Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 Do's and Dont's

I have to agree on most of this. but i think if they added a multiplayer to this it would be ok. like playing online someone could be robin or nightwing. idk it might be ok. as long as its not like you have to stay all close to that person. like if u wanted to travel away so you could take out 2 baddies at the same time with like a predator takedown, that might be cool

i think making this open world would be a HUGE mistake. when you make a bigger open world where the player can go anywhere, you have to sacrifice resources to accomodate the huge environments. which means lessened detail and attention to graphics in 100% of the examples. look at infamous, GTA, and prototype. those were great games, with huge environments, and they are the top of the line for those types of games. and even THOSE graphics can't even begin to sniff the balls of the graphics in AA.

arkham asylum was able look as good as it did because it was almost all indoors. even the outdoor parts were relatively small when compared to an open world game. its always easier to have better graphics when you're dealing with smaller environments.

That's true cdb, but while I loved the details in AA's environments I don't think the game would have suffered without them. As long as the story was good and it didn't devolve into meaningless, "go here and and pick up this" missions like GTA I think an open map would be cool.

Not Bad,this should definitely be in the game.

But I personally would like to play as Nightwing and/or Robin,To see the story in another prospective.I dont mean co-op but it'd be cool to play as other charecters but should stay single player.

@Inspace- I agree, Robin, Nightwing or Batgril might be fun. I think it would be nice to have a Batman family free-roam game. To make the most epic game ever (although it would take logn as hell) have each character have thier own story to go through, as well as that make the game free-roam. Theres yet to be a successful free-roam Batman game and being able to cruise through Gotham in the Batmobile would be amazing. Let them take thier time so that we get great detail like in the first game.

@ ryden

i would rather batwoman or huntress instead of batgilr. oracle was an awesome part of AA, i would want barbara to be that role again, rather than out fighting.

@ thecrisisking

no one is saying it shouldn't take place in gotham.

NightWing and Robin should have their own games using "INfamous" as the engine model and of course a stylized Gotham....lets say maybe ... oh i dunno, maybe a Gotham through their eyes and the places that they would visit . Being Second Teir and all to BatMan they need to find information outlets even Batman wouldnt use and visit places that their lower profile could access. Then merge the games into one.... following an arc that we are all familiar with.

Yeah, good list. Not entirely sure about Batmobile sections or not bringing back any of the villains but it would be good to have a WHOLE cast of new villains.

IMO, an online co-op mode would be excellent and if it were similar to Uncharted 2's that would be brilliant!

@imran@ me too! :o)

AA was a set piece game. That is to say that it sacrifices huge, open, sandbox gameplay for a smaller number of high-detail, highly tuned, atmospheric, and perfectly laid out set pieces. I don't think the game would have worked without that, since the atmosphere, the detail, is what drew people in. I think changing it is a mistake. This is not to mention that most open world games (ala Saints Row, GTA, etc.) suffer the problems of extremely long development cycles, and skyrocketing budgets. In all likelihood if you wanted an open world Gotham you'd be talking about five or six years in development.

I think "theFACE" is closer to the mark in one regard. Give us a sequel that's a finely tuned single player experience, with greater replayability, and a beefier single player campaign. Don't worry about huge open worlds that are likely to send the game into development hell. Use the same engine and put the game out in two years. Add more to every mechanic and system in the game; new stealth kills, new gadgets, new combos. If it still sells, if the interest is still there, THEN work on changing the formula.

But for those insisting on an open world version of Gotham? Maybe check out DC Universe Online.

Of course OptionFour makes monumental points and TheFACE definitelly brought the finer additions that should be concidered for the sequel if it were or weren't open world. IMO, if they made the levels LONGER without making it open world, i wouldn't mind because the levels in B:AA were indeed redundant. But the fan in all of us wants an open world game and it's normal.

They could use the same engine as what InFamous used. You didn't need to grapple anywhere. You could glide with static electricity and Batman glide's better than anybody! Batman could use his cape to glide off air currents and soar through the city. He could grapple everywhere to pull himself off the ground or out of a tight spot but not "web sling". You would have bat claws on your gloves to climb any building like you could do in InFamous without focusing on grabing pipes or window ledges (that could save ALOT of development time and expences).

You could use shadows like "Manhunt" to become semi-invisible and hide till the heat wares off when you're spotted (kinda like Assassin's creed as well). The cops could be after you as much as the criminals so it would prove very challenging. And you could have a remote button to call the batmobile to you when you need to cross over lenghty distances that would take too long to glide. The car controls could be similar to grand Theft Auto. I don't think they need to elaborate much on the cars that pass you by. They didn't in InFamous and it didn't bother me in the slightest.

And the characters could move just like in Tenchu. The controls were so fast and smooth you felt practically limitless when using Ayame. The stealth kills were different for every character and each of them had different ones depending how the enemy was positionned. Batman's take downs were bland and unoriginal so they could improve on that. Tenchu's controls were the best ever for stealth games IMO. The fighting controls weren't bad but THAT'S where Batman:AA had the upper hand! The only thing is that i would have enjoyed being able to jump anywhere or anytime i wanted to and block, grapple and couter hit freely in a fight instead of button mashing combos. I liked the combos but they got old quick having no other options.

The characters in Tenchu were different enough to enjoy playing them all to get the full story (or rather their point of view). So incorporating Batwoman and Nightwing could be very entertaining. Tenchu had all the coolest items, blow darts and sticky bomb galore! So i think they should use better gadgets in the sequel. I wasn't too giddy over the exploding gel. I would have enjoyed a sticky exploding batarang or bat-shuriken way more. All in all, Batman Arkham Asylum was a great game and the best ever Batgame BUT IMO, InFamous and Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven still beats it as the best games ever made. I think they could be a benefit to the batgame franchise.

Of course like OptionFour said, the "Atmosphere" is what made B:AA so great and took the focus off of it's less great points but a great deal of that can be generated by a great soundtrack as well as gritty street and back alley sounds. They don't need to spend so much money and time on developing the environments' details like they did in B:AA when they were of no consequence. If you could use the environment more then by all means yes but that was not the case in B:AA. Most of the great graphics were wasted on trees, desks and walls when it was too dark to even see it's importance IMO.

No multiplayer are you crazy? Without multiplayer a good game can get old fast. Co op would ruin the flow of the main game but some sort of competitive mode seperate from the main game would be nice. A deathmatch could be fun. There has to be something to keep us interested.

ukboy28- Rubbish? Did you ever play Spiderman 2, or Hulk Ultimate Destruction, or Spiderman Web of Shadows? Open world would be awesome in a Batman game with the stealth elements of Arkham. The next Batman game should have your main missions, and side missions like Spiderman 2 had. Bank robberies, car chases etc.

assassins@ nah never played web of shadows?spidey 2 not my cup of tea, did think after a view levels it got repetitive tho.

why fix something is working perfect?
change the way of BAS is make another game...
As CorndogBurglar say: "i would love a batman open world game, but it needs to be a separate franchise. otherwise it wouldn't be a sequel, it would change EVERYTHING"

CDB- I feel B:AA was "great" but only cause we've never had a decent Batman game to begin with unlike Spider-man. IMO, it wasn't the "be all/end all" of video games. Superhero games have always been lacking even though for the first time ever, B:AA didn't. But it still doesn't mean that it couldn't have been better and it's only logical for us comic book fans to want a great superhero videogame as great as the other games we are fond of. To "improve" on B:AA's sequel would indeed make it different but wouldn't take anything away from the original and wouldn't make it less great. It would only be different. You might feel that "different" wouldn't be a good thing but i do. Like i said, i enjoyed it immensely but not enough to get a carbon copy of it for the sequel.

WeaponX- LOL but that Flash game they were developing was lookin' pretty bad ass!!! I wish they did make it after all.