How Arkham Knight’s Batmobile will change the way you play Batman games

If you’re sceptical of the Batmobile’s inclusion in the epic Batman: Arkham game series, rest assured – Rocksteady Studios knows exactly what it’s doing. We spent 30 very enjoyable minutes playing Batman: Arkham Knight at E3 last week and had a chat with Rocksteady’ Guy Perkins to find out why this is the definitive video game version of the Dark Knight’s famous ride…

1. The Batmobile’s inclusion was from the ground up

Don’t assume that Rocksteady just woke up one day and wanted to drop car mechanics into its Batman games. This was not a decision made lightly.

“Rocksteady’s Director and co-founder Sefton [Hill] always wanted to have the Batmobile in the Arkham games,” reveals Guy. “But it’s the horsepower of PlayStation 4 which allowed us to finally do it justice.

“But it’s not a quick fix. Introducing the Batmobile was a massive challenge, because we want the game to feel like it’s always had it. We wanted the Batmobile to be the ultimate car and it has to be so much more than a vehicle – it has to be integral to the gameplay experience.”

2. There’s a philosophy behind the Batmobile that runs alongside the series

A tight gameplay driven ethos has made the Arkham franchise the most successful Batman video game series to date, and Rocksteady isn’t throwing that away now, according to Guy.

“Batman: Arkham Asylum was all about creating an intimate experience of being ‘the world’s greatest detective’. Arkham City’s introduction of an open world, grapple and glide mechanics evolved that into making you the Caped Crusader. The Batmobile in Arkham Knight is about creating the ultimate Batman simulator.”

3. This car has character

While most iterations of the Batmobile have seen it either a speedy cruiser or an armoured monster, Arkham Knight’s version mixes it up a bit with two modes: the first (Pursuit) is for speed, complete with rocker boosters; the second is a slower but easier to control tank formation packing armour-piercing guns, missiles and a non-lethal riot suppressor for more fleshy targets.

You’re not just battling either – the Batmobile is used to solve puzzles such as opening up parts of the environment that Batman is unable to access and even towing a broken lift up and down a shaft.

“Design informed our decisions – it’s the car that the team wanted to build rather than just our version of the Tumbler from the Chris Nolan Batman movies,” explains Guy. And as a result, this Batmobile handles like a super powered dream. Slick, intuitive and familiar, you’ll pick up the controls of this sports-car-come-tank quickly and easily, and it feels like an extension of Batman’s gadgets, rather than a tacked on addition to the game.

4. Bats hasn’t been forgotten about, either

Yes, the Batmobile may be the big talking point, but the Dark Knight hasn’t been left out in the cold in the process. Bruce Wayne’s moonlit alter ego is filled out with astonishing detail, with noticeable scuffs and scratches on his helmet, imperfections on his billowing cape and moving joints where his armour connects.

He’s also gained additional moves to make the free flowing combat even more fluid. Grappling is quicker to take advantage of the increased verticality and size of the game (five times bigger than Arkham City), while environment takedowns let you violently introduce Bats’ enemies into hanging lights, control panels and other parts of the scenery. Fear takedowns slow the action down and allow you put the hurt on multiple opponents who are too frozen in fright to react to Bats almost superhuman speed.

And then there are the combos. Batman can remote control the Batmobile so one can always find the other, but if you’re nearby this tricked-out car can help stack up your combo counter, as you uppercut a crook into the air before the Batmobile uses its riot suppressor to strike the flailing baddie back into the ground.

Bats can also fire himself out of the car to begin a surprise assault. “I love ejecting out of it,” smiles Guy. “You can be fired out as high as one of the tallest building, so it totally transforms the way you can navigate around the city. It naturally feels like man and machine working together.

“We’ve been able to make lots of tweaks to the core systems. It feels like an evolution from Arkham City. We want to give players more of what they love.”

This is just the start of what Batman: Arkham Knight is going to bring to PS4 – keep reading PlayStation.Blog for more on this hard hitting comic book adventure…