Batman: Arkham Knight

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JaySevenZero
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Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions of Batman: Arkham Knight for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder to all that where feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but self-editing (brevity) is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mainly reading. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
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Caliburn M
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by Caliburn M »

The worst of the recent Batman games.
How I cheered when the batmobile was destroyed, how I cried when it returned.
Then at the end forcing the player to complete side activities to finish the game is an absolute abomination, just just arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Other than that it was a decent Batman game :)
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by ThirdDrawing »

I've been increasingly less enamoured with the Batman games since they became Assassin's Creed with Batman.

The Batmobile was a forced gimmick that was fun for a bit but the forced platforming with it was a nightmare.

The story was intriguing but I couldn't bring myself to finish the game due to the Batmobile.

I hope Rocksteady took the complaints to heart for the much rumoured next game and readjusted their game design.
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Nupraptor
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by Nupraptor »

Increasing the open world aspects of the game means that you inevitably lose some of the tight gameplay focus that you had in the first two games. The combat is still fun though at it’s core, even if it feels a bit diluted.
The tank combat sections feel out of place, are overused and probably the weakest aspect of the game, but I didn’t find them actively unpleasant.
I’ve always felt compelled to find all the Riddler Trophies in the Arkham game and this one was no exception. I had to get that bonus cutscene, and of course, the opportunity to finally get to whale on the green-suited psychopath and his mech suit.

The voice acting remained incredible in this game and felt like a real swan song for the Mark Hamill Joker and the Kevin Conroy Batman. I don’t necessarily believe that there should be a “definitive” depiction of the two characters, but if I did, their incarnations in the Arkham games would be as close as you can get.
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Alex79
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by Alex79 »

I think I'm in the minority here, but I really enjoyed using the Batmobile. I like driving it around town, using it in puzzles and as a weapon during combat. I thought it injected something new in to a series which had largely repeated the same (albeit highly enjoyable) format for three games.

I really had a great time playing Arkham Knight, it looked pretty, had great combat and gadgets, as we've come to expect from the series, and just really felt it was a worthy addition to the Batman universe. Really looking forward to the next one.

THREE WORD REVIEW: Batmobile worthy addition.
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ReprobateGamer
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by ReprobateGamer »

Batman Arkham Knight was for me a game where the sum of the parts was not as great as it could have been.

Having access to the Batmobile and having it so well integrated to both the city traversing and to combat and puzzled was great - having to do SO many side quests upon it meant it outstayed it's welcome and became a chore around halfway through the game. There was just far too many times where you HAD to use it

Having hotspots to clear out to make it easier to cross the city was fine - but again the sheer number of these got tedious (and also I can't believe that Batman wouldn't have some means of tracking when a full army was traipsing in) and quite honestly I was surprised that some of the Justice League wouldn't have come in to assist, particularly after the point where the first batmobile was destroyed.

The main story, swamped by all the side missions, was actually reasonably cohesive and would have worked well without the padding.

Part of the issue here was that in Arkham City, once you got to the story ending, it still provided a narrative reason for Batman to remain and clear out anything not already completed. But with Arkham Knight, the ending meant that you really couldn't. I had also intuited how Batman would resolve the Joker and Scarecrew threads long before that point so the switch towards the end (and it's resolution) lacked some of the impact that I think Rocksteady may have been aiming for.

If this game had been slimmed down, it would have worked much better. It iterated on the other games in the series (including Origins) and built well on all aspects. It just needed to know when enough was enough ...
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LudoFM
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by LudoFM »

Though I find Arkham Asylum and City to be some of the strongest superhero titles in recent gaming memory, I was surprised to find myself roadblocked by Arkham Knight. When I found myself frustrated by a world that no longer felt hand-crafted in its design due to the gross overuse of the Batmobile, where the gameplay felt disconnected and contrived at the expense of what ultimately amounted to combat padding, I just lost respect for the series I loved so much. Though I found some of the initial puzzles using the Batmobile to be satisfying and refreshing within the Arkham universe, the game overly relied on the vehicle towards the latter half of the game, the final quarter of which completely soured my experience of not only the Batmobile - but the game itself. I began to resent that this title existed when its predecessors were so great.

Whereas Arkham Asylum forced a player to reimagine its physical environments through a metroidvania inspired design, Arkham City encouraged its player to explore a borderline open world abrim with secrets. Arkham Knight sacrifices the best of both of those approaches, offering a meager experience that navel gazes more than it innovates. I can't for a moment be convinced to believe in a hallucinogenic Joker or care about endless waves of the Arkham Knight's drones. I think Rocksteady is a victim of their own genius in this regard, though I think there is a potential future for this series where Rocksteady balances out the Batmobile, integrating the lessons learned where it doesn't get in the way of the brilliant action of the original games.
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Shabbasnake
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by Shabbasnake »

While I appreciate the bravery it took for Rocksteady to try something different this far into the series, Arkham Knight rarely clicks for me.

The batmobile takes an unfair amount of flak considering how many other aspects I bounced off. In previous Arkham games, combat wasn't only fun, it was a way of developing Batman's gear and moveset. By not awarding XP for encounters or riddles outside of missions, I ended up just rushing from mission to mission. Too often I'd enter a building to find nothing other than a single room full of goons - gone was the exploration of Asylum, or City's more expansive areas like the museum and Wonder City. I also couldn't engage with the story, which relied too much on allies being kidnapped or the Arkham Knight's identity.

It's a shame, because when it works there's still fun to be had. On-foot combat remains a strength, especially with additions like dual takedowns and character switching; watchtowers offer a chance to experiement with gadgets and predator abilities; and crime scene recreations were an aspect I'd like to have spent more time with.
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Gingertastic01
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by Gingertastic01 »

Ok, lets get the elephant out the room first shall we? The Batmobile, my opinion on this is that it’s nether bad or great but could see why from a gameplay and a character perspective it is perhaps a little at odds with itself. Driving around Gotham and chasing down goons was fun, as was calling it from the air and seamlessly dropping into the driving seat and driving off. Tank sections are very playable and offer a decent amount of challenge in later areas but admittedly probably not what am looking for in my Batman game. Similarly, the platforming in it could get a little frustrating and yes, the stealth sections were awful. This is only exacerbated with the Deathstoke boss fight being contained to one of them which is perhaps Rocksteady’s biggest misstep with its villains. But ultimately its a small part of a much larger game, although it doe’s feature a lot in side activities and riddler challenges so your mileage may vary (excuse the pun)

The same fantastic combat system from previous games is still present and correct in this game but with more bells and whistles. Whilst initially I found it a little overwhelming at the start, I think it was necessary to up the anti from the last games as players have gotten used to the system at this point. It’s very satisfying clearing a room with a high combo count as there is so many things you need to keep tabs on and juggle.

This game came out at the start of this generation and you would honestly not know it, it looks that good. The art direction in this game is nothing short of incredible. Rain soaked gotham has never looked so fully realised. Batman’s wet cowl billowing in the wind as you soar over Gotham never gets old to me.

It is clear that this was a labour of love for Rocksteady as the amount of detail and love they have placed in the environments and side stories is astonishing. As a Batman fan I really appreciated all the references and nods they managed to weave into the game, whether it was spotting the Grey Ghost posters in the environment or slowly unraveling the Hush side quest and let’s not forget the introduction of the man bat which had me reaching for a new pair of pants. The overall story was a little disappointing in the end however. Arkham’s true identity and story beats were a bit predictable and it ended up being a bit of a damp squib when compared to what has come before.

Lastly the DLC is also great and although it was fairly pricy at launch you can pick it up in a sale these days pretty cheap. Not to be missed for the Arkham fans out there.
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by Chaos9001 »

I'm someone who hasn't had a Playstation or Xbox from this last generation so my only exposure to this game was the PC port. I bought this game on a sale and had to let it sit in my steam account until I could build a machine that would be able to handle this mess of a port. It is one of the games that shows how PC players can sometimes get the short end of the stick for games on launch.
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HMSPolio
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by HMSPolio »

I recently finished Arkham Knight, returning to it after dropping off for at least a year after purchase about a third of the way into the game.

There is a gobsmacking level of craft on display here. The people who worked on this game clearly put everything they had into it, with a considerable budget behind them. But that budget, and this being the last game in this incredibly popular franchise (on the next generation, no less), leads to this game’s two biggest problems: complexity, and scale.

The need to outdo its predecessors and accommodate the Batmobile, leads to an Arkham that, while impressive and intricate, is far less distinctive than the environments of Asylum and City. And this huge city then needs to be populated by tasks that, due to the size of the place, and the no-doubt considerable resources required to make any of them, have to be repeated continuously with only the most obvious iterations. Finding bombs, races, chasing Firefly and APCs, dismantling checkpoints, towers, weapon stashes: all fine activities, but wearying in their repetition.

This need to add more, more, more actively works against some of the best features of the game. The rhythmic flow state of the combat begins to buckle under too many different enemy types requiring too-specific countermeasures; play becomes prescriptive and mechanical. Too much is asked of the control scheme: combo inputs increasingly resemble numberwang, and context-dependent actions fail to fire leaving me with a Batman caught on scenery or leisurely taking gunfire in the face as I furiously hammer buttons. Furthermore, do we really need so many different gadgets with such limited utility? Do I really need three electronic disrupting tools? Wouldn’t one do? Things often feel fiddly and bit of a faff, with no real reason to be.

For impressive as it is, and it is very impressive, Batman: Arkham Knight unfortunately fails to embody Batman's sense of self-restraint.
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Re: 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by BlueWeaselBreath »

It’s only in retrospect that I realize many people didn’t like Arkham Knight. At the time I played it, I thought that the reaction was quite positive (based on my read of critical response), and that doubtless colored my experience with the game. I had a great time with it and enjoyed it for what it was. It’s not the same as Arkham Asylum, granted, but it’s a game where they wanted me to tool around a bunch in the Batmobile, so I happily did so.

It struck me at several points during my 100% playthrough at how many gaming genres and traditions are thrown in here. We already accept this type of game as a combination of action brawler, dialogue and story-based adventure, and exploratory platformer, but then you’ve got elements of puzzlers, Pilotwings-esque flight sims, vehicular combat games, racers, and so on. As somebody who has messed around with most genres since I started gaming in the 1980s, I found Arkham Knight a welcome culmination of all these elements integrated into a single gaming experience. I fully understand why some people would come to an action-adventure game and not want all these other elements in there, but for me, the game was loads of fun all the way through.
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Re: Our next podcast recording (14.6.20) - 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by ThirdDrawing »

The Batmobile parts were such a slog that I couldn't be bothered to finish the game.
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Shugler
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Re: Our next podcast recording (14.6.20) - 423: Batman: Arkham Knight

Post by Shugler »

I honestly don’t get the amount of hate this game gets. In my opinion, this is Rocksteady at their best, and while it isn’t perfect, it certainly isn’t the worst in the series. Let’s just get this out of the way, while the batmobile sections aren’t the greatest, they are not completely terrible. I didn’t find it to be as steep a learning curve as most people claim, but yes there were a lot of cheap deaths, but to be fair, there are a lot of cheap deaths in the regular combat as well (I mean come on, how does it take 5-6 hits to take down a thug, but less than that to take down an armoured Batman?!). Once you get used to it, it’s certainly manageable.

I’ll be honest, besides knowing that Scarecrow was the main villain (voiced by the amazingly talented John Noble), I knew very little going into this game, and I called who the Arkham Knight was very early on. Yeah it seems a little meta, but figuring something like that out before the world’s greatest detective does felt a little silly to me. Regardless, besides acting whiny at times, I did find the Arkham Knight fairly effective as a villain. He certainly felt like he was 10 steps ahead of Batman, organizing a complete takeover of Gotham city with hundreds, even thousands, of private militia within what seems like an hour. That certainly would seem impressive, if not somewhat impossible, but hey, comics.

The visuals are breathtaking, clearly some of the best at the time (even now really). The aesthetic of Gotham seems gloomier with every game, although there is quite a bit of sensory overload when it comes to the architecture, it all just looks too busy. In a way, it really shows how dedicated the developers were in creating a painstakingly detailed world, but on the other hand I found it really hard to focus on the finer aspects of the world building.

I have to admit, I didn’t really like the kinda/sorta inclusion of Joker into the story, even though it was fairly pivotal to the plot. After three games (Arkhams Asylum, City and Origins) it seems really played out. I love love love Mark Hamill and his rendition of Joker, but it really feels like Joker outstayed his welcome with this series.

As is customary with the other games, Arkham Knight is rife with easter eggs, side quests, and the obligatory Riddles trophies. I actually really liked the concept of finishing up the side quests with capturing the Penguin, Two Face, and the rest and taking them to in to the police precinct. There seemed to be a satisfying finality to it synonymous with this game being the last in the series.

All in all, I really dug this game. It’s no Arkham Asylum (which is my favourite), but it certainly is no Arkham City (which is my least). We’ll hopefully see where WB Montreal takes this series in the weeks to come.
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