The Batman: Arkham series.

[The Man Known as Dan]

New Game + on Hard isn't that hard you big babies.

You guys aren't worthy of the name Batman. You aren't even worth the name Spoiler.

[The Natural]

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

HOLY SHIT.  I am so ampped for this.  Going  to have to call in that day.

[odessasteps]

BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS

Pre-order¹ Batman: Arkham Origins now and get the Best Buy® Exclusive Tim Drake Skin² for use in Multiplayer mode, and a collectible SteelBook case.From best buy spam i got today

[The Z]

New Game + on Hard isn't that hard you big babies.You guys aren't worthy of the name Batman. You aren't even worth the name Spoiler.

 

Woah, don't let Brian Fowler catch you saying that.

[TheVileOne]

Wow looks like Batman's got electric knux now, that's awesome.

[The Natural]

I hope WB Montreal keep Rocksteady Studios traditional slow walking introduction. Batman: Arkham Asylum's has Batman taking The Joker into Arkham Asylum and in Batman: Arkham City, it's Bruce Wayne who is in Arkham City. So well done.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

Yes.  That was so much better than a cut scene or a jump right into the action.  Very interactive and fun.  The one thing Arkham Asylum had that I missed a lot in City was the Scarecrow stuff.  I lost it during the Crime Alley sequence.  that was so fucking awesome.  

[TheVileOne]

Love the slow introduction for Arkham City and getting to play through that first fight sequence as Bruce Wayne.  I also wouldn't mind something like

 

Catwoman's false ending.

 

But what's great about the Arkham City one is that you can actually spot Azreal if you look at one of the building roofs and Black Mask who sort of figures into the rest of the game in the background and Robin's DLC maps.  But the subtle stuff with Black Mask is what I love about the second game.

 

I mean, I'm not that enthusiastic about this game being a prequel, but it looks like it will be good enough and they've been able to copy the Rocksteady style and gameplay.  Captain America tried to basically copy Arkham Asylum but it just wasn't as smooth.  

[The Natural]

Yes.  That was so much better than a cut scene or a jump right into the action.  Very interactive and fun.  The one thing Arkham Asylum had that I missed a lot in City was the Scarecrow stuff.  I lost it during the Crime Alley sequence.  that was so fucking awesome.  

 

I missed the great Scarecrow sections, the second you mention was the best of them.

 

Also:

 

[The Natural]

So I played Batman: Arkham City for the first time since the 8th of August yesterday (didn’t want to play it while my Mum was in hospital).

 

I had a big session in the main story: going back into the Steel Mill, fighting The Joker with thugs, Mr. Hammer and a Titan jumping in as ghost trains are running, playing the Catwoman section when you break into the TYGER vault, as Batman climbing helicopters in search for TYGER Master Control Program codes, climbing Wonder Tower, going up against Hugo Strange, finishing the main story as Batman and the final Catwoman section as she faces Two-Face.

 

If you remember, I said I forgot to destroy the one remaining Titan container when you visit Wonder City for the first time. I wasn’t looking forward to going through the Subway to get it as I found it the easiest place to get lost, then Wonder City but you return to Wonder City as you head for Hugo Strange. I liked that as I was able to destroy that Titan container and end the Fragile Alliance side mission. I also unlocked a couple more challenge maps. Before I stopped, I found the third remaining Deadshot victim and narrowed the three possible locations where he’s at and completed enough riddles to rescue the fourth Riddler hostage.

 

Remaining now from main story mode are a few side missions, Riddler Trophies, Riddles, Riddler hostages and the breakable objects. I have Harley Quinn’s Revenge as I own Batman: Arkham City, Game of the Year edition. I’m guessing as that was DLC, it doesn’t reflect the upgrades/skills made in main story mode? Don’t like that. I also have the medals from challenge mode/challenge maps which I think most people know it as, not Riddler’s Revenge.

 

This post is getting big so I’ll spoiler tag my favourite and least favourite things from Batman: Arkham City for size.

 

Highlights:

 

The four playable characters: Batman, Nightwing, Robin and Catwoman. The best thing about the game.

The vocal performances particularly Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Mark Hamill as The Joker. I’ll also mention Wally Wingert as The Riddler and Nolan North as The Penguin.

The great Freeflow combat system. I’ve only felt a few times it didn’t accept what I pressed.

Travelling through Arkham City via gliding, dive bomb and grapple gun. It’s one of the best ways to get around in any game ever.

The fan service by Rocksteady.

The Penguin section of the game.

The riddle where you see Arkham Asylum on Arkham Island and the Bat Symbol riddle. Really liked them.

Mr. Freeze boss fight.

The boss fight with The Joker, thugs, Mr. Hammer and a Titan while amusement cars are running.

The rewind when Catwoman leaves Arkham City and Batman.

Riding helicopters to find the TYGER Master Control Program codes.

Clayface boss fight.

Only You.

 

Lowlights:

 

Augmented Reality Training particularly the first two advanced ones.

Too many Riddler trophies.

Stealth isn’t as good as Arkham Asylum, quite a way for me actually.

I completely agree with The Unholy Alliance about the story. However, I liked the Clayface boss fight.

I wish you could use alternate costumes in main story mode from the start. I don’t like you have to complete the game before you can and on certain difficulty settings. Boo.

Easy to get lost in places particularly the Subway and Wonder City, my two least favourite locations in the game.

The Blade Dodge/Blade Dodge Takedown.

I find the counters for shields is hit and miss, usually a miss.

The Remote Control Batarang isn’t forgiving,

[Raziel]

Harley's Revenge carries over all the upgrades.  Whatever stuff you have with Batman and Robin in the challenge maps will be there in Harley's Revenge.  

 

As much as people hate the swerves at the end, the entire endgame sequence (from the Point of No Return in the Steel Mill to the credits) is one of my favorite stretches in and video game.  

[The Natural]

Harley's Revenge carries over all the upgrades. Whatever stuff you have with Batman and Robin in the challenge maps will be there in Harley's Revenge.

 

As much as people hate the swerves at the end, the entire endgame sequence (from the Point of No Return in the Steel Mill to the credits) is one of my favorite stretches in and video game.

 

Thanks. You're the artist once known as OutlawStar 51, right?

 

Did you guys complete the side missions, Riddler trophies, riddles, Riddler hostages and the breakable objects before Harley Quinn's Revenge or did you jump between the two?

[The Natural]

I tried Batman's Special Combo moves presses (A+X for Special Combo Bat Swarm, A+B for Special Combo Multi Ground Takedown and X+Y for Special Combo Disarm and Destory) when playing with Nightwing, Robin and Catwoman in the challenge combat maps. Some work better than others, Nightwing had the best. When the number flashes, that's the time I use a Special Combo Move.

 

It's a X5 combo to use the Special Combo Moves and five after that etc. right?

[The Natural]

Since my last post about my Batman Arkham City progress, I’ve: rescued the fourth Riddler hostage according to the achievement, used five different Quickfire gadgets in one fight, unlocked all Batman’s gadgets/upgrades, finished the Serial Killer side mission, collected all the Riddler Trophies for Batman in Park Row and The Bowery so I just have Catwoman trophies to collect there. I also got Bronze Revenge with Batman in the challenge maps. Considering Batman trained Nightwing and Robin, they really should have Batman’s Special Combo Disarm and Destroy move.

[Dirty J.]

I pre-orderded this and GTA 5 over the weekend. We can basically assume that GTA 5 is going to be GOTY, but I am way more excited for this game. More of the same, but I can't wait.

[TheVileOne]

Disarm and Destroy is probably my favorite combo in all the Arkham games.

 

Also were all the easter eggs found?  I remember about a year ago the director said there were still 3-4 that hadn't been found yet.  I would think by now, everything is accounted for.

[Raziel]

The Arkham City wiki lists 54 Easter eggs between the main game, and the Catwoman/Harley DLC's.  I've seen just about all of them, so I don't think there's anymore left.

 

Course, there's like, 4 that point to what now's gonna be the 4th game, I would think.

[The Natural]

Here’s the latest on my Batman: Arkham City progress:

 

I’ve stopped all assaults in Arkham City, beat Deadshot, retrieved Catwoman’s stolen goods and rescued the fifth Riddler hostage. I finished the Catwoman Riddler Trophies in Park Row and The Bowery so those are now complete, so is Amusement Mile and Industrial District for both Batman and Catwoman Riddler Trophies. Industrial District was my least favourite. Glad those four are done as those are the biggest areas for Riddler Trophies, a row of twelve compared to eight everywhere else. I only had one Catwoman trophy to get in the Museum so I got that and then completed the three remaining Catwoman Physical Challenges. I have 350 Riddler Trophies

 

Hardest Riddler Trophies to get for me are the ones involving speed with the Remote Control Batarang and the Remote Electrical Charge. I’m not looking forward to going back to the Subway and Wonder City to finish what I have remaining. There were a few areas I wasn’t able to destroy all the breakable objects first time around. I’ll have to see how that goes.

[The Natural]

GameCentral previews Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate:

 

GameCentral takes a look at both Arkham Origins and the portable-only Blackgate – a Metroidvania style game from the makers of Metroid Prime.

 

Despite him having no superpowers of his own Batman is widely regarded as having the best rogues gallery in comics. But beyond the A-listers like The Joker and Two-Face there are many other supervillians that would work just as well, if no better, in a video game. The likes of Deathstroke and Copperhead may not be household names but they may just be the making of this new prequel.

 

As well as focusing on some lesser known villains the fact that the game is set in the early years of Batman’s career allows Arkham Origins to portray the more famous bad guys in a different light than usual, with many meeting Batman for the first time. It’s an intriguing set-up but while the story and many of the characters are all-new the gameplay seems to be largely identical to Arkham City.

 

That’s no bad thing given what a good that was and it’s also not surprising given that Arkham Origins is being developed by new studio WB Games Montréal – not series creators Rocksteady Studios (whose current project is still a mystery).

 

We actually got hands-on with the game back at E3 but at Gamescom we got to watch a new section of gameplay involving the villain Firefly. His shtick is that he’s a pyromaniac with a flamethrower and a jetpack, which as anti-Batman deterrents go are pretty handy. The section of gameplay we see is set on a bridge which Firefly has wired with explosives, and which the Gotham PD are trying to disarm.

 

Batman himself is trying to take down Firefly, with some very cross words shared between him and Gordon (who are not yet friends, given this is still Batman’s early days). It all looks very impressive and well in keeping with the quality of the rest of the franchise, but then we’d already had most of our concerns about the game allayed back in June.

 

We’re then given an opportunity to have a go on the Deathstroke pre-order downloadable content, in which you get to play as the mercenary in some specially made challenge maps. We only have time for a brief go though as we’ve got to get to our interview, but we find it a little odd that he doesn’t seem to be using a gun at any point – despite his nickname being The Terminator (and he coined that before the James Cameron movies too). Although given our brief go we can’t say for sure he never uses them.

 

In the end though opting for an interview instead of more hands-on proves a bad a decision, as it turns out to be possibly the most unedifying discussion since we last spoke to Phil Harrison. In fact Warner’s Eric Holmes could give Microsoft’s frontman a run for his money as he dodged every question and managed to say absolutely nothing in as polite a way as possible (and with a wonderfully bizarre mix of Scottish and American accent).

 

We asked him what improvements had been made to the game since Arkham City, to which the answer apparently was the new story. In fact his answer to almost every question was story-related, from what difference it makes that Batman is younger, to why he seems to have just as many gadgets as the later games and how the detective elements work.

 

We even asked him why it’s snowing again in the game, seeing as that trick had already been used in Arkham City, to which the answer was again… the story (specifically as a form of thematic and visual irony, as well as homaging the fact that, according to him, a number of classic Batman stories are set on Christmas Eve).

 

Nevertheless, Arkham Origins does look very good and although it doesn’t seem to move the franchise forward in any significant way WB Games Montréal have done an excellent job of mimicking Rocksteady’s work, to the point where casual players will likely have no idea it’s by a different team. All of which we assume is exactly the point.

 

Formats: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PCPublisher: WB GamesDeveloper: Warner Bros. Games MontréalRelease Date: 25th October 2013

 

Compared to its sister title on the home consoles Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is much more of an unknown quantity. It’s a completely separate game, with a totally different story, and created by Armature Studio – a team that includes many veterans of Metroid Prime makers Retro Studios.

 

The story is set months after the events of the home console game (spoiler: Batman survives!) and takes places within Blackgate Prison, which in Batman lore is the prison for non-insane supervillains – i.e. where everyone goes to if they don’t end up at Arkham. Although for some reason clearly nutso bad guys like The Joker are still present in the game.

 

We don’t get much of a feel for the specifics of the plot but the basics are that The Joker, Penguin, and Black Mask are each in control of a different section of the prison and Batman has to sort them all out. The section we play is in a Penguin-controlled area, which results in lots of penguin-shaped bombs hiding in the rafters and waiting to fall on your cowl.

 

The Batman: Arkham games always had a degree of influence from the Metroid games, hitting at how the series could work from a third person view if Nintendo ever went that route. In Blackgate though the comparisons are even more obvious, albeit to the original 2D Metroid games. We play the game on the PS Vita and although the visuals are excellent, and fit in exactly with the look and feel of the console games, the camera angle, puzzles, and platforming are all very Samus Aran.

 

There’s even a Metroid Prime style scanning tool where you can prod the PS Vita’s touchscreen in order to highlight interactive objects. But what we didn’t see much evidence of is exploration. The section we were playing seemed extremely linear, with no alternative routes or any doubt about which way we were to go. In fact we actually got stuck at one point because there was nowhere else to go and we hadn’t realised we had to scan a bit of scenery so we could then grapple onto it.

 

Still, it is just a demo – no doubt one intended to be as accessible as possible – and as long as their hands haven’t been tied we have some confidence that Armature know what they’re doing. It certainly looks the part, with graphics that look almost identical to Arkham Origins (albeit in profile), and a combat system that also works in essentially exactly the same way.

 

The only demonstration we get of this though is a fight with Bronze Tiger, a villain that hasn’t appeared in the games before but seems to own a set of Wolverine-style claws. The way he telegraphs his attacks makes him fairly easy to beat though and he’s only a mini-boss.

 

According to the developer helping us out there are eight proper boss fights and each one can be tackled in any order, providing a new piece of equipment when you beat them. It seems odd to be looking to Mega Man for inspiration in a game like this but at least it suggests an element of non-linearity not present in the rest of the demo.

 

Although we’re not fully convinced by Blackgate it does seem to be a genuine effort to offer an experience tailor-made for portable consoles, rather than just trying to recreate the home console experience or, as is more usual, just ignoring the 3DS and PS Vita entirely. For that reason alone we hope the game works out.

 

Formats: 3DS and PS VitaPublisher: WB GamesDeveloper: Armature StudioRelease Date: 25th October 2013

 

Credit: metro.co.uk/gamecentral

 

Hope the following point I'm going to make comes across the way I mean...do the graphics from Batman: Arkham Origin look shiner/shaded differently to Batman: Arkham Origins and Arkham City or is it just me?

[TheVileOne]

Got to say the Riddler maps have gotten me to continue playing Arkham City a lot.  Just got the Silver Revenge achievement.

 

Really excited to see if multiplayer can turn out well in this series.  Playing City and the Riddler maps I was thinking about how cool this could be in multiplayer. 

[The Natural]

440/440!!! Yes!!!

 

I collected all the Riddler Trophies in Batman: Arkham Asylum and I've done the same for Batman: Arkham City. Collecting them in Batman: Arkham City might be the gaming achievement I'm most proud of.

[The Natural]

That's Harley Quinn's Revenge done with all achievements including all Harley's balloons broken. I liked the story using Robin to find Batman who is missing and it goes back two days earlier to show what happened to Batman, then Robin again and finally Batman. This was good. All I have to do now is to try and get more medals on the challenge maps with each playable character.

[The Natural]

Cheers, TheVileOne.

 

Guessing I'm not the only one who uses the Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns and Batman Beyond looks more than the others for Batman in Batman: Arkham City? I preferred Batman: Arkham Asylum's Batsuit to the one in Arkham City, the differences between them are small.

 

Latest from Batman: Arkham Origins...

 

 

 

 

 

Again, Batman: Arkham Origins graphics look differently to me compared to the two previous games. I like the look of them. I was a fan of the new Batsuit from the start (in spoiler tags for size):

 

[

[PuroresuFan]

I'm really stoked for this after watching that video. I pre-ordered and took the Skins pack option over playing as Deathstroke. That suit looks pretty sharp but I cannot wait to play as this version: