So if you haven’t seen the Arkham Knight, “All Who Follow You” trailer yet, do so now before reading right here.
Batman Arkham Knight’s big reveal started on Friday when Rocksteady teased some familiar companions in the Batman universe would be returning for the conclusion to their trilogy. Friday opened up with an Azrael tease of him walking towards something. Saturday was Catwoman and Sunday brought the last reveal with Nightwing. Now we all know what Rocksteady has been hiding all this time, the games newest feature, Dual Play.
Dual Play allows gamers to tag in some familiar faces to support Batman but that’s all it is. This is exciting yet disappointing all at the same time for me.
Since Arkham Asylum and even more so after Arkham City I have wanted co-op gameplay in the series. Rocksteady hands down has the best combat system in the action adventure genre. Multiple gaming companies have tried to replicate their system but no one has yet to achieve the same level of immersion. It makes you feel like the player is actually controlling Batman. All I have ever wanted, all I thought this franchise needed to become something greater is to include cooperative gameplay.
They have the characters that surround Batman, even when he doesn’t want their help. They have his back and I just feel like this is a missed opportunity at Rocksteady. Even if the frame rate took a hit, the option would’ve pushed this game over the edge, from Game of the Year Nominee to securing the biggest award of the year at several outlets.
What did we get instead? These characters that act as a button prompt to lay the beat down on thugs. Just finishing moves is what I got from this trailer. How does that play a role in the story? Do these characters magically appear when you fill a meter to assist you? Or when your health is low? Is it optional? None of this is answered in the trailer.
I understand what Batman is going up against in this game he can’t possibly defend Gotham on his own. So why should the player? If the help is there why not give gamers the option to play cooperatively with a friend throughout the entire campaign. I just don’t understand after all this time; we just get a simple switching of characters that is also found in Grand Theft Auto V, in this game.
Another unsettling feeling I have with the dual play feature is the fact it could be accessible during boss battles. I feel this wouldn’t have the best fan reception if its possible to bring in Robin, Nightwing or Catwoman whenever your health is in critical condition or to even input critical blows to bosses. Batman purists want to tackle missions how the caped crusader does, alone for at least boss encounters. Judging by the trailer, Batman was alone when facing Scarecrow and the newest edition to the universe, the Arkham Knight. But a trailer can hide a lot of things so who knows.
Now with combat challenge mode I can only hope co-op is at least added because I have lost so many hours to that mode with friends and I’m sick of passing the controller. I’d rather them join in and help me climb to an outrageous number on the combat strike counter. I wouldn’t expect this mode online because that gameplay needs to be as fluid as possible and Internet connect hurdles would have geeks raging from all corners of the world. So local co-op for combat challenges or even predator segments would give players a taste at what could have been.
Before this trailer all I wanted was closure to arguably some of the best games last generation, but now it only left me with a bunch of questions and wishing for so much more.
What did you take from the latest Batman: Arkham Knight trailer? Does dual play excite you? Let us know in the comments below.
