Playing A Game Batman: Arkham Knight PC

Arkham Knight wastes little time establishing a big-bad, putting Bat-boots on the ground, and settling into its new gimmick, the Batmobile. And with how highly emphasized said -mobile is in the game's opening missions, I soon began to wonder ... where have the Arkham series' stealth, sneak-em-up moments gone? To go through the game's introductory sequences with nary a ventilation shaft or ceiling gargoyle is almost unheard of. What's with the lack of subtlety, Rocksteady?

It took a little bit longer for the answer to become clear. The Batmobile isn't just an ancillary automotive feature: It is the star of this show. Not just a means of combating enemy tanks and chasing thugs' cars through the streets, the Batmobile is also a legitimate means of locomotion (easily rivaling cape-flight, in terms of both speed and awesomeness) as well as a platform for gadget-based puzzle-solving. Just a few moments ago, I was using a powered winch to deform the landscape, jumping off ramps and climbing up walls to reach an objective.

I still anxiously await the moment I'll be able to sneak around a building and stealthily take down thugs from the shadows. But the Batmobile features quickly, and definitively, establish themselves as more than an also-ran; they are fully-fledged game mechanics, fun, satisfying, and substantial. There's got to be at least one vehicular boss-fight waiting in here, and I'm absolutely stoked for it.

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