It is rare to make a game with heart, not to consume the feelings of players, I would like to call it the peak of comic adaptations

As the saying goes, nine out of ten comic book games are bad works that consume the feelings of players, and the real boutiques account for only a few, and the "Batman: Arkham" series is the best in this minority. Developed by ROCKSTEADY Studios, the first game, Arkham Madhouse, featured a simple, fluid, and easy-to-use combos and counter-attack action system, impressive character portrayals and performances, different map levels and stealths, and a variety of props to match, all of which made the game a hit when it first launched in 2009.

Rocksteady took advantage of the victory and used the sequel "Arkham City" to consolidate its reputation and position. However, the evaluation of "Arkham Origins" written by Warner himself in the follow-up is somewhat subtle, so this time it is simply taken. In such a situation, as the finale of the trilogy, "Arkham Knight" naturally carries a lot of expectations and huge pressure, so how does this finale perform? This time we will talk about this excellent comic book series of games.

Picture atmosphere

The entire Arkham series was made using Unreal Engine, and although the finale was released in 2015, the older Unreal 3 engine was still used due to the development schedule or other considerations, but even so, the graphics of Arkham Knight were still amazing. Through the combination of light and shadow special effects, people deeply appreciate the simple atmosphere of Gotham's citizens.

System gameplay

Arkham Madhouse and Arkham City were in the early stages of the open world/map wave when they were released, so Madhouse only used a slightly chicken semi-open map plus collection. And by the time "Knight" was about to be launched, it was already 2015, and the open world wave at this time was already at its peak, not the open world, you are embarrassed to say that you are a 3A masterpiece, so "Knight" is bound to make further changes. So, what enhancements and changes has Knight made to the previous game? Let's briefly divide it into three points to explore:

Battle of great evolution

Although the original "Madhouse" was a hit, it was still slightly insufficient to look at the combat piece. The main battle core gameplay of the game is relatively easy to use, divided into attack, counterattack, dodge and throw the cape four buttons, in the face of the enemy part of the attack in the battle does not need to make additional dodge or defense to cause the rhythm to interrupt, as long as the player seizes the opportunity to press the counterattack Batman will restrain the enemy and counterattack, while allowing the rhythm of the combo to continue.

In addition, the game sets a certain degree of automatic rear-end and locking, and as long as you press the attack within the range, you can see that Batman will fly towards the enemy like lightning and punch. The cloak can cause the enemy to stun, which is convenient for subsequent moves and control. In addition to the basic gameplay, the system is equipped with combination finishing skills, such as direct knockdown, ground knockdown and throwing under a certain number of combos. Coupled with Batman's unique auxiliary props, such as explosive glue can be used as a trap, bat darts can help stun enemies, etc., players do not have to spend time to memorize a large number of moves or practice the feel, as long as a simple combos attack plus a specific time counterattack can get a good combat experience, these elements constitute the first solid combat system.

"Arkham City" continues the structure of the previous game, but has made improvements on this basis. For example, the cloak is no longer only the effect of a single stun control field, but has become a means of combos, as long as you find the opportunity to stun the enemy can use a handsome continuous boxing COMBO, in addition to adding such as the cloak air combo against the shield soldier, or the number of combos to reach 8 under the super combo and so on. Coupled with the fact that some of the bridges or extra modes in this game have different characters to operate, and even the opportunity for cooperative combat, these elements greatly complement the more monotonous combat experience of the previous game.

In the finale, "Arkham Knight", not only the enemy types and status configurations have been further increased, but the specific scales imported can also be preemptive, and at most five people can be feared at one time. At the same time, compared with the previous game's greatly enhanced two-player combat gameplay, switching partners and knocking down performances, and even corresponding to the batmobile and cloak enhancement in "Knight", there are relative moves, etc., it can be said that this game has improved the series' melee combat system to a perfect point. Especially in the game's extra mode has been well reflected, which not only has handsome DLC characters, but also can be freely matched, while not affected by the main line of smoke miasma Batmobile gameplay, so that players can focus on enjoying near-perfect hand-to-hand combat.

Open map

The release time of "Knight" was in 2015, during which the advent of works such as "The Witcher 3" and "Fallout 4" brought the open world/map wave to the peak, and the series naturally could no longer continue the linear semi-open template of "Madhouse". As a result, Knight adds enough firepower to the open map, presenting a vast city of Gotham, not only expanding 3 interconnected islands in one go, but also improving in collection and side quests, coupled with the introduction of the long-awaited Batmobile, the experience of exploration and movement can be said to be quite smooth. The exploration enhancement upgrade and the story run map are balanced, and it has fully reached the design level of the basic open map.

Various collections with feeders

In addition to the collection of riddle people that continues from Madhouse, Knight also designs a series of side quests, and the map is also scattered with a variety of general sweeping missions, giving players enough motivation to explore Gotham City after running the main line.

Confusing and even offensive tank and boss battles

The scale of Gotham City has been greatly expanded in Arkham Knight, and moving and exploring on such a map must be matched by a corresponding design, so the batmobile that players continue to call for appears in this way, and also strengthens the design of the cloak movement. This allows you to drive halfway through the emergency ejection and fly at high speed in the air with a cape for a while, or you can speed up the gliding speed by falling and then lifting off while moving in the building, all of which are well designed to improve the convenience and smoothness that the previous game lacked when moving.

However, the design of the Batmobile and the weight of the thinking made ROCKSTEADY Studios ignore that this game is a third-person action-adventure game, not a tank fight. ROCKSTEADY Studios in the story setting and gameplay of the creation of some deliberate, has set out the "Knight" in the private force mercenaries have a variety of armored vehicles, so that the player on the map from time to time to trigger the tank battle has a good excuse, logically at the beginning of the game to bring out a little cool Batmobile deformation tank battle teaching. The shape of the deformed tank is subtle, the way of moving gives people a very strange feeling, and in the end, it is the reincarnation of the main gun and the locking missile, which is really boring and boring, and not many people play this series for tank battles, right? This kind of inverted behavior affects most of the game's weight and content rhythm, not to mention, the production team also went crazy to let the super giant tank act as one of the bosses at the end of the game, in order to set off the disparity between the size of the enemy and us, and even let the player in the BOSS battle can only hide and hide to find an opportunity to sneak attack, which is also the most criticized point of "Arkham Knight".

There is also a point that people have to mention, the various boss battles that were well received in the original series, such as Poison Ivy Woman, Mr. Frozen, Joker, etc., and in "Knight", in order to emphasize the importance of deformed tank warfare, the main story is almost only tank warfare, and the remaining BOSSes are stuffed into the side line or DLC. The final Arkham Knight Showdown is actually just a sneak sneak attack without any feeling, and the death knell is extremely dissatisfied, the player has the patience to complete the requirements of the front sweeping stronghold and tank battle, and finally has another tank battle with the death knell? This point is really unbearable, even if you don't expect the handsome death knell war in "Origins" to be reproduced, it will not be a spoof like this, right? All of the above can be seen that ROCK STEADY Studio is obsessed with tank battles, for a tank battle that thinks it can play the main gameplay, and destroys the normal game rhythm that "Knight" could have, so that "Arkham Knight" can never get rid of the insult of tank jokes, and also leaves regrets for the finale.

Movies and games are linked

As we all know, the Marvel Cinematic Universe began to slowly lay out the layout after "Iron Man" in 2008, all the way to the peak of the recent "Avengers 4", and Marvel climbed higher and higher all the way up. At the same time, through the agreement with Sony, Spider-Man returned to the Marvel Universe, and also launched the Spider-Man series of games in 2018, taking advantage of the momentum of PS4 and Sony's still golden glory, making it a masterpiece of today's superhero games. However, dc and batman have gradually declined in popularity since 2008's "The Dark Knight", which is somewhat embarrassing in comparison.

But in any case, the Arkham series is a successful and well-designed comic adaptation, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the pinnacle of comic adaptations, especially for "Batman" fans.