Dark Game Review – Batman: Arkham Knight
Review Written By Casey Douglass
When I bought my new
GPU last year, it came with a code for Batman: Arkham Knight.
At the time, the PC port was being problematic, to say the least, so
I shelved it and looked mournfully at the game on offer the following
month when it turned out to be Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
A few weeks ago, I found myself at a bit of a loss when it came to my
gaming time, so I decided to embark on a trip to the wet streets of
Gotham once more, hoping that it wouldn’t be as bad as I feared.
In the time that has
elapsed since its release last Summer, there have inevitably been
patches that aimed to sort out some of the performance issues. I must
admit that I didn’t bother to push the game too hard, I’ve never
been one that fancies tinkering with graphic settings for ages trying
to find the right balance of visuals and performance. I left all the
usual settings at Normal for 1080p, but turned on the NVIDIA
GameWorks Effects instead; stuff that makes the smoke and fog better,
more litter on the streets and enhanced rain effects. I think it
pushed the GPU memory estimate near the 4GB limit of my card, so I
left things at that and played. I am happy to say that not once did I
experience a noticeable frame-rate drop or graphical glitch. The only
issue I had was when I went into the skill upgrade menu near the
midpoint of the game and my PC hard-locked, requiring a physical
powering off. I know shit happens but I hoped we’d be past software
being able to hard-lock a PC. Crash to desktop gracefully if you like
but don’t freeze the entire system. It didn’t happen again and I
finished the game without further incident. Your own mileage may vary
however.
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| I remember when all of this was fields... |
Once you are in the
game proper and in control of Batman, the graphical fidelity is very
impressive indeed. When I'd seen screenshots of the game or even
footage, it didn’t compare to how the game actually felt to
experience. Rain trickles down surfaces, fog and smoke hangs in the
air and the city is such a fantastic place to view and swoop through,
it was quite simply, great! A particular thing I enjoyed was when
Batman answered the video-calls that extend from his forearm, yet
most of the time, you can still walk him around while it is
happening. I don’t know why I was so impressed by that, I just was.
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| Smart watches can't touch Batman's technology! |
I was impressed with
the story. I am not the biggest Batman buff in the world, but I
did enjoy the twisted and quite brutal narrative. I think Batman:
Arkham Knight had the best story for me, of any of the recent
games. It featured madness, trickery and sacrifice, what more could
you want?
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| Talking of madness... look who's back! |
Oh, I haven’t even
mentioned the Batmobile, the ride of choice for Batman as he tears
through the criminals on the streets. Batman can call it as he glides
down to a road, it skidding to pick him up and drive on. Batman can
also control it remotely, giving the opportunity for turning the
tables at least a couple of times in the main story line, the car
getting behind thugs that think they have the batty one trapped.
Their cries of surprise as it takes them out are music to the ears. If
the Batmobile is nearby, you can also make use of it in some of
Batman’s fighting take-downs: throwing the thug into the air for
the Batmobile’s gun to land the final thunderous hit.
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| Car-shaped carnage lurks in the background. |
As I said, I enjoyed
the main story, and the side missions were also really interesting, things like apprehending other named criminals such as Two-face and
Penguin. The only side-boss that I didn’t beat was The Riddler,
because he did a disappearing act and then broadcast that he'd only fight
when I'd solved all of his riddles etc. I can understand the draw of
exploring the city and looking for the stuff he has done but it isn’t
for me this time, I just can’t be bothered. I finished everything
else though and triggered the ending, which was serviceable, but
nothing that really made me go "Wow!". I think I read that if you get a
100% completion (I had 96%) you get the full ending with extra
cut-scene stuff but again, The Riddler’s bullshit would need to be
solved for that. I could search YouTube and find the extra ending but
I find myself not really caring, I got my ending and that’s all
that matters, much like how I felt with Mass Effect 3 and why I can’t
bring myself to replay the ME Trilogy again.
Batman: Arkham
Knight exceeded my very low expectations and I am happy to say
that it is probably one of the better games I have played in the last
year or so. I don’t know how I would have fared if I had played at
launch, but a year on, the experience was very enjoyable. If you are
like me and you have Batman: Arkham Knight for PC and haven’t
touched it yet, now might be the time to check it out.
I’d give the game
4.5/5.
Game Title: Batman:
Arkham Knight
Platform: PC
Publisher: Warner Bros.
Interactive Entertainment
Screenshots from Batman:
Arkham Knight © Copyright Warner Bros.
Interactive Entertainment
