Coming June 23rd to PC, Playstation 4 and XBOX One
Don't you just love seeing that? The same release day for PC and consoles, it's not something we get often. Usually, the consoles get a release while the PC players need to wait until the game loses its wow factor to get a shot. Well - not this time!
This time we get to be as hyped and hyper about the incoming release day as every other player in the world. There's a lot to be hyped about too, this being one of the most anticipated titles of the year. Enough suspense, let's get into the nitty-gritty of what we can look forward to. Oh, and I hope you will put up with skepticism. It's my policy to entertain both sides until I see the final result.
This time it's Scarecrow
And he's never looked scarier. Wow!
Arkham Knight takes place a year after the Joker's death in Arkham City. If you scream "spoiler!", I'm going to hit you with the game you should've already played years ago if you're reading this. Anyway, with the Joker gone, someone has to take up the evil villain mantle with a big plot to cause havoc. I'm kind of glad it's Scarecrow.
I did spend time wondering who could be a fit replacement for the Clown Prince of Crime and crossed of many big names:
- The Riddler? Nope, he's too hung up on working from the shadows.
- The Penguin? Not really threatening enough
- Two-Face? Threatening, but too small time gang-related.
- Harley-Quinn? I considered her to be a great candidate, but she wasn't really leader material.
- Poison Ivy? Nope, all she cares about is her plants.
I'm a huge fan of the new villain deisngs. The Riddler is amazing!
Scarecrow is exactly the kind of criminal who could bring a city to its knees without anyone even noticing until it's too late. He's also the most insane individual after the Joker, completely obsessed with fear. Planting bombs with a new fear toxin, he forced a city-wide evacuation, leaving only criminals and an outnumbered police department.
Of course, all the above mentioned villains do make an appearance, along with...
A new character?
Well, I wonder what his story is?
...someone called Arkham Knight. This is a new character designed specifically for this game. Obviously, I'm going to question the wisdom of making up a new villain, especially one so on-the-nose, just for the sake of a video game plot. You probably share my concerns that there's little chance of him living up to any other of the timeless comic books classics. Hopefully, he won't detract from the plot's quality.
The heroes are still the same though. Batman with his main-stay voice actor, Kevin Conroy, James and Barbara Gordon, Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman and even Azrael (someone we've yet to see appear in the games).
With all the villains joining forces, there's going be an all-out brawl in...
Gotham City
Does the name get your attention? It rightly should! If you've played all the previous Arkham games, you'll know that the events took place in, well...Arkham. Be it the asylum in the first game or the city in the latter two, it was happening on an island built for the criminally insane.
If you're keeping up with the news, then you'll know that the prequel, Arkham Origins, was never part of the package. It was something that came in on the side in order to fill the gap while waiting for the next generation systems to come in. Rocksteady Studios was determined to wait and make this game entirely next-gen in order to fully realize their dream. While we've heard the cliché before (*cough* Hobbit trilogy *cough*), it seems there's actually a lot of truth to this.
Looking at Gotham City, the map is considerably greater in size than anything they've done until now. It is, again, an open world, which I'm not fond of. I always found Arkham Asylum to have the best pacing and fluidity, while the later games were trying too hard to be packed with content. I'm assuming the same will happen here, though on a larger scale.
A new place, yet still so familiar...
However, the atmosphere makes it feel like a super-sized Arkham City more than anything else (which may not be a bad thing since it's a Batman game). I'm guessing it's because they took out all the pedestrians whom you'd normally expect to be in a city and filled it up with bad guys instead. They did add cars however, which apparently wasn't possible on the previous gen, if for no other reason than street width. Plus they finally added... *drum roll*...the Batmobile!
You get to drive the Batmobile!
It's about time! This can be viewed from two perspectives. There's those who are super-stoked that they can drive a car in a game to just not care about anything else, and there's the skeptics who question the need for driving in a game where you can glide off buildings. I'm one of those skeptics of course.
I know I've spent the better part of the previous games in the air, only touching the ground when I needed to take part in an event. So, why would I opt to ground myself with the Batmobile? I mean, other than the fact that it's an incredibly cool, weaponized tank with the mobility of a sports car? Actually, that's reason enough.
Shut up and look at it! LOOK!
Rocksteady did promise to make the Batmobile more relevant by adding challenges and story segments that need to happen in car or on the ground. I have to admit I find this approach a bit off. Adding a cool feature in the game, then trying to justify that feature is the exact opposite of what Batman does for real. Of course, after they boasted about the guns and missiles they packed on that thing, I don't really believe we need specific challenges to want to use it. Even us cynics have to agree that it's a damn cool feature regardless of usefulness.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, it's more of the same, but improved. We can finally use certain gadgets while gliding, like throwing a batarang. I never could understand why this wasn't implemented before. It's so obvious! Stealth is getting improvements with new takedowns, now letting you chain a few takedowns in short succession. Combat has a few new surprises in store too.
The environment can be used to deal damage to your foes now, such as using power generators etc. You can also throw enemies into other enemies, steal their weapons for a short while, but most of all - character switching. Yes, you can actually switch from Batman to another character without breaking the flow of combat. I told you it's an all out brawl didn't I?
Combat's gotten really brutal.
The biggest question in terms of gameplay is the multiplayer, or lack thereof. Yes, there is NO multiplayer in Arkham Knight. This makes perfect sense. Why would a game like this even want to have it? There's just no point. Instead, Rocksteady are focusing on making this the best single player experience possible. It's a daring move in this day and age, but one that makes complete sense! Multiplayer never really had a place in the Arkham games. It was always Batman against the entire criminal underground.
Postponing and not backing down
I've already pointed out that Rocksteady postponed production on this game until the next gen came into play. Now let me add that they again postponed the release date from October 14, 2014 to the current date of June 23, 2015. It was one of those "we didn't want to release a game we weren't happy with" things. Normally, I'd call bull, but considering certain other smart and very sensible decisions made by the developers, I'm tempted to believe them.
Nope, this rating is not a joke.
They also encountered a surprise from the ESRB. The game received a mature rating, as opposed to the previous teen rated games. Despite this, the developers did not scramble to modify any of their content to get a more publicly accessible rating. They accept that Arkham Knight is a dark game and that's how it should be. Thank you! For those of you curious, this is because of a few violent scenes. No, we don't get to see Harley bounce around in her undergarments, sorry guys...
Another release on the same day
Last, but not least. Can you believe there's another title being released on the same day? More specifically, Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition. What were they thinking? Being a Japanese company, Capcom decided to prioritize a Japanese release and set this one a week after. Did they even notice that Arkham Knight was coming on the same day?
The big question is, will it hurt sales? While both games are loosely in the same genre of 3rd person action, the type of release is drastically different. Batman: Arkham Knight is a full price AAA title (that's $60), while the Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition is more like a stand-alone expansion going for less than half of that ($25).
Both games have something that will appeal to fans and being a fan of both, I cannot deny that I am slightly torn. While Arkham Knight is the game to play this year (along with Witcher 3), Devil May Cry is amping up their old-school vibe, as opposed to the trying-too-hard DmC. They added Virgil, Trish and Lady as playable characters, a new difficulty and improved graphics. Of course, this is bigger news for consoles, since the PC version already has half of this implemented.
Would you rather play as these guys?
Or would you rather play with them?
Come to think of it Batman: Arkham Knight is offering DLC with Harley Quinn as a playable character and even the Red Hood gets DLC. Witcher 3 allows you play as Ciri... Looks the developers are catching on to how game-changing it is to have an alternate character with a different style. I hope this becomes a fad for future releases.
High hopes!
Are you ready to don the batcape and finally protect Gotham?
Despite some skepticism regarding certain content, I can't deny that simply another Arkham game is already something to look forward to. Rocksteady don't seem to have strayed too far from the formula, which is always a good sign. I'm particularly fond of the single player focus. More developers should really consider how their games are supposed to work, as opposed to going through a list of "mandatory" features.
Not only is Rocksteady on the right track with their thinking, Warner Bros. Studios is on the same wavelength with little to no dispute (as far as what the news tells us). So, I have high hopes that this will be a game the way it is meant to be. No quick changes, forced addition or cheap tricks to attract a market. Honestly, they don't need it after the overwhelming success their previous games were.
What features are you looking forward to the most? Do you think the game will be a success? Share your thoughts in the comments.
