Reviews// Batman: Arkham Knight

Likewise, you are given loads of kit to play with. Gadgets like the pretend-y voice gun and the Internet of Stings Hack-omatic are given to you at very regular intervals. So regular, in fact, that the game will hold your gauntleted hand to make sure you don't forget to use your new toys. And, in fact, the volume of tech means that how you use it is quite specific, so you don't really have to make any big decisions. There's very little lateral thinking to be done – specific tech is used for specific problems, and Rocksteady will most likely tell you exactly how they fit together.

Action/adventure/stealth games that offer genuine choices about how to play have been around for yonks. It's a shame that Rocksteady has cluttered its game to the point where it has to carefully guide you through its challenges and the sense of freedom is stymied, if not out-and-out removed.

The water has been muddied, and the Arkham series' original appeal has become somewhat obscured.

Despite all the paragraphs I've dedicated to moaning about Arkham Knight, however, it's a long way from being a bad game. It's as slick and polished as ever, and the great gameplay mechanics of previous games are still present and accounted for. They just don't come with the same smart, Batman-ish purity as they used to.

It looks great too. I mean, boy, the rain on Batman's cape. It's actually mesmerising. And Gotham has the same lurid neon appeal that's permeated the previous games. It's sort of Batman Forever meets Greg Capullo meets BioShock. It's busy, detailed and bursting with vile life. Granted, it gets a bit same-y, but care has been put into every nook and cranny, and it shows.

The headline gameplay addition, designed no doubt to go hand-in-hand with the bigger game world, is the inclusion of the batmobile. It is, undeniably, a fun thing. You can hurl it round Gotham without much thought to handling, which is as it should be. There are a few challenges related to driving really really fast, but it mostly serves to enable tank battles against the drones that have occupied Gotham. These involve shoving your car into 'combat mode' and moving it a lot more slowly than usual as you use your great big gun to take out the (conveniently unmanned) opposition. These encounters are quite good fun, if a little repetitive.

The storyline's a lark, too. I've written before about the appeal of the Arkham games having a standalone continuity. It'd based largely (though not 100% faithfully) on the pre-New 52, pre-Damian-Wayne-as-Robin DC universe, but happily wanders off to do its own thing. The fact that it tells its own standalone story without trying to fit into the cracks between films or comics means it's a lot easier to get invested in, and allows for some big moves. It's fun, if a little nonsensical and/or hammy at times.

All in all, Arkham Knight serves up a good time. It's just a bit bloated. In adding everything up to and including the kitchen sink, Rocksteady has drowned some of the series' original appeal and lost focus. But, for those of us who loved the previous games there's still plenty here to enjoy.

Pros:
+ It looks great
+ Batmobile's a nice touch
+ Fun story
+ It's still Batman

Cons:
- It's a bit podgy
- Too much hand-holding, not enough strategy

SPOnG Score: 8/10