Ah, to watch Red Hood table dance.
Not going to lie, I got this game on sale. I knew nothing about the controversy and I STILL know nothing about the controversy. I do not care for the controversy. I don't even think there is a controversy other than people hating on the creator for something unrelated. The game is great and that's all that matters to me.
The main story is mid. I follow it because it gives me interactions with the main characters- Red Hood, Batgirl, Robin, and Nightwing. You can choose to be one character and switch out whenever you head back to base. When you play the story, every cutscene is different with different characters. They are animated different, the characters act different, even the dialog is different. A perfect example of this is the scene with Harley Quinn at Blackgate. You can find a video on YouTube as an example. Her entire face is animated differently with different emotions, and it's such a small detail that brings so much to the game. With Robin, she's teasing but ultimately guarded, shocked but (falsely) mocking when she finds out Batman's dead. With Red Hood? She's honest. She's genuinely shocked, and to an extent, heartbroken that the Bats is dead. (You don't need to guess much for Nightwing. She flirts with him. Obviously comments on his butt. It's required, at this point.) We get some needed Alfred content and interactions with the characters. Good Alfred content is few and far between, and he is often forgotten as a character.
The gameplay is mid. The fighting system is fun, but limited by animations occasionally. The animations themselves are beautiful, and depend on what enemy you are fighting, what part of a combo you are in, and whether you are on stairs or near a wall. In normal mode, when you get near end game, the average criminal just dies too fast. You have to up the level or search for harder enemies. What's really fun is the act of being a vigilante- searching for crimes, hopping roofs, hacking, blowing up stuff- anything you can think of, you can do. I love analyzing crime scenes, but they are not as complicated as I wish. Personal preference, however. Motorcycle riding is fun, but I kind of wish there were consequences if you ran over a pedestrian. I would probably be served at least 10 life sentences in Blackgate for that.
It's what got me into DC in the first place. I was a moderate fan before hand, now it's all I read. I desperately wish there was a DLC, and I am considering learning coding just to make mods for the game. I should have known I was screwed from the start, I love story games and this has a perfect mix of story and simple gameplay. 10/10
TL/DR: Good game. Base story is okay, character interactions, cutscenes, and side stories are great. Fighting can be limited by animations, but the
animations are beautiful (probably not best for players that focus solely on fighting gameplay). Little things such as hunting crime, taking down criminal forts, and stopping corrupt cops are super fun and give the game character. There are little secrets and fun easter eggs if you look. A game that you can sink 60+ hours in to- see my stats. Limited mods sadly, so actual coders, SOS.
