Speaking of Bats

One of the games featured at this year’s GDC was Batman: Arkham Asylum. The game was demonstrated on the show floor, and now we get a chance to see proper video footage of actual gameplay. A developer walks us through a “challenge room” attempt, showing the various ways in which you can hunt enemies in the game.

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I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. Despite there being so few successful game adaptations of the series, my being a Batman fan means I’m doomed to optimism. Developers Rocksteady name drop key games like the Metroid series and BioShock which piques my interest. It is interesting to see their approach to the basic fighting mechanics – rather than be a straight brawler the game emphasizes a more cautious manner. Enemies are easier picked off one by one in a predatory fashion as opposed to taking them head-on in numbers. As such the gameplay closer resembles the source material than most of the previous games. I’m not totally sold on the art style, and the overly burly and chunky characters take away a little from the overall look, but I’m willing to forgive it if the game can deliver in other areas.

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