One of the hottest titles at E3 2014 is undoubtedly Batman: Arkham Knight, the conclusion to Rocksteady Games' acclaimed trilogy, being made exclusively for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Arkham Knight's headline feature has to be the Batmobile, which the game finally lets you pilot for the first time. During Sony's media briefing event on June 9, new in-game footage of Batman's signature vehicle was shown that got attendees' hearts racing.
After an extended glide through the familiar Gotham City skyline, the video shows Batman fluidly transitioning into summoning and entering the Batmobile. From there, he zooms around downtown Gotham (around and through several landmarks fans of the game will recognize) before coming across a scattered collection of tanks belonging to the mysterious title character, new villain Arkham Knight.
It's worth interjecting that the visuals while driving look incredible, and despite all the high-speed movement, the game's image fidelity never stutters once. While tearing across Gotham's streets, the Batmobile plows through anything and everything in its way, be it a puny wire fence or a big concrete street lamp.
Batman brings the vehicle to a stop and engages "Battle Mode," causing its four massive wheels to rotate sideways and separate from the car's main chassis. This gives them significantly more maneuverability, and increases the size of the Batmobile. At the same time, a large cannon folds out from above the car's canopy, accompanied by a missile launcher on either side.
Freed from their wheel wells, the huge tires are now able to turn in any direction at will, allowing Batman to quickly and easily zero in on his targets, turn on a dime and strafe as he fires. It's a move that one-ups the vehicles in Christopher Nolan's films, and shows once again how much thought and attention the Rocksteady team puts into making playing as Batman as fun and intuitive as it can possibly be.
Even though he's being fired on as he moves, Batman makes short work of these enemy tanks and finishes by targeting and firing on three of them at once. With that, he's speeding off again, only this time he uses the car's momentum to launch himself into the air, gliding once more using his expanding cape. There's quite a bit more, including a last-minute twist you won't see coming, but it's too good to spoil. The video is embedded below.
Batman: Arkham Knight is expected sometime in 2015.
