Batman: Arkham City Info

Batman: Arkham City is the upcoming sequel to action-adventure stealth video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, based on DC Comics' Batman, for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Microsoft Windows. It is being developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Comics. The game was officially announced during the beginning of the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards and is scheduled to be released worldwide the week of October 18, 2011.

Gameplay


Arkham City, like its predecessor, Arkham Asylum, is an open world action video game
that incorporates elements of stealth and predator tactics. All of the
gadgets previously obtained in the first game will be present at the
start of Arkham City, most of them will be possessing improved or
new capabilities; for example, the Cryptographic sequencer can also
track signals. An additional gadget have been revealed: smoke bombs to
confuse enemies. The game incorporates more puzzle elements; the use of
Batman's "Detective Mode", which highlights elements such as enemy
skeletons and clues on-screen, is used to perform forensic activities
such as tracing the origin of a sniper round. The player also has access
to a criminal database that tracks the major villains across the city
and the forensic puzzles much like the first game.^[4]
However, Rocksteady's art director David Hego stated that the use of
Detective Mode will be changed to an "augmented reality mode", as they
found players had completed Arkham Asylum using Detective Mode all of the time.^[5]
Optional challenges from the Riddler to collect hidden trophies placed
around the city will also be present, but it will require additional
effort to locate these, such as interrogation of men loyal to the
Riddler.^[4][6]
The player controls Batman, making his way around Arkham City to
complete mission objectives. In addition to the primary mission, the
game introduces secondary missions featuring a number of key characters
and their stories. The player can opt to move silently, avoiding inmates
and other enemies using a combination of gadgets and to sneak up on
enemies to take them down silently, using new tactics to surprise the
enemy. At other times, Batman may be forced to fight through inmates
using an improved version of the combat system from Arkham Asylum,
allowing for multiple simultaneous counters, reactions to thrown
objects, and the use of all of Batman's gadgets within combat. Movement
about the city is made difficult due to the formation of gangs and
territory between rival villains, such as Two-Face and the Joker, that
causes in-fighting that Batman needs to avoid.^[4]
Catwoman
is also a playable character with her own heist-focused storyline at
specific points in the game. Her combat is more acrobatics-oriented and
features her claws, whip, and bolas.^[7] She has her own version of Detective Mode to locate items to steal.^{[citation needed]}
Plot


The story for Arkham City takes place about one year after the events of Arkham Asylum.^[8] Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham Asylum, has taken credit for stopping the Joker, and used the notoriety to become mayor of Gotham City. As neither Arkham nor Blackgate Prison
are in any condition to detain inmates, Sharp buys out a large section
of Gotham's slums and arms the perimeter with private military
contractors from a group called Tyger in order to create "Arkham City".
The prisoners are brought into Arkham City and are given free rein, as
long as they do not attempt escape. To oversee the city, Sharp hires
psychiatrist Hugo Strange
who appears to have his own secret agenda for the city. Batman
maintains a vigil over the city, worried that the situation may get out
of hand.^[4] Part of the setup for "Arkham City" was contained in plans in a hidden room in Sharp's office in Arkham Asylum.^[9]
The events of the game are set in motion when Two-Face, seeking to gain notoriety among the inmates and other villains outside the city, devises a plan to publicly execute Catwoman.
Batman decides for both the safety of Gotham and of his past
relationship with Catwoman that he must stop the execution by entering
Arkham City.^[4]
A teaser trailer was released that featured Joker being nursed by Harley Quinn from the effects of the Titan formula while Gotham descends into chaos.^[10] The sequel was described by Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy as "really, really dark". While relating the game's dark nature to the animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Conroy also said, "It involves a lot of the villains and it goes to that area – it's that dark."^[11]
Characters


Three voice actors reprise their roles from Batman: Arkham Asylum. Batman is portrayed again by Kevin Conroy,^[11] the Joker by Mark Hamill, and Poison Ivy by Tasia Valenza.^[12] Harley Quinn returns as well, with Tara Strong assuming the role from Arleen Sorkin.^[13]
New playable characters include Catwoman, voiced by Grey DeLisle, in the main storyline^[7] and Robin in the challenge maps.^[14]
Wally Wingert confirmed that the Riddler is in the game.^[15] Additionally, Maurice LaMarche and Stana Katic revealed that they voice Mr. Freeze and Talia al Ghul in the game, respectively.^[16] Two-Face, Victor Zsasz,^[4][17] Calendar Man,^[18] and Penguin^[19] are also included.
David Kaye has an unspecified role.^[20]
A five-issue monthly comic series was released on May 11, 2011. The series takes place after Arkham Asylum and leads up to Arkham City. It is written by Paul Dini with art by Carlos D'anda.


Development


Serious development of the game's story and concept started in February 2009, as teams were brought in from Arkham Asylum to Arkham City's development as they completed the work on that game.^[21] Sefton Hill, Arkham City's
director from Rocksteady Studios, stated that a key goal for the game
was to deliver the "'Batman in Gotham' feeling", accomplished by several
means.^[22]
One means was through expanding the number of moves and actions that
the player could use as Batman. Though the team developed several ideas
for new moves, gadgets, and abilities to be included, they only went
forward with those that they felt would be authentic to Batman.^[22] The studio also reviewed the play and combat systems used in Arkham Asylum,
and built the new moves as natural extensions of the existing system as
a means to "add even more depth and gameplay instead of changing them
fundamentally".^[22] The number of animations has been doubled to reflect the larger arsenal of moves at the player's disposal.^[22]
Another means of giving the player the Batman experience was through the larger game world. Arkham City has a virtual footprint five times larger than Arkham Asylum,
and the navigational aspects have been improved to give the player the
experience of "the freedom and exhilaration of gliding down alleyways
and soaring above the skyline".^[22] Though the concepts have been compared to an open-world game, Hill notes that such freeform nature would not be appropriate for a Batman game, and have designed Arkham City to challenge the player to think like Batman to survive in the game.^[22]
To counterbalance the larger gameworld, the developers also sought to
include more challenges and side missions, while keeping the player
alert as to the primary story mission, such that the players constantly
are aware of "extreme pressure of the challenges that they face".^[22] The concept of expanding the game from the asylum into the city came early on in Arkham Asylum's
development; once the team had programmed the Batman to dive and glide
between buildings of the asylum, the adaption of this gameplay to the
city was considered natural. Arkham Asylum was completed with the sequel in mind in both story and gameplay; as found by several players, a secret room in Arkham Asylum shows plans for Arkham City, purposely included to help link the story between the two games.^[22]
With the open game world, Rocksteady included more villains not
simply to populate the city, but purposely selected those that would
create challenges for the player in the role of Batman.^[21]
Hugo Strange was selected as a primary antagonist as his power and
control help to maintain the lockdown on Arkham City when Batman enters
it. Strange is further aware of Batman's identity as Bruce Wayne, making
Batman "vulnerable and exposed in a way that he has never been before",
according to Hill.^[21]
Hill also notes that Strange is a character many players may have not
seen in relation to the Batman mythos, but that Strange's backstory and
character will be fleshed out over the course of the game.^[21]
Catwoman was also included due to the long history between Batman and
her, and that she brings her own agenda to the events within Arkham
City.^[21]
The presence of multiplayer had been rumored shortly after the game's
official announcement, but has since been denied by Rocksteady Studios.^[23][24]
The developers had considered adding a multiplayer element to the game,
but ultimately decided against this. According to Hill, they asked
themselves "If we use all of the energy that is required to create
multiplayer and instead focus this on the single player, would that
deliver a better overall game?", and felt that they could not succeed in
this, instead using their efforts to strengthen the single player game.^[21]
Developers at Rocksteady have also assured players that they will be
able to experience variety as each part of the city has been taken over
by a certain villain and each territory will be villain-specific. Dax
Ginn, Marketing Game Manager at Rocksteady Games has said, "If you move
into Joker's territory, you get a very Joker-ized experience, and all
the artwork on the buildings – whether that's graffiti, signage, or
whatever it might be – gives you a dense kind of Joker experience. So
our art team has really put a lot of effort in making that sort of
transition between one turf zone to another – really helping the player
feel like they're making a physical transition into another emotional
space."^{[citation needed]}
The PC version uses Games for Windows Live.^[25]