LTTP: Batman: Arkham Knight - Oh look, another game made lesser by being open world...

[SofNascimento]

Let me begin saying that for I think Arkham City to be a extremely impressive game. Its quality is everywhere and in every detail. The game does a lot of things and does a lot of things extremely well. So after playing it multiple times I was really excited by Rocksteady next project. Then Arkham Knight was announced and with time my hype just kind of faded. The marketing felt off and they botched the launch massively. I mean, you got do a particularly bad job to have to literally remove the game from Steam so that you can fix it.

So I ignored it. Many impressions also made me less likely to buy it and eventually I got it for free from with EGS and now it was the time to finally play it. The good news is that that awesome quality from Arkham City is still there... in some places. The Batmobile was as good as I thought they would make it and it's one of the coolest vehicles I ever saw in a game. Just fantastic, impressive design. Combat and storytelling are also a highlight. But I want to make one point that has been done time and time again (but this time with pictures!), how games often are worse for being open world.

Let's see how the three Arkham games made by Rocksteady are structured, in a simplified and possibly very, very crude manner.

Arkham Asylum

Arkham City

Arkham Knight

Much needed legend:

Main content/meaningful side quests
Side stuff, exploration and possibility for backtracking
Wasting your time and repetitive, meaningless stuff
Parts I didn't know how to cut them out

You see, the quality is stil there, but there is so much that adds nothing to the game and just waste your time. Therefore that good content gets diluted. For example I could mention those towers that you have to disable or checkpoints or car chases. They are crude gameplay, the same thing you do on missions, but without any context to set them apart (with a few expections). I think one telltale of a bad designed open wold game is that you feel your wasting your time going from point to point, that the open world might be simply an empty space that you are forced to travel. And Gotham felt exactly that.

One small example, the madhatter quest in City and Knight, you can guess which one is which.

In both, the fight at the end is fun and creative and unique enough to set itself apart from all the others in the game, even if only by its incredible visuals. Yet while in City is go there, do it, have fun. Knight make you waste 15 minutes of your time.

Not to mention the problems with the story and how contrived it was. Often I would simply pick the next closest icon to do whatever missions it was, and because missions are divided in multiple parts, they often didn't have a nice flow to then. I remember saving a firefights and then Batman discovered it was firefly behind those fires... expect I had already captured him.

Morever, all that yellow part that is just a waste of time? It takes effort. It takes time and it takes money to make. Gotham is very beautiful and well built, but dead. And there is roughness to Knight that wasn't in City, surely because a lot of resources were put into things that didn't make the game better. I mean, think of memorable boss fights from City. Now think of memorable boss fights from Knight? There is a brutal difference in City's favor.

Running around with the car and ejecting as if you're a railgun bullet is extremely fun, but is it worth making an open world game just because of those moments? Is that the only way to do it?

It didn't make Arkham Knight a bad game, far from that. I think it's fantastic. But it won't leave the same overhwelming impression City did.

Anyway... I also wanted to say I wish Rocksteady did something else next. Give me a Wonder Woman game.

ps: Origins is a good game that suffer from some of those problems as well. It shouldn't be forgotten but it's not as good as the Rocksteady games.

 

[SJRB]

Kinda baffled at your "search for car" remarks, since the game literally has a dedicated "bring the car to me"-button. I can't recall a single moment where I was searching for the Batmobile because there is no need for that whatsoever. You don't go look for Roach in Witcher 3 either.

While narratively probably the most unfocused, I feel that the open world was a HUGE step in my enjoyment of Arkham Knight. The visuals, the atmosphere, the music; It's an incredible game for sure.

Not without flaws though. The Excavator "boss fight" is probably one of the worst, most frustrating sequences I've experienced. The overabundance of Batmobile bossfights really ruins the later segments of the game.

But man, those visuals. And that music..

 

[Lotus]

I had literally just beat this 2 days ago. Can't say I disagree with any of this. Just too much damn padding.

And now I finally see what people mean about the excessive reliance on the Batmobile. The vehicle itself is fantastic to move around in and control, but the way they tie it to so many puzzles and boss fights is really irksome.

That said, I kinda did like this story the most out of all of them. I mean, the Arkham Knight part was pretty whatever, but all the stuff with Scarecrow and Joker was neat.

 

[Doc Laserstein]

I loved Gotham, it's one of my favorite open world designs ever. It's gorgeous and atmospheric, and small enough to never feel overwhelming. It's true there's a lot of filler (looking at you, Riddler) but my favorite memories from Arkham Knight are just batmanning (grappling and gliding, specifically) around Gotham.

Traversal in AK was so much goddamn fun, and I can't imagine it would have been nearly so much so without an open Gotham.

 

[Serene]

Other than the reliance on the Batmobile I completely disagree. I thought the structure of all the side missions with the various investigations and stuff was a great evolution on what Arkham City had done before.

 

[No Depth]

Kinda baffled at your "search for car" remarks, since the game literally has a dedicated "bring the car to me"-button. I can't recall a single moment where I was searching for the Batmobile because there is no need for that whatsoever. You don't go look for Roach in Witcher 3 either.

While narratively probably the most unfocused, I feel that the open world was a HUGE step in my enjoyment of Arkham Knight. The visuals, the atmosphere, the music; It's an incredible game for sure.

Not without flaws though. The Excavator "boss fight" is probably one of the worst, most frustrating sequences I've experienced. The overabundance of Batmobile bossfights really ruins the later segments of the game.

But man, those visuals. And that music..

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Agreed all around. Played the game myself a couple years ago and only the late game tank sequences left me cold.

Otherwise I was very impressed and came away feeling very different from the OP.

 

[CorethPWilshire]

It was Arkham City that took a step back by adding the open world aspect (especially considering how completely nonsensical the open world was) and then Knight regressed even more by adding the Batmobile.

That said, I still love these games.

 

[Deleted member 1003]

The tank battles are the worst.

 

[Listai]

I've tried to finish the game twice now because visually it still looks incredible and I love the setting. But I find myself just getting bored with the padding.

The batmobile stuff is especially dull.

 

[Ebnas]

Yeah Arkham Knight was pretty trash. Staggered at how bad the boss fights were after the tour de force that was City's. Tank combat was possibly the most boring game mechanic to ever take up a major slice of the gameplay loop.

 

[SofNascimento]

Kinda baffled at your "search for car" remarks, since the game literally has a dedicated "bring the car to me"-button. I can't recall a single moment where I was searching for the Batmobile because there is no need for that whatsoever. You don't go look for Roach in Witcher 3 either.

While narratively probably the most unfocused, I feel that the open world was a HUGE step in my enjoyment of Arkham Knight. The visuals, the atmosphere, the music; It's an incredible game for sure.

Not without flaws though. The Excavator "boss fight" is probably one of the worst, most frustrating sequences I've experienced. The overabundance of Batmobile bossfights really ruins the later segments of the game.

But man, those visuals. And that music..

Click to shrink...

The cars are not the batmobile, they are cars with hostages in them that you have to find close to the location of the quest mark.

 

[SunBroDave]

Can't agree. Arkham City feels like they took the same activities from Arkham Asylum and dumped them into an open world.

Arkham Knight feels like they actually added meaningful new activities that take advantage of the open world.

Arkham Knight stumbles in the narrative department (despite some pretty crazy story beats here and there), but in terms of gameplay, it's easily the strongest in the franchise.

 

[Swift_Gamer]

Pretty much almost every game is diminished by their open world. The amount of resources that goes in the development of said world and could be used for something else just irks me. I'm glad there are less and less open world games nowadays and devs are making their games linear and focused. Ubisoft model can rot in hell for all I care.

 

[Nintendo]

I disagree. Being an actual open world made it the best Arkham game. There's not a single moment traversing the open world where I thought I was wasting my time. The city design for traversal options like the Batmobile, grapple hook, and gliding is perfect. The feeling of being Batman in that game never gets old. The side activities are very good and fun except the tank stuff.

 

[SofNascimento]

I loved Gotham, it's one of my favorite open world designs ever. It's gorgeous and atmospheric, and small enough to never feel overwhelming. It's true there's a lot of filler (looking at you, Riddler) but my favorite memories from Arkham Knight are just batmanning (grappling and gliding, specifically) around Gotham.

Traversal in AK was so much goddamn fun, and I can't imagine it would have been nearly so much so without an open Gotham.

Click to shrink...

Funny, that's how I would describe Gotham in Arkham City, expect I think the Riddler content is excellent. In fact, it's one of the best collectables I've seen in a game. They are very good in Knight as well, but forcing you to get them for the true ending was a msitake.

City got the size right, you can grapple and slide and glide all you want. But for hundreds of meters, not thousands.

It was Arkham City that took a step back by adding the open world aspect (especially considering how completely nonsensical the open world was) and then Knight regressed even more by adding the Batmobile.

That said, I still love these games.

Click to shrink...

As I mentioned, I think City got the scope just right. It's an open world in a way, but also not. It's small enough to feel just a big sandbox. And that's how it felt to me, one big amusement park for Batman. I remember thinking Batman must really enjoy being Batman, because that was so much fun. No wonder he let the villains get out time and time again.

 

[playXray]

It was Arkham City that took a step back by adding the open world aspect (especially considering how completely nonsensical the open world was) and then Knight regressed even more by adding the Batmobile.

That said, I still love these games.

Click to shrink...

I agree. They're an amazing set of games, but it was City that first brought in the "open world makes it less fun" aspect. For me, Asylum is the tightest and most fun of them all (haven't played Origins TBH).

 

[Deleted member 6263]

The tank battles were a novelty for about 10 minutes and then got to be a pain in the rear but it was still a fun game overall (minues those dumbass Riddler trophies).

I do agree that this type of open world is a hindrance for players, and usually aren't as enthralling as developers think they will be. And I get why it's done because bigger land mass, to most people, equal better value for a full priced game, which gets our brains to believe that it'll be higher quality. Problem is it doesn't make the game more fun or add more character to the world because you have to drive/dive for 3 minutes to get from point A to B. I hope open worlds games for next gen don't fall under the same trap - hopefully the new SSD will help mitigate some of that stuff, who knows.

Anyone saying AK is a trash game, though...naw, stop being dramatic. If you actually believe it, your opinion's wrong and foolish.

 

[Dyle]

I prefer Arkham Knight's implementation of the open world over City's. In City the open world is just there and functions essentially as a hub to get you from one piece on content to another, but Knight uses the open world to do new things that play to the system's strengths, on top of everything that had been accomplished in the previous games. Not all of them are great, the late game tank stuff is definitely rough, but I found it to be a more compelling and fleshed out take on the concept that suffered less because of its own flaws than because I had already played City and thus had already experienced a similar take on a much of the content.

 

[ShutterMunster]

Kinda baffled at your "search for car" remarks, since the game literally has a dedicated "bring the car to me"-button. I can't recall a single moment where I was searching for the Batmobile because there is no need for that whatsoever. You don't go look for Roach in Witcher 3 either.

While narratively probably the most unfocused, I feel that the open world was a HUGE step in my enjoyment of Arkham Knight. The visuals, the atmosphere, the music; It's an incredible game for sure.

Not without flaws though. The Excavator "boss fight" is probably one of the worst, most frustrating sequences I've experienced. The overabundance of Batmobile bossfights really ruins the later segments of the game.

But man, those visuals. And that music..

Click to shrink...

1st post nails it.
*Back to work I go*

 

[Chaystic]

I prefer Arkham Knight's implementation of the open world over City's. In City the open world is just there and functions essentially as a hub to get you from one piece on content to another, but Knight uses the open world to do new things that play to the system's strengths, on top of everything that had been accomplished in the previous games. Not all of them are great, the late game tank stuff is definitely rough, but I found it to be a more compelling and fleshed out take on the concept that suffered less because of its own flaws than because I had already played City and thus had already experienced a similar take on a much of the content.

Click to shrink...

This.

Arkham Knight is awesome imo.

 

[Alienous]

I think the game handles the open world pretty well. It sells the idea of traversing Gotham and doing so is fun or at least painless.

I do agree, open world aside, that the scope of the game was too large. It was much bigger than it had gameplay ideas to justify so there's a lot of padding.

Marvel's Spider-Man takes a similar scope but feels more focused, and I think is a better experience for it. The side missions are focused on doing fun or interesting gameplay things, not just wringing the fun out of each game mechanic in turn.

 

[CorethPWilshire]

For me, Asylum is the tightest and most fun of them all.

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For me this is why Asylum is the best. It's focused and I prefer the single-location Metroid-ness of it to the open world.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

I preferred Knight to City, but Asylum was the best due to it's more Metroidvania type design.

 

[Nintendo]

I agree. They're an amazing set of games, but it was City that first brought in the "open world makes it less fun" aspect. For me, Asylum is the tightest and most fun of them all (haven't played Origins TBH).

Click to shrink...

For me this is why Asylum is the best. It's focused and I prefer the single-location Metroid-ness of it to the open world.

Click to shrink...

I recently played through Asylum again a few weeks ago and I hated the metroidvania style map. It's really boring and repetitive. Traversing the island between the main buildings is really bad and they filled it with annoying enemies every few feet just for the sake of it. It's a good game but not tight or most fun by any means.

 

[CorethPWilshire]

I recently played through Asylum again a few weeks ago and I hated the metroidvania style map. It's really boring and repetitive. Traversing the island between the main buildings is really bad and they filled it with annoying enemies every few feet just for the sake of it. It's a good game but not tight or most fun by any means.

Click to shrink...

Bummer that you didn't like it. I thought it was anything but repetitive, I loved how the environment and enemy encounter design constantly changed through the entire game as time went on (adding snipers, the effects of Poison Ivy's arc, etc.). Even though there is some back-and-forth they do a lot to change it up each time. To each their own.

 

[Kaswa101]

I actually love AK and its design. My favourite of the series tbh

 

[Oneandonly16]

Kinda baffled at your "search for car" remarks, since the game literally has a dedicated "bring the car to me"-button. I can't recall a single moment where I was searching for the Batmobile because there is no need for that whatsoever. You don't go look for Roach in Witcher 3 either.

While narratively probably the most unfocused, I feel that the open world was a HUGE step in my enjoyment of Arkham Knight. The visuals, the atmosphere, the music; It's an incredible game for sure.

Not without flaws though. The Excavator "boss fight" is probably one of the worst, most frustrating sequences I've experienced. The overabundance of Batmobile bossfights really ruins the later segments of the game.

But man, those visuals. And that music..

Click to shrink...

The last mission for Mad Hatter in Arkham Knight requires you find police cars around the city that are rigged to explode with Police officers in the trunk. I think that was what OP was referring to.

Other than that I agree with this post completely.

 

[Avenger]

I still gotta get around to playing all these games.

 

[ShaggsMagoo]

I would say the bigger problem with Arkham Knight was their unwillingness to stick with the story they were telling instead of backtracking in the last quarter of the game.

 

[SofNascimento]

I would say the bigger problem with Arkham Knight was their unwillingness to stick with the story they were telling instead of backtracking in the last quarter of the game.

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I thought this was the norm with the Arkham games, they always feel they are telling parallel stories that are somewhat connected.

 

[minimalism]

Arkham City and Arkham Knight are the paragons of their genre in my opinion. I didn't realize how good they were until I tried Spiderman and didn't like it because it tried to be Arkham but just felt like a bad knockoff.

 

[SofNascimento]

Arkham City and Arkham Knight are the paragons of their genre in my opinion. I didn't realize how good they were until I tried Spiderman and didn't like it because it tried to be Arkham but just felt like a bad knockoff.

Click to shrink...

Do you mean superhero games or openworld?

 

[denverchickennuggets]

I love Arkham Knight. It might be my favorite of the series. Traversing the world is so freaking fun and once you get a few upgrades switching back and forth from flying to the batmobile is awesome.

And the Joker twist is so good, so many great moments when he appears to taunt you.

Also, it has low key maybe my favorite moment in the series—when Joker sings the song taunting you about all your failures in all of the games. Somehow I never see this part mentioned, it's one of my favorite gaming moments ever. I waited around to hear the whole song.

Game gets an underserved bad rap in my opinion.

 

[minimalism]

Do you mean superhero games or openworld?

Click to shrink...

I meant in terms of combat, traversal, and the world.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

I appreciate the illustration in the OP for Arkham Asylum because it at least does away with the notion the game is a Metroidvania.

And while it could've been more balanced in its distribution of its various types of gameplay/side content, everything Knight did, it did comparably well or better than the other games in its series. If people simply dislike open world traversal or spatial puzzles, then I get how they'd dislike portions of Knight, but they're integrated seamlessly into the overall game, and are done well in their own right. Not to mention how the city is built around the player's abilities/tools, and how appropriate an open world city is for a Batman game.

When I think of how City and Knight successfully mapped all those abilities and systems to a gamepad (completely in City imo), I'm still amazed.

 

[cnorwood]

The batmobile and riddler trophies are the only things that ruined the game for me, especially the Batmobile. It was cool at first then it just became "again? Uggh" Other than that its a really good game

 

[SofNascimento]

I meant in terms of combat, traversal, and the world.

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I see. I have no played Spiderman, but when I see some people saying it's better than the Arkham game I can help but feel strong doubts.

I appreciate the illustration in the OP for Arkham Asylum because it at least does away with the notion the game is a Metroidvania.

And while it could've been more balanced in its distribution of its various types of gameplay/side content, everything Knight did, it did comparably well or better than the other games in its series. When I think of how City and Knight successfully mapped all those abilities and systems to a gamepad (completely in City imo), I'm still amazed.

Click to shrink...

Indeed! I thought this as well. It's incredible how they make so many moves, abiltiies and gadgets avaialble to you. Think of the disarm bladed weapon knockdown. If you just hold the button and back you dodge it, but if you hold it just at the right times you can knockout your enemy. The combination of buttons, two buttons, hold for extra effect, etc is amazing.

 

[TaySan]

The over reliance of the batmobile is what hurt the game for me. Not the open world. Visuals were fantastic at the time baring the horrendous performance of the PC port at launch, but that's been addressed.

 

[MnM]

Best Batman game. Excited to see what Rocksteady is cooking for next gen.

 

[Deleted member 41520]

Disagree. The game is an astonishing superhero simulator which has literally everything you could want from a superhero title in it, and all of it is unbelievably well executed.

You find all the padding annoying? Well, ignore it. You don't have to 100% the game. Play only the meaningful content. The "padding" was perfect for players like me as it simply gave me a light excuse to spend more and more time in this incredible world and with these incredible mechanics.

The Batmobile only overstays it's welcome if you mainline the story missions. The majority of the game's actual content doesn't use the Batmobile. I only realised that on my second and third playthroughs.

Edit: Arkham Asylum is still the best "Batman" game, essentially being a tight little Batman roleplay. City is the worst of both worlds. Knight is just a different thing altogether, a huge superhero simulator.

 

[Deleted member 18161]

If you're not an RPG where the grind can be beneficial in an endless cycle of gear progression then going open World should be carefully considered.

 

[NDA-Man]

I'll be honest, I tried the game about a month ago and gave up after a half hour. I found the driving that miserable. I didn't give it much of a chance, I admit, but goddam, it just felt terrible to me. I loved Asylum. Loved City. I even liked Arkham Origins, the ugly, non-Rocksteady stepchild. But between the COD esque intro from the POV of a doomed cop and the Batmobile, literally all the enthusiasm I had for the game was sucked out of me.

Like... I dunno what it is abut the batmobile. It's not just that I don't like driving. I liked Crackdown. I liked Prototype. I liked Mercenaries. I like a lot of sandboxes with a lot of vehicles. But something about the whole car felt off to me in Knight, to an appreciable degree that made it outright annoying to play.

You find all the padding annoying? Well, ignore it. You don't have to 100% the game. Play only the meaningful content. The "padding" was perfect for players like me as it simply gave me a light excuse to spend more and more time in this incredible world and with these incredible mechanics.

The Batmobile only overstays it's welcome if you mainline the story missions. The majority of the game's actual content doesn't use the Batmobile. I only realised that on my second and third playthroughs.

Click to shrink...

I do not mean to be a dick, but if the complaints are "its too padded" and "the batmobile sucks", then people who hate both are presented with two reasons not to play. Because if the Batmobile only overstays its welcome if you don't skip the padding (and believe me, it overstayed it's welcome in the tutorial for me), then you're left with doing the padding, which you want to skip, but that means proportionately more batmobile.

 

[WrenchNinja]

I will never forgive them for what they did with Deathstroke

 

[MarvelousIntent]

I'm actually in the middle of my second New Game+ run with Arkham Knight and god damn is Gotham gorgeous. The lights, the colors, the rain, it so beautiful and driving around in the Batmobile alone makes the open-world worth it. I can say the only elements I truly disliked in Arkham Knight were the battank sections, the boss fights, and the races.

In both, the fight at the end is fun and creative and unique enough to set itself apart from all the others in the game, even if only by its incredible visuals. Yet while in City is go there, do it, have fun. Knight make you waste 15 minutes of your time.

Not to mention the problems with the story and how contrived it was. Often I would simply pick the next closest icon to do whatever missions it was, and because missions are divided in multiple parts, they often didn't have a nice flow to then. I remember saving a firefights and then Batman discovered it was firefly behind those fires... expect I had already captured him.

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I don't think you properly finished that quest or you weren't paying attention. Who did you arrest after finding all of the firefighters?

Morever, all that yellow part that is just a waste of time? It takes effort. It takes time and it takes money to make. Gotham is very beautiful and well built, but dead. And there is roughness to Knight that wasn't in City, surely because a lot of resources were put into things that didn't make the game better. I mean, think of memorable boss fights from City. Now think of memorable boss fights from Knight? There is a brutal difference in City's favor.

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I can absolutely agree with this. Did you finish doing all of the militia's busywork to discover the worst boss fight in the entire game? No idea what they were thinking with that.

Running around with the car and ejecting as if you're a railgun bullet is extremely fun, but is it worth making an open world game just because of those moments? Is that the only way to do it?

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Yes, it was absolutely worth it. The only way? Probably not, but I'm satisfied with what I got.

It didn't make Arkham Knight a bad game, far from that. I think it's fantastic. But it won't leave the same overhwelming impression City did.

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You're criticisms are certainly fair. Arkham Knight is a hell of a mixed bag. I didn't even bat an eye toward the busy work that were towers, encampments, and tank battles. In the context of Gotham being under siege it makes sense and some of them are even designed as puzzles, but the game doesn't go for enough to make them unique. So often it's just a quick brawl or stealth section. They are the weakest parts of the game for sure.

With all that said, Arkham Knight is still my favorite Arkham game to play. The gameplay just feels the best out of all of them, the story is okay, but the presentation is fantastic, and Mark Hamil is just the best, and that final hallucination is just *chef's kiss*. There's just so much to love about this game. Sure, the execution wasn't as good as it could or should have been in a lot of places, but what it get's right it knocks right out of the park. Arkham Knight is a game I won't be forgetting and will stand as one of my favorite games this gen. The Arkham Knight identity reveal was weak, though.

Anyway... I also wanted to say I wish Rocksteady did something else next. Give me a Wonder Woman game.

ps: Origins is a good game that suffer from some of those problems as well. It shouldn't be forgotten but it's not as good as the Rocksteady games.

Click to shrink...

We are certainly long overdue a AAA Wonder Woman game.

 

[SofNascimento]

I'm actually in the middle of my second New Game+ run with Arkham Knight and god damn is Gotham gorgeous. The lights, the colors, the rain, it so beautiful and driving around in the Batmobile alone makes the open-world worth it. I can say the only elements I truly disliked in Arkham Knight were the battank sections, the boss fights, and the races.


I don't think you properly finished that quest or you weren't paying attention. Who did you arrest after finding all of the firefighters?

I can absolutely agree with this. Did you finish doing all of the militia's busywork to discover the worst boss fight in the entire game? No idea what they were thinking with that.

Yes, it was absolutely worth it. The only way? Probably not, but I'm satisfied with what I got.


You're criticisms are certainly fair. Arkham Knight is a hell of a mixed bag. I didn't even bat an eye toward the busy work that were towers, encampments, and tank battles. In the context of Gotham being under siege it makes sense and some of them are even designed as puzzles, but the game doesn't go for enough to make them unique. So often it's just a quick brawl or stealth section. They are the weakest parts of the game for sure.

With all that said, Arkham Knight is still my favorite Arkham game to play. The gameplay just feels the best out of all of them, the story is okay, but the presentation is fantastic, and Mark Hamil is just the best, and that final hallucination is just *chef's kiss*. There's just so much to love about this game. Sure, the execution wasn't as good as it could or should have been in a lot of places, but what it get's right it knocks right out of the park. Arkham Knight is a game I won't be forgetting and will stand as one of my favorite games this gen. The Arkham Knight identity reveal was weak, though.
We are certainly long overdue a AAA Wonder Woman game.

Click to shrink...

I did not in fact finish the firefight quest. I'll be returning to Arkham Knight to finish it but after a while (I think I had some 80-83% done). But the point is that Batman suspects firefly even though he had already arrested it, I mean, the game fail to take into consideration that. Who do you arrest when you finish those quests?

I did not finish those either. But Deathstroke? A previous comment gives a clue to that.

 

[SkyMasterson]

Agreed all around. Played the game myself a couple years ago and only the late game tank sequences left me cold.

Otherwise I was very impressed and came away feeling very different from the OP.

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Was it the sequence where you fight seemingly endless waves of tanks/helicopters? That part was brutal. I was pissed off playing it as what bad design it was ha.

The world and visuals were incredible(and I played it on Xbox). The story was pretty lackluster and fuck locking off the"real" ending if you only solved all the Riddler trophies. That's more bullshit game design.

Overall, I love the series and loved how the Batmobile felt. Just hated the over reliance on it.

 

[Khanimus]

The games going increasingly open world just expose how incapable they are of capturing the core of the Batman fantasy, or more charitably, how difficult it is for them to conceive a way in which the Batman fantasy doesn't contradict gamers' tendencies. Asylum worked, even City got away with a ridiculous scenario that is hardly un-comicbook-like. But Origins and then this revealed the facade as being their only solution.

You can't introduce the Batmobile without risking players running people over. You can't introduce civilians because Batman walking down a crowded street feels inherently wrong. Not to mention the labor required to populate the city with AI.

But even then, everything taking place in one night, the city being empty again and again - they pulled those tricks too many times.

 

[Prine]

Search for Car? Car was searching for me

 

[OutofMana]

Too much bat mobile for my liking. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing technical achievement but it overstayed its welcome. I remember cheering when it got destroyed, lol.

 

[SofNascimento]

The games going increasingly open world just expose how incapable they are of capturing the core of the Batman fantasy, or more charitably, how difficult it is for them to conceive a way in which the Batman fantasy doesn't contradict gamers' tendencies. Asylum worked, even City got away with a ridiculous scenario that is hardly un-comicbook-like. But Origins and then this revealed the facade as being their only solution.

You can't introduce the Batmobile without risking players running people over. You can't introduce civilians because Batman walking down a crowded street feels inherently wrong. Not to mention the labor required to populate the city with AI.

But even then, everything taking place in one night, the city being empty again and again - they pulled those tricks too many times.

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I don't follow. I always read people praising for the games for how Batman-y they were. Could you elaborate?

Too much bat mobile for my liking. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing technical achievement but it overstayed it's welcome. I remember cheering when it got destroyed, lol.

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It's a common criticism, and we can't see that there, but I didn't feel that way. I think you could say there was too much Batmobile, but I thought it was more because there was less of the other stuff. I mean, what boss fight there is on foot? It's more set pieces fights than bosses. Nothing compared to Mr. Freeze or Ra's Al Ghul from City, to name two.

I suppose I'm saying the same thing in a different way, but my point is that you would fix that by having more content with Batman on foot, rather than having less with the vehicle. I also felt it was very well integrated into the core gameplay, parts where you had to use it to move foward as Batman were fun.