Gotham Knights Review (FallenStar)
Gotham Knights... hmmm. This is a tricky game to review because it carries the weight of players' expectations after the legendary Arkham series. It's important to understand that the enjoyment of this game varies greatly depending on the individual player.
If you're here searching for a definitive opinion, you might struggle to find one...but here's my take on it.
I personally enjoyed this game, treating it as a sequel to Arkham Knight even though technically, it's not. It explores a different part of the Arkham universe, and while it's not perfect, it still delivers a cool experience.
I'll talk about the Negatives first.
NEGATIVES:
- Red Hood's Appearance: While his character largely fits the role, his outfits look bizarre looking like a "Deadpool from wish"
- Repetitive Missions: Side missions (apart from the main story) quickly become repetitive, reusing the same buildings and locations. Despite the vast city, the grind can grow old and frustrating fast...
-Gadgets and Bike: The gadgets are underwhelming. Even the bike that's a feature that should add excitement, it feels slow and clunky, making fast travel or rooftop navigation the way to go.
- Ultimate Abilities: Some character abilities feel out of place. Robin can teleport, Red Hood has an odd frog jump ability, while only Batwoman and Nightwing seem to have abilities that match their personas. A better solution could have been to incorporate Batman's gadgets that he kept for them to cover their weaknesses...sadly, that's not the case. This was a missed opportunity.
- Villain Side Objectives: Though enjoyable, there are far too few villain missions (about 3-4), and they are disappointingly short.
- Short Gameplay Time: Without the grind, the game's content could be completed in around 6–8 hours.
- Co-Op gameplay can be deceiving. Only two players can play the story and roam in the open world, even though the roster has four playable characters. There is however a separate mode later that will unlock for four players. It's essentially a horde mode where you have to battle non stop through waves and waves of enemies until you reach the final spot.
POSITIVES
+ The Co-Op experience in the game is fun and definitely what this game was meant for. Everything becomes less tedious, more fun, as both players can travel through the city, fight various enemies, complete stories, sneak around, etc.
Coordination and abilities that characters have together are great.
+ The visuals aren't bad at all. The city may feel bland in terms of content, but it looks fantastic and sets a great mood. It has its own identity fitting the Gotham Knights atmosphere.
+ Mods can really improve the experience. I recommend installing some for better outfits and gameplay tweaks as they make a noticeable difference.
+ I've enjoyed all of the characters in the game. They're fun, they have a good synergy together and it made me switch between them to find out about their banter and more. Clearly the developers had fun writing, creating these characters. There weren't many conflicts between them but in this experience it was quite entertaining to see them talk, work together and fit together to fill in the shoes of batman.
+ There are many side activities in the city...all of which are very repetitive, but hey, they didn't feel like a chore. The bike time races, the movement on top of the buildings were quite fun.
+ The gameplay's good, it's not bad. It's fluent, each character having his own set of movement, there's a level of joy to play through as you're kicking their butts through and through.
OVERALL
Gotham Knights was a very enjoyable experience for me. It's not in the same league as the Arkham games. It doesn’t even come close but as a spin-off, it succeeds in delivering a fun atmosphere, engaging combat, and plenty of activities to keep you busy, even if grindy.
The story isn't bad either. While it's predictable, it's still worth experiencing. Get a friend, install some mods, and give it a go. You might end up having a blast.
7.5/10 With the Co-Op experience
6/10 Without