Assignment 2 - My Review of Arkham Knight

Review of Batman Arkham Knight

 

Batman Arkham Knight is the third instalment to the Arkham series made by Rocksteady Studios or can be claimed to be the forth if you included Arkham Origins which was made by Warner Bros. Games Montréal. However due to the different developing studios it is a very controversial topic in whether it is included. The game is once again set in an open world like Arkham City except it is the abandon streets of Gotham due to the Scarecrow’s threat of a new fear gas. The all out purpose of the Arkham Knight seems to be that the legacy of Batman is dying, after years and year of apprehending these criminals so many times Batman has seem to of lost touch. They no longer ‘fear’ the Batman they only see him as something in the way of their ultimate plan. So the overall purpose of the game was to almost tie up loose ends to revamp Batman, the image above is the last image that we see at the end of the sequence. As you can see it’s not the Batman we have known for last four games, suggesting that there is a new series to come with this different and even darker twist on Batman.

Overall the content of the game has gotten progressively darker, the villains are almost fighting for personal reasons now, for example Poison Ivy is fighting for the plants whereas Harley Quinn is fighting for the Joker who died in Arkham City, it isn’t ‘kill the batman’ anymore each villain seems to have a large independence during the game. I feel this was a great element to the game due to the fact that we experience this personal with the characters a definitely made me become more emotional towards the story. An example of the personal level was the scene in which Poison Ivy sacrifices herself to save her plants and clear Gotham of the fear gas, the fact that she does this for her own reasons not just because ‘Batman told her to’ was a great element to the narrative and overall made it a better experience. We also saw the return of Jason Todd the original Robin, due to years of torture it’s left him quite hateful of the Batman and having this gave Batman as a character of how he has effected so many people and even done a bit of damage, this also ties up the loose end of what exactly happened to Jason.

Arkham Knight was released 23rd June 2015 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC however due to a problem with the optimization of the game to PC it was taken off the market for a short time, I feel this was a large flaw in the game however I had no experience of this due to the fact I played it on PS4, this issue I will take in to consideration though that it did leave a few players displeased. Rocksteady being the studio that made had a lot of pressure for this games success due to the large success of Arkham Asylum and City, in the player’s eyes there was a lot to live up to. This has also been Rocksteady’s main franchise in gaming as they have only released one other game which was titled Urban Chaos Riot Response, I didn’t do as well as The Arkham Series so as you could understand the studio is almost resting on the success of Arkham Knight.

The plot is spilt into main sections of the game, we start with the main threat of Scarecrow threatening to release a fear gas onto Gotham that will turn it into a ‘city of fear’ causing a civilian evacuation. You then are meet with having to save Poison Ivy from the Scarecrow due to the fact she refused to join the rouge team of villains he set up. After saving her you take her into custody. Batman then returns to his base of operation in which oracle is waiting. She discovers the source of the toxin is located at Ace Chemicals.  When he gets to the location is his confronted by the Arkham Knight a mask figure. Once getting through him and his men he locates the Scarecrow who has turned the entire building into a bomb that will blast the entire with the fear gas, he reveals that he has captured Oracle and gets away as he intoxicates Batman with the gas.  Batman is able to control the blast radius and is met by the Joker. We then are flashed back to reveal the five people that were infected by Jokers blood who are all slowly turning into the joker including Batman who is able to conceal it. For Batman the Joker follows him a mental projection throughout the game. Further into the game Harley Quinn gets hold of the four infected people in which Batman slowly recaptures, however one of the infected end up killing them and then committing suicide as he believes that Batman will become the perfect Joker.

The Scarecrow story then continues when you are then lead to believe that Oracle commits suicide due to being exposed to the fear gas, however it is later reveal as a hallucination and Batman ends up saving oracle.  Scarecrow ends up covering the city with the fear toxin. You are then forced to team up Poison Ivy to use her plants to clear the City of the toxin this ends up killing her in a final noble act in saving the city. The Arkham Knight is later reviled as Jason Todd who was your original side kick but you thought he was dead, until it is later revealed that he was tortured by the Joker. Scarecrow ends up making the Arkham Knights forces assault on the police station as a distraction as he kidnaps the Robin and Gordon the commissioner. To save them Batman surrenders to Scarecrow, Scarecrow then reveals Batman’s true Identity. Batman is then intoxicated multiple times with the fear gas to break him but instead enables him to stop himself from becoming the Joker. Jason Todd then frees him to a let him apprehend Scarecrow and intoxicate him with his own gas, the Scarecrow is then taken into custody. The game then ends with Batman activating the ‘Knightfall’ protocol in which Him and Alfred enter Wayne manor and then it explodes suggesting the death of Batman, this is all to protect all of his loved ones. The final sequence is a monologue by Gordon while two criminals attack a family but are confronted by a nightmarish figure resembling Batman (First Image of the page one).
As you can see the plot seems to get progressively darker which relates to the dark action genre. It really creates that dark tone it has to the Batman Arkham series that shows his job isn’t just cool gadget and explosions it defiantly becomes gritty at elements in the story such as when you go through the hallucination of Oracle committing suicide it is a very emotional scene in which you see the dark side to a super detectives life, this could also be resembled in the way his super suit progressively becomes more damaged and worn out thought the game and reflect this dark twist on Batman. This also gives an explanation to the end as to why the Batman is almost forced to be reinvented and come back as something more fearful, suggesting a totally new Batman series from Rocksteady.

The colours used within the series are quite dark shades of grey black, this is obviously due to the Batman being his main colours however the city also resembles these colour due to the fact it is set at night. I feel this creates a really gothic effect and fits well with the whole narrative, resembling that subversion of the perfect super hero/detective life and how the story get progressively darker. The only bright colours shown are normal used to represent characters and give a clear difference between other characters. An example of his would be The Riddler, he wears a Bright Green shirt in the game with him wear the this colour it helps to link other elements of the game to him like the Riddler’s trophies that you have to collect all around Gotham also share this colour. Overall this seems to be the general style of the game, the dark shades of colours and then abstract colours to help form a characters style or identity. All of this combined synergises really well with the high poly models mounting to a very aesthetically pleasing game creating a very cinematic style to it.

You play the sequence in third person view which I think works really well with the cinematic gothic style as you get to really see it penitential and take in all the incredible environments the game has to offer as well as the combat looking very fluid. This also helps give Batman a personality to combat as you get to see the way he moves in the actual combat, overall it ends up giving him a very smooth look which synergies well with his cape animation definitely pleasing to watch. Whereas in some parts of the game you do use a first person view when the sight isn’t of importance and to also give a sense of tight spaces, for example whenever you climb into a vent you go into first person giving it that feel of the space becoming smaller. This is also used well in the sequence where you play as Joker in Batman’s mind, the fact you play in first person represents how he is trapped there and you feel this as a player due to the first person view being implemented into the in tight spaces. Overall the spacing is used very effectively through the use of third and first person view cameras.

I feel the graphics were standard for the time it was made for a cinematic styled game.  Good high poly models for characters creates a really athletically pleasing look to the game. The high poly models synergises really well with how they react to the environment, an example of this would be the   Batmobile.  If you were to crash into a wall or a building it would break it or it would react to the impact of the car thus generally adding to the pleasing look of the game. Having these small features and so much effort go into the models really created a realism effect to the game and also combined with the use of colours used with the models help clearly Identify the characters. To enhances this even more the animation used with the setting really helped bring out the realistic effect of the objects and how they would react to the environment in real life. An example of this would be Batman’s cape, when in combat it flows correctly with the model for example when you stun an enemy the cape flicks as he moves with his body working in sync with the model, this shows the level of detail that the game has gone into.


Within the sound track the use of violins and wind instruments are quite frequently used, this I feel fits really well with the theme of the game as it builds suspense towards the end of the game and highlights the end of the Arkham series so a major conclusion is going to take place. Overall it created quite a dramatic tone which I feel is a key element to a cinematic style game, there is also and adaptation of the original Batman theme tune with these instruments. I feel by them adapting the theme tune is one of the simple ways to separate Arkham Knight from the other games in the series it also reflects a form of progression and that things have changed from the last time we left Batman. The sounds of the Batmobile are very immersive in the sense that it fit very well with the style of the car, the sounds are very futuristic and metallic which fit well with the style of the car. This is also within combat, there is use of different sounds when you hit certain enemies, for example when you hit The Riddler's robots it makes a sound like hitting tin whereas when you hit a human is sounds more appropriate, overall this makes the game more immersive and run a lot smoother.

When it comes the to mechanics of the game I feel they were good. The combat is simple for those who didn't want to pull off the fancy combos but at the same time there is always a guided system when in combat to assist those who want to. The fact that there are some many ways in which you can approach a combat situation is really good, there are various gadget you can use to aid you in combat or stealth and I feel this freedom works really well. The only downfall would be that at some points the combat feels very repetitive in the sense that it feels like you can approach any situation in the same way you did with the previous however there are some element that force you to use certain gadget to counteract this.

In conclusion I think Batman Arkham Knight is a generally good game. I feel the plot is very diverse with characters and involves a lot in the main plot as well as having smaller plots for characters with less of an influence to the main plot. Overall due to a lot of arc happening with the plot like the Joker’s blood and the identity of the Arkham Knight really immersive you into the game as you are given little information wanting to go further into the main plot. The only problem is at some points you are unable to do the main quest if you haven’t complete certain side quests, this I feel is a massive floor as for some people they have no interest in the side quests so having the player forced to do them can be off putting. I think one major flaw was the combat, yes it works really well and is appealing to the eye but by the end of the sequence it becomes very repetitive in the sense I found myself just spamming the counter button when it came to fights, however me personally as a play didn’t go into to far into combos that the game has to offer but if you were a player who took interest in the fighting combos it would of felt less repetitive. I feel the game overall completes it purpose of ending the series of the Arkham Games and leaves it at a good point to take it further and reinvent Batman, a generally good game when it comes to the combat but I feel what made it most the plot and the way we got to see character’s like Poison Ivy and Batman himself develop.