Batgirl has been in the Batman Family for quite some time. Barbara Gordon (Sorry for those of you who didn’t know!), made her debut as a caped crusader in 1967 in Detective Comics #359. While not the first attempt at a female crusader, Barbara Gordon definitely retains the most fame out of all of the Batgirls out there, as she’s been Batgirl the longest.

The addition of a female superhero in the Batman universe definitely made waves amongst female comic book readers (Yes, you heard me. They do exist!). While Barbara Gordon has been under both praise and scrutiny by some, having a female crime-fighting hero is definitely a refreshing take on what it means to be a hero, and how anyone can be a hero if they try.

I was excited to hear that Rocksteady and DC Comics were going through with this DLC, as this is the first glimpse gamers got to playing as the female caped crusader during her glory days. Since she’s already strapped to her wheelchair in the beginning of Rocksteady’s Arkham Trilogy, players only know her as Oracle, her hacker counterpart who aids Batman behind a computer screen. Before the accident, Barbara Gordon offered a lot to the Batman team. She’s was a strong athlete, genius detective, skilled hacker, and has an eidetic memory (something even Batman doesn’t possess!). Her arsenal of abilities made her a worthy protector of Gotham, downright destroying the gender barrier that society has put on females. While she’s unable to fight crime physically due to losing the ability to walk, she still proves to be a valuable asset to Batman.

As part of the Season Pass crowd, I was able to get the story before some other players did. This was a huge incentive to spend the additional $40 on bonus content. Unfortunately, the costs didn’t outweigh the reward…

The story takes place before the events of Arkham Asylum. Joker and his goons have kidnapped the Commissioner and it’s up to Batgirl to save her father. This is the first time Batgirl has ever been brought into the video game world, so having a story which puts her in the spotlight should be the priority. While it’s commonly known that Babs is the daughter of Jim Gordon, there is a lot more that she has to offer. Unfortunately, most of the time Batgirl is overshadowed by the fact that she has family ties to one of Batman’s most trusted allies. The thing is, there are plenty of other Batgirl stories that would definitely do her more justice than simply saving her father.

The sad part about this mission is that she doesn’t even get to do it alone. She has to partner up with Robin for all of the big moments and fights. What could have been a strong story about Batgirl being able to handle crime fighting by herself gets thrown out the window when she receives his aid. Batman handled 99% of all three games by himself, refusing the help of his team for most of the story. While the dual-team battles are an exciting new feature, I would rather have Batgirl fighting alone with more crime-solving, as it would have been refreshing to see a strong female lead fighting solo. Seeing her need to team up makes her look weak and dependent. She’s constantly going on about her father too, which really hurts her story because it’s the only thing she’s focused on. We already know that Barbara loves her father, having us hear about it over and over again gets annoying.

The gameplay was the best part about this DLC. It gets the highest score out of this review, mostly because it does away with the dreaded batmobile that a lot of players struggle with. While Rocksteady’s fight mechanics are fantastic, the reason I only give this an 8 out of 10 is because the combat seems old. Part of the reason Arkham Knight’s gameplay has such a high score in my mind is because players get new features with Batman that really help you feel like the Dark Knight. The Fear Takedown and gadget combos (when you can pull them off) are fantastic elements that truly enhance the gameplay. Batgirl’s gameplay doesn’t have any of those new features. With a heavy emphasis on her hacking abilities, all she really does in combat is hack terminals and power boxes for surprise elements. Hacking power boxes can only be pulled off before a fight too, so if you’re too late to figure that out, it’s a standard fight most of the time.

One of the biggest things I would have loved to see with Barbara Gordon is the use of her eidetic memory. Being such a key element that serves to her crime fighting, I was really disappointed by how this feature was not added into the game, or even mentioned at all. Having her solve some crime scenes would have been a much better use of her time, rather than simply having her beat enemies to a pulp.

The whole game takes place in an abandoned theme park that’s completely cut off from Gotham and also isn’t very large. What I love about Arkham City and Arkham Knight was how much exploration you could do with Batman. This DLC’s environment feels more like Arkham Asylum, which seems like a big step backwards. While it was wishful thinking on my part that fans would be able to roam around in the same Gotham as Batman did in Arkham Knight, I was at least hoping we’d get a more interactive environment. I would have preferred a more closed setting if I knew that this area was going to be mostly empty space.

The side-quests in this game were essentially non-existent. With only having to hunt down items and destroy objects, the side-quests could all be done in a single sitting. With how open the environment is with all the useless space, hunting these breakable objects could take you another hour or so, but because there aren’t many, you can finish this segment quickly if you really wanted to. Considering how much effort Rocksteady put into the Arkham Knight Riddler Trophy hunting, I was hoping I would get more easter eggs in this segment as those were the parts I really enjoyed. Unfortunately this DLC feels a bit lazy in this aspect…

With how little there was to do in this DLC, the thought of replaying this segment hasn’t crossed my mind once. It’s short, easy to get through, and lacks the amount of puzzles that Batman’s segment of the story had, so the challenge is completely gone. If I played this before Arkham Knight, I might have enjoyed it more.

Overall, while entertaining, this Batgirl DLC really lacked that wow factor, feeling more like a wasted effort than anything else. This could have been a really big moment to push a good story with Batgirl at the helm, but instead we get a story that’s been done several times before with nothing really new for the players to enjoy. For any comic reader, this is a major disappointment. To people who have little experience with the Batman universe, this may serve as an adequate opening to the female superhero. I am really disappointed that I spent an additional $40 to get this. I’d suggest waiting on this until the price drops a bit if you haven’t already paid for the Season Pass. If you’re like me and bought it on day one, I can only offer you a sympathy hug.

Story: 6 Gameplay: 8 Environment: 3 Side-quests: 2
Re-playability: 1 Overall Score: 6