Ben-DutkaBaman: Arkham City will be much more open than its predecessor, Arkham Asylum . And while that is great news for most gamers, Rocksteady reminds us that such a style has its design obstacles.
In speaking to Joystiq , studio marketing game manager Dax Ginn explained that with a sandbox-type adventure, you lose the "claustrophobic intensity" of a smaller, more linear quest. Therefore, the "sense of threat just evaporates." This is why they've loaded up on villains in the hotly anticipated sequel, and one of those villains is the very popular Catwoman. But why can we actually use her?
Well, because as Ginn says, gamers often like to "break the rules" and besides, it offers more diversity and perspective. Catwoman isn't as strong as Batman, but she's more agile and she can use explosives along with her whip. Said Ginn:
"The decision behind bringing in more Batman characters was driven by the call we made early on to make Batman: Arkham City an open-world game. Arkham Asylum is very tense, very claustrophobic, so you didn't need any more than to put Batman and Joker in that pressure cooker and just let them go at it. When we decided what we were gonna do for the second game, we knew people wanted to see Batman in Gotham; they wanted to see Batman in the streets. All these other decisions then became kind of necessary. One decision drove so many others."
There's little doubt that Batman: Arkham City will be one of the year's best. In fact, if it weren't for several heavy hitters, we'd say it has a great shot at taking home Game of the Year honors. Many are saying it's gonna be that good. You getting it?
Related Game(s): Batman: Arkham City
It sounds like one of the best games thats gonna hit this year. This is the first game I pre-bought this year…I will be addicted to this game something serious…that's if it's actually great you know like the first and more. Don't dissappoint like Shift 2 and Killzone 3. Side bar…anyone find the BF3 beta kind of…dull?
Killzone 3 disappoint you??, come on, it was awesome
FM23 –
On Batman AC – I would rather have a more open ended game than a linear one.
On Shift 2 – Biggest disappointment of the year for me.
On Killzone 3 – Not what I wanted, but it doesn't belong in the same sentence. Your hours on KZ3 tell me this.
On BF3 – So, far it's a love hate kind of thing. The Beta hasn't helped it's case to me for buying it.
Game of the year? Yeah only if naughty dog somehow fails to release U3 this year, which is literally close to impossible
Din play the bf3 beta yet, but its a direct pc port and frostbite2 was created keeping the next batches of consoles in mind, both the console versions look running below 20fps
Although I agree that it may not make GOTY, I'm sure it will be in my top 5 of the year.
I second that
Why did I read this article all it did was make me want the damn thing even more…. That's it I'm reading anymore article on this game, every time I do I have to pop BatmanAA into the PS3 replay it again…. Yeah I want this game that badly.
Arkham Asylum was great and this one will be even better.
Definitely a Game of the year contender.
I can't wait for this one, pre-ordered it on walmart with arkham asylum as pre-order bonus, yes i did play the 1st one and loved it
pre-ordered at best buy, gave me the robin code, 2 maps, and a second outfit for robin. can not wait.
This and Skyrim are my two most anticipated titles right now. I know U3 will be awesome too but 3 games at once is just a tad too much so I'll pick the latter up whenever I can.
Definitely a game that deserves a GOTY award but with Uncharted 3 two weeks apart from one another,and assassins creed revelations 2 weeks after that its going to be interesting to play all three at once.
Ha that's my situation too. Though my brother is looking forward to this so he may just buy is and that leaves me the other two.
While I recognized the quality in parts of Batman:AA, I wasn't a particular fan of the whole. However, from what footage I've seen of the sequel, my psyche meter is indicating a possible D1p. This has been an awesome year in gaming (KZ3, inFamous 2, Resistance 3, Gears 3, and the upcoming Uncharted 3).
of course theres limitations, this aint GTA!
im really looking forward to this, just super pissed off they delayed the PC version again!
why do developers and publishers hate the PC so much?