Batman: Arkham Knight: Preview (Igromir 2014)
The final part of Batman’s adventures doesn’t look too good on paper. You get kind of upset when a representative Rocksteady in a twenty-minute interview he manages to repeat several times that the main feature of the new part is the Batmobile. The list of innovations and improvements is small, and talking about it with the authors is even a little awkward. But when you pick up a gamepad and try to pass the demo level, it becomes clear: in the case of a series Arkham the formula “the same, but more” once again does not become an insult.
Joker died. Long live the Joker!
The main spoiler regarding the previous part of the series remains in force: The Joker is dead. Deader than Harvey Dent after The Dark Knight. The crime rate in the city has decreased, life has become better, but only for a while – the remaining villains resolutely refused to sleep. This time the Scarecrow declared himself in charge, planting more gas bombs on the territory of Gotham.
Civilians had to be evacuated, and the old story repeats itself once again: Batman, thousands of bandits, a dozen supervillains, Commissioner Gordon and his daughter Barbara, Oracle, always online with useful tips. True, a new character is being added – the Arkham Knight, a kind of militarized version of the main character with a huge letter “A” on his chest. This is a completely new character created in partnership with DC.
It was introduced specifically because the comic https://slotsnogamstop.co.uk/review/aztec-paradise/ book about the “bat” is already several decades old, and stories with the same characters have exhausted themselves. But the newcomer is just a man of mystery. Despite the fact that the villain’s name is in the title, there is no information about him at all. The authors only strongly emphasize that the Knight was hired by the Scarecrow. They also clarify that the “explosive ending” of the trilogy was invented while working on Arkham City, that is, it will be super logical and pathetic. And this is good, because the screenwriter of the previous two parts did not work on the new one (a reason to worry?).
Nothing will change in the story, of course. Reopened Gotham – five times larger than before, occupying three islands and divided into districts (announced, for example, Chinatown). It all looks amazing “nextgen”: the height of the buildings has increased a couple of times, the amount of detail on the streets is comparable to “pre-rendered” videos. Scattered here and there are story and additional tasks, Riddler riddles and a bunch of random incidents that will persistently distract you during your free exploration of the city.
Methods for solving problems will not change much either. All the old gadgets will remain in their places, the detective mode will still highlight evidence and important clues. The combat system has been "improved to be even smoother". By the way, there are a lot of innovations there: you can select and use melee weapons for a while, covertly knock out three people with one blow, kick enemies onto humming transformers and throw batarangs right in the air. But this is all rather an improvement of already developed mechanics.
In a dark, dark city, a dark, dark knight..
When you look at a representative with bewilderment Rocksteady and you ask: “Really? The Batmobile is the only major innovation?", then he even gets a little offended. According to the developer, this is not just an improvement, but the foundation, the core of the new mechanics. You’ll have to spend a fair amount of gaming time behind the wheel.
Firstly, all of Gotham was originally planned to become the racing capital of the world. Exceptionally spacious streets, artificially widened alleys, large intersections, a huge number of steps (read: jumps) and thousands of destructible objects. The main thing is that the autopilot will bring the car to you anywhere in the city in just a few seconds.
The supercar has two main modes. In addition to the usual “transport” one, a combat one is provided, in which the unit turns into a real tank. The arsenal includes machine guns, rockets and the ability to move in any direction, dodging enemy fire. The combat system is supposedly so good that even a type of additional mission has been invented where you have to shoot back from the approaching waves of the enemy. By the way, there will definitely be racing stages too. In them, the behavior of the Batmobile resembles a bowling ball – it remains to rush, knocking down everything in its path as effectively as possible.
Again, a million little things and nuances follow. As you progress, the vehicle can be developed, improving individual characteristics and unlocking new gadgets. At high speed, they will allow you to eject from the car, and if you want more pathos, you can jump onto the hood of a bandit pickup truck, beat the driver and climb back. You can control the car from a distance, solving Riddler’s riddles or somehow influencing the interior of buildings (by bringing down the ceiling with rockets, for example). The latter, however, only where it is provided for by the developers.
But what you definitely won’t be able to do is drive around Gotham with friends. Developers resolutely refuse even the hypothetical possibility of multiplayer. Like, wrong game, wrong format. And rightly so, because previous experiments in this field turned out to be of no use to anyone.
Completing my trilogy, Rocksteady trying to leave as gracefully as possible. She continues to hone the mechanisms that have been working since the first part, expand everything and everyone, increase the area, the number of polygons, add new elements. Of course, we won’t see anything fundamentally new: the same game on the same old rails. But the previous parts have already collected awards twice, so there is no reason to doubt the quality Arkham Knight.
