When comparing Batman: Arkham Knight vs Grand Theft Auto V, the Slant community recommends Batman: Arkham Knight for most people. In the question“What are the best single player games on PS4?” Batman: Arkham Knight is ranked 43rd while Grand Theft Auto V is ranked 65th. The most important reason people chose Batman: Arkham Knight is:
Batman: Arkham Knight still uses the combat system pioneered in the very first Arkham game, but with various improvements. It is intuitive, highly responsive and supplemented with power-ups, combos and ability to use gadgets to add variety and depth.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Excellent free-flow combat system
Batman: Arkham Knight still uses the combat system pioneered in the very first Arkham game, but with various improvements. It is intuitive, highly responsive and supplemented with power-ups, combos and ability to use gadgets to add variety and depth.
Pro A pretty great story
Takes inspiration from so many areas of past Batman lore and creates a more interesting interpretation of a classic story. There's some pacing issues occasionally and it goes on a little too long at points, but is more than redeemed by a compelling overall plot, excellent voice acting, and interesting characters.
Pro Large city to explore
A large city comprised of three separate islands makes up the area playable in game. It's filled with side missions and collectibles, giving you a reason to explore outside the story missions while also making the city of Gotham feel alive.
Pro Ability to drive around the Batmobile
Arkham Knight has the open world aspect of the previous game but has now introduced the Batmobile for use on the street with a full weapon loadout. It's fast, beautiful, controls well, and converts into a tank for some combat missions that are almost as fun as the standard hand-to-hand combat. The moment when you rocket off a ramp and shoot a hundred feet into the air out of the driver's seat into a glide over skyscrapers... it's great.
Pro Incredible sound design
From gigantic booms and explosions to the quiet, more nuanced details of rain or the wind flying past you, this game sounds amazing.
Pro Freedom to do anything you want
Even aside from the many missions, there are dozens of other things you can do. This includes activities like playing tennis, going skydiving, watching a movie in the cinema, managing your businesses to earn tons of money, going hunting in the mountains, or just simply exploring the map while taking in the sights. Whatever you decide to do it's very easy to lose track of time. Mostly because it feels like a giant sandbox where you're allowed to do anything and simply have fun.
Pro Massive world
It's very easy to get lost in GTA V's world both figuratively and literally. It's partly because of the sheer size of 35 square miles, allowing you to spend hours just walking, driving, or even flying around the map. It's also because of the many beautiful sights you get to see, causing you to often stop and take it all in. So it doesn't matter if you're walking along a beach packed with people, biking around a dimly lit city, cruising down a highway next to the ocean, or just hiking on the forested mountains, GTA V's world feels like a real place you can explore endlessly.
Pro Great story wrapped around in biting and relevant social commentary
GTA V's story portrays the many reasons why criminals still exist in modern society, focusing on serious topics like corruption, greed, hypocrisy, and even the abuse of power. However, it's not all serious since it has its fair share of wacky moments, satirizing many aspects of modern society. This includes social media, consumerism, and even our growing inability to focus on important issues. All of this creates an engaging and thought-provoking story.
Cons
Con Lackluster, short DLC story missions
Don't buy the season pass unless you can find it on sale. It's not bad, but not worth an extra $20, and certainly not the $40 it cost before price drop. (FYI, you get a complete experience without the DLC - it truly is extra content, not main game content cut out and repackaged.)
Con You need to collect every single Riddler trophy/challenge to get the "true" ending
Some people don't mind the Riddler missions, but it can definitely become annoying for others.
Con Still occasionally a little buggy on PC
The game can crash occasionally, but it was only ever after a failed combat segment, and the game autosaves often enough that you shouldn't lose any progress. It's certainly not nearly as bad as it was at launch.
Con Had been withdrawn from sale
Possibly the first release (certainly the first AAA release) to be digitally withdrawn from sale. Buyers were refunded.
It was reinstated months later, but the port was not much better and still had terrible performance issues.
Con Detective Mode investigation segments and the like are still boring and not good
Sometimes to push the plot forward the game will force you to do some "investigating," which basically comes down to a stupidly easy 'Where's Waldo?' minigame. It's not bad, but it doesn't really add much to the experience and feels kinda like a waste of time.
Con Multiplayer is overrun by hackers
During online play you'll encounter hackers who have infinite money, can spawn any vehicle of their choice, and many other things, which reduces the fun quite a bit. What's even worse is that by interacting with the hackers you can get banned immediately without any additional investigations on the developer's part.