Batman Arkham Knight Review

There’s certainly a lot of pressure when it comes time for a beloved saga to end.  Ideally you hope that every plot thread is tied up while also delivering a satisfying conclusion to the story. Going into Batman Arkham Knight I had some doubts about whether or not the series would wrap up well.  Rocksteady looked like it was going to take everything from Arkham City and continue to add even more to it’s gameplay with additions like being able to drive the Batmobile.  I was worried that all of this would have been too much and the whole game would suffer as a result.  Thankfully a lot of my doubts were alleviated once I started playing.  If you thought Arkham City was expansive, Arkham Knight definitely takes it to the next level.  Rather than being limited to a small area of Gotham, you now have the entire city at your fingertips.  You can glide across the vast cityscape as accustomed to in past but you can also take to the roads with the Batmobile for the first time in the series.  While there have been debates on how heavily armed this particular Batmobile is, I certainly had my share of fun driving around in it.  The controls take a little getting used to since L2 is used to shift into battle mode as opposed to breaking and reversing.  It also takes time to get the hang of being able to pull off sharp turns during high speed choices.  Regardless I certainly had my share of fun driving around Gotham.  It definitely feels like driving the Tumbler from the Nolan Batman films.  Aside from that there’s been very few gameplay changes.  Most of your gadgets are carry overs from the last game with slight modifications.  In addition there have been additions to the combat with the ability to pull off environmental takedowns now.  There’s also the new fear takedowns which allow you to take out a considerable number of enemies in a short amount of time.  Finally there a select few missions where you can team up with an ally.  These missions allow you to switch control between Batman and your ally at any moment with the benefit of also being able to perform team takedowns.  As for the story I feel it is a satisfying conclusion to the story that Rocksteady has weaved.  I don’t want to divulge a lot of details  as there are plenty of shocking moments.  As a matter of fact if you’re playing this game on PS4, like I am, there are moments where it stops recording your gameplay thus preventing you from sharing spoilers.  This may be annoying if someone is streaming the game for a live audience but if it means some jerk won’t be able to post the Arkham Knight’s identity on Facebook or Twitter then I’m alright with it for the time being.  There are a few issues here and there but Batman Arkham Knight is definitely a satisfactory conclusion to the Arkham series.  Warner Bros. are probably going to continue making Batman games without Rocksteady but it’s going to be interesting seeing what Rocksteady does next.