AK is a fantastic game and an amazing conclusion to the Arkham series. It had received critical acclaim, as it deserves. But there are some issues I think are worth discussing. There are going to be spoilers of course.

First issue is the batmobile. It's very fun to drive around and shoot tanks in, but it was used far, far too much. It is a great addition, but takes up too much time in the story and the side missions. Seeing a bunch of tanks in front of me every time I tried driving to the objective got annoying, and being in the batmobile didn't make me feel like Batman all that much, since no version of batman I've ever seen fights battles against tanks. Instead of getting an awesome hand to hand showdown with the AK, we get two batmobile battles and an ordinary predator battle. That's not what I expected and was actually quite disappointing. Deathstroke makes a surprise appearance, and instead of fighting him hand to hand, we get another tank battle that requires no strategy at all.

This leads to my second point, which is the disappointing boss fights. I mentioned above the disappointing boss fights with The AK and Slade. There were no boss fights with Scarecrow, at all. The Professor Pyg fight was just normal combat. Hush's side mission was definitely cool to watch, but that's the problem- we watched it. It was essentially a cutscene that we played though and took 10 seconds to beat him. The guy has Bruce Wayne's face and voice and that's the best Rocksteady can do with him? Two Face's fight was just a regular predator room, and he didn't have any more health than the regular thugs or any special abilities. I used a Fear Multi Takedown on him and expected him to still have some fight left but he was taken out just as easily as the other guys. Beating Penguin also consisted of a cutscene. Beating Man-Bat was a cutscene. Beating Harley Quinn took the press of a single button. Deacon Blackfire went down easy as well. Firefly's appearances were just batman chasing him in the batmobile, which didn't differ from chasing all of the other things we chase in the car. So to summarize, the boss battles were either cutscenes, regular predator or combat maps, or used the batmobile. A lot of wasted potential with everyone. I haven't gotten all of the riddler trophies yet but I imagine Nygma will be beaten in a cutscene as well. I was disappointed with nearly every boss fight. Fighting the AK in the batmobile was fun, but it took the place of a hand to hand showdown, which is not good at all. The batmobile had awesome gameplay but didn't fit in this batman game. It should have been limited to pursuit mode battles and small drone attacks, used with better pacing.

The last issue is the lack of combat and predator challenge maps. We get to use the awesome dual play in the game but not in challenge maps? Why? I consider that a waste as well. Hopefully we get some in the DLC, and hopefully the rest of the story DLC is better, because Red Hood and Harley Quinn's 20 minute DLCs were not good.

Arkham Knight is an amazing game, but the lack of good boss fights, challenge maps, and an overusage of the batmobile hurt the game in my opinion.

@jayc1324: Agreed.

One thing, I preordered digitally and didn't get the Red Hood DLC. How did you access it?

Batmobile made the game imo

I didn't play the old ones but it must have got boring doing the sametakedowns and stealth stuff while just pushing x when you could only he batman

@_mongul: I think it was a GameStop preorder exclusive. There was a code for it on my receipt. Its not worth it though unless you really really like Red Hood.

The aesthetic, tone, and overall feel of it fit very well as a Batman game. Everything regarding story and side missions were either a let down/disappointment or just complete and utter trash.

Lack of challenge maps and more time with playable characters adds more salt to the wound. This game gets like a 6-7/10 from me. And thats only for the versions that work!

I think I pretty much agree completely. I also didn't like how repetitive it felt with the average thugs. It literally was like watching the same fights over and over, just in different settings.

@_mongul: Its under the Arkham Episodes tab in the main menu. You probably should have gotten a code sent to you in an email or something.

I agree that the boss fights were by far the weakest of the trilogy Origins had better boss fights. The fact there was no Scarecrow encounters like in Arkham Asylum either sure there are the Nightmare missions but that is DLC and isn't even in the main game.

I was hoping to see more of how the villains from the last game were now, like their stories tied up. What happened to Clayface? And where is Killer Croc? The character who messed up Crane.

@jayc1324: i do agree with you tho in that all boss fights were lame and anti climatic and also i wish there were at least double the AR mission i love those. also i just dont see the dlc being worth 40 bucks

also im sure the upgrades were on par with the other games but i coulda used so more unique cool upgrades especially in combat and gadgets. im about to beat the game with only 2 gadget upgrades that i just got for the heck of it and are not needed at all

@rpgesus: haha I beat the game on hard with zero upgrades. Not really a feat because these games arent really known for difficulty. The only parts where I got frustrated with was the tanks battles cheesing me out with 1000's of drones and that last riddler race track.

Oh god, the Deathstroke "battle" made me so mad. What was even the point of including him if all he was going to do was drive a tank?

I felt that the revelation that Arkham Knight was Jason Todd wasn't entirely well done, but it was kind of a writing issue, really. The fact that the previous games didn't touch on the subject very much at all meant that a very significant portion of the game had to be dedicated to beating the player over the head with "This guy is Jason Todd, Joker killed him, Batman feels terrible about it." almost to the point where it spoils the surprise, and it's not like they could change such a plot twist because it would confuse the audience in a negative way.

I suppose it didn't help either that all of the Knight's dialogue was about how betrayed he felt and how much he hated Batman and wanted to kill him super badly. This, coupled with the information provided prior to the game's release also made it just that little bit more obvious than expected.

Finally, I felt that, post plot-twist, the whole affair was generally swept aside, like it was just another thing Scarecrow was doing to get under Batman's skin, and it became more of a footnote to the whole affair when all is said and done. I think it would be better served to have Arkham Knight be a more independent character.

The reveal of the Arkham Knight was by far the most predictable and disappointing thing I’ve seen from Batman in years.

I would add The Arkham Knight reveal and aspects of the story narrative to it myself, having experienced Arkham Knight via online walkthroughs. Most fans predicted his identity way before the game came out, so for the game to follow that predictable twist when Rocksteady said it was a new character was particularly disappointing for the overall narrative IMO.

Also, were there fewer challenge maps unlocked in the post game?

I would like to add, as late of an addition as it is, that the plot dynamic between the Bat family, and Batman's continuous decision to act alone, or with minimal aid from other people wasn't exactly a plot thread that was... resolved. From what I observed the supporting cast would continue to try and aid Batman during a variety of scenarios, but Batman would continue to push them aside 'for their safety.' Usually the satisfactory ending would be for Batman to be rescued by the combined effort of the Bat family (a grand, multi-phase mission where control switches between Cat Woman, Nightwing, Robin, Azrael and maybe Jason) or Batman turning to these individuals when he truly realises that he can't go it alone. It would provide the Dark Knight with a level of trust that, since he brought these people into his life for this very reason, he can trust them to take care of themselves when he is gone.

While there were missions where team takedowns would be highly satisfying, these missions felt remarkably sparse, and they always resulted in those members of the Bat family needing to be rescued. I felt that, contextually, it undermined their importance and also validated Batman's reasoning behind distancing himself from them. When the game comes to a close, nothing seems to have been learned, Bruce may have always had that hang up until the very end because there was no true resolution, the closest thing we got was his goodbye to Nightwing.

@jayc1324: i got the red hood dlc and harley quinn do u have to wait after you beat story mode to play it

I thought the ending was kind of depressing and all the Fridge Horror of what happened to Gotham after the game ends.

Also I thought they should have been more side villains/missions, even if they are short. If only criminals was in Gotham you would think many of Batman's rogues would be all over Gotham: Magpie - Some clocktower, Maxie Zeus - Wonder Tower, Film Freak - movie studios, The Spook - Haunted House,

@master_thief: No

Yeah, the Batmobile was definitely overused and the boss battles were a complete let down. Batman isn't intimidating when he's constantly retreating into his car, though I guess if a legion of tanks invaded Gotham, he would need the Batmobile to counter it. Plus, you don't even get to fight Deathstroke or Arkham Knight in hand-to-hand combat! W-What? You'd think Batman and Deathstroke wouldn't be so cowardly as to fight in the comfort of their vehicles! The Arkham Knight (stupid name in hindsight) was more of an annoyance than a genuine threat and his identity was so obvious from the get-go. The other boss battles (Hush, Man-Bat, Two-Face, etc.) are equally disappointing. After the amazing battles in Origins (Deathstroke, Firefly), you'd think Rocksteady would try to up the ante. It's still an entertaining game, but is by no means a perfect conclusion to the Arkham trilogy and definitely not the one fans deserved.