
The rather wonderful Batman: Arkham City will, thanks to its wealth of extra-curricular content, still be spinning in many people's disc drives this week. No matter. Publishers Warner Bros. think now is the time to drop some fresh downloadable content for the singleplayer-only game.
So this week has seen the release of the Nightwing pack, which for $7 adds a new Challenge Room character, two new Challenge Room...challenges and a bonus skin. Is it worth the money? Let's ask some guys who work for Kotaku what they think.
Luke Plunkett, who played Batman: Arkham City so much he was answering the phone with "I'M BATMAN": If you're purchasing Batman: Arkham City second-hand, and want to access the substantial Catwoman content, a download code will cost you $10. That gets you a new character, new story missions, new Riddler challenges, all kinds of stuff.
It is, as far as downloadable content goes, a pretty good deal, even if new purchasers of the game get it for free. So it's a shame, then, that the game's second piece of downloadable content is not a good deal. In fact, it's a terrible deal.
You're really not getting much here. While Nightwing has some new tricks and moves that set him apart from Batman and Catwoman, the fact you can only use him in the Challenge Rooms limits his appeal. After clearing both of the new rooms included in the pack within ten minutes, I was done. Bored. Itching to do something else with the character, since he has some cool gadgets like tranquilliser darts, but all I could do was lament the fact there was nothing else to do with the character except grind through more rooms I'd already ground through with Batman. His new gear was cool, but not cool enough to make me want to do that again.
Developers like BioWare and Bethesda have set a fairly high standard when it comes to singleplayer downloadable content, providing gamers with enough substantial, meaningful offerings to make spending more money on the game worthwhile. The Nightwing pack doesn't meet this standard. Meaning my gut feeling on whether you should pay $7 for this is a definite No.
It's a pleasure to use Nightwing's electricity-based stun moves, but without some new story missions to beef this up, it doesn't feel like enough. This one's even harder sell because Arkham City is already rich with combat and Predator challenges. More of them isn't what this still-new game most needed. No
I'm not really that kind of player but, given that I'm a huge Nightwing fan and quite smitten with the added depth Rocksteady's put into Arkham City's combat system, I'm giving this add-on a hearty Yes.







