So due to the sale on Ps4 i got around to playing this game (still not done, but i'm more than halfway through, i think), since back in the day i got it for PC, but never got it running properly (bang up job there, btw).
As a premise, i should point out that i love all the Arkham games prior to this, i finished City thrice, once on normal, once on hard, and once on hard with 3d Vision; i can't get enough of that game, and i think it's the pinnacle of the franchise still (plus Catwoman was a blast to use, i whish they did a spin off game on her, instead of this one).
I also loved Origins for the most part, it had some decent gimmicks, even if the city exploration felt botched (how many times will you have me cross that damn bridge?) but the story felt more fresh, with a rookie Batman, and voice actors that sounded like they gave a damn, plus it had some cool boss fights.
Asylum was also a very fun game, even though personally i think the series really started to shine with City, and the level design of the rooms wasn't all that interesting, not to mention a lot of running back in empty corridors.
So now i'm playing Knight, perhaps a bit fatigued with the franchise, but still eager to close the loop, especially since it has been a while since i last played one of these games, and... Jesus this game is just frustrating, unfun bullshit, one after the other.
Well ok, let me start with the positives here: It looks absolutely stunning, i'm not sure how they got something looking like this, running this smoothly, on a ps4, and this game is now a couple of years old, too.
Also, a couple of additions to the predator mode are welcomed, Fear Takedowns and going form under the floor to atop a room through the ventilation shafts, is very useful.
And i'm sure the car could've been a cool addition to the "Batman Fantasy", in moderation.
Unfortunately i can't find much else to praise here:
First of all, the nice balance between open world and linear "dungeons" that City had, is missing here, mostly because of that goddamn car, you're forced in an overly big world almost all of the time, which means the pace also suffers, as they can't control as well whenever you're fighting, exploring, or stealthing.
There are a few instances where you have to navigate a more tightly designed area (the Zeppelin, for example), but they are few and far between, and are rarely closed out by a boss fight, let alone an interesting one (something the series was pretty good at).
Often you're forced in open environments to fit some uninteresting car puzzle of, God help me, a car stealth segment.
Moreover, most of the fighting has very little progression, and the difficulty curve is all sorts of fucked.
I assume they expected whoever jumped in this game to be super familiar with the previous ones, but the game not only throws all of Batman's moves at you at once (honestly, i couldn't remember half of them) but throws massive crowds of varied baddies at you almost from the very start, going up and down the curve without logic.
One second you're trying to free a fireman from 15 guys, 3 of which are huge brutes that stick together (making it almost impossible to take one of them down) and riflemen, and knife ninjas, oh and medics too... and a moment later you're fighting the Arkham Knight's army, that is half that, and severely underpowered, with maybe one brute; either way, they just rely on massive crowds a lot more, and create less variety in encounters in general, which creates more of a stop and go feeling (you'll be fighting nobody for a long stretch, then a room chuck full of assholes all at once, then nothing for another long ass stretch).
In the old games, they were able to vary situations more, and would throw big crowds of varied mobs at you at either the very end game, or at least in climactic moments (like when you fight the Joker), they wouldn't just spawn immense crowds of powerful henchmen all over Gotham.
Another problem i have with the combat is... well with the game in general, it just feels bloated in terms of abilities.
You have what, 10 different contextual grabs? Then the gadgets, the various enemy types list that keeps growing, the environmental kills, the drones, the car; it's just too much.
In City i would use 90% of Batman's arsenal, in Knight i feel overwhelmed, and end up using the same couple of working tactics over and over.
To further fuck with the pacing there's the car, the main gimmick of this entry, and what the cars brings to this game is, essentially:
1. Constantly having to stop in your A to B travel to "secure the area" from tanks.
2. Have subpar "puzzles" involving pulling a thing, or shooting a thing (ok, a couple were alright, but again, everything in moderation).
3. Have to chase down in an over crowded (seriously, between the trash, the rain, the particle effects, the neon lights all over, i can't see shit when i'm driving) city, with a thing that handles like an elephant on rollerblades.
And yet they feel like they have to shove it down your throat at every turn, and you know a cool dungeon isn't waiting you next, because they have to fit that goddamn car in there, somewhere.
Finally there are the side activities.
I'm not a completionist, and i am not someone that gets obsessed with side stuff, i did several Riddler puzzles in the old games, just because they were on the way, or they were a nice way to slow down the pace between one intense fight and the other.
But of the side activities i've tried, they all seemed either particularly uncreative:
Free the firemen = beat a random crowd of baddies.
Clear radio towers = beat a random crowd of baddies and explode their computer.
Azrael = Beat a random crowd of baddies, without getting hit.
Or downright infuriating:
Riddler races are some of the worst gaming i can remember playing, no hyperbole.
Whoever designed those, please i beg you, consider another career.
How fun do you think it is to pilot a car with the assof a rhino, through Trackmania style courses? How about if it explodes when touched? How about if you're on a timer? How about if you have to ride in on walls, while dodging obstacles, while not losing speed? How about the beauty topples over like a Giraffe on a trampoline, if you take a turn too fast? But wait, here's the best part: If you run out of time, you don't just get to restart, you actually have to finish the lap to have another shot.
All the while, the Riddler is "taunting your intelligence" (how are these intelligence tests, again? I guess if you're stupid enough to submit yourself to this, you already failed) with oh so amazing writing quality you probably can imagine.
It's even more annoying since Catwoman's head explodes if you don't complete his bullshit, so story wise, it's something harder to just shrug off.
Not that it matter anyway, since the writing, story and voice acting are all pretty shitty.
Admittedly i'm no super hero comicbook fan, but Jesus isn't it tiring to have these single gimmick personas go on and on and on, saying the same exact thing in 50 different ways? The worst part is you have to hear every dialog again, when you fail and reload (my major gripe with the old Arkham games, too).
God almighty am i tired of everyone's shtick in the game, including Batman's (who's particularly dumb, to be the world's greatest detective).
I guess that's a critique you could've moved to the old games too, though i don't think the Batman's VO felt this dead in his delivery, and honestly, it's the 4th time in a row they all team up to kill the bat, and they're gonna break him, and Gotham is ours, and blah blah blah.
Every dramatic turn feels really hollow the 4th time around.
I don't want to judge the story too harshly, just because i haven't finished the game yet, but so far i see nothing that grabs me in that sense, and i really couldn't care less about the identity of the Arkham Knight, as much as i would like to know how he got to manufacture hundreds of super advanced drones, without anyone in government noticing.
Though seeing how he beats me over the head about how he knows all my tricks, i'm assuming he's just some old ally, like Nightwing or Robin or some shit (though i know that's a twist already used in the Batman's lore, so maybe it's a play on that expectation).
Anyway, i think i'll try to minimize the frustration, and go about the critical path, there are still moments when i'm enjoying the game, though they are constantly buried by the next frustrating brilliant idea they come up with "sneak behind these tanks and blast them in the behind!" Oh joy! but i think it would bother me more if i just left it undone, anyway.
So i guess it's time ask: what did y'all think about it? Is it just franchise fatigue? Am i just salty because that last Riddler Race is just a nightmare?
Also, do not bother tagging any spoiler, i really don't care about any possible plot twist, so have at it.
As a premise, i should point out that i love all the Arkham games prior to this, i finished City thrice, once on normal, once on hard, and once on hard with 3d Vision; i can't get enough of that game, and i think it's the pinnacle of the franchise still (plus Catwoman was a blast to use, i whish they did a spin off game on her, instead of this one).
I also loved Origins for the most part, it had some decent gimmicks, even if the city exploration felt botched (how many times will you have me cross that damn bridge?) but the story felt more fresh, with a rookie Batman, and voice actors that sounded like they gave a damn, plus it had some cool boss fights.
Asylum was also a very fun game, even though personally i think the series really started to shine with City, and the level design of the rooms wasn't all that interesting, not to mention a lot of running back in empty corridors.
So now i'm playing Knight, perhaps a bit fatigued with the franchise, but still eager to close the loop, especially since it has been a while since i last played one of these games, and... Jesus this game is just frustrating, unfun bullshit, one after the other.
Well ok, let me start with the positives here: It looks absolutely stunning, i'm not sure how they got something looking like this, running this smoothly, on a ps4, and this game is now a couple of years old, too.
Also, a couple of additions to the predator mode are welcomed, Fear Takedowns and going form under the floor to atop a room through the ventilation shafts, is very useful.
And i'm sure the car could've been a cool addition to the "Batman Fantasy", in moderation.
Unfortunately i can't find much else to praise here:
First of all, the nice balance between open world and linear "dungeons" that City had, is missing here, mostly because of that goddamn car, you're forced in an overly big world almost all of the time, which means the pace also suffers, as they can't control as well whenever you're fighting, exploring, or stealthing.
There are a few instances where you have to navigate a more tightly designed area (the Zeppelin, for example), but they are few and far between, and are rarely closed out by a boss fight, let alone an interesting one (something the series was pretty good at).
Often you're forced in open environments to fit some uninteresting car puzzle of, God help me, a car stealth segment.
Moreover, most of the fighting has very little progression, and the difficulty curve is all sorts of fucked.
I assume they expected whoever jumped in this game to be super familiar with the previous ones, but the game not only throws all of Batman's moves at you at once (honestly, i couldn't remember half of them) but throws massive crowds of varied baddies at you almost from the very start, going up and down the curve without logic.
One second you're trying to free a fireman from 15 guys, 3 of which are huge brutes that stick together (making it almost impossible to take one of them down) and riflemen, and knife ninjas, oh and medics too... and a moment later you're fighting the Arkham Knight's army, that is half that, and severely underpowered, with maybe one brute; either way, they just rely on massive crowds a lot more, and create less variety in encounters in general, which creates more of a stop and go feeling (you'll be fighting nobody for a long stretch, then a room chuck full of assholes all at once, then nothing for another long ass stretch).
In the old games, they were able to vary situations more, and would throw big crowds of varied mobs at you at either the very end game, or at least in climactic moments (like when you fight the Joker), they wouldn't just spawn immense crowds of powerful henchmen all over Gotham.
Another problem i have with the combat is... well with the game in general, it just feels bloated in terms of abilities.
You have what, 10 different contextual grabs? Then the gadgets, the various enemy types list that keeps growing, the environmental kills, the drones, the car; it's just too much.
In City i would use 90% of Batman's arsenal, in Knight i feel overwhelmed, and end up using the same couple of working tactics over and over.
To further fuck with the pacing there's the car, the main gimmick of this entry, and what the cars brings to this game is, essentially:
1. Constantly having to stop in your A to B travel to "secure the area" from tanks.
2. Have subpar "puzzles" involving pulling a thing, or shooting a thing (ok, a couple were alright, but again, everything in moderation).
3. Have to chase down in an over crowded (seriously, between the trash, the rain, the particle effects, the neon lights all over, i can't see shit when i'm driving) city, with a thing that handles like an elephant on rollerblades.
And yet they feel like they have to shove it down your throat at every turn, and you know a cool dungeon isn't waiting you next, because they have to fit that goddamn car in there, somewhere.
Finally there are the side activities.
I'm not a completionist, and i am not someone that gets obsessed with side stuff, i did several Riddler puzzles in the old games, just because they were on the way, or they were a nice way to slow down the pace between one intense fight and the other.
But of the side activities i've tried, they all seemed either particularly uncreative:
Free the firemen = beat a random crowd of baddies.
Clear radio towers = beat a random crowd of baddies and explode their computer.
Azrael = Beat a random crowd of baddies, without getting hit.
Or downright infuriating:
Riddler races are some of the worst gaming i can remember playing, no hyperbole.
Whoever designed those, please i beg you, consider another career.
How fun do you think it is to pilot a car with the assof a rhino, through Trackmania style courses? How about if it explodes when touched? How about if you're on a timer? How about if you have to ride in on walls, while dodging obstacles, while not losing speed? How about the beauty topples over like a Giraffe on a trampoline, if you take a turn too fast? But wait, here's the best part: If you run out of time, you don't just get to restart, you actually have to finish the lap to have another shot.
All the while, the Riddler is "taunting your intelligence" (how are these intelligence tests, again? I guess if you're stupid enough to submit yourself to this, you already failed) with oh so amazing writing quality you probably can imagine.
It's even more annoying since Catwoman's head explodes if you don't complete his bullshit, so story wise, it's something harder to just shrug off.
Not that it matter anyway, since the writing, story and voice acting are all pretty shitty.
Admittedly i'm no super hero comicbook fan, but Jesus isn't it tiring to have these single gimmick personas go on and on and on, saying the same exact thing in 50 different ways? The worst part is you have to hear every dialog again, when you fail and reload (my major gripe with the old Arkham games, too).
God almighty am i tired of everyone's shtick in the game, including Batman's (who's particularly dumb, to be the world's greatest detective).
I guess that's a critique you could've moved to the old games too, though i don't think the Batman's VO felt this dead in his delivery, and honestly, it's the 4th time in a row they all team up to kill the bat, and they're gonna break him, and Gotham is ours, and blah blah blah.
Every dramatic turn feels really hollow the 4th time around.
I don't want to judge the story too harshly, just because i haven't finished the game yet, but so far i see nothing that grabs me in that sense, and i really couldn't care less about the identity of the Arkham Knight, as much as i would like to know how he got to manufacture hundreds of super advanced drones, without anyone in government noticing.
Though seeing how he beats me over the head about how he knows all my tricks, i'm assuming he's just some old ally, like Nightwing or Robin or some shit (though i know that's a twist already used in the Batman's lore, so maybe it's a play on that expectation).
Anyway, i think i'll try to minimize the frustration, and go about the critical path, there are still moments when i'm enjoying the game, though they are constantly buried by the next frustrating brilliant idea they come up with "sneak behind these tanks and blast them in the behind!" Oh joy! but i think it would bother me more if i just left it undone, anyway.
So i guess it's time ask: what did y'all think about it? Is it just franchise fatigue? Am i just salty because that last Riddler Race is just a nightmare?
Also, do not bother tagging any spoiler, i really don't care about any possible plot twist, so have at it.
