Gotham Knights

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!

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.

Introduction:

Gotham Knights is definitely a divisive game. It is an elseworld story and has nothing to do with previous Batman games. It came out to a lot of mixed reviews and got bad press due to people not liking technical things such as the 30 FPS, choppy game play (compared to previous Gen Arkham Knight) and a few other things, but I'm here to say that once I finally gave it a chance with an open mind I enjoyed this game very much.

Characters and story-line:

The biggest W is the dynamic of the characters with eachother. The game doesn't force the small cut scenes, but if you interact with every side mini cutscene quests you get this amazing feeling of family and see the relationship of the 4 heroes. It was such an amazing dynamic I long for a live action series of these titular characters (not the garbage series that CW/WB released currently) The chemistry is their if you take the extra time to look at it. I assume the developers didn't force those scenes as some gamers like to play more than watch cutscenes, but for those you liked fleshed our characters and storyline then this game has both. They really used the existing Batman mythology and created a unique story-line for the Bat-family that made a lasting impression.

Gameplay:

As aforementioned, the gameplay mechanics felt like a downgrade from Arkham Knight - which was disappointing considering this is a next-gen game, however was overlooked once the game picked up and introduced the character specific combat and traversal system. I loved how they kept the familiar gliding from the Arkham games for Batgirl and introduced fun traversal mechanics for the other 3 characters. Each character has their own unique style and are all fun to play with. I got addicted to upgrading all characters as their specific abilities made it easier and more fun to do specific task, quests and side missions. It'll make you sometimes wish to have all their skills in one character, but then you'd just be playing as Batman at that point - which clearly is not the goal of this game.

Conclusion:

Although it has its downsides, Gotham knight is a load of fun and the storyline has a lot of heart - the dynamic of the titular heroes was very pleasantly executed and left a memorable impression and gave me a new love for these "side kicks". I hope the studious learn from their lack of effort in improving gameplay for next-gen games and give us a sequel or DLC storyline - if it can tell an amazing story as this one did with a great character dynamic. I recommended buying this game only on sale and trying it out when you have time and an open mind.

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?

It's getting hammered for a lot of graphic reasons and some glitches and yes I saw some but no more than in any open world game.

I'll say that it did force close on my xbox SX three times mostly as I was traversing but that's the only problems I had with it.

The story is no worse or better than the previous arkham games, I know its not an arkham game but it's impossible not to compare them.

The gameplay is solid, the world is detailed and the voice acting is fine, only one of the core leads stuck out as particularly bad but that could be part of the character.

If you're familiar with batman lore you'll see the story twists coming a mile away but damn if it isn't fun getting there and being able to choose who you are is pretty refreshing although I did miss being Batman.

It's not a patch on the arkham games but it's a very worthy successor.

Think of it as a typical sequel, not as good as but definitely not to be left out and really not as bad as people say.