Batman: Arkham

[Michael*]

Batman: Arkham City

Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum, based on DC Comics' Batman. It is being developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Microsoft Windows and OnLive. The game was officially announced during the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards and is scheduled for a worldwide release, beginning in North America on October 18, 2011.

Plot

The story for Arkham City takes place approximately one year after the events of Arkham Asylum. Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham Asylum, has taken credit for stopping the Joker, and used the notoriety to become mayor of Gotham City. As neither Arkham nor Blackgate Prison are in any condition to detain inmates, Sharp buys out a large section of Gotham's slums and arms the perimeter with private military contractors from a group called Tyger in order to create 'Arkham City'. The prisoners are brought into Arkham City and are given free rein, as long as they do not attempt escape. To oversee the city, Sharp hires psychiatrist Hugo Strange who appears to have his own secret agenda for the city. Batman maintains a vigil over the city, worried that the situation may get out of hand.

The events of the game are set in motion when Two-Face, seeking to gain notoriety among the inmates and other villains outside the city, devises a plan to publicly execute Catwoman. Batman decides for both the safety of Gotham and of his past relationship with Catwoman that he must stop the execution by entering Arkham City. Catwoman takes advantage of the chaos in Arkham City to acquire jewelry, and a few high tech gadgets; much like how Batman receives new tools and upgrades.

A teaser trailer was released that featured Joker being nursed by Harley Quinn from the effects of the Titan formula (and the explosive gel punch from Batman) while Arkham City descends into chaos. The sequel was described by veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy as "really, really dark". While relating the game's dark nature to the animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Conroy also said, "It involves a lot of the villains and it goes to that area – it's that dark."

Cast

Some of the voice actors reprised their roles from Batman: Arkham Asylum. Batman is portrayed again by Kevin Conroy, Joker by Mark Hamill, Riddler by Wally Wingert, Poison Ivy by Tasia Valenza, Harley Quinn by Tara Strong (replacing Arleen Sorkin) and Commissioner Gordon and Quincy Sharp by Tom Kane. Danny Jacobs and James Horan also return as the voices of Victor Zsasz and Jack Ryder, respectively. Edge magazine confirmed that Bane returns in Arkham City, but this time he is an ally of Batman's. New playable characters include Catwoman (voiced by Grey DeLisle) in the main storyline and Robin currently as a pre-order bonus character in the challenge maps.

Hugo Strange is voiced by Corey Burton, Two-Face is voiced by Troy Baker, and Penguin, voiced by Nolan North, with a Cockney accent. Additionally, Maurice LaMarche and Stana Katic revealed that they voice Mr. Freeze and Talia al Ghul in the game, respectively. Calendar Man is also expected to appear in the game. Alfred Pennyworth joins Oracle on the communicator. Solomon Grundy is also included as seen in Penguin's trailer.

[Michael*]

[Michael*]

[Michael*]

The more I see of the plot, the more excited I get about this. The Joker has caused the anarchy in Gotham, only now it appears that he's feeling the effects of the Titan formula he injected in the previous game, and is unable to keep his stranglehold of the city. Thus, virtually every miscreant in the Batman universe should make an appearance during the ensuing power struggle. It's a magnificent premise. Also, since Mark Hamill has apparently claimed that this is the last time he'll be on voiceover duties, the thought occurs that Joker might actually die in this game.

[donbot]

Win

Can't wait for this to be released. It's been a rather amazing year for epic sequels

[Michael*]

I'm well and truly sold on buying the game either way, but I'll be most interested to see how well they're able to capture the atmosphere of the first game in a larger setting. For me, the 'secret weapon' of Arkham Asylum was the unsettling and claustrophobic nature of just wandering around the grounds. I wonder if they'll be able to replicate that (or even if they'll try to) in what promises to be an open-ended cityspace.

[Michael*]

I'm finally the owner of a shiny new copy.

[donbot]

^So how is it?

I'm still waiting for the PC release.. a couple more days yet <_<

I've heard nothing but good things though. Apparently it's ridiculously large in scale and the number of things you can do in it.

[Michael*]

I managed to finish in about half a dozen sittings, though I'm still dipping into it for the side challenges, Riddler trophies and suchlike. 'Twas easily one of the best gaming experiences I've had. The story mode is maybe 10-12 hours long, which if memory serves was around about the same length as Arkham Asylum. So in that sense it's not a bigger game, but the side missions are far more engaging than in AA, while the cityspace is indeed huge - big enough to demand further exploration, though not so big that it feels like a drag to trek from point a to point b.

Also Don, without wishing to spoil anything, there's a particular moment (I'd loosely call it a boss fight, though it didn't form part of the main story) that I think you'll really get a kick out of.

[donbot]

Yeah, I think that was more in reference to the number and variety of side missions and other distractions along the way, which I tend to get caught up doing before progressing the main story along. I have a feeling I'll be pouring a lot of hours into that game.. which is a problem, because I already have an ever-growing pile of games to wade through o_O

[Michael*]

Does the PC version come with the Catwoman/Robin/Nightwing add-on? I got the Catwoman one with my PS3 copy but stupidly forgot to activate it until after I'd completed the story mode with Batman.

[donbot]

Pretty sure it'll come with Catwoman on release, and the others as separate DLC later. But I'll have to wait and see

[Michael*]

As you might expect, Catwoman is quicker and far more agile than Batman, which makes her very handy for building up beastly combos (81 is my current record, though I'm pretty sure that was a freak occurence).

 

Haven't seen Nightwing or Robin in action yet though.

[donbot]

So it finally came out, and I played the crap out of it for the past week or so

I ended up 100%'ing it, apart from the separate challenge levels.

Also, without wishing to spoil anything, there's a particular moment (I'd loosely call it a boss fight, though it didn't form part of the main story) that I think you'll really get a kick out of.

I take it you were referring to the Mad Hatter sequence.. which was indeed awesome

Just so much content crammed into the game, and all handled with such polish and detail - definately in the top 3 games of the year.

Interesting you said you didn't activate Catwoman until after you finished with Batman, but the stories were slightly intertwined.. did she still appear in some of the cutscenes and stuff? I love that they included her as a playable character, and switched it back and forth between the two. She was loads of fun to play as, although much harder to pull off the stealth sections in. And oh my, her walk cycle..

[Michael*]

I take it you were referring to the Mad Hatter sequence.. which was indeed awesome

Just so much content crammed into the game, and all handled with such polish and detail - definately in the top 3 games of the year.

Interesting you said you didn't activate Catwoman until after you finished with Batman, but the stories were slightly intertwined.. did she still appear in some of the cutscenes and stuff? I love that they included her as a playable character, and switched it back and forth between the two. She was loads of fun to play as, although much harder to pull off the stealth sections in. And oh my, her walk cycle..

Yep, that's the one. That part and the Ra's Al Ghul stuff were just so gloriously creepy - I love the fact that they made the effort to try and 'outweird' the Scarecrow segments from AA.

Catwoman still appeared in some of the cutscenes but luckily, it didn't seem to put the game out of whack in any way. It sent me to a seperate menu screen to play through the additional levels, and it was only then that I could see where the sequences should have slotted into the main storyline.

Short trailer featuring Nightwing in action. Something about him just screams 'Raiden from Metal Gear'...

[donbot]

I got both bits of DLC now. A bit disappointed that you can't use either character in free roam mode - only the challenge maps. I hope they add that functionality in later <_<

They're both pretty fun to play as though. I think Robin takes a bit more getting used to.. it seems easier to break combos using him. Nightwing's combo finishers are pretty badass - especially the one at 0:44 in the video (Y)

[Michael*]

I got both bits of DLC now. A bit disappointed that you can't use either character in free roam mode - only the challenge maps. I hope they add that functionality in later <_<

If that's the case, then it's kind of put me off paying for the extra content - there are already enough challenge maps that I can't win all the medals on.

I do enjoy the stealth sequences but some of the straight-up fighting ones (particularly the later rounds) are a little too hectic for me.

[donbot]

I just saw this the other day.. pretty interesting. I missed most of these

[donbot]

Batman: Arkham City Harley Quinn and Robin DLC teased in achievement leak

It looks like Batman: Arkham City will be getting some new DLC starring Joker’s deranged, doting lover, Harley Quinn. Eurogamer have spotted a number of Playstation 3 trophies on PS3Trophies hinting at new missions starring the sassy assassin. One of the achievements also mentions that Robin will be playable.

The Boy Wonder made his first appearance of the series in a brief cameo during Arkham City’s single player campaign. Forget the camp green hot pants of ye olde comic book Robin, in Arkham City he has a hood, which makes him five times broodier. More importantly, he has a big stick, which was great fun to use in Robin’s challenge map DLC pack. It’ll be interesting to see Quinn’s fighting style in action. Expect lots of somersaults.

Warner Brothers haven’t confirmed or denied the existence of the DLC pack yet, but there are a few details in the full achievement list below.

Lost Property [bronze] – No crimefighter should be without this

Breaking and Entering [bronze] – Find a way into the secret base

How’s It Hanging? [silver] – Clean up the Dry Docks

The Last Laugh [silver] – The joke’s on who?

Frequent Flyer [bronze] – Zip Kick 3 different thugs

Battering Ram [bronze] – Shield Bash 5 different thugs

Snap To It [bronze] – Snap Flash an unarmed thug, an armed thug, an environmental object and a Titan

Bomb Squad [bronze] – Defuse all bombs in 3 minutes or less

A Few New Tricks [bronze] – Use 5 different Quickfire gadgets in one fight as Robin in Harley Quinn’s Revenge

Party’s Over [silver] – Destroy all Harley Balloons