Batman Arkham Knight Review Part One: Story (No Spoilers)

The way I review videogames are simple. I break them down into 4 categories: story, gameplay mechanics, content, and replayablity. Each category will receive a score out of ten and the overall review score of the game will be out of forty.

            A year ago the Batman/Rocksteady/WB fandom was having a collective nerdgasim when the third installment of the Arkham Series was announced. Batman Arkham Knight was set to be the epic finale to one of the most beloved series in modern gaming. Rocksteady kicked ass with the ground breaking Batman Arkham Asylum and they stepped up their game with Batman Arkham City. Both games allowed the player to BE THE BATMAN and protect his city with the help of his gadgets and allies. We all expect Rocksteady to one up the past games and give us the ultimate Batman experience. What better way to this was but to create a whole new villain for Batman to face and of course add the notorious Batmobile? Players waited years to be able to drive a fully equipped Batmobile and patrol the city in style. But did Rocksteady and WB bite of more than they can chew when taking on this huge project?

            Arkham Knight was first announced back in June of 2014. It was set to release on June 2, 2015 but was delayed to June 23, 2015. Despite the delay the hype train was taking tickets (in this case pre-orders) to ensure that all the passengers received their exclusive content. However upon release Rocksteady and WB did experience some trouble. For one thing the Batmobile Edition of the game was recalled, the PC port was a totally busted and not to mention…the Arkham Knight himself didn’t get a lot of positive feedback; especially if you are a die-hard DC fan or avid comic book reader.  Despite all this negativity the game did receive decent reviews; the average being an eight out of ten. But did Rocksteady and WB drop the ball with Arkham Knight? Let’s discuss that.

Story

          If you played the first two games then you pretty much should know the story. Basically Joker poisons Batman, not once but twice (once in AA and again in AC). Then he threatens Gotham and Batman chases him down, catches him and gives him a slap on the wrist. If you played AC then you know what happened at the end, so I’m not going to explain it. So AK is the aftermath of AC. Scarecrow wants his revenge (for what, I don’t fucking know) and he enlists an unknown soldier named the Arkham Knight (who has a vendetta against Batman and coincidently knows all of Batman tactics and weapons). Together the duo will take down the Batman once and for all. Sounds good and all but there is one problem: these guys are never on the same page with one another. They constantly argue about when is the right time to kill Batman.

Arkham Knight: “I have you where I want you, Batman. Now you will pay for what…”

Me: “If you are going to kill him then do it, I don’t have all day.”

Scarecrow: *via communicator* “Now is not the right time, he must witness what he fears most…blah blah blah FEAR ME!!!”

Arkham Knight: “Henchmen take care of him!”

Me: “What the hell!? Dude you have a gun and you know all of the weak points in his armor, fucking kill him already!”

Me: *fights 20 henchmen* “This is some of that BULL BULL.

The story is inconsistent to the first two games (it will only make sense if you read the prequel comic books and even then it still won’t make sense). And there is something about it that makes me feel…I don’t know… like I’ve seen this done before.

            In my opinion the story wasn’t as epic as the developers were advertising. I wasn’t in an aww and I felt that all the characters were just downgraded versions of their AA and AC counterparts. At the end of the day I couldn’t bring myself to complete the story because I didn’t feel motivated to do so. I did watch Knightwing01 play it all the way to the end, so props for him and for anyone else who completed the story*claps*.

Grade: 6/10   60%   D   Poor >_<