Extra Punctuation: The Sandbox Killed Batman

DasDestroyer

New member
Apr 3, 2010
1,330
0
0
I would so play a Supervillain Sandbox like that... But I do think that your goal(not necessarily the final one) could be to actually kill the Superhero... and then watch as your character begins to suffer from boredom.(Megamind, anyone?)
 

Falseprophet

New member
Jan 13, 2009
1,381
0
0
Well, there was Evil Genius, but that was more like a dolled-up tower defense game with an AC:Brotherhood-esque mini-game grafted on.

Haven't played Arkham City yet, but Asylum was probably the best example of a 3D Metroidvania game ever, and I worry that they tweaked the formula far too much.
 

UnderCoverGuest

New member
May 24, 2010
414
0
0
Did anybody else hear Kevin Spacey when you read, "the status quo, and therefore WROOOOONG"?

Anywho, completely agree per usual. I'd really like to meet Yahtzee, he's such an intelligent, rationally-minded, talented and educated individual. What a swell guy!
 

alrekr

New member
Mar 11, 2010
551
0
0
Well hopefully if a new Evil Genius is made some of these vilianous urges will be satisfied.

However I very much like the concept mabye with the base maagement playing like Evil Genius. The difference being that your player character could free roam and get involved with stuff outside the base.
 

mjc0961

YOU'RE a pie chart.
Nov 30, 2009
3,847
0
0
Mankind Has Yet to Recognize My Genuis still sounds pretty fun. Thankfully, Saints Row The Third comes out next week. Mwehehehe.

UnderCoverGuest said:
Did anybody else hear Kevin Spacey when you read, "the status quo, and therefore WROOOOONG"?
Of course. Anyone who didn't is WROOOOOONG!
 

ZZoMBiE13

Ate My Neighbors
Oct 10, 2007
1,908
0
0
Yahtzee Croshaw said:
Extra Punctuation: The Sandbox Killed Batman

The villains are lost in Arkham City.

Read Full Article
You really need to play Evil Genius Ben. Seriously. Go to Steam, download it now.

Also, I'd totally buy MHYTRMG. Don't you have some developer friends by now? Surely you can make that happen for us all... right? Call Volition up next week. They'll be looking for something new after Saints Row 3 hits the market since they finally let Red Faction go.
 
Feb 13, 2008
19,430
0
0
Yahtzee Croshaw said:
The villains are lost in Arkham City.
It's not often I get fanboyish.

But thank you Yahtzee, for being someone who not only understands the Hero/Villain relationship that underlines all superhero work, but is smart enough to develop it into something that I would pre-order right now.

Sure, it'll end up being made by EA and I'll have to suffer Origin/DLC, and loads of meaningless adverts with cleavage, but it'll be one of the games I've been looking for for my adult life.

I suggest you get together with Volition, and Austin Grossman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soon_I_Will_Be_Invincible] and at least thrash out some ideas together. I'd play the crap out of that.

Until then, Evil Genius and City of Villains will have to do.
 

WanderingFool

New member
Apr 9, 2009
3,991
0
0
UnderCoverGuest said:
Did anybody else hear Kevin Spacey when you read, "the status quo, and therefore WROOOOONG"?
When ever I read the word, I hear Spacey saying that...

Anyways, Somebody needs to put Yahtzee's isea into action, NOW!
 

duchaked

New member
Dec 25, 2008
4,451
0
0
I would totally play "Mankind Has Yet To Recognise My Genius"...someone please make it! like legit make it, not just something slapped together lol

but seriously, aside from the main superhero who you won't kill and who won't kill you, you can possibly kill other smaller superheroes (or just heroes, without superpowers) that you WILL kill (like the Joker killing Robin)
and heck even stupid vigilantes wannabe heroes who you gladly knock off to scare the city via city news reports

anyway...
they should be able to tighten things up in the next Batman game and still retain the sandbox. might just take a bit extra work for added focus...
 

SonOfVoorhees

New member
Aug 3, 2011
3,509
0
0
AC was a good game, but the sandbox element was crap. The city was pointless, there was nothing to do. The side quests were just uninspiring and just "go here" game play. I would rather have full quests from the main villains of the game. Instead there was a weak quest via Strange, and the rest with rubbish story wise, fightening etc was good.
 

Zach of Fables

New member
Oct 5, 2011
126
0
0
I haven't actually played Arkham City yet but based on what Yahtzee wrote it does sound like AC, like AA, is the experience of being Batman. This time, though, it's not necessarily in a good way.

If you read the comics, Batman does get around by shooting grappling hooks everywhere.



And also by running, climbing on buildings, and so forth. And rarely the Batmobile too. I understand how in a video game that can get very old very fast. But it's still how Batman would function on a minute to minute basis when out fighting crime.

Ditto with tracking down the villains in their hideouts and lairs. Sure, in Arkham Asylum it was awesome because Batman was caught in a trap set by his rogue's gallery, but in Arkham City the villains were pursuing their own agenda. As Yahtzee said in the article, villains usually do their own thing while the hero stops them.

I'm a pretty hardcore comics and Batman fan, so maybe I'll still find some fun in traveling that way. Maybe Arkham City just requires a little more imagination than some other games?
 

ewhac

Digital Spellweaver
Legacy
Escapist +
Sep 2, 2009
575
0
21
San Francisco Peninsula
Country
USA
ZZoMBiE13 said:
You really need to play Evil Genius Ben. Seriously. Go to Steam, download it now.
The missing comma above confused me; I typed "Evil Genius Ben" into Google and didn't get useful results.

In any case, I presume you're referring to this game? http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/evil_genius
 

LobsterFeng

New member
Apr 10, 2011
1,766
0
0
I always thought Batman was an interesting character. Yes the villains are cooler, but I always found Batman's relationships with his villains quite interesting, and I think AC did that well. (Especially at the end if you know what I mean.)
 

nyysjan

New member
Mar 12, 2010
231
0
0
"world has yet to recognise my genius" sounds like a kick ass game, part Saints Row, part Overlord, part Sims.
If done properly with tongue in cheek and self aware, it could be the best game ever (well, second best, right after Deus Ex).
 

shogunblade

New member
Apr 13, 2009
1,542
0
0
Yahtzee Croshaw said:
Extra Punctuation: The Sandbox Killed Batman

The villains are lost in Arkham City.

Read Full Article
I'm glad you said it, Yahtzee. I thought there was something wrong with me. I bought Arkham City about 5 days from its release, and it's not a bad game, but when I played it (still playing it, have yet to beat it), I had this feeling that this game wasn't very good, and I would highlight the Sandbox to be the major issue, you just found a way to articulate what I've been wanting to say.

I do not think the game is bad, but it feels rather thinly spread among an entire game. I personally feel that while Arkham City isn't a bad game, its particularly flawed when compared to Arkham Asylum, and I'm glad the personality had the balls to say what I felt I couldn't.
 

PurePareidolia

New member
Nov 26, 2008
354
0
0
So what you're basically saying is Jack Slate isn't a very good superhero because he murdered Longshoreman X the first night he met him?

Coincidentally, I just finished watching an LP of that game.