Set aside the pre-release conundrum, and the daily server maintenance checks that had you kicked out of the game while you were in the middle of a fucking cutscene, (like c’mon rocksteady y’all said it was optimized), this game was enjoyable. Contrary to what some are being led to believe for… reasons, it works out the gate and is a quality product. At least by code.
I’m not one to entertain the reactionaries, you know the type, or maybe you ARE the type if anyone cares to read this; the culture warriors, beset on both sides of the petty exchange/flavor of the day, with something to prove but nothing to truly stand for. Discourse matters but sometimes it’s better to take it down two notches no?
We’re better off being cordial about the things we have hardline stances on, and constructive about the things we care about, whether we like them or not. This stuff has gotten out of hand, at least on the internet. There is an uncompromising, unbridled, unrepentant tick we share as the common, and we release it for some of the most menial shit.
But, with all that stuff this game has been subjected to, even though I did enjoy it, I can’t help but acknowledge the pit it left in me. Some of that stuff rings somewhat true, if not with the vitriol and hyperbole. This game isn’t up to par with the bar rocksteady set in the superhero genre. In fact, this game stands for everything wrong with the video game industry, which profusely hurts to say.
While sporting an investing gameplay loop, being somewhat skill-based given the movement tech and give-or-take mechanics, topped off with resource recoup akin to Doom Eternal changing the flow of gameplay, and having some intricate sandbox world design, the actual content is lacking, even mind-numbing. Same goes for every other element. It’s this big mixed bag of things good and bad.
Whatever world they tried to build here is shoddy. Faulty mechanics that go against things that were established and should carry over from other media, ridiculous story beats meant to get the squad from one place to the next without real hardship, and some of the worst treatment of legacy characters I’ve ever seen quite frankly. Batman had it easy with his send-off, shit has nothing on Green Lantern, Superman, or Flash. Creative license can be good but this was baffling creative decision after another. The Last of Us Part II holds no dice, that game’s story albeit flawed, was still good overall and did right where it counts, and I will die on that hill. SS:KTJL’s story was bad, with fun moments and dynamics, but bad nonetheless.
Based on the credits, the outline was done by Sefton Hill and Ian Ball, one of which of course departed rocksteady. What reasons they were I’m in the dark about but presumably it wasn’t for the best. So it stands that whatever principal scriptwriters and editors that were tasked to take over, including those of the dreadnaught SweetBaby Inc, shudders in fear, took gold writ ink and wore it down. Let me address the whole SweetBaby schtick real quick:
Looking over their mission statement and rap sheet, you derive that the end goal for their involvement in the creative process of games you see them in is to broaden the appeal of said games. Make them more inclusive, woke you could say, (which is a played out term, god I hate fucking hate it). That goal in and of itself isn’t inherently bad, in fact it’s noble.
Not to mention they had hands in the development of God of War: Ragnarök and Alan Wake II, which are all-timers, and Spider-Man 2, which while not reaching the heights of the first game, was not too shabby itself and had some effective moments and did the core of the main characters justice. SweetBaby is not the real problem, as much as some would like to believe it to justify to themselves that gaming is going sour. The real problem is rocksteady and their misguided attempts to try to turn what they made before on its head, and failing tremendously.
The Arkham games, including and especially Origins, fight me, were genre defining. Master strokes in game design with an outlet unlike any other to live out the Batman fantasy. Defining the character and the mythos surrounding him, working as arguably the best adaptations of Batman bar none. So to see them go from that, to this, is bemusing.
Having finished the main story, checked all of the riddler boxes, gathered all the character bios/audio logs/A.R.G.U.S. tapes, and specked out all three talent trees and made the most out of my Dead-shot, having the endgame and post-launch roadmap left, I can confidently say that rocksteady did not cook with this one. Its shelf life ain’t looking too long from here either, even though I am willing to jump back in with some buddies if they’re down. Shame that, it could have been so much more but ended up being less than the sum of its parts.
I’m not one to entertain the reactionaries, you know the type, or maybe you ARE the type if anyone cares to read this; the culture warriors, beset on both sides of the petty exchange/flavor of the day, with something to prove but nothing to truly stand for. Discourse matters but sometimes it’s better to take it down two notches no?
We’re better off being cordial about the things we have hardline stances on, and constructive about the things we care about, whether we like them or not. This stuff has gotten out of hand, at least on the internet. There is an uncompromising, unbridled, unrepentant tick we share as the common, and we release it for some of the most menial shit.
But, with all that stuff this game has been subjected to, even though I did enjoy it, I can’t help but acknowledge the pit it left in me. Some of that stuff rings somewhat true, if not with the vitriol and hyperbole. This game isn’t up to par with the bar rocksteady set in the superhero genre. In fact, this game stands for everything wrong with the video game industry, which profusely hurts to say.
While sporting an investing gameplay loop, being somewhat skill-based given the movement tech and give-or-take mechanics, topped off with resource recoup akin to Doom Eternal changing the flow of gameplay, and having some intricate sandbox world design, the actual content is lacking, even mind-numbing. Same goes for every other element. It’s this big mixed bag of things good and bad.
Whatever world they tried to build here is shoddy. Faulty mechanics that go against things that were established and should carry over from other media, ridiculous story beats meant to get the squad from one place to the next without real hardship, and some of the worst treatment of legacy characters I’ve ever seen quite frankly. Batman had it easy with his send-off, shit has nothing on Green Lantern, Superman, or Flash. Creative license can be good but this was baffling creative decision after another. The Last of Us Part II holds no dice, that game’s story albeit flawed, was still good overall and did right where it counts, and I will die on that hill. SS:KTJL’s story was bad, with fun moments and dynamics, but bad nonetheless.
Based on the credits, the outline was done by Sefton Hill and Ian Ball, one of which of course departed rocksteady. What reasons they were I’m in the dark about but presumably it wasn’t for the best. So it stands that whatever principal scriptwriters and editors that were tasked to take over, including those of the dreadnaught SweetBaby Inc, shudders in fear, took gold writ ink and wore it down. Let me address the whole SweetBaby schtick real quick:
Looking over their mission statement and rap sheet, you derive that the end goal for their involvement in the creative process of games you see them in is to broaden the appeal of said games. Make them more inclusive, woke you could say, (which is a played out term, god I hate fucking hate it). That goal in and of itself isn’t inherently bad, in fact it’s noble.
Not to mention they had hands in the development of God of War: Ragnarök and Alan Wake II, which are all-timers, and Spider-Man 2, which while not reaching the heights of the first game, was not too shabby itself and had some effective moments and did the core of the main characters justice. SweetBaby is not the real problem, as much as some would like to believe it to justify to themselves that gaming is going sour. The real problem is rocksteady and their misguided attempts to try to turn what they made before on its head, and failing tremendously.
The Arkham games, including and especially Origins, fight me, were genre defining. Master strokes in game design with an outlet unlike any other to live out the Batman fantasy. Defining the character and the mythos surrounding him, working as arguably the best adaptations of Batman bar none. So to see them go from that, to this, is bemusing.
Having finished the main story, checked all of the riddler boxes, gathered all the character bios/audio logs/A.R.G.U.S. tapes, and specked out all three talent trees and made the most out of my Dead-shot, having the endgame and post-launch roadmap left, I can confidently say that rocksteady did not cook with this one. Its shelf life ain’t looking too long from here either, even though I am willing to jump back in with some buddies if they’re down. Shame that, it could have been so much more but ended up being less than the sum of its parts.