Gotham Knights Is Being Ripped Apart Over Baffling Song Choice
As any die-hard gamer knows, a soundtrack can do a lot for a game. It's much like the largely panned Star Wars: The Phantom Menace being saved by the iconic "Duel of the Fates." Where would Pokemon be without the haunting Lavender Town song, Zelda without "Saria's Song," or The Witcher without "Priscilla's Song"? Sadly, not everyone gets it right.
With a new take on the crime-riddled Gotham City, we're here to remind you Gotham Knights is definitely NOT a continuation of Rocksteady's Arkham games. Despite this, there's been some confusion thanks to an Arkham-looking Mr. Freeze, and the fact that 2015's Arkham Knight killed off Batman while Gotham Knights picks up a similar storyline. We can excuse all of this, but when it comes to soundtrack choices, the Bat Family has blundered this one.
What's Wrong With The Gotham Knights Soundtrack?
Posting on Twitter, Pen to Pixels' Janet Garcia shared footage of her battling a group of grunts. If the questionable UI didn't have you wincing, what about the fact it was set to a cover of Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca"? The inclusion of the 1999 song would be obscure enough as it is, let alone this screechy cover that doesn't even use Martin.
Others have corroborated that this is the real deal and not an edited clip (not that we'd doubt it anyway). Writing about his hands-on preview of the game, GamesRadar's Joe Donnelly wrote, "This exchange culminates in me chasing said notepad (now tied to a giant helium balloon) down the corridors of the jail, into the yard, and fighting my way through a prison riot to the tune of a remixed version of Ricky Martin's 'Livin' La Vida Loca' in order to get my hands on it."
Garcia's clip soon went viral, and we can see why. Others were baffled at why we get a cover of a song that's 23 years old. Yeah, it's a banger, but it's not exactly "Bohemium Rhapsody" - a song that 2016's The Suicide Squad movie got Panic at the Disco to perform on the soundtrack. Many have taken to "fixing" it with better song choices.
Is Gotham Knights Doomed?
The comments section was soon filled with Batfans asking why. One mused, "Honestly, if it hadn't been a cover... it mighta worked for me," while another added, "I'm all for tongue-in-cheek licenced music in games. Saints Row 3 is a masterclass in that imo. But this missed the mark so hard, at least use the original song, or is Ricky Martin too expensive?" Ignoring the music, a third concluded, "Weirdly, the bit I dislike the most isn't the music - It's the Assassins Creed style icons & HP bars the earlier Arkham games didn't have. Why guys, why?"
For Gotham Knights to succeed, it needs to distance itself from the Arkham games as much as possible. As the comments show, there are far too many people comparing it to Rocksteady's work. It's no secret that the Arkham trilogy is held as one of the best to grace gaming, so Gotham Knights was always going to struggle to get out of its shadow. Still, that UI and those controls look clunkier than King Shark. We'll have to wait and see whether Gotham Knights will soar to the top of the charts or be buried like Batman.