Rocksteady has brought out the latest in their Arkham series. It’s Christmas Eve, and Black Mask has put a $50mn bounty on Batman's head, and eight of the world’s deadliest assassins have come to Gotham to take out the Bat.
The game is much like Arkham City, an open world game, with plenty of side missions to take part in. This is a prequel game, you see Batman in his youth with his brash ways, being more brutal in his dealings with people.
Now not only do you have to deal with the criminals of Gotham, but you have the GCPD (Gotham City Police Department) to deal with as well, because at this point Batman is considered a wanted criminal.
The game shows the progress and development of his relationships with different characters in the DC universe. The game is twice as big as Arkham City, which makes exploring the area more fun. There are plenty of dynamic events happening around the city. Criminals harassing innocents, whom you have to go and save, which then gets you XP that once you level up gains you skill points to give you access to new gadgets or combat upgrades like armour.
While most of the game is still the same as the old games — sneaking, flying around, using the shadows to take down targets — there are a few new gadgets that make this game interestingly fun. Shock Gloves, which you get from one of the bosses when in combat, charge up as you hit targets and once the gloves are fully charged you can activate them, and each hit stuns the enemy. So no target is safe from you. The gloves let you power up different objects that allow you to solve puzzles and help you progress in the game. The gloves actually make the game easy.
No one, not even the shielded enemies can stand up to your onslaught, which makes combat end rather quickly. Glue grenades take over the role of the Cryo grenades from Arkham city. The grenades cover the targets in a gel that renders them unable to move, leaving them open to attacks.
The other fun gadget is the remote Grapple. This allows you to create tightropes to walk on, or to smash enemies into each other. Target one enemy, then target another and shoot a projectile. The projectile shoots out a rope which pulls them together, stunning them both, which makes for easy take downs.
Probably the coolest feature is the improvement to detective mode. You can recreate the entire crime scene with wire frames using clues you find at the scene. So it plays back allowing you to see what happened at the scene, which makes for interesting side quests, as well as helps in solving primary quests. Truly an amazingly beautiful feature, as it gives you a more immersive experience. The Batwing is now accessible but it is only used as a fast travel method. The map is covered by radio towers that are controlled by the Edward Enigma; take out the towers and you get access to fast travel.
Now the issues with the game. The bosses battles are a breeze, mostly done through quick time events. Combat is rather unfulfilling, and traversing the city has no real impact. The Fast Travel makes things rather pointless. Rush for the tower and unlock fast travel. There is a massive glitch in the Burnley Tower — once you enter the tower to disable it you can’t get out of it. You are stuck inside and if you didn’t save prior to going in then you will have to restart from your earlier save which might mean you lose a lot of progress. And while the remote grapple is a cool gadget, you hardly use it except to create tightropes.
The storyline is rather weak in comparison to the old games. The game plays the same, with a few added features. But all in all, I wasn’t too impressed. Buy it if you are a Batman fan.