By Alec Meer on October 6th, 2011 at 9:02 am.
The seemingly endless drip-feed of character announcements for Batman: Arkham City is starting to get on my wick. Yes, we know there will be supervillains in the game. Can we not just play it now? Please? Also in there, Mr Marketing has slowly told us, are a raft of playable Bat-Chums, including Batman’s diminutive protege Robin, who’s been redesigned as a sort of scrappy thug. Why would anyone want to play as Robin instead of Batman? I mean, Robin. But you can see the speedy wee fellow in action below.
He’s exclusive to pre-ordering the game from certain shops, in that horrible, fandom-exploiting way so many games embrace these days, but no doubt you’ll be able to pay for him further down the line if you’ve had the temerity to buy the game from somewhere else.
JINGLE BELLS BATMAN SMELLS ROBIN FLEW AWAAAAAAAAAAY.
06/10/2011 at 09:09 MartynEm says:
I can’t imagine anything that would make me want to play this more than co-op. And I’d be Robin*
*I’m still not sure on the character design, but I’d live.
06/10/2011 at 09:15 SuperMatt says:
I really hate these pre-order bonuses. I am a massive Robin fan (especially Tim Drake) and I’ll do anything to get my hands on this, but I also use Amazon for my purchases. Hell, I have an Amazon account with Amazon vouchers that need spending so, dammit, I’m going to purchase from Amazon!
It’s so blindingly obvious why they’re doing this too:
Want to stop 0 day piracy? Give people stuff that they can only get from pre-ordering. That way the game doesn’t feel “complete” unless you’ve pre-ordered. Additionally, it means more people will fork over their money before it’s out than wait for guys like yourselves to review it, ensuring great sales for a bad game, in some cases.
Quite frankly, this is a despicable practice.
06/10/2011 at 09:37 michal.lewtak says:
Want to
stoppromote 0 day piracy? Give people stuff that they can only get from pre-ordering. That way the game doesn’t feel “complete” unless you’vepre-orderedpirated it.I would pay for the game if it weren’t encoded on a magical crystal then split into four parts and hidden in four corners of the world.
06/10/2011 at 10:13 Teddy Leach says:
I would. And then I’d go on adventures to find them and probably battle nazis along the way.
06/10/2011 at 10:37 Sheng-ji says:
Nah, you just have to guestimate (Sorry, I hate that expression too, but I couldn’t think of a better word) how much it’s going to cost to get the DLC – I think Robin will cost a fiver, then add that to the price of your chosen outlet. Buy from there, and have a couple of months patience.
06/10/2011 at 12:53 Hoaxfish says:
If you don’t like guestimate, feel free to choose, guess or estimate… since they pretty much mean the same thing in the context where guestimate is used.
06/10/2011 at 15:29 StenL says:
Scene releases come with all 0day DLC.
06/10/2011 at 09:16 Avish says:
They should change the title of the video to: “How to get a headache in 30 seconds”.
Maybe it’s my old age, but I didn’t manage to get anything out of this video… everything is so fast these days…
06/10/2011 at 09:20 Jekhar says:
I think you meant: “How to go from day-1-purchase to wait-for-GotY in 30 seconds.”
Pre-launch DLC, Gamestop exclusive? Pass.
06/10/2011 at 10:45 Matt says:
Actually, Robin is available as a preorder bonus from Best Buy as well as Gamestop, for whatever that’s worth.
Me, I haven’t even played the first one yet (damn Steam sales… so enticing), so I think I’ll be holding off on this.
06/10/2011 at 13:31 Iskariot says:
“I think you meant: “How to go from day-1-purchase to wait-for-GotY in 30 seconds.”
-
That was exactly what I thought.
I loved the first Batman game and I absolutely want this second game, but I never pre-order.
I hate this pre-order DLC nonsense.
So, to get Robin I will have to wait for the complete GOTY edition it seems.
I hate to wait for this beautiful game, but… Oh well.
06/10/2011 at 14:19 Zelos says:
You guys need to get off your high horses. Arkham Asylum did the exact same thing and didn’t suffer for it.
Also, pre-order bonuses =/= DLC. 99.99% of the time you don’t actually download anything, and I can’t think of a single pre-order bonus that has actually provided content in a game.
06/10/2011 at 14:49 mjig says:
Buy game, pirate DLC. That’s what I always do. I have yet to see DLC that was actually worth it. My friends always point to New Vegas, but you get something like 10-12 hours all together for $50.
Bring back expansion packs.
07/10/2011 at 15:43 Aankhen says:
FWIW, I’m 23, and I agree with you. I’m getting very tired of the way movie trailers and game trailers rely so heavily on fast cuts as their primary tool these days.
06/10/2011 at 09:20 Brahms says:
The new Batman seems interesting, but I guess it’ll probably play very similar to the old Batman. Not a great loss but not particularly exciting either. A solid budget buy in my opinion. At least it’s DC and not Marvel. My ex liked Marvel. X-Men specifically. We made up a mutant called The Defenestrator once and then found, against the odds, that he already existed.
07/10/2011 at 13:03 theblazeuk says:
And he does in fact live in Gotham City (though he’s not a mutant), part of the city’s brave, surreal defenders – SECTION 8!
Heh heh….bueno.
06/10/2011 at 09:29 ThinkAndGrowWitcher says:
What I do like here is Alec’s unashamed positioning of a secret camera behind the urinals in order to snap Robin taking a somewhat solemn piss. Bravo!
06/10/2011 at 09:40 Flint says:
There is something unintentionally hilarious in that narrator voice. It’s like it’s trying to be your usual deep, booming trailer voice but comes off moreso as a very matter-of-fact guy having a sore throat.
06/10/2011 at 14:59 BeamSplashX says:
It was as if the European guy from White Gold that tried to sound British tried to imitate Albert Wesker.
“Only if you pre-order from GameSt- hey, weya ah you goyn, grampa? T-Virus!”
06/10/2011 at 09:44 Jazz42 says:
So it is Tim, good.
It’s probably too much to hope that people will stop treating Robin as a joke considering Tim Drake is a far more badass character than Batman ever was, but one can dream.
06/10/2011 at 09:59 Juan Carlo says:
Nah, I think Robin is most amusing as an anachronism and a joke. I want him to follow Batman around and say things like “gee-whiz!” and “Holy-smokes!” and “”Golly!”
Kid side kicks for crime fighters is a stupid enough concept that I think they only work if you embrace the wide-eyed, irony free, golden age era, aesthetic under which they were original conceived. Giving Robin a bad ass ‘tude just makes him more lame.
(and yes, I know there have been lots of different robins over the years–not all of them kids–but I still think it applies)
06/10/2011 at 11:30 The Tupper says:
Robin more badass than Batman? And yet he’s still called ‘Robin’, isn’t he?
06/10/2011 at 13:48 Jazz42 says:
and ‘Batman’ is any better?
Tim doesn’t have a ‘badass ‘tude’ as you call it, he just is. I agree the redesign is dumb as hell, more fitting of Damian than Tim, but..oh what’s the point? If you don’t read the comics you wouldn’t know. He’ll forever be Burt Ward beating up Bruce Lee and saying ‘holy somethingorother’ which is fair enough I supppose..or worse Batman and Robin nipple suits.
06/10/2011 at 09:49 JackShandy says:
“Ok I’m the best fighter ever now, better go fight some crime. Wait! Bullets hurt. First I should hire a distraction. Someone to rush in making wisecracks in a bright costume. Some kind of… child….”
(I would play as this robin any day, though.)
06/10/2011 at 13:37 Obc says:
thats a great version of robin and kinda makes more sense. i like it.
06/10/2011 at 15:31 eclipse mattaru says:
I was going to say that the only Robin ever to be worth two shits was the girl from The Dark Knight Returns, but that one would do as well.
06/10/2011 at 20:05 Jake says:
Stephanie Brown – with a gun – is not a great Robin really.
07/10/2011 at 03:35 jamesgecko says:
Here’s the post that’s from: http://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/post/7811124435/if-dc-ever-paid-me-to-do-a-batman-story-it-would
He also did similar reboots for members of the Justice League: http://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/post/10979241054/rebooting-the-justice-league
06/10/2011 at 09:57 Zepp says:
“The seemingly endless drip-feed of character announcements for Batman: Arkham City is starting to get on my dick.” Yes…
06/10/2011 at 10:03 lijenstina says:
(Reliant) Robin the third wheel of superheroes.
06/10/2011 at 10:12 Teddy Leach says:
… *Thumbs up* Special friend!
06/10/2011 at 10:34 The Sombrero Kid says:
they wont be getting my money unless it’s free of gfwl, if they do i couldn’t care less about playing as robin.
06/10/2011 at 11:05 Syra says:
Holy shit batman! Robin looks awesome in action.
I’m that guy rofling at the very IDEA of robin, but damn they made him cool in game.
06/10/2011 at 11:08 Film11 says:
Apart from horrible pre-order only DLC, it’ll almost certainly be sold using GFWL market place, which means buying the wretched MSP, inherently designed to make you pay more for less.
Which means I’ll be waiting for the GotY version, despite being a huge fan of Arkham Asylum. Sorry Eidos, Rocksteady, etc. Maybe when your publishers get some brains they might get my money.
06/10/2011 at 11:14 Quizboy says:
I’d want to play as Damian. He’s an utter tiny psychopath who went at the Joker with a crowbar and kept attacking Alfred at one point. I’d be all about playing as Damian. He originally even had a remote control system implanted so his evil mother could take him over, so it’d be kind of meta. You’d be playing as Talia, playing as Robin.
That said, this Robin is not Damian. He’s Cole McGrath (see: Generic Videogame Gruff Bald Sufficiently Masculine Man) in Robin drag.
06/10/2011 at 13:31 DickSocrates says:
I can’t wait for the game, but I am also having serious issues with their marketing. They started the full pre-release ramp up far too early, and can’t seem to help themselves from spoiling things. I’m sure there are things they haven’t mentioned, but the stuff they have would have been so much better if the player found it. That GT reveal of new weapons and another villain was just foolish. What’s wrong with them?
06/10/2011 at 13:49 Malfious says:
The batmobile lost its wheel and the joker got away.
06/10/2011 at 15:11 BeamSplashX says:
SPOILERS.
06/10/2011 at 16:28 godgoo says:
Robin Timberlake, on roids.
06/10/2011 at 17:10 Thule says:
I like Batman but utterly hate Robin. Robin is relic from a time in which all superheroes needed some kind of sidekick and I’d wish they’d just make him go away. But I guess comics for some reason need to make callbacks to absolutely everything that happened once in another decades old story or characters which are no longer relevant.
06/10/2011 at 20:04 Jake says:
There have been lots of good Robin stories and he is really an integral part of the Batman mythos. It’s just a case of reading more of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff – same with all long running comics. Try the recent Batman and Robin by Morrison and Quitely.