Batman: Arkham VR Reviews
Batman Arkham VR comes with the slogan of “be the batman” but without a good storyline and proper VR elements, it can’t go anywhere. You can play “Arkham Knight” and be the Batman thousands more times.
Review in Persian | Read full review
‘Batman: Arkham VR’ is one of the most immediately impressive AAA experiences to launch on the PSVR, but ultimately lacks substance.
Arkham VR is a limited game but a robust experience, with only some replay value through collectable Riddler trophies dotted around subsequent playthroughs. Like many other VR games it serves well as a showcase for the possibilities of virtual reality, but doesn't offer players an experience with any real depth.
As someone that doesn’t really mind a short game, I have to admit that I was a bit dismayed by not only its length, but the fact that there really wasn’t any combat involved. At $10 to $15, it would be easier to recommend.
If you're a Batman fan with PlayStation VR, this game is likely already sat in your collection. It's a short, sweet, tour-de-force, tugging on those grapple-hook heartstrings forged from the original Arkham trilogy. For anyone else, it's a great introduction to VR but doesn't do anything to push the franchise or the platform forward.
Batman: Arkham VR offers some fun puzzles and use of tools, but its lack of action scenes and short running time keep the game from really making you feel like Batman.
We’d recommend giving Batman Arkham a pass at its $19.99 price tag if it weren’t for how amazingly cool it feels – even if for one brief moment – to feel like you’re Batman. For die-hard Batman fans, this will be worth the price of admission alone, but for everyone else, weigh out that specific moment in your decision-making process. If that sounds like something you must experience for yourself, give Batman Arkham VR a try. If you are hoping for a great-looking tech demo to show off PSVR’s capabilities with an iconic character everyone you know will recognize, give Batman Arkham VR a try. But if you’re looking for a deep, engaging experience, Batman Arkham VR is more laughable than The Joker’s smug grin.
You can't come up with a more intriguing VR premise than "Batman simulator," and developer Rocksteady has done their best to make it work. But despite how cool it is to simply exist in Gotham, the limited interactions and dumbed-down puzzles make the experience feel much less confident than it should be.
The best tech demo so far for PlayStation VR, but with some better storytelling it could also have been a good game in its own right.
This is a great game for what it is. I feel like if this wasn’t a Batman related game it wouldn’t of been as good, and that’s a huge flaw. The best parts of it were being able to actually be a hero that you have always wanted to be but if it was just a normal person it would’ve lost my interest. It kind of felt like a “take your child to work day” kind of game.
If Rocksteady is prepping me for what's to come with Batman: Arkham VR, I'm sold already. A massive amount of time was spent on this project, and anyone who calls it a mere tech demo is doing it a disservice.
This franchise may do well in a full VR game but they do need to add gameplay and repercussions. Also for those that are affected by VR motion sickness, this game (for me anyway) didn’t give me any issues. Rock Steady Studios may have been thinking about this ahead of time and this may be why when presented with travel options like the Batwing or Bat Mobile, the scene goes dark and you are miraculously at your destination. This is a bit disappointing, because who would not want to VR in the driver’s seat of the Batmobile or the Batwing? I mean really? However in the end, the Batman: Arkham VR experience is worth it more for the very hard core fans because it’s such a short romp and others may feel a little robbed.
Batman Arkham VR was never a spin-off to the main series that I expected to see making use of Virtual Reality. However, even though its campaign is very short-lived, it presents some very clever ideas that excites me for the future of VR.
Many of the games releasing for PSVR at launch appear to be more proof of concept experiences than complete games. As I’ve mentioned, interactivity outside of the Batcave is minimal, and I’ve spent way too much time grappling to difficult vantage points than actually fighting crime. It’s like I’m more of a passenger watching the world turn right in front of eyes. More interactions would be an improvement, as well as at least doubling the length of the game. There are Riddler trophies to collect, a staple of the series if you wish to replay certain chapters of the game once completed.
We’ve seen the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne play out in numerous ways but none of them so visceral as to put you into that world directly. It’s a surreal experience to be Bruce at that moment.
How much would you pay to be Batman for an hour? If your answer sits somewhere in the region of £15.99/$19.99, then Batman: Arkham VR is a virtual no-brainer. With the exception of the finicky motion tracking and brief running time, this is an exceptional short story that eloquently demonstrates many of the advantages of virtual reality. But perhaps the most impressive thing here is that, in transforming you into the Dark Knight, it illuminates both the pros and cons of being a masked vigilante. And while the former interactions will make you feel downright awesome, it's when the Caped Crusader slowly begins to unravel that it comes into its own.
Batman: Arkham VR is a stunning experience. One that comes to an end way too quickly and without any kind of replayability.
Review in Italian | Read full review
More of a VR experiment than a game, Batman: Arkham VR is light on gameplay but full of moments that will leave a lasting impression.
Batman fans who want to try out their new VR headsets are definitely going to want to pick this one up. Unfortunately, the game lacks a lot of the hands-on mechanics fans have come to love and the game feels criminally short, especially for the price. That said, experiencing Gotham in first-person is jaw-dropping and the game features some fantastic set piece moments fans will enjoy. Do not let children watch this game. It features very dark thematic content.
Being Batman in Akrham VR is a great way to more intimately experience Rocksteady's universe and to search for clues in this brief mystery. However, the world and characters around you are largely rigid and unresponsive to your actions, which leaves a lot on the table for a game about a character known as much for his brawn as he is for his brains.