Batman: Arkham Knight is the third game in Rocksteady studios Batman franchise (it is technically the fourth game in the series if you count the Arkham Origins game made by Warner Bros. studios, a game which Rocksteady does not acknowledge as they describe Arkham Knight as the wrap-up to their Arkham trilogy). The plot takes place in Gotham City (Arkham Asylum being the first game's setting and Arkham City being the second game's setting) and as such the scope is greater. On the one hand, this makes it easier to have various super-villains throughout the game without it feeling forced. Furthermore due to the manner in which some super villains are introduced through side missions and therefore optional, Gotham feels like a believable place as crime does not stop so Batman can focus on his main mission of thwarting the scarecrow. Speaking of the scarecrow, the main plot sees the Scarecrow threatening Gotham City with a new fear toxin he has concocted and he demonstrates it's effects in a small-scale biological terror attack at the beginning of the game. As a result Gotham City is evacuated, all innocents out of the picture aside from the emergency services that remain and the criminals who thrive on this type of terror and Chaos. This fact is communicated by narration from Commissioner Gordon, a close ally of Batman, and from here the game takes off with Batman perched on a tower overlooking the city. This a city that is open to the player to explore and go anywhere you see fit. The map itself is not huge mind you but in this case it is quality over quantity as the city is intricately detailed with wonderful references to characters, events and so on from the comic book universe. The best references take the form of riddles left by the riddler as optional collectables.
I do not wish to spoil elements of the plot beyond the initial setup. With that in mind, to explain the title of the game, at some point while trying to thwart the scarecrow, you come across the Arkham Knight, a person who has vast military resources and knows many details about Batman such as his fighting style and methods. The Arkham Knight seems to be backing up the scarecrow and acts as something of an enforcer for him. Now the mystery behind Arkham Knight's identity is an interesting one and proves to be a stand-out moment in the storyline. There is however one element to the plot which I found so far-fetched, blurring the line between science-fiction and the supernatural, that I view it as a shoe-horned element that could easily be ignored as it is effectively a sub-plot, separate from the Arkham Knight and Scarecrow plot, that only muddles the overarching main plot. The main story concerns Scarecrow and his plans for poisoning the city and then the Arkham Knight's plans....plans which I will leave for you to discover.
Now moving onto gameplay, the controls are tight as ever with wonderfully designed fighting mechanics, stealth mechanics and traversal. The newest addition to traversal is of course the Batmobile and this brings with it some nice, new, fun features but also introduces one minor problem. The Batmobile in the game, has two modes: Pursuit mode for driving and Battle mode for tank combat. Now the first issue I find with this, is that in pursuit mode, you have R2 as an accelerator button but by default the brake button is mapped to the square button and L2 acts as the tank mode button (which must be held down). However an option is available in the game settings to remap the controls to toggle battle mode (making R1 the battle mode button and L2 the brake button as it should be). This is a very odd thing however as you have to fish around the settings for it and it only shows up as an option after reaching the GCPD building in the main story. Leaving the minor oddities aside, the Batmobile feels powerful as it should and feels fun. The pursuit mode handles in an arcade-racerway. So it can make extremely tight corners at relatively fast speeds. That said it did take me quite some time to resist using the thrusters when driving as the Batmobile can go too fast at times and I found I crashed quite a bit. Thankfully, when in the Batmobile a lot of the environment is destructible, from road barriers, to rock walls, there are very few obstacles to slow you down which makes it feel appropriately empowering for the player. The other nice feature is that when roaming the city freely, you can call the Batmobile with a tap of the L1 button provided you are near a road. Even flying above a road will allow you call the car which results in a cool dive animation as Batman swoops down into the driver seat of his new toy. One minor issue I found with traversal is gliding with the cape seemed a better, faster method of navigating the city than the Batmobile, as Gotham's streets are quite winding and tight whereas once you upgrade your grapple gun, you can propel yourself almost five-ten storeys high above the Gotham skyline and proceed to glide in any direction. I wish there were more open highway-like roads in Rocksteady's rendition of Gotham to allow players to go full throttle, thrusters and all with the Batmobile without fear of tight corners or crashes. It is a minor complaint though as I actually find the Batmobile's Battle mode brilliant as it allows the Batmobile to be driven with nothing more than the left stick so you can glide and strafe in it very nicely, perfect for dodging incoming fire from the many unmanned tanks you fight in the game. Furthermore, the manner in which some of the optional riddles implement the Batmobile and it's winch mechanism are quite clever and well-designed and can catch the player off guard, especially if they are stuck in the mindset of puzzle-solving from previous Arkham games where it was nearly always a gadget in your inventory that led to success. With the Batmobile, you really have to view it as another gadget or tool at your disposal and not just as a method of transport.
The stealth mechanics in the game are as robust as ever with welcome additions to the formula. Traversing gargoyles with your grapple (or Batclaw) to hide above enemies is important as ever but you now have the choice to instantly zip down underneath the enemy by grappling to a wall vent and sliding down the chute into the floor vents. This is a very cool and swift way of relocating if spotted and/or catching the enemy off guard, as you could pop out of a floor grate, perform a takedown, jump into the floor vents and with the press of your grapple button (R1), when near the vertical vent shaft, you'll propel yourself up to the roof area and find refuge perched on a gargoyle or rafter while enemies below direct their attention to the floor vents. Another welcome addition to the stealth gameplay are Fear Multi-Takedowns which remind me of Splinter Cell's 'Mark and Execute' mechanic or 'Far Cry 3 and 4's' chained takedown mechanic as it allows swift, efficient and almost instant neutralisation of multiple enemies. However, thankfully it is not an overpowered manoeuvre that plays the game for you as when you initiate a fear takedown, you must aim at the next enemy you wish to dispatch then click the square button, then find your next target by moving the right stick and click again. By default a Fear takedown can dispatch up to three enemies in an instant and with upgrades it can be used on up to five enemies. However all the enemies must be next to each other or within melee distance for Batman to jump from one to the other. So if there are only 2 guards side by side, it will be wasted as you cannot perform another Fear Takedown until you do a silent takedown to recharge the ability.
While it may sound all too powerful, keep in mind that the number of armed enemies you face is doubled compared to previous Arkham games. So in any one area, you could have as little as twelve armed thugs or as much as twenty plus. The traditional wall, inverted, and corner takedowns all remain with the the corner cover option expanded on slightly as you can now move in wall cover when crouched.
All in all, Batman: Arkham Knight is a phenomenal game with excellent, fluid hand-to-hand fight mechanics, empowering traversal and stealth that caters to various approaches. The plot is excellently done if a little convoluted at times due to the heavy-handed sub-plot I mentioned earlier. The boss fights are not nearly as elaborate as Arkham City though and they are few and far between but there is one boss fight that amazed me for it's implementation of the Batmobile and another for it's marvellous encouragement of stealth. I should also mention that the detective aspect remains strongly with one side mission dedicated to CSI forensics to track down a serial killer and many opportunities throughout the main game's missions to track and trace evidence. So for those worried that the world's greatest detective (As Batman was once known in the comics) was no more, you need not worry as Rocksteady Studios has it covered and wraps up the series in a heartfelt way. While the ending is not perfect by any means, it does a good job on closing the book for players that have been there since the beginning in Batman: Arkham Asylum.