There's something very freeing about driving round the streets of a mostly-deserted Gotham City as the Dark Knight, in his incredible Batmobile. It's quite liberating to know that you could hurtle into any wall, person or object and most likely come out the other end unscathed. Though the controls in Arkham Knight had me smashing into things unplanned, learning how to make the most of the experience was all part of the fun.
Then... "Who taught you to drive?" asks Poison Ivy - my passenger - when we pull up at the Gotham City Police Department. My feelings were hurt! Does she say this to everybody, or was it literally because I was a terrible driver? And that's the moment you realise with Arkham Knight, though this is a deeply dark video game at times, there are little slithers of humour to keep the smile on your face.
I've tried to dodge most of the early critique given to the Arkham Knight game, but one overriding comment is that the Batmobile is the worst part of a near-perfect game. In one sense, I can see where fellow reviewers are coming from, but in another, I really wish they'd stop complaining. The Batmobile isn't supposed to be an easy-to-drive vehicle. Watch any Batman movie or cartoon where the Batmobile is deployed and you'll see it's a clunky, hard-to-drive motor that Batman himself isn't always fully in control of. If gamemakers were going for realism here, then they've got it. It shouldn't be simple to skid around corners at high speeds whilst chasing legions of enemy tanks.
That all being said, the battle mode infused within the Batmobile isn't the finest thing the title has to offer. Strafing from side to side whilst deploying rockets at villainous mobsters soon becomes more of a rinse and repeat objective than one that will truly test the gamer. Alas, there are better things for the vehicle to be a part of, such as puzzle solving and Riddler challenges.
The best use of the Batmobile comes with the Riddler's race courses - the first threw me off until I managed to get the hang of what was actually going on, and the madness embedded within this part of the game is reminiscent to that we see on the pages of DC Comics. For those reasons alone they're worth getting stuck into.
Graphics-wise this is perhaps the best-looking video game I have ever played - bar none. It may be because I'm a huge DC fan and seeing the Bat come to life in such an extreme way excites me like no other, but this is just a beautiful, beautiful landscape to play in. The colouring, the detail, the facial features, lines, shading - EVERYTHING. It's all there, it's all perfect and it'll all leave you exhaling an honest, Toy Story-esque 'Ooooooo'.
Couple that with the brilliant cinematic cut-scenes every so often and you're essentially being flung into a feature-length Batman movie, where you decide what the hero does next or where he goes - and there's a lot of choice. We're free to now explore three islands of Gotham City, and the quality doesn't let-up no matter where you decide to venture.
Then there's the main gameplay - a grand affair as we've come to expect from the Arkham franchise. For example, a prisoner from earlier on in the game who I'd made squeal about the location of one of Scarecrow's safe houses was running his mouth in the GCPD about how Scarecrow was running rings around the authorities.
'I wonder what would happen if I went up to his cell and punched the cage' I thought to myself. So, I did it. But, instead of punching the cage, Batman reached in, grabbed the criminal by the neck and pulled him forwards into the bars. It was bad-ass, I punched the air, and he was left unconscious on the cell floor. Well-played, Arkham Knight.
Gliding through the skies of Gotham at high speeds with your grapple hook and grapnel boost never loses its appeal, as villains squawk and run, or take aim depending on whether or not they have a nice range of firearms at their disposal.
Battling remains largely the same - fisticuffs with the addition of some of the Caped Crusader's finest gadgets including Batarangs and smoke bombs. It's not difficult to pick up on just how to weave your way through enemies, dodging rights and lefts and taking down half a dozen cronies to progress towards your next objective. Despite it being relatively easy combat, the game makes you feel as if you're being incredibly smart when you get it right.
The main storyline is a great one, and there's a lot to be said for the way in which side content is packed as new leads, putting Batman in the position of detective and allowing the gamer to decide which one to pick up at any one time. Simple yet effective, it's all collected in a mission wheel which keeps track of your progress and gives players the opportunity to change their mission at any one time.
With famous and infamous heroes and villains collected and delivered in one place, Arkham Knight is the game for the hardcore fans, the comic book readers and those who have followed the trilogy up until this point. If we were hoping for the perfect ending it's exactly what we've been given, with the most realistic, likeable and heroic Dark Knight we've ever had the ability to play as.
Batman: Arkham Knight is available now, RRP: £50, PEGI rating 18.