"I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!"(Why Arkham Knight is a Perfectly Told Story Part III Part 2)

Okay.
I get chills thinking about it.
Today, we talk Arkham Knight.
Are you ready?
No, you're not.
Let us start with this:

This is the launch trailer.
It starts with Thomas Wayne's Last Will & Testament to his beloved son, Bruce.
Here is the full transcript:

In the event of my death, I hereby declare that all my worldly possessions pass to my son, Bruce Wayne. Bruce: I ask that you honour the Wayne family legacy, and commit yourself to the improvement of Gotham City, its institutions and its citizens. Please, be strong. You are young, but destined for great things. Make the most of your opportunities; use them to give back to a city that has given us so much, to change the lives of millions of people. Do not be frivolous with this wealth; please do not waste it all on fast cars and outrageous clothes, and the pursuit of a destructive lifestyle. Invest in Gotham. Treat its people like family; watch over them, and use this money to safeguard them from forces beyond their control. My deepest regret is I will not see you grow into the good man I know you will become. And finally, my son, I ask that you never abandon this city to fate. We have lived through dark days; there's no doubt there are more to come. But it is the good and great men who stand up for Gotham when others turn and run. In death, I will love you for ever. Your father, Thomas.

Holy shit.
So right from the start of this game's merchandising campaign they established this as legacy.
Thomas Wayne gave Bruce a directive, not just a trauma, but a freaking mission!

• Help people.
• Save Gotham.
• You are privileged.
• Use these gifts and make the world better! 

I get chills.
This story is about family.
Now, the next bit of the campaign was a little weird...

So the campaign highlights regular schmucks.
You, me, anybody.
Right?
And through determination, courage, fortitude, fear, they go on to win the little battles we all face

• bullies
• championship games
• fires
• that sort of thing

 But, the last line is a little bit terrifying:

BE THE BATMAN

Suggesting that it is possible for you to be Batman.
The reason that this is a perfectly told story is because everything about the game makes you the Batman.
Not just feel like Batman.
Actually Be Batman.
In order to get the full sense of this you need, need, need to play the game.
But, I will try to convey in words what you may have missed in the playing:

Okay.
Let us start with the opening:
(I will try to keep up a running narrative so switch back and forth if you can)


So we start with Joker already dead (spoilers).
How do you know?
Because he is on a slab waiting for cremation.
They start with destroying a symbol! That is just good, clean storytelling.

What next?
Well, to be honest, I wonder if I will ever get to play.
Most games and I won't name names (Order 1886, Assassin's Creed, Witcher, etc.) will have you watch movie after movie, but never let you actually play the game.
This is what we call AGENCY; every good game has it, every movie doesn't.
If all you can do is move a character from point A to point B, it is a movie.
As I sat there and wondered if I will ever get to play something strange happens.

We just keep staring at Joker's corpse.
Nothing happens.
For almost a full minute nothing happens!
And then something pops up on screen:

INCINERATE "X"

What?
They want me to press a button?
So I do.
For a moment.
The fire starts, but stops.
And I thought, "I HAVE TO BURN THE JOKER!"
Instantly Rocksteady made me complicit.
In the first minute of game, I have to murder a symbol....
So I do.
I burn him up good.

And it takes a while....
But, I do it, because it is necessary for story.
And I cried.

Replaced by the opening shot of the logo and the quote that will forever haunt me and this review:

This is how it happened. This is how the Batman died.

What? How? Why? How? Why?

And the narration is off.
We play as some off duty cop named Owens handling some smoking complaint in the "corner booth".
He orders the pie and don't tell his wife crap.
The whole nine yards.
We walk over to the corner booth to politely ask the dick to stop smoking (this is 2015 for crying outloud)
Suddenly, it is a horror show.
Demons are everywhere, chasing, choking, and beating each other

But, you are a cop!
So what is your immediate solution?
You grab your gun!
And what happens next?
Well, depending you either:

• shoot the harmless demons (patrons) and get your head smashed in or 
• you wait and get your head smashed in.

Either way you get your head smashed in.
And why?
Some people might maintain because this is purely exposition that you are a no name cop and it is done for dramatic effect.
And they may be right.
It is traumatic.

But, what did we see?
The cop drew his gun.
By drawing a gun in this world, you fail.
That is taught to us in the first interaction in the game.

Come to find out that it is Scarecrow doing all of this mess and the gravelly voice belongs to Jim Gordan who says we only have one man who can save us:

BATMAN!
Oh, I get chills.
Because Batman is a hero.
He is at the top of his game, he has never been stronger, but that doesn't matter because this is the night that Batman dies.

How do we know?
Jim frigging Gordan told us!
He is reliable.
He is in every iteration of the Batman story.
He has seen it all!
And he is using the past tense!
It has already happened.
Batman is dead.
Did you get the memo?

Do you know what that means?
The game designers can do...anything!

1) THE BATSUIT
So we start with freaking flight!

Why?
Because why not?
See, in previous games Rocksteady was concerned about limiting where Batman could roam and what abilities he had at certain moments.
In this, you start with basically everything you need to complete the game.
Everything else is icing.
So you start with a fully fledged flight mechanic and you swoop to see Commissioner Gordan at GCPD Headquarters.
You get your first mission: save the police officer and you do.
Some things to notice in the trailer

• It is the same suit/technology from Arkham City you are wearing
• The screen on his comms is in black and white
• The grapnel boost from Arkham City is still there and you can see it on your gauge as you fly
• The fact that time slows down and Batman grapples away before the car attempts to ram him

Why are those things important?
You start with the same suit in Arkham City.
That means same color, same look, same tech.
Eventually though, you are introduced to this:

So Bruce gets a shiny new suit with a whole lot of new toys and stuff. Great. Same old same old
NOPE!
Not even close.
Bruce gets a new suit that is so fluid (literally), so smooth...it gets out of his way.
That is right ladies and gentlemen.
The Batman of the Rocksteady games, the one that literally cracks skulls and sounds like gravel hitting pavement...was slow!
The Batsuit was slowing Batman down.
Now, they introduce a new mechanic called the Fear Multi Takedown that lets you take down multiple assailants almost instantly.

And in this we are taught something:
Batman is not his suit.
By introducing that little detail, they establish that Batman is greater than his tech, more powerful than his gadgets.

But, the new gadgets are sweet.
The comms are in color!

The grapnel boosts farther!
It is the biggest, baddest upgrade, but it also stems from Batman's innate ability.

But, let us talk about the last bullet point.
Time slowing down and grappling out of the way.
That is a game mechanic!
At first I thought that was just cinematic license taken by the game designers.
oh no.
That is a legitimate mechanic in game.
Anytime something is about to hit you: cars, bullet fire, time slows, you get a moment to decide how to respond and then you do.
Why? Because you are Batman!

2) THE BATMOBILE
So once you have rescued the poor, ungrateful sap, he asks you what you are doing
You tell him

Evening the odds

And Batman totally does.
Batman goes from his brilliant flight mechanic to the Batmobile.
This thing is beyond surreal.

• It has impenetrable wheels that grips the road perfectly, so no blow outs
• It has a virtually impenetrable armor casing (which we will get to in just a moment)
• It has an afterburner that can accelerate it to the fastest thing in the game
• It has tracking/homing missiles
• It has GPS

And why? Because you're Batman!

Walking is now for plebeians and I never did it again in the game if I could avoid it.
So where to next?
Well they send you to find Ivy.
Who is somewhere.
So you travel in the vehicle, discover she is in the penthouse so you have to fly up there.
They equip you with the tools to succeed and put you in immediate story situations to use them to advantage.
And if you do it well enough, you look cool too.

So you pick up Ivy and bring her out.
Immediately you are surrounded by men with guns.
So what do you do?
Call up your Batmobile.
Oh, you thought that was all it does?

• It can be remotely operated
• It can seamlessly transform into a tank with
• Armor piercing rounds and
• Nonlethal projectiles for crowd control
• It has omnidirectional movement and a variety of secondary weapons

This review could just gush about the Batmobile.
But, I am just getting started.
You drop off Ivy in the backseat because that is where bitches go

You then engage in brutal tank warfare, rush back to GCPD and...

She's fine!
Completely non plussed.
But, totally, totally fine.
She leaves the Batmobile in the exact same condition as she entered it.

What you didn't realize was that something happened.
Something unspoken, but very much present:
The Batmobile is the safest place in the universe.
You don't think so?
Everywhere else people become maimed, bullied, and muscled around.
But, the Batmobile is the perfect place to keep things precious and safe.

For the rest of the game you fight in the Batmobile, locomote in the Batmobile, make love to the Batmobile (add on content).
Finally, there comes a time where the unthinkable happens:

You are cornered.
Alone.
Save for your precious Batmobile.



And there it is.
The death of a symbol.
The Batmobile is gone.
I felt for this death more than almost any other in the game.
Because it was supposed to be safe!
And then it wasn't.
And the Batmobile paid the price.
It was a hard, hard loss.

Fast forward and we are surrounded by tanks, no way out.

You need a Batmobile!
There is no other way to fight tanks in the whole game.
Nothing has prepared you for this.
You feel weak.
Powerless.
When Lucius Fox delivers like a beast:

The MKII Batmobile!
That is right, THERE ARE TWO BATMOBILES! Plural
And she is badder than ever!
SHE LIVES!
Because it doesn't matter that it is one of a kind.
Batman would plan to lose a Batmobile or two.
Why? Becaue you are Batman!

3) The Villain(s)
This deserves its own little subcategory of amaze sauce.
The villains in Rocksteady's games are notorious for being related to the theme of that game
Arkham Asylum it is the inmates, the insane, the dangerous

• Joker
• Viktor Zsasz
• Killer Croc
• Scarecrow
• Riddler
• Ivy

Arkham City it is the ones chasing immortality or some sense of grandeur

• Joker
• Twoface
• Penguin
• Solomon Grundy
• Hugo Strange
• Ra's al Ghul

Arkham City is no different, with an impressive roster that puts the emphasis on family/mutation

• Scarecrow
• Arkham Knight
• Pig
• Manbat

Scarecrow

Consumed and interested in fear.

Scarecrow is poised as the main villain of the game (though to be honest he comes up scant).

Not for lack of trying.

He is terrifying having been scarred by his time at the Asylum.

The final confrontation even happens at Arkham Asylum:

Batman is even in the same prone position as his worst nightmare from Arkham Asylum.

Scarecrow is even responsible for bringing together the other two villains in the game:

Arkham Knight

This is the red herring.

The big question mark throughout the game.

You suspect his true identity and it is definitely hinted at, but really why give away all the surprises?

The point is he is the dark mirror to Batman:

The Joker

Oh, you thought he was dead?

You thought that would stop the main villain?

The big bad of the Rocksteady games?

NOPE!

So at first, Joker is a manifestation of Scarecrow's fear toxin.

(Sup?)

So he is a manifestation of Batman's fear.

Makes sense.

Then, come to find out there are other...victims:

Infected with Joker blood, they are mutating into Joker knock offs.
They are mean, psychotic, and equipped to deal.
So you take care of all of them.
Come to find out they are murdered by a sleeper:

Henry Adams.
The supposed "cure".
He murders everyone else, takes out Bats by threatening to murder Harley.
He is unstoppable until he sees this:

Oh, didn't you remember?

Batman was infected by Joker blood too.

In Arkham City.

We are going to see Joker in Batman's body and suit.

And don't forget, this is how the Batman died.

So Joker is the devil on Batman's shoulders.

Tempting him to do...things.

Yes. This really happens in game.

You remember why Batman hates guns?

Guns are the weapons of the enemy.

The weapons of criminals and the fearful.

They are what Joker loves and what Batman hates.

The whole show is about tempting Batman to kill:

 

Yeah.

Because if he does.

It will unleash the Joker.

And you know what?

He kind of does...

We get to play as the lethal Joker:

And yes.

Those lethal rounds he has been joking about this whole game?

He uses them.

So that is it. 

That is how Batman goes out...

4) THE BATMAN

I have mentioned pretty much everything before.

• Batman's resilience
• His devotion to family
• His natural abilities overcoming his gadgets/tech
• He is a master strategist

But, we will talk about his most impressive trait:
Batman's perseverence.

Batman is unstoppable.
He is a force of nature.
And nowhere is that better felt than at the end.



If you have time watch the whole vide.
If not.
We see the world through Joker's eyes with Batman's abilities/resources at his disposal
We see a Batman who is murderous, psychotic, vicious.
Batman's worst fear:
Becoming what he fights against.

But, then, we see what Joker is afraid of:
Being forgotten.
And he will be.
And why?
Because:

"I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!"

Because Batman will always stop Joker.
Even the Joker inside his head.
And in that moment Batman proves he is greater than the Joker.
He is stronger than even his worst fears.
That is what makes him Batman.
Because that is the Joker's ending finale.

This is Batman's:

Unmasked.
Known to all.
Saving the city one last time from all its baddest enemies.
And bidding it the sweetest farewell.
That is how the Batman dies.