TheCheese33: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/batman-arkham-spike-tv/59829 Hmmph. Arkham Asylum was a downright-amazing game, but announcing a sequel so soon? With the Joker again? Hmm... Don't know what to think of that.
Weclock: Batman Arkham Asylum: as you’re all probably aware, a sequel has been announced, and I don’t think it’s going to be as good as the first, because it’s trying to take on an open area. Some listener of the joystiq podcast wrote them with an idea for a sequel, that it breaks my heart every time I realize “oh shit, that was just some idiot talking about it, rather than someone who had anything to do with the game.” but I’ll share that story with you as well.
Aliens take over The Watchtower (the Justice League’s space headquarters) and capture all of the super heroes and steal their powers. But they leave Batman (and a few other powerless heroes) alone, because he has no super Powers. Your goal is to enter The Watchtower, defeat the aliens, and rescue your super powered friends.
Why is this a better idea than “Arkhamhasmoved.com?” because it hits a few key elements that Batman Arkham Asylum had.
I. Closed Area
In Arkham Asylum, it makes sense that areas are typically small and that you have very limited movement (i.e. no open world map like Spiderman 2
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/spiderman2 80 Metacritic score). Keeping the action limited to The Watchtower is going to continue this thread, while moving it into Gotham is going to make you feel much more restricted because there you’ll be on a city block and you only have a few yards of movement area (not counting verticle space).
II. Closed storyline
You’re only concerned with what’s going on, on Arkham island. Opening it up to an entire city is really going to have the opportunity to open up too many different story arcs. Staying away from that, without feeling like you’re enclosed in some weird world closed off from Gotham is going to be difficult.
III. Compact Experience
opening up to the rest of Gotham is going to give you a longer game, if they cannot keep the storyline closed or the area closed, which means you’ll no longer have a compact experience which you can experience in a short amount of time.
IV. Lack of Characters
I guess they could see about using whatever characters weren’t in Arkham Asylum, other than the obvious ones (don’t spoil it), but it showed some of the best Characters already in AA, maybe they would have pulled some bullshit “oh they broke out” line, but if they use Mr. Freeze, Clayface, or Poison Ivy, I’m going to be pretty pissed.
And this is why, I feel the new Arkham Asylum is going to suck balls.
Because, god knows, every sequel needs to be a carbon copy of the original :p
That being said: What was Arkham Island, if not an open area? Just so long as they work out a way to fence you in without it being too obtrusive (because Bats isn't going to go get a pizza while someone is robbing a bank), you can do the street-level gameplay.
And you DO realize there are buildings in Gotham, right? :p
Closed Storyline: Again, Bats isn't going to get pizza during a bank robbery. just the same, I think some stories have even pointed out how, during a wave of supercrime, normal crime can sneak by. Same basic principle, There are degrees of importance (even to Mr Crazy Pants).
Compact Experience: The counter to that is "more is better". AA was pretty short. I for one would love a longer game.
Lack of Characters: That is a potential issue, but remember that Bats has a massive rogues gallery. And there IS the potential for a few breakouts (or even Two-Face raiding Arkham). Not like his rogues stay locked up for extended periods of time in the comics or TV show(s) :p
