C&C Review - 'Batgirl: A Matter of Family' - Rocksteady's DLC Doesn't Reach Their Own Lofty Standards

C&C Review - 'Batgirl: A Matter of Family'

Rocksteady's DLC Doesn't Reach Their Own Lofty Standards

By Alex Burns

Rocksteady have started their roll out of downloadable content for 'Arkham Knight' now that the entire world seems to have finished the main story. The first release in this six month post game support is the Arkham Episode 'Batgirl: A Matter of Family'. The DLC allows players to suit up as Batgirl for the first time in the fanchise and team up with fellow sidekick Robin to rescue Commissioner Gordon from the evil cluches of the Joker and Harley Quinn.

The adventure begins promisingly enough as an opening cinematic sees Barbara Gordon as Batgirl for the first time, she swoops into frame and dispatches the Joker's goons with a ferocious style that's unique to her and reminiscent of the Dark Knight himself. The player then takes control as you knock half a dozen lumps out of a few more henchmen with Robin's help. The dynamic due then use their grapnel guns to ascend high into the sky on series of huge out of use lifts to reach the Jokers hideout, an abandoned nautical themed amusement park that overlooks Gotham City. So far, so awesome.

Once you're into the amusement park proper the missions begin in earnest, Robin heads out to locate three bombs while you are tasked with rescuing 3 groups of hostages. You traverse the spacious game world and locate the hostages, each are being protected by a predator scenario, combat challenge or puzzle. The game retains the Arkham formula and playing as Batgirl is a real treat, her movements have been lovingly rendered and she has a variety of combat moves at her disposal. The most obvious change when playing as Batgirl is the use of hacking to manipulate the game world into taking down henchmen from afar, you've got electrifed floor grids, doors you can shut to strategically isolate enemies and you can even trigger the park rides and sound effects to your advantage. Batgirl isn't as strong or quick as Batman in combat but with all the newly added hacking options available there's a balance that more than makes up for those shortcomings.

The production value is certainly triple A, the game world is beautiful realised and Batgirl herself is one of the best character models in the game, clearly a lot of affection went into designing this DLC and the Joker himself gets a makeover and Harley Quinn appears in her original 'Batman: the Animated Series' costume for the first time and it looks fantastic. There's even a few hidden collectibles in the form of chattering Joker teeth, Harley's Jack-in-the boxes and park balloons which are dotted around the levels. There's also a side story which acts in place of the Riddler puzzles and reveals just how the Joker got his hands on the amusement park, the story is grim, sad, comes with casualties and is one of the standout moments from the story pack.

So all of this sounds like a lot right? Sounds like you'll be putting in the three hours of gameplay advertised and then some for a bit of replay value right? Well no, not exactly. The biggest problem with 'A Mater of Family' is that it's just too darn short. I dawdled my way through the story stopping to smell the roses and check out every nook and cranny and I was done in a little over 90 minutes... that is just not good enough. I'm not one of these gamers who buys into length equals value but the fact is I didn't just finish the story quickly I finished everything in one sitting, trophies, collectibles, puzzles, all gone in the blink of an eye. You come to expect a certain standard when playing the Arkham franchise and when something doesn't quite meet that standard you have to call it out, not just lap it up because there's a bat signal on it.

Due to the brevity of the story pack we're left once again wanting more from our favourite characters, Robin and Batgirl are clearly in a committed relationship during the events of 'Arkham Knight' but their chemistry is barely touched on in this prequel. Likewise we see nothing of what the Joker was planning to do with the Commissioner or their interactions and the formulaic level progression really limits the scope of the story. This is the first time we've ever played as Batgirl in a game of this calibre and we barely get an inkling as to why she suited up in the first place. Too many ideas are left under-developed and it's pretty frustrating.

'A Matter of Family' gets so much right, the awesome cinematic cut scenes, the fantastic showdown with the Joker and Harley Quinn, the beautifully designed pirate ship predator level and more but it just doesn't reach the same heights as the 'Arkham Knight' game and that's not an unreasonable expectation considering the development team behind it. Don't get me wrong it's a blast to play but after the disappointment of the Harley Quinn DLC this feels like another missed opportunity. After investing £140 plus into the limited edition and season pass my concern that the DLC will promise much but deliver little is very real. Hopefully Rocksteady will step up their game with future DLC, even a couple of AR challenge modes would have done the world of good to make this feel like a proper addition to the game.

6/10