Batman: Arkham Knight Review

   For a game whose motto is "be the Batman", Arkham Knight mostly does anything but disappoint. As a Batman fan and a gamer I can honestly say, I hold Batman: Arkham Knight in almost the highest regard. The well put together combat mechanics feel as good as they did in previous games, if not better, and the environmental takedowns add a nice bit of Batman-ish flare to the normal acrobatic fist fights. To be honest I like the combat, but I have always been a huge fan of the predator (stealth) levels. The predator sections are well done. My personal favorites are the Two-Face predator levels. Now, most of the time difficulty was not an issue. As a matter of fact normal mode was most of the time quite easy (to me at least). If you are new to the series easy difficulty might not be a bad place to start.  If you are, however, a veteran of the previous Arkham games (like me) you may find even normal mode easy most of the time, but there were times (namely the Batmobile boss battles) when, even though I paused the game and switched to easy difficulty, I had to try again multiple times. The Batmobile was mostly a beautiful addition to the gameplay, but sometimes it was just too much Batmobile. The odd things that they require you to do in the Batmobile include, but are not limited to, parkour, stealth, and obstacle courses. The Batmobile is fun as a fast car and a tank. It is not fun jumping around like we're playing Assassin's Creed: Black Car. I do really like the Batmobile, so don't get me wrong. Only certain portions are annoying. Traversal by air works just as well as it ever did.

Mostly, I am very pleased by the storyline. The Arkham Knight's identity may be a bit of a let down, but other than that I love the story. They play around with some really cool ideas, but if you haven't played at least Arkham City you may be quite confused. The way they tell the story especially near the end is a real treat. The city, aside from being huge, feels very alive and vibrant. I have only done some of the side quests, but the ones I did do were expertly written. Some of the villains in the side quests are meant to be a mystery, but if you've read the comics they may not be a big surprise. The music is, as ever, haunting, brooding, and all things Batman. Nick Arundel and David Buckley do a magnificent job at creating a beautiful score. The voice acting is great (Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill especially). I love this game. It is in my opinion the epitome of everything a Batman game should be.
Music: 10/10
Voice Acting: 10/10
Story: 9.75/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 10/10
OVERALL SCORE: 9.5/10