I took a swing at rewriting these side missions here: https://youtu.be/CkkuYFbvE6M

I really liked that they got Kari Wahlgren as Harley. It's a shame that they put her in such a mediocre title.

As a big Mr. Freeze fan, I was really disappointed in his side mission here. I don't mind the writers wanting to give him a story without Nora since the origin has become overused, but instead of writing a good story for him, they simply have him wanting to freeze the city like a generic ice villain. None of the side missions seemed to tell a story, and that really disappointed me.

Spider-Man PS4 literally had the exact same “normal people get mind controlled” side mission but it was done properly there. The people under Mr. Negative’s control didn’t partake willingly and Spider-Man does not beat them up and instead just webs them down till the effects can wear off. And Spider-Man feels deeply empathetic for these young people caught in the middle of Mr. Negative’s ongoing criminal activities.

12:30 The writers must've been inspired by Star Wars with the quote: "THEY FLY NOW! They fly now? They fly now."

if you do a rewrite of these, you should also write at least one more mission so that each knight gets to do something

It sounds/seems like they tried their hardest with Clayface even if it doesn’t seem like it was enough, Harley was there for the purpose of having something related to the Joker without having the Joker, and they didn’t give a crap what they did with Mister Freeze or what it did to the Knights as long as they got a mission with spectacle

What we get from Harley about wanting to free the people of Gotham from how clearly fucked up Gotham is is such a good motivation for her too. Wanting to make sure the brainwashing that Joker did to her doesn't happen makes a lot of sense for her.

But then they have her do that by brainwashing people?? And they never do anything with the actually interesting thing about her character here. I feel like Harley couldve easily gotten the Penguin treatment and not been a villian. Have her be a contact who will teach you about the different villians you encounter, and while she does that she's becoming a talk show host or something (like in the 2004 animated show) and wanting to help people through a pseudo therapy or something.

I felt like I was playing a post Arkham Knight game at times with the villains because WB picked Arkham villains that could fit the side mission storyline’s. it felt distracting somehow 😂

I wish there was more of a theme for each in relation to the heroes' struggle of living without Batman.

Harley in particular should have been an example of a character who is copying the Joker's modus operandi after his death and she can't really grow into a unique figure despite her supposed "rebranding". She's basically a sad Joker knockoff (just look at her outfit), and the Knights should see her as a version of what could happen if the heroes don't figure out how to progress through life out of Batman's shadow.

Clayface losing his sense of self via his split parts and reenacting past events should be symbolic of negative unhealthy responses to loss. Clayface has literally fallen apart and is unable to pull himself together after Batman left his life, and he dwells on skewed memories of the past to cope. That's basically depression in mutant clay form.

Mr. Freeze could have been an example of how the loss of a positive influence and the lack of an independent goal can result in a relapse into bad habits and destructive addictions, in this case an addiction to crime because Batman didn't cure him and Freeze didn't know how to (or want to?) redirect his brilliant mind toward beneficial scientific endeavors.

The writing COULD have been there to explore deeper themes of loss and its negative effects, but the writers just didn't put forth the effort.

I'll be honest, I don't know why I liked these missions. I think it's just because I like seeing these iconic characters in a game. They were kinda bad in this game

I'm so upset about how Dr freeze was portrayed here. He was always supposed to be a sympathetic villain someone doing the wrong thing for a good reason. But with Nora safe now he's just a total jerk

The only mission chain I didn’t like was mister freeze he easily could’ve been scrapped or cut back to make room for some of the other cut villains

12:28
This gives off the same energy as this exchange from The Last Jedi:
"They fly now?"
"They fly now."

Well, this video definitely reminds me that I dodged a big bullet with not getting this game...what a real shame, man. The game could've been pretty cool, but it seems like absolutely everything was fucked up.

Dude I’ve been thinking abt rewrites on these for weeks. I also had an idea for a black mask one, since I think we all agree WB Montreal could use another shot at that character

What sucks is fighting 50 dudes alone, while trying to stop a hacker.  

They should hv made the game couch co-op.

I 100% agree about how lame these side missions were when I played Gotham Knights. Which is a shame because, as you said in another video, I went into it with starry eyes thinking about how cool it would be for Batman's protégés to finally set out on their own.

Its also equally as boring when you watch the videos about Harley's development. I feel like they had a cool vision for her stepping up to become her own villain and I LOVED her villain costume design! That being said, so much is absent from the game. Mr Freeze just seems to want to make everyone else suffer because Bruce isn't around to make his cure anymore and I guess Clayface is just delusional and wants to put on a show? IDK

Good vid. Too many times do people forget that Batman’s villains are people that need help, that if given another chance could become good people. This is why Batman doesn’t kill, because justice is hope.

12:32 Uh...am I stupid or is that exactly what Freeze is doing?