Superhero Video Games Codexery

Batman: Arkham VR

A VR adventure set between Arkham City and Arkham Knight.

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Batman: Arkham VR is a first-person adventure game played with PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, or Oculus Rift headsets and controllers.[1] The player controls Batman, who cannot walk freely but can teleport to preset locations and use gadgets like the batarang, grapnel gun, and forensic scanner.[1] In contrast to earlier Arkham titles, this game eliminates combat entirely, requiring players to solve puzzles to progress the narrative.[2][3][4]

Making and release

Rocksteady Studios developed Batman: Arkham VR, and it was announced at E3 2016 in June.[5][3] The game was built using Unreal Engine 4, which Rocksteady co-founder Sefton Hill said was a major upgrade for the studio's tech foundation.[6] Hill explained that virtual reality's ability to tell a "different story" energized the studio to return to the Arkham franchise.[6] The game was released for PlayStation VR in October 2016.[5]

After a five-month exclusivity period for the PlayStation 4, it was released for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on April 25, 2017.[5] Rocksteady teased the plot of Arkham VR in the Arkham Knight downloadable content "Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #6"[5] The game is set after the events of 2011's Batman: Arkham City and carries players through nine chapters of a mystery.[3] The game costs $20 and was made by core developers at Rocksteady.[3]

What the cited sources add

A Kotaku review describes the Batman of Arkham VR as "a little clumsy" and "the awkward, weird Batman made possible by the imperfect virtual reality technology of late 2016"[3] The same review calls the game "a Batman standing simulator" because the player stands still and warps forward one controller click at a time.[3] The review notes that the PlayStation VR camera needs the player to remain visible, so turning your back can lose tracking of your hands.[3] A TrustedReviews review states that Arkham VR is "simply a must-buy for any Batman fan picking up PSVR" and praises its "superb narrative"[4]

That review highlights the moment of placing the cowl over Batman's head as "probably the coolest moment I’ve had in games"[4] The game includes 30 Riddler puzzles added for a second play-through, which a Kotaku review calls "a fun distraction".[3]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Batman: Arkham VR" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sirani, "BATMAN: ARKHAM VR COMING TO VIVE AND OCULUS RIFT", IGN, April 3, 2017; Sirani, "BATMAN: ARKHAM VR COMING TO VIVE AND OCULUS RIFT", IGN, April 3, 2017; Phipps, "Batman Arkham VR review", TrustedReviews, October 5, 2017; Totilo, "Batman Arkham VR: The Kotaku Review", Kotaku, October 5, 2016; Kohler, "Batman: Arkham VR Is Smart, Scary, And (Very) Short", Wired, October 5, 2017; Stapleton, "Batman: Arkham VR Review", IGN, October 6, 2017; Phipps, "Batman Arkham VR review", TrustedReviews, October 5, 2017; Phipps, "Batman Arkham V en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Batman: Arkham VR" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kohler, "Batman: Arkham VR Is Smart, Scary, And (Very) Short", Wired, October 5, 2017; Totilo, "Batman Arkham VR: The Kotaku Review", Kotaku, October 5, 2016; Kohler, "Batman: Arkham VR Is Smart, Scary, And (Very) Short", Wired, October 5, 2017; Stapleton, "Batman: Arkham VR Review", IGN, October 6, 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Totilo, "Batman Arkham VR: The Kotaku Review", Kotaku, October 5, 2016. facts only, no text reused. kotaku.com
  4. Phipps, "Batman Arkham VR review", TrustedReviews, October 5, 2017. facts only, no text reused. trustedreviews.com
  5. Wikipedia, "Batman: Arkham VR" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pereira, "Batman Arkham VR Announced for PS4", GameSpot, June 13, 2016; Totilo, "Batman Arkham VR: The Kotaku Review", Kotaku, October 5, 2016; Sirani, "BATMAN: ARKHAM VR COMING TO VIVE AND OCULUS RIFT", IGN, April 3, 2017; Totilo, "Rocksteady Hid One Hell Of An Arkham VR Easter Egg In Arkham Knight", Kotaku, October 18, 2016; "Rocksteady moves to Unreal Engine 4 for Batman Arkham VR", June 17, 2016 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "Rocksteady moves to Unreal Engine 4 for Batman Arkham VR", June 17, 2016. facts only, no text reused. mcvuk.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Batman: Arkham VR (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Batman (1989 video game)Batman (2013 arcade game)Batman (PC Engine video game)Batman: Arkham

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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