Batman Arkham VR was a gaming series that I never expected to see utilising the PSVR, but while its campaign is almost so criminally short-lived that it might even grab the attention of the Caped Crusader himself, it comes up with some fantastic ideas that helps me feel a little more excited for the future of VR. You begin the story in the Batcave, where family butler and friend Alfred Pennyworth informs you that both Robin and Nightwing have gone AWOL. So Batman quickly descends into the night of Gotham to discover the whereabouts and safety of his most loyal sidekicks.
I won’t give any plot details away, because I’m not a fan of spoilers myself and with a story as short as this one, the element of surprise is of the utmost importance. One of your first duties as Batman is to piece together elements of a crime scene with the aid of your scanner. If you enjoyed the crime scene investigations of the Arkham series, then you’re in for a treat. You literally walk around the crime scene rewinding reconstructions, discovering clues and piecing them together. It’s certainly one of my better experiences during the early days of PSVR so far.
One of my favourite elements of the crime scene investigations is when I had to put together a broken piece of evidence, almost like a jigsaw if you will. They way in which I moved the pieces around, twisted and rotated them to see where the next piece will fit, was a joy to behold. If you’ve ever seen in the movies or TV those hologram-like tables as characters shift objects with a swift movement of their hands, then you’re on the right track to know what I am on about (even if that was poorly explained).
During the campaign you will meet some of the Arkham series most iconic characters, though I won’t spoil as to who they are. However, during one altercation with a certain character, I was a little disappointed to find out that I couldn’t punch them in the face, as Batman Arkham VR has no combat. Even if you appear to make contact with a character, they will literally have no reaction, which kind of spoilers the immersion somewhat. It would have been great to land a punch or two during moments when it would have made sense.
The only real combat comes in the form of throwing your Batarang’s during some scripted moments, for which it’s practically impossible to miss or fail for that matter. However, while restricted, using the grapnel hock is great fun as you pick up your gadgets from your utility belt using the Move controllers. Also, if you’re hoping that Batman Arkham VR will have you gliding around Gotham, then you may be disappointed to hear that you won’t be doing that. However, during our interview with Rocksteady (which you can read here), Dax Ginn said that the reason you don’t glide around Gotham is to stop the player from suffering from motion sickness. So instead, you will travel by looking and selecting the waypoint, which effectively has you teleporting to that location. Which as I suffered no motion sickness during Batman Arkham VR, this was a wise move made by Rocksteady.
The sounds and music that you’ve grown accustom to within the Arkham series, will be apparent in Arkham VR. The soundtrack is instantly recognisable and Batman wouldn’t quite be Batman without the iconic voice of Mr Kevin Conroy himself. Both the soundtrack and voice-acting do a fine job in making you feel that you are Batman in his universe and without having to roam the streets in a fancy dress costume; this is as close to being the Caped Crusader as you’re going to get.
As I’ve already touched upon, Batman Arkham VR does have a very, very short campaign. Yes at launch the game sells at £15.99, but while I did not keep an exact track, it seemed like the campaign struggled to hit the two hour mark. Now I don’t expect a game with this price point to have a ten hour campaign, but four hours at least would have been welcomed in my opinion. However, upon completing the campaign, you will unlock a set of challenged to take on, so there is a little more repay value in that respect.
All in all, while Batman Arkham VR is very short-lived, that’s not to say that the game is lot of fun, because it most certainly is, while it lasts. Out of all the games from the Arkham series, none has you feeling like your Batman quite like this game and with it having some very clever gameplay mechanics, this foundation bodes well for the future of VR, if games such as the Arkham series goes from strength to strength from this point forth. It’s fun while it lasts, but waiting for a price-drop might be your best course of action if you want to “Don the Cowl”.