back to article Gaming's favourite fly by night. Batman: Arkham Knight reviewed

Rocksteady Studios has stated that Batman: Arkham Knight is the last game of the franchise. Fans are in for a real treat. I really enjoyed Batman: Arkham City (2011) with its sense of progression but then thought the shock gloves were excessively overpowered in Batman: Arkham Origins (2013), making combat heavy handed. Batman …

  1. auburnman

    Arkham Origins was not developed by RockSteady FYI, it may be why some parts of it were not up to par with the rest of the franchise. I have to say I'm looking forward to a Batman game where the Clown Prince of Crime has ceded the spotlight to allow one of the other superlative villains a crack at being the main baddie.

    I'm sure I'm going to be raging when the whole thing turns out to have been staged by the Joker and he comes back from the dead though.

  2. DrXym

    Reviews all appear to be on the PS4

    I've read quite a few reviews for this game and virtually all of them are on the PS4 version. I wonder what that's about.

    1. Planty Bronze badge

      Re: Reviews all appear to be on the PS4

      I think we all know the reason why that is, and why that's also true of pretty much every other game so far. You release the best version for review.

    2. h4rm0ny

      Re: Reviews all appear to be on the PS4

      >>"I've read quite a few reviews for this game and virtually all of them are on the PS4 version. I wonder what that's about."

      Rocksteady refused to release PC codes prior to the launch so nobody was able to review a PC version. It is now available and complaints are starting to come in. For example. the PC version is capped at 30fps. (You can change it by editing config files, but it's illustrative of much if the developers are making this the default). Number of other complaints as well, so it's looking like the withholding of the PC version from reviewers may have been deliberate attempt to head off news of the problems.

      Note, I haven't played it. Probably be next year before I actually find time to get it if I do, so just reporting what I have read. The game may well end up fine with a couple of patches. But hiding the game from reviewers and only letting people play PS4 versions is not a good thing, imo.

      1. Bernard M. Orwell

        Re: Reviews all appear to be on the PS4

        "the PC version is capped at 30fps. (You can change it by editing config files, but it's illustrative of much if the developers are making this the default)."

        yeah, that tallies with what I saw last night. I hate it when they nerf PC releases this way! There was an incident a while back where Microsoft were actually bribing a software house to dumb down a game on the PC so that the performance on the Xbone was comparable at release; can't remember what the game was though.... ah yeah, WatchDogs, that was it.

        Thanks for the tip on unlocking the framerate!

        1. Bernard M. Orwell

          Re: Reviews all appear to be on the PS4

          Quick update: Changing the FPS setting in BMEngine.ini, along with disabling the motion blur setting, resolved *all* the issues I had with the game. It now runs slick and smooth at ~47fps.

          and what a hell of a game it is!

    3. Graves
      Flame

      Re: Reviews all appear to be on the PS4

      Well, judging by the 71% negative reviews on Steam, i'd like to venture a guess : WB Interactive made Rocksteady rush the PC release, despite knowing there would be issues (like on the previous Batman game and on Mortal Kombat X), and they knew gamers would be tearing them a new one, so they opted to only give out codes for the PS4 for reviewers.

      Thank the FSM for the new Steam refund policy :-D

      And i do hope a lot of people will make the smart choice and get a refund.

    4. Robert Grant

      Re: Reviews all appear to be on the PS4

      Xbox One version very nice looking and performs well; don't worry about it.

  3. Sir Runcible Spoon
    Joke

    Sir

    So, I'm guessing you liked it?

    1. h4rm0ny
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Sir

      Sir Lucy?

  4. Innocent-Bystander*

    Screens?

    Did you pull those screenshots from the PS4 version or PC?

    1. Jediben
      Joke

      Re: Screens?

      Those aren't screens - it's gameplay VIDEO from the PC version!

  5. Bernard M. Orwell

    Darkness. No Parents.

    Played this for about an hour last night and yes, its very engaging and slick. The combat does indeed feel smoother, the keyboard controls are instantly familiar from previous titles and the graphical fidelity is indeed of a very high standard. The opening scene is original (press Space to do what now??), amazing and horrifying all in one go and sets the tone for a darker Gotham than you might expect.

    That said, even though I run on a fairly powerful gaming rig (AMD 8 core, watercooled, GTX Titan) that can churn out GTAV in full detail, I had some very noticeable stutter when driving the batmobile (oh god, yes!) which appeared to be related to the motion blur/depth of field setup; the usual criminals. So, off to the menu I went only to find that I had no option to decrease or remove those effects! I'll take a look at the config files tonight, but that's something of a shortfall in PC configuration settings and will make the game unplayable for a lot of players I suspect.

    1. ColonelClaw

      Re: Darkness. No Parents.

      It's annoying to have to wait, but these days it's worth holding off playing any PC game on release, until at least the first patch. Frustrating, but in the long run you'll be less disappointed.

      The games industry has learnt well from Microsoft :P

      1. auburnman

        Re: Darkness. No Parents.

        Not just PC games. Arkham City was borderline unplayable shortly after release on PS3 due to some insane slowdown if you tripped certain conditions (Gliding too long, using fast travel? Can't remember now but it was fairly easy to fall foul of.) Luckily a prompt patch fixed it, but putting up with this sort of day 1 bullshit appears to be par for the course now.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like