The Dark Knight Rises is Gameloft’s latest high-end, high-budget open-world release, based on the summer blockbuster of the same name. Gamers are free to glide and grapnel through moody Gotham at will, taking down Bane’s thugs or just taking in the sights. A linear collection of story missions, complete with sound-alike voice actors, loosely retells the film’s plot. And I do mean loosely. The game deviates so significantly from the film that it’s hard to tell if Gameloft did so just to flesh out the game’s few-dozen missions, or if it had to guess at the film’s twists and turns based on the trailers.
Taking inspiration from Rocksteady’s Arkham Asylum & Arkham City, The Dark Knight Rises does contain a modest amount of Batman’s trademark stealth and detective work. Some missions require silently taking out patrolling guards from behind. But at its heart the title is an action brawler. Players will dispatch hundreds of thugs, sometimes 50+ in a single mission, all with a simplistic one-button combat system.
Did we like it?
The Dark Knight Rises is a perfect example of both the best and the worst that mobile gaming has to offer. It’s incredible that Gameloft’s vision for an open-world Gotham can even exist on mobile devices. On a technical level what Gameloft is accomplishing is a generation ahead of nearly the entire industry. I was impressed cruising through Gotham at high speeds on the Batpod. I was blown away doing the same thing high above the skyline in the jet-like Bat.
Unfortunately TDKR’s gameplay can’t match this level of ambition. Hand-to-hand combat is handled with a single attack button. No timing or skill required. Just mash attack and watch Batman pummel his foes with a variety of canned animations. A counter button has potential to mix up combat, but all counter-attacks are also performed automatically.
When the button pops up, just press it. It’s nearly impossible to fail.
The rest of Batman’s controls feel stiff and unnatural. A small ledge can turn into your biggest foe, as you awkwardly get stuck on even the smallest piece of level geometry. There are moments of fluid fun gliding from building to building, using the dark knight’s grapnel gun to gain height. But around half the time Batman would latch onto a ledge I didn’t intend, sending him soaring in the wrong direction. The vehicle segments feel equally unnatural. The Bat is the worst offender. It pinballs off the city’s cardboard buildings, breaking any semblance of realism.
All of these movement and control frustrations are exacerbated by Gameloft’s stubborn insistence on using cumbersome and unimaginative virtual buttons. Players move Batman with a virtual left thumbstick, and perform all other actions with a set of uncustomizable right-hand buttons. TDKR is played on a touch screen. Why can’t I tap a ledge to grapnel there? Why aren’t there touch-screen combat gestures? Instead I’m stuck pushing virtual buttons, causing me to frequently perform the wrong action in the heat of battle.
Should you buy it?
Although The Dark Knight Rises has many failings, there is still fun to be had. The game’s scope and size are extremely impressive. When I suspected the adventure was winding down I realized I was actually only around halfway through. Despite this length, the missions feature a healthy amount of variety (one-note, stiff brawling aside). You’ll infiltrate compounds, rescue hostages, chase down escaping thugs, sneak past snipers and plenty more. When you adjust to the stiff controls it’s still possible to feel like Batman, creeping among the rooftops silently taking out foes. For some, these moments will be worth the game’s modest $6.99 asking price.
TDKR’s aggressive in-app purchases are much harder to justify. Over the course of the game you earn currency to buy essential upgrades. But this currency accumulates far too slowly – after hours of play I hadn’t earned enough credits to buy even half the upgrades. Players can speed up the process by buying credit packs ranging from $1.99 all the way to $99.99. This power-up progression feels unnaturally slow. It feels like a Gameloft money grab.
THE VERDICT
The Dark Knight Rises shows how far mobile games have come, but also shows how much farther they have to go. Prowling around a fully-realized, open-world Gotham City is impressive and can be very fun. But stiff controls, boring combat, frequent bugs and aggressive in-app purchases mar the experience. Gameloft should focus its obvious talents building adventures built from the ground-up with touch controls in mind instead of imitating its console big brothers.
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