Batman: Arkham Knight (2015) Retrospective/Review

After two damn near perfect Batman games with 2009’s Arkham Asylum and 2011’s Arkham City along with an inconsequential but still enjoyable prequel installment in 2013’s Arkham: Origins (which I’m not covering), we would get 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight, the intended finale to the Rocksteady’s Batman Arkham franchise, at least until that Suicide Squad game would come along eight years later.

At the time this game came out, the reactions were fascinating. Despite the strong critical reviews at it’s release, the fans’ response was more divisive. Some found it to be a worthy conclusion to the series and just as good as the entries that came before it while others were fairly underwhelmed by it. This mostly had to do with some of the new features added in the game, most notably the Batmobile and the Arkham Knight himself. Just like with any other franchise that tends to have two beloved first chapters of a story, the third and final one always tends to be the hardest to get right. In the case of Batman: Arkham Knight, it basically had to find a way to end this version of the Caped Crusader on a high note with an ending that made logical sense for the character and would (mostly) not have the most iconic comic book villain of all time. I’m sure Christopher Nolan can relate to trying to meet unrealistic expectations with a finale on those terms. However, now that eight years has passed and we are about to explore the Arkhamverse yet again with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League coming in May, how does Arkham Knight hold up? Does it deserve the criticism that it gets or were people perhaps too harsh on it and should now appreciate it for what it was able to achieve on it’s own merits?

Plot:

Taking place on Halloween night and nine months after Arkham City, Scarecrow has returned and is able to get the entire civilian population of Gotham City evacuated after he threatens to unleash his potent fear toxin. The only ones remaining in the now deserted town is the police force from Blackgate prison and the unleashed criminals who now have the entire streets to themselves. Batman is called into action once again alongside his partners in Commissioner James Gordon, his daughter Barbara Gordon A.K.A. Oracle (who Jim doesn’t know is still in the city and is working for Batman), Alfred, Lucius Fox, Robin, and Nightwing.

As Batman tracks down Scarecrow, he finds himself encountering a new nemesis in the Arkham Knight, a trained and highly skilled fighter whose identity is unknown but seemingly knows a lot about Batman and has a big grudge against him. Batman discovers that the Arkham Knight is teaming up with Scarecrow to take over Gotham with his heavily numbered and armored special forces.

After locating Scarecrow, Batman discovers that he has turned the entire location of his hideout into a toxic bomb, one that could plague the entire city with that fear toxin. During his encounter, Scarecrow reveals that Oracle has been kidnapped before escaping. Exposing himself to the toxin, Batman is able to inhibit the bomb’s blast radius before he’s seemingly confronted by the Joker out of nowhere.

However, the Joker that is presented is not actually the real Joker himself but an hallucination in Batman’s mind. This is an effect of the fear toxin and Joker’s infected blood still being a part of Batman that the clown transfused in the Dark Knight in Arkham City. The blood that the Joker sent shipments to Gotham hospitals in Arkham City effected four other members in Gotham which seemingly turns that person into their own version of the Joker, with the fifth member being Batman himself. Throughout the story, the Joker frequently appears in mental projection form to taunt Batman and twist his perception of reality.

Once again, we see that Batman has a lot on his plate for the night. He has to stop Scarecrow’s plan, discover the identity of the Arkham Knight, rescue his friends, and take back the entirety of Gotham City from his most known enemies in what could be Bruce’s final night as Batman.

When discussing the plot of Batman: Arkham Knight, it’s quite complicated. Not necessarily because it’s hard to follow or not easy to talk about without spoilers (aside from the Arkham Knight himself) but with the way it decides to wrap up the Arkhamverse as a whole. It’s no secret that Paul Dini, the long known writer for Batman who wrote Arkham Asylum and City, did not return to write the script for this game. It’s believed that it was due to creative differences from Rocksteady over the story direction for Knight such as more focus on Hush, Azrael, and Harley Quinn having her own kid along with the company just wanting their own writers for their upcoming games instead of freelance ones. Changing the writers for a finale is usually a big risk as you loses the voice from the folks who made your previous chapters such a success. Even with Sefton Hill returning, the only returning write from Arkham City, you do definitely get the sense that this story was written by complete different writers from the other Arkham games, for better and worse.

On paper, this should be the best story of the entire Arkham franchise. It contains the biggest stakes, the highest tension, the direst consequences, the hugest risks, and certainly the most personal story for Batman. It contains the most focus on Gotham City itself, the biggest internal conflict for Bruce Wayne as Batman, how his action as Batman as brought out the worst from those close to him, and actually dares to end the Caped Crusader in a way that feels definite but also earnest. These all feel like the perfect ideas to make for a perfect finale. How is it in execution? Well, it’s make for both the very best and very worst storytelling of the Arkham franchise.

What it gets right is the way it wraps up the story by showcasing the consequences that being Batman can have on Bruce involving the people he loves. Despite having plenty of allies who have fought greatly by his side, getting them involved to help fight crime will always put their lives in great danger and leave a huge red target on their back. If the way his enemies go to destroy the one he cares about with success, then what exactly is Batman’s purpose? If he isn’t making criminals scare and is only empowering them, how can Bruce still be Batman? Is there a way for the meaning of Batman to evolve or does their need to be a brand new symbol of hope for Gotham City to rally upon? Arkham Knight is able to provide strong answers to every one of those questions and make a ending that ties these themes together quite well. Questioning the mythos of a beloved character is always risky but it works for the better for the purpose of this story.

Another great strength involves the focus on Scarecrow as the main villain. Despite the Joker now being dead and bringing back who was mostly a side villain from Arkham Asylum, Scarecrow is basically the perfect bad guy for this final installment. He is someone that aims to destroy Batman mentally and spiritually making him suffer during every last moments of living breath. He wants to unmask Batman in the hopes of showing to the world that even a strong man like him can break under the weight of his own fear. Aided by a more threatening character design and incredibly stellar voice work by John Noble, Scarecrow does make for a terrifying villain and one that is certainly the most frightening opponent that Batman has ever faced. For a villain that had somewhat of a reputation as being a joke, I don’t think anyone could make the case for that anymore thanks to this game.

What’s even more creative is the way that the Joker is implemented in the story. Even if the character is technically now dead in this universe, he has probably never been more alive than in this game. While the Joker may be gone, the consequences of his actions still remains in the head of Batman and the other folks he had infected with his blood. With a story that is as moody and dark as Arkham Knight, the Joker’s appearance is able to add some much needed levity to certain sections of the game, which is aided greatly by Mark Hamill returning to reprise his role once again. Even if it was this point in time where the Joker was now getting INCREDIBLY overexposed and I likely would not be as favorable of his return if it wasn’t Hamill voicing him, it was probably the best way to tie up Batman’s connection to the Joker following the clown’s death. Plus, without getting too heavily into spoilers, the final confrontation between the two could not have been any better.

When it comes to the Arkham Knight himself, this is when you starting diving into the worst elements of this game. I won’t go too deep into why this character just doesn’t work for me as I do have a future piece in the works that goes into great details but this was the one element that really held the plot of the game back for me. I love the idea of having a mysterious figure who knows Batman’s every move and seem to have his own vendetta against Batman due to mistakes he’s made in the past. However, it’s the reveal of who the character actually is that just feels like a total cop-out.

This mainly has to do with the promotion of the game where Rocksteady tried to throw everyone off claiming the Arkham Knight would be a wholly original character and someone you haven’t seen before. However, just like J.J. Abrams and crew tried their hardest to convince everyone beforehand that Benedict Cumberbatch wasn’t playing Khan in Star Trek: Into Darkness, Rocksteady tried their hardest to convince everyone that the Arkham Knight would be a brand new character. In both cases, it was a lie and the characters felt more designed for marketing purposes rather than for the purposes of their own stories.

It’s not that what’s done with the Arkham Knight is inherently bad in it’s own right and I’m sure that folks who aren’t as familiar with Batman lore might view the big reveal as a legit surprise, it just doesn’t feel like it fits with this iteration of Batman. It’s basically the exact same origin story as another well-known character but with slightly different motivations to have the character make more sense in this universe. It also just comes out of left field since the character himself had been barely hinted at in any other Arkham games with only an occasional reference or two that was clearly never meant to be anything except for that. That’s not even going into the thousand of mentions and references the game drops out of nowhere at one point which basically spells out the reveal right there. I won’t spoiler who it is for those who still are unaware but I certainly found this aspect of the story very underwhelming.

I do also find it odd how despite the initial premise of the game hinted at all of Batman’s deadliest foes coming together to stop Batman, most of them don’t serve a purpose to the main plot except for Scarecrow and Arkham Knight. While we see a few new villains returning such as Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn that you run into every once in a while, they don’t really serve much narrative purpose and only seem added to pad the campaign. I guess this decision was likely done to make room for the other side missions in the story and the writers perhaps thought that players being required to take 100% control of Gotham City is enough in it’s own right to make the villains matter but I wish putting them all away felt more important to the main A plot of the game instead of the multiple B plots with the story.

When it comes to the plot of Batman: Arkham Knight, it’s quite a mixed bag. When it works, it some of the best moments in not just the Arkham series but in the history of Batman. When it doesn’t work, then it’s quite frustrating and will leave you a feeling that it left much to be desired. I guess that’s the price you pay when you write a finale that dares to swing for the fences. Or maybe just changing up the writers for your intended finale.

Gameplay:

Just like with the previous games in the series, Batman: Arkham Knight is an action adventure game set with it’s own open world of Gotham City. A good majority of the gadgets and gameplay elements make a return here with a few upgrades added to them. As Batman, the player is still able to fly, glide, jump, climb, crouch, punch, kick, and use any item or gadget that they need along with the useful detective mode. I’m not gonna go too deep into these elements since the previous two Arkham reviews already covered it but I will focus more on the new things that the game adds.

Among the new gadgets, the main one that makes a huge difference is the Voice Synthesizer. With this gadget, the player can use it to be able to imitate other character’s voices such as Harley Quinn and the Arkham Knight. This is mostly use to manipulate the thugs either to open up certain doors for you or just so they can walk into a trap you have set for them. This is a device so genius that it kinda makes you wonder why Batman hadn’t come up with that idea before until now.

A bigger emphasis this game has than the other Arkham games is with exploring Gotham City. While this was introduced in Origins, you still had the sense that it barely scratch the surface on what Gotham was. Here, you truly get the sense of scope and scale that the city provides. Even bigger than Arkham City itself, this is the first time in any Batman game that you got a true look at Gotham City itself. Whether you are gliding through the skies with the much improved gliding system that allows for longer flights or roaming through the streets with the Batmobile (which will be discussed later), you will likely have the time of your life exploring the ins and outs of Gotham City. It does feel odd how it took until this game to get a true look at the one city that Batman swore himself to protect but now we have it, I don’t think I could have asked for it any other way.

The “FreeFlow” combat system makes a return here that has been tweaked and improved upon to make the combat somehow even more fluid and fun than it was before. Whether it’s the basic attacks to take out enemies or ones where you have to perform certain actions to properly defeat them, it hasn’t been more satisfying than it has been here. The strikes feel more powerful, the counters feel more accurate, and the dodging feels more on point than ever before. Disarming enemies also is much better as you might find yourself attacking enemies more head on because of it. As time comes by during these Even more so than any other Arkham game, taking out criminals have never felt sweeter.

What helps make the combat even more sweeter is the introduction of the Dual Play. During missions where you are fighting alongside one of your allies such as Robin, Nightwing, or Catwoman in freeflow combat, the player has the opportunity to switch with one of those characters in battle and perform a double-team takedown to take out their opponents. These appear whenever the players enters an uninterrupted combat-streak that you can build up to quicker with the more combos you are able to pull together. Each successful, uninterrupted attack adds to the player’s combat score, which can carry over between each controlled character, and unlocks those double-team takedowns at a higher score. If you ever wanted to get a good sense on how not only how it feels to be Batman during combat but also fighting alongside his allies, then you will definitely get a great sense of that here.

To make the encounters with enemies a tad more difficult, the game also introduces enemy medics. These are opponents who have the ability to shield enemies in electrified fields and even revive unconscious ones, enemies with swords, and brutes who can’t be damaged without the requirement of being stunned before attacked. Enemies are also capable of employing their own tactics to counter Batman’s various skills such as deploying landmines, controlling hovering drones, disabling vents if Batman is found using them, and detecting his location if Batman uses Detective Vision for too long. If it weren’t for the upgrades and improvements of the combat system, this might have come across as cheap and stupidly difficult but since it is, it does have some much need challenge to the game. What helps these sections greatly is the addition of the “fear takedown”, where Batman is able to take out up to five opponents at the same time as long as he remains undetected. Time is slow during each takedown which allows the player to take out each opponent in the designated time they need before the mode is inactive. Even it can be a tad annoying to the player, it does make for good character development from the part of the enemies to where they are now more prepared to fight Batman and knows his moves after the Caped Crusader had been fighting crime for over a decade now.

And of course, you can’t discussed the new gameplay elements of Arkham Knight without addressing the ENORMOUS elephant in the room that is the Batmobile. For the first time in the series, you are given the control to use the Batmobile. This is a vehicle that can be summoned anytime at an accurate location that you can call whether you are on foot or in the air. The Batmobile has the abilities to perform jumps, speed boosts, rotate on the spot, smash through objects, and fire missiles at enemy vehicles. There also two modes of it’s own that can be switched at any time: Pursuit and Battle. Pursuit is for moving from area to area and completing specific driving challenges, Battle is when the Batmobile transforms into a tank and using it’s weapon systems to attack enemy tanks head on, including a vulcan rotary cannon, a 60mm hypervelocity cannon for fire support, anti-tank guided missiles, and a non-lethal riot suppressor. Batman is also able to eject from the Batmobile and immediately begin gliding around Gotham City. Regardless of what objective you are completely throughout the game, you will find yourself using the Batmobile A LOT whether you like it or not.

This is the newest gameplay element that tends to make or break the game for most people. With this being the first game in the series to include the Batmobile, Rocksteady clearly wanted it to be an integral part of the gameplay. However, they perhaps they went a bit too far with that because there is so much of it in the game. I love the idea of having the Batmobile as it was something I’ve been wanting to control since the series begin and with this being the final entry where you explore all of Gotham City, this had to be included. That being said, you might likely find yourself to be really fatigued by it by the halfway point of the game.

There are certainly times where the Batmobile is really fun. It can be a joy to take out tanks with your machines guns or chase after an enemy with all the speed and firepower that you have. However, around the half way point, it starts to become way too much of a good thing. Whether you are focus on the main campaign or doing a random side mission, there will always be a section where you will be forced to use the Batmobile to complete an objective. This mostly amounts to either chasing after an enemy or doing tank battle after tank battle to get to the next part of the story. Heck, a good majority of the boss fights mostly amounts to either a chase or a tank battle with an opponent. Have you ever heard of the phrase, “less is more”? Well, Rocksteady clearly didn’t when it comes to the addition of the Batmobile.

My overall opinion of the Batmobile is like my overall opinion on sex, it’s great when it’s not forced upon you. Unfortunately, it’s forced upon you quite a bit in this game. So much so, that even the most meaningful enemy encounters of this game mostly involves to nothing but tank battles. Remember that glorious one-on-one duel between the Deathstroke in Arkham Origins? Well, if you were expecting a rematch of that! Prepare for disappointment! As much I admire the addition of the Batmobile, Rocksteady was just WAY too carried away of it which made you feel exhausted towards the end of the game.

The last main feature in terms of gameplay involves the side missions, or was is known in the game as “Most Wanted” missions. There are the side missions that can be completed at any time of the game and features prominent characters throughout Batman’s history. The main difference this time around is that these all need to be completed in order to get the true ending of the game. After completing the main campaign, Batman orders Alfred to unlock the so-called “Knightfall” protocol. In order to unlock the complete protocol, that would require to complete every single side mission in Gotham and put every known criminal back behind bars. Although, there is a time during it where it tells you are able to unlock the Knightfall protocol before doing that, that only unlocks half of the true ending. To get the complete true ending, you must fully 100% the whole game and take back the entirety of Gotham City like the goddamn Batman you are. While this will no doubt be very tiring, there is something rewarding about being able to accomplish something I doubt 90% of gamers would dare to do.

The side missions themselves though are honestly quite basic. There’s a handful of loose ends that are carried over from Arkham City such as Hush and Azrael but they aren’t giving the completely satisfying payoffs that the previous game was building up to. This might have to do with the changing of writers and perhaps Paul Dini may have had plans to have them serve a bigger purpose to the main story but it didn’t feel like it amount to much other than I guess that happened. The best by far involves the mission known as “The Perfect Crime”. That was the one which was intriguing, tense, and had an immensely satisfying payoff to who was involved with it the whole time. I won’t spoiler who it is but man, would I love to see that character be in a future Batman movie, perhaps the next Robert Pattinson Batman movie. Aside from that, it’s mostly nothing more than locking away the main bad guys doing the same things you’ve already been doing with not much new added to it.

Of course, the main side mission that you will likely spend the good majority of your time doing involves the dreaded Riddler once again. This time around, he has captured Catwoman, by putting a collar around her neck that could cause her head to explode unless Selina is able to find the right keys to unlock it. In order to free Catwoman, Batman most beat a number of challenges set up by the Riddler. These challenges consist of racing sections where you have to complete the course before time is up before going back to Riddler’s hideout to help Catwoman get the correct keys to unlock the collar. There are about ten of these sections you have to do before you are able to free Catwoman.

However, after saving Catwoman, you then have to go back and solve every single Riddler challenge you have remaining throughout Gotham City before you are able to fight them again. As before, these challenges consists of collecting trophies hidden throughout the city, using gadgets or Batman’s car, disable traps and barriers, and completing timed races. You are able to mark Riddler trophies on the in-game map once found if you don’t have the necessary equipment to beat the puzzle and learn of certain locations for collectables by interrogating the Riddler’s henchmen. There’s a total of 243 Riddler challenges and man, are they harder to solve than ever before.

I can’t tell you the massive amounts of time, energy, and searching up YouTube videos that I needed to gain all 243 of these things. If you weren’t sick and tired of The Riddler already, then you will certainly find yourself hating that man with a burning passion once you are going through these. Once I was able to unlock every single challenge that psycho provided, I couldn’t wait to kick his ass and boy, did I enjoy every single moment I did exactly that. Please, for the love of god, never bring back the Riddler! Never! Just don’t do it! Lock that psycho away in his own little claustrophobic that SOB deserves! Goodness gracious!

The last mention of gameplay features is that of AR challenges. These are challenges you start off with near the beginning of the campaign as you learn of each ability in combat, predator, gliding, and with the Batmobile and then is totally optional later on that can be used to gain XP points and unlock content. These are mostly akin to that of the side content from Asylum and City except there’s much more of it and has brand new missions involving the Batmobile itself. Just like with the Batmobile, it feels like it’s too much of a good thing that there are so much of these you have to complete in order to get all the trophies on your Playstation 4 account. I was able to do with Asylum and might some day do it with City but I highly doubt I will ever get every single trophy in Knight since it’s all just too much work. Also, the new game plus mode is back as well, just to let you know.

When it comes to the gameplay of Batman: Arkham Knight as a whole, it’s does about everything that it needed to do and what you could ask for with a next-gen Batman game. The combat is more fluid and fun, the gliding is faster and more enjoyable, the gadgets and detective vision are just as useful as before, and is still able to capture that feeling like you are indeed the Batman. When looking at it, this is probably the most polished gameplay out of all the Arkham games.

It’s just unfortunate that a good chunk of it is plagued by way too much focus on the Batmobile. These sections aren’t awful by any means and are fun in small doses but they are repetitive and really disrupts the pack to play here. Just like how the Arkham Knight bogs down to what is mostly a really good story, the Batmobile sections bog down to what is mostly really good gameplay.

Graphics:

The graphics in Arkham Knight is quite simply AMAZING! Not only is this hands down the best looking Batman game to date but this is still one of the most gorgeous games that I have ever seen period. From a technical standpoint, I don’t think there are many games during the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One era that looks anywhere near as good as this game did. Heck, I’m not even sure there are many games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X that will be on the level as this game did.

Gotham City looks exactly like the exact corrupt cesspool of a town that you’ve always imagine it looking like in next gen form. The character models, while radically different than previous games, do fit greatly with the art style for the game. I love the way Batman looks when’s he flying through skies or zooming through the streets in his Batmobile. Like with the rest of the Arkham games, it’s able to look real and great enough but never goes too overboard in it’s realism.

Folks can say what they want about the game’s overall story and gameplay but I would be hard pressed to find everyone that would take issue with the way the game looks graphically. This is an amazing technical achievement in ways that I’ve never seen been accomplished before.

Sound:

The score for Arkham Knight had Nick Arundel return once again as he did with the previous Rocksteady Arkham games but this time around was assisted by David Buckley as oppose to Ron Fish. The pair teamed up to deliver a score that easily contains the most bleak and gloomy tracks of the entire Arkham series. Considering this was intended to be a bleak and gloomy finale, it perfectly captures that dark tone and haunting atmosphere that the game itself presents.

I wouldn’t call it my favorite score in the series as there isn’t as much tracks I go back to listen, with the exception of the main theme for The Perfect Crime. It still fits the game rather well but I don’t think the music stands out as much as it did in Asylum and City.

Similar to Arkham City, we have an enormous cast of well-known voice talent with both old and new faces in this series. And of course, just like with all the other previous games, it’s all stellar here and features some of the very best vocal performances in the series.

Kevin Conroy arguably gives his best performance in the whole Arkham series and possibly even the very best of his career here. With what is suppose to be Bruce Wayne’s most personal and emotional journey out of any of the games, there leaves plenty of room throughout for Bruce to show and express more emotion than he has ever had. Whenever that moment comes of Batman showing raw emotion or even brutality, Conroy absolutely nails it. It’s amazing how even though Kevin Conroy voiced the character as long as he has, he is still able to find new levels of depth and range to add to this iconic brooding character.

Mark Hamill makes an unexpected but very welcome return as Joker who is basically living rent free inside Batman’s head. He doesn’t get nearly as much material to work with as Conroy did as Joker is nothing more than an hallucination and feels like he’s here to add more levity to such a grim story but I can never get tired of hearing Mark Hamill’s iconic Joker laugh. You can definitely argue that this is when this series had rely way too much on Joker but at least Rocksteady was actually clever this time around to bring back the man who plays the clown prince of crime in the very best way.

The other returning members don’t get as much to do this time around but still fit their roles rather well. The returning voices include the likes of Grey Deslie as Catwoman, Troy Baker as Two-Face, Nolan North as Penguin, Wally Wingert as the Riddler and Tara Strong as Harley Quinn. And for those wondering, Strong is much better here as Harley than in Arkham City. It was at this point in 2015 that she had fully settled into the role after voicing the character multiple times and came into her own voice of Harley as oppose to just trying to copy Arleen Sorkin’s HQ voice and failing. I still prefer Arleen as Harley but Tara does makes for a worthy successor.

There were some other notable changes to the cast that are worth pointed out. We have Jonathan Banks, who played Mike Ehrmantraut in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, as Commissioner Gordon and Ashley Greene, who played Alice Cullen in the Twilight movies (*shivers*), as Barbara Gordon/Oracle. I don’t why the changes to these voices were made but both of them do a fine job voicing the characters regardless that it never bother me to much. Although, there are times where Ehrmantraut walks a fine line between monotone and just sounding bored. And even if I didn’t care much for the Arkham Knight himself, Troy Baker does everything he can to make him an engaging character and a legit threat whenever it matters.

The one main standout with the new voice cast is no other than John Noble, from Fringe Frame, as Scarecrow. He is quite simply EXTRAODRINARY as this character. Not only giving hands down the best performance in the entire franchise but one of the best vocal performances I’ve heard in any video game. He is able to deliver every single line of dialogue from Crane with absolute convention and terror. He perfectly showcases why Scarecrow is an absolute threat who should be taking seriously and why he might just be the deadliest foe that Batman has ever come up against. Even when there are moments in the script where the character falls flat, it’s impossible to notice because how convincing Noble is in this role. If I ever do a list of my top 10 favorite vocal performances, I wouldn’t be suprised if John Noble as Scarecrow would be on that list because of how good he is in Arkham Knight.

Downloadable Content:

When it comes to DLC, Arkham Knight easily has the most amount of DLC in the series. Not only does it have all the skins, challenge maps, and allies you could ask for but even has a total of at least six different story packs. These packs allows you to play as different characters other than Batman. There’s the Harley Quinn pack, Red Hood pack, Batgirl: A Matter of Family pack with Batgirl and Robin, Catwoman’s Revenge pack, GCPD Locked Down pack with Nightwing, and A Flip of a Coin pack with Robin.

Most of these packs can be beaten in less than half an hour with the one main exception being the Batgirl pack which would probably take at least a full hour. The Batgirl one is probably the best one out of the bunch as that contains the best character work and progression of the bunch. Even if it technically acts as a prequel to Arkham Asylum, it does feel nice to see how Oracle was in her days as Batgirl before Joker paralyzed her. I can’t help but feel like these DLC packs were strictly made to address criticisms of the main game such as the lack of boss fights and not being able to play as other characters aside from team-up mode. It’s mostly fun but it kinda feels like too little too late.

There is also one other story pack called the Season of Infamy pack. It contains four missions with some of the other villains that didn’t appear in the main game such as Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze, and even the League of Assassins returning to Gotham City in an attempt to resurrect Ra’s Al Ghul. I’ll admit I haven’t played this pack yet but for what I’ve heard and seen, these seem to be the best DLC pack of the bunch and felt more satisfying the majority of the main side missions in the game.

Just like with the DLC of the previous games, I was able to get all of this content for free and can’t speak for someone that had to pay extra bucks to be able to require it. I can’t speak for someone that had to buy the season pass at the time of it’s release to unlock all of this content. What I can say though is that Arkham Knight easily contains the most amount of DLC out of all the Arkham games. Not all of them are winners but the ones that are did help fix some of the flaws I had with the main game.

Conclusion:

In the end, when it comes to Batman: Arkham Knight, even with it’s undeniable flaws, I still can’t help but feel like this game is underappreciated. As much as many fans have loved to complain over the years about the bad elements to this game, not nearly enough attention is giving to the good elements of it, which are plenty. The game is graphically stunning, much of the combat and challenges are improved upon and even more fun, Gotham City is a delight to explore, the voice acting is superb, the themes are worth resonating and feel very Batman appropriate, and is able to find a fitting end to a character that isn’t very well enough for having definite endings. Yes, the story can be hit or miss but I still respect for the risks it takes and daring to go into the direction it goes. Yes, the Arkham Knight himself is underwhelming but I mostly view the title of Arkham Knight to resemble Batman more than anything else and he’s still a fine character in his own right, even if the emotional connections comes from other Batman media. Yes, the Batmobile is too much, but it does have it’s fun and badass moments throughout to not make it feel like a complete waste. Even with every con you can point out in this game comes a pro.

Do I think Arkham Knight is as good as Asylum or City? Not quite but I do feel there are plenty of instances where it comes pretty darn close. Had it perhaps tone down on the Batmobile and maybe handle the Arkham Knight a bit differently, it might have been on par if not better than those too. Even so, I strongly believe the positives of Arkham Knight far out way the negatives.

Regardless of how this new Suicide Squad game pans out, I do hope it encourages fans to look back on this series and see the amazing accomplishments that these games have turned out to be. Showcasing how superhero and license video games don’t have to suck. When you have the right amount of right people who want to create something special, it’s then you will have a gaming series as successful as the Batman Arkham series. Even when this series is not as it’s best, it still beats out the majority of other license games out there.

I really loved that I came back to revisit these games and realized how spoiled I’ve been to be able to grow up with these games. Not only showing my love for video games but my love for the character of Batman. This series fits greatly with the 90s animated series, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Tim Burton’s duology, and hopefully the Matt Reeves universe has being the definite forms of Batman medium in my eyes. Regardless of where the series goes from here with Kill The Justice League and beyond, I will always look back on these games and realized what amazing accomplishments they truly were.

In terms of the superhero world, don’t be surprised to see everyone’s favorite web swinger getting a special look back in anticipation for his newest game coming sometime this year.

Thanks to everyone that joined alone in my Batman Arkham retrospective this month and look forward to more content on this side soon! Have a good day! Cheers to a great March!