Ricky Church reviews Batman: Arkham Knight – Catwoman’s Revenge DLC…
Gotham City’s resident cat burglar finally got her own piece of DLC in Batman: Arkham Knight’s ‘Catwoman’s Revenge’. In this story driven DLC taking place almost immediately after Arkham Knight’s conclusion, Catwoman seeks to pay Riddler back for holding her captive in the main game. There’s not much else to the story, but that doesn’t lessen the fun of playing as Catwoman.
The gameplay mixes the series’ usual stealth and combat features. The level begins with having to pickpocket several of Riddler’s henchmen, utilizing Catwoman’s unique skills to great effect. Absolute stealth is required to achieve this, meaning no takedowns, adding a new wrinkle to the gameplay as most players would probably prefer knocking enemies out. Since Catwoman doesn’t have nearly the amount of tools as Batman, players are forced to approach the stealth aspect differently.
The combat likewise forces players to react differently, both in Catwoman’s gameplay and the challenge thrown at them. As the DLC becomes a brawl with Riddler’s robots, the arena becomes smaller and smaller as more of Riddler’s shockpads and lasers are activated. While this is certainly a challenge for veteran Arkham players, it can be rather frustrating as well. Enacting one of Catwoman’s takedowns can accidently launch you onto the shockpads. The same thing happens if you counter against the wrong enemy or automatically attack a different enemy. These mistakes can cost you precious health, making it even more frustrating when they happen. Players have to be extremely cautious during this portion of the DLC.
Catwoman’s characterization is, like the main game, very good, as is her back-and-forth with Riddler. Though he doesn’t personally appear in the story, Riddler is heard over the intercom as he’s trying to program his robots to break him out of jail. The circumstances overheard are humourous and Riddler’s portrayal again stands out. Their interaction helps elevate this content over some of Arkham Knight’s previous DLC.
Veterans of the series will enjoy the challenge given to them and Catwoman fans should rejoice playing as the feline anti-hero, though some may get frustrated with its gameplay during the combat portion of ‘Catwoman’s Revenge’. Though the campaign is short, ‘Catwoman’s Revenge’ also includes two new AR challenge maps, making this a worthwhile addition to Arkham Knight. However, as I’ve recommended with the previous DLC, if you don’t already have the Season Pass you might want to wait for the eventual bundle to get this.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=ROisAvdW5SY
Originally published November 25, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
