Batman: Arkham City - Coming Fall 2011

[Servo]

So the sequel to last year's Arkham Asylum gets a title, and a rough release date.

Website is up too...

http://www.batmanarkhamcity.com/

...although, for the moment, it only has the teaser trailer shown at the VGAs, and an option to sign up for updates.

Can't wait for this game.

 

[TheBrew]

Game of the year, 2011 already.

Can't wait.

 

[Reverend]

...And there was much rejoicing.

So is the general assumption that a whole city district has been walled off and turned into the new Arkham, like in Gotham Knight? Seems like a hell of a lot of real-estate to give up just to let a bunch of violent loons run loose.

 

[Skywalker]

Gimme!

I kind of thought they'd go with a sort of No Man's Land-style plot, where the villains bust out and carve up Gotham amongst themselves, and Batman has to work his way across the entire city to round them all up again.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Gimme!

I kind of thought they'd go with a sort of No Man's Land-style plot, where the villains bust out and carve up Gotham amongst themselves, and Batman has to work his way across the entire city to round them all up again.

That's what I'd be expecting - having a little bit more free-roaming type of stuff.

 

[Reverend]

As fun as that sounds (and it did occur to me to) on reflection that's the making of a game much more like GTA, Saint's Row or Red Faction 3 in that it'd be an open world sandbox game. Despite the degree of freedom and item hunting/exploring that Arkham Asylum did so well, it was a much tighter and linear narrative than those other games and really benefited from that degree of focus.

A sandbox Batman game sounds like massive fun on the surface, but I don't think the character suits the lack of urgency or the amount of mucking about on side-missions indicative of that type of gameplay. Even in a NML type scenario, Bats is a mysterious loner so it'd hardly be appropriate for him to go waltzing around the ruins of Gotham in broad daylight, bumping into pedestrians as they scurry about the rubble.
Now, a GTA style game where you play as the Joker or similar...that I'd like to see!

 

[clint g]

It could work if they make it sort of like Mercenaries (the original, not the crap sequel)

 

[Aragorn]

Mark Hamill was quoted as saying this game will be his Joker farewell performance.

Also, Stana Katic is voicing Talia and Bruce Greenwood is Two-Face.

 

[RoJoHen]

Fall 2011?! That's so far away!

I don't think I can wait that long. I might have to play Arkham Asylum again.

 

[rafterman1701]

I am already in love with this game. The first is one of my all-time favorites.

 

[Mr Light]

I recently playing the first one and I couldn't get into it. I found the controls to be too confusing for combat... and I'm a Bat fanatic.

 

[Reverend]

^Really? I thought the hand to hand stuff was the most fluid and intuitive I've ever encountered. Try having a go at the challenge rooms to get some practice. Once you get the hang of timing the counterstrike it gets much easier.

 

[Brikar99]

The key to it is not to keep mashing the attack button. Once I got into the rhythm of doing it right, I started racking up awesome combos.

 

[The Badger]

Yes, using the counter button is essential. It doesn't just stop the enemies attack, it also delivers an effective counter attack.

Also, try to get into the habit of moving towards the enemy you want to hit when you make your own attacks. There's nothing as frustrating as seeing Batman launch an unstoppable take down against some low life mook, ignoring the knife wielding maniac you wanted to incapacitate.

Some pre-publicity art here, including the identity of one of the characters (much speculated about).
http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/warner-bros/batman/arkham2/bat2-1280.jpg
http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/warner-bros/batman/arkham2/bat1-1280.jpg

 

[Mr Light]

The part that made me stop playing the game was when you're using the grapple to try and get the drop on the guys with guns. I had it on the easy setting and it was just too frustrating. Also, my 360 crapped out on me at that point

 

[RoJoHen]

I didn't play it with the 360, but I thought the controls on the PS3 were super easy.

 

[Mr Light]

Well, I am a pretty bad video gamer player! That's why I always go with the easy setting. I don't really want a challenge, I want fun!

 

[nx1701g]

There are very few games that I buy when they first come out - this will be one of them (and The Force Unleashed II).

 

[Jax]

Bruce Greenwood is Two-Face.

That will be brilliant

 

[Reverend]

The part that made me stop playing the game was when you're using the grapple to try and get the drop on the guys with guns. I had it on the easy setting and it was just too frustrating. Also, my 360 crapped out on me at that point

The first pair of armed inmates you run into? That's simple, you just grapple up to the gargoyle right above you, swing across to another above them, then behind them. Drop down and sneak up behind each one and do a silent take-down.

If on the other hand you mean the much bigger room later on with about half a dozen of them patrolling then you just need to keep to the gargoyles and pick them off one at a time. It takes patience and timing the first time out but once you get that hang of it, you'll be able to silently take down the lot of them in under 60 secs without taking a single hit. Also, it's always worth buying the inverted take-down upgrade asap. It makes that bit much easier if you're struggling.

For the record, I played it on the PC but I used an XBox360 for Windows controller with no problems, control-wise.

Some pre-publicity art here, including the identity of one of the characters (much speculated about).
http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/warner-bros/batman/arkham2/bat2-1280.jpg
http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/warner-bros/batman/arkham2/bat1-1280.jpg

Hmm...I smell an online co-op mode...