Batman: Arkham Knight

[The Laughing Fish]

I found footage of Anton Furst's Batmobile in action for the new DLC. The developers combined the aesthetics of Burton's two films to create this race map. Looks quite bizarre, and very Tim Burton.

[The Dark Knight]

Looks decent enough, and I'll be purchasing it.

[riddler]

I'm not sure why you guys were slagging the batmobile parts, they're a blast!

I'm almost done the game (just took down the arkham knight, going after the scarecrow).

This is hard to discuss without spoiling but the identity of the AK wasn't a big shock. I don't think this game is as good as arkham city but enjoyed it quiet a bit. I like how the riddler missions and combat missions are more tied into the game itself.

[The Dark Knight]

Arkham Knight's ending hasn't been discussed here. Below is full of spoilers, so beware.

I like what Rocksteady did. It's big, bold and a first in the character's 75 year history. Batman is unmasked publicly as Bruce Wayne on television. He returns home to Wayne Manor with massive crowds and news crews outside the gates - and then the building explodes.

A flash-forward shows the criminals no longer fear the law due to Batman's presumed death. And his myth is lessened due to his identity now being known. But then we see two criminals freaking out after having a Bat demon hallucination, which then glides down to mete out justice.

I think it works on a variety of levels. It's both ambiguous also straightforward.

It's clear to me the 'Knightfall Protocol' refers to Bruce's modus operandi should his identity ever be compromised. He destroys all traces of his life as Wayne and becomes Batman full time. He effectively says as much to Catwoman at the end of the game, before his mask is taken off. He says Gotham will need something worse to defend her, but it'd mean he'd never see her or his allies again. He'd fully commit to his role - much like the Bruce Wayne: Murderer storyline.

I think that's what he did. He took Scarecrow's fear gas compound, tailored it to his own use - ala the Freeze technology in Arkham City, and regained the necessary fear level over the criminal element.

But if the gamer wanted to read it all another way, they could. Batman could've feasibly been killed in the Wayne Manor blast by a bitter criminal who now knew where he lived. And the reason why we don't see or hear Batman again post the explosion is because he's dead. And the hallucination is an isolated incident. Two drug heads seeing things.

The DLC which takes place after the main story is from the perspective of Nightwing, Robin and Catwoman. We don't get any idea if Batman sightings have continued. And I like that Rocksteady didn't outright confirm of deny. I like the ambiguity of the finale, and it also allows the Bat family to step up to the plate regardless of Batman's mortality.

[The Laughing Fish]

I finally played Arkham Knight awhile ago. Yes, it took quite a number of years to get around to playing the game, but things in my life and other games got in the way. Better late than never.

I bought the Premium Edition that came with all the DLC. So with that in mind, I'd say AK is the best Batman game I've ever played. I understand the Batmobile action was criticised as being too repetitive, but I have to disagree. I enjoyed played the various missions involving the Batmobile, whether it was chasing after the Arkham Knight tanks or solving the riddles around the city, in addition to engaging in some boss battles. I thought the Batmobile action had lots of variety than it was credit for and enhanced the gameplay.

Despite being marketed as a conclusion Rocksteady's trilogy, the game has many references to events that happened in Arkham Origins, i.e. Anarky's belongings stored on display at the GCPD, Firefly's return and history being acknowledged, and Deathstroke appearing in a side mission as well as a boss battle. It was good to see the prequel wasn't forgotten even though it wasn't made by Rocksteady.

In addition to the Batmobile, the Dual Takedown feature was another good addition to the gameplay, it was fun to swap between playing Batman, Catwoman, Nightwing, and Robin. The Riddler challenges were a lot more difficult this time around, only a few moments drove me nuts i.e. the final Batmobile racing course where you had to drive around the tunnel and avoid getting hit by barricades and booby traps. That mission  was really testing your reaction time and concentration, it took me about a dozen times to complete it. The Arkham Knight tank boss battle was by far the hardest in this game, where you had to take out all of these drone tanks before you need to damage the core shields behind and in front of AK's tank while speeding and dodging all of his homing missiles. That too took me a while to get through, thankfully the Deathstroke tank boss battle during one of those side missions was a far easier version of that experience, no matter how anticlimactic it may have been.

In terms of story, I really enjoyed how the Riddler doubles down on his arrogance and narcissism throughout the game. In Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, he'd panic whenever Batman gets closer to solving all of his riddles, but none of those previous failures have humbled him one bit. Instead, there is a moment where he taunts Batman by saying "he doesn't know how to fail properly", despite you've solved about 95% of all the riddles. It's great comic relief, and it demonstrates how the Riddler is too far gone and full of hubris.

I thought Batman's Joker hallucinations and his moments of psychosis were a fantastic plot point throughout the game, it goes to show the antidote he took at the end of Arkham City didn't  completely cure him of any side effects. I thought the final boss in this game was a brilliant example of game design; instead of playing against the Scarecrow (who was a great villain this in game, by the way) Batman had overcome his inner psychological demons for good and defeat the Joker in the only way how - by forgetting him and removing him out of his mind. And to do it despite the Scarecrow had exposed Batman's true identity to the entire world and infected him with fear toxin was a perfect way to illustrate Batman's willpower.

I'm mostly fine with the ambiguous ending with the Knightmare Protocol (but come on, we know deep down they faked their deaths), although I have to agree with the criticism over Jason Todd as Arkham Knight. I thought it was kind of a letdown for a twist. You saw it coming every time Batman hallucinates Joker torturing Jason, but even more so that the Red Hood DLC Story Pack shows there is no real conclusion for that character. Yeah, it's nice we get these nods to A Death in the Family and Under the Hood, but now you have this deadly antihero vigilante running around post-Arkham Knight. That part of the story is unfinished, for my taste. Because of this, I wish the new Gotham Knights game was the sequel to Arkham Knight, but have Red Hood as the villain.

I could compare the positives and negatives within the story, but in terms of gameplay and the value it cost the buy the Premium Edition, it's the best Batman game I've played. But in terms of experience, nothing will match the thrills of playing Asylum, City and even Origins for the first time.

[The Laughing Fish]

I forgot to add: I do have one little bit of criticism for the Batmobile gameplay. It really stretches your suspension of disbelief that the carnage was kept to an extreme minimum.

The Batmobile can run over and crush cars at full speed and blow up vehicles driven by Arkham Knight's goons with homing missiles, and yet, Batman somehow manages to not kill anyone. The game goes to ridiculous lengths to justify the possibility of Batman avoiding indirect kills by having the Batmobile electrocute enemies and send them flying before they're only centimeters away from getting bulldozed over. The Batmobile combatting drones was another workaround to avoid having Batman kill people, because if there are human conductors driving those tanks, then you have no choice but to make Batman abandon his moral code completely.

Nevertheless, Arkham Knight is still a great game.

[The Laughing Fish]

[The Laughing Fish]

I watched this video about Kevin Conroy recalling how Arkham Knight took two years to record 157,000 lines of dialogue, and how he got in trouble by WB for accidentally revealing Rocksteady's third Batman game. I read in the comments under this video saying this was recorded in 2018.

Yet another example of how sh*tty WB is. As Conroy alluded to, if they had bothered to tell him they were making Arkham Origins, he would've avoided answering any questions that would've leaked Arkham Knight. To accuse him of breaching a confidentiality agreement on purpose when they didn't even communicate everything to him in the first place is just typical poor behaviour on their part. Avoiding accountability as always.

Thankfully, Conroy managed to sort this out and continued going to conventions without hassle for the last remaining years of his life.