Batman Arkham Knight: Batgirl DLC Review:
Sometime last week, the folks without the whopping $40.00 Season Pass for Batman: Arkham Knight got a choice to pay for a very small and underwhelming slice of Arkham action. The A Matter Of Family DLC ( purchasable on all good consoles), is one of the third missions available to download for this year’s most “epic” game. It entitles you to a short 1 hour experience in the seemingly unpractical yellow boots of Barbara Gordon in the cowl of Batgirl. The gameplay takes place at one of Gotham’s many unprotected and abandoned amusement parks (Seagate Amusement Park), where you play as Batgirl And Robin (Tim Drake) as you rescue the fine officers of Gotham’s Police Department from their deaths at the hands of Joker. In short, the Batgirl DLC, is gimmicky and although executed in usual Arkham style, perhaps better missed.
On the Ps4, I managed to finish the entire chapter, in around 1-1.5 hours, including extra time to explore the tiny confines of Seagate Amusement Park. The story is fairly simple, the Joker has kidnapped Commissioner Gordon and officers of the GCPD and it’s up to Batgirl (The Commissioner’s Daughter Barbara Gordon) and Robin to take them down.
Although Batgirl feels and fights like her mentor Batman, by far her strongest ability and newest gameplay feature is her hacking ability ( which she is shown to use as Oracle later on), and this again is a weakness within itself. I was just wandering the levels and at every corner there was something to be hacked/ cracked, there was no challenge.
This leads to the boring monotony, as their is no backstory for Batgirl, I have no idea why she became Batgirl etc. and the “romantic” dialogue between Robin and Batgirl goes from cute to bad awkward, 5 minutes into the game. The chapter also fails to incorporate any of The “Killing Joke” saga which is a bigger shame in itself.
Verdict
A Matter Of Family is a well executed DLC, it adds some fresh new elements and attempts to bring Batgirl to the Arkham series ( who so far has been in a supporting role to Batman And Robin). However, the chapter is incredibly short and offers no replay value, and Batgirl’s story has been in no way implemented leading to a thin and underwhelming plot and gameplay experience.
5/10