[NYCC 2011] Glide Kick Dudes In The Head
If that was their strapline, they would sell so many more copies.
Published: October 20, 2011
Batman isn't exactly a character that elicits some opinions; he has been and remains an overwhelming figurehead in both the comic book world as well as pop culture. In short, he is the man. That isn't my opinion, it is scientific fact [Editor's note: back off man, I'm a scientist].
[Other Editor's note: Did you just editor's note yourself?]
[Editor's note: Cats and dogs, living together; mass hysteria!]
After taking a romp through the darkened halls of Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady Studios couldn't keep away (not that anyone wants them to). Batman: Arkham City is the latest chapter in this Batmaniverse, and while there are some changes that I found thus far, the game hasn't strayed too far from the core mechanics.
While at New York Comic Con, I had the chance to play a bit of the latest Batman game for the first time. I had the unique opportunity to be walked through the demo build and interview Dax Ginn of Rocksteady Studios, while simultaneously have a legion of angry comic book nerds mouth-breathe behind me. So, you know, “no pressure.”
The demo started off in a darkened study, where a few of Two-Face's thugs were maxin' and/or relaxin' when an all-too-familiar shadow is seen through the eerie moonlight. The large silhouette, the dual-pointed cowl, the silence and impending doom. Yes, my friends, Selina Kyle is a scary beast.
Playing as Catwoman is an incredibly sharp contrast to Batman, which is probably made starker if you played Arkham Asylum. While Batman is a hulking tank of a man, Catwoman is a naturally fast and nimble experience. In combat, Catwoman contorted her body in ways that made me cringe. Way more than her behemoth counterpart, Selina fought a lot using her legs, allowing for some longer reach attacks and submission holds that you wouldn’t normally see. Less often, though, she would do a fury swipe, which felt as ineffective in dealing damage as kitty claws would. On the plus side, it did seem to daze the enemies more so the animation was a bit longer.
In general, Catwoman doesn’t differ that much in terms of her moves and movement; her whip stuns her foes like The Bat’s cape does and she does the same crowd control combat that you’d otherwise get. It is in terms of weight where they differ, which just might be enough for most players to justify switching things up. There is less emphasis on her weight as there is on her sheer speed; it feels like she is constantly in motion as her body bends around the enemy attacks, rather than breaking said attacks. Her move set seemed a little bit limited (obviously not having the vast array of gadgets that the titular billionaire playboy does), but she can certainly hold her own in a fight.
The sense of weight and speed that act as defining characteristics between Batman and Catwoman were a major design consideration that Rocksteady took to early on.
Dex: Having really cleared objectives before you put pen-to-paper is really (I think) the key. You know, thinking deeply about what makes these characters unique and making sure they don't just feel like reskins of each other. Obviously, we put a lot of work into Batman, and it would have been really easy to just reskin that model and those animations as Catwoman, but I think instinctively that would have felt wrong.
But you're playing a Batman game, so you probably want to know how Batman feels to control again. Folks, he is fine. In fact, he feels a bit more accurate to fight with. In fact, everything about this game plays more fluidly than Arkham Asylum did. When I took control of “that guy who gets punched in the face by Hal Jordan in Green Lantern: Rebirth” (a.k.a. Batman), we finally took to the streets of the game. Well, the rooftops.
Once outside, you start to get a sense of how big the city it, and it is reasonably sized. I say that knowing how big an open world-style game can get, but I don't get that impression of massive scale with this demo. But after all, how could you get that silly idea in your head? This game is set in a sectioned off part of Gotham City proper, so it won't be like swinging around Manhattan like in Spider-Man games.
While you don't actually web sling to move around Arkham, you will glide and grapple to move about to major locations in the game. Included in Batman's move set is a technique that allows you to quickly zip to a grapple point, as well as break off into a glide. Given this new function in travel, walking around on foot seems utterly mundane.
By making Arkham City (or any game for that matter) an open world game, any sense of atmosphere that was established in prior games is immediately in jeopardy. Dax made it clear to me that having a world big enough for a Bat-vehicle would have divided the experience into on-foot combat and a driving game, which alone could be rather jarring. Likewise, taking the game outside where the moonlight can no longer ooze through the barred windows can be challenging as well. So the addition of so many more Batman villains makes sense, or at least, how it was explained, to me it did.
Dex: Arkham Asylum was very intense and focused and claustrophobic, so it didn't need any more than just Batman and Joker in that pressure cooker. […] The way we introduced that threat is by loading the game with every single super villain you could think of. So around every corner, there's someone else that wants your blood. That is how we introduce that intensity and that sense of atmospheric threat.
And to that end, Batman has retained that element of danger. There is sense of helplessness as you go about the city, similar to that when you were trapped in the asylum. Everyone wants you dead, and there are more than enough vile creatures from Bruce's past that are more than willing to go a few rounds with him.
But when that threat isn't an immediate one, there is this sense of sorrow that Arkham City took me over with. After all, this was a slum of Gotham that people were evacuated from (and probably on short notice), so businesses, homes, and lives were all left here to be pillaged by the inmates. And if you seek vengeance for someone's teddy, be sure to know what a mess you are getting yourself into. While you can swing into action and save man from being savagely beaten, you can just as easily be surrounded as the goons call for reinforcements. But there is a glimmer of hope, my self-righteous symbols of justice: you're Batman.
[Other Editor's note: Did you just editor's note yourself?]
[Editor's note: Cats and dogs, living together; mass hysteria!]
After taking a romp through the darkened halls of Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady Studios couldn't keep away (not that anyone wants them to). Batman: Arkham City is the latest chapter in this Batmaniverse, and while there are some changes that I found thus far, the game hasn't strayed too far from the core mechanics.
While at New York Comic Con, I had the chance to play a bit of the latest Batman game for the first time. I had the unique opportunity to be walked through the demo build and interview Dax Ginn of Rocksteady Studios, while simultaneously have a legion of angry comic book nerds mouth-breathe behind me. So, you know, “no pressure.”
The demo started off in a darkened study, where a few of Two-Face's thugs were maxin' and/or relaxin' when an all-too-familiar shadow is seen through the eerie moonlight. The large silhouette, the dual-pointed cowl, the silence and impending doom. Yes, my friends, Selina Kyle is a scary beast.
Playing as Catwoman is an incredibly sharp contrast to Batman, which is probably made starker if you played Arkham Asylum. While Batman is a hulking tank of a man, Catwoman is a naturally fast and nimble experience. In combat, Catwoman contorted her body in ways that made me cringe. Way more than her behemoth counterpart, Selina fought a lot using her legs, allowing for some longer reach attacks and submission holds that you wouldn’t normally see. Less often, though, she would do a fury swipe, which felt as ineffective in dealing damage as kitty claws would. On the plus side, it did seem to daze the enemies more so the animation was a bit longer.
In general, Catwoman doesn’t differ that much in terms of her moves and movement; her whip stuns her foes like The Bat’s cape does and she does the same crowd control combat that you’d otherwise get. It is in terms of weight where they differ, which just might be enough for most players to justify switching things up. There is less emphasis on her weight as there is on her sheer speed; it feels like she is constantly in motion as her body bends around the enemy attacks, rather than breaking said attacks. Her move set seemed a little bit limited (obviously not having the vast array of gadgets that the titular billionaire playboy does), but she can certainly hold her own in a fight.
The sense of weight and speed that act as defining characteristics between Batman and Catwoman were a major design consideration that Rocksteady took to early on.
Dex: Having really cleared objectives before you put pen-to-paper is really (I think) the key. You know, thinking deeply about what makes these characters unique and making sure they don't just feel like reskins of each other. Obviously, we put a lot of work into Batman, and it would have been really easy to just reskin that model and those animations as Catwoman, but I think instinctively that would have felt wrong.
But you're playing a Batman game, so you probably want to know how Batman feels to control again. Folks, he is fine. In fact, he feels a bit more accurate to fight with. In fact, everything about this game plays more fluidly than Arkham Asylum did. When I took control of “that guy who gets punched in the face by Hal Jordan in Green Lantern: Rebirth” (a.k.a. Batman), we finally took to the streets of the game. Well, the rooftops.
Once outside, you start to get a sense of how big the city it, and it is reasonably sized. I say that knowing how big an open world-style game can get, but I don't get that impression of massive scale with this demo. But after all, how could you get that silly idea in your head? This game is set in a sectioned off part of Gotham City proper, so it won't be like swinging around Manhattan like in Spider-Man games.
While you don't actually web sling to move around Arkham, you will glide and grapple to move about to major locations in the game. Included in Batman's move set is a technique that allows you to quickly zip to a grapple point, as well as break off into a glide. Given this new function in travel, walking around on foot seems utterly mundane.
By making Arkham City (or any game for that matter) an open world game, any sense of atmosphere that was established in prior games is immediately in jeopardy. Dax made it clear to me that having a world big enough for a Bat-vehicle would have divided the experience into on-foot combat and a driving game, which alone could be rather jarring. Likewise, taking the game outside where the moonlight can no longer ooze through the barred windows can be challenging as well. So the addition of so many more Batman villains makes sense, or at least, how it was explained, to me it did.
Dex: Arkham Asylum was very intense and focused and claustrophobic, so it didn't need any more than just Batman and Joker in that pressure cooker. […] The way we introduced that threat is by loading the game with every single super villain you could think of. So around every corner, there's someone else that wants your blood. That is how we introduce that intensity and that sense of atmospheric threat.
And to that end, Batman has retained that element of danger. There is sense of helplessness as you go about the city, similar to that when you were trapped in the asylum. Everyone wants you dead, and there are more than enough vile creatures from Bruce's past that are more than willing to go a few rounds with him.
But when that threat isn't an immediate one, there is this sense of sorrow that Arkham City took me over with. After all, this was a slum of Gotham that people were evacuated from (and probably on short notice), so businesses, homes, and lives were all left here to be pillaged by the inmates. And if you seek vengeance for someone's teddy, be sure to know what a mess you are getting yourself into. While you can swing into action and save man from being savagely beaten, you can just as easily be surrounded as the goons call for reinforcements. But there is a glimmer of hope, my self-righteous symbols of justice: you're Batman.
