Little is known about the recently announced Batman: Arkham Knight. In fact, many people are skeptical about the game, mostly because of the disappointing turn-out of Batman: Arkham Origins. Well, we sum up the 5 most important reasons why we believe Batman: Arkham Knight will not only be a great game, but will most likely be the most complex in the series.
[promo title=”1.) The developers”][/promo]
First things first. Batman: Arkham Asylum was a beautiful game, in every possible way. Arkham City continued and expanded upon that successful recipe. And then the development was taken away from Rocksteady, and was given to the internal Warner Bros. team. Warner Bros. previously only acted as a publisher. The results of the transition are clearly visible. Arkham Origins was a rushed project, and was nothing more than a cheap money-grab. Whether you’re a fan of the series or not, this aspect is pretty much obvious. If anything reinforces this statement, it’s Warner Bros. February announcement, in which the developer/publisher announced that it will not be fixing bugs in Arkham Origins anymore (even though there’s still an abundance of game-breaking and crash-causing bugs in the game), and will only be releasing a DLC for the game, further underlining the idea of cash-grabs.
Anyway, they’re gone, as far as development is concerned. Batman: Arkham Knight will be developed by Rocksteady once again. It’s back to the roots for the Dark Knight, and that’s a good thing. Rocksteady have delivered so far with their Arkham games, and I’m confident they will do so again.
[promo title=”2.) Voice Acting”][/promo]
It has been confirmed that Kevin Conroy will be reprising his role as the Dark Knight once again. Roger Craig Smith replaced Conroy in Batman: Arkham Origins, and it was certainly not an upgrade. Back to the roots once more. Why is this so important? Let’s just say that Kevin Conroy is THE voice for Batman, at least on small screens. From the older Batman cartoons, to the Justice League series and pretty much everything of quality associated with the Dark Knight (except for blockbuster films, of course), he’s the one to give life to the character, and frankly, nobody does it better. If I hear Conroy’s voice, I immediately think of Batman, and that’s why his return for the last game in the Arkham franchise is a most welcomed one.
[promo title=”3.) Batmobile”][/promo]
About damn time – that’s all I can say. Yes, the Batmobile will be a crucial part of Batman: Arkham Knight. In an interview with Game Informer, game director Sefton Hill detailed that the Batmobile received a great deal of attention. In fact, it turns out that the care takes up 160 MB of memory, which is damn impressive. Expect extreme levels of detail and high textures. And, if it looks half as good as the Batmobile featured in the CGI trailer, it will be hard to get players to jump out of it. It’s a mixture between the comic-book classic and the Nolan Dark Knight car, and it looks simply epic. If Rocksteady manages to provide an enjoyable driving experience, fans will surely be delighted.
[promo title=”4.) Singleplayer”][/promo]
You might consider this a minus, but in my book, this is a good thing. There are multiplayer games, and there are singleplayer games. Some work best if they stick at what they were made for. Sure, Mass Effect 3 had multiplayer, but it wasn’t really anything special. Same goes for Tomb Raider. Just inserting the multiplayer mode for the sake of it can be a waste of time and resources. Rocksteady plans to focus solely on the singleplayer experience, and invest time and effort into making it memorable. Which is completely fine in my book. I can enjoy other multiplayer games. When I’m thinking about an Arkham game, I want an intense and immersive experience that I can fondly think back to. And that’s precisely what Rocksteady is aiming for with Batman: Arkham Knight, so I have no objections with the singleplayer focus, on the contrary.
[promo title=”5.) Villains”][/promo]
Some of the villains in Batman: Arkham Knight won’t be completely new. The Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, Two-Face and the Penguin are among the confirmed villains. Nothing spectacular here, right? Well, you’ll be pleased to know that the guys at Rocksteady have collaborated with DC Comics, and have actually designed a completely original and new villain for the game, one that promises to be a worthy foe for the Dark Knight. This aspect might please hardcore comic-book fans too, since they’ll get to see a completely new villain in action. If done right, this could even spawn new comic-book series. Of course, this also means that we’ll be getting some decent boss-fights in Batman: Arkham Knight, which are definitely a good reason to look forward to the game.
Of course, there are many other reasons why Batman: Arkham Knight has the potential of becoming a highly successful title. It promises to bring a large, open-world Gotham as a setting (the largest of the series yet), will most likely get some significant visual updates (it’s coming for the Playstation 4 and Xbox One, as well as the PC), and it’s also the last title in the series, so Rocksteady needs to get it right. What are your expectations from the game?