The new Batman Arkham asylum demo is out and we took a closer look at it.
Last time I wrote about genre and perspective in games, compared to prose fiction. Now it’s time to take a closer look at how games can be used to tell stories, exploring why it’s such an Read more…
I was asked to give a talk comparing storytelling in games and literature by Access Creative College. This article is based on that talk. It’s easy to think that interactivity is the key difference between games Read more…
Heat Signature is fantastic at telling unauthored, emergent stories. Here’s a cool video all about its procedural generation of characters: And here’s a personal anecdote, generated entirely by a combination of the game, my actions Read more…
0 Comments
JJ · August 7, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Good Review. I loved Batman when I was younger, and the tension built over this game has rekindled that feeling. Thanks for leading me though the demo; just don’t have the time to d/l at the mo. Definately getting this on my PS3.
Am I wrong or is there also a Joker mode where you play as the Joker in the same environment?
Simon Jones · August 7, 2009 at 10:40 pm
I think playing as the Joker is a PS3-exclusive – not 100% sure though. Seems like they’re doing a few platform exclusive bits and pieces – on the PC you’ve got PhysX enhancements, so all the floating bits of paper you see in the first fight in the video as Batman whooshes about only appear on PCs with nVidia cards.
It’s the first demo I can think of in a very long time that’s made me want to replay it several times.
Dave Cranwell · August 8, 2009 at 11:49 pm
So THIS is what Mark Hamill has been doing with his time! Its required a brief IMDB to catch up on his life thus-far, but it seems hes been frequently employing himself in voice acting. The last time i saw him on *screen* was in some comically poor post-apocalyptic thing involving some kind of Heath-Robinson plane, if i remember correctly. That was pretty much the point where I lost interest, but to hear his Joker stuff in this is really remarkable!
As far as the game goes, yeah whatever. Certainly looks fun and overzealously bump-mappy. I’m beginning to slightly resent games where the characters and actors involved actually make the game far more exciting than the films on which they’re based (the Original Batman was great, but you know..that stuff afterwards up to Dark Knight. Yeah. best not speak of it). Theres a point where so much character development and money must be getting put into these projects where it raises the question why they couldn’t make a really gritty, low-budget film, rather than a game which will be forgotten in a few brief hours of play.
When environments look as good at Arkham does in this, and when voice acting is as good as Hamil’s for The Joker, its mainly out of frustration that I say I wish they’d just made a film!
Simon Jones · August 9, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Yeah, it does in places have that trademark UE3 bump-mappy, super-shiny, plasticky thing going on, but it’s better than most. Certainly more convincing than Bioshock, for example.
Lots of people seem to say that the animated Batman movies starring Hamill etc are by far the best Batman films, including all the various live action ones. I’ve not been able to check them out yet, alas.