When Batman is tasked with rescuing a captured firefighter, he doesn't get the exact location of the prisoner he gets an area to search with Detective Vision until he finds the silhouette of the prisoner. (It doesn't hurt that most of them, especially hunting the Penguin with Nightwing at your side, are fabulous and, most importantly, never repetitive.) There's dialogue whenever you switch to tracking a side mission between Batman and Alfred, which contextualizes your actions and keeps them from feeling like a list of chores. It also evolves open-world gaming in some incredibly smart, subtle ways. They're in the feel of soaring through a rainy, beautifully rendered Gotham without a hint of stutter. They're in the way that a fully revved Batmobile sounds like a militarized roller coaster threatening to go off the rails. Most of the really, truly special touches wouldn't make the back of the box. But that reductionist approach misses what sets Batman: Arkham Knight apart. While I didn't take to Arkham Knight's car combat right away, once the tank had been outfitted with drone-disabling EMPs and a virus that took control of enemies, it felt a lot less like a roadblock keeping me from more gliding and punching.Īrkham Knight ticks all the boxes for the fourth entry in a AAA franchise: It's bigger, there's more to do, it looks better. Pulling a trigger converts the Batmobile into a rolling tank capable of blowing enemy drones into last week. Besides, if land-based travel gets too dull, you can double-tap a button and rocket into the air like you're being fired out of a cannon. I wasn't crazy about the idea of tooling around the city in Batman's car, but it's surprisingly fun zipping through the streets of Gotham when you've got a long trip ahead of you. (You'll even drop directly into the cockpit if you summon it while in midair.) You can switch to them at any time during fights and they each have their own individual move sets that feel just different enough from the Bat to keep things interesting.īatman's final and most persistent partner-in-takedowns is the Batmobile, which can be summoned at almost any time with a button press. The other new tactic is instant team-up takedowns, available when Batman is joined by playable buddies like Robin and Catwoman. It's a welcome boost in power, too, since Gotham is roughly five times the size of the chunk carved out in Arkham City.Īrkham Knight refuses to give you all the answers The good news about the Gotham evacuation is it turns the entire city into a playground for Batman, who has gone from impressive grapnel-assisted gliding in Gotham City to basically being able to fly once fully upgraded. The Caped Crusader wastes no time in launching a war against the forces of darkness, specifically the super-villains plotting to kill him.
The vacuum left by the decent, oft-terrorized citizens is quickly filled by thugs, scumbags and hoodlums or, in other words, Batman Bait. The Villain Formerly Known as Jonathan Crane is threatening an attack on Gotham, which prompts a city-wide evacuation. But Gotham, eager to cling to its status of Just The Worst City to Live In on the Planet, moves right into an abusive relationship with Scarecrow. Arkham Knight picks up after Batman: Arkham City and, by extension, the end of The Joker's reign of terror.