'Batman: Arkham Knight' DLC: 'The Dark Knight' Trilogy Batmobile Unveiled

'Batman: Arkham Knight' DLC: 'The Dark Knight' Trilogy Batmobile Unveiled

Plus New August Update Trailer

By Alex Burns

The rollout of downloadable content continues for 'Batman: Arkham Knight, developer Rocksteady Studios and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive have unveiled some more upcoming content for the end of August. The new set features the 'Tumbler' Batmobile from Director Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, no word yet on an alternate skin featuring Christian Bale's Batsuit but we can hope! The news comes after the reveal of the Batman 1989 DLC pack and there's a cool new trailer showing off gameplay below.

Official Release:

With the 1989 Movie Batmobile Pack, you can get behind the wheel of the Batmobile from the 1989 film ‘Batman’ and outfit Batman with a customized skin from the film. The pack also gives you access to two racetracks inspired by the film’s sequel ‘Batman Returns’. In addition, if you successfully clear the streets of the Arkham Knight’s drone tanks, you can take the Batmobile for a spin on the streets of Gotham City.

Separately, the Bat-Family Skin Pack includes 6 skins based on the alternate timelines of your favorite characters including 1990s Catwoman, One Year Later Robin, Arkham Origins Batman, Iconic Grey & Black Batman, 1970s Batman and the Original Arkham Nightwing.

This content will be available beginning today for fans who have purchased the Batman: Arkham Knight Season Pass for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One, and are connected to the Internet. The content can also be purchased a la carte beginning today for $1.99 MSRP on the PlayStation®Network and Xbox LIVE online entertainment network from Microsoft.

Stay tuned for new Batman: Arkham Knight downloadable content coming in September including:

• Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #1 (Sept. 1): Receive 6 AR challenges for Batman, Nightwing, Robin and Catwoman. This expansive challenge pack allows focused training in Freeflow Combat and Invisible Predator stealth incursion.
• GCPD Lockdown (Later in Sept.): Set after the events of Arkham Knight, play as Nightwing to stop the Penguin from breaking out of the Gotham City Police Department in this thrilling story pack.
• 2008 Tumbler Batmobile Pack (Later in Sept.): Inspired by the 2008 movie ‘The Dark Knight’, intimidate your foes with the Tumbler Batmobile and race through two themed tracks.
• Original Arkham Batman Skin (Later in Sept.): Fight the war against Gotham City with the original Arkham Asylum Batman costume.

Preview 'Batman 1989' DLC Pack for 'Arkham Knight' - Jump in the Batmobile on a Trip Back to 1989

Preview 'Batman 1989' DLC Pack for 'Arkham Knight'

Jump in the Batmobile on a Trip Back to 1989

By Alex Burns

In the latest episode of “Arkham Insider,” Warner Bros. Interactive and Rocksteady are showing off the latest DLC pack from their epic videogame 'Batman: Arkham Knight'. The DLC pack in question is the one that I've been most excited for since the season pass was announced, the Batman 1989 pack! Rocksteady are stepping up their six months of additional with some serious fan service on this one as the new pack features not only the beautiful Batmobile and Michael Keaton Batsuit from the 1989 movie but also a brand new challenge track that takes inspiration straight from the Tim Burton films!

The Burton Batman movies are seriously awesome and of course the success of 'Batman' and 'Batman Returns' is still felt throughout the Batman brand to this day, the TV show 'Gotham' borrows a serious aesthetic design from the films and the 'LEGO Batman' games all utilise Danny Elfman's iconic score. What's great is that due to this DLC a whole new generation of fans who maybe have only seen the recent 'Dark Knight' trilogy will now be exposed to these older movies, just imagine seeing those flicks for the first time again, I'm a little jealous! Check out the preview in the player below, I'm gonna go dust off my Batman 89 Prince soundtrack!


'Batman: Arkham Knight' is the epic conclusion to Rocksteady's Arkham series and is available to purchase now, check out our review here. The Batman 1989 pack is available late August for Season Pass holders.

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

Play as Batgirl in New Batman: Arkham Knight DLC

Play as Batgirl in New Batman: Arkham Knight DLC

Plus Details for the Season Pass

By Alex Burns

 

The release of Batman: Arkham Knight is fast approaching and we could not be more excited! It was revealed last week that the game would feature a new "Dual Play" mechanic allowing players to control Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman and others simultaneously durig combat. You can now add another fan favourite to that list; Batgirl! Rocksteady were unclear as to which iteration of the Batgirl character will feature in the game but they did advise the DLC for the character will be related to the main narrative in Arkham Knight. Check out the full statement below which also details a huge amount of content for players who purchase the season pass.

Earlier this week, we announced the Season Pass for Batman: Arkham Knight.  While the story of Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Trilogy will come to a close on June 23^rd, we are excited to continue telling stories and delivering more content to explore and play through in the 6 months following the game’s release. We’ll be building more narrative, more missions, more challenges and more characters and vehicles that we want players to experience, even though they didn’t fit into the storyline of Batman: Arkham Knight.

We’ve heard from our community that you want more information on what we’ll be delivering in the Season Pass. While we aren’t ready to unveil every aspect of the content we’ll be developing, we would like to share more detail now to give you a better sense of the scope of the Season Pass.

Batgirl: A Matter of Family
An all new prequel story expansion in an entirely new location where you play as Batgirl for the very first time in the Arkham series – check out the first render of Batgirl.

The Season of Infamy
Play as Batman in all new story missions featuring legendary super-villains invading Gotham City, with new story arcs, missions and gameplay features.

Gotham City Stories
Play as Batman’s key allies in narrative missions extending their storylines, from both before and after the events in Batman: Arkham Knight.

Legendary Batmobiles with Themed Tracks
Drive the most iconic Batmobiles from Batman’s 75-year history, on custom-built race tracks, each themed to that Batmobile’s specific era. Every Batmobile will be drivable across every race track.

Crimefighter Challenge Maps
Engage in a series of new challenge maps utilizing the unique play styles of Batman and his allies.

Character Skins
A variety of skins from across the eras for Batman, Robin, Nightwing and Catwoman.

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As we fully ramp up development on the Season Pass, we will be sharing even more details on each monthly content drop. We hope you enjoy playing Batman: Arkham Knight as much as we’ve enjoyed making it.