It’s been almost a month since Batman: Arkham Knight. I’ve reviewed it and have played about 30 or so hours of the game, so I think it’s safe to say that I understand what the base of Arkham Knight was. Rocksteady tried too hard to justify the Batmobile and made the conclusion to Arkham trilogy a rather paint-by-number adventure.
All things considered, the idea of a new adventure into Gotham started to become a chore. Especially after I’ve already spent 30 hours in Gotham.
Batman: Arkham Knight – A Matter of Family (PS4, Xbox One)
Developer: WB Games Montreal
Publisher: Warner Bros.
MSRP: $6.99
Release Date: July 14, 2015 (Season Pass Owners) / July 21, 2015 (Everyone)
This solo adventure casts you as Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl before the events of Arkham Asylum. The Joker is back yet again, and uses him for all of 5 minutes. However, this is The Joker & Harley Quinn you’ll most likely remember from Batman: The Animated Series, and they look great.
All of this takes place inside Seagate Amusement Park, which draws direct comparisons (at least to me) to Arkham Asylum. The Joker has captured the Commissioner, and it’s up to Batgirl and Robin to save the day. Matter of Family starts its’ story with an under-used mechanic from the base game, Dual Play Takedowns, but then Batgirl is sent off on her own.
Batgirl plays very similar to Batman, but not entirely. Combat is pretty much the same, but with the added caveat that you’ll be hacking a whole lot more.
This focus on hacking becomes a main part of the game, to a fault in some points. Yes, it differentiates Batgirl from Batman that much more, however, it feels limiting that I have to relearn everything I’ve learned from the previous games in a DLC.
The DLC is short, and goes nowhere fast until the last five minutes. Even then, it’s just over. If you’re playing this, expect to bored about 80% of the time. The story is maybe an hour, with collectibles taking about another thirty minutes.
In all earnestness, I would not recommend this DLC, unless you’re just going to be really busy the week of the 21st or just want more Batgirl. I mean, the Season Pass is $40, and this does little to justify the hefty price tag. You’re better off waiting on this one.
The Vertical Slice 
I don’t know whether the game was just too over hyped or it was simply not as strong an entry into the Arkham series as previous entries.
The “Arkham Episode” series could have been a great way to expand upon the story of Arkham knight but so far the devs feel happy to live in the past and churn out weak, repetitive narrative coupled with even more repetitive gameplay (is there anyone in this game series who doesn’t have a secondary “Detective Vision” ability)
The Batmobile introduction could have been iconic but ended up being a huge grind.
(MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR Arkham Knight & Batman: The Killing Joke follow)
I would have been more excited for this Batgirl DLC if we followed through to an actual finale where we see the joker in knocking on Barbara’s front door setting up this story to be her last night on the job and a set up to a potential the killing joke story dlc but what do I know!
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Yeah, I do believe it was a product of overhype, as the game was originally scheduled for release in October 2014, but I think that had more to do with the PC port.
I didn’t expect much from “A Matter of Family”, but I did expect a meatier piece of story to chew on rather than just a side quest.
Batmobile is another thing entirely. I was indeed frustrated whenever I had to use the ” Battle Mode” function, but as I said on Proven Gamer’s Spoilercast, there’s an entire portion of the game where it is used as a gadget and was wonderful.
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