HallowScream - Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and this marks the second time we've reviewed a video game for HallowScream. And, I can't think of a more perfect game to discuss that 2015's Batman: Arkham Knight, produced by WB Games and Rocksteady, and serving as the closing chapter in the Batman: Arkham trilogy. Something quick to note, though, is that before this game was released, Warner Bros. Montreal produced a prequel game to the Arkham series called Arkham Origins. And, while Origins is still set in the world of the Arkham series, as evidenced by several mentions of characters and events from that game throughout Arkham Knight, make no mistake: the Arkham series is still a narrative trilogy. 

        Nine months have passed since the events of Arkham City, and Joker's dead body was cremated by Commissioner Gordon (by the way, this actually opens the game, as the player gets to cremate Joker while the song "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Frank Sinatra plays). And, in the months since Arkham City shut down, crime rates in Gotham fell. However, on a rainy Halloween night, a chemical attack takes place in Pauli's Diner, where Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow has unleashed a sample of his latest batch of fear toxin. The GCPD then loads many buses and cars to evacuate as many civilians out of Gotham as possible, leaving behind only a batch of rioting crooks and supervillains like Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin and Harvey Dent/Two-Face. While rioters aren't an issue, it's the rest of the criminals running rampant in Gotham that necessitates the services of Batman. 

       Luckily, Batman isn't alone in this fight for Gotham, as he has several allies. Some are simply support, like Alfred, Barbara Gordon/Oracle, Aaron Cash, and Lucius Fox, while others tag team with Batman in certain battles, and those include Tim Drake/Robin, Dick Grayson/Nightwing, and Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Also, Batman has his arsenal of gadgets and tech, such as the Batarangs, the Batclaw, the Grapnel Boost, and, for the first time in the series, the Batmobile. Yep, for the first time in the Batman: Arkham trilogy, players get to drive around in the Batmobile. And, as exciting as that was, I think that Rocksteady overcompensated on the fans demand for the Batmobile, and thus too many main and side missions throughout the game became dependent on the Batmobile. And, it really helps that Gotham is so much larger this time, and consists of three islands: Bleake Island, Miagani Island, and Founder's Island. 

       And, speaking of which, much like with Arkham City, Arkham Knight is split into the main story, and several side missions referred to as "Most Wanted." Some of these Most Wanted side missions do rely on continuing the main story to unlock them, but there a lot of fun in their own right. Some of them involve familiar faces, and others involve new threats that are introduced in this game. But, let's focus on the main plot for now. 

        After a quick meetup with Gordon, Batman goes to rescue a police officer from rioters, and it's here where we see that Scarecrow also has a hired militia force on the streets of Gotham, and has Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy locked in a penthouse in Chinatown. After rescuing Ivy from her cell, she reveals that Scarecrow had a big meeting including herself, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Penguin, and Riddler, with the plan being to join forces and defeat Batman for good. Ivy declined, and she was taken prisoner. After fending off some of the militia's remote controlled tanks, Batman drives Ivy to GCPD Lockup, where he is informed of additional goings on across Gotham. 

         Joining Oracle at the Clock Tower, Batman goes over the analysis of Scarecrow's new toxin, and deduces a way to scan for the manufacturing location. And, it's here where we get the new Batsuit for the game: a more flexible and tougher suit that allows Batman to move faster and hit harder than before, and integrates with the Batmobile allowing him to fly out of the car like a bullet from a railgun. Cool. Anyway, Batman discovers that Scarecrow is cooking up the toxin at the abandoned Ace Chemicals plant, where more militia forces and tanks are gathered. And, it's here where we meet the militia's commander: a masked warrior called the Arkham Knight. And, the tanks used by the militia are named after snakes: single-cannon Rattlers, double-cannon Twin Rattlers, triple-cannon Diamondbacks, missile-locking Mambas, and aerial drones like Serpents and Dragons. Lastly, there's the heavy duty Cobra tanks. The Cobras have heavy artillery that can cut the Batmobile down to size, but with one fatal design flaw. Much like the Death Star in Star Wars, a Cobra can be taken down with a single shot to a thermal exhaust port on the back of the tank. 

         After rescuing two plant workers (the others are all dead), Batman heads to the Central Mixing Chamber to either stop Scarecrow or reduce the blast radius of the chemical blast about to go off at Ace Chemicals. And, it's through his exposure to the toxin that Batman begins hallucinating the Spectre of his old foe: Joker. And, remember how Joker sent his infected blood to hospitals in the hope of infecting others? Well, despite gathering all of the tainted Joker blood, a few individuals were given some of Joker's blood and are now infected with a mutated form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is slowly turning them all into new Jokers. There's Albert "Gotham Goliath" King, a power boxer who has taken on the more violent aspects of Joker's personality, Jonathan "Johnny Charisma" Browne, a singer/entertainer who has taken on Joker's sende of ego, and Christina Bell, a Queen Industries executive who has taken on Joker's deranged obsession with Batman. Another man, a teacher named Henry Adams, was also infected but has no symptoms, and thus Batman believes may hold the key to curing the others. Until then, all of the infected are held in containment at a makeshift lab set up in the abandoned Panessa Movie Studio. Also, there's a fifth individual that was infected with Joker's blood, but it's only hinted at who it is. 

        Unfortunately, the Arkham Knight and Scarecrow have taken Barbara hostage, and Batman reveals to Gordon that she has been working with Batman for a while, and an enraged Gordon goes off on his own to find her, demanding for Batman to stay away. Batman then follows a militia car that drove off and then crashed. Barbara tried to escape but was retaken by the Arkham Knight. But, she left a data card behind. Smart. This card leads to a staging area underground, where Batman comes face-to-face with the Knight, who escapes again. After defeating some militia guys and chasing an APC, Batman learns that Penguin is smuggling guns into Gotham from Blüdhaven, Nightwing's stomping grounds, in a bunch of trucks for North Refrigeration. Nightwing, after handing Batman the new disruptor gadget (which also has tracking ammo), helps Batman track down the first truck, and he follows it to where Penguin is set up. Penguin then remarks about the involvement of an industrialist named Simon Stagg, who is making some tech for Scarecrow. Batman and Nightwing take down Penguin's men and destroy the cache of weapons, with Nightwing keeping track of other trucks that could lead to other caches. 

        Stagg, it turns out, is building a device called the Cloudburst, which will unleash Scarecrow's toxin and blanket Gotham with it. Unfortunately, Barbara ends up dead, as she kills herself in a frightened state. But, Batman comes up with a new plan: use Ivy to clear the Gotham skies of Scarecrow's toxin. Ivy agrees, and Batman takes her to the Botanical Gardens. Requesting a Sonar Pulse upgrade for the Batmobile, Batman has to fend off militia tanks that attack Wayne Tower and collects the upgrade. Batman, using the sonar device, frees an ancient plant capable of sucking up Scarecrow's toxin. Unfortunately, Harley Quinn has broken into the Panessa Movie Studio, has Robin hostage, and demands that Batman let her take the infected with her. 

        So, Batman heads to Panessa Studios, where we get the introduction of the other major new toy in this game: the voice synthesizer. Now, Batman uses this in a few ways: initiate the voices of Harley, Stagg, and the Arkham Knight, and can emit signals to control the Riddler's robots across Gotham. But, we'll get to the Riddler later. Anyway, Batman and Robin team up, fend off Harley's thugs, and collect the trio of Christina Bell, Albert King, and Johnny Charisma. All the while, Batman sees flashbacks from Joker's memory that show what happened to Jason Todd, the second Robin, who is presumed dead. Shockingly, Henry Adams turns out to not be immune to Joker's blood, and has multiple traits of the Joker, and kills the trio of Bell, King, and Charisma, and finally kills himself when the truth is discovered: Batman is the fifth of the infected, and is slowly becoming like Joker. Tim has Bruce enter the holding cell, and he goes after the militia. However, Joker rewinds time, allowing Batman to reverse the roles and put Tim in the cell instead, allowing Bruce to finish his work in Gotham. 

       Seismic activity on Miagani Island goes off, as Ivy is going after militia tanks from the Botanical Gardens. Batman helps fend the tanks off, but it's too late, as the Cloudburst has been found, attached to the Arkham Knight's personal tank, and it unleashes a massive cloud of fear toxin, covering all of Gotham in toxin. Unfortunately, the toxin also shorted out the energy cell powering the Batmobile. So, Batman heads to Stagg's airships to collect a new one: a Nimbus cell, which gets the Batmobile back in the fight. After heading underground, Batman locates and unleases another ancient plant to help Ivy suck up the fear toxin. However, Batman must destroy the Cloudburst first, and he does with difficulty. After the Cloudburst is destroyed, Ivy uses what's left of her life force to clear up the cloud of fear toxin. 

        Back at GCPD, Gordon has reached out on a S.W.A.T. channel, and Batman follows it to an abandoned shopping mall, which serves as the headquarters for the Arkham Knight. And, it's during their ultimate confrontation, which sees the Batmobile destroyed, where the Knight reveals his identity: Jason Todd. Yep, he survived, and holds a vendetta against Bruce for being left in an abandoned wing of Arkham for over a year... being tortured by the Joker. After trying to reason with his former protege, Batman apologizes to Jason, who makes his leave, abandoning the visor of the Arkham Knight. On the mall's roof, Scarecrow reveals another secret: Barbara is alive. Batman saves her when Scarecrow drops her off the roof. Calling in the spare Batmobile (go figure), Batman destroys a fleet of tanks and drives Barbara to GCPD. 

         Batman then heads to the Clocktower, dispatches the militia trying to destroy the computer servers, and patches Barbara into the servers. Unfortunately, an ultimate attack takes place, with both tanks and troops, going to take down GCPD. Working together, Batman and Barbara fend off the attack, and Batman is forced back to Panessa Studios. Tim has been taken by Scarecrow, and Batman must get him back...even if it means the end of the myth of the Batman. 

       Now, it's here where I want to get into the Most Wanted side missions, and all of them must be completed to clear the game. Obviously, there's the Riddler, who in addition to riddles and trophies across Gotham, has also set up a series of underground gauntlets, and challenges at the abandoned orphanage, to complete. And, yes, the gauntlets require the Batmobile. Complete the gauntlets and challenges, Batman will be able to save Riddler's hostage: Catwoman. Solve every riddle and collect every trophy, and Batman will be able to fight Riddler, with help from Catwoman, and lock him up in GCPD. Oh, and Batman and Catwoman share a goodbye kiss after beating Nygma. That's nice. 

        To lock up Penguin, of course, Batman and Nightwing work together to track all of the weapon caches and North Refrigeration trucks across Gotham. Cool. Also, Two-Face is robbing banks across Gotham, and only by thwarting the robberies can Batman lock up Harvey. Also, several Gotham firefighters have been abducted, and are being assaulted by rioters. Save the firefighters, and Batman learns that the fire chief, Underhill, had been doing a bad thing. You see, the city was going to shut down the fire crew. However, Underhill managed to supply locations of abandoned tenements to Garfield Lynns/Firefly, who would set them ablaze, and the crew could put out the fires, which were volatile due to Firefly. Speaking of whom, Lynns is flying around Gotham setting abandoned fire stations ablaze, and Batman must put the fires out, amd chase Lynns with the Batmobile and take him down. 

         Batman also finds a set of dead bodies chained up around Gotham. The perpetrator, it turns out, is Laszlo Valentin/Professor Pyg, who is attempting to create an army of living puppets called Dollotrons. Only by examining the bodies of those too imperfect for Pyg's plan does Batman track the sick freak down to the Pretty Dolls Parlor and stop him for good. Also, flying around Gotham is a mysterious bat like creature, which turns out to be Dr. Kirk Langstrom/Man-Bat. Batman must synthesize a cure and inject Man-Bat with it to make him normal again. Also, Tommy Elliot/Hush, still taking on the appearance of Bruce Wayne, has infiltrated Wayne Tower and taken Lucius hostage, forcing Batman to save him. Speaking of hostages, reporter Jack Ryder has been taken hostage to be used as a ritual sacrifice in a ritual led by cult leader Deacon Blackfire. 

        Oh, and remember Azrael from Arkham City? Well, he is seeking to replace Batman as a successor. A slew of training exercises shows Batman that Azrael has picked up Batman's combat skills. However, there's more than meets the eye, as Azrael, real name Michael Lane, was given a secret mission by the Order of St. Dumas to kill Batman, and Batman gives Lane the choice: kill him and be taken to GCPD Lockup, or simply walk away and become an ally. Player's choice, of course. And, finally, there's the militia's occupation of Gotham, which consists of tanks, APCs, road bombs, watchtowers, and roadside checkpoints. And, after the Knight goes missing, the militia are taken over by a new commander: Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. Clear the occupation force, and it's down to just Deathstroke. Defeat his tank, and he's done. 

        Now, there was plenty of DLC released for Arkham Knight. The "Season of Infamy" DLC pack adds four additional Most Wanted side missions that must also be completed to clear the game. In the side mission "Wonderland," Batman must rescue three hostages taken by Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter. In "Shadow War," two factions of the League of Assassins are fighting each other. One faction, the Loyalists, ask Batman to gather a sample of Lazarus to save the life of a dying Ra's al Ghul. However, the Rebel faction is being led by his daughter, Nyssa Raatko, who suggests that Batman should destroy the machine keeping Ra's alive and allow him to die. Again, player's choice. In "In From the Cold," a ship is caught on an iceberg. Odd. But, of course, it turns out to be Mr. Freeze, who refused to join with Scarecrow, and the militia took Nora's cryo tube. Batman must traverse across Gotham to recover it, but Nora wakes up. A massive blast causes Gotham to be covered in ice and snow, and Batman teams up with Freeze to destroy militia tanks, and ultimately Freeze and Nora finally get to spend her last days together. And lastly, there's a side mission involving a flying penitentiary called Iron Heights, which has crashed in the Gotham bay, and it was brought down because of one prisoner in particular: Waylon Jones/Killer Croc, who was being experimented on by Iron Heights warden Ranken. Batman, working with Nightwing, takes down both Croc and Ranken. 

       Okay, with every side mission done, it's now time to take down Scarecrow and rescue both Tim and Gordon. Scarecrow has two instructions for Batman: surrender his equipment, and enter a truck. En route, Batman hallucinates crashing near Crime Alley, and fights off multiple Jokers. But, it's not real. As for what IS real, Batman is being taken to the ruins of Arkham Asylum, where Scarecrow is located. On camera, with everyone watching, Scarecrow has Gordon remove Batman's mask, revealing to the world that Bruce Wayne is Batman. In one last battle for his mind, Batman must deal with Joker, who ushers total devastation of Gotham if allowed to completely control Bruce's body. But, Batman shows Joker a few things: his body cremated, a lousy gravesite, Harley being the only one to show up for the wake, and the people of Gotham forgetting all about Joker. What does this all mean? It's what Joker fears most: being forgotten. And, as he vows that Joker will be forgotten, Batman says the iconic line: "I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman!" Pummeling Joker into a box and locking him away for good, Batman wins the battle over his mind. Back to reality, Jason shows up, now as the Red Hood, and helps Batman defeat Scarecrow by injecting him with his own fear toxin. 

       With Gotham safe, Jim sends every GCPD officer to arrest the rioters and retake the streets. The truth now out, Batman has Alfred initiate the Knightfall Protocol, where a series of explosions destroys Wayne Manor upon Batman's return. Months later, and now Mayor Jim Gordon goes to the wedding of Barbara and Tim, while two thugs attempt to mug a family, only to be stopped by a more nightmarish form of Batman. But, this ending only can be seen if ALL Most Wanted side missions are completed. 

         Aside from the new gear like the voice synthesizer and the Batmobile, most of Batman's gear is held over from the first two Arkham games, but are easily more refined due to the updates in software. Also, the gliding mechanics are refined thanks to the updates in software. Rocksteady really utilized the system updates for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, and it really shows. And, the remote hacking device is updated to allow Batman to hack and blind drones, even turn small drones against the militia. 

       The voice cast, which includes Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as Joker, Tara Strong as Harley, Nolan North as Penguin, Martin Jarvis as Alfred, Grey DeLisle as Catwoman, Troy Baker as Two-Face, Wally Wingert as Riddler, Khary Payton as Azrael, and Tasia Valenza as Poison Ivy, are all returning from the first two games. New additions include the likes of Matthew Mercer as Robin, Scott Porter as Nightwing, Dave Fennoy as Lucius Fox, and the combination of Ashley Greene as Barbara and Jonathan Banks as Jim Gordon. Both Ashley Greene and Jonathan Banks were excellent additions and easily a highlight. But, more notable is John Noble, who I'm sure many will remember as Denethor in Lord of the Rings, as Scarecrow, giving the character a more terrifying voice that his Arkham Asylum voice actor didn't quite have. 

       Some of the other notable voices in the game, as far as new actors go, are Crispin Freeman as Firefly, Dwight Schultz as Professor Pyg, Loren Lester as Man-Bat, Mark Rolston as Deathstroke, and Mark Worden as Deacon Blackfire. Now, while both Freeman and Rolston are reprising their respective roles from Arkham Origins, the other three are completely new. Also, in the Season of Infamy DLC, we get the returns of Peter MacNicol as Mad Hatter, Steve Blum as Killer Croc, Maurice Lemarche as Mr. Freeze, and Dee Bradley Baker as Ra's al Ghul, with both Cissy Jones and Jennifer Hale joining, respectively, as Nora Fries and Nyssa Raatko. 

       The map, which spans the  three islands of Gotham City (Bleake Island, Miagani Island, and Founder's Island), is massive and full of really neat Easter eggs. Another neat part is some other voice bits on Bruce Wayne's answering machine in Wayne Tower, including voice messages from Vicki Vale, Lex Luthor, and Kate Kane. There's also a Queen Industries building on Founder's Island, as well as the GothCorp building, Cobblepot Mansion, and the list goes on. And, of course, the likes of Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Wayne Manor are off in the distance and act as solutions for Nygma's riddles. 

          Overall, aside from how much the game requires players to use the Batmobile, Batman: Arkham Knight is a genuinely expansive experience that feels like the perfect closing chapter for the definitive Batman gaming trilogy. I'm giving Batman: Arkham Knight a rating of 5/5. 

          Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and HallowScream will continue next time with Casper: A Spirited Beginning.