First and foremost about Knight: Fuck the Batmobile.

Honestly, if it weren’t for that, this would’ve been the best game in the series. By far. As I was playing Arkham City, I thought I would love this game even more if it were just Gotham in general, and that’s what was delivered here. Really, it’s amazing to see what designers will plan for a completely made-up city. Did you see those bridges with giant statues on it? Or the suspension railways? It didn’t matter if you were up in the air or wandering around the ground, there was so much detail put into Gotham.

But unfortunately there’s the Batmobile. If they hadn’t put so much emphasis on it, I would’ve been fine. Would’ve been cool with chasing after APCs, maybe do a weird racetrack. When it’s required in the dungeons, not so much. At some point I’m standing in front of an elevator, but it’s not working. I had to control the Batmobile to put it up, get out of that mode to step on, go back to the Batmobile to slowly lower it. Same bullshit getting back up. That’s not fun or challenging, just annoying. Also, Deathstroke shows up in this game. You excited for an epic showdown? What if I told you there’s no hand-to-hand combat—which is what he’s known for—but rather you gotta shoot at his tank with the Batmobile?

Speaking of which, I think the Cloudburst fight shot up to my top five most nerve wracking fights of all time. Think of any game that involves sneaking around, like Metal Gear Solid or whatever, and now imagine trying to do that with the fucking Batmobile. What were they thinking?

Plot is the height of the series, hands down. It’s a great exploration of Bruce’s thought patterns and mindset, plus the terrible business with what happened to Jason. The best part is the studio where you see Batman’s guilt and horror, the hilarity of Joker serenading him with spotlights and music, a team up section with Robin, and an amazing plot twist at the end.

What I really did enjoy was the crime scene investigation. It was fun already in Arkham City, but this took it to the next level. It did get to the point of fantastical, but reconstructing what went down really brings home how he’s the world’s greatest detective, which I feel is often forgotten.

This game has Azrael, Poison Ivy, Riddler, Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Penguin, Deathstroke, Firefly, Deacon Blackfire, Hush, Professor Pyg, Man-Bat, Simon Stagg, Two Face, and Scarecrow, and in the DLC Mr. Freeze, Nyssa and Ra’s al-Ghul, Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, and Black Mask. For once you actually get to fight most of these guys, and it’s fun to bring them back to the police station and see them interact with one another in lockup. Professor Pyg was fucking horrifying and I can imagine being a police officer stumbling over that insanity. And I heartily recommend getting the DLC because each one was fun: fighting in Mad Hatter’s book, uncovering the cruelty in the prison blimp, the bittersweet ending of Victor and Nora Fries, and choose whether to save Ra’s al-Ghul.

Post-game DLC is great too. Particularly of note is Harley’s because it shows her fucking insanity and Red Hood’s just due to the fact he has a gun. I’m spending time trying to slowly punch people as Batgirl and Robin, and I blew through Hood’s chapter because he’s just shooting people in the face.

Riddler’s puzzles I feel were easier in this game, just more annoying. It’s possible I just got more skilled at it after City, but I think they required less finesse and just focused more on using the Batmobile. However, he does have these underground puzzle dungeons, and those admittedly were really fun to figure out.

Also, the rave reviews in City of NPC chatter? It’s back and the writers put in all the effort here. I’m laughing like a maniac as I fly over the city, hearing a rioter mention he needs to wrap it up soon because he has to pick up his kids in the morning. Or militia talking about the mathematics of Two Face and his half faces. Whoever you people are, you’re the ones who carried the series.

Besides the Batmobile, there are smaller complaints: For one, there was no final boss fight. Also, the battle with Jason was a disappointment; for a guy who trained the militia on what steps to take to counteract Batman, he didn’t do any of that shit. I thought this was gonna be two people sneaking around, trying to get the upper hand. There’s a lack of dungeons, but Asylum actually had the most and City and Knight were half of those.

What the hell was Tim’s and Barbara’s romance? That shit was weird, especially since Nightwing was in the picture. And I didn’t mention this in my City review, but Joker’s sudden flirting with Batman in that game was really weird. The dude wasn’t even trying to make a hint of that in Asylum, so why lay it on heavily in City? Mad Hatter starts doing that in Knight, calling Batman his Alice and talking about putting a wig and dress on him. Why bring it out from nowhere?

I think what I feel for this game is disappointment because it should’ve been so amazing, would’ve been so amazing, if the Batmobile weren’t dragging it down. It’s such a shame that they did that. I guess they were proud of everything they programmed and had to roll with it. Otherwise, good job guys.