile argument as two of them require it.
The Riddler side quest also sucks, Ive done this twice to 240% the game and I will never do it again. The trophies are one thing but the shit challenges are boring and i will never do these every again.
The two small sidequests involving Hush and Deacon Blackfire are decent but could of been longer. Deacon Blackfire i think could of been replaced with a character like Bane, Clayface, Black Mask or even a popular character we hadn't seen yet like Ventriloquist and Scarface. Hush one is a bit of a let down but I have no clue what else they could of done.
Two-Face and Penguin both have decent side quests, I like the Two-face one more because of the way it switches up the normal predator sections by giving you the chance to go loud. Penguins is alright, having Nightwing in it is cool.
The Firefly quest is a chase segment but it is pretty cool, Nothing on the origins segment but still alright. Finding the fire fighters is just a gauntlet of enemies so nothing special there.
Now for my Top 3 favourites. The Azrael quest is fun, getting to play as him is nice and the choice at the end is a cool way to end it off. The man bat quest is awesome, with that iconic jumpscare and examining the lab, an unusually sad side quest. Then the Professor Pyg quest which is my favourite, its a better version of the Hush quest from city. The creepy Opera music, examining the bodies and that final fight is pretty fun.
Quickly looking at the visuals. This game looks fantastic. Hard to believe that is nearly 10 years old. I would really like to see a ps5 upgrade, just to see this in 60 fps would be brilliant. Also the score is great, probably the weakest of the series but by no means bad.
Arkham Knight is still pretty divisive, but to me it is a fantastic book end to one of the best franchises of all time. Also Arkham Knight has 7 DLC's to look at so prepare for the bombardment of those reviews. 100% recommend this game and this series, Absolutely fantastic.
Arkham DLC ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Flameyboy928/list/batman-arkham-dlc-ranked-/
The final entry in the best superhero gaming franchise of all time and probably the most divisive one at that. I think that Arkham Knight features some of the best and the worst that this franchise has to offer. That being said I think that this is still a fantastic end to this franchise.
To start off with the story, I think that this is on the weaker side compared to the other games, the story feels very disconnected from itself and due to the constant breaks throughout it, It can stall quite a bit. To broaden it out, I think the game starts great, dips drastically in the middle, picks up with the Harley segment at the movie studio, dips again for a bit but come back to end strongly. There is a lot I like about the story, first off I love Scarecrow as the main villain. One of my favourite Batman villains so im glad to see him at the helm. So much better than the Asylum version. Batman's battle against the Joker's virus is a good B plot which ties in well with the end of the game. I really like what they do with Ivy's character turning her into a bit of an anti-hero at the end. I like the inclusion and more focus on the bat family, particularly Oracle and Nightwing. Now onto a couple issues I have. I think the Arkham Knight could of been done a lot better, ill talk more specifically about this in a minute but I think that him popping up every now and then only to leave as soon as batman starts to fight back gets very repetitive after the 3rd time. I think that the detonation of the cloud of fear gas comes completely out of the blue and 100% could of been handled better and given a bit of tension. I also think that the story's pace grinds to a halt during the middle section specifically the airship part. Probably 3rd ranked in terms of story as I think it has a better overall narrative than Asylum.
Now looking at the characters, once again I have to mention the amazing work done by the two goats, Kevin Conroy (RIP) and Mark Hamill. They put so much life into these two characters and it is devastating that we will never see the two of them on screen again. I will also commend John Noble for his terrifying performance as Scarecrow, also Jonathan Banks gives the best Jim Gordon performance in the series. Great work as always by the series mainstays like Nolan North as Penguin, Tara Strong as Harley, Tasia Valenza as Ivy and Troy Baker as Two-Face and the Arkham Knight. Speaking of the Arkham Knight, I think it is a safe bet to say that the vast majority who played this game guessed the twist a mile off. Jason Todd being the Arkham Knight is a really interesting idea but it was just done so poorly. The constant hints being fed while constantly feeding into the mystery is really counter intuitive. Im sure most people guessed it from the first time Jason Todd is mentioned as he hasnt been brought up at all during the whole series. I think it would of been better if Batman knowingly had to fight Jason and having to grapple with that. I think that would of been way better than the constant "Not yet Dark Knight" every time he was on screen. Side characters are pretty good, most villains are kept to side quests but we do get proper uses of the bat family which is great. Nightwing, Robin, Alfred and Oracle are prominent throughout the story which is great to have. To quickly touch on the designs. Knight has some of my favourites. What i have noticed is that Knight makes a lot of the characters look messy or unkempt, big examples are Penguin, Riddler and Firefly all looking very sweaty and very dressed down considering what they normally look like. I absolutely love Scarecrows design, with the mangled face and the noose around his neck. I really like that they didnt ignore the fact he got deathrolled by killer croc in Asylum, I actually noticed this time through that he has a leg brace which is a cool detail. Other designs like Harley, Azrael, Two-face and Ivy are nice upgrades from their city counterparts.
Moving onto the gameplay. Arkham Knight perfects everything that the other games had been building towards. The free flow system peaked here, it is so fluid and this game adds lots of little features like the fear multi takedown, environmental takedowns and duel takedowns when fighting with a partner. A lot of enemy variety with the Arkham Knight's militia, now you have medics, drone operators, brutes with knives, sword wielding guys and now thugs will randomly charge you as well. The traversal is perfect also, flying around the city is so quick it is awesome. However there is of course that other means of traversal...
The batmobile in this game was controversial to say the least. Now I fully used to be in the "They overused the batmobile" camp, in fact it I said it in my old review of this game. I still do agree to an extent but during the main story I didnt find much of an issue outside a couple of things, side content however is a different debate, i will touch on that later. My main complaints with the batmobile are that it seems like whenever rocksteady didnt know what to put in an area, they would throw a drone fighting segment in, so there are some parts of the story that really dont seem like they need it. Also I hate the cobra tank battles, vehicle stealth sections should not exits, period. Also the cloud burst battle sucks and leads into my next point.
WHY DOES THIS GAME HAVE NO BOSS BATTLES! Every other game in the series is praised on its boss battles, but in Arkham Knight you are gonna get one of two things, a tank battle or a room full of goons that you have to clear before you can deal damage to the boss. This is my biggest complaint about this game, it truly shocks me why they abandoned literally the best part of all the other games.
Now this is gonna take a bit because this is my favourite part of Arkham Knight. The side content. This game has sensational side content, almost every major villain from the series is featured in Knight's side content. I love gradually filling up the GCPD with the villains and I also like how the game pushes you onto the side content. So I am briefly going to go over most side quests and ill group a few together to save time.
First off the militia side quests are boring, all 4 of them. Dont get me started on the fucking deathstroke fight which is literally the fucking Arkham Knight cloudburst battle again expect without the fear toxin. A bastardisation of the Origins fight. These quests really add to the overused batmobile argument as two of them require it.
The Riddler side quest also sucks, Ive done this twice to 240% the game and I will never do it again. The trophies are one thing but the shit challenges are boring and i will never do these every again.
The two small sidequests involving Hush and Deacon Blackfire are decent but could of been longer. Deacon Blackfire i think could of been replaced with a character like Bane, Clayface, Black Mask or even a popular character we hadn't seen yet like Ventriloquist and Scarface. Hush one is a bit of a let down but I have no clue what else they could of done.
Two-Face and Penguin both have decent side quests, I like the Two-face one more because of the way it switches up the normal predator sections by giving you the chance to go loud. Penguins is alright, having Nightwing in it is cool.
The Firefly quest is a chase segment but it is pretty cool, Nothing on the origins segment but still alright. Finding the fire fighters is just a gauntlet of enemies so nothing special there.
Now for my Top 3 favourites. The Azrael quest is fun, getting to play as him is nice and the choice at the end is a cool way to end it off. The man bat quest is awesome, with that iconic jumpscare and examining the lab, an unusually sad side quest. Then the Professor Pyg quest which is my favourite, its a better version of the Hush quest from city. The creepy Opera music, examining the bodies and that final fight is pretty fun.
Quickly looking at the visuals. This game looks fantastic. Hard to believe that is nearly 10 years old. I would really like to see a ps5 upgrade, just to see this in 60 fps would be brilliant. Also the score is great, probably the weakest of the series but by no means bad.
Arkham Knight is still pretty divisive, but to me it is a fantastic book end to one of the best franchises of all time. Also Arkham Knight has 7 DLC's to look at so prepare for the bombardment of those reviews. 100% recommend this game and this series, Absolutely fantastic.
3 Comments
All fair points though I love the Militia towers because it's a free excuse for peak stealth gameplay
And I really dug the story
And I really dug the story
@PhantasM_ Yeah I used to be a big hater of it but on this playthrough I honestly didn't find it as annoying as I did during my previous playthroughs
@SannicFann The Militia towers are probably the best of them lol, either that or the roadblocks. Fair about the story, I love certain parts of it but other parts drag more for me than any other game in the series.
@SannicFann The Militia towers are probably the best of them lol, either that or the roadblocks. Fair about the story, I love certain parts of it but other parts drag more for me than any other game in the series.
Phantasm
1 month ago