Psykoboy2
06-09-2011, 09:32 AM
If you ever played Batman Arkham Asylum and kept wishing you had more in every way, well…you’re going to get it. Rocksteady has thrown so much in to Arkham City, you might feel a bit overwhelmed, but that quickly goes away when you start playing.
That wonderful combat is back and more satisfying than before. You may start out with just a few thugs at a time attacking you but on many occasions, it’ll be more than 10 of them coming at you. And that exact number is probably closer to 20 than 10. Speaking of combat, Batman Arkham City now has two times the combat animations that Arkham Asylum had.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3252/5812493764_e97ed5882b_z.jpg
While we’re doing comparisons, the world of Batman Arkham City is five times the size of Batman Arkham Asylum. It’s huge and vast and vertical. While you can roam the streets all you want and pretty much get from one end to the next, there are plenty of options in the rooftops to get the same result.
Traversing such a big location would take a while on foot, but you’re Batman, and now you can grapple almost anything outside to get vertical and from there use your cape to glide across the area. You’ll do this mainly by diving down to gain momentum and then pull back to go into a climb. While in a glide you can also use your grapple in case of quick change of decision or use it to boost your momentum while gliding.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5078/5811928305_ba72fe6bed_z.jpg
The devs were a bit vague when I asked, but for the most part you’ll start out with all of your gadgets from the first game with new gadgets being unlocked as you progress. What these new gadgets might be, we weren’t told.
As for Catwoman, she’s in the game and she’s playable. But she’s mostly optional. You’ll be forced to play as her early on just so you know what she can do and how to move her about the city. As well as get an introduction to her story. But that’s it. You have to play her once and from then on it’s your call. Just find a group of cats hanging out somewhere and that’ll signal her to show up and take over. She has her own story you can play through and it’s completely non-essential to the overall main story. Skipping it won’t mean you’ll miss out on any main plot points. She has her own set of silent kills and combat animations. It isn’t just a re-skinned Batman you’ll be playing here. What I mean is, Rocksteady didn’t just throw her in for the sake of doing so. They took time to make Catwoman her own character and not something that’s just throw away.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5195/5812498504_c7b835ecdd_z.jpg
The addition of Catwoman does expand the gameplay though, but there’s a whole lot more going on in Batman Arkham City than just Catwoman’s side story. There’s also the Riddler. This time around he plays a more prominent role in the game. Not necessarily in the main story, but his side missions are numerous and his puzzles are tougher. You’ll find a puzzle for nearly every trophy available. When fighting some of his goons, leaving the last one conscious will allow for interrogation to find out more either about the puzzle or the trophy, it was never made entirely clear. Find enough trophies and you’ll gain access to a Riddler Challenge Room. We weren’t told much of what these would be but the word “platformy” was used.
So…how many trophies are we talking about here for Riddler? Well, they’ve increased the number to around 400. I am not even kidding. I thought the guy said 40 at first, but no….400 Riddler trophies. Some of which you’ll only be able to find as Catwoman.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/5811927671_5a67206d94_z.jpg
All told with the main story, Catwoman’s story, the Riddler trophies and the challenge rooms we were told to expect around 30 to 40 hours of gameplay. That’s…well, that’s a lot. Not sure how exaggerated that may be, but it’s hopeful to think you’ll have that much time being Batman.
The game looks great and when you first see the city from above for the first time and the scale to Batman’s size, you’ll likely become giddy with just all you’ll be able to do. Batman Arkham City will be released on October 18th.
That wonderful combat is back and more satisfying than before. You may start out with just a few thugs at a time attacking you but on many occasions, it’ll be more than 10 of them coming at you. And that exact number is probably closer to 20 than 10. Speaking of combat, Batman Arkham City now has two times the combat animations that Arkham Asylum had.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3252/5812493764_e97ed5882b_z.jpg
While we’re doing comparisons, the world of Batman Arkham City is five times the size of Batman Arkham Asylum. It’s huge and vast and vertical. While you can roam the streets all you want and pretty much get from one end to the next, there are plenty of options in the rooftops to get the same result.
Traversing such a big location would take a while on foot, but you’re Batman, and now you can grapple almost anything outside to get vertical and from there use your cape to glide across the area. You’ll do this mainly by diving down to gain momentum and then pull back to go into a climb. While in a glide you can also use your grapple in case of quick change of decision or use it to boost your momentum while gliding.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5078/5811928305_ba72fe6bed_z.jpg
The devs were a bit vague when I asked, but for the most part you’ll start out with all of your gadgets from the first game with new gadgets being unlocked as you progress. What these new gadgets might be, we weren’t told.
As for Catwoman, she’s in the game and she’s playable. But she’s mostly optional. You’ll be forced to play as her early on just so you know what she can do and how to move her about the city. As well as get an introduction to her story. But that’s it. You have to play her once and from then on it’s your call. Just find a group of cats hanging out somewhere and that’ll signal her to show up and take over. She has her own story you can play through and it’s completely non-essential to the overall main story. Skipping it won’t mean you’ll miss out on any main plot points. She has her own set of silent kills and combat animations. It isn’t just a re-skinned Batman you’ll be playing here. What I mean is, Rocksteady didn’t just throw her in for the sake of doing so. They took time to make Catwoman her own character and not something that’s just throw away.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5195/5812498504_c7b835ecdd_z.jpg
The addition of Catwoman does expand the gameplay though, but there’s a whole lot more going on in Batman Arkham City than just Catwoman’s side story. There’s also the Riddler. This time around he plays a more prominent role in the game. Not necessarily in the main story, but his side missions are numerous and his puzzles are tougher. You’ll find a puzzle for nearly every trophy available. When fighting some of his goons, leaving the last one conscious will allow for interrogation to find out more either about the puzzle or the trophy, it was never made entirely clear. Find enough trophies and you’ll gain access to a Riddler Challenge Room. We weren’t told much of what these would be but the word “platformy” was used.
So…how many trophies are we talking about here for Riddler? Well, they’ve increased the number to around 400. I am not even kidding. I thought the guy said 40 at first, but no….400 Riddler trophies. Some of which you’ll only be able to find as Catwoman.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/5811927671_5a67206d94_z.jpg
All told with the main story, Catwoman’s story, the Riddler trophies and the challenge rooms we were told to expect around 30 to 40 hours of gameplay. That’s…well, that’s a lot. Not sure how exaggerated that may be, but it’s hopeful to think you’ll have that much time being Batman.
The game looks great and when you first see the city from above for the first time and the scale to Batman’s size, you’ll likely become giddy with just all you’ll be able to do. Batman Arkham City will be released on October 18th.