Become the Batman.

“Batman: Arkham Knight” is Rocksteady Studios’ final game finishing off the Batman Arkham trilogy.

The player takes the role of the Dark Knight himself, and the plot revolves around the villain Scarecrow setting to release a gas bomb in Gotham City that causes people to become brutally violent.

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Scarecrow is accompanied by a new villain to Batman lore, the Arkham Knight. This enemy brings with him an army of soldiers and computer controlled tanks. The Arkham Knight’s identity is unknown at the start of the game, but seems to know Batman very well. Batman is tasked with stopping these threats.

The story is great. The story is told in one of the most interesting and well done styles seen in a video game. It is filled with tons of great, adrenaline pumping moments. Without spoiling it, the story starts out extremely strong, slows down in the middle but fortunately picks up a great deal near the end.

There is an issue with the new villain, the Arkham Knight. The character does not seem to have any emotion other than anger towards Batman, making him one-dimensional. It would have been nice to see if the character had more going for him than just wanting to kill Batman. Unfortunately, they also spend a little too much time foreshadowing who this new villain is. By the time he is revealed, it is fairly lackluster and expected.

Gotham City at night is a fantastic place to explore with many references to other DC comics characters and storylines spread throughout it. While a little smaller than I hoped, the city still feels dense with plenty of activities and places to explore, such as hunting Riddler trophies and thwarting other Batman villains not involved with the main plot.

The innovative combat system and stealth segments the series is known for returns with a few tweaks. There are new enemies to fight, new gadgets to use, more brutal takedowns to perform and epic moments to experience. These two pillars of the franchise are still here and stronger than ever.

The new fun, but controversial, gameplay mechanic is the ability to drive the Batmobile. The Batmobile has two different modes. One is for traveling, which lets you zip around the city with ease. The other is a battle mode, where the Batmobile turns into a tank. Both modes are fun to use and allow you to explore Gotham City’s nooks and crannies.

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Rocksteady does a good job incorporating the Batmobile into the game’s puzzles. You can attach an electrical cord to electronic devices and then rev the car’s engine to give it power, or you can shoot a winch into weakened walls and pull down the wall giving you access to the area beyond it.

The controversy of the Batmobile originates from the concept that Batman is stealthy. He is not known for making noise and causing tons of destruction wherever he goes like other super heroes, so when the player is driving around the city and constantly crashing into things and blowing up tanks it clashes with the character.

Furthermore, Batman has a code that prevents him from killing anyone. Despite the enemy tanks being remote controlled and shooting rubber bullets at people, it is very hard to believe there is no fatalities in all of this, again clashing with the character. To top this off, the game has some very tedious and poorly designed tank segments later on, which can really be a deal breaker and diminish the fun factor for some people.

Personally, I found it a fun, new added feature to a series already full of fantastic gameplay.

Overall, “Batman: Arkham Knight” meets the high expectations of the previous two entries and creates a very enjoyable experience. This addition to the Arkham series is fantastic and a prime example of the great art this medium can produce.

5 out of 5 stars