Arkham Knight: Batgirl - A Matter Of Family - Maxi-Geek 60 Second Review

So after a long wait, the Arkham Knight playable DLC had finally been released, opposed to just extra skin packs. With the great story, gameplay and execution of the main game itself, players would have been looking forward to using Batgirl, and finding out a little history on the character before she was put into the wheelchair. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for this DLC, but we'll get more to that soon.

A Matter Of Family takes place post-Arkham Origins, but pre-Arkham Asylum, where you control the main protagonist, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon). From a high level view, the story takes place where The Joker hijacks a theme park and holds Jim Gordon hostage, in which Batgirl takes it personally to rescue and subdue the antagonist. Along the way, there are tasks you need to complete by rescuing hostage police officers that had been caught by the Joker. There's really not much to it all to be honest, which makes it a little disappointing as players would want something a little more than a simple linear storyline.

Gameplay wise, we don't see anything new from this DLC. If anything, Batgirl has fewer gadgets compared to Batman in Arkham Knight, which is a slight disappointment after you're used to having a range of arsenal and equipment to use during the main game. The excuse for this is due to the the 'post-Arkham Origins' story where the character has less due to it's timeline. This made using Batgirl feel as though it was a step backwards, which we also felt during Arkham Origins. Nonetheless, it was still somewhat satisfying giving thugs a beat down as they used the same formula. Additionally, being able to utilize Robin was a bonus, but not something new to the Arkham Knight game.

Throughout the game, there are 'extra' tasks to complete, such as finding balloons, chatter teeth and Jack-in-a-box that the Joker had placed around the theme park. What's the point to all that you ask? We're unsure as well, as it felt as though they wanted extend the game for more time than the overall 1 - 2 hours worth of gameplay.

Visually, the DLC still looks great, in which Batgirl is rendered really well. That being said, by the time players start this game, we're already used to the amazing visuals from Arkham Knight. So we can't say it's amazing, but at the same time can't give it a negative as the benchmark has been set in the main game.

To summarize, this DLC was still fun to play, especially being able to control Batgirl. However, being that it's restricted to a small area (theme park) detracted to it's playability as you're confined to a specific area. A linear storyline with no plot twists did not increase or decrease it's value to purchase the DLC...but it just is. On a good note, The Joker has been voice by one of the most famous voice-actors for the character, in which is always a perfect fit. Lastly, it would have been great to see more to this DLC, but we guess that's why there's a 'seasonal pass', where the franchise will slowly release playable content over time.