The Plot
Set one year after the events of Batman: Arkham City, Halloween is approaching and the Scarecrow has found the perfect time of the year to make his vengeful return. With the Joker dead, the darkest hour of Gotham has finally ended as the citizens can safely come out of their houses due to a remarkable decrease in crime. However, things soon take a dramatic backward change as Dr. Johnathan Crane returns to wreak havoc again.
Scarecrow recruits the Penguin, Two-Face, and the Joker’s lover Harley Quinn to take down the Dark Knight. Threatening to plague the city with his dear gas and numerous hidden bombs throughout the city, the six million population of Gotham City evacuates; leaving Batman and the Gotham City Police Department trapped with the evildoers.
The chances for Batman winning the battle become slim when the mysterious villain Arkham Knight makes his presence known by aiding Scarecrow. With Commissioner James Gordon and his daughter Barbara Gordon aka Oracle as his only allies, Batman must once again save the city from its impending doom.
The Batmobile
For the very first time in the Batman: Arkham franchise, the famous Batmobile is featured in the game as a drivable automobile. The bulletproof car captures the very essence of its comic book counterpart as it can jump, rotate, speed boost, smash through trees and walls, and even fire missiles.
Not only that but the Batmobile can be summoned to Batman’s location and even below him while he is about to land. The car can roam freely in Gotham City and can be used to make the low-life street thugs aware of the presence of the Caped Crusader.
When driving the Batmobile, the player has the option to indulge in either one of the two modes: Battle and Pursuit. In the Battle mode, the Batmobile becomes an armored tank car that has a Vulcan gun and several other weapons for bombardment purposes. As far as the Pursuit mode is concerned, it is more or less for non-lethal purposes as the normal state of the Batmobile is used for particular driving challenges.
The Batmobile shares the Batsuit’s trait of being upgraded like in the previous installments of the Batman: Arkham franchise and will also be involved in some of the challenges concerning the Riddler trophies. Rocksteady Studios has revealed that the open world of Gotham City has been increased five times than that of the previous game; leaving the players with enough space to cruise around on the Batmobile – perhaps the most recognizable car in any form of media.
On a related note, Batman: Arkham City marks the featuring of the Batmobile as a playable vehicle for the very first time since Eurocom’s 2005 game Batman Begins.
Identity of Arkham Knight
The most talked-about aspect of the anticipated game is the mysterious vigilante Arkham Knight. The character is the brainchild of veteran comic book artist Jim Lee and DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns. Not many details and background stories of Arkham Knight are known other than the fact that he is working with Scarecrow as both share the common goal of killing Batman.
Like the Dark Knight, Arkham Knight is very much similar to his adversary. Both are exceptionally trained to the peak of human physicality, both use fear as an ally and both have a Batsuit to the point of extended ears. To make matters worse, the mysterious new character has hinted in the trailer of the game that he is very well aware of the fact that Bruce Wayne is behind the mantle of the Bat.
Many fans of the series have speculated that the identity of Arkham Knight can be Hush, Azrael, Quincy Sharp, Amadeus Arkham, Jason Todd, or even a mere hallucination created by Scarecrow. However, it was recently revealed that a reported leak from game development gave away some details about upcoming characters in the game and the identity of the original villain.
Described as a clone of Bruce Wayne who aged rapidly by the Titan formula, the project of Arkham Knight was supervised by Dr. Amanda Waller but let’s wait for the game to be released to be sure.
