Batman: Arkham Knight (Xbox One, PC, PS4: 2015)

This week I'm finally going to put up my thoughts on the closure to the Arkham series, It was one of my most anticipated games for a hell of a long time and the torture of having it continuously pushed back only intensified my need to play it! But would this game truly live up to the hype surrounding it for so long? would it really show that Rocksteady used the extra time given to it by the Origins development team to their advantage?

As I mentioned in my Assault on Arkham review a few weeks ago, the Arkham series got me back into Batman and comics in general, before then I had just kind of seen a few films here and there and grew up with the various cartoons that were on the likes of Fox Kids. But this series truly introduced the mythos of the character to me on a whole new level and allowed me to find and read a large number of stories centred around that mythos.

I've definitely found enjoyment in every game released in the series with Asylum being a great start, it seemed to take place within or after the animated series' universe to a degree and while mostly using confined spaces in creepy buildings it really made you feel like Batman but more in the worlds greatest detective sense, I will admit I pretty much had the detective mode on all the time during that game as there were so many hidden easter eggs or riddles that would pop up every now and then.

Then City came along and we were finally allowed to run around in..well... the city, sort of. I felt City was a step in the right direction to expand upon the series and take it out of the confines of just a small area, truly you were allowed to feel more like Batman all around, you could do your detective work but you could leap from roof to roof and drop down in the middle of some thugs and beat the shit out of them. While this was a step in the right direction I felt the story was not as good as Asylum and the city did feel a bit desolate and lacking almost as if some areas were a copy/paste job.

After City we knew Rocksteady would be working on another title, but they needed more time, so WB stepped in and made their own title set before Asylum, titled Origins. Now I think this game gets shit on a lot and I can see why it does, a lot of people wanted to see the conclusion to the series and wrote it off because it was not a Rocksteady game, a lot of people got really mad that The Joker was again the main enemy of the game (but honestly what did you expect?).

However while I feel like this was more an expansion pack to City due to it literally having the same level layout. I felt the story was really well done, the atmosphere of it being on Xmas and having the snow everywhere was a nice change and the overall concept of the Villains going after Batman one by one due to a bounty on his head was great. Oh and the electro gloves were a always great to use, I'm surprised they were absent from Knight to be honest.

I also found the detective mode in this title to be one of the most in depth uses of it, tracing bullet trajectories and all sorts of stuff just so you can figure out what went down, all this was done during story missions too rather than on side missions like the other titles. Origins is really underrated if you ask me, but I feel the most underrated is Origins: Blackgate, a game created at the same time as the former but for handhelds (and later released on consoles).

Blackgate was set just after Origins and felt a lot more like Asylum in it's setting of a prison, but this game was really different to the other titles, it was actually set out more like a Metroid game with you being on a 2.5D plain rather than having the freedom to go anywhere, I felt this was a nice change of pace although the story was not fantastic and was honestly pretty forgettable, however I did like that there were multiple endings that you could get depending on what order you defeated people.

And with that we move on to Knight, the end all of the series that is meant to be the ultimate Batman experience, the story is meant to be amazing, the city has had a total redesign and the inclusion of the Batmobile is used all to make the player truly feel like Batman, but how does it fare?

I think I'm the only person I know who actually enjoyed the Batmobile, I really liked how it looked, kind of like a mix between the Tumbler from The Dark Knight and your typical Batmobile design. I enjoyed the Tank mode for what it was but felt battles heavily relied on it, like there was no real way to fight back as just the car. I did find myself just speeding through the city into people constantly for ages at a time though, it doesn't get old. Yet fighting against waves of armoured vehicles does, I preferred when you would have to actually chase other cars and shoot missiles.

I quite enjoyed having some sections where you hop from room to roof in the car but there really weren't enough of them, or enough sections where you would use tools like the winch in order to get to new locations. I've been playing the challenge maps a lot lately due to the latest DLC and I find them to be quite fun, while they are pretty dumb as a concept in terms of race tracks it's pretty fun if you just want a good time driving the car around and drifting like some Initial D shit.

I thought it was interesting that they tried to do a 'multi character' aspect to the game where you could play as other characters while you help out Batman but overall I felt it was not executed well. The trailers for it gave the impression of side stories and missions where you could play or even free roam as these characters but all you can really do is fight as them briefly or have them included in double team take downs. This is fine and it was fun for a time but I just felt it could have been expanded upon, but maybe they are saving future DLC for this sort of thing.

I enjoyed the use of the gadgets about as much as I did in any of the Arkham games but this time around I did feel items like the remote Batarang were not actually necessary as much as they were in previous titles. One of the new gadgets was the voice synthesizer which is interesting in theory with the ability to trick enemies into going to a certain area or doing a certain thing like locking a door however I felt as though it was only really necessary to use when you entered the airship area.

I don't think I felt compelled to use most of these items in areas like predator challenges because the AI was not as smart as it was before, I always took out most enemies just by doing silenced take downs, sometimes in front of other enemies and having them not even bat an eye. I felt the use of  predator take downs were fucking rad though, just in the way Batman moves between the enemies and lays the smack-down instantly, I think it's just satisfying to hear the enemies slam against the ground so hard.

 

While in every game they feel the need to include the Joker as the main adversary this time around with him being dead a lot of fans were worried they would pull some bullshit that showed he never really died, but right off the bat you see him cremated and confirmed dead. But did this mean he was absent from the game? No. This time around The Joker was a hallucination of Bruce's due to his encounter in City, I felt this was quite a neat way to include the Joker without having him actually be alive.

It also made for some humorous conversations, as the Joker knew everything about Bruce because he was in his own head, so you'd have him commenting on his identity, his relationships with people and at times on how he was really feeling during certain scenes. The Joker was the chaos inside Bruce and perfectly encapsulated that hidden side to him during the game.

I have to admit I saw Jason Todd being the Arkham Knight coming a mile off... Although the twist on the Red Hood story was quite nice, having him still technically be the Red Hood but not taking up that identity until just after the games main story closes. I did feel however that the design of the knight was fucking great though even if it did look a little Kingdom Hearts...

As much as I enjoyed that after the defeat of the Arkham Knight there was another character brought in to bridge the militia side missions together, I loved even more that it was Deathstroke because he was one of if not the best part of Arkam Origins and generally has a cool ascetic to him. However I feel like Rocksteady really fucked up a chance for a decent side mission boss. Throughout the game once Deathstroke is introduced he constantly reminds you of Origins and how he will get his revenge against you.

It really hypes you up and makes you want to have a proper CQC battle against him, yet his actual boss fight is literally a copy paste of a former battle against the Knight in his dumb ass 360 vision tank. I honestly though 'ok this might just be phase one' but no it's literally the entire boss fight. You easily defeat him, they tease you again by getting him out of his tank to fight you, then Batman just smacks him once and taking him to the GCPD. Absolute wasted potential if you ask me... Although it's pretty funny to see him sitting in a cell with the likes of Penguin and co, who he could easily snap the necks of in seconds.

Like most of the Arkham games the voice acting was really well done, every time you think Kevin Conroy is getting too old to continue on he knocks it out of the park and has not changed at all since his days doing the animated series, you can really tell he enjoys what he does when he plays Batman.  This time around Mark Hamill did return to voice The Joker after his absence from Origins and as you can imagine he did a fantastic job, I actually thought it was still Troy Baker voicing him this time around however, which explains why I thought Troy had truly become comfortable in the role!

I think another great example of voice acting this time around was John Noble as Scarecrow, I'm familiar with Nobles work as I used to watch Fringe every now and then but I eventually dropped it, I did however think that Noble was the best part of the show. As the Scarecrow while his voice is pretty much his normal voice he just brings an air of sinisterness to it and sounds pretty creepy at times, which is how you would hope Scarecrow would sound right?

I felt the rest of the cast was also pretty good, specifically Ashley Greene as Barbara Gorden/Batgirl. I felt she perfectly captured the cute dorky side kick character of Oracle without being too serious like she has been presented in older titles. I felt she did best when playing Batgirl in the DLC story however, especially her banter with Robin.

As much as I love the Arkham series for use of somewhat decent side missions I felt like the initial set up of Hush in the previous game ultimately wasted by the time we got around to seeing him in this title. While in the previous title it was a case of finding mutilated bodies across the city and ultimately finding out that Hush was the killer who has now taken on the guise of Bruce Wayne, this time around you don't deal with him over time but in one totally separate mission which is over in just a few minutes.

This really annoyed me as I really enjoy the Hush story line and would recommend reading it if you haven't already, I feel like Hush really could have been utilised better in this title perhaps early on by having the people of Gotham believe he was Bruce while Batman is stuck fighting against Scarecrow. I will admit however that I was quite surprised that the game made you feel as though you were actually playing as Bruce entering Wayne Tower and then shocking you by showing what appears to be Bruce taking Lucius hostage.

Overall I felt the side missions in this game were pretty good, however the militia segments became the most repetitive, I feel this is because they were so much longer than the other missions and they all revolved around the same enemy rather than relating to a specific super villain like the others did, I feel the Militia missions could have been consolidated into one long mission segment and then the space they took up could be used for one or two more different missions featuring different enemies like Bane or Deadshot.

This time around the stakes felt higher, it seemed whatever you did actually mattered to the character and Gotham itself, I mean you know Batman will come out on top at the end and all but to actually have characters die was really shocking in some cases. Then again you could say the same with the Joker dying in the previous game. The game really did present itself well during its more 'tense' moments like when Batman is attempting to stop a huge bomb go off by struggling to take it apart piece by piece while Alfred begs him to get away from the vicinity.

The most powerful scene though has to be when Batman under the effects of the fear toxin believes he sees Barbara shoot herself in the head. At the time you as the player believe it is Barbara who is under the effects of the toxin and is being manipulated into killing herself, you as the player do not even find out until near the end of the game that she is actually alive and well. But to see Batman so defeated in that moment really works, this is a man who had already 'lost' one Robin (which the game constantly reminds him off) and now he believes he has lost another member of his 'family'.

I feel like now that I have finished the game and know what happens with Bruce and his ultimate reveal to the world that he is Batman that it was at this point in the games story that Bruce knew he would have to drop the cowl after he has defeated the threats to the city. The game constantly reminds you that Batman can and has failed at times to prevent a death, especially Jason Todd. The Arkham Knight is proof of his failures and how they will eventually catch up to him, while it is left ambiguous what happens to Jason during the end of the main story the Red Hood DLC does seem to suggest he has become more of an anti-hero, however he still remains a stain on Batmans past.

Surprisingly I did not see Batman having his identity revealed to the world coming and I actually commend Rocksteady for going in that direction as it gives the series a nice point to be wrapped up while still leaving enough mystery as to what happens with Bruce in the future. It is actually really interesting to play the game after beating the main story as you're at a point where everyone knows who you are.

Just hearing some of the dialogue between NPC's discussing your identity is hilarious, some now feel you are no threat and some are more frightened that someone like Bruce Wayne could take out such a huge amount of people. I think my favourite example however is when the Riddler decides that there is no possible way Bruce is Batman as it would be too obvious, he believes this to be a clever ruse set up by Batman and Bruce in order to trick him, but of course he's too smart for that right.

At this point we're a month or so into the season pass and while I got it for free I do not think it is worth it so far, however the addition of the 1989 Movie Batmobile is fantastic and I cannot get enough of it, it's the only time I have actually cared about playing challenge maps in any of these games, It's a shame it can only be used in challenge maps at this time though, but it does bring with it exclusive maps based around the film and it's sequel.

While this may be the end of Rocksteady developing Batman games I'm sure Warner Bros won't let this cash cow die just yet, I mean if they did something like Origins but actually polished it up before releasing it it might be alright, if anything they should do a Batman Beyond game,it could be different enough while retaining the same core gameplay at least.

So is this game the best of the series? Overall I would say so, the experience in general was a great one, while it has short comings in a lot of areas I feel like story wise it was fantastic and gameplay wise it gives you a pretty much complete Batman experience, you not only get all these gadgets, you get to fight with your allies, you get a whole city to explore around and you get to use the Batmobile to a pretty great extent.

I would say this game is one of, if not the best comic book genre game out there at the moment, it actually makes me sad that there probably won't be another Batman game like it for quite some time. But if the rumours are true Rocksteady may be working on a Superman title in the near future, while I don't really like Superman too much I feel like they could do for him what they have done for Batman and finally make a game that gives you a decent Superman experience.

So would I recommend this game to you? Yes, I'd say if you have never played the Arkham series then you should really try out Asylum first of all and see how you go from there but if you've played them and started to become tired of them due to their repetitive nature during fight sequences and such then seriously give this game a shot if only for the story itself, like I said the story this time around is expertly crafted and really feels like something from one of the movies or more well known comics and is definitely worth your time.

Thanks for checking my review out, it's taken a while and I've been super busy lately but it means a lot that people actually take the time to check these out, let me know what you thought of Arkham Knight and the Arkham series in general!

Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014)

This week I felt like taking a look at something Batman related after I finished the Batwoman DLC for Arkham Knight as I'm still on a huge hype for anything Batman. I've always found myself enjoying Batman as a kid, specifically the animated series and the Beyond series too like most people who grew up during that period of time. However after that It was not until both Nolans Batman Begins and the Arkham series that I really began to get super into it.

I never ever used to read comics of any kind, I would only know about superheroes from their cartoons, movies or games. While Nolans series of Batman films really got me back in to that universe it never made me want to read any of the stories it was based on, It was only when I played the Arkham series that I began to research characters Id never heard of and stories that inspired plot elements within the game. I think I can thank the Arkham series overall for the way I feel about Batman In general today actually.

If it were not for its use of easter eggs and in depth looks at character profiles I would never have looked online and discover decent places to begin reading. The only thing with that is that I don't read new series as they come out, I can only read collected issues in a graphic novel format, I really don't like waiting to see the end of an arc or story. Perhaps that's because I began with collected issues and I've never actually tried to read weekly or monthly though, to be fair with the New 52 thing I don't really feel like starting anew, to me each story takes place in the same universe unless specifically stated not to.

The Arkham series as well as Begins pointed me in the direction of the Year One storyline and from there I was hooked, I've read so many graphic novels now and my collection is ever growing but I'll always love Year One and to a latter extent The Dark Knight Returns, both of these graphic novels really propelled my love for the mythos of the character, his universe and his rogues gallery as much as the video games did.

So I looked around and realised I had a few Batman Blu rays Id not checked out yet and after the Arkham Knight game I thought id give Assault on Arkham a shot. This film takes place within the Arkham universe and seems to fit in after Origins and some time before Asylum. Although it is a Batman movie he actually takes the back seat to the Suicide Squad, A group of villains and anti heroes set up by Amanda Waller. As the name describes this squad is set up to do the missions 'no one else can', to make use of the most dangerous villains skills and of course as a scapegoat if something were to go wrong so Waller can deny any accountability.

While Batman does take a back seat this time around I suppose this movie is a nice introduction to the Suicide squad if you are unfamiliar with them as a group as it does feature a number of characters who will be front and centre in the upcoming live action film in 2016.

I think it is a shame this film doesn't focus too much on Batmans perspective but to be far he has enough animated features as it is. I suppose if this film was titled just something like 'Sucide Squad: Assault on Arkham'  it would not have sold well (If it even sold well anyway), but anything with Batman in the title will garter more attention towards it. Maybe that will change after the films release if people can get over how the fucking Joker looks.

The Suicide Squad this time around consists of King Shark, Killer Frost, Black Spider, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, and Deadshot. Their introduction almost felt like something out of a cheesy trailer with each of them having text around them stating who they are and who they were 'playing'. I actually really like the idea of the Suicide squad if only because I love to see villains working together to take on something, be it a hero who continuously beats them, a bigger threat        or an entire asylum.

I like that although they are working together, they're forced to, it makes for some pretty great scenes where the characters can't stand each other but know they just have to bite their tongue and get on with it or else their head will explode due to a nano bomb placed within their neck. I actually really liked that Waller showed first hand what would happen if one of the team were to disobey her. Right from the get go of the team being brought together we see KGBeast (what a name!) attempted to break away from the group and instantly got fucked up.

The plot begins when the Wallers government team infiltrate the Riddlers Hideout only to be stopped by Batman, Waller knows the Riddler has knowledge of each and every member of the suicide squads real names and threatens to release them on the internet. Waller assembles the squad to infiltrate Arkham Asylum while Batman is preoccupied in order to get a thumb drive laced with this information that is located within his cane.

The Squad lands in Gotham and works with The Penguin in order to find a way into the Asylum, during this time they suit up and await orders. However some members of the team begin getting specific secretive orders that the rest of the team are not to know about. As the story progresses we find out The Joker set up a Dirty bomb within the city and Batman believes the Riddler knows where it is. Because of this Batman continues to have run ins with the squad which allows Harley to be sent to Arkham, just as Waller planned.

As they all begin their plan to enter the Asylum they come across the Joker in Solitary confinement which pisses Harley off to the point of the plan almost going out of the window. During this time Batman gets the feeling Harley wanted to be caught and quickly heads toward the Asylum. Batman soons shows up and attempts to take on the entire squad, easily subduing the majority of them until he is seemingly overwhelmed and stopped by Black Spider.

Frost goes missing at this time and turn up at the Riddler's cell to assassinate him, however The Riddler states he knows how to defuse all their nano bombs in their necks. Naturally the Joker has found some way to escape (surprise surprise) and is looking for a way out of the Asylum. The Squad meet up with the Riddler and Frost and begin shocking themselves in order to overload the nano bombs.

At this point if you hadn't guessed it we see that Black Spider is Batman in his costume, who is somehow wearing his own mask beneath an entire Black Spider get up. Then the Joker shows up and chaos ensues as you can imagine.Oh and remember the bomb I mentioned before?, yeah it was just conveniently in the mallet Quinn was using.... how lucky.

The movie pretty much turns into Arkham Asylum lite now as the Joker releases all the inmates such as Two Face, Bane and Scarecrow while the remaining Squad members attempt to escape. Of course the Joker and Quinn were stowaways on Deadshots ticket out of the Asylum and the three begin fighting. The fight between Deadshot and the Joker is short but actually pretty great and get's quite brutal at times with multiple stabbings and choke outs rather than just a standard shitty fist fight.

The end of the movie shows Batman defusing the bomb and Gotham saved once again, with a short epilouge showing him confronting Waller about the damage caused by her Squad and a final scene with Deadshot reunited with his daughter aiming his sniper at Wallers head as the film ends.

This movie had a number of aspects that I did enjoy such as the line up of villains and the banter between them actually being quite funny at times, such as Killer Frost making ice related puns and the rest of the teaming groaning whenever she does. With that banter also came some rivalry between Deadshot and Captain Boomerang which I really liked the build up to with them having dart throwing competitions and getting into some fights, but in the end it felt like it didn't lead to anything as they betray each other after all.

To be fair though they are both villains so maybe the 'we were rivals now we're best pals' thing would not have really fit well. This sort of stuff actually helps the slower scenes with their pace, I feel these scenes would be pretty boring without the interactions to be honest. However Harley Quinn in this film, while a nice addition overall seems to be more of a 'IM SO RANDOM LOL' kind of character than actually funny in her own right, she had some dumb catchphrase throughout the movie of 'yahtzee' and it just got annoying.

I like that the films includes a large number of Batman's rogues gallery even if just for a moment such as the Penguin, Bane, Ivy and a few others, while they are only on screen for a few moments they are each a welcome addition and show that Batman's been busy and is already well established as the hero or 'dark knight' of Gotham by this point. 

I also liked that at least one time Quinns costume resembled her animated series version to an extent rather than the one she has in the Arkham games, I like to think the games take place in that universe but much later on. On the other hand however I like that the majority of the other characters costumes such as Bane and Scarecrow retain their look from the games, it's one of the only parts of the movie that makes it feel like it's actually related to the video game.

The voice acting is actually really good all around, Of course Kevin Conroy reprises his role as Batman once again and no matter how many years go by he still does the character justice, unfortunately he is not in the feature for too long every scene he's in shows how comfortable he is with being Batman, his voice just has this great power around it that just commands those around it to be intimidated, it's a guy in a Bat suit that will completely fuck you up if you're committing a crime and you know it.

While Mark Hamill has been away from the Joker character since Arkham City the use of Troy Baker as the Joker Origins has been the next best thing, he has truly been fantastic in the role, especially in Arkham Knight recently, there were definitely times when I could not tell the difference between the two. While he is great in this movie too, there did seem to be a number of moments where he just was not as good as he was in Origins, this isn't to say his portrayal this time around was bad in anyway it just felt like he could do better and he knows it.

The rest of the cast was pretty good too, Deadshot Particularly, while I found Harley Quinn to be annoying I can't deny that her voice works for the character and it always has, she'es meant to be this high pitched woman who love's to be the centre of attention other than when the Joker is around and honestly I had no idea until I just looked it up that it wasn't Tara Strong who voiced her this time around but Hynden Walch who voiced her in The Batman.

There were some issues I had with he movie too though. I don't understand the use of techno and dubstep like beats for the soundtrack, especially outside of action sequences It just did not seem to fit in any scene at all, Batman should be almost Gothic with its music, I mean if you're going for a more action orientated movie then fine but there is not need to have crazy ass dubstep playing when characters are suiting up and talking to each other, Id rather now music at all at that point.

The animation is nothing amazing, it kind of feels like your typical Saturday morning cartoon, a lot of scenes understandably take place in the darkness and actually look better because of this. One thing tht bugged me was having Batman's pupil semi visible most of the time, it was really distracting when and looked like a mix between the animated series batman and the film version where his eyes are always visible. To be fair though, the women were all drawn pretty well as you can see above....
In fact Killer Frost was one of the best things to look at I don't care!

Overall was this movie worth a watch? I would say yes if you're a huge Batman fan but no if you're more into just the films or games. While this is set in the Arkham universe it does not really have anything to do with the games other than some character designs, the story certainly does not really lead in or out of any game in the series. This film really is more of a Suicide squad movie, which is fine really I think in that respect it is quite a good way to become familiar with the characters and motives of the Squad so you're up to speed for the 2016 movie.

However the only key characters you'll need to focus on are Deadshot and Quinn it seems, as they seem to be center stage in the 2016 movie according to the trailers. Honestly if you're looking for a really good Batman movie from the long list of animated features I would not recommend this as your first. In fact Both Year One and The Dark Knight Returns have been animated and the Killing Joke is in the process of being made so honestly id say to go for one of these unless you're really in to the Suicide Squad.

I've actually got quite a few DC animated movies laying around the house so perhaps I'll review some more some time!, if you're into Batman or any Superhero let me know of any cool underrated animated movies to check out, they always seem to get overshadowed by their live action counterparts.