When we have played the Arkham series, we can only look forward to this opus which passes the torch. But as everyone knows, going from an ultra-known and beloved character to something else is often complicated. This is why today I offer you an overview after thirty hours on the title to see a little more clearly in this darkness that is the city of Gotham.
History
The intro cinematic shows us a Batman who leaves a final message to his protégés to explain to them that now they are the ones who will have to protect Gotham. Then comes the problems that start here and there, between a Harley Quinn who is acting up, a Victor Fries who has lost hope and is relaunched in crime and the shadows who creep through the corners of the city of Gotham.
But when Talia al Ghul embarks on a strange and incomprehensible quest for our heroes, when a legend like the Court of Owls comes true, when assassins run through the streets of Gotham, you won't be too many four vigilantes to do order in this corrupt city and its dirty streets. Will you be strong enough to face it? Or will Batman's death have sealed the fate of this city?
my opinion: the story is full of interesting twists and telephone passages, even a little spoiled, even if it's only a detail and it's probably complicated to put into practice, by the fact that a character that we see several times act as if it were always the same interlocutor, even if we change character... whereas the anxieties and expectations are totally different according to each character. Besides, we learn a lot about each, and some are extremely touching to the point of feeling a surge of sympathy. as for Red Hood (Jason Todd) who is quite badly vis-à-vis his passage in the well of Lazarus and all the effects inherent in the latter. But the prize always goes to Alfred, who remains the most touching and motivating character, especially when he talks about Bruce Wayne and launches encouragement for our four heroes.
Graphics & atmosphere
The game remains quite pleasing to the eye during the adventure, but will require a lot of resources from your PC (yes, here I will only talk about the PC version, another editor will test the console version), but clearly remains less beautiful than other games like for example Cyberpunk 2077. The artistic direction is quite interesting on a lot of aspects, but once again lackluster with badly worked areas and very uneven characters. It's quite a shame to see some sublime things and others much less well done. Small note on the enemies who only have one skin per "class"... it becomes ridiculous when you come across "mafia" 3 times who come around you at the same time... I want to understand that putting ten skins for each type of enemy is complicated but at least one or two variants for the large types of recognizable enemy... that would not be luxury!
The soundtrack is on the other hand really good, the dubbing very good, whether in English or in French. The overall vibe is interesting, but suffers from a few issues like a city feeling a bit empty compared to the idea of a bustling, bustling Gotham. We meet ten times more thugs per square meter than inhabitants, to believe that there is only that here...
Gameplay
The day phase in the Belfry is a kind of Hub that prepares us for the night, where the serious things begin. During your day phase, you can practice the different movements, consult the evidence, the different premeditated crimes, change characters, manage your equipment, etc... You can also launch the chapter pieces that are in your files, like those concerning Harley Quinn, Gueule d'Argile or even Mr. Freeze. Besides, you will be able to create equipment and add mods to it to gain power, although I haven't quite grasped how this is renewed yet (I guess the list updates with the rise level). This will allow you to unlock skins/player palette for your heroes and use them to get the outfit you like the most!
Then comes the exploration and crime-fighting phase. And hell, this city needs a private army, crime is so prosperous: an attack every 100 meters, robberies galore, fifteen deaths a night, hacks every night, the same bank attacked every night, a van bank can't get out without getting demolished and there are more spare organs on the black market than in hospitals. There may be exaggeration somewhere, when you see the 300 guys to beat up every night to put the city back on the right track, it's a bit much, and a bit redundant. Even though the fights, ambushes and silent eliminations are completely in the spirit of Batman and co... and the characters react quite well on the commands, regardless of the character.
Combat level, except for Red Hood who stands out a little from the other three, it is especially in terms of Elan's talents and capacity (skills) that everything will change. And to unlock knight abilities and talents, all you need are a few quick challenges that will give you a way to hover (different for everyone, but identical in use) and ultimate momentum abilities that will have a given cooldown compared to others who depend only on a bar that fills over the twists, eliminations, dodges and other joys. Speaking of talents, each is clearly heading a different path: Red Hood will be more savage (the only one who can grapple powerful enemies), Batgirl more tanky/support/undermining, Robin more stealthy (the only one who can silently eliminating more powerful enemies) and Nightwing will be the most based on dodging and countering.
The concern will come from the fact that filling activities with challenges and the many quests that are only there for materials and grind exp are too redundant. In addition, to go from one to the other, it will be necessary to favor the "fast passage points" unlockable with a quest from Lucius Fox which will ask you to scan the drones with the least autonomy in the world (3 minutes of autonomy before the 10 seconds of fast charging) to avoid being spotted with its cool new means of transport. You can also move around on a motorcycle... but between the speed and the false feeling of speed (because it drags well), the awful feeling of driving and the fact that it's a tank that stops dead in its tracks on an impact, which makes the thing not at all believable... do not make the whole thing very attractive.
As for the grapple, it is practical but has such a violent problem that sometimes we throw it behind where we were aiming, which makes things quite complicated during certain missions, or even the character who will have engine problems during your phases of climbing and stealth on the guardrails. I don't mind not being good, but sometimes it's complicated not to succeed in doing an action because of a grappling hook that goes on an enemy (with Batgirl) rather than on the building. Note in the good points the AR, which acts as a radar to find the objectives and scan the objects to follow a track, which makes it possible to launch capacities (hacking with Batgirl), or to mark the enemies.
But all this is also valid for the good and bad sides for the multiplayer mode which allows you to do the adventure with two people, and which will adjust your level to that of the host if he is weaker than you. Some characters are also more oriented towards this with talent bonuses, such as Nightwing and its multiple bonuses. And soon, a "heroic assault" mode will allow you to do missions with four players (I assume each his hero).
All kinds of bugs
On the PC version, I experienced various rather funny bugs that sometimes made me laugh and other times not so much.
- Invincible enemy that turns on itself in meditation mode
- Go through the floor of the map / walls of buildings and end up falling.
- Enemy in the building
- Various visual bugs...
- Enemy clinging to the scenery
Nothing really bad in itself, but when it happens, we find ourselves seized with a desire to turn off the game and come back to it later. This will surely be resolved over the updates, but it's still ridiculous!
Summary
To say that the game is very good or bad would be totally wrong. Gotham Knights has a few qualities but is undermined by lackluster gameplay and a bit wobbly optimization, which is a shame given the story which holds a lot of surprises and the dark and cold atmosphere of Gotham which, although a little empty, is not really perfect. Solo or in co-op, I think fans will be able to have fun, even if they can only find this opus less successful than the previous one, hoping that the next one succeeds in making a big hit after this game which did not failed to meet expectations.
Gotham Knights sur l'Epic Games Store
