I haven't played it but a 7 just feels right, especially with what I have seen and known about the games.

I wish you had posted this like an hour ago :(

Arkham City had similarly glowing reviews (96 Metacritic?) and that was pretty good, but nothing amazing to me. I'll get around to this eventually but I'm in no hurry.

I haven't played a Batman game since Asylum, so maybe it's time to play another one.

@afabs515 said:

I wish I saw their VIP page an hour ago... It's only $36!

I went ahead and did that VIP thing and it said that my code will not be issued until release...really hope I didn't get screwed here.

Yeah, I received the same message. That's not standard with them, but I wouldn't worry. GMG is excellent in my experience. There is a thread in their forum about it.

@moab: typically you get the code later than if you preorder on steam, so if you're ok waiting a few hours you can save a few bucks.

This will be my first Batman game since Arkham Asylum, so I'm excited to get back into it. I think I may have made the right choice skipping the last two.

Also has it been verified that arkham knight has no loading screens? And why do people keep saying that batman combat is copied so much? Besides batman, it seems the only other franchises to tackle it are Mordor and Sleepy Dawgz.

Uh. At least brush up on Arkham City's story by way of wiki or something. Some fairly important story stuff takes place in that game.

I'm looking forward to reading some feedback from you folks dipping into the game early. Still have loads of Witcher action to get through before I let myself buy another huge ass open-world game.

Reading the VanOrd review, I wonder as to the necessity of the Batmobile. It's iconic and all, but the best thing about Arkham City was gliding about the skyscrapers. I don't want a bunch of forced Batmobile bits to justify the existence of the thing.

Meanwhile, VanOrd is taking some stick for his review from the ever unhappy 'obtuse shit-slingers' always looking to elevate our wonderful hobby.

So much confirmation bias here. Not too excited for it? The lower scoring reviews must be more correct. Excited? Ten out of ten.

Interested in seeing how the batmobile stuff actually plays, I liked all the Batman games (even Origin, it was a perfectly fine game on PC with the best story of the franchise) so I'm def picking this up but supper interested to see how the batmobile impacts the game.

Aghhh... shouldn't have clicked this thread and gotten my hype up. I won't be getting around to this for a bit (this has been a rough month money-wise), so I've been trying not to get my excitement going. Of course, it'll all be for naught when the QL goes up and gets me even more hyped...

Ah well. Gives me an excuse to play through City for the 1500th time. Might finally make a push for all of the Riddler trophies, or at least three-starring all of the challenges.

Oh my fucking god. Never look at the comments on reviews.... I figured a 7 was a pretty good score but apparently it's giving the game a death sentence.

I might pick this game up. The GameSpot review kind of validated my concerns about the Bat Moblie

Finished Witcher and I am ready to dive into this. I loved all of the Batman games and really want more. Just played through Arkham again and almost finished City. I am really excited.

I hope it's good. I really liked Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, but never got around to buying Origins... until I ended up getting it for next to nothing in the Steam Sale when I pre-ordered Arkham Knight just now.

Beware the IGN review, the moron that wrote it spoils what could've been a nice surprise appearance.

Going by the general consensus, the narrative seems to be weak, which is a shame, but not surprising since Rocksteady brought in the writer of Crysis 2 and Killzone Shadow Fall. I still have no idea how that could happen.

:hype

The feedback on that Gamespot review is ludicrous. Heaven forbid someone give a AAA game anything below an 8.

Ugh, I saw it too. It's extra annoying because I skimmed the review, but he mentioned it again in the comments. Imagine working on this for years, only for that to get out before the game even releases.

lookin like a good year

@deadeyemccoy: Gamespot comments for reviews are always god awful.

I mean sometimes we have a crazy thread or two but it really makes you realize how great a community we are

If I recall correctly, the Spooder-Men and Capitan Americana games used a similar combat system.

I just don't know whether this series can surprise me. We've played the same game twice already and the only one with any genuine impact is now 6 years old.

Impressive thing reviewing a game of this scale during E3 week.

With the Gamespot review in particular it seems like the tedium of the batmobile hit Kevin Vanord hard. I'm debating whether to get this game for the PC or PS4 because Arkham City didn't exactly run all that well on PC although that may have been poor implementation of tessellation which was still relatively new at the time.

Between these reviews and Scarecrow seeming to be the main villain, I think this might have to be the first batman I buy day 1 since Asylum. If this game is really all that then this summer has been amazing so far with Witcher 3 and Batman.

I mean, opinions are opinions but still man that reads like hyperbole to me.

So I bought the prenium edition on PS4....the DLC better be worth it or WB games will never get my money again...after Mad Max.

The Arkham games have always been a strong 8/10 to be and nothing more. Hopefully this raises that bar.

@mostman: Wouldn't be surprised if they got the game a few weeks ago

If Kevin Van Ord's main issues revolve around the batmobile, I can deal with that. That is my biggest concern with the game, especially since it felt so un-needed. Arkham City perfected traversal and Origins had a decent conceit for limited Fast Travel.

I suspect he's right, but I still really like 7/10 games quite a bit when it's a series I like. Too bad he's getting flak for doing his job right, not a surprise though.

Opinions and such, but I'm seeing this hyperbolic statements so often... Wasn't TW3 the second coming of jesus just about a weak ago?

Don't get me wrong I'm loving TW3 but I think they over selling things

I'm holding my buy for this game, more than often I agree with Kevin V Ord that most reviewers anyway.

You're just as bad as the comments section on that GS review.

The guy just didn't like it as much as everyone else. I don't get why that is something that would have ulterior motives behind it. It's a video game and not everyone likes the same thing. It's called, oh what is the word I'm looking for? Oh yea! An opinion!

And 7/10 isn't even a bad score. You know what's a bad score? A 4/10 or below. The game is a good game and a 7/10 says that perfectly.

It all brings my memories back to Jeff's 8.8 for Twilight Princess. The outrage for a score for something that no one in the comments section had even touched. Then once everyone played it they realized. "Oh yea, Jeff was totally right, this a great game, but Zelda has definitely been better before" Hell, I'm a diehard Zelda fan and even I thought an 8.8 was too high of a score. 7.5 at best.

As for Batman. Well, I haven't played it. But it seems to me like those Batmobile sections are either something you're going to love, hate or tolerate. Seems like Van'Ord just did not like them and that caused his enjoyment of the game to fall more than the other reviewers.

I'd be surprised if a batman game can top City but I'll have to pick it up at some point to see.

oh man i'd love to see the meltdown if a major publication gave this a 5/10 or below...

@moab: Thank you so much for the link for the $36 deal. I've never used green man game and have no idea what the VIP area even means but a deal is a deal, especially when you are between jobs like me.

Thanks again!

I was sorta concerned about the vehicle combat. Not something that I necessarily wanted out of a batman game. I'll have to see how much it bothers me (or doesn't) when I get my hands on it. Generally positive stuff is nice to hear though. Whatever, I'm ready for more Ratman adventures in my life.

As far as GameSpot's 7.... I think it's important for different opinions and point of views in gaming. We can't all agree on everything all the time. Also as much as I love Giant Bomb and rarely go to GameSpot IMO Kieth VanOrd is the best reviewer in the business. He's very eloquent, fair, and has a distinct voice. I love reading and watching his reviews, even on games I have no interest in.

Origins better than city, neither comes close to asylum. Done

Dat busta Kevin VanOrd running his mouth like these streets is safe.

R.I.P. Tico

I feel like we're living in an 8 month bubble where top marks lose their meaning.

Another 10/10 from Ausgamers - http://www.ausgamers.com/games/batman-arkham-knight/review/

Wasn't really waiting for this game or anything (especially since I can't seem to be able to care much about any other game when TW3 is in front of me), but I wanna try it to continue my ongoing tests on how this generation's games perform on my laptop (especially since TW3 has been stubbornly running badly)

GTA V and even Unity (after a lot of tweaking) ran pretty well on it, but the Witcher's performance makes my machine look completely difference. Batman should make things clearer now.

He looks like he is trying to sell the game with that tweet and that's why i'm not reading his review.

I agree with your first statement, definitely can't compare arkham with the witcher as a score bases, but i completely disagree with any of those "design issues". Combat in witcher is great, it just requires more skill , I never got stuck on trees and horse movement was great for the most part. Now walking around and looting things is a different story, especially in enclosed areas.

I fundamentally don't understand why people are upset with reviews that are below the "consensus." Are they afraid that the developers at Rocksteady are going to lose their jobs or cry themselves to sleep tonight because they got one 7? Will Kevin's opinion on the game will somehow make the game worse for them personally? Will Warner Brothers just ditch the game because it got a 7 from Gamespot?

What's wrong with liking things just because you personally like them? The only explanation I can muster is that the majority of people who play games are in their teens, and thus the majority of people who comment on these reviews are just kids who haven't been around yet.

@choffy: There really isn't much point to playing Origins story wise; I believe they emphasized finishing their "trilogy".

Arkham City however... Has some important story beats you'll want to catch up on.

i read gamespot's review and he harped on about there being too much batmobile, but as a massive arkham game fan and a massive comic book fan in general.... all ive wanted from the start of this is to drive around gotham in the batmobile and beat the shit out of thugs just like batman wouldn't, in the comics batman would fly his way around gotham he would use the batmobile; i guess its just up to the player wether they want the function to matter or not.

i do feel that 7 out of 10 is a little harsh, just because its more of the same from the other games doesn't make it a worst game for it, if i remember rightly those games kicked ass!