Rocksteady are back for this final installment in the Arkham Quadrilogy. Batman: Arkham Knight is set to release in June, and looks to be the most aesthetically pleasing, and the most in-depth game of the series. The game looks to end with a bang, and sporting a new look, a stellar cast, and the Batmobile; Arkham Knight is crafted to perfection, making all naysayers shut their proverbial mouths from the sour taste of Arkham: Origins.
Most Pepe have seen the teaser trailers released online for the past couple of months, and they have been. It hung short of spectacular. I saw some in-game footage from a Playstatation 4, and spectacular does not begin to describe the look and feel of this new game. The combat system looks to flow seamlessly from point-to-point on screen. Granted, I saw all this from a iPad screen, but it looks like Arkham a Knight is going to be one of the first games that actually showcases the playstwtion 4 as a system to own. Of course Uncharted will more likely cement that factor permanently later on this year. Let's go over what we know already, then some speculation, and later on towards release, I will put out a preview, leading up towards launch.
Okay, so the game takes place several months, (I'd say it's somewhere near Fall, so eight-to-ten months since Arkham City's storyline) after the death of the Joker. The game takes place chiefly in Gotham, and although the storyline is as guarded as a cache of gold builon under lock-and-key, I'd say that anarchy is reigning over the city, far more chaotic than we've seen in the past. The makings of a true testament to Rocksteady's design and story-telling is seen in now much emphasis has been placed on character design. I've just finished playing through Asylum and City again, and I gotta say, this game is shaping up to be either greater than both of them, because it seems far more original a plot line, yet not divulging too far away from the mythos. Or it can be a brutal wreckage of failure and misplaced moments of genius, making it campy and cathargic in gameplay and design. The game can slso be too big to handle, and turn-off players, rather than engage them. From what I seen though, my only concerns are that the game will end on a sour note, as this appears to be the last game that Rocksteady and WB Games is going to do in the Arkham franchise.
To segue for just a moment, I'd be interested to see if they will switch gears to making a Green Arrow game, because that's a hot-button action hero as of late, and it would still carry over those same gritty elements that come with the Batman mythos, but with a younger, brasher character that could be the launch pad for another hit series.
Still, let's not bury the Arkham franchise until the body is cold, right? Arkham Knight should leave no stone unturned, and be a response to Arkham Origins, but not be a constant apology or crack at the WB Montreal game. Personally, I was a bit downtrodden when I found out Origins was a full-on prequel, and not a continuation of the cliffhanger ending. Granted, Arkham: World was the intended successor, but with Rocksteady keeling over after the fall, it seemed the series was cooled before it could stay as white hot as it was.
Still, this game looks to have a prowess that the past games lacked. Batman looks powerful, seems ready to attack any and all oncoming villains, and that's the Batman we want to be. Arkham Knight is about introducing a new character, simply called the Arkham Knight. I originally thought it was going to be a security robot, but it turns out to be a villain that dresses up like a metal version of Batman. Still, the character seems unusually dark, quite viscous, so-much-so that speculation raised over if this game was going to have to carry a Mature rating. It may still have to, but it's doubtful we will see anything higher than a Teen rating on the box.
Past villains also arrive on the scene: Riddler (who is likely to have trophies scattered throughout Gorham, and hopefully there is some ingenuity to them again. As a puzzle platform admirer, I loved the first game's Riddler tropics, riddles, and so-on. To me, it was the best part of the games.) Penguin, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, and Doctor Crane himself, The Scarecrow. Scarecrow was a great character in Arkham Asylum, and I believe he will make for a great villain, and main antagonist in this game. I'd like to see some other characters from B-roll show up, but I'm certain this cast is going to be kept smaller, more refined to this new story arch. The game is going to be long, I can already tell, because it has to tie up the loose ends of Asylum, all while introducing the Arkham Knight, and resolving that storyline so no true cliffhangers are left.
Again, the pieces of story that have been leaked are so abstract, they cannot be taken on a contextual basis, rather some surmising here and there about just what is going to happen. Yet I've come to a fine conclusion about the Red Hood addition to the story, and perhaps a sneak peak from Black Mask, although seeing how that went over last game, it may just be Red Hood standing alone. Although that introduction of Anarky (sic) which was some boisterous, asinine shout-out to the Occupy Wallstreet movement, and being a rather brash tactic to tie in the film-relation to that love/hate Bane character. I'd say I am more intrigued by this new Red Hood design, although the character is going to be probably as "Occupy Oriented" as (sic) Anarky was in Origins.
Red Hood will be a special DLC add-on, and that's kind of cool, be cool if they did something like GTA heists, but doubtful. I'm far more interested in the main game. I don't care much for most DLC, even the Catwoman DLC of Arkham City could've easily have fit on disc, and really, the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC was shit, but it at least was an added story arch , not just overlapping story that barely improved on the actual experience of Arkham City. Yet, I'm curious to see how Red Hood plays into this, and just who is wearing that hood? It's definitely a younger character, because the look is almost hipster, and I have my thoughts on who it could be, even thinking it could be a woman. We may just know by June.
So there are quite a few things in this game that will keep us guessing, and I'm interested in seeing if they do anything with Azarel's storyline from the second game, as he was made into teaser side mission. Im doubtful they'll do much with him, but I still think that these games are all tied to The Killing Joke, and if Red Hood is going to be the Joker, as I've speculated, as the storyline seems to follow the canonization of The Killing Joke comic, then it'll all come full-circle.
Another seque, if you'll humor my randomness, but going back to a potential Green Arrow game, it'd be fun to see Queem taking on the Royal Flush Gang, who I've always thought were ridiculously fun characters, despite most people not enjoying that sort of comic book style, but it would be a change from this, and many other comic book themed games. Back to Arkham.
As I've mentioned before, this game is a finale to a great series, probably the best Batman games ever designed. Yet, I stop and think if this game is going to be too big to succeed, if it will not necessarily bit the mark, but ram it down our throats to the point of choking on it's overhyped spectacle of eight-generation glory. I'm speculating that either the story will be overly involved, and lost most gamers, or be spiffy, and ridiculously caricature, even for a comic book game that is trying to appear as hyper realsitiv as possible. I'm personally excited, but im doubtful Rocksteady will give us what we actually want: a superb story, and masterful gameplay, surpassing even that of Arkham City.
I'd like to see more realistic movement, and a faster reaction time from the controls, but I'm certain the combat system will only be subtly tweaked. The graphics are superb though, and for a game of this magnitude, it actually matters to me that they don't look like last-generation consoles. Still, when one compares a seventh-gen console to eighth-gen console, it is like comparing pasta to cat whiskers, that's about it.
I'd don't want to theorize too much on what I expect to happen, although I'm curious to see if Talia takes over for Ra's Al Ghul as Head of the Demon for the League of Assassins. I'd also like to see even less of Robin, please. Poison Ivy is coming back, but as more an anti-heroine, or full-on villain? Driving the Batmobile looked very much like tank controls, and I hope that's not the case at launch, because it'd be a shame to hsve such fluid motion be fudged by the driving capabilities of a box of polygons.
A few more things I see potentially happening of this game is that it will be more cutscene and QTE than the past games, but that's a hedged bet, as the same can be said for literally every game prior. Even if Toe Jam and Earl is remade, I'm certain it will have QTE in it that will make it ridiculous, but the kids will love it. I just hope the cutscenes are so fluid in their design, that they will be indistinguishable to real-time gameplay. Some closing thoughts for now I cannot wait to play this game, see how it does community-wise, because I'm not a fan of community-style one-player games, so I'll probably have some gripe about that, and I'd like to see at least a damn Riddler poster for Roxxi Rocket. I mean, come on! You put Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in there as hidden bios, and you show no love to Roxxi? Blasphemy! ;)
Thank you for reading the Malacast Editorial, I'll have a Review of Batman: Arkham Knight up after the game releases in early June. I may do a preview post if a demo, or extended gameplay is released, but as-of-now, no plans are up for another Batman post. Thank you for reading the Malacast Editorial, especially to new readers in Vietnam and Bulgaria! Thank you for the support!
Twitter.com/mcasteditorial or @mcasteditorial, I know I haven't posted much lately, I'll be back on Twitter very soon.
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