A WAR OF MIND OVER MATTER
Also for: Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud Gaming
Batman's stoic facade is about to crack. A couple of hours into this game,
after botching an arrest of the manipulative villain Scarecrow at a
chemical plant, his identity is in peril. And I'm not referring to the secret
of his true identity here, but his very own personality. He tries to
keep it together, but it is just a matter of time before it crumbles, turning him into a different character altogether - a new Joker.
All throughout Batman: Arkham Knight, the third part (fourth if you
include the Warner-developed Arkham Origins) of
Rocksteady's Batman series, our masked vigilante is haunted by visions
of his deceased archnemesis. The Joker hounds his every step, taunts him for
his failures, blames him, provokes him... And he cannot do anything to retort
or lash out, because the bully doesn't really exist.
In this entry, The Joker is a schizophrenic manifestation of all of Batman's
self-doubts, accumulated over years upon years of physical and psychological
strain. The dam finally threatens to burst after a lethal mixture of The Joker's
venom and Scarecrow's fear toxin enters his system. Batman's days are
numbered, as is foreshadowed by Chief Commissioner Gordon's statement in the
opening cinematic: "This is how it happened. This is how the Batman died."
It is powerful to witness, with a mesmerizing performance by
Mark Hamill as The Joker. Although the central plotline of Arkham
Knight is kind of trite on the surface level, the
characterization is surprisingly strong, with a lot of stuff going on between
the lines. This, along with major gameplay improvements and urgent side
activities, makes Arkham Knight the best open-world Batman game by a
landslide.
The game opens with a point-of-view segment where you control a nondescript
cop as he apprehends a smoking troublemaker in a restaurant. That troublemaker
turns out to be none other than Scarecrow himself, who in this very moment
ignites a well-orchestrated hostile takeover of Gotham City. All civilians
evacuate the city in quick order, and what is left is basically a war zone.
The police are totally outnumbered against an entire army of heavily armed
crooks.
You control the Dark Knight, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne, through another everlasting
night, as he strives to restore law and order to his home city. Using his grapple gun to latch on to high ledges, he pulls himself into the air and
releases the anchor at the right moment to soar the skies. From above he
surveys the city, looking to catch the crooks red-handed through the best
flight mechanics this series has seen. It allows for much bigger elevation
and freedom, and obstacles are rarely an issue anymore.
This time he brings his Batmobile as well, a fun new addition that controls
exceedingly well, functioning as an arcade racer in traversal and a third
person shooter in vehicular combat. It sports its own upgrade tree in the
character menu, and is actually worth investing a few points in, because the
car features prominently in both the main game and the sidequests. Even The Riddler's minor distractions - collectibles scattered throughout the city - leans heavily into making full use of the car.
The Batmobile also prompted Rocksteady's city designers to put even more stock in the
layout on street level, which is brimming with graphical and auditory details
like neon lights, sirens, debris, radio comms, contained fires, screams,
unique storefronts and posters. It is all drenched in a constant rainfall, establishing a doomsday atmosphere of an imminent deluge. Fans may be happy to discover that the city hides a lot of easter eggs and hidden facts. By
taking pictures to solve Riddler puzzles, you can unlock Gotham stories; intriguing tidbits of Gotham lore about the NPC:s you encounter throughout the game.
Graphically, the game is a cluttered masterpiece. It constantly bombards you with impressions, both from HUD elements as well as the city itself. Early on I felt bewildered,
but as I learned to decode the dazzling visuals, I started to warm up to the great level of detail.
Some of the flashing lights act as beacons
for sidequests, like mines, armored convoys or surveillance towers to take
down. Rioters run rampant, tormenting the police force, firefighters and
medical teams. The road network is labyrinthine, but the GPS functions quite
well to help you find your way. The car's arsenal grows steadily over the
course of the game, and the great combat encounters with unmanned drones resembles
nothing we've seen in the franchise before.
Batman: Arkham Knight is brimming with content. Every side
mission is an essential part of Batman's goal to save the city. After
Scarecrow's takeover plenty of supervillains are running free, and
even though you're not required to, you should try to track them
down. My favorite involves opera music, indicating a serial killer's victim hanging in gruesome fashion somewhere nearby. Batman needs to locate the poor sod and use his detective vision to scan the body for clues, which ends up in a most disturbing encounter.
There are many storylines to pursue, and I won't spoil anything by naming any villains whatsoever. Well, except one, because over all of it looms the eponymous Arkham Knight,
a brand-new major villain who knows much more about Batman than he should. Completely anonymous behind his mask and body armor, he displays fighting skills that rival Batman's own, and he has amassed an entire private army for himself. For some reason, he seems to hold a deep grudge against Batman.
The tried-and-tested fisticuffs and stealth situations remain intact, and Rocksteady have added a few new gadgets and tricks to measure up to the increased threat. Batman sports a new suit that makes him capable of taking more hits, as well as chaining quick takedowns together
for as long as he remains undetected. The new and upgraded gadgets include a
much improved hacking device, a better disruptor gun and a voice synthesizer.
Their combined use can quickly dwindle the enemy numbers down as their panic
level rises.
Certain sidequests allow you to team up with a few of Batman's old allies. The
extensive Riddler storyline, for instance, has you teaming up with Catwoman
for fun and varied intervals of puzzle-solving, racing and fighting
challenges. Fighting alongside allies is a great power-trip, reminding me of the days of the "Dynamic Duo", where
you can switch perspective between characters on the fly and issue combo
takedowns. And towards the end of the Catwoman storyline, The Joker's ramblings betrays
Batman's undeniable romantic feelings for her.
Batman: Arkham Knight also adds a bunch of new footsoldiers to fight,
including a few hulks, ninjas and drones. A white-clad medical unit can now
resurrect knocked-out enemies and charge others with a force field, making
them hurtful to touch. These new variations are a pain in the ass, because they put a strain on my pure
mental capacity to keep all their strengths and weaknesses in check.
But I like the way the game allows you to assess most situations beforehand, even
in the more restricted interior settings, so that you may enter the upcoming
scenario with a plan. The fact that they rarely turn out the way you hoped
just demonstrates the fun of this game's systemic unpredictability. You often
need to improvise because something unexpected happens, like reinforcements
arriving or some new enemy type starts messing with your surveillance
equipment.
What hampers this idea quite a bit, however, is the sheer number of gadgets
and maneuvers you need to master. At this point the controller is almost running out of ways
to represent them all, even with different button combinations. I never got
comfortable with the control scheme in its entirety, but sticking to a few
moves and tactics worked out okay in the end. And in this entry, Batman
finally feels really responsive, as he should have long ago. He performs your
desired attacks through fluid animations and almost no delay, making it easy to
follow the beat of action.
And soundwise, the game is pompously atmospheric, like a constant struggle between power
fantasy and oppression. The soundtrack is like a military march, leading you
on through the night. It is occasionally quite scary, as the game very creatively shifts the perspective into someone who has to face the Bat. We have seen
hints of this in previous entries as well, but never in this capacity, where a
couple of scenes made me scream out in terror. Overall, Batman: Arkham Knight
has quite a few jump scares to kickstart your engagement if it was ever
starting to wane.
I can only lament the fact that reaching the "true" ending - as I understand
it - requires quite a bit of grinding (yes, it's the riddler trophies). I
couldn't convince myself to do them all. Instead I checked out the cinematics
on YouTube, and was happy with my decision, because that ending plain sucked.
And although the main story contains a couple of strong scenes, it isn't a
strong reason to play this game.
Instead, what keeps the motor running is the bigger picture; the combined
efforts of smooth gameplay and the drive to liberate the city. With the urgency of the urban chaos, every
side activity feels like a part of the main game. Everything feels so well-oiled and holistic. Transitioning from
free-flight to driving (or vice versa) in the blink of an eye, you can safely get to the
most pressing matter in style.
And over it all a shadow looms. As
Batman uses the last slivers of his wellbeing to reduce the threat to his dear Gotham City, he
also tells the tragic story of his downfall in servitude. He has sacrificed so much, and no matter the outcome, we realize he will go down as a lonely man. It adds even greater sense of gravitas to this most urgent night in his lifetime, resulting in an emotional gut-punch I never saw coming.
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