Long-awaited Wonder Woman update divides gamers
You don't need the Lasso of Truth for us to tell you that we're worried about the future of superhero gaming. Similar to how franchise fatigue has crept into even the once unshakeable Marvel Cinematic Universe, superhero games have had a bit of a rough time recently.
While there's no escaping the runaway success of Insomniac's Spider-Man games, Marvel's Avengers flubbed it, most of you have forgotten about Guardians of the Galaxy, and many think Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was hardly worth a nine-year wait from Rocksteady. Now, we're worried about Monolith's Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman gets new support from Gotham Knights developer
Click to enlargeMonolith has an impressive resume that includes (arguably) the best Lord of the Rings game ever, Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Despite this, Tech4Gamers reports that Monolith won't be going it alone, having seemingly recruited help from Gotham Knights developer, Warner Bros. Montreal.
WB. Montreal is currently recruiting for an External Development Artist, with a direct mention that the ideal candidate will support Monolith on Wonder Woman. Of course, support studios are nothing new, and you only have to look at the many cooks of the Call of Duty broth to see this in action.
Announced at The Game Awards 2021, Warner Bros. hyped Wonder Woman as a "single-player open-world action" game that includes an original story. Seeing what Rocksteady did with the Arkham games, we should've been excited, but then, the trail went cold. All these years later, this isn't the update we were expecting.
Gotham Knights hardly set the world alight
Click to enlargeWhile there will always be supporters for Gotham Knights, it was largely called out as an inferior version of Rocksteady's Arkham games - remember, WB. Montreal developed the Arkham Origins prequel in 2013. As well as a buggy launch, it was criticised for its lacklustre fighting system and lack of optimisation.
Although review aggregator sites aren't gospel, Gotham Knights has a perfectly average 67/100 on Metacritic, with T3 delivering a scathing review that states, "Gotham Knights is a lacklustre entry into the Batman mythos that feels like a major step back from what has come before."
Over on Twitter, news that WB. Montreal is supporting Monolith hasn't exactly gone down well. When VGC shared the news, one sceptic wrote, "Hope they learned from Gotham Knights and especially Suicide Squad, but who are we kidding with how those WB execs are talking."
Another grumbled, "Let's hope the switch to one character benefits the game. I enjoyed GK main story, it just seemed like too little butter spread over far too much toast," and a third said, "Yikes….. Please have more fluid gameplay…. Gotham Knights be feeling stiff." The harshest referred to Wonder Woman as DOA.
Monolith made a name for itself with the Nemesis system, and while there are high hopes, there were early worries that Wonder Woman would be yet another live-service game. Warner Bros. had a recent fumble with Kill the Justice League's live-service credentials, and although we've been warned the studio is continuing that formula, we hope someone up there is listening.
