“This is how it happened. This is how The Batman died” opens Batman: Arkham Knight, Rocksteady's third and final entry into its “Arkham” series of Batman games. After being announced at E3 2014 to massive fanfare, the game which was supposed to launch Fall of 2014 ended up being delayed three times overall. Rocksteady claimed this was to make the best experience possible for their fans. Did they live up to their promise or is this truly the death of Batman games as we know it for the foreseeable future?
From the outset, you can just feel the weight that Rocksteady had over them to make 'Knight the best game it could possibly be. Make no mistake; Batman: Arkham Knight is a big game. I'm not talking about install size here, I'm talking about the game as a whole. It is not only the biggest game Rocksteady has ever undertaken, it is also the smartest and slickest yet. Expanding on the open world style that Arkham City even further while also adding in Riddler missions that actually mean something this time around, to exploring for various trophies, logs, and random enemies to beat up for achievements and level grinding, to Batmobile challenges, and the main story itself the value in the game is incredible for what you're spending.
The new features that 'Knight brings to the series are all handled very well and don't feel tacked on for the sake of “there, we got them in, happy now?” The Batmobile is obviously the most talked about addition and it is incredibly fun to drive around Gotham City with. Having access to The Batmobile at pretty much any point in the game enlarges the action tenfold while also just giving you a kick ass method of getting from point A to point B. The Battle Mode the Batmobile is equipped with turns it into a hovering tank with missiles and a whole suite of gadgets available to take out the various types of enemies encountered in the game.
Another major feature is the prominence of the extended family of characters Batman surrounds himself with. Nightwing, Robin, Oracle, and Catwoman all make appearances at one point or another. During the Robin and Nightwing segments, players can switch back and forth between characters which provides a whole new style of play that we haven't seen before out of an Arkham game and brings some pretty amazing visuals with it as well. Knocking out one guy as Batman, then switching over to Robin as he's tossing another baddie in Batman's direction and then switching back to Batman to take care of the enemy was thrilling and brought a new level of excitement to the game for me. Sadly, these moments were few and far between as you can't call on your comrades any time you want to like you can the Batmobile.
The story is very well written and drawn out over the course of the game, allowing you to jump in and out of story missions as you see fit to go and explore or do one of the many varying activities listed above. Expanding on the story experience from Arkham City, Rocksteady took what worked and expanded on it ten-fold, making this the biggest and most bad-ass Batman story in a game to date.
Without giving too much away, Batman is set against Scarecrow who has a plan to poision the entire city with a new and improved toxin formula that will have Gotham City under his fear-based control. This is only the tip of the perverbial iceberg, however, as players soon find themselves locked in a battle with supervillains like Two-Face, Penguin, and the Arkham Knight himself who apparently has a connection to Batman's past. It is a thrilling and riveting story that takes players from one extreme to the other, throwing everything including the kitchen sink at you. You can tell that Rocksteady really went all out this time around and if this is to be the true end of the Arkham series, it is a fitting ending indeed.
Simply put, the game looks stunning on any setting I threw at it. Even running on low end PC settings was gorgeous with little lag and frame rate issues. I did notice some stuttering when in high-action scenes with a lot of characters on screen at once, but the issues were few and far between. The lighting effects are incredible from the darkness of a Gotham alley to the bright lights of the police lights flashing as you tail them to put an end to a massive chase. No matter what I was looking at, I was hooked in for hours. I lost track the amount of times I looked up from my PC and noticed the time had gone way farther than I thought it had. The immersive nature of the world that Rocksteady built is nothing short of an amazing achievement.
I would be remiss if I didn't address the issues that the PC port has been having since launch. The issues were so massive and extensive for many users that Warner Bros. Entertainment actually pulled the game from PC sales markets until they could implement a fix and make the port more accessible to everyone. Framerate issues bogged down many users experience along with constant crashing and save issues. These were apparently just the tip of the iceberg as it were, as Warner Bros. Has actually pulled the game from sale on PC outlets until they can pinpoint and fix all of the issues with the PC port. Its a shame, really, as I experienced few issues other than some frame lag during high action scenes, but that is to be expected on lower settings.
Meanwhile the Xbox One and Playstation 4 versions have been receiving rave praise and shining remarks almost globally, so its a shame that the PC owners were shafted. This is a trend that has been happening more and more lately and the fact that AAA companies are behind many of the titles is even more shocking and troublesome. Hopefully these issues will be sorted out soon and the game will be back on sale for PC.
“As close to perfection as we're going to get...for now”