A brief, VERY annoyiong fanboy-ey complaint about the anouncement of Arkham Asylum 2

[Powerman88]

First off, I loved the first one. My vote for GOTY and the only good Batman title (actually, spectacular, but still the only playable batman title) ever to be released for any console ever. I am really psyched that Rocksteady nailed the first one right on the head and it was awesome, but here are my nerdy, annoying concerns.

1. The quickness of the announcement and trailer release.
Even with existing technology it takes 1.5 to 2 years to develop a game in our current generation. With L4D2 aside (as much as I love it it IS a glorified expansion pack) you really can't rush something and have it be good. The game came out in what, August and already they have a pretty slick trailer at http://www.gametrailers.com/video/batman-arkham-spike-tv/59829 If it has a target release of Holiday 2010 it will concern me.

2. The name
Okay Arkham Asylum was awesome; the plot, the characterization of the Joker, etc. I know that they developed a great branding with Arkham Asylum, but can't they call it something else? Does it have to be the Joker again? There are OTHER Batman villains that are pretty cool.... and what about the Batman brand? Don't you have just a little distinction there.

I like the way Ubisoft did AC2. Same metaplot, but different characters and setting. Why can't you do that with Batman instead of cashing in on the success of the first game?

Those are my only complaints as of yet. I am hoping that the sequel will be as awesome as the first, but I will take the Yahtzee approach and will assume it will suck until proven otherwise.

 

[Arkvoodle]

Are we actually sure its going to be called Arkham Asylum 2? I thought they were just using that as a tag for familiarity until they develop it enough to get an actual working title?

 

[AcacianLeaves]

Pretty legitimate complains, but we know exactly nothing about the game other than it's name, that it takes place in Gotham City rather than the Asylum (most likely), and that Joker is one of the villains.

They probably had this trailer made at the same time they made the first trailer. Same engine, same model, so its not like it reflects any drop in quality or lack of content.

 

[The Madman]

I'm still waiting for Batman: Miskatonic University.

*cough*

Anyway, this is just L4D2 all over again. As long as they're not doing any major engine overall however and have enough staff to manage the project, there's no reason they can't make another fantastic game. Often it's the dev team familiarizing themselves with the engine and tools which is what takes game development so long, once that's done it's often smooth as butter to implement new content! That is; so long as they don't try to make any major changes to either the engine or the gameplay...

Or if they don't get over-ambitious like Obsidian did with Kotor 2, but that's another story and the chances of a similar scenario playing out with a big name brand like Batman is almost nill!

 

[HardRockSamurai]

Calm down mate. We don't really know enough about the game to be drawing such radical assumptions this quickly.

 

[Frybird]

I'm pretty sure that Arkham Asylum 2 will deliver, but i feel the same way.

After the End of AA1, everyone was excited and most expected a sequel that revolves around Gotham City, possibly picking right up on the first games ending with Batman hunting down Two-Face.

And while the setting is now certainly CLOSER to Gotham, and i still pretty much expect Two Face to at least show up, putting the sequel in a "new Arkham" is kind of disappointing and doesn't seem to live up to the potential of what Rocksteady could do to build upon thier Batman-Game-Franchise.


...Actually, it's kind of the same thing as it is with Bioshock 2. It's unlikely that the game will suck, and it is likely that it will be very good, but it's setting and setup are kind of disappointing given what there could've been.

 

[scnj]

How do we know it's in a new Arkham? They've revealed exactly nothing about the plot.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Looks pretty damn cool to me.

They really do know how to use that Unreal Engine to the best of its abilities at Rocksteady.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Played the first ones Demo.


Was a fun demo.



Didn't get the game, Demo didn't really change me.

 

[wooty]

Just bought the first off ebay for £12, so thatll be here in a few days, shall see if your rant is justified.

Also, it might be the Joker again because hes the synonimous villain, if I recall, he was the first ever enemy Batman had, if im wrong can a nerd correct me

 

[Mister Eff]

Joker is the most famous supervillain ever. And having Mark Hamil voice him, it's stupid not to have him. Though I'd prefer to have Two Face and The Riddler as the main villains.

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

Cool Story, Bro!


...I am sorry...I couldn't help it.

 

[syndicated44]

Hell even if they just plopped you in a city instead of a small island institute people are gonna eat it up. Just the setting with the same general gameplay mechanics could make a huge difference in a game like that.

 

[MarsProbe]

In this case I think I shall reserve any kind of informed or even semi-intelligent judgement on the follow up to AA once we see more than a (very slick) teaser trailer and are actually provided with something like a concrete release date.

 

[Space Spoons]

Honestly, it doesn't seem like there's enough information available yet to make any kind of informed decision, but still, I can see the point of your arguments. To tell you truth, though, even if AAII does turn out to be just an "expansion" of the first game, I'll still buy it and love it. Honestly, who wouldn't want to play more of that game?

Also, Joker's the focus of the trailer because he's the most popular Batman villain. It's easier to get fair-weather Batman fans to buy the game if the character they like most is immediately visible. This doesn't necessarily reflect how the actual game's going to be, though.

 

[IICortezII]

Does it have to be the Joker again? There are OTHER Batman villains that are pretty cool....

This is really the only point that I don't agree with you on.The joker was great in the last game, he was awesome and hillarious. I would be fine with them doing it like they did in the first where joker was the main character and there were other side characters. They could just change the side characters that come along with the joker.

Other then that I agree with your concerns.

 

[Simalacrum]

well, there are plenty of rumours that 2-face will be in the next installment... + Rocksteady have much more money now from the success of AA2, so it should, theoretically, be more successful.

 

[NickCaligo42]

First off, I loved the first one. My vote for GOTY and the only good Batman title (actually, spectacular, but still the only playable batman title) ever to be released for any console ever. I am really psyched that Rocksteady nailed the first one right on the head and it was awesome, but here are my nerdy, annoying concerns.

1. The quickness of the announcement and trailer release.
Even with existing technology it takes 1.5 to 2 years to develop a game in our current generation. With L4D2 aside (as much as I love it it IS a glorified expansion pack) you really can't rush something and have it be good. The game came out in what, August and already they have a pretty slick trailer at http://www.gametrailers.com/video/batman-arkham-spike-tv/59829 If it has a target release of Holiday 2010 it will concern me.

2. The name
Okay Arkham Asylum was awesome; the plot, the characterization of the Joker, etc. I know that they developed a great branding with Arkham Asylum, but can't they call it something else? Does it have to be the Joker again? There are OTHER Batman villains that are pretty cool.... and what about the Batman brand? Don't you have just a little distinction there.

I like the way Ubisoft did AC2. Same metaplot, but different characters and setting. Why can't you do that with Batman instead of cashing in on the success of the first game?

Those are my only complaints as of yet. I am hoping that the sequel will be as awesome as the first, but I will take the Yahtzee approach and will assume it will suck until proven otherwise.

I honestly agree. I'd rather see their take on Ra's Al Ghul than the Joker again, and I was really, really hoping to see Rocksteady branch out into other things and not see their ideas and skill with game and level design go to waste on sequels to Arkham Asylum. There's so many games that aren't Arkham Asylum that they could be developing their ideas with further, or they could work with DC on a couple of other heroes. I'd love to see them put their talents to use with Superman, for instance, or the Green Lantern, or Wonder Woman, or even the Flash. If they could capture any of those with the same competence as Arkham Asylum and really play up the "from the makers of Batman: Arkham Asylum" angle it'd be a great opportunity for DC to attract a lot of non-comic-reading gamers to their books.

 

[Drakfyre]

First off, I loved the first one. My vote for GOTY and the only good Batman title (actually, spectacular, but still the only playable batman title) ever to be released for any console ever.

While I do not question that Batman: Arkham Asylum was spectacular, I am starting to be annoyed when people call it "the only good Batman title". Certainly, there haven't been any good Batman titles in years, but Sunsoft had SEVERAL great Batman games for both the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. They probably seem simple now, but at the time they were quite a bit more fun and sophisticated than even the Ninja Gaiden series, at least in my own humble opinion. They were certainly "good" if not "great".