By Alec Meer on March 28th, 2009 at 9:45 am.
The dark’n'mysterious picture of what manner of beast Batman: Arkham Asylum may be is becoming clear. Beneath the cut, footage straight outta GDC of the Splinter Cell/Metal Geary Invisible Predator mode.
You can also find my initial thoughts on that and another of AA’s modes (a high score attack one, very much in the the vein of The Club) in a big ol’ preview piece over here, based on a few hours of hands-on perp-thumping earlier this week. While I’ve yet to try the PC build, so far it’s looking like a pretty slick superhero game as they go.
Invisible Predator is a fun time of stalking, waiting, face-kicking and wall-exploding, but one thing bothers me – why are there so many gargoyles inside a hospital like that? I’m guessing it’s so the game has a consistent, recognisable, grapple-to-this object, but it does look a little silly.
To put it simply, this could be really good!
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Impressive.
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The number of gargoyles is a bit rubbish (if it’s like that throughout the hospital) given all the grapple points appeared to have a big circle around them anyway.
Either way, looking fun.
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Alec; it’s Gotham. And it’s Arkham. If there weren’t superfluous gargoyles everywhere, I’d be dissapointed. The place was built by a madman with a pechant for the gothic, and then it was turned into an asylum. Gargoyles are absolutely necessary.
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I’m really looking forward to playing this, looks actually engaging rather than the button-masher that was Watchmen. Have to say the gargoyles didn’t really bother me either, very Frank Miller. If the game plays as well as it demos this could be one of the best superhero games ever. Munch on that superlative.
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Very Awesome, could be the best super hero game ever made. I’m very excited about this.
And i think the gargoyles aren’t that bad, the designer of the level has to balance gameplay with looks and i think they did a good job.
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Fave bit of video:
Batman plunges towards ground, lands behind unaware psychopath.
Psychopath walks backwards warily, past Batman.
Psychopath notices Batman standing immobile to left, corner of his eye, reacts with horror.
Violence occurs.
Proper order.
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I, like many, was incredibly sceptical when I saw this game initially announced but that’s completely changed with all the recent press it has been receiving. Really looking forward to it now, to the point of preordering.
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It seemed to me that they couldn’t see him when he was grappling or flying. That has the potential to ruin the game, or at least remove a whole lot of the challenge, I think.
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There was an absolutely glowing preview of the game in Edge a while back. They really seemed impressed by the gameplay. It sounds like it’s pretty harsh if you’re not careful, too – you can get chewed up pretty badly if you don’t play it like Batman.
Go figure – a whole console/gaming generation with not a single good superhero game (don’t forget how bad the curent-gen Superman and Iron Man games were!), and it looks like three are going to come out at once now – Infamous, Prototype and Batman.
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That looked surprisingly fun, and quite like the film.
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Don’t insult madman people. I am a madman, and I will never put gargoyles *inside* a building. As a decoration, maybe, but this look like the type of garfoyle you have in notredame.
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Hey, if you have the balls to put gargoyles inside your building, you gotta be a special kind of madman.
Regardless, I’m diggin’ the look of this game.
Graphics are top notch, and the gameplay looks like splinter cell with better gadgets and more hand to hand.
Can’t wait to see it myself.
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I normally just ignore superhero games (read: licensed games in general), but this is the best looking one by far. It’s like there’s actual game developers making this!
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And I liked The Club too! If you upped the difficulty level the lack of character in the anonymous goons was made up for by having to take their threat seriously – and that’s what gave the game its excitement.
Actually mostly I liked it because it fulfilled a small fantasy of having a Time Crisis-like game with full movement control.
Anyway, this looks like the game Metal Gear Solid never was for me, or Riddick with more acrobatics. So, yay!
Bats looks a bit clunky when he’s just running about, but I will forgive him because he’s wearing his grey suit rather than the boring all-black armour of the films.
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I’ve only seen the movies, never read the comic – did he have thermal vision there? Reminded me of predator not batman. Anyway, looks cool. Lets hope they don’t get lazy on the PC port.
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My first thought was that it looked like a courtyard, making gargoyles excusable, but on a look back, it’s clearly inside. I agree, gargoyles look silly. Couldn’t they have used heating/AC ducts for inside areas like this?
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Further proof that 2009 is the year of the power gamer.
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Come on, Batman can’t roost moodily on interior climate control! He’s a half-mad vigilante not a Sears repairman.
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DigitalSignalX: Batman has literally billions of dollars at his disposal. He builds batmobiles, batjets, batcycles, batsubs, and baticecreamvans. I’m not surprised if he could whip up a little thermal vision.
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I like the look of this. Promising stuff.
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DigitalSignalX: He probably has at some point but I imagine it’s more of an aid for the gamer. Rather than Batman also seeing people who’re glowing read.
…
Though he is a nutcase, so I guess it’s possible.
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I liked the “he’s out cold!” comment (after Batman blows up a wall with trade-mark shaped explosives). He’s definitely not dead everybody! Why would you think that?
And this may just be me, but I’ll probably play it just for Mark Hamill’s Joker. He really is very good.
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That looks lovely.
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Dominic: I think you’re forgetting Spiderman 2, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and Crackdown. Those were all excellent.
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This looks VERY promising was unsure about it at first but seeing the recent trailers has really swung my opinion 180 degrees
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Resident Evil 4 on the PC has been patched to finally work, right? Or otherwise, hold a bit until RE5 is out for the PC.
But if you want something like the Club done right, check out it’s mercenaries mode. Arena, enemies, combo timer, time extensions and the guns feel proper.
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@Simon – Fan patches that make it playable and look much better than the original versions, yes.
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tannrar: Spiderman 2 and Hulk: UD were last generation. Crackdown.. I’ll give you that, just about. It looks like they’re improving on that formula with Infamous anyway.
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The cape physics make this look 10 times cooler.
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DO WANT NOW PLEASE
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I really didn’t think this game was going be very fun but this video sure makes it look awesome. I think i want to play it now.
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Holy wow. That looks fun.
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It looks really fun, but bouncing off of gargoyles all over might get old rather quickly, hopefully it’s only in that portion of the game.
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It looks like there’s a cover system too.
My one concern is that the A.I. isn’t going to be responsive enough, when they spot you face to face. I hope they aren’t just going to stand there, and let you take them down.
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Looks cool.
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This game doesn’t make any sense if you can always beam Batman up to a birds eye perspective.
Maybe it’s awesome…for 10 minutes.
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This game has great promise and it looks like it’s delivering on a lot of it. However it really all rests on the responsiveness of the AI. If you can keep retreating to the safety of the ubiquitous gargoyles or they have delayed reactions than it’s not going to be fun for very long.
Stil,l I am looking forward to it.
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A bit more on video:
I like that it’s a lot more game then sim. Stealth’s always a bit awkward in a game when it tries to be like a Sim, so hard to figure out and judge etc. But if it’s much more game, like a puzzle, then it usually works out a whole lot better.
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Just to clarify. It’s only the challenge modes that are restricted to this ‘clear the room, progress to next level’ thing, right?
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