There was a time when Batman games were about as fun as a root canal. Thankfully, Rocksteady changed all of that with Batman: Arkham Asylum; but since the bar has been officially raised in the past few years, we have higher expectations from any game approaching the franchise. The Dark Knight Rises competently recreates a console-like experience on iOS with a pitch-perfect story played through an open-world Gotham City – but it's also plagued with bugs.
The Dark Knight Rises sticks incredibly close to the film of the same name, so it's highly recommended that you check out Christopher Nolan's summer blockbuster before digging into the game. Mild spoilers notwithstanding, Gameloft has nailed the overall tone of the film, including voice actors that sound eerily similar to the original cast. If you enjoyed the film, The Dark Knight Rises is a great way to delve a little deeper into the subject matter.
While the game primarily consists of story-based missions – 24 quests over six chapters – you're also free to grapple-hook from building to building, or glide around Gotham looking for thugs to pummel. The side quests offer a decent level of variety, in addition to the opportunity to gain more XP for upgrading your various Bat-gadgets or even vehicles.
While the $6.99 entry-fee seems a bit steep for an iOS game, Dark Knight Rises feels like a significantly higher-budget title than most. Unfortunately, dropped frame-rates, missing objective points, and game crashes are currently hurting the experience; it's a great game, when it actually works.
The bottom line. Assuming the myriad performance issues are hammered out in a timely manner, The Dark Knight Rises offers a very solid Batman experience for the iOS platform.
of 5
iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 4.0 or later
Enjoyable combat. Impressive voice-acting. Great tie-in to the film.
Lots of game-breaking bugs in current version. Expensive price tag.
