Gotham Knights

Incredible graphics and decent stories. The combat is fluid and in 3rd person where melee should be. Gotham is amazing. The voice actors are perfect. People: WHY are special abilities activated with R1 on a controller? Switch it to R2. Otherwise I'll have to cut off a third of my thumb. Momentum related attacks are super hard to execute fast for all the wrong reasons. Holding R1 with your index finger and pressing buttons with your thumb is incredibly frustrating. The speed and precision needed for normal play is impossible to achieve. Furthermore, I open the bar computer because I'm furiously moving my thumb too close to the main pad/switch on a PS5 controller. Does ergonomics mean anything to you?

So after playing Gotham Knights i must say that i'm neither disappointed or amazed. The game is a serviceable experience and is not terrible in the slightest. However due to it's price and the other alternatives i have some opinions to share.

The story and cast of this game is pretty mediocre at best. Nothing about the story and/or cast of characters blew me away. Getting a little annoyance of my chest however i want to talk about the dialogue. For the most part it is not at all atrocious but my word, the amount of times they mention the names Bruce and/or Batman is crazy. I understand a big plot point of this game is the death of Batman (Bruce Wayne), however in the game there is not a single cutscene were his name isn't mentioned 5 times (that being wither Bruce or Batman). In this game Batman is far more important to the story than any of the four characters you play as and anyone else besides. Now some may find this fine but it makes me care so much less about anyone else. Anytime anyone tries to have a heart to heart moment Bruce or Batman is always mention and it makes their current situation feel less important. Even if this wasn't the case however i honestly feel the story is not something you should buy the game for with terrible villains and a uninteresting cast make this a game you should definitely not buy as a player looking for a interesting story. Speaking of which the villains of this game (as mentioned) are uninteresting and frankly boring. Not only (in my eyes) is there a lack of them, but also the ones that appear are terrible at the best of times. If the game had villains that i actually had any interest in this game would have improved drastically. That is how low i rate the villains (and in fact the whole cast) in the game. The side-missions are absolutely fine but compared to games of a similar nature are also at best mediocre and the boss fights that take place during side-missions are boring and time consuming for little reason (with one exception).

The graphics and visuals of this game are fine. The graphics specifically are pretty poor considering games like Arkham Knight that came out in 2015, but that game is also ground-breaking in sim[ply how good it looks for the time and could easily be a modern game. Taking that into consideration this games graphics are simply average. Nothing about the graphics will amaze you and there are point were it looks truly bad. By this i mean certain assets like cars that look utterly abysmal for a big game like this. But overall the graphics are ok, simple as that. The world looks alright and is a ok designed Gotham. The world feels utterly dead and the NPC's say the same stuff constantly with no variety thud walking around the streets isn't an option. But overall the world feels easily passable. But it is nothing great or even good. There also seems to be parts that are not explained or just seem a little strange, such as the James Gordon memorial area of the game. Before the release of this game i heard talks about a Gotham with history and you get snippets of it in the game. But unless you break down every nook and cranny of this game you won't feel the history of this city to any notable extent. But overall Gotham feels fine and is definitely passable.

The gameplay is also simply fine. Compared to the Arkham games (especially Knight) it's bad, but as a standalone (which it is) the gameplay feels fine. There are certain parts like the unlockable glide feature for Batgirl that feels utterly abysmal and needed a lot more polish, but overall few major complaints. Combat specifically is fine and although nothing close to perfection it's one of the better parts of the game in my eyes. Whether this is seen as a positive or a negative i'm personally unsure. But it must be said that the combat animations get very boring around half-way through this game. A few more animations wouldn't have gone amiss, however this games combat is fine. Simply put this games gameplay (like most other things) is fine. Before i move on however i want to quickly mentions boss fights. Besides a single one i licked because of a unique and cool section most of them are simply average. There is two however (of the very limited amount of boss fights) that i thought were utterly abysmal. I will of course not spoil them here, but they are simply bullet sponges that have limited attacks and have easily readable attack patters. I spend around 25-30 minutes (without dying) on the boss fights and it was not because i had to use my brain but rather because they simply wouldn't die. I understand boss fights should have an enemy that's more difficulty to take down. But when it comes down to the point were they're only a bullet sponge for the sake of making it longer and adding nothing else to compensate the wasted time playing the fight, it simply drags on.

The ending was so very bad as well. In fact the ending was terrible. It isn't cool or WOW and is more like a seriously.... why. The last cutscene is also terrible (at least whilst playing as Jason Todd).

The price of this game is utterly abysmal it has to be said. Even considering how much games now cost, for what you get the game is simply too much. It should be much less for the game you get included. But i understand this is the case with many a game as they can get away with it.

Quickly before we finish up i want to compare them to the Arkham games. This is inevitable and my opinion is this. This game whilst not being abysmal is nothing compared to the Arkham Games. Particularly Arkham City and Arkham Knight. But even thirteen year old Arkham Asylum is far better in my opinion. That also isn't taking into account the fact that it's thirteen years old. As for the Arkham Origins game i haven't personally played that one thus i will not compare it here.

Story - 3.5/10

Characters - 2.5/10

Gameplay - 5/10

Price - 2.5/10

Ending - 0.5/10

I am the third person to review this on IMDB and the other two who said stuff such as "The story is no worse or better than the previous Arkham games" and "Incredible Graphics and decent stories" i think played different games. Obviously we can all have our own opinions but i just wanted to mention that i highly disagree with those statements.

Overall i do not recommend this game at all mainly due to the price but all the other factors mentioned as well, 3/10.

This game is so much better then some of these reviews claim. If you're a fan of the Arkham series you will love this game. Yes the combat is different, and it takes a second to get used too but when you do the game is a blast to play. The boss battles are long and challenging, instead of beating the "boss" in 3 minutes you have to work to drain the health bar. You will fail, but eventually you'll figure it out. The level up system is something to work for, increasing your damage and abilities, making fights easier as you progress. Beautiful graphics on the Series X, can't wait for some DLC to do some new case files with some new iconic villains!

Some say you shouldn't compare this game to the other Arkham games but that's just excuse. Of course we have to compare a BATMAN game to other batman games.

+ Pretty alright main story The switch between characters is nice Being able to switch gear and costumes

- Too few villains Boring side quests 30fps feel laggy and non responsive Combat system just nowhere near as good and creative.

Stealth mode just a lot clumsier as well.

Batcycle feels slow and is a pain to call.

Overall Gotham Knights it isn't as bad as some might say, but in my opinion it's just nowhere near the other Arkham games. It just lacks in overall experience. I haven't played City, Origina or Knight in over 4 years but I still remember explicit scenes from each game and even the music too.

The heroes here may not be as awesome as Batman himself, but they all make a good replacement for him. Gotham Knights is an enjoyable superhero video game that shares what we would get from the Batman Arkham Games. Well it's not as good as these games since some of the story in it gets predictable with the one character we know would be the true antagonist. But that wouldn't keep this from being worth something different from the previous DC superhero games with awesome graphics that matches the setting of the game, neat gameplay that would keep the players appealed with the side missions, pretty cool power ups from both suits and gadgets, and great instances where we see development from each knight we would play as. I'm pretty sure Batman fans will enjoy this one. But I would mostly recommend those that are familiar with Batman's sidekicks. Maybe some will be introduced to them once they play the game, so this would probably make their good first experience getting to know them. Like the Gotham Knights themselves, this game does have a lot to learn, but it accomplishes as the Batman family.