Gotham Knights went through a turbulent marketing process. Explaining that the game was a cooperative multiplayer with several heroes, with RPG systems and without Batman, was not easy. But it wasn’t a game as a service, which made the promotion a complicated and confusing task. However, to the delight of fans of the Arkham series, it is an action game with a complete campaign that allows you to play all the content alone without any problem.
Gotham Knights
Although he doesn’t get it right all the time and has some repetition problems, he manages to have a lot of fun and opens the door to a new line in the universe of bat games.
passing the torch
It is worth remembering that this universe is unprecedented in the recent Batman franchise in games and is not part of the story told in the Arkham games. The opening, by the way, already shows the death of the hero. Without the Bat to hunt down and apprehend villains, crime in Gotham exploded. Even because the also heroic Commissioner Gordon died even before Bruce Wayne in this story. The town’s only chance is the dark knight’s wards.There are four characters to choose from. Nightwing bets on acrobatics and darts full of effects. Batgirl is a support mix with a focus on critical damage. Red Hood, perhaps the least popular and well-known of the four, uses pistol combat and deals massive damage at various ranges. Robin specializes in stealth and causes adverse effects on enemies. Although the gameplay dynamics are quite different from one to the other, the player’s choice does not impact the progress of the story, apart from some changes in the cutscenes. You can even switch characters at any time.
As you can imagine, the split focus ends up having a negative impact on character development. The only time they are deepened individually is when they interact with points in Gotham or the base itself at certain times in the adventure. I played with Batgirl the entire time and got to see a more emotional cutscene of her when interacting with the statue made for Commissioner Gordon, for example. Otherwise, the focus is on the macro of the plot, with the Court of Owls and its elite cult acting more aggressively with Batman’s death, while the League of Assassins and Talia al Ghul plot something in the shadows.The journey has its ups and downs, but when it hits, it’s in full. While the cutscenes aren’t always as well-crafted as they should be, especially when it comes to facial animation, the villains are convincing and there are some pretty cool twists and turns as the investigation progresses. The ending is one of the high points and leaves open the possibility of more content in the future, which will be welcome.
Ups and downs in gameplay
Gotham is the main focus of the game. The city is open and has construction as impressive as the one seen in Arkham Knight. If, on the one hand, the art direction seems to have made the colors more vibrant and less sombre, which may displease some fans, on the other hand, the graphics are quite convincing. Every corner looks modeled with a lot of detail and the textures are always in high resolution. Lighting closes the package and delivers a pretty cool visual experience for next-gen consoles.However, beauty is nothing without substance. The structure here is pretty much what you’d expect from a current open world, with lots of dots with activities to complete marked on the map. The four heroes leave their base every night to patrol the city and further their investigations. At the beginning the game starts with few options, it is possible to just patrol the city and solve some crimes in progress, which in general have very simple objectives such as freeing hostages or defeating all enemies before they explode something. Over time, the young team accumulates contacts around the city and other options arise, such as motorcycle races and challenges that yield items. The fan is not very inspired and soon these activities get tiring. The sad thing is that many of them are required to access secondary content. There are three cases with classic villains to solve, with incredible boss battles at the end, but getting there depends on clues gained by completing challenges that consist of fighting these repetitive crimes night after night.
Another negative point is the movement. Traversing Gotham at the start of the game is pretty monotonous, as we only have access to the grappling hook to climb buildings and the bike, whose drivability is dull and through empty streets.
After the character releases his form of flight, in the case of Batgirl gliding with the cape like Batman, things improve a little, but far from that fluid movement of Arkham Knight.
Combat is also quite different from what we’ve seen in the Arkham series. Now there is not that option of defense in the right time and accumulation of hits to use skills. Here the timing is up to dodging and pressing the punch button as soon as the blow lands. Skills, on the other hand, can be used as energy is accumulated in a bar. Each skill has its cost and there is also a kind of “ultimate” that has a pre-established recharge time. As the amount of skills is quite varied and you can change characters, combat becomes the most fun part of the game. The cool variety of enemies also helps. A pity that the content focuses so much on him, that after half of the campaign he already starts to tire until he becomes difficult to bear at the end. After finishing the night and returning to the base, it is possible to spend all the loot obtained to create new clothes and weapons. Each hero has 15 different costumes and a lot of variations for each one of them. Another highlight of the game that will hook fans, especially for the references to the comics.
lacked performance
Performance is another topic that dominated the game’s marketing. After canceling the versions for the last generation of consoles, it was confirmed that the game would only have a 4K/30 FPS mode, something rare so far in the new generation, which almost always offers a performance mode with 60 frames and dynamic resolution.For those who have been playing everything at 60 FPS, the difference is very visible. The responsiveness of the controls is not the same, turning the camera reveals the sluggishness and the combat is not as fluid as it should be. However, if it’s any consolation, the frame rate is pretty constant until you play with someone in co-op. The option to let players distance as much as they want clearly affects performance and there are sudden drops while exploring the city, especially riding the bike or fighting multiple enemies at once. I don’t think these issues are a game deterrent and I’ve seen a lot worse, but it will be a downside for anyone who’s gotten used to playing at higher frame rates.
Conclusion
Gotham Knights focuses on co-op mode, but it can be enjoyed very well alone. The campaign is well-developed and there’s plenty here for both fans of the Arkham series and newcomers who want to play an action game with friends. Combat, customization and parts of the story are high points, while performance and repetition of activities are low points. pros
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