Well, with my having finally gotten and beaten a video game I’ve been waiting over a year for and have been anxiously awaiting every step of the way, (as my many Arkham Knight-centric blogs up to this point show clearly), it’s only right that I give a detailed review of everything the game includes and everything I like about it (along with everything I didn’t like). So, here goes nothing. As was the case with my Mortal Kombat X review, this one will be divided into the following sub-categories: Story, Characters, Setting, Graphics, and Gameplay, in that order. Only this time, because I have so much to say and I was dissatisfied with the length of my original review, I thought I'd make each portion of my review it's own separate blog, starting with the story. So here goes.
And yes, there will absolutely be spoilers here. If you don't want any spoilers, stop reading right now. You've been warned.
Opening with the Joker’s cremation and also a playing of the classic song “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, Arkham Knight’s main story picks up 9 months after that opening, with a Gotham that swiftly becomes overrun by goons, Scarecrow, and the titular villain and his army of cocky mercenaries. Gotham’s innocent civilians are evacuated (and a good thing too, considering me in the Batmobile would probably end up killing more people than Scarecrow ever could), and the three islands of Gotham become one massive playground for criminals. The seeming similarity to Arkham City with that last one (which some of the thugs themselves lampshade) is quickly deflected with a story that features good variety in it’s tasks for Batman and also becomes very much psychological horror as things progress (a no-brainer for a Scarecrow story). And of course, side-quests galore to give Batman other stuff to do in-between trying to best the twin menaces of Scarecrow and Arkahm Knight.
Concerning the main story, there is a mystery at the heart of it (Arkham Knight’s identity and reason for his hatred of Batman) but also other developments that carry with them questions, such as the Joker-ized individuals who are kept in quarantine by Batman after being transformed by Joker’s infected blood (a rather nice story thread/twist that ties the game closely to the Joker and Titan-centric events of the previous games). I should probably mention that I did suspect Batman was the last Joker, but the reveal still worked even though I could sort of see it coming.
There’s also a very big development concerning the Joker himself, who is definitely dead (as that opening scene drives home), but nevertheless reemerges after Batman is gassed with Fear Toxin as the physical manifestation of all of Batman’s insecurities, fears, and shames. I actually found this to be a good idea, because it allowed them to use the Joker while still keeping him dead, and it also contributes to the aforementioned psychological horror in the story in a way that makes perfect sense. It also happens to echo the plot for an abandoned Batman movie, namely “Batman Triumphant”, a sequel to Batman and Robin that was never made due to that film’s being so terrible, but having a premise pretty much identical to the one here: Scarecrow is the main villain and Batman after getting doused by his Fear Gas sees the taunting image of the late Joker. Difference is, where Schumaker would have inevitably botched a good story like that, Arkham Knight nails it and does it very well.
Besides Batman’s pursuit of the Scarecrow and Arkham Knight and the Joker hallucination taunting him every step of the way, there’s a lot of other highlights in the main story, which is again, commendably varied in the things Batman has to do and the places he has to go, ranging from ACE Chemicals to the tunnels beneath Gotham to (one of my personal favorites) Airships. Some of the better narrative developments include the tragic falling out between Batman and James Gordon and their subsequent reconciliation (complete with Gordon revealing that he knows who Batman is), Batman teaming up with Poison Ivy against the common enemies of Scarecrow and Arkham Knight (which ends in a very tragic and emotionally satisfying manner), and Harley Quinn’s attempt to let the Joker wannabes loose in the name of her ongoing obsession with him, followed by the rather violent turn that last one takes.
The main story itself feels longer than the story of previous entries, but maybe that’s just my imagination. Regardless, the main story still moves along pretty nicely despite the length, with things steadily escalating as events progress. It’s also kind of sad to see Batman’s alliances start to break down one by one, first with James Gordon turning against him, then the loss of Oracle, and then his willingness to lie to Robin concerning Oracle’s apparent death. Catwoman and Nightwing, while both willing to work with Batman, also both profess a desire to keep their distance from him, and even Azrael’s earnest desire to succeed Batman proves to be all for nought. Between it all, it seems almost like a running theme in the main story that Batman is doomed to end up alone in his efforts.
Except for Alfred. Good old Alfred’s always on his side. And Lucius Fox too.
Sadly, as excellent as the main story is overall, it is ultimately left crippled by the big reveal regarding Arkham Knight’s identity, which is nothing short of a total letdown. Now, I will admit, it was a pretty cool visual, seeing Red Hood’s helmet on Arkham Knight’s body, but that’s ultimately the only good thing I can say about this. Jason Todd is the Arkahm Knight. Really? What was the point in concealing this character’s identity? What was the point in having the Arkham Knight identity in the first place? This would be like having a Spider-Man story featuring a resourceful, intellectually brilliant, and devious figure conspiring against our wallcrawling hero, only to end with the reveal that it’s Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus, or to have the same with Daredevil and it ends with the reveal that it’s Kingpin. I mean really? Again, what was the point in having the mystery, if the culprit turns out to be the obvious candidate? What makes the whole thing worse is that 1) this means Rocksteady lied to us when they said Arkham Knight was an original character, and 2) it’s also complete mischaracterization where Jason Todd is concerned.
Jason Todd, in both the comics and the animated movie, doesn’t want to destroy Gotham. Quite the contrary, he sees himself as the person who will save Gotham in a way that Batman never could or would by killing the criminals in it. But he doesn’t want Gotham destroyed or it’s innocent inhabitants hurt. That’s not who he is. So having Jason as a lunatic who’s thrown his lot in with the Scarecrow and is helping him in his mad plan to destroy Gotham via Fear Gas misses the whole point of the character. And finally, it makes the whole mystery of the game feel like one big waste of time. Really, if they’d wanted to use Jason Todd, they should have just had him be Red Hood from the get-go and not even bother with the Arkham Knight identity. Sure, all of the fans know who Red Hood is, but Batman wouldn’t. You could still have the same story, without needlessly leading the players along. So yeah, this is a major, major problem with the game’s story, and where it not for the rest of the main story and the sidequests being so well-done, I’d have given the Story portion of this game an F just for that. There really is no excuse for this massive disappointment, especially when the mystery of Arkham Knight’s identity was not just a major part of the main story, it was also heavily talked about in the months leading up to the game’s release. What a disappointment.
Fortunately, where the Main Story has that major flaw to it, the sidequests on the whole are significantly better, having the same level of variety as the main story and not just because each one involves different villains. Whether it’s steadily dismantling the Arkham Knight force’s various deployments, towers, and checkpoints (something that for me is always satisfying), or tracking down Man-Bat through the skies of Gotham, or racing after Firefly, or performing Forensic analysis of murder victims to identify them, or working with Catwoman (and the Batmobile) to solve the Riddler’s demented puzzles and mind games, the side-quests each feel fairly distinct and fun. In addition, the fact that here you actually get to deliver captured and defeated supervillains to the GCPD where they then get locked up in cells really adds to the Comic Book feel of the game. It also just adds to the sense of accomplishment, knowing you’re locking these guys up one by one. If I had any one problem with the sidequests, it’s that some of them feel a bit on the short side, but overall, I think the sidequests were very well done, and really give Batman a lot more to do aside from his lengthy pursuit of Scarecrow and Arkham Knight.
The main story on the whole can really only be described by me as a very, very dark roller coaster ride of ever-messed up twists and turns, and it’s a story that more than earns it’s M rating. It is in the climax at Arkham Asylum (yep, we end where we began) that the dark tone reaches a crescendo, delving deep into Batman’s tormented mind still haunted by the Joker for a truly twisted experience. However, because the theme at the heart of Batman is turning tragedy into triumph, Batman manages to turn the tables on both Joker’s ghost and Scarecrow in a way that is so unbelievably satisfying it manages to redeem the letdown concerning Arkham Knight’s reveal and get the grade back up to the A- it deserves..right before other stuff lowers the grade again. But still. It was epic.
And then we come to the real ending, which entails "The Knightfall Protocol". Because of it’s being restricted to those who got 100% completion (more on that later), I fled to Youtube to get the full ending, and will give my thoughts on it here:
To be honest, the follow-up didn't do it for me as much. The very end scene comes off as too ambiguous, too out of the blue, and too “WTF?” for my tastes. I’d have much preferred an ending that tied up the loose ends that are left, well, loose. Really, the only thing I liked about the Knightfall Protocol bit was seeing Gordon as mayor and that’s it. I’d have definitely done it differently myself. But, Gotham City Stories will be covering what happens to Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing afterwards, so I suppose I will get some closure we’re they’re concerned. I’ll just have to wait for it.
In all, Arkham Knight’s main story is fantastic, and it’s sidequests on the whole more of the same. The Arkham Knight reveal being a letdown and Knightfall Protocol doing nothing for me at the end both knock some of the wind out of the story's sails, but not enough to sink it outright. The story is still phenomenally dark, emotional, and more satisfying than not. And for me, that’s deserving of a good grade.
FINAL GRADE: B+ for Main Story, A- for Side-Quests
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