Arkham trilogy ends nicely with Batman: Arkham Knight

Rocksteady’s critically acclaimed Arkham trilogy ends in an outstanding way. After Joker’s death in Batman: Arkham City, it was hard to imagine if Rocksteady could make another immersive experience. Once again, Rocksteady has.

Batman: Arkham Knight takes place on Halloween with Scarecrow threatening to release a fear toxin, called the ‘Cloudburst’, that will take over Gotham. Scarecrow’s fear toxin takes over Batman better than he did in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Under Scarecrow’s fear toxin, Batman thought that Barbara Gordon killed herself when that wasn’t really the case. Even though Batman was under the fear toxin I felt like I was too because I really thought Barbara Gordon was dead. Praise goes to Rocksteady for always keeping players’ emotions in check.

The huge question mark for Batman is who the Arkham Knight is. The Arkham Knight is Batman’s newest villain that somehow knows Batman on a personal level. Rocksteady said this was a completely new and original character, but this wasn’t really the case. The Arkham Knight is the second Robin, Jason Todd. Todd was Batman’s biggest failure in the comics because the Joker killed him but in Batman: Arkham Knight he was taken hostage by the Joker and was tortured and was convinced to hate Batman. I wouldn’t want anyone else to be the Arkham Knight except Jason Todd, but I feel like Rocksteady lied because he wasn’t a new character. I even predicted that the Arkham Knight was Todd months before the game came out.

The only missing piece from the other Batman: Arkham games is that there was no Batmobile. The Batmobile was added to Batman: Arkham Knight and it feels awesome driving it. The Batmobile can also turn into a tank, which is pretty cool, but I feel like too much of the game is spent taking down the Arkham Knight’s army of tanks which sometimes gets repetitive and boring. I like the feature but I feel like Rocksteady forced it down our throats.

There is a new type of takedown called the Fear Multi Takedown. It slows down time and it allows Batman to take out at most three enemies. It is a really cool new feature that’s new to the combat.

There is also a new combat mode called Dual Play Mode. It allows Batman and either Catwoman, Robin or Nightwing to be able to fight at the same time. When the character is switched during combat they will help each other with a dual takedown. It’s amazing how seamless the Dual Play Mode works.

Graphically this game is a masterpiece. It has better graphics than any other of the Batman: Arkham games to date.

It would’ve been cheesy if they brought back the Joker after he died in Batman: Arkham City, but they didn’t truly bring him back to life. Since Batman was under Scarecrow’s fear toxin, Joker was always by Batman’s side getting into his head which was a creative way of bringing back Joker without bringing him back to life.

The voice acting is stellar as it always is in the Batman: Arkham franchise. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are reprising their roles once again as Batman and Joker. John Noble voices Scarecrow and his voice is truly scary in a good way. The Arkham Knight and Two-Face is voiced by Troy Baker who has also voiced Robin and Two-Face in Batman: Arkham City, and Joker in Batman: Arkham Origins. Baker is a very talented voice actor and I’m glad he got to voice the Arkham Knight after voicing other characters in the franchise.

Batman takes down the Cloudburst, but with help from Poison Ivy. Ivy empowers an ancient tree that neutralizes the Cloudburst so that the city of Gotham is safe. Even though the Cloudburst is taken down Batman has a defining choice to make. Scarecrow has Robin and Jim Gordon hostage and the only way to save them is to reveal his identity to the city.

Scarecrow injects Batman with his fear toxin but Batman is not afraid. It’s amazing how Batman has always feared the toxin but he is not afraid anymore, and the way Rocksteady portrays this is outstanding. The Red Hood who is also Jason Todd saves Batman and then Batman injects Scarecrow with the fear toxin. After a few side missions (if the player doesn’t have them done already) the city is safe and there isn’t a need for Batman.

As much as I want another Batman: Arkham game, it can’t really happen because Batman was a myth and criminals won’t be afraid of Bruce Wayne. This game ends Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham trilogy with style and I’m glad Rocksteady gave us this wonderful end.