Batman Arkham Knight
Review
I’ll be reviewing the PS4 version I’ll say now, I realise
the state of the PC version was disgraceful when released but I personally
played the PS4 version so that’s what I can talk about.
So Batman Arkham Knight is the final Batman Arkham game by developer
Rocksteady and overall it was a really good way to finish what has been a
really good series, PC notwithstanding. I’ll start by talking about it in terms
of gameplay and the gameplay is really rather excellent. It expands on the
brawling and stealth elements of Arkham City making it easy to pick up again
but provides enough new moves and enemy types to prevent it from feeling stale.
The melee combat is as satisfying as ever using the same
system as previous games. You have your basic attack button, a stun button and
the counter button. You are provided with gadgets that can be mixed in and are
sometime required to take down enemies in combat. It feels as slick as ever and
provides some incredibly satisfying brawls throughout the game. Another cool
feature is fighting alongside and ally, which while not adding a whole lot to
the mechanics does feel like a very Batman thing to do and let’s face it, we do
play these games to feel like Batman.
The predator elements are also pretty similar to before. The
new moves and gadgets you get feel extremely powerful at first but then once
new enemies are introduced (My favourite being the ones that do not show up in
detective vision) as well as greater numbers of enemies who work together makes
the predator situations still feel challenging and satisfying.
The big new feature is the Batmobile. Diving the Batmobile
through the streets where everything is annihilated as you smash through it is
very satisfying and it controls well without handling too sharply to make it
feel silly. I particularly enjoyed the side missions where you had to chase
down enemy cars and try to smash them off the road. The big issue with the
Batmobile were the tanks battles. Not only did they take up pretty much every
boss battle but `they felt forced and got kind of tedious. You avoid the red
lines that show where missiles are going, shoot a drone and repeat. They became
very frustrating when you had no way of avoiding getting shot and had to start
all over again. The Batmobile felt like a good addition while using its winch
to solve puzzles and using it when you wanted to propel yourself out of it or
drive around quickly, basically when it wasn’t forced on you, however when you
were required to use it for missions it quickly became frustrating.
I’m hardly someone who is overly interested in graphics but
for what it’s worth the game looks very nice. Everything from the detail to the
rain effects and the characters models look very nice. More importantly you get
a large map of Gotham to explore full of stuff to do whether it be Riddler
trophies, side quests or just goons who needed a good punch to the head. It’s a
big game that will keep you occupied for a long time.
I’ve heard mixed responses to the plot of this game. Personally
I’d call it sort of up and down. After the brilliant scarecrow sections in
Arkham Asylum I expected big things from him having his own game but he wasn’t
really particularly interesting. They didn’t really use the psychological elements
that Scarecrow lends himself too and used him as kind of a standard villain.
The Arkham Knight was similar, he didn’t have much interesting personality and
the mystery behind who he is doesn’t keep your interest very well and it’s
pretty obvious who he is anyway. That’s not to say it’s a terrible plot, there
are some really well done dramatic moments and twists and while the main two
villains are kind of bland the way Joker is integrated into the game is very
well done and a fantastic use of the character (And don’t worry they don’t bring
him back to life or anything stupid like that).
You could very easily argue that this is the best game in
the Arkham franchise and that is high praise. While personally Arkham Asylum
was the most enjoyable game for me personally when I first played it through
due to the deep atmosphere from the more closed off environment I do think
Arkham Knight is better than Arkham City and would highly recommend the console
version to anyone with a next gen console.
Thanks for the read, don’t forget to like the Facebook page.
Why? BECAUSE IM BATMAN!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment