You'll also be at the mercy of upgrade points to improve these disciplines within the WayneTech menu system, though you'll be surprised as to how quickly you acquire those tokens.Īrkham Knight introduces a new way to take out a gang of enemies with the fear system, which becomes available after a successful silent takedown is performed. The free-flowing melee combat system returns with a few new tricks, while zip-lining and gliding exhibit some upgrades as well. The Batmobile's introduction to the game changes a lot of the core gameplay in Arkham Knight, but you'll still be familiar with a majority of what's being offered here if you've played an Arkham game before. It's all pretty absurd, but I can't claim to know a better way of getting around that touchy Batman subject. And if you do make contact with an enemy while in the Batmobile, the car delivers an electric shock to your victim, followed by a hilarious grunt or moan - which is basically the game's way of saying "Batman didn't kill that guy, he's just electrocuted and knocked out, but he's still very much alive, we promise." During car chases you can fire homing missiles that will explode and flip the car you're chasing, but the bad guys always seem to crawl out of the wreck unscathed. When it's aimed at bad guys, the Batmobile fires non-lethal rubber bullets. So obviously being the Batman purist I am, I immediately began to wonder, "how the hell is Batman not murdering people left and right with this thing?" Well, it's complicated and requires a bit of suspending one's disbelief. This layer of gameplay feels much more like a watered down military tank sim than superhero game, but it's all fun nevertheless. You'll also fight unmanned drones in Battle Mode, which introduces a brand-new dynamic for the Arkham series. If you've ever played a game with universal vehicular controls, you'll often enter Battle Mode when you're really trying to apply the brakes instead.īattle Mode is used to interact with certain items in the world and even complete puzzles and side missions. Switching between the two can be jarring. It allows you to spin on a dime and strafe in any direction as opposed to the loose and easy-to-fishtail standard driving scheme. Battle Mode changes the control scheme for the Batmobile, too, and you'll find it much more satisfying and responsive.
Holding the left trigger turns the Batmobile into Battle Mode, a super-maneuverable tank state that arms a machine gun and powerful cannon. For the most part, that's what you get - but that's no guarantee you'll enjoy the gameplay mechanics it has to offer. I wanted variety that would seamlessly give me a balance of everything. At the same time, I wanted the Batmobile's implementation to be practical and unforced. I didn't want Arkham Knight to turn into some kind of bizarro "Grand Theft Gotham" situation where you'd rather drive to a waypoint instead of zip-lining and gliding your way there. What I was concerned with was Arkham Knight's most notable new feature, the one thing die-hards had been clamoring for: the Batmobile. I'd seen Arkham Knight played a number of times, so I wasn't worried about the visuals (and let's be honest, at this point no one should be overly concerned with graphical prowess). And of course, with most new-generation games, there's a smattering of the usual lens flares and artful glares that really add to the atmosphere. The game is played at night (seriously, does the sun ever rise in Gotham City?) during a nasty rainstorm, so you're treated to a handful of granular weather effects.