Gotham Knights Review: Batman Arkham Meets Marvel’s Spider-Man, Minus the Ingenuity
The great tragedy of Gotham Knights — out Friday on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X — is that it was always going to be pitted against the beloved and critically-acclaimed Batman: Arkham games. For one, it's the first open world Gotham City entry since 2015's largely well-received final chapter, Batman: Arkham Knight. And two, more importantly, Gotham Knights comes from the same developer — in WB Games Montréal — who gave us that series' poorest instalment, the 2013 prequel Batman: Arkham Origins. The comparisons were inevitable and unavoidable.
But in the seven years it's taken for a return to Gotham, a rival superhero has left its mark on the video game world: Spider-Man. The PlayStation-exclusive won awards after its arrival in 2018, delivered a beautiful-looking spin-off in 2020, and is due for a sequel next year. Interestingly, you can feel traces of inspiration from Marvel's Spider-Man here. Gotham Knights certainly doesn't have the same cinematographic flair or fluidity to combat that the Spider-Man games have done so well, but there are traces of stylish camera angles at times.
Annoyingly, Gotham Knights also shares some of its problems. Marvel's Spider-Man was rightly criticised for its lack of open-world innovation. Its New York seemed a little too crime-infested, with a carjacking, an armed robbery, or a hostage situation happening in virtually every other city block. All that is true of Gotham Knights' Gotham City as well. But unlike Spider-Man, there's even less variety on offer here outside of petty crimes. The side quests are meh, forgettable, and repetitive.
There's still fun to be had. Whenever you encounter a new criminal activity, Gotham Knights will assign primary and bonus objectives. The latter can be
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