Batman glides back into consoles everywhere with the release of the fourth game in the so-called ‘Arkham series’, Batman: Arkham Knight. Developer Rocksteady returns to helm the sequel to 2011’s critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham City. After the climactic events of the previous game, Gotham City has survived only a year of relative calm before yet another cataclysmic event occurs at the hand of a costumed lunatic. This time the perpetrator is classic Batman rogue, The Scarecrow; this time backed up by a mysterious new character called The Arkham Knight who has a personal vendetta against Batman. The police evacuate the entire city, after Scarecrow makes a threat to fill the city with his trademarked toxin, leaving Gotham completely at the mercy of the Arkham Knight’s militia forces. Only Batman, still reeling from the events of his previous escapade can stand in the pair’s way.
Firstly, the voice work in this game is outrageous with voice acting greats like Nolan North, Tara Strong, Troy Baker, and fan-favourite Kevin Conroy returning to reprise their roles. This game took around four years to finish, and the effort certainly shows in the graphic, sound, and level design. Every aspect of the game’s environment is made to engross the player in the ambiance of one of the most notorious cities in American literature. The gameplay is also incredible, par-for-the-course for this series. The combat and stealth sections from previous games return and are built upon to showcase a Batman who is at his absolute prime. The Batmobile, which doubles as a tank for certain instances, also makes its debut in the series. While it is a very easy to use and potentially fun addition, the game feels the need to force the player into the driver’s seat more than is really necessary, and eventually one finds one’s self dreading the next wave of conveniently unmanned tanks that needs to be decimated. This however doesn’t soil the experience of being the Batman. Overall the game works as a nice farewell for the series and is wholly satisfying on its own, never mind the abundant downloadable content which has been made available. I highly recommend this game if you have even the faintest interest in comic books, or Batman as a character.