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The Arkham games are not only the best Batman games ever developed, two of the greatest licensed games ever published, but they’ve become fairly influential in the industry. This thread is for discussing what defines the series, past entries, and new games. Arkham Asylum Produced by Rocksteady Studios, who had only developed one well-received game which sadly came out at the tail end of the last generation, Asylum was originally developed around rhythm based combat which evolved into the combat system we know now. Early on, people were pretty excited for the game with the great art design, beloved voice actors, Paul Dini handling the writing, and great sounding gameplay. The game centers around one night in Arkham with the Joker taking over the asylum with Batman inside. Batman has to battle through a stream of villains to both survive and figure out the Joker’s plans. The game was incredibly well received, breaking all expectations of a licensed title. The stealth was highly praised. It allowed players to control a very vulnerable Batman around a room of armed thugs, taking them out one by one, haunting them in the shadows, watching the final thugs become more and terrified. The combat is probably the aspect of the game that has been the most defining. The free-flow combat had a very basic and simple scheme based around attacking, countering, dodging, and stunning with contextual animations. Gadgets and combos allowed the player to gain XP and unlock upgrades which pushed the player to not just be competent at fighting, but be creative and skillful. Even more XP was granted for free-flow combos with the play jumping from enemy to enemy with no pause between the brutality. These great gameplay elements were expanded on in challenge rooms which allowed players to go through stealth and combat sequences out of story. The game also contained great challenges from the Riddler to find collectibles, solve puzzles, and answer riddles. While the player could investigate crime scenes using Batman's detective vision, an augmented view of the world which allowed Bats to see through walls and easily identify important objects, this didn't really do much in terms of abstracting the intellectual aspect of Batman. Solving Riddles and figuring out how to get an oddly placed Riddler trophy really did make you feel like the World's Greatest Detective, perfectly rounding out the Batman experience. The only big criticism focused on the boss battles with the possible exception of the Scarecrow sequences. The final battle in particular was disliked as it turned Joker into a giant monster instead of designing something around the character. PS3 owners also got to play the game from the other direction, controlling the Joker. There was also a Game of the Year edition with 3D support. Arkham City Arkham City continues a lot of the plots of the previous game. The Joker is dying because of the Titan formula he used in the previous game. The cray-cray Warden Sharp has become Mayor after claiming responsibility for getting the asylum crisis under control. Hugo Strange convinces him to ward off a huge chunk of Gotham City and just turn it into a massive prison in which the prisoners fend for themselves. Then things get crazy with lots of twists and a pretty ballsy ending. The game was nearly equally well-received. The gameplay made a lot of logical improvements with more thugs to fight, new combat options, new gadgets, and deeper Riddler challengers. The greatest improvement was probably the deep gliding system. Batman could now grapple or dive in order to increase his altitude, gliding over the entire map without ever touching the ground. You could also effortlessly glide right into combat with some upgrades to give your landings an extra punch. Stealth remained largely the same, but it was less sectioned off than the previous game. In Arkham Asylum, you always knew when it was time to be stealthy. The larger map of Arkham City had armed thugs scattered throughout, so you could easily glide into gunfire if you weren't careful and not... minding your surroundings. The game added side missions for the player to complete along with new Riddler Challenges. Players were allowed to play as Catwoman in DLC missions interwoven to the storymode. Nightwing and Robin were also available to use in challenge rooms. As great as the game was, it did feel slightly less tight than Asylum. Arkham Asylum is a very dense game without little fat. You always know what you’re supposed to be doing despite the option to explore, but you also never feel like the game is pushing you away from exploring. Arkham City felt a little less focused. The plots are both silly, but Arkham City seems more apparent that the story is really servicing fitting as many villains as possible. It is still a great game. Right now, you should definitely get the Game of the Year Edition if you have not played it since it contains all DLC including costume packs. The WiiU has an Armored Edition which is like the Game of the Year edition, but it includes some gamepad integration and dumb costumes. Harley Quinn’s Revenge Featuring Tim Drake as Robin, this DLC takes place two weeks after the shocking ending of Arkham City. It involves Robin trying to track down Batman after he goes missing while searching for Harley. It’s a fun little diversion which is included in the Game of the Year Edition. Still, it’s not particularly interesting. The gameplay is good. Like Catwoman, Robin really plays like a whole different character. Arkham City Lockdown A mobile touch screen prequel to Akrham City. Batman beats up a bunch of guys by sliding and tapping with your finger. It’s pretty disposable, but some people like it. Now, let’s talk about the future… Batman: Arkham Origins Arkham origins takes place in the same continuity as the earlier games, but there are some big differences. For one thing, both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill will not be voicing Batman and the Joker. Rocksteady is also not developing the title. Warner Bros. Montreal is taking on development duties. This marks the studio’s first real game. They previously worked on City’s WiiU port. Paul Dini will also not be on writing duties, but I don’t think anyone cares since the writing has been more a detriment to the game than anything else. Let’s break this bad boy down… Development There was discussion of the game in early 2012 which described it as being a Silver Age take on Batman, featuring his first showdown with the Joker, and including DC heroes such as Superman. Since this game takes place early into Batman’s career and includes the Joker, it seems like this is that game, but who knows. All the Silver Age and other superhero stuff seems to be subtracted from it. Time and Setting Origins has exploring two islands of Gotham City five years before the events of Asylum. Half of the game will be set in Old Gotham which is the part of Gotham that will one day be Arkham City. A bridge will also exist to a new island referred to as New Gotham which presents tall skyscrapers, giving us a more modern and vertical take on Batman's world. Premise The story takes place in a larger area of Gotham, early into Batman’s career, long before Arkham Asylum, on Christmas Eve. Batman is trying to survive eight assassins sent to kill him by Black Mask. Deadshot, Bane, and Deathstroke make up some these assassins. Batman will also face a corrupt GCPD under the control of Comissioner Loeb. Making matters worse, a hipper and younger Joker is involved. The developers promise raw and inexperienced Batman which sounds really cool, but might not be really reflected in the gameplay. Let’s talk about the gameplay! Gameplay Combat Combat looks like it is mostly going to be the same although we can expect some new combo moves and enemy types. One particularly interesting addition is martial artist enemies. These are thugs who can actually counter your attacks. The idea seems to make an AI enemy who is as competent with the fighting system as you are. Gadgets They’re being a bit quiet about gadgets at the moment. They’ve said we can see a lot of new tools, and I expect we’ll have new upgrades. This is a bit of a sour point for me. It doesn’t really look like the game is doing much in terms of showing this being an earlier part of Batman’s career since he’s either carrying the same gear or even better gear, but whatevs! Video games! The one thing they have revealed is that you can fire a dual grapple which will connect objects to each other similar to Just Cause 2. So you can create a tightrope to walk on between gargoyles, slam two thugs into each other, and other fun things like that! Most Wanted System E3 gameplay walkthroughs discussed a most wanted system that seems like it will involve tracking down different villains. I was really unclear on what it actually is. It might just be a different way to handle side missions. Villains and Allies Obviously, a lot of the fun in these games is seeing who of your favorite rogues and allies will return. Here is the list we have right now: Alberto Falcone Alfed Anarky Bane Black Mask Deadshot Deathstroke Comissioner Loeb Copperhead Gordon Joker The Penguin Voice Actors So yes, once again, there is no Hamil and Conroy. Instead, Roger Craig Smith voices Batman, and Troy Baker, who previously voiced Two-Face and Robin in Arkham City as well as Batman in the Lego series, will voice Joker. The justification is that these are younger versions of the characters. From what we've seen, Smith honestly does a really good Conroy’s Batman, but to the point where it doesn’t actually sound younger. Baker does a decent Joker, but it is more noticeably not Mark. Release Batman: Arkham Origins comes out October 25th for the 360, PS3, WiiU, and PC. Exclusive Knightfall and ’66 Batman Costumes will be available for PS3 customers. Pre-ordered copies will feature Deathstroke as playable for challenge maps. Media Game Informer's The World of Batman Trailer Gameplay Trailer Short E3 Walkthrough Full E3 Walkthrough Copperhead Trailer Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate They really need to shorten these titles… This is the simultaneous handheld release which is acting as a prequel to Origns proper. After a prison uprising at Blackgate, Batman investigates, and then there’s a crazy plot probably. Development Like Warner Bros. Montreal, Blackgate is being worked on by a rather inexperienced studio, Armature. They’re claiming that there is no difference between the Vita and 3DS release outside of graphics, and one is not a port of the other. Gameplay The game will be a 2.5 D take on the Akrham gameplay. Batman can move left and right as well as to and from the foreground. Most of the gameplay elements will be adapted to the new gameplay style. The only major subtraction seems to be the XP and upgrade system with pick-ups being the substitute. Release Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate comes out October 25th for 3DS and Vita. Media Comics Alliance Hands-on Response The Future Kevin Conroy may have revealed that there is fourth game in development. So, here’s what happened: Kevin Conroy goes to a con. He tells everyone, “Hey, I’m working on the new Arkham game.” Then Warner goes, “Hey, Kevin Conroy isn’t working on the new Arkham game.” The speculation is that he actually is working on a new next-gen Arkham game from Rocksteady. It kind of makes sense. Rocksteady works on something really ambitious for 2015 to continue the Arkham series, Warner puts out their own slightly disposable entry in the series to keep the semiannual release schedule going. That of course brings us to an interesting mystery of the series… What the Hell was or is City of Fear supposed to be? Rocksteady actually announced plans for Arkham City the day Arkham Asylum was released. There was a wall which could be destroyed which led to Warden Sharp’s secret office and plans to build Arkham City. So, when Arkham City came out, fans figured there must be some other hidden tidbit for the third game. They find it in the form of a boat which can be entered using the cryptograph password: CityofFear. You enter the boat, and you find a thug killed by fear gas. More rumors spread of Scarecrow thugs appearing in one of the game’s final battles although this might just be a graphical error since the thugs seemed to be wearing brown colored Joker masks. There were also hidden numbers stations which could be listened to on the cryptograph. The numbers were just a pretty simple code for messages such as “Fear will tear Gotham to shreds.” So, obviously there were hints that Rocksteady wanted to do something with Scarecrow—who did not appear in City—be it a failed DLC or the next entry in the series that was or still is coming. Who knows. Remind me if anything is missing for the OP. Timeless Appeal fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Jul 21, 2013 |
# ? Jun 12, 2013 05:07 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 11:48 |
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So how long before Troy Baker is voicing every single Batman character ever?
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 05:17 |
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ImpAtom posted:So how long before Troy Baker is voicing every single Batman character ever? I am pretty sure that, like Steven Jay Blum, Troy Baker is trying to get into everything I have ever liked, ever. In fact, have they appeared in the same room before? I am pretty sure there is some sort of dark ritual or at the very least, some Tyler Durden-esque poo poo involved. Origins looks pretty good at least, or at least as good as a non-Rocksteady Batman game could look.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 05:27 |
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City of Fear is a red herring. Conroy is voicing old man Bruce for Beyond Arkham. A man can dream... But anyway, this title does look mostly disposable, as you said. But honestly at this point I just crave more Arkham City combat - FreeFlow is the best brawler system I've ever played with in a game, and it's really satisfying when you full combo a challenge room. If they add just a few new mechanics to it (the martial artists who can counter Batman's moves seem like a cool idea), I'll be satisfied. Weaving in knife takedowns and weapon destructions, and the ability to counter multiple attackers at once were small changes, but they really elevated City's combat above Asylum's.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 06:51 |
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Yeah I agree, I'm wary about a non-Rocksteady Arkham game, but I enjoy the combat system/setting enough that I believe it'll probably overshadow most any problems, particularly since from the looks of things they're not deviating from the formula of,"Batman beats up bad dudes and every so often he beats up a tougher bad dude in a mask".
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 07:06 |
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Darke GBF posted:City of Fear is a red herring. Conroy is voicing old man Bruce for Beyond Arkham. Don't even say that! No one should get my hopes up like that!
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 07:10 |
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Jerusalem posted:Yeah I agree, I'm wary about a non-Rocksteady Arkham game, but I enjoy the combat system/setting enough that I believe it'll probably overshadow most any problems, particularly since from the looks of things they're not deviating from the formula of,"Batman beats up bad dudes and every so often he beats up a tougher bad dude in a mask". I mentioned it in the last thread, but I share the sentiments. That combo system is so good, I would love just another game to beat up enemies in. Also I really, really hope that Rocksteady is working on a game that includes the DC Universe
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 07:22 |
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Not to be nitpicky, and thanks for posting a new thread, but goddamn the organization of that first post is all over the place. It's like some sort of crazy stream of consciousness at some points, and is chock full of stuff that should be in spoilers for people that haven't played AA or AC. Think about inserting lines of asterisks or something to break up the sections, and I'd forego the lengthy discussion about the series up front and just give a brief intro of AA and AC with details about each game, then just go into the Origins stuff. There's just a lot of clutter and poorly presented information, such that it would be hard to refer people to the OP if they have questions because it's hard to find anything in the OP. Just my 2 cents.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 07:58 |
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Why is there an opinion on Baker's and Smith's inflection on the characters? Unless there's some other dialogue that recently came out, all they've got is one line in the new trailer. EDIT: Also, I hope they hurry up and release a gameplay demo of Arkham Origins. The gameplay shown in the new trailer doesn't show off the game too well and the sooner I can say if the game looks bad or not the better. For right now all I've got is a bunch of story stuff. Captain Baal fucked around with this message at 08:20 on Jun 12, 2013 |
# ? Jun 12, 2013 08:09 |
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Sex_Ferguson posted:Why is there an opinion on Baker's and Smith's inflection on the characters? Unless there's some other dialogue that recently came out, all they've got is one line in the new trailer. I personally really like the snips we got. Anyway I am interested in this game if only because I like Black Mask and want to see how he will do in the spot light.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 08:22 |
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I wish they would pick up on that cancelled game that would've been based on Gotham by Gaslight. The idea of Victorian Batman excites me, especially if they focus more on the detective aspects of the gameplay (Batman doing elaborate martial arts in that millieu feels off to me).
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 10:28 |
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Serious George posted:I wish they would pick up on that cancelled game that would've been based on Gotham by Gaslight. The idea of Victorian Batman excites me, especially if they focus more on the detective aspects of the gameplay (Batman doing elaborate martial arts in that millieu feels off to me). I would have liked a spiderman: shattered-thing style concept which involved gotham by gaslight, batman beyond and so on. I wouldnt really have cared for a full game. I'm wondering who the other assassins are, my moneys on Firefly for one. I have a soft spot for him despite the fact he's so crap.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 11:15 |
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I'm hoping Calendar Man is one of them, so we can lock him up. I also wouldn't be surprised if Harvey Dent makes an appearance in this. I'm guessing it will be: Deadshot Deathstroke Bane Joker Calendar Man Killer Croc Scarecrow Prometheus maybe? Or possibly Firefly, Mr Freeze, or the Penguin Comedy option: Royal Flush Gang!
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 11:26 |
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I am a big fan of brawler games in general and a huge batman fan, the Arkham games (ones for 360 anyways) are right up there in my list of favorite games of all time, playing them both all the way through at least twice and paying full price for the bat-content. So I am getting arkham origins regardless. But I can't see them messing it up, even with different developers. Even more of the same would be great. Though I want to be careful not to spoil to much for myself. Fuzz posted:Not to be nitpicky, and thanks for posting a new thread, but goddamn the organization of that first post is all over the place. It's like some sort of crazy stream of consciousness at some points, and is chock full of stuff that should be in spoilers for people that haven't played AA or AC. Think about inserting lines of asterisks or something to break up the sections, and I'd forego the lengthy discussion about the series up front and just give a brief intro of AA and AC with details about each game, then just go into the Origins stuff. There's just a lot of clutter and poorly presented information, such that it would be hard to refer people to the OP if they have questions because it's hard to find anything in the OP. I agree, the OP needs alot of spoilers. The op lays out major spoilers without a second thought. If I didn't already play the main arkham games I would be annoyed, though I am the kind of person to change channels if a commercial for a game or movie I want to get/watch is playing.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 15:01 |
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These games were really unexpected gems for me. Who knew licensed games could be any good at all, much less fantastic! Edit: I also had no idea that people hated the bossfights. I like big monsters MoreLikeTen fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Jun 12, 2013 |
# ? Jun 12, 2013 15:06 |
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massive spider posted:I would have liked a spiderman: shattered-thing style concept which involved gotham by gaslight, batman beyond and so on. I wouldnt really have cared for a full game. Shiva. Cheshire, maybe to do a psychotropic sequence? Edit: Lame Nightwing villain Brutale for ultra knife counter/Glass Joe fight. jscolon2.0 fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Jun 12, 2013 |
# ? Jun 12, 2013 15:31 |
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MoreLikeTen posted:Edit: I also had no idea that people hated the bossfights. I like big monsters It's less that the fights are bad and more that it's the same boss over and over.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 15:32 |
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jscolon2.0 posted:Shiva. Cheshire, maybe to do a psychotropic sequence? Speaking of, maybe we'll get Dick as Robin in this?
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 16:29 |
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Let's speculate who the other assassins are! Eight total, and we already have Bane, Deadshot, and Deathstroke. (real creative names guys) I assume joker is one them, and that's how they meet. Since police corruption seems to be a theme, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the assassins was a cop.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 17:19 |
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Today (Wed) Origins is on the E3 show floor. This gamespot link says it will be streaming at 1:40 p.m. EST, right after Forza 5. http://www.gamespot.com/e3/stage-2-day-2/?tag=Topslot;Slot1
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 17:55 |
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From what little gameplay I've seen it looks a lot... I mean, a lot like Arkham City. They're being tight-lipped about it, sure, but right now I have a feeling that Origins will be more of a sidestep from AC than a step forward. Still, AC is a hell of a fun game so if that feeling turns out to be true, I'll still nab this once the price goes down.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 18:09 |
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Deep Winter posted:Let's speculate who the other assassins are! I say Shiva, KGBeast, David Cain, Merlyn, & Prometheus. I saw someone elsewhere request The Phantasm, and I think we would all be on board with that.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 18:13 |
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redbackground posted:I say Shiva, KGBeast, David Cain, Merlyn, & Prometheus. I saw someone elsewhere request The Phantasm, and I think we would all be on board with that. Psycho Mantis style fight for Prometheus. Eject the game disk to paralyze him.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 18:19 |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qe88pKGHors Demo and stuff. Looks fun as hell.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 21:01 |
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MonsterEnvy posted:Looks fun as hell.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 21:45 |
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redbackground posted:I saw someone elsewhere request The Phantasm, and I think we would all be on board with that. Man, why can't you nerds just let that character die? She was so cool in that movie, and she had a definitive ending, let her exit with dignity dammit.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 21:56 |
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TheRedEye posted:Man, why can't you nerds just let that character die? She was so cool in that movie, and she had a definitive ending, let her exit with dignity dammit. This, except her definitive ending was that JLU episode about Batman Beyond.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 22:21 |
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A screenshot of Anarky
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 23:02 |
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Okay I'm sold on that E3 demo, it just looks like even more of Arkham City with some new enemy types and I really have no problem with that at all.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 23:09 |
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Fuzz posted:Just my 2 cents.
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# ? Jun 12, 2013 23:58 |
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Oh joy, can't wait to see how they gently caress up Anarchy like everyone else has over the last decade and change.
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 00:07 |
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Jerusalem posted:Okay I'm sold on that E3 demo, it just looks like even more of Arkham City with some new enemy types and I really have no problem with that at all. Yeah I was initially cautious after hearing Rocksteady weren't involved but they seem to be making most of the right moves with this.
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 00:12 |
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Mr. Maltose posted:Oh joy, can't wait to see how they gently caress up Anarchy like everyone else has over the last decade and change. Hey at least they spelt Anarky's name right. Seriously though I hope he's cool. There's a small compilation just titled Batman: ANARKY with some highlights, even in that book of "best of" issues the jump up and down in quality is staggering from story to story. This game seems like a missed opportunity. On the one hand it's cool that it seems to be set over one evening like Arkham Asylum. On the other hand as others have said they talk up how it's Batman's early years and he's not as awesome as he is in Arkham, but instead we have newer, even better gadgets and more moves and such. This would have been a cool chance to either (as someone else mentioned) do a Shattered Dimensions type game where they could just outright use Beyond, Dark Knight Returns, Adam West, etc. all in the same game or to have it be more focused on detective and investigation stuff, more storyline. I'm sure in the end the game will be great, the demo looks just as fun as the first two, just it's a Batman: Arkham ____ game. With that reputation it's going to sell tons of copies no matter what it's like so I'm surprised they didn't play around a bit more. Shame we'll never get a Batman: Beyond Arkham though. This is all you get.
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 00:16 |
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I don't think they said he would be less awesome. Just that he would be more inexperienced, raw and brutal.Mr. Maltose posted:Oh joy, can't wait to see how they gently caress up Anarchy like everyone else has over the last decade and change. Well he is apparently a fan of Batman.
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 00:21 |
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They want to do a story that only makes sense as a prequel. That being said, people would riot if they announced that all the gadgets are deliberately gimped and made lovely to be consistent to that idea. It's a Batman video game. Realism re: technology is not a priority here.
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 00:41 |
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MonsterEnvy posted:I don't think they said he would be less awesome. Just that he would be more inexperienced, raw and brutal. Wasn't he brutal and raw enough in Arkham City? What, is he just going to straight punch someone directly in the lung just because he didn't like their face but, after Arkham Asylum/City, he'll learn that's just not cool to do? Though, I think he's done that more than once. And there's the time where he basically threatened to kill Freeze in Arkham City just because he was having a bad day and was dying of blood poisoning. Seriously, how do we get more brutal than this?
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 00:55 |
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It kind of looked like he flat-out killed people in the two Arkham Origins videos I've seen. At least he dropped that one goon from a pretty great height on to something didn't look like a mattress to me.
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 01:01 |
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Stare-Out posted:It kind of looked like he flat-out killed people in the two Arkham Origins videos I've seen. At least he dropped that one goon from a pretty great height on to something didn't look like a mattress to me. He drops him onto a Christmas tree. Very painful, probably crippling, but you can hear the thug screaming,"YOU'RE CRAZY!" afterwards, he definitely lives.
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 01:11 |
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Jerusalem posted:He drops him onto a Christmas tree. Very painful, probably crippling, but you can hear the thug screaming,"YOU'RE CRAZY!" afterwards, he definitely lives.
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 01:14 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 11:48 |
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Looking forward to Blackgate most at the moment, I know it's also by a team who hasn't done much but I really need a Metroidvania for my 3DS and that Castlevania game was such a horrible... Well, maybe not disappointment, since I didn't expect much from it, but it was pretty rubbish.
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# ? Jun 13, 2013 01:15 |