Batman: Arkham Origins

[Lean]

Seems like Rocksteady is hands-off on this one:

Website

GameInformer announce page

[deihatein]

A prequel? Why?

Seems like Rocksteady is hands-off on this one

But it seems that whoever is creating this game have the engine that Rocksteady used so I guess that's a good thing. What I don't understand is why a fucking prequel?

[Lean]

I think Rocksteady is doing the sequel, and these guys from WB Games Montreal are doing this.

Presumably they made a prequel so that they'd still include Joker. :O

[shadowgrin]

Gonna suck then.
A Batman Arkham game not made by Rocksteady is like Batman without shark repellent or Bebop without Rocksteady or Lean without a sex dungeon. It just doesn't seem right.

[Lean]

Yeah. I figured that WB Montreal is like "let's do something out of Rocksteady's engine!"

Also, from NeoGAF, some info about the game.

[deihatein]

Will we have a trillion Riddler riddles? I don't have that much knowledge in the Batman lore so I'm not sure how Black Mask as the main villain will do.

[Lean]

And I haven't even completed Riddler's 400+ trophies in Arkham City.

[benji]

Rocksteady is likely working on a next gen Batman. (i kno rite) And I'm hoping this is that "silver age" project that was rumored. Apparently it's going to pull heavily on Year One along with The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. All great ideas. (Just look at how Nolan stole from it and everyone thought he was a god for doing so.)

This seems to be more or less them taking an existing engine, gameplay design, assets, etc. and spinning what we might have used to call an expansion pack out of it. Only with the Montreal studios now you have the ability to dump out an entire 40 hours of game content AND iterate on new ideas in 18-24 months. See: Assassins Creed series.

I imagine it'll be not as good, because Rocksteady understands pacing like almost no one else in the industry, but still pretty sweet because it's built on a great foundation. (Rocksteady took Batman out of the brawler, built an entire concept around that and then RE-INSERTED THE BRAWLER, a great brawler, it's amazing. And that work has already been done.) And there's all sorts of iterative ideas you can't do in a sequel like the Gotham City police trust level stuff but is great to test here. And it's Batman.

Will we have a trillion Riddler riddles? I don't have that much knowledge in the Batman lore so I'm not sure how Black Mask as the main villain will do.

Black Mask is the one of the best villains. And:

Team knows Black Mask isn’t the most popular villain

Gives hope that they know exactly why he's one of the best. (And why he bailed out of Arkham City so fast.)

[Lean]

Full CG trailer just released.

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Please HDify it, I'm too lazy.

Also I think GameInformer has new screenshots.

[el badman]

Wow

[benji]

blech, hope that had almost nothing to do with the actual game

forgot Arkham City had a dumb CG trailer too, only that one was a year before the game not five months, and awesome

[Lean]

hope that had almost nothing to do with the actual game

Sadly, I think it does spoil something with Batman having to deal with 'other guys who want to kill him.'

EDIT: IGN mentioned that the voice actor for Ezio Auditore is the guy who's voicing Batman in this game.

[benji]

I don't mean spoiling the plot, Black Mask's "plan" was in the GI preview. I mean that was a terrible dumb trailer and I hope that's not the vibe and tone of the game.

The original Arkham City trailer had an action sequence, but it was only part of it, it was mostly used (like a lot of Rocksteady's design) to establish the tone and setting. (And the entire thing was half as long and nowhere near as dull.)

[benji]

Newer stuff looks better than that CG trailer.

Word I've been seeing is that this IS more of the same in a larger world, under a new team but that it doesn't hugely drop off in the quality. Just if you want something different you're not going to find it. Which I'm totally fine with. Also heard some Star Wars prequel comparisons in terms of Batman having more tech in this game than he did in either of the first two.

But that's all the bad stuff I've seen so far, maybe others have seen different. So basically sounds like what we speculated above, Rocksteady is off making a next gen Batman (kinda basically not really confirmed...yes it is), and to keep this team going that did the AC WiiU port they had them whip up a new game with Arkham City as the base to fill out the end of the generation. (Also heard this may be why they didn't get Conroy and others as voice actors (the schedule), so just then justified it all as "everyone is younger" to hire new people.) Sounds like all the old gameplay, fighting, gliding, grapple hooking, etc. is in there. Plus a more Just Cause 2 aspect to the grapple in some respects. Specifically the hooking dopes together and stuff.

I imagine the story/detective stuff doesn't match up, but whatevs.

[Lean]

Sounds like all the old gameplay, fighting, gliding, grapple hooking, etc. is in there.

Pretty much what I thought after I saw Batman's Dive Bomb in the gameplay trailer.

[deihatein]

Sounds like all the old gameplay, fighting, gliding, grapple hooking, etc. is in there.

Pretty much what I thought after I saw Batman's Dive Bomb in the gameplay trailer.

They say it's a prequel going back to when Batman was young but I hope we get to see how he improve the way he was in the first two games.

[shadowgrin]

The game happens in only one night afaik so don't expect any long character development just Batman being Batman with more of a reliance on his gadgets since he's still a noob.

[benji]

Which as pointed out by Giant Bomb doesn't really make sense and is a bit of a Star Wars prequels situation. Why does he have better and more gadgets instead of relying more on fisting dudes?

I believe all the Arkham games are supposed to take place over only one night. Even City lol

[RedPhazon8]

I'm disappointed that there's already pre-order/DLC bonuses and the game has 4months before it comes out.

[benji]

You must not pay much attention to video gaming then.

[RedPhazon8]

You must not pay much attention to video gaming then.

Why can't I be disappointed while actually playing attention to it?

[Lean]

The game happens in only one night afaik so don't expect any long character development just Batman being Batman with more of a reliance on his gadgets since he's still a noob.

I believe all the Arkham games are supposed to take place over only one night. Even City lol

Yep.

[Lean]

Gamescom trailer:

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Looks like a legit Batcave is in this game. Also, Robert Craig Smith doesn't sound bad as Batman.

[deihatein]

Awesome, first trailer I have seen. So that means Batman will go to Blackgate prison this time around?

Troy Baker is voicing Joker, the same man who voiced Two-Face and Robin in the last game, which means no Two-Face Damn.

[shadowgrin]

Batman is Vin Diesel.

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