After almost 50 hours of playing through Rocksteady Studios Batman Arkham Knight it appears there’s no respite for those who would rather not adhere to the game’s rules which is to make things easier as you level up the Batman, gadgets and vehicle. It’s a trait we see in many games where extended play merely means the lead character has more options which supposedly balances out against the onset of tougher opponents. Arkham Knight is no exception, although it does feel like it’s a hand holding experience and one that is overly drawn out with the advent of The Riddler sections to gain the full ending sequence. Getting there isn’t that hard and is just time consuming, although some of the game’s other villains pose a far greater threat when all of Batman’s upgrades are ignored. The game constantly informs players to “level up” at every opportune moment, but ignoring this demand and amassing over 200 WayneTech Points in the process so they can sit there gleefully teasing the game’s challenge is rewarding and something the game allows for, and rightly so. However, to our dismay our aim for completing the entire game fully with zero upgrades being used was scuppered by the antagonistic man himself who somehow receives more screen time than any other villain in the Bat universe for some reason.
From our perspective it was all looking rather good as trophy after trophy was gained without the need for an upgrade. Enemy checkpoints would fall, drones destroyed, the villains jailed and Gotham was becoming devoid of criminality, that was until we hit the last area looking to finish off the Riddler trophies. Panessa Studios houses two Riddler trophies that require an upgraded attack and upgraded disruptor weapon. Our hearts were broken… whose idea was it to throw in these 2 out of 243 riddles that require an upgrade. A shame, and now we’re left pondering whether to end the game without collecting these last two trophies, or succumbing to fear and spending 14 WayneTech points on the Fear Multi Takedown x 5 and the 7 points to gain the Disruptor Sabotage Mine. Pants! The Riddler has foiled our plans.
