“This is how the Batman died” is the opening line to Rocksteady’s finale to the Arkham series.

Batman: Arkham Knight

(2015), released four years after

Batman: Arkham City

(2011), closes the chapter on eighth generation consoles.

Arkham Knight

expands to City’s open world by allowing the player free reign to explore Gotham. With Gotham City finally opening up, Rocksteady has also introduced the Batmobile for players to explore and experience new action sequences.

Months after the events of

Arkham City

, Batman is struggling to come to terms with what happened in the aforementioned game. On Halloween night, Scarecrow releases a fear toxin that encapsulates a part of Gotham City, warning that he will eventually release the toxin all over the city, triggering a city-wide evacuation. Alongside Scarecrow, Batman meets a new foe, the Arkham Knight, a mysterious soldier seeking revenge on Batman. Along the way, Batman has to deal with familiar faces in the Rogues Gallery: Two-Face, Riddler, Deathstroke, Professor Pyg and Penguin and Hush, just to name a few.

Batman: Arkham Knight

takes everything that made

Arkham City

a fan favorite and refines it to perfection. The combat mechanics are still simple. You have a button to attack, counter, stun and dodge. Combining these moves allows you to create combos necessary to take out specific enemies and maintain a perfect free flow. As you progress through the game and pick up new gadgets, Batman can include them in combat. In addition to the new combat mode is tag-teaming. In some story sequences, Batman is able to team up with Nightwing and Catwoman to defeat enemies. Both these characters have different fighting styles and combos against all of their enemies. Alternating between Catwoman or Nightwing will also lead to satisfying finishers.

Predator mode is still as good as it was in

Batman: Arkham City

with new changes that perfect it. With a new suit, Batman is able to move at great speeds and perform a fear-multi takedown that will take out up to five enemies in an instant. This ability recharges after performing a silent takedown, but is lost if Batman is caught during a stealth sequence. This new feature adds an interesting twist to predator mode, making you feel more like Batman. Like combat mode, predator mode adds a tag-team sequence where you can team up with Robin and take down enemies together.

However, the newest, and by far the most talked about, addition to the Arkham series is the Batmobile. The Batmobile demolishes everything it touches with cannons and sentry guns. Unfortunately, with great power comes great annoyance. Although the Batmobile makes the game definitely more interesting, Rocksteady could not help but shove it into half of the story. There are also many tank battles, most of which become tedious after a while, Riddler missions that require extensive Batmobile racing and puzzles that require you to bring the Batmobile everywhere. Although the Batmobile took away some of the charm that made

Arkham City

, it did not completely ruin the game.

Arkham Knight

introduces new combat maps, such as the GCPD, Clock Tower and Crime Alley, where you can practice your free flow skills and interact with other characters. Some maps have even included a tag-team mode where Batman can team up with Robin or Nightwing. Rocksteady has also introduced specific modes such as enemy waves, where enemies are defeated in waves, or perfect free flow where players must maintain a perfect combo.

Arkham Knight

also features new predator maps that incorporate tag-team mode introduced in the main campaign. Additionally, for a fee or a season pass, players can explore stories with Batgirl, Red Hood, Robin, Harley Quinn and Nightwing. All of these characters are playable in both combat and predator mode. As a bonus, Rocksteady has also introduced Azrael as a playable character.

Overall,

Batman: Arkham Knight

is an excellent finisher to the Arkham series. Taking everything that made the Arkham series iconic,

Batman: Arkham Knight

perfects the formula and closes this franchise with a blaze of glory. The standard edition of

Arkham Knight

is available on PC, PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One for $19.99.