The package from Target arrived at my door on Thursday afternoon. A few days had already elapsed since the release of Batman: Arkham Knight and I was already afraid to scan the internet for fear of being lured into a freshly finished walkthrough. Instead a booted up the new PS4 and set off to become the night. In a matter of moments I knew that this game wasn’t going to be like Arkham City. This was going to be a beast of a different order.
I’m not much on spoilers, but I’ll say this: The story isn’t much on continuity. This Batman is a departure from the comic lore, as we saw in the previous incarnations. However, there are some inconsistencies here that rattled even my willing suspension of disbelief. Relationships are drawn in a way that is supposed to point back to the comic history and the books, but does so in a way that flips all of that on its head and recreates connections for us to build something new out of something old. All things considered, the new is slightly off putting. The same can be said for the characterizations thus far. The chip on Robin’s shoulder is starting to look like a medieval Pauldron and Nightwing has turned into a straight up Jackass. This isn’t to say I don’t like him or the game. I’m saying its different is all. Its like looking in a mirror and realizing the image across from you is wearing a different shirt.
The game can be frightening. There are moments when I said out loud: What the–! It sinks into your head and in the dark of the room you start to feel like you’re being transported to the bleak world of Gotham. Its definitely worth the visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. I’ll settle for beating down baddies by the cab load in a fun and dynamic combat system that finally allows me to do tag team moves.