Arkham City "Has Never Been Done Before"

Greg Tito

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Sep 29, 2005
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Arkham City "Has Never Been Done Before"

The Batman sequel won't be a tightly-scripted action game or a "generic" open world but somewhere in between.

Arkham Asylum, our 2009 Game of the Year, was an excellent action brawler that was fairly linear in its execution even though the player could choose how to go about finishing the story. For its sequel, Arkham City, Rocksteady Studios wanted to push the boundaries of where Batman can range as far as possible, but cofounder Sefton Hill doesn't want to abandon the detail and style that he infused in Asylum.

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"We never had any desire to make the biggest open-world game ever," Hill said, referring to the sheer amount of real estate in Arkham City [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107454-Batman-Arkham-City-Five-Times-Bigger-Than-Asylum]. "Our goal was to take the care and attention to detail that made Arkham Asylum work, and apply this same philosophy to a much bigger canvas. We feel that it's something that's never really been done before."

For Hill, there had to be a middle ground between Asylum and a vast but largely empty city like in L.A. Noire. "Most action games fall into two categories - they're either a hand-crafted, tight, focused package or a sprawling open world filled with generic content. We felt there was a really interesting middle ground, with the best of both approaches," he said.

Arkham City does so by using the quest hubs of Asylum and applying that concept over a much larger space. "We wanted to create a city absolutely crammed full of gameplay and story everywhere you turned," Hill said.

After getting a glimpse of the teaser for The Dark Knight Rises last week and ranging all over Gotham City in DCUO, I'm pretty excited to see how Rocksteady pulls off its attempt to outdo what many consider the best Batman videogame ever made. Arkham City comes out on October 21st for PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC and no doubt I will be playing it that day.

Source: Edge Magazine via Videogamer [http://www.videogamer.com/ps3/batman_arkham_city/news/arkham_city_structure_has_never_been_done_before.html]

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Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Open, yet linear and content-filled, basically?

OH HAI METROIDVANIA

Look, I want Arkham City really bad, but sadly, it's been done before.

Batman just adds in some stealth.

Battroidvania?
 

Pompey71

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May 31, 2009
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"... what many consider the best Batman videogame ever made." What competition does it have?! Excluding Lego Batman as possibly the only close contender, what other Batman games are any good?
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Pompey71 said:
"... what many consider the best Batman videogame ever made." What competition does it have?! Excluding Lego Batman as possibly the only close contender, what other Batman games are any good?
Batman The Brave and the Bold for Wii/DS was pretty solid when I picked it up for cheap off of the good word it received.

Damn good, actually.
 

Phlakes

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Mar 25, 2010
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Onyx Oblivion said:
Open, yet linear and content-filled, basically?

OH HAI METROIDVANIA

Look, I want Arkham City really bad, but sadly, it's been done before.

Batman just adds in some stealth.

Battroidvania?
BUT THAT'S A VERY, VERY GOOD THING.

Metroidvania games can be so ridiculously fun if they're done right, and mixed with Asylum's awesome shit, this game could get really close to being perfect.
 

vxicepickxv

Slayer of Bothan Spies
Sep 28, 2008
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Well, if it had been done before, it would have been nice to know about it.
 

TheNaut131

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Jul 6, 2011
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Oh boy, one of those "we're-doing-something-revolutionary" claims.

From what I've seen so far they've expanded upon what made the first game great and added in their own little perks. Batman Arkham City may not be the "most unique and original" game, but it's gonna be a blast and it is gonna take awhile to beat, even if you're not a "100 percenter."
 

4173

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Oct 30, 2010
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Pompey71 said:
"... what many consider the best Batman videogame ever made." What competition does it have?! Excluding Lego Batman as possibly the only close contender, what other Batman games are any good?
I haven't played it, but people often point to some game on the NES being pretty good.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Phlakes said:
Onyx Oblivion said:
Open, yet linear and content-filled, basically?

OH HAI METROIDVANIA

Look, I want Arkham City really bad, but sadly, it's been done before.

Batman just adds in some stealth.

Battroidvania?
BUT THAT'S A VERY, VERY GOOD THING.

Metroidvania games can be so ridiculously fun if they're done right, and mixed with Asylum's awesome shit, this game could get really close to being perfect.
It is a good thing, alright. I liked nearly every Metroidvania I've ever played. I loved AA, and I chose ACity over the rest of the heavy hitters coming out this fall on the good faith that Rocksteady inspired.
 

Baresark

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Dec 19, 2010
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It's fine if you create an experience that is similar to other games out there, your major seller is playing as Batman, and incorporating a large portion of the Batman universe. You probably have not created anything special. If you look at other open world super hero games (check out Ultimate Spiderman on PS2), they have done a great job. The world was populated by a great many people, and spaced all around were interactions with other members of the Ultimate Universe. No shame in recreating that with Batman, it's a completely different atmosphere. But don't lie to us and say how unique the experience is going to be, you are just going to create unrealistic expectation from your player base, and it will affect your sales.
 

ImprovizoR

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Dec 6, 2009
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It sounds to me like they just added Assassin's Creed open world formula to Arkham City. Not that it's a bad thing. It's freakin' awesome and I can't wait to get my hands on it.
 

Thorvan

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May 15, 2009
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Reminds me of the formula for a lot of N64 Rare games, though I'm not sure if that's exactly what they're implying. Still, I much enjoyed Asylum and am looking forward to this.
 

JMeganSnow

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Aug 27, 2008
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The subtitle to this article made me say "so the new game will be halfway between good and mediocre? Huhhhh?"

What the devs actually said was more along the lines of: we're gonna do MUCH BIGGER good this time! Yay!
 

pandasaw

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Mar 18, 2011
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4173 said:
Pompey71 said:
"... what many consider the best Batman videogame ever made." What competition does it have?! Excluding Lego Batman as possibly the only close contender, what other Batman games are any good?
I haven't played it, but people often point to some game on the NES being pretty good.
That NES game was great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoTG1nR84MU
 

BehattedWanderer

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Jun 24, 2009
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Thorvan said:
Reminds me of the formula for a lot of N64 Rare games, though I'm not sure if that's exactly what they're implying. Still, I much enjoyed Asylum and am looking forward to this.
A whole category of games that I've used as templates in comparing the open-but-linear world design. Mind you, the first did something similar, on an apparently smaller scale. This is no surprise. Now, it will get interesting if it offers options of two things are happening at once, on a time limit, and you have to respond to both as best you can, one completely, on part of each.