Batman: Arkham Asylum

Jungleskye

Have you ever wanted to be Batman as a kid and sneak up on bad guys and decimate them? Well now your chance is coming. So pull your Batman outfits out of the closet and be prepared to enter:

In game Video of BANE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3TNlP1J8kU





A few trailers for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.videogamer.com/videos/batman_arkham_asylum_invisible_predator_trailer.html

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/batmanarkhamasylum/video/6203841/batman-arkham-asylum-video-preview?hd=1

http://gdc.gamespot.com/video/6206835/batman-arkham-asylum-silent-knight-gameplay?hd=1


And a little information on the game itself:

Some gaming preview's

EUROGAMER- In some ways, Batman is the comic book hero most suited to videogames. Unlike Superman, he's not irritatingly invulnerable; unlike the Hulk, no-one expects him to do anything too CPU-intensive, like destroy an entire city; most importantly, unlike Spider-Man, he isn't saddled with a phoned-in Tobey Maguire voice track that makes him sound like he's battling evil while strung out on Co-codamol. Instead, all Batman needs is a natty cape, two fists, and access to the world's most elaborately deadly issue of the Innovations catalogue.

But look deeper, and it's not so simple. Batman, above all other superheroes, is defined by a particular mood, a brooding eternal midnight built from shadows, claustrophobic alleyways and Halloween freaks; a world, in a word, of fear. It's not just a case of turning down the lights and breaking a few windows, either: you can't fake Gotham City's stylish urban menace, and you can't fake the sense of dread that Batman engenders in his foes. And if you haven't got dread in your Batman game, chances are you haven't actually got a Batman game.

That's why Arkham Asylum is looking promising. It's got the brooding architecture and famous faces, but it's also fitting out its hero as a man who lets his fearsome reputation do a lot of the work for him: in close combat, he can't be beaten, but when the weapons come out, although he can certainly take a few more machinegun rounds than I could, compared to most videogame characters he's made out of old Kit-Kat wrappers and Marmite. With no magic powers, he has to spook his foes, freaking them out and softening them up before swooping in to finish the job.

This curious mixture - flashes of real power wedged tightly against moments of extreme weakness - seems likely to define the pace of the title, but it's currently hard to tell how well the combination will work in the long term. The developers, Rocksteady Studios, are still not ready to reveal exactly how the story fits together, so for now, we can only get a sense of Arkham Asylum's central mechanics by playing two of the game's challenge rooms.
'Batman: Arkham Asylum' Screenshot 1

Detective vision reduces your enemies to skeletons. It's like that Chemical Brothers video, but without the Chemical Brothers. And with Batman.

Challenge rooms are just one flavour of over 250 unlockables Rocksteady's threatening to include in the finished game. Dumping you into a discrete part of Arkham and asking you to complete a task (generally clubbing everybody senseless), they're the Dark Knight's take on arcade games: a chance to break away from the central story, and explore simple joys like score multipliers and leaderboards.

At the very least, they suggest that this is one attractive loony bin, filled with pretty dereliction and inviting shadows, peopled by a range of terrifying freaks who appear to have gone insane after a diet composed of tattoo ink, face paint, and steroids. It's often overstated just how much the Unreal Engine guides the look of a game - Epic's tech was capable of turning out Mirror's Edge's lithe chimney-hoppers as well as Gears' rock-fisted grunts, but there's a certain shock of the familiar the first time you see the hulking lump of Batflesh you will be controlling. Massive and weighty, it's initially hard to picture this particular caped crusader swinging from the rafters without bringing most of the roof down as well, but once you see him in motion, all of that changes.
'Batman: Arkham Asylum' Screenshot 2

Leaderboards, eh? Some nutter at Rocksteady, who presumably fights crime in his own time while not fiddling about with pixel shaders - has completed Silent Knight in under a minute.

Crucially, the animation delivers, smoothly flowing between cycles without a frustrating glitch or much in the way of clipping, and the team has perfectly nailed that distinctive blend of grace and brutality that Batman deals in. Zipping up to a distant ledge on the grapnel gun, he's a blur of black and grey, but in the middle of a fight, surrounded by deranged bouncers, he has a frosty, businesslike calm straight out of the comics, patiently waiting for an enemy to move, before parrying in a flash and retaliating with a series of efficient blows. Meanwhile, his cape is a separate character in its own right, whipping about, stunning enemies into a cowering huddle, and generally making him look like a hardboiled Darth Vader rather than a jumpsuited weirdo in an S&M dressing gown.

It's brawling that the first of the challenge rooms focuses on. Intensive Treatment (both rooms have the kind of punning titles that might make the Dark Knight let out a mirthless chuckle) is essentially a hand-to-hand variation of Gears 2's Horde mode, matching you off against increasingly deadly combinations of bad 'uns and asking you not just to flatten everyone (which is easy) but to flatten them while looking good (which isn't).Controls are refreshingly simple, your main options being stun, attack, and parry, all mapped to face buttons. Lock-on is automatic, and the animation has a habit of fitting itself in contextually, choosing by itself whether to knee-drop someone, or grab their kicking leg and flip them backwards, say, whenever you press a button, which means that, for the first few attempts at least, you might suspect Arkham is playing itself.

It isn't. Like Assassin's Creed, this is a game of crowd management, and while it moves at a faster pace than Ubisoft's title, it's still generally better to wait for an attack and retaliate rather than wade in swinging, with enemy moves announced in advance by a lightning bolt icon above their heads, giving you time to parry, before daring you to see how many powerful counters you can afford before someone else has a pop.

At the heart of the fighting is the combo system, a time-based arrangement requiring you to chain moves together in order to keep your points multiplier rising. When you're playing well, jumping off someone's chest and landing on someone else's head, before backflipping to unteeth the weirdo coming at you out of the shadows, you'll almost hear a drum-beat in your head, telling you exactly when to hammer the buttons. It's strange enough, after years of disappointments, to find a developer that really understands what a Batman game should feel like, but stranger still, perhaps, to realise that what it should feel like is a mixture of elegant brawling and rhythm action.
'Batman: Arkham Asylum' Screenshot 3

No sign of Robin! Hooray! Hopefully Bat-Mite's unlockable, though...

The second challenge room, Silent Knight, is a little more thoughtful, showcasing a mode known, worryingly, as Invisible Predator. Happily, rather than an Yvette Fielding Living TV documentary exploring the wacky dangers of kitchen-based bacteria, it's actually another variation on room clearance, focusing on mazelike level design, and exchanging skill points for a timer as leaderboard currency. The agenda is the same, but the emphasis is completely different. You've seen Batman at his most powerful: this is him at his most vulnerable, with heavily-armed enemies turning a simple combat scenario into a stealthy assault course.

As gunfire is so deadly, the game quickly finds a new groove, alternately swooping in for a one-button takedown before zipping back up to safety with the auto-locking grapnel gun, ducking bullets as you try to lose yourself in shadows to plan your next move. Victory is about strategy: as you take goons out, the survivors will get increasingly panicky, and more prone to blindly firing into the darkness, while a press of LB switches you to Detective Mode, a kind of heat vision where you can instantly see where everybody is, what weapons they're carrying, and how freaked out they've become. But the standout element is the gadgets mapped to the d-pad: the batarang can be used to stun enemies or simply create a distraction, while a sonic variation gives you thirty seconds of pulsing sound, the batclaw blasts out on a wire to grab distant attackers and yank them off gantries, and the explosive gel can be sprayed onto the surroundings and detonated at your convenience.
'Batman: Arkham Asylum' Screenshot 4

As any Batman fan will know, it's all about the length of the ears. Arkham Asylum is more Brian Bolland than Jim Lee.

They're fun on their own, but far more interesting when you learn to combine them, luring an enemy over to a ledge with a batarang and then clawing them off into space, or embedding the sonic batarang in gel, and taking out five villains at once. With these on your utility belt, Arkham Asylum seems intermittently capable of nailing that same elusive hide-and-seek feel that Riddick possesses, turning stealth into a way to broaden your options as much as narrow them.

So while the challenge rooms offer a very narrow window onto Arkham Asylum, they still leave a promising impression. There are potential problems - the multi-trigger controls needed to use some of the gadgets take a little getting used to, and, elsewhere, the turning speed of the camera is currently stately rather than brisk - but these are small gripes, and relatively early days. As an unlockable, then, this is a lot more interesting than the usual stack of concept art and blurry snaps detailing the developer's last office party; as an indicator of the broader game, however, it shows a promising understanding of the licence, tied to a central realisation that, while any old supersomebody can make you feel heroic, only Batman can make you feel truly dangerous.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is due out for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC this year.

SAN FRANCISCO--There are a select few superheroes that are so big and so popular that they can afford to star in a game that's not being accompanied by a big-budget Hollywood film. Batman is certainly one of those, and for evidence you need look no further than Batman: Arkham Asylum, an upcoming action-stealth hybrid from developer Rocksteady Studios that's scheduled to arrive nearly a full year after the release of The Dark Knight. We had our first look at Arkham Asylum back in January, but yesterday we had our first chance to get our hands on a controller to see how it plays.

There are a few ways to describe Arkham Asylum's gameplay. On the one hand, you could easily call it a brawler. Batman's primary threat as he makes his way through the demented halls of this infamous insane asylum is the stream of crazed thugs that the Joker has taken control over. The conflict isn't any one enemy, but instead the sheer number of them, requiring you to bounce through swarms of enemies using attack combos, agile counters, and any environmental advantages you can muster up. But there are also stealth and gadget elements that come into play, as Batman can, at certain points, silently stalk his prey using the cover of darkness and a utility belt full of advanced technology.

In the story campaign, these two elements will be blended together fairly seamlessly--or at least according to copublisher Warner Bros. Interactive--but in our hands-on demo we got to try a few challenge rooms that take each of these gameplay types and have you flex your skills in a way that highlights each one specifically. The first was a brawling-focused challenge room that pit Batman against a dozen or so thugs in a tiny room, with a succession of rounds that raised the enemy difficulty each time. It's sort of a take on the recently popular horde mode we've been seeing lately where the goal is to rack up as many points as you can to use as bragging rights on an official leaderboard.

The basic controls are easy to get a hold of, but as you might expect, they become more challenging as Batman unlocks more-advanced maneuvers and gadgets (which is done via the main storyline). Here's a brief rundown of the basic controls in the Xbox 360 version of the game: X is your primary attack button, Y is to counter, B will stun your enemies momentarily, and A lets you run when its held, vault over enemies when pressed once, and dodge when double-tapped. Taking on a single bad guy is as easy as hitting X a few times, but often you'll have several of them flanking you, so you'll need to be cognizant of who else is attacking you besides the guy standing immediately in front of you. That's when counters come in handy, which are often slick animations that let you, say, grab a guy's arm and snap it mid-punch.

Another handy technique is vaulting, which lets you acrobatically flip over an enemy and attack his rear side. Armed enemies are best attacked this way after stunning them, to minimize the amount of lead pipe or machine gun damage Batman takes. Managing all these threats is a delicate ballet of dancing between bodies, taking out the most pressing threat, and using the group to your advantage--like when you can knock one guy into another guy who subsequently falls off a ledge, for example. We liked the way the controls worked: they were simple but allowed for some depth with advanced techniques like contextual takedowns and using the batclaw to pull enemies from across the room. And to top it off, the animations were all very realistic and fluid.

The other challenge room we played was called the Silent Predator Arena. Here, instead of taking on a big clump of bad guys all squeezed into a small room, Batman has to silently take on a smaller sample of enemies patrolling a much larger space. A good idea is to use the Investigative vision mode, which turns the screen dark and highlights armed enemies in red and unarmed enemies in blue. This gives you an idea of whom to target first. From there, it's a matter of deciding whether to take on enemies from the ground floor, or to zip up to the gargoyles perched high atop the giant walls and take them out from on high.

The options you have for dealing with these guards are pretty extensive. You can take them on directly with hand-to-hand combat, but that winds up being a remarkably bad idea considering they're all armed. A better option is to pick them off one by one. In a typical scenario, you might start by doing an inverted takedown on a guard who's unlucky enough to walk under your gargoyle, then spray some explosive gel on a wall where a group of them might gather if you create the proper distraction, and then blow the bunch of them up remotely. Then, stun a leftover guard by leaping from a ledge with a glide kick, and finish him off with a final, crippling blow to the head. Of course, that's just a suggestion; you can go about each room how you want, and it's all a matter of zipping around unseen, figuring out how to use the environment to your advantage, and maximizing each attack.

Enemies will frequently flank you, so watch out.

Altogether, we had a good time with Arkham Asylum. The controls offered a friendly learning curve, and the reward for trying out some of the advanced techniques was a collection of slick takedowns and interesting animations. We should be able to offer more on the game's story in the coming months. In the meantime, you can expect Batman: Arkham Asylum to arrive this summer on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Of all the comic book superheroes, Batman is undoubtedly the closest to being a multimedia superstar. Take 2008 for example: He not only starred in the biggest film of the year, but he was versatile enough to make it into a Lego-based video game. This year, on the 70th anniversary of the character's creation, Batman will return to his comic book roots in Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham Asylum, a third-person action game that's shaping up to be as varied as it is visually stunning. We were lucky enough to see the first hour of the game at the studio's London offices, as well as speak to the people behind it.

"We want to explore the psychology of the Batman character," lead designer Sefton Hill told us. "Players should feel empowered by being Batman, and his ability to handle any given situation however he wants." To this end, Hill and the team have endowed Batman with cool gadgets, nifty weapons, and raw athletic ability and then set him loose in a highly interactive world. And while that world is a prison filled with the worst of Gotham's bad guys, this Batman most definitely makes a formidable hero.

We watched Hill play through the opening of the game, which takes the form of an interactive cinematic. Batman has captured the Joker, and given the Joker's status as the ultimate supervillain, Batman decides to accompany him right down to his maximum-security confines at Arkham. Batman passes many familiar faces along the way, including an intimidating Killer Croc, as well as some of the good guys, such as Commissioner Gordon. But while Gordon may be toasting your success at capturing the city's most dangerous criminal, Batman senses that something is awry. The Joker has given himself up all too easily, and as he teases Warden Sharp and the guards with his trademark maniacal humour, he finds a chance to separate from Batman and make his escape. With the help of Harley Quinn and an army of inmates to do his bidding, the Joker effectively takes over the prison, setting up a fight with Batman on his own terms.
Video Preview



This opening sequence is an audacious introduction to the game. First off, the characters are brilliantly voiced by Batman regulars, including Mark Hamill as the Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman, while the dialogue has been penned by Paul Dini, the scribe behind many Batman and Superman animations, as well as the TV series Lost. Dini came over to London at the beginning of the game's development and helped to flesh out the overall story alongside the development team as well as give the dialogue an element of authenticity. His work is certainly felt throughout the game, particularly in helping the Joker become an irritatingly likable villain. The Joker spends the entire game using the prison's speaker system to taunt both Batman and the goons he's taking out, with some highly entertaining results.

Then there's the look of the game, which is impressive to say the least. The Unreal engine is working under the hood, but it's virtually unrecognisable under the stylistic touches the team has added to the game. The character animation in particular deserves special praise, probably thanks to the studio's on-site motion-capture facility, which has imbued the many villains that we saw with their own individual traits. Hill described how the team used diving weights to achieve Killer Croc's ambling movements, while there's one person whose sole job it is to perfect the look of Batman's floating cape. This sort of attention to detail is easy to appreciate onscreen.

Arkham Asylum is essentially a third-person action game, but we got to see many different gameplay elements during our visit to Rocksteady. The combat is based on hand-to-hand combat at the beginning of the game, and a combo system encourages you to link moves together to earn more points. This results in experience points, and there's a basic role-playing game system that lets you use your points to upgrade either your weapons, such as the batarang, or Batman himself. The basic fighting moves include punch, kick, and flinging your batarang, but you can vault over enemies if you find yourself cornered. It's also worth noting that the health system isn't regenerative while you're in combat, but you can earn health back at the end of a fight if you're victorious.

There are also stealth elements to the game, although Hill is quick to emphasise Batman's power in these situations. "We didn't want a stealth system where you go in, learn the patrol patterns of the enemies, and then use trial and error to get past them. Batman is a powerful character--he spends time looking at a situation and then approaches it how he feels best." He demonstrated this in an open section of the prison, where numerous henchmen were patrolling with guns. He took Batman through the ventilation system, pulling off the grate and then sneaking up behind the first guard for a silent takedown. He immediately fired off a grapple line and ascended to the top of a stone gargoyle to survey the area. Engaging Batman's detective mode, we could see an X-ray of the room, with red and blue skeletal outlines indicating enemy targets and friendly NPCs respectively.

The Joker will do anything to wind people up, even taunting his own goons over the prison's speaker system as Batman silently takes them down.

Heading towards one of the isolated enemies, Batman jumped off the gargoyle and used his cape to float through the air before delivering a lethal kick to the enemy's head. This made enough noise to startle the other enemies in the area, and Batman was able to use this intimidation to his advantage. Hill moved Batman around the room to position himself above another enemy, and in a spectacular coup de grace, he used the grapple line to leave the enemy dangling in midair for everyone else to see.

Arkham Asylum is a character itself in this world. The environment changes as you progress; for instance, posters asserting Warden Sharp's authority are defaced by the Joker and his graffiti-loving crew. There are some great comedic touches, such as when the Joker leaves mechanical chattering teeth around the prison, as well as more sinister prison traps, such as gas chambers and electric chairs. In one scene, a prisoner was electrocuting one of the guards in a chair; in another, toxic gas was being let loose on the guards and the prisoners. You're the good guy, so you still have to save the odd criminal, although Batman is badass enough to beat them unconscious once they've been lifted to safety.

Arkham Asylum is stuffed full of unlockable items, and it will be well worth exploring the environments if you're a completist. As we watched the game being played, we saw Batman collecting a Riddler question-mark bonus. In addition, meeting characters in the game unlocks biographies that can be read later. There also seem to be challenges that you unlock by playing through the main game, although the developer was coy about revealing just what they are. Batman will also be able to upgrade his arsenal by collecting experience points, and it was hinted that the batarang can be upgraded to take out multiple enemies with one throw. Hill also spoke of an explosive gel weapon later in the game, which can be detonated remotely.

In case our enthusiasm isn't already apparent, we were left really impressed with Batman: Arkham Asylum. The savvy script and excellent voice acting are sure to please Batman fans, while the combo fighting system and stealth elements look like they'll be great fun. The game is already looking incredibly impressive visually--hopefully an indication that it's nearing completion in time for its Q2 2009 release window. Eidos has promised us a hands-on with the game in the coming months, so hopefully we'll be visiting Arkham again for a more in-depth look shortly.

General Game Info:
* Eidos Interactive
* Rocksteady Studios
* Fantasy Action Adventure
* "Eidos Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment can today confirm that Batman: Arkham Asylum will be released at the end of summer 2009. This additional time will allow us to ensure Batman: Arkham Asylum is of the highest quality for gamers."
* ESRB: Teen

Collector's Edition Info



The North American collector’s edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum, co-published by Eidos, Inc. and Warner Bros. features a full array of iconic collector’s items, including:

* 14" Batarang with stand
* Matches the Batarang’s in-game design
* Arkham Doctor’s Journal
v48 pages of notes on Arkham’s inmates
* Embossed leather dust jacket
* 2 Sleeve Digi-pack, including:
* Game disc
* Behind-the-scenes DVD
* Code for downloadable Challenge Map
* Exclusive “Crime Alley” map, available immediately
* Full-color Manual

Based on the core Batman license, in Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Dark Knight takes on his greatest challenge yet when he becomes trapped with all of his most dangerous villains inside the insane asylum of GOTHAM CITY --ARKHAM ASYLUM! Batman: Arkham Asylum exposes players to a unique, dark and atmospheric adventure that takes them to the depths of Arkham Asylum – Gotham City's psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Gamers will move in the shadows, instigate fear amongst their enemies and confront The Joker and Gotham City's most notorious villains who have taken over the asylum.
[/LIST]

All this for the cheap, cheap price of $100.00!

Voice Cast:

Clancy Brown ... Killer Croc (voice)
Brittany Byrnes ... Barbara Gordon / Oracle (voice)
Kevin Conroy ... Batman / Bruce Wayne (voice)
Mark Hamill ... The Joker (voice)
Danny Jacobs ... Victor Zsasz / Frank Boles (voice)
Tom Kane ... Commissioner James Gordon (voice)
David Kaye ... Scarecrow (voice)
Michelle Ruff ... Poison Ivy (voice)
David Sobolov ... Penguin (voice)
Arleen Sorkin ... Harley Quinn (voice)
James Arnold Taylor ... The Riddler (voice)
Kirk Thornton ... Mr. Freeze (voice)

A quick pic of Batman and the Joker



And to wrap it up a picture and Video of the woman every Batman lover probably rubbed one out to when they were young, or possibly even old

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/48061.html

Bionic Monkey

Huh... the last thread had some talk about the new Harley look, and how it might be contentious to fans. I actually rather dig it.

And there's not enough <3<3 in the world for Conroy, Hamill and Sorkin coming back.

manaleak34

Uh Harley looks...interesting. Though I guess it fits the style they're going for.

Between B:TAS voice actors, The Riddler getting some love, and that WB seem to be giving the development team time to make it good rather than plop it out along a movie release I have good expectations.

Monger

Holy shitfuck!

I've been expecting such ludicrous things since every preview mentioned that Harley was getting a makeover and purists would be pissed, but I don't... I don't think I was prepared for... well, that.

I mean, it'll probably be pretty cool in context. But yeah, wow.

Olivaw

Holy shit Clancy Brown is in this

Awesome

Also are people still bitching about the art style, because last time I checked up on this game people were all like "he's so muscley he looks dumb booooo" and that made me sorta angry

Fig-D

Well, going down the checklist of what a character needs to be Harley Quinn in my book she checks out just fine. I'm with Bionic Monkey, I dig it.

Fig-D

Olivaw wrote: »

Holy shit Clancy Brown is in this

Awesome

Also are people still bitching about the art style, because last time I checked up on this game people were all like "he's so muscley he looks dumb booooo" and that made me sorta angry

Comic books fans. We're always bitching about something.

Olivaw

Fig-D wrote: »

Olivaw wrote: »

Holy shit Clancy Brown is in this

Awesome

Also are people still bitching about the art style, because last time I checked up on this game people were all like "he's so muscley he looks dumb booooo" and that made me sorta angry

Comic books fans. We're always bitching about something.

True enough

Jungleskye

I enjoy the new look for Harley myself as well

ViolentChemistry

So far the only good Batman game that seems to exist is Lego Batman. Justice League Heroes was a decent game that had Batman in it, but it's not really a Batman game. There doesn't seem to be enough gameplay footage to weigh in on this one yet, but the cast is the right cast.

Olivaw

Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu was a pretty fun co-op isometric beat 'em up for the PS2

I mean, I certainly enjoyed it

Hopefully this will be even better though

mystic_knight

Harley is always wearing different get-ups, she looks fine.

Nocren

I saw this at Frys on a looped tape with a few other game previews.
I was blown away when I heard Conroy and Hamil, and the action sequences looked a bit like Splinter Cell (Chaos Theory) until you throw the first attack, then it turned into a brawler. I'm willing to give it a rent to see how it controls (if I don't hear from a review first) but I definitely want to play this.

Sorenson

"...including Mark Hamill as the Joker..."

FUCKING SOLD.

Although even with their explanations I still can't help but worry about these "stealth elements" - if there is so much as a hint of a goddamn "discovered = game over" scenario I'm going to be fucking pissed.

tofu

frankly I think harley looks pretty tasteless

DudBolt

David Conroy and Mark Hamil...

Its like nostalgia is finally getting the best of me.

Olivaw

Sorenson wrote: »

"...including Mark Hamill as the Joker..."

FUCKING SOLD.

Although even with their explanations I still can't help but worry about these "stealth elements" - if there is so much as a hint of a goddamn "discovered = game over" scenario I'm going to be fucking pissed.

You're Batman

I sincerely doubt they'd make the stealth a mechanic like that

Hell, it's entire purpose, according to the developers, is not to sneak by people or avoid them, but to put yourself in a better position to scare the crap out of them and take them down with extreme prejudice

Jungleskye

Added first spoiler with actual description of game play.

Monger

Olivaw wrote: »

Sorenson wrote: »

"...including Mark Hamill as the Joker..."

FUCKING SOLD.

Although even with their explanations I still can't help but worry about these "stealth elements" - if there is so much as a hint of a goddamn "discovered = game over" scenario I'm going to be fucking pissed.

You're Batman

I sincerely doubt they'd make the stealth a mechanic like that

Hell, it's entire purpose, according to the developers, is not to sneak by people or avoid them, but to put yourself in a better position to scare the crap out of them and take them down with extreme prejudice

Did you watch the GDC video, Sorenson? Cause yeah. Watch it. It cures cancer.

edit: Yeah, that one down there.

toxk_02

This stealth gameplay demo = sold

All I need now is the drop down upside-down move and then whisper "...here..." in their ear.

Olivaw

I want the ability to grab a thug by his lapels, get up in his face and say

"I'm Batman"

That should be mapped to a face button

devoir

This might tip me over to buying a high def TV to play my 360 on.

Olivaw

Oh man that video

The Detective Mode is like, perfect

But it's sort of strange how you can be flying just above the heads of these guys in a fairly well lit area and no one notices

Oh well, comic book logic

edit: upon further review, that was a "challenge level," so I'm going to assume that it's laid out like that for gameplay purposes and it's not supposed to actually make sense, really

Mustachio Jones

Olivaw wrote: »

I want the ability to grab a thug by his lapels, get up in his face and say

"I'm the goddamned Batman"

That should be mapped to a face button

Fixed that for you.

Then, and only then, will I hop on board with the idea.

I guess this also means that I need a next gen console, assuming it doesn't see a PC release. Even if it does, ports and what not. Alas, poor bank account.

Htown

There is supposed to be a PC version.

This game better come out on Steam.

ViolentChemistry

Sold.

The_Scarab

You had me at Kevin Conroy. Sold.

The_Scarab

toxk_02 wrote: »

This stealth gameplay demo = sold

All I need now is the drop down upside-down move and then whisper "...here..." in their ear.

This video right here is fucking incredible.

Just wow.

Fiaryn

That video is bonerific. I was vaguely interested but cautious before. They've got my attention, and almost certainly my moneyz now.

Rust

We'll see whether or not those setpieces get too repetitive over the course of the game.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the whole thing!

The_Scarab

I just want the X button to be 'I'm the Goddam Batman'.

No other gameplay functionality other than to say that line. Over and over.

Like the Y button in Kotor, igniting the lightsabers in a 'getting ready to fuck shit up' manner.

Fatal3RR0R

Well I'm pretty damn sold.

HadjiQuest

The_Scarab wrote: »

I just want the X button to be 'I'm the Goddam Batman'.

No other gameplay functionality other than to say that line. Over and over.

Like the Y button in Kotor, igniting the lightsabers in a 'getting ready to fuck shit up' manner.

Instead of skipping cutscenes, you have the option to just disappear while people are still talking to you.

Bionic Monkey

The_Scarab wrote: »

I just want the X button to be 'I'm the Goddam Batman'.

No other gameplay functionality other than to say that line. Over and over.

Like the Y button in Kotor, igniting the lightsabers in a 'getting ready to fuck shit up' manner.

Sort of like the "bark" button in Okami. I'd drive my wife crazy just running around in circles for minutes at a time in that game barking my head off.

Monger

HadjiQuest wrote: »

The_Scarab wrote: »

I just want the X button to be 'I'm the Goddam Batman'.

No other gameplay functionality other than to say that line. Over and over.

Like the Y button in Kotor, igniting the lightsabers in a 'getting ready to fuck shit up' manner.

Instead of skipping cutscenes, you have the option to just disappear while people are still talking to you.

Goddammit, now I'm going to be so pissed if I can't do this.

UnbreakableVow

The_Scarab wrote: »

I just want the X button to be 'Can you drive stick?'.

No other gameplay functionality other than to say that line. Over and over.

Like the Y button in Kotor, igniting the lightsabers in a 'Does it come in black?' manner.

JAEF

Love the return to the classic cloth suit. Gameplay looks superior to any Batman game in the last ten years. Everything is indicating AAA title.

Don't let me down, Batman.

Renzo

Oh hey there Batman game how you doin.

He sprays the explosive foam into the shape of a bat. Classy.

UnbreakableVow

JAEF wrote: »

Gameplay looks superior to any Batman game in the last ten years.

Even better than Gotham City Racer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBgUmzLXA4U

JAEF

Unbelievable, that must be what they force criminals to play in Arkham. No wonder no one ever recovers.

PatboyX

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

Huh... the last thread had some talk about the new Harley look, and how it might be contentious to fans. I actually rather dig it.

And there's not enough <3<3 in the world for Conroy, Hamill and Sorkin coming back.

Well, she looks like every other comic book female character so it is a little boring.
But whatever, the gameplay looks good and the talent is gravy.