Raz Review: "Mark Hamill voices the Joker in this game, and does an amazing job. Even without that little extra, this is still the best Batman game ever made, in my humble opinion. Just like Heath Ledger raised the bar on Nicholson's performance, this could easily become a new standard. I'm hoping the inevitable sequel will let you fly the Batwing or drive the Batmobile around Gotham. The Batbike and Batsub would be the frosting on the cake.
It isn't as open-world as I like a game to be, though you can explore a fair bit and Arkham is a big island. There are three basic modes of play as you progress - stalking, fighting and detective work. That last one will keep you fairly busy trying to solve all the Riddler's puzzles. Fighting is simple enough, but difficult to master. The challenge modes are a good way to practice.
Stalking is the most fun. You have to assess the area, move silently and invisibly, and take out every enemy without sounding an alarm. Ghosting guards from above, popping out of grates, setting traps...whee! Heady stuff - watch your victims panic in terror as their friends disappear one by one.
Batman's gadgets are tons of fun. Line launchers, batarangs, claws, special armor, explosives...all upgradable. You'll need to acquire some of these from special locations to access all of the nooks and crannies of Arkham.
The storyline is well-crafted, the graphics are amazing. This is not a kids' game either, despite the comic book appeal - the themes are decidedly adult, from Ivy and Harley's tight little outfits to some very disturbing imagery and ultra-violent scenes; this is something for teens and up.
My only beef is that I'm still doing the same 3 things over and over again. Meh - there's always room for improvement, right?"
Online: No
Rated: 8/10
The Nerd Stash: “The PS3 marked a turning point in the industry, and among the sea of popular titles came the rare games that are worth more now than ever.”
Ex-Rocksteady directors' Hundred Star is collaborating with Xbox Game Studios Publishing for its first-ever AAA game.
Highly doubt it'll be an actual Batman game that IP belongs to WB Games along with other DC property.
They're making an action adventure game. IMO I think it needs to be another Marvel game despite MS already have Blade as that action Marvel game. Dead Pool? Punisher?
Realistically it'll probably be a new IP entirely.
I hope these devs needed support to start/finish (like Stalker 2), vs are basically done with the game but wanted to secure an exclusivity-bonus because they know Xbox needs a system seller (like Titanfall).
It’s a bit strange that they’d rather invest in this game than Tangoworks’ TWO canceled projects; or just trust a single dev from their existing massive stable of talent to emerge with a system-seller themselves anytime soon.
Either way, it is just cool that we’ll likely get a new IP from the geniuses behind the Arkham Trilogy. I wonder how creative they’ll get now that they aren’t married to an established franchise.
This is about the former co-founders of Rocksteady and their new studio. So naturally it makes people think its Batman related with the way its worded, even though its not.
Exclusive? Sure
This year alone Microsoft has changed their plans so much with Xbox regarding multiplatform releases as they step closer to just being a full blown third party publisher and it's only been 4-5 months, imagine where we'll be once this game is finished. It will be a completely different landscape.
Spawn (as well as master chief) are the only characters I associate with Xbox. Are there more I can’t remember?
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 launched last week to solid reviews from both fans and players. But its playercount? That's another story.
That's awful. This combined with the really low Steam numbers paint a disastrous picture imo. Really bad timing too because Tango was closed down for a similar thing. Great reviewed game, and low sales and/or player count. Hi-Fi Rush reviewed a hell of a lot better and it was widely loved by everyone, Hellblade 2 nowhere near that.
I know the rumor is that the studio has their next game already green-lit, but if I worked at Tango, I would be furious. "Why do they survive while we get binned?" I'd be telling myself.
But the suit woman will have you believe "Oh we have different metrics for the success of one studio compared to another studio. We judge each studio and game on their own set criteria" or something like that, I'm paraphrasing here but you get the idea. But no one who works there knows what the hell that even means. I mean the DLC for Redfall was getting worked on days before they even got the news their studio was getting dumped in the trash. So what are these mysterious metrics to let studios survive and others perish? I bet this is all hogwash, I bet MS don't even really know. They just had to make cuts and certain studios just found their way on the chopping block. Someone had to bite the dust, why not you?
Well I bet all this does nothing for the confidence of other employees in other studios. The truth is you have no idea where your career will be in a year from now working at one of their studios that aren't the mega big ones. MS just have too many studios to manage efficiently. "We'll just throw money at them and buy them and worry about the details later on. I mean we can do it, we're Microsoft."
If this game cost more and took longer to develop than Hi-Fi Rush, then I would worry if I were Ninja Theory. Projects may have been greenlit, but the increased scrutiny over at MS may very well put them on the chopping block. The incredible irony here is that it was PlayStation players that pushed the original game passed its 1 million copies sold milestone. With that purchasing power cut out, and the Game Pass effect having trained Xbox players to not purchase games, it seems that the sequel may have been set-up for failure.