Before playing Gotham Knights, many gamers were looking forward to it. You know, whether it’s a movie or a game, Batman is always so special. You can’t just see him as a superhero symbol. We’ve been through the “Arkham” trilogy and know what a good superhero game – or at least a good Batman game should be like. It’s a pity that this time is different. Let’s get straight to the point. First of all, Gotham Knights is a “Batman game” without Batman. Interactive Entertainment didn’t play the little trick that Metal Gear Solid 2 did, giving us a sense of who the protagonist was. We can see Batman dead in several ads before the game’s release, and the protagonist of the game is his former partner.
While the story still takes place in Gotham City, and the game often reminds you of the days when Batman was still around, for “I love Batman movies, so come and try” players, Gotham Knight may not be the same. Not a priority.
Here, you can choose to control 4 characters, “Nightwing” Dick Grayson, “Red Hood” Jason Todd, “Robin” Tim Drake, and “Batgirl” Ba Barra Gordon. In other words, Robin One, Robin Two, Robin Three, and Batgirl. If you still don’t quite understand after reading this… “Robin” is Batman’s assistant, and appears more frequently in comics and animations, but not very often in movies.
Appearance of the protagonists
Friends who watch American comics may be more familiar with these characters. Frankly speaking, I haven’t read too many “Batman” series comics. Most of the knowledge still comes from movies and animations. Nightwing, Red Hood, Robin, Batgirl, are known, but not so familiar. In this context, Gotham Knights left me a little scratching my head. At the beginning of the game, Batman and “Master Ninja” Lei Xiaogu perished in the Batcave. Nightwing and others found his body, and Gotham lost Batman – but then? 4 protagonists appear on the street. The players need to abruptly choose one of them to start the adventure in the game. At this time, you may not know any of them.
It’s at least a good story. Gotham Knights is about Gotham city that lost Batman and how his pals come out of a huge tragedy. These 4 people have different relationships with Batman. They also have different behavioural patterns. Nightwing is the original Robin and has always wanted to take on bigger responsibilities. Red Hood doesn’t agree with part of Batman’s philosophy, and he is alienated from the entire team. The current Robin in the game worldview is Tim Dre K. Batgirl, is Sheriff Gordon’s daughter, has a special affection for her father and Gotham as a whole – that’s fine, it’s just not reflected in the game. You can choose any character you want during the game. Also, you can change the character at any time in the base camp clock tower. However, except for a few lines and different character moves, the game flow is almost the same.
Unintentional exploration
Let’s put aside Batman and his Robins for a while, whether it’s a Batman game or not, Gotham Knights is first and foremost an open-world action RPG game. However, if you look at it from the eyes of ordinary players, it may have more problems. Gotham Knights offer a fully open Gotham City, even in the early game. You can go anywhere on the map, from the clock tower to the cathedral, from Arkham Asylum to Gotham City Hall. It’s just that Gotham is obviously not that interesting compared to Skellige. There are no shops or hotels here, everything in the city looks very similar. There is smoke everywhere, and the lights are dizzying from behind the smoke. Cars are driving on the street, but to you, they are just square-moving wall tiles.
Empty Gotham City
There is no shortage of criminals in Gotham City, and the same is true in Gotham Knight. Crime comes as a map event, you see crime scenes frequently on the streets. There are few peaceful places here, people get beaten up in one place, beaten again in the same place the next day, and the same the third day. There are not many types of crimes, such as bomb attacks, robbery of cash trucks, and beatings. This may remind you of the early days of “Assassin’s Creed”. However, “Gotham Knight” is more monotonous. These map events are even linked to the main quest and character ability acquisition, so you have to repeat the experience.
Considering that the vigilantes in Gotham City are all active at night, the game does not use the traditional day-night alternation system. It allows players to be fixed at night when they go out and fixed in the daytime when they return to the clock tower base camp. I can understand, but it takes a long time. Boredom is inevitable, especially when you continue to face similar nights.
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Only go out at night
When you play Gotham Knights, you can clearly feel the resemblance to the Arkham series. In “Batman: Arkham Knight”, Batman has a variety of moving methods such as hook, glide, and Batmobile. Players can easily use the hook to cross a building, jump, and then spread the bat wings to glide and dive. Hook the front again and press the attack button to launch an aerial attack on the passing criminals… In Gotham Knights, you can still see the skeleton of this system. But considering that the protagonist is no longer Batman, the game has made some changes.
Gliding, for example, is not a skill for everyone, you can only do it while operating Batgirl. Nightwing is via glider. Red Hood’s movement skill is jump, and Robin is short-range teleport. These skills all need to be unlocked by completing repetitive and uninteresting spawning tasks. This goes on for the first 5 to 10 hours of the game.
Fight, keep retreating
The combat part also has the shadow of the “Arkham” series. In other words, it is like a simplified version of “Arkham”. Hit the attack button continuously, and the character will fight automatically. It can even switch freely between enemies. When facing stronger enemies, you can rely on key combinations to defeat enemies with skills.
Of course, you only need to press the melee attack button for more time, because there are too few types of enemies in the game. Melee soldiers, spearmen, and artillery soldiers are the most common. You can defeat them all with melee. In the quest line of the Court of Owls, there is a special enemy “Claws” that will evade your melee attacks indefinitely. The solution is to first long press the ranged attack button to knock him down with a long-range heavy hit. Then run up to control it, and press the attack button to execute.
It doesn’t sound like a big deal, the only problem is that Gotham Knights is not locked. When using the controller, you have to use the joystick to precisely control the character’s orientation, otherwise, it will not be very playable. The overall operation accuracy of the game is very low. The character’s movement and steering may not always follow the player’s wishes. Of course, this has some impact on the precise battle.
Gotham Knights is the first video game to feature Court of Owls. It is a mysterious villain that is popular among comic book readers. It hides in the deeper shadows of Gotham City. Even whispering about owls Courts are dangerous… But the Owl Court questline in Gotham Knights is like going to Pokémon to defeat Team Rocket. It is as straightforward as it can be and this is hard for many to accept.
Gotham needs Batman, wherever
The process of playing Gotham Knights and writing about these feelings is a bit painful, and after spending a lot of time criticizing it, I seem to have become a person who constantly complains about the game and vents my dissatisfaction… Is Gotham Knights still available? What about a nice place? Maybe, if you’re a devoted Batman comic reader with a strong interest in Nightwing, Red Hood, Robin and Batgirl, and the villains. Then Gotham Knights might be of some value to you. Some of the details in the game may make Batman fans a little happy, such as a secret room opened by playing the piano, a document that records Batman’s past deeds, and chat content between three generations of Robins. It’s just that these unexpected flashes can’t save the overall mediocrity.
As a Batman game without Batman, maybe it was designed for a loyal audience from the start. Or maybe Warner Bros. just overestimated the allure of Bat Family. From a moviegoer’s point of view at least, I’d rather be able to control Batman than Red Hood
Compared with “Arkham”, perhaps “Gotham Knight” inherits the most bugs and flashbacks in the PC version. During the game, I encountered frame drops, crashes, and several bugs on both computers. Most of the pictures in this article are captured on a 1060 computer. Additionally, the console version of Gotham Knights only supports 30fps.
Gotham Knights now look like a collection of Arkham and Assassin’s Creed shortcomings: big, empty cities, repetitive battles and quests, and protagonists who have lost their charisma… It’s hard to imagine this. Coming after Batman: Arkham Knight, it’s a throwback in every way, and no one knows why. I think that’s why Gotham needs Bruce Wayne.
Pro
- + fans to the game
- + Court of Owls makes video game debut
Cons
- − An all-around throwback to the Batman game
- − No Batman
- − Failed open world
- − High combat repetition
- − Empty cities
