While we can’t ignore the problems with the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight, we also can’t discount the tremendous success the game is having on consoles.
When a video game is as heavily anticipated as Batman: Arkham Knight, it gives people a lot of time to set their expectations of what they want and deserve from the game. For developers, this can be a nerve-racking situation since there is so much pressure on them to deliver. Fan expectations greatly influence one’s perspective in evaluating a game’s success.
For a game like Batman: Arkham Knight, fans want to see the return of everything they’ve loved about the previous games, the removal of everything they hated, and the addition of a bunch of new goodies.
As many noticed with the failure of Assassin’s Creed: Unity, which Ubisoft is still apologizing for, even companies that have consistently delivered time after time can encounter difficulties and fall short of fan expectations.
However, the people over at Rocksteady Studios have endured the pressures of expectation, labored arduously through the creation process, and emerged victorious to the standing ovation of fans everywhere (well, really only the fans that play on consoles).
Be warned that there are indeed some spoilers ahead as we take a look at the 5 ways that Batman: Arkham Knight delivers to fan expectations.
Gadgets
One of the coolest parts of having access to Bruce Wayne’s fortune and Lucius Fox’s genius is that Batman comes equipped with some of the most high-tech and innovative gadgets in the world.
Among the gadgets the player has access to in Batman: Arkham Knight are some familiar favorites, as well as some interesting new inventions. The gadgets you can acquire in Batman: Arkham Knight are batarangs, the batclaw explosive gel, smoke pellets, the line launcher, a remote hacking device, the disruptor, a voice synthesizer, and a freeze blast.
As we have come to expect, the use of these gadgets is integral to the completion of missions. Often, players will be challenged by having to switch back and forth between several different gadgets multiple times, needing to know what gadget to use for each situation in order to solve an intricate puzzle or one of Nigma’s riddles.
However, while use of some gadgets is mandatory to progress, one of the funnest parts of the game is using the gadgets as you see fit, to take down enemies, access new areas, or just to mess around.
Remember that at any time, you can take a break from all the action to grapple around the city like Spider-Man shooting webs. And that there are many options for using gadgets in combat, such as deciding whether to sneak up on enemies with smoke, distract them by hacking their computers, sabotage them by disrupting their weapons, and more.
However you choose to use your gadgets in Batman: Arkham Knight, you can be sure you’ll have a good time doing so.
The Batmobile/Bat-Tank
For a while now, fans have been asking to be able to drive the Batmobile and finally, Batman: Arkham Knight has delivered. Now, not only do players have access to driving the Batmobile, but in order to combat the Arkham Knight, the Batmobile has also been upgraded to a heavy duty, full artillery, Bat-tank.
Starting with the basics that fans have wanted, just driving the Bat-tank around the city is an exciting experience. The city of Gotham has been evacuated of civilians so you can feel free to whip around the city as fast as you possibly can without having to worry about facing any repercussions.
But wait. Batman can’t kill anyone. Doesn’t he need to be careful of running people over and other murderous tank stuff? No. He doesn’t. Because the Bat-tank is equipped with non lethal rounds to fire at targets, as well as an electrical charge that will merely neutralize or knock unconscious those who the Bat-tank makes contact with. So go ahead and mow down anyone you please.
Plus, the Bat-tank comes with a bunch of high-tech upgrades such as a winch that allows you to pull yourself up walls, tear down walls, and short out electrical charges, a remote control feature that lets you drive the Bat-tank wirelessly (this comes in handy a lot), hacking software that can control drones, and so much more.
In terms of fan expectations, Rocksteady Studios has gone way above and beyond on this one. Bravo!
Flying/Gliding
One of the most popular features of Batman: Arkham City was the ability to glide around the city in a way that essentially makes you feel as though you are flying.
This function has returned to Batman: Arkham Knight with a few optional upgrades to enhance the fun. If you’re willing to spend the upgrade points, you can modify Batman’s grappling gun to allow you to be able to launch yourself high up into the air with tremendous speed at the end of a grapple by repeatedly pressing and then finally holding the action button, X on PS4 or A on Xbox One.
Also making the return to Batman: Arkham Knight is the ability to listen in on nearby conversations. It’s awesome to hear criminals talking about how they’ll never get caught by Batman or telling horror stories about the time they met Batman and then proceeding to drop in on them from the sky at precisely that moment.
And, while the game doesn’t include a fast travel feature, flying around above the city gives players another option to get around the city quickly in addition to driving the Batmobile.
Stroyline/Plot
While it’s almost impossible to talk about the story of Batman: Arkham Knight without including any spoilers, we’ll try not to divulge every last detail in describing what makes this game’s story so amazing.
Firstly, it perfectly integrates the plots from the previous stories into this game. As we have seen in the game’s trailer, following the events of Batman: Arkham City, Joker was incinerated. As Batman, we pick up right where we left off in the city of Gotham.
After Joker dies, the city calms down for a while, but everyone knows that it is too good to be true. The silence in Gotham is just the calm before the storm. And mayhem erupts when Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight along with other villains decide to finally make their move on the city.
In the previous Arkham games, the Scarecrow was always an interesting character. But we’ve never seen him featured like this before.
He went from being a villain that was just scary (almost in a cartoonish way) to becoming a living nightmare akin to Freddie Krueger or Jason that could star as the center of his own horror/thriller film. And in a way, through the cinematic cutscenes and audio transmissions throughout missions, he does indeed take center stage in Batman: Arkham Knight.
Then there’s the mystery of the Arkham Knight. If you really can’t stand the suspense, feel free to check out our article, Who is the Arkham Knight? But for the rest of you, we’ll only include some basic details.
The Arkham Knight is someone Batman knows and trusted. He is someone that knows Batman inside and out, not only as a person, but also in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of his combat abilities and equipment. When you figure out who the Arkham Knight is, you’ll be outraged. This is one epic betrayal.
While the two main protagonists, Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight, are responsible for a majority of why the game’s plot is so amazing, there is also the inclusion of The Joker (not saying if he’s alive or dead, might be a flashback, might not) the conflict of Batman working with Oracle, the interference of The Riddler, and all of the additional story content in the game’s side-missions/bonus story content in the game’s DLCs.
You won’t be disappointed.
Combat
Part of what makes Batman: Arkham Knight so much fun to play is Batman’s unique combat style that fans have grown accustomed to in the previous games. In Batman: Arkham Knight, everything that fans loved about the combat system has returned, along with a myriad of powerful new additions.
Firstly, Batman still flies back and forth rapidly across the screen as he beats down large groups of enemies. The gameplay is smooth and easy with the option for sophistication. Players can either continually mash the attack button or can upgrade combat skills to coordinate damaging combinations.
New to the Batman: Arkham Knight combat system is the ability to wield enemy weapons for a short period of time, the ability to use environmental objects in battle, Batmobile assisted enemy takedowns, throwing enemies with counter attacks, varied silent takedowns, multi-enemy fear takedowns, and more.
While all of these features enhance the experience of playing the game, the multi-enemy fear takedown ability is one of the most exhilarating to use. With this technique, Batman can take out up to 3 enemies with lightning speed, avoiding gunfire as well as any other means of physical attacks.
While discussing combat, we can’t forget to mention that Batman: Arkham Knight has introduced a dual-combat feature that allows players to freely switch back and forth between Batman and one of his allies whenever they are available.
The dual-combat feature is one of the most stunning and entertaining combat elements in the game, allowing players to not only switch back and forth, but also to coordinate tag-team takedowns. The only criticism here is that Batman usually works alone and not a lot of the missions allow for allies. But other than that, the dual-combat is perfect.
How is your experience with Batman: Arkham Knight going so far? Enjoying it? Hating it? One of the unfortunate PC gamers that still can’t play? Be sure to let us know how you feel about Batman: Arkham Knight in the comments.
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