After taking extra time to work on the latest installment, Arkham Knight, the studio has brought the title to Gamescom 2014, showing off a fresh section of the open world action adventure game, shining a spotlight on the Batmobile, which makes its fully playable debut in the series, and the actual Arkham Knight, a mysterious villain that wants to go head to head with Batman in the game.
The actual demo mission saw the Caped Crusader burst into the ACE Chemicals plant, first using his own grapple gun and, after a few intense encounters, with the Batmobile. In terms of regular gameplay, the combat has been drastically improved with plenty of fresh mechanics.
First up, there are the fear takedowns. These can happen in certain spots and see Batman quickly take out groups of foes in blazing fast succession. There are also environmental takedowns, as if enemies are in a certain zone Batman can use items from the environment, like chandeliers, to easily take them out.
The level design has also been improved in some areas, as the famous ground grates are now connected to some of the ventilation shafts, allowing Batman to seamlessly transition from one to the other. Glass windows are also breakable and the hero can burst through them to easily eliminate at least one foe.
The Dark Knight's arsenal of gadgets has also been expanded, like with a Batarang scanner, which can fly around a building, like the ACE one, and allows players to scan certain areas of interest.
Of course, the biggest “gadget” in Arkham Knight is the Batmobile. The special vehicle allows the hero to easily go around Gotham City and to take part in brand new gameplay mechanics. It features two different modes – Pursuit and Battle.
Pursuit mode allows for high speeds, which can be augmented using the afterburner, perfect for making sweet jumps off of ramps. Battle mode, however, is more about precision and, of course, combat. The vehicle deploys a machine gun and a canon that fire live rounds against other vehicles or buildings, and switch to rubber bullets when going up against human enemies.
Besides the new aforementioned takedowns, Batman can also perform an uppercut to send enemies in the air and, if the Batmobile is in the zone, it can shoot one round and immediately take out that foe.
Overall, Batman: Arkham Knight seems like a great evolution of the franchise's recipe, with quite a lot of small improvements ensuring that it has plenty of innovation.
The actual demo mission saw the Caped Crusader burst into the ACE Chemicals plant, first using his own grapple gun and, after a few intense encounters, with the Batmobile. In terms of regular gameplay, the combat has been drastically improved with plenty of fresh mechanics.
First up, there are the fear takedowns. These can happen in certain spots and see Batman quickly take out groups of foes in blazing fast succession. There are also environmental takedowns, as if enemies are in a certain zone Batman can use items from the environment, like chandeliers, to easily take them out.
The level design has also been improved in some areas, as the famous ground grates are now connected to some of the ventilation shafts, allowing Batman to seamlessly transition from one to the other. Glass windows are also breakable and the hero can burst through them to easily eliminate at least one foe.
The Dark Knight's arsenal of gadgets has also been expanded, like with a Batarang scanner, which can fly around a building, like the ACE one, and allows players to scan certain areas of interest.
Of course, the biggest “gadget” in Arkham Knight is the Batmobile. The special vehicle allows the hero to easily go around Gotham City and to take part in brand new gameplay mechanics. It features two different modes – Pursuit and Battle.
Pursuit mode allows for high speeds, which can be augmented using the afterburner, perfect for making sweet jumps off of ramps. Battle mode, however, is more about precision and, of course, combat. The vehicle deploys a machine gun and a canon that fire live rounds against other vehicles or buildings, and switch to rubber bullets when going up against human enemies.
Besides the new aforementioned takedowns, Batman can also perform an uppercut to send enemies in the air and, if the Batmobile is in the zone, it can shoot one round and immediately take out that foe.
Overall, Batman: Arkham Knight seems like a great evolution of the franchise's recipe, with quite a lot of small improvements ensuring that it has plenty of innovation.
