Batman: Arkham Knight, Is Rocksteady still on the road to success?

We have faith in Rocksteady. It’s only made two major console games in the last six years, but considering they were two of the best titles of the previous generation, you can understand why we trust the studio. And the more we see of Batman: Arkham Knight, the more we believe in the British developer.

But there’s a lot changing in the last game of the series. We’re still in control of the Dark Knight, and we’ll still be swooping around the gargoyle-ridden rooftops of Gotham, but the power of the Xbox One has allowed the development team to add plenty of new features, the biggest of which is the Batmobile. Recently, Rocksteady has shed light on exactly what Bats’ new transportation will be able to do; we already knew about the driving sections of the game, but we now we’ve seen the Batmobile in battle. As enemy tanks swarm around you, the wheels rotate, allowing you to dodge directly left or right without having to mirror, signal and do a three point turn. You can even turn on the spot if reversing is a little too taxing.

But it has plenty more tricks up its sleeve, too: a 60 mm cannon and Vulcan gun on top of the vehicle allow you to disintegrate enemies in seconds, while electric shockers on the wheels and rubber bullets will incapacitate enemies without removing their heads. These tools are all accessible when the Batmobile is in Battle mode, with Pursuit mode offering an afterburner for extra speed, and a grappling hook than can pull down walls and barriers blocking your path. The rear containment unit has plenty of space for a weekly shop, or just a couple of rescued hostages that need a lift.

“A 60mm cannon and Vulcan gun on top of the vehicle allow you to disintegrate enemies in seconds”

From what we’ve seen, though, the Batmobile is going to be used for a lot more than simply getting Batman from A to B. It seems as though many of the missions are designed specifically around the new hardware in the level we’ve seen, Batman enters the Ace Chemical plant by jumping a gap in the Batmobile, destroying the attacking tanks, then leaping out of the car to beat up some baddies. The car combat looks tremendously fun, and if Rocksteady can get the balance right, it’s onto a winner.

YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND
Each wheel of the Batmobile can rotate a full 360 degrees, giving you huge manoeuvrability during fire fights with enemies and tanks. When driving Batman’s new vehicle, you can dodge left and right to avoid enemy fire before unleashing the 60mm cannon, or rubber bullets, to take down the bad guys
surrounding you.

SETTING THE BATMOBILE TO AUTOPILOT
While Batman can manually control the new vehicle, it’s also fully autonomous, meaning you can set it to pick him up, or attack, without Batman actually sitting inside. We have visions of the Batmobile taking down oncoming tanks while Batman leaps around it punching foot soldiers in the guts and flinging Batarangs like a madman.

OH WHAT A FEELING, DRIVIN’ ON THE CEILING
That’s right, when you enter Gotham’s sewer system in the Batmobile you’ll be able to drive up the walls and onto the ceiling. At the moment it looks like these sewer sections will mostly be Riddler challenges, but we’re hoping we’ll be able to use it to zip across town without taking to the streets.