Batman: Arkham Knight

Even though I've heard all the troubles with the PC version there is one twitch streamer who I watch from time to time who had it work for him with no major issues.

Oh, don't get me wrong, there's certainly those out there who've managed to get the game running okay (especially if they've got an NVIDIA card) but the majority of PC gamers have had appalling performance issues.

The_Jaster wrote:

I'm just personally burnt out on the Batman games (really wish I didn't get origins) perhaps when the fuss dies down or if I have nothing else to play then I'll give it a go.

To be fair I felt that way after Origins, it was nowhere near as polished and didn't add anything new, the story wasn't great either. Arkham Knight is a different story, I'd probably put it as my favourite, the batmobile really does grow on you so much that it becomes second nature and a great part of the formula. As Andy said though, they added care they put in to the side missions and objectives really makes it feel a lot more complete.

@Andy you said the end was a bit of let down. I've not finished yet about 75-80% of the story done, but I'm guessing your on about who the Knight is. I don't know who it is yet but I had two in mind when I started the game with one very much at the for front of my mind.

But will I be let down and be someone I wasn't think off at all and be on it's him.

I'm about at the same point although I know who it is and I'm not disappointed with that so perhaps it's more to do with the reveal itself.

Maybe, I will be talking about the game in the podcast on Wednesday and hopefully I'll be finished as well.

If you do talk about on the podcast, can we get a warning if you delve into spoiler territory? I do plan to play this someday... just not any time soon.

No the end itself was good and the final bits play out really well, it's just the main twist is so obvious for so long that it felt like a relief when Bats finally found out.

Also there was some good chat on TRP about this, well good

I won't go into spoiler territory really but that is a good point when could we. How long do we wait and we go that ending was good/shite whatever.

You can talk about it now, so long as you shove stuff in spoiler boxes.

No I mean on something like the podcast, if we were talking FFVII we wouldn't tip toe around that aerith dies or that your them bad guy in KOTOR.

Yeah, but those are 10+ year old games... I think the spoiler warning is a little redundant for those games.

We are going off-topic but how long do you wait in-till you can spoil, as I guess in Dec or Jan we do are GOTY's and if Batman is in my Top 5 would that be a reasonable time that I could say something that might be a spoiler.

Just throw stuff in a spoiler box regardless, I'd say. Better safe than sorry.

Can't do that in a Podcast lol

Guess we would have to start the cast by going possible spoilers of games which came out in 2015.

Think it's a lil bit soon to worry about Jan, mas. I don't think full spoilers are even required to discuss things like Bats anyway, maybe Her Story, but not Bats.

I've actually managed to get this relatively crash free on my PC of all things (game came with my graphics card). It's exposition heavy, but otherwise really enjoyable. I think the batmobile got so much hate that I don't really mind it, thematically it fits within the game world although racing sections are not very good.

The plot starts at 110% and hasn't run out of steam yet.

So, my flatmate got a PS4 meaning I've had the chance to start playing through this. And it's bloody good, as expected. I'm really impressed by the level of detail in the world and the sheer mass of things to do in it.

One thing I've not been impressed by is the Batmobile. I've found it fiddly to traverse the world in it (I'd much rather glide and grapple across Gotham) and the combat in it to be clunky. Considering how fluid the hand-to-hand combat is, the vehicle combat feels somewhat out of place.

Yeah I think this game is defined by the batmobile: Like the batmobile? You'll love this game. Dislike the batmobile? You'll enjoy this game a lot but not as much as Asylum/City.

The controls are odd, but I've got used to them over time. The only thing I really dislike about it is how it is the focal point of Riddler missions, which doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, not enjoying that - "Oh Batman, you'll never work out my riddle this time! It's a racetrack!"

Well I've always had a marmite relationship with Riddler in the Arkham series. I don't care for Riddler trophies (especially twisty awkward remote control batarang ones), and although I can understand the appeal of the puzzles for some I don't find them particularly enjoyable, nor can I envision Riddler having them littered about the place, even if henchmen are placing them. His missions in Knight are also

But I love the presentation of Riddler, through the projectors and distorted recordings, his look, and the actual riddles where you have to take a snap of a specific subject are nice.

See, I quite like the Riddler Trophies - the issue comes from the fact that there's way too many of them. The Trophies that are just in plain sight with no puzzle attached to them could have easily been removed.

I've nothing left but the riddler trophies now but I really can't be bothered, they're a lot less riddlerish than they need to be, I'm even tempted to just YouTube the proper ending.

Blasted through this and I've only got two trophies left, including the platinum trophy. It's a great game for sure, but I can fully understand the criticisms levied at the Batmobile. It's great fun but it's overused, and I feel it deprived the game of decent boss fights. There's nothing in Arkham Knight which was as memorable and fun as the Mr. Freeze fight from City or even the Deathstroke and Firefly fights from Origins. Also, bugger those Batmobile "stealth" sections where you creep up behind the tanks. I'm dreading replaying those in NG+.

A boss spoiler:

Spoiler:

I finished this yesterday, well I didn't get all the riddler trophies but I was never going -they're not for me, nor did I beat the Bomb diffusal or road block side quests - (I may go back to those at some point). When I realised you need to get all the Riddler stuff to unlock the ending I youtubed it. It's pretty cool.

I'll probably write a piece for Gintendo on this at some point, but I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Because of how far Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight did a number on Gotham, I id not mind the Batmobile being a tank - I honestly felt like I was in a warzone so for me it fitted in well, and that meant I was willing to overlook the fact that you will be using it a lot! The racetrack stuff wasn't so hot though, nor hunting down one particular side villain who I will leave unnamed. It is also much more convenient to glide around than drive.

I've not played Origins but Freeze, and Killer Croc/Scarecrow from Asylum are the only boss fights I remember liking. I feel like they missed out on a potential classic fight between the Knight and Bats - it could've been like the End from MGS3 where you're both hunting each other, never sure how close the target is and tense as. Instead what we got was, well... at least it wasn't as anywhere near bad as the last boss fight in Asylum.

One thing for sure though is that there is a crap ton of content in this one, and most of it is really enjoyable. I don't think it hits the same highs as Asylum or City, but it is still a very good game and worth playing.