Batman - Arkham City

[niat]

The preview I read of this said there were 50 hours of gameplay:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/jun/14/batman-arkham-city-hands-on

Don't know if that includes the arena-type stuff, but it sounds a lot bigger than Arkham Asylum.

[Ignatius_S]

Thatnks for that link! Looks like the 50 hours includes playing the other characters as side missions.

Spotted this, which is copy of days old:

Rocksteady Game Director, Sefton Hill lays out the structure of Batman: Arkham City Hi all,

SarahMay has asked me to put down a few words about the game's structure and play time as there are a lot of questions out there about this.

Batman: Arkham City's story mode was designed to be story driven while remaining open world as we felt there was a really interesting space in between the two types of play. There is a main storyline (don't worry – no spoilers here!) which will take around 12-15 hours to complete, but this is less than half of the game.

In addition to this there are the new Arkham City Missions. These tell the story of what happens when Gotham's most notorious super villains are locked up together. These run concurrently to the main story and can be tackled whenever you find them in the city streets. Some of my favourite moments are in these missions, including tracking down a deranged serial killer, solving a murder mystery, forming an alliance with a one-time villain and confronting the Riddler as he attempts to prove once and for all he is better than Batman.

We've probably spent as much time creating the Arkham City Missions, and bringing the world to life, as we have on the main storyline and I think the choice of what to solve and where to go at any time gives the game a unique feeling.

Then of course there are the riddles and secrets to solve. We've had great fun adding these to streets of Arkham City. Our goal was always to create the most interesting and richly detailed open world game ever, and these make it rewarding to explore every square inch of the city. And Riddler has definitely raised his game this time. It won't just be a simple case of finding the secrets. Nearly every secret requires you to use your gadgets in inventive and interesting ways.

Completing all of these will take around another 12-15 hours of play bringing the story mode time up to around 25-30 hours.

All that and I haven't even got on to the new, upgraded challenge mode...

We're currently all working like crazy to polish Arkham City as much as possible and I can't wait until you all get to play it....
http://community.batmanarkhamcity.com/forums/showthread.php/397-Rocksteady-Game-Director-Sefton-Hill-lays-out-the-structure-of-Batman-Arkham-City

[Custard]

Oh my. Pre-order costumes revealed

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a332855/batman-arkham-city-pre-order-costumes-revealed.html



Dark Knight it is, then

[Ignatius_S]

Cheers for the heads-up!

Videogamer has a slightly more detailed list of what skins are available from various retailers - looks like this is a work in progress.

This report suggests that Robin will be available to all, rather just being a pre-order goodie.

[The Region Legion]

Earth One for me, but that's a might fine job. Where's 60s TV show Batman though?

[AsparagusTrevor]

Yeah, the Adam West costume would've been a dead cert for me, especially if they gave him shark spray as a bonus weapon.

[The Region Legion]

Also, how utterly wank does their Batman look in comparison to all the others?

[Lt Plonker]

I want an option to have the 60s tv show music to play during fights and when I'm running.

[madhair60]

I want an option to have the 60s tv show music to play during fights and when I'm running.

This, plus pop-up effects when you punch people, with brass band noises accordingly

POW!!

WHAM!!!

ZOK!!!

[mycroft]

It's like I've always said - if you can't see his 'tache in close-ups, then he ain't the real Joker.

[Spiteface]

This, plus pop-up effects when you punch people, with brass band noises accordingly

POW!!

WHAM!!!

ZOK!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B85QvNXApz8

I hope all the costumes become available to all eventually, and aren't just retailer-specific, because I pretty much like all of those and would want them all.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Sorry for not being a huge Batman geek but what's up with fatty number 2?

Also, how utterly wank does their Batman look in comparison to all the others?

It reminds me of the toys in the 'Meanness/Knock-off' threads

[Sivead]

Too much dinner dinner dinner Batman.

[Spiteface]

Sorry for not being a huge Batman geek but what's up with fatty number 2?

I'm not either, but I know someone in work who is.

It's from a Batman story called "The Dark Knight Returns"  Basically it's 55-year-old, past-it Bats.

My work colleague tells me it's awesome. I keep meaning to check it out, along with some other Batman stuff.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Too much dinner dinner dinner Batman.

Hah, nice!

It's from a Batman story called "The Dark Knight Returns"  Basically it's 55-year-old, past-it Bats.

Holy dubious pension scheme Batman!

[glitch]

Damnit, I really want all of those but the Batman Beyond/Animated Series ones especially.

[Angst in my Pants]

It will be interesting to see how the Batman Beyond skin will work given the cape is so different in design, I can't see how some of the moves in Arkham Asylum would be possible with Terry's "pop-out" wings.

Other than that, HELLS YEAH.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It's just the stun move that would be different, isn't it? I was always confused by how exactly the cape was able to stun the bad guys anyway. I wonder why the Beyond costume is looks less cartoony than the Animated Series one.

More to the point, I want this game now.

[MojoJojo]

Also, how utterly wank does their Batman look in comparison to all the others?

This has been puzzling me for a couple of days, but looking at it again it look fairly clear that Arkham Asylum Batman has been lazily Photoshopped in by some hack after a graphic artist put the others together. Note the way his cape doesn't appear behind him, the fact he's not looking at the camera (or at anything because the face detail is too low to see his eyes) and there are no shadows on his face.

Pretty shocking that PR people are doing awful PS jobs on computer generated images.

[Spiteface]

It's just the stun move that would be different, isn't it? I was always confused by how exactly the cape was able to stun the bad guys anyway. I wonder why the Beyond costume is looks less cartoony than the Animated Series one.

More to the point, I want this game now.

Yeah, I'm getting impatient too. Just restarted Arkham Asylum in preparation, actually.

Anyway, There's a new Batman Beyond comic doing the rounds, drawn less cartoony.  That might be it.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I'd restarted Asylum recently too, but for some reason My Xbox keeps losing my saves. After the third time, I couldn't be bothered going through the opening walk again. As atmospheric it is as an intro, I really wish they'd made it skippable.

[mycroft]

Anyone else watched the Penguin reveal trailer? Cor blimey lahve a daaahck!!

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

[Jemble Fred]

This is a larf:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1091831093001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAlws9CLk~,RAUglTst3qsfnExPPfQo947v6TD-JS3F&bctid=1094995209001

[falafel]

'Welcome to Hell'? Really?

[Angst in my Pants]

This is a larf:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1091831093001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAlws9CLk~,RAUglTst3qsfnExPPfQo947v6TD-JS3F&bctid=1094995209001

Beautiful!

[Lt Plonker]

This is a larf:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1091831093001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAlws9CLk~,RAUglTst3qsfnExPPfQo947v6TD-JS3F&bctid=1094995209001

FUCKING YES! That's what I want to play!

[Spiteface]

DLC costumes for Robin unveiled:



From L-R: Red Robin (whatever he/that is), regular in-game Robin, Animated Series Robin.

[mycroft]

The Grauniad have given it a five-star review

I am doing an excited dance and will continue to do so until Friday.

[Ignatius_S]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/322690/batman-arkham-city-review-round-up-in-full/

[glitch]

Where's the best place to preorder from? can't work out wether I should preorder and then buy all the DLC when everything's a bit cheaper. BF3/MW3 will be out soon, so I'm in no rush to get another game* I won't play until I'm bored of them.

* excluding SR3 of course :D