Batman: Arkham Knight, Let’s Play #14 - Catwoman

Batman: Arkham Knight, Let's Play Archive!

UPDATE: While the video has been updated, none of the commentary below (from 2016) has! Please consider this a re-post!

The first two acts of Catwoman's title episode, just like the last act of the last episode, focus solely on the Riddler's Revenge side mission, where criminal genius Edward Nygma has captured cat burglar with a heart of gold Selina Kyle. Batman then has to go through a series of tasks to free her, each more head-scratchingly challenging than the last. The reason this particular aspect of the game gets so much time and attention so close to the finale is because this is a video game playthrough at heart, and I wanted to stay true to the fact that this is technically the last mission you're able to complete before embarking on the end of the game's story mode. There's a more cinematic way to handle this storyline, which I'll go over after running through which Riddler Challenges I've decided to show in this playthrough.

The introduction to the Riddler's plot, which appears at the end of Episode 4, is necessary to complete the main story. The first optional challenge is technically available to players even before that point - I skipped a tutorial style section of gameplay, which would have taken place in Episode 2, where we are introduced to the Mission Select Subscreen. One of these missions is the first of three Batmobile races, called Mental Blocked, but I chose to leave even this early option until after we receive our new Batmobile because, frankly, every other mission objective in the game seemed more pressing (no offense to Catwoman). This physics-defying track introduces a fourth element to the classic gas+brake+steer driving dynamic: the ability to interact with obstacles on the track, either removing barricades or creating roadways. It's the type of adventure that goes great on a computer screen, but that would be far too campy and/or expensive to produce in a real-life adaptation.

Upon completion of this race, we're shown that Catwoman has to unlock her exploding collar with nine separate keys (one for each life of a cat), which again would provide a video gamer with hours of entertainment, but which would bore a viewer to tears after a few go-rounds. Which is why I decided to skip all the way to the final two challenges, starting with Advanced Deathtraps. As this puzzle involves each character walking on foot through an electrified floor maze, it isn't all that visually dynamic. But it acts as a perfect bed for Joker to spout some backstory about Batman's failed relationship with Talia Al-Ghul, the love of our hero's life, who was murdered by Joker near the end of Arkham City. This gives a little bit of insight into where poor Bruce Wayne stands romantically, while exploring a connection with Catwoman.

Image Credit: The Workprint Arkham Knight Review

Since we've already seen a Batmobile race, the next bit is technically more of the same, but the Condamned racetrack gets so much dramatic fanfare as the final challenge (plus it's just a brilliantly-designed and difficult course), I felt it was only right and proper to give it a place of honor as the Episode 14 opener. It also allowed me to explore a connection between two of my favorite video games: notably how Batman's ability to summon the Batmobile from anywhere in Gotham is strikingly similar to Link's ability to summon his faithful horse Epona from anywhere in the land of Hyrule. And with that connection made, it was only natural to layer in the music that accompanies Epona's dramatic race from Ocarina of Time.

Speaking of layering in music, I scored the FINAL final challenge (the aptly named Final Exam) with Selina Kyle's theme from The Dark Knight Rises. I have to say that while I will not hesitate to point out the flaws in TDKR, the depiction of the Catwoman character to be spot on (at least her personality and backstory, if not her motivation, and despite the absence of the name Catwoman in the script). A big reason the character was successful for me was the effectiveness of Hans Zimmer's musical motif, which is why I put it on display here next to Shirley Walker's theme from The Animated Series (Episodes 4 and 13) and (later) Danny Elfman's theme from Batman Returns.

After jumping through the supposed last hoop, Riddler shows off his giant mech-suit, but then refuses to unlock the full boss fight until you spend a significant amount of time trawling the game's world for literally hundreds of hidden items. This might seem like an obvious place to pull up even more time than I already did (i.e. why not just remove the whole Riddler Trophy scavenger hunt aspect from the Let's Play plot entirely?), but like Lucius Fox in Batman Begins, "I just wanted you to know how hard it was." Plus, playing both endings, Lord of the Rings style, allows for two separate "sexual tension between Batman and Catwoman" cutscenes. Anyway, after discovering all 243 easter eggs and fighting through three more grueling waves of Riddler Robots, we are finally at the end of this mission, where the Bat and the Cat share one last passionate smooch before taking Nygma on a long awaited trip back to the GCPD.

Now, that's all well and good, but if I wanted to wrap this business up as quickly as possible and greatly reduce the Riddler's influence on this game, here's how I would have cut it. Everything in Episode 4 continues until about 25:30, after Batman and Catwoman defeat the first round of Robots. After that, Riddler would say something like, "Well, that's it, you're done! Feel free to head on outside..." Then we can cut to the audio from Episode 14 at 9:03, completely removing the references to the exploding collar and further challenges. Then we'd continue all the way through the introduction of the Riddler Mech until 11:15, the end of the first wave in Batman and Catwoman's dual-team combat. Cut from there to 17:35, once it's already reestablished that Batman and Catwoman are working together against the Mech, then all the way through the end of the mission. Although in this case, you'd probably want to use the less emotional ending at 11:45 instead of the extra-brooding, "Batman's last night" scene at 19:03...

I did the math and making these trims would cut out a whopping 27 minutes and 47 seconds, or almost an entire episode's worth of content. But while this change would definitely streamline the storytelling aspect, it would also for sure take something away from the "OCDelightful" completionist nature of the Riddler's role in the Arkham Universe. But at least I know I have this other configuration as an option in case a prospective network refuses to order more than 14 episodes for a high-budget limited series such as this one would be. In any event, the next blog recap I write will be for my favorite of all the episodes: the half-hour chunk that would constitute the finale no matter how many episodes are in play.