Batman: Arkham Knight

I'm beginning to think that Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person

Time flies when you're having fun. But that 30% of the game I spent in the Batmobile felt like crawling through broken glass, one agonizing second at a time. And locking the true ending behind every last side mission, Riddler’s trophies included, was the final twist of the knife. Worse still, most of them had me shackled to that damn car.

Despite the frustrations, the game has its moments. The combat is as sharp as ever, and the graphics is very breathtaking.

But none of it mattered. Not when the frustration drowned out the fun, not when every high was followed by a crushing low. Arkham Knight didn’t just stumble, it made me feel like I was dragging it across the finish line, waiting for the credits to put me out of my misery.

FREEFLOW ACTION MASTAPEECE

Batman: Arkham Knight is a great conclusion to an excellent Arkham trilogy, but unlike its previous entries, Knight has some glaring issues that don't allow it to be the best one in the series.

Visually Arkham Knight has received quite an impressive lift up; gone are exaggerated proportions and comic book-inspired designs; instead, Knight focuses on providing the most realistic depiction of Gotham and its inhabitants, possibly getting some inspiration from Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy. Characters looks changed a lot for the better; I really enjoy the new Batman's design especially. Personally, I much prefer this direction to what was before; it holds up really well and still looks like a current-gen video game, although the lack of a current-gen upgrade saddens me.

Setting continues to be a logical evolution from the previous entries, starting from a claustrophobic asylum to getting more freedom in Arkham City and now the entire Gotham is available to roam around and explore, although the fact Gotham is not populated by civilians due to the premise of the game is disappointing, making it more Arkham City 2.0 in terms of environment.

Narrative this time around is less consistent, mostly thanks to the Arkham Knight, a "new mysterious" character whose identity is blatantly obvious from the start. Scarecrow is a pretty well-done villain, making me wish he would have received more focus. Joker is back again, serving as a constant presence in the mind of Batman. Initially, I thought it was going to be exhausting, but I ended up enjoying this premise quite a lot. It's a well-done conclusion to the trilogy and to Batman as a character, although in retrospect it's a shame Rocksteady decided to muddy it with The Suicide Squad's backwards new lore.

Gameplay is easily the best in the series; open combat is still highly satisfying, environmental takedowns are a fun addition, and stealth has received some additions like chained takedowns that look incredible. The biggest change, of course, is the big elephant in the room that makes people dislike this entry in general: the Batmobile. It provides a third pillar to the gameplay loop; although it is intrusive at times, it does feel quite enjoyable to use, both driving around and in tank combat. The game does lean too much on it at times, making some story moments focused on it instead of Batman doing something memorable. Arkham Knight has an abundant number of side quests with both returning and new villains. Personally, I enjoyed Professor Pig the most, but I am pretty disappointed that some boss battles end up being a tank battle or a chase.

To sum up, Arkham Knight is a great conclusion that provides satisfying story resolutions, builds upon already great gameplay pillars while adding something new to it, for better or worse, but some odd gameplay decisions and narrative being lacking at times do not allow Arkham Knight to be the greatest in the already excellent Arkham Trilogy, although it is an entry I enjoy returning to the most.

Amazing looking and feeling game, poor story execution and overused Batmobile brings it down

yea this game is just a little too bloated. Locking the true ending behind the riddler missions was the last straw for me. i aint doin all that