Gotham Knights

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.

Gotham Knights is unfortunately nowhere close to Arkham Knight or Spider-Man but it is still a really fun time, ESPECIALLY when playing with a friend. This game gets entirely too much hate, like it is above average in its presentation and I actually like how it's not an Arkham clone and it went with a different style. While combat can get a little repetitive, it is very satisfying taking out a whole room of bad guys. I did not expect the map to be as open world as it is like it's a lot bigger than i thought it would be. Although it does fall victim to Arkham Knight/Origins syndrome where the map seems empty with no personality. Overall I am really enjoying it and the flaws are easier to overlook when you're having fun with a friend. Side note: my friend Mason and I be getting so locked in when we enter a new room we don't have to communicate we just kick like everyone's ass and it's pretty satisfying.

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.

Decent game with a decent enough story that I enjoyed learning and playing until the story was done. After that, it got repetitive and the suit level up options just stopped and left me wanting.

The big issues I had besides repetitive gameplay and suit options, the voice actors didn't really match up well especially Alfred who sounds like a creeper who will harvest your organs. The other big issue, the sign of the times we live in. This is where the game has to affirm a small percent of the game players with who they think they are whether it is the rainbow flag in the Belfry or saying they really need to go to the pride parade. These are pointless additions to the game and only serve to show themselves woke.

I will probably never purchase another DC game again for all the reasons above.

.story

Batman fights and dies. Gotham Knights opening sequence is a 30 minutes despairing long cut-scene introducing a bleeding Gotham, unable to rise again, with new and old foes that cospiring to take control of the city. The first missions put many interesting characters on the table. Starting from the 4 Knights and Alfred we will have many chances to explore their personalities and inner battle they face after Batman departure. Many villains who, unfortunately, cover a side role in the story have a good narrative foundation and it's a shame just Harley and Freeze have proper questline while Penguin is relegated as NPC for random quests. The game is split between pure action in Gotham and briefing in the Belfry, the Hub where our Knights can interact each other and have some interesting insight and facultative bonding cut-scenes. Most of these secondary conversations explore well the dynamic of the group, their origins and their fears for the future...questions that remains unsolved as the ending completely ignored any growth they had through the game. Talking about the main plots of the game instead, that are summarized in Court of Owls and Talia al Ghul, they could have said loads, but they have chosen to go for less. The first of the two was heavily abused as marketing element for the game. Easy to say that they partially made use of the Court mainly for great darkish atmospheres but the plot never spikes and by the end it feels something is missing. Both these plots eventually converge but without a clear end and felt rushed after an exhausting research for evidences through the course of the game. GK does not share anything with the Arkham series, and not even the lenght, as Gotham Knights will only lasts about 8 hours for the main quest plus about 4 to do the -two- villain sidequests. Most of the story missions require to do some side-quests to find evidence before being attempted. What I didn't like about it that these side-missions are the same we find around Gotham: saving hostages or investigate a crime scene. Variety did kill the main plot by far as we are going to do the same kind of quests, about 4 different types of, in circle. Same goes for Harley and Freeze quests. Despite being composed of 6~ missions each, only 1 and 2 respectively feature exclusive content and fights. Gotham Knights is the classic example of taking advantage of a great content to have a commercial spotlight and then rushing through and make nothing out of it.

.gameplay

Achille's heel by far...Gotham Knights takes the best from the Arkham series and tries to find his own identity. Let's start by saying the approach of loot and RPG elements completely failed. Loot and crafting are rudimentary and barely developed. The result is basically a little number that goes up and up to show power is increasing. Each character shares the level but has own equipment and abilities. As far as it goes for the equipment all you gonna know is that as long as the power number goes up you are fine. There are elemental affinities and are possibly the only good addition to an already perfected gameplay from the Arkham series. Ice blocks enemies and along with confusion is great for insta-grabs. Fire inflicts DOT. Electricity stuns enemies and so on. Abilities are unlocked by a very classic skill tree and each character focuses on his own specialty. Batgirl plays like Batman and is a good all-around character. Robin focuses on stealth despite the game never really relies on it making unnecessary. Red Hood is the bulky one who can fight even with biggest enemies being able to grab them and has also AOEs with mines. Nightwing is largely focused on filling his momentum gauge to abuse the unique abilities. Each character has different ones and are unlocked by progressing the story and completing side-activies/defeating x enemies. Each enemy has different weak points and specific characters have advantage/disvantage against them. This system is done pretty well and despite some enemies being absolute sponges having the correct character makes life a Lot easier. After trying every character and getting the feeling we are introduced to Knighthood abilites. These are hidden behind a complete x side-quests barrier. I heavily advice to change the difficulty to Very Easy and rush through them as you have to complete 10 for each character and it might deplete all your patience. The Knighthood abilities are advanced skills that will make an easy feast of both group or single mini-bosses. Batgirl will unlock a powerful drone Momentum ability and the grappling hook for combat purposes while Nightwind will increase his range of attacks and the number of darts he shoots. Everything will depend on your playstyle because each of them will become a powerhouse after this power up. Knightwood will also unlock an easy-to-move around tool for the Knights. Batgirl will glide like Batman while Robin will teleport and Red Wood will literally jump on air. Most of them are useful but you will mostly use the hook to move around Gotham as it is the fastest method. We sure have the Batcycle but it is not that fast and versatile as being able to move over building and stuff. As I said the game features this level progression system that doesn't make any sense as it is just a +%stats with not good or intriguing passives skills. Lv cap is 30; 40 on NG+. Most of the game's hate goes to the controls and the combat's fluidity. We are all used to Arkham top notch levels so that's what everyone compare this game with. Controls unfortunately are not responsive as we expect from Any game and we are likely to get hit or detected and having nothing but to blame the game. Same goes for the fluidity and the animations which are Extremely cluncky, something that was well hidden in the commercials and might be easy to understand after watching some gameplay videos. Batgirl (or any other chara) will often target the absolute nothing, specific skillsor a grab strike (grabbing an enemy for a kill after depleting 70% of his health) won't trigger. You will also get stuck in the environment countless times and get spotted or Robin will decide to jump in the middle of the arena instead of quietly descend his observation point. All this seems born from a rushed development rather than incompetency as I have no doubt they will fix some of these aspects with future patches. As of now the game is a lot of fun, especially in coop where all the progress and loot are transferred to your own game as well, but at the same time is a huge work in progress and lacks of content. Gotham is beautiful to see but it's empty. There are just 8 main missions with relative side-quests as I explained before and tons of the same kind of beating thugs in the streets...and they always comes is few numbers so you don't even have the nice feeling of fighting hordes like in Arkham. Most of the challenge comes from the two side villains. The boss fights are some of the most spongy things I have ever played in 20 years. It will take a lot of punches to take them down and they hit hard as well. This said they are superb cinematic experiences. Overall Gotham Knights is a very fun game, despite all the flaws..this is just merit of the Arkham series though.

.sound

The Batcycle has the same 2 second loop sound going on and on... forever. The environmental sounds are copy pasted all over the game but they are not bad. Beating a Talon with a grab feels great along with our ranged weapons. Gotham is awfully quiet and empty. BGM has the right mournful tones but I would have overused these themes and pasted all over during the exploration of Gotham to make it more cinematic. VO is ready for an AAA level production. Every single voice actor did an excellent job and I would've gladly watched a movie of this. Batman is dead and you can feel it through their words and emotions.

.graphics

Gotham Knights has some cool features on PC that makes it work stable at rock-steady fps even on old machines. Dynamic resolution worked well indeed. Fighting is not crowded and there are no explosions of any sorts and fps drops mostly when driving the Batcycle..probably Gotham can't load her amazing neon lights and empty streets fast enough. Combat animations are so clunky and chain so badly I could easily say they belong to a PS2 generation game. Main missions and the two side boss fights have some crazy cinematic cut-scenes that frankly surprised me after the mediocrity I have seen.

.verdict

Gotham Knights works. It's not as bad as reviews are saying and the gameplay will probably get fixed overtime. Story unfortunately can't. It is out of focus and rushed. It never peaks despite the numerous cool and deep characters and major events. Gameplay is a mess. Animations are bad and don't flow harmonically but it still plays like Arkham and it's fun with the new abilities and element affinities. Exploring Gotham is fun and fast thanks to the hook, the Knighthoods skills and the Batcycle but there is not much to do. GK is clearly born under a difficult development. Being announced just 2 years ago I am sure they worked under a lot of pressure. Still, we are playing the game, not addressing the behind the scenes and I had more fun with Gotham Knights than many perfectly polished games.