3.5/5 ★ – sirblocko's review of Batman: Arkham Knight.

Batman Arkham Knight is a polarising piece of art for most fans. Billed as the big finale to the Rocksteady Arkham trilogy. This game for some was a lacklustre experience, for some, it was the perfect ending. My opinion of this game is of the former. The intro and outro of this game in my mind, are really good, but despite multiple playthroughs, the game always fall apart for me in the middle up until the last act. The massive "twist" that every Batman fan seen coming from a mile away was poorly executed because it wasn't set up anywhere else in the trilogy. If this game was really the big ending it claimed to be, we would have seen plot points from other games tied up. The combat is even more polished than Arkham City. It's as "flowy" as ever and it's practically as perfect as it could be. The detective portions are really cool and like the tagline this trilogy carries, really makes you "feel like Batman". The Batmobile is something fans asked for since the first game and now that it's here in Arkham Knight. It's handled terribly. There's an over reliance on it and the worst moment about it, is the side mission where we fight Deathstroke, or where we shoot Deathstroke. The perfect mirror to Batman's martial arts prowess is relegated to a tank battle we've had too many of already in game. I'm sure nearly every review of this game is going to include the word "tank". That's only one example of the Batmobile. I think the best way to fix this is to remove the combat capabilities of the car entirely. Have it be for purely running, chasing and traversing the massive open world. On that topic, this game finally gives us a Gotham City we can run around in and explore. It's absolutely massive and ticks all the boxes for me. The side missions in the city are honestly a little more engaging than the main story, that's something I'm not quite sure I like saying. My highlights of said side missions (that's including the DLC pack) being Professor Pyg, Azrael, Man-Bat, Mr. Freeze and The League Of Assassins. What keeps me coming back to this game in 2022 are the Challenge Maps, now I say that as a Season Pass owner, which I consider a privilege as it adds a whole 7 new playable characters (Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, Azrael, Batgirl, Harley Quinn and Red Hood) and tons of new combat and stealth maps + tracks for the Batmobile. They're super fun in all respects and experimenting with the gadgets and playstyles. Lastly, I'll add that this game has some of the most wonderful graphics I've seen. It holds up in 2022 and a remaster for the PS5 and the Xbox Series X would look even more spectacular. Is it as good as the other two mainline games in the trilogy? In my personal opinion, no. Is it worth buying to complete your collection and finish the trilogy, yes. I love Rocksteady studios and what they did for Batman fans with the 3 stories and they deserve their props entirely. It's not perfect, it's got it's problems but I think anyone experiencing it the first time will enjoy it.