I finished Batman:AA this weekend and was a pretty fun game. Nice balance in fighting to puzzel solving to side missions. Excellent graphcis and sound too. really enjoyed the "fighting" part since you didn't need a PHD to master button smashing to get all the moves. More games needs that style. probabnly will have to wait awhile on A.C though. Just too much on my plate in the coming months. I'll still have the challenges which I'm working on now.

It's more a question of who isn't going to be in the game. It's looking like this game will have all of the major villains and and a lot of the minor ones in cameos.

Usually when movies do this with villains...it ends up hurting the movie...Lets hope the same does not happen to this game...

Loved the Mr. Freeze trailer. This game is going to be SICK!

Yea, but comic book movies don't have around 40 hours of story. (Which is around the time it will take you to complete everything is AC)

A friend let me borrow the Green Lantern Manhunters game and it offered a similar style of gameplay. I was pleasantly surprised.

To be fair though, in a video game, 40 hours of gameplay does not equal 40 hours of story.

The importance of a good story in a video game can be debated, but I can certainly see the story in Arkham City potentially crumbling under its own weight if too many villains are shoveled in. I'm choosing to remain cautiously optimistic though.

Pretty close to it from what I understand.

Look, they used a ton of characters in the first game and it turned out great, and it was no where near the size/scope that Arkham City is going to be. I don't see any reason to be negative about this game before it comes out. Everything is pointing at it being much better than the first one.

I don't either. But then, I don't think it's being particularly negative to say that there is potential for the game to suffer if they try to shovel in too many villains. I didn't say that it looks like they've actually done that. In fact, I said the opposite. I'm cautiously optimistic that they haven't, based on what I've seen so far.

Well to be honest, the first game did not have an Oscar worthy storyline, but the performances were well done and the atmosphere fantastic. In truth, because the game is so large the multiple villains actually play to a rpgish game setting....one that can help the game change up the environments and enemies to fit the current villain...

I guess it is more important that the voice work is solid with all the bad guys....and that gameplay mechanics don't change drastically with each setting..

It's not like there wasn't a lot of characters in the first game. Bane, Poison Ivy, Joker, Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Zsasz. Just because there's a lot of characters in the game doesn't necessarily mean they've all got big roles.

Goddamn that Mr Freeze promo was awesome! I wasnt feeling the voice, than it did that "you are in my world" line and I got goosebumps. It sounds almost spot on as the Animated series, just a bit distorted... I loved it!

Let's not forget that the Joker was the villain of the first game. Bane, Poison Ivy, (to a lesser extent) Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Zsasz were just "distractions" Batman had to deal with along the way.

Despite all the new characters, the villains have only really been bumped by two. The main villains seem to be Hugo Strange and Warden Sharpe whilst the Joker is now a supporting villain.

I'm not sold on who the main villlian is yet. It's being billed as Strange, but you can never count out the Joker. It's also interesting that Rocksteady has shown off so many characters but we have not heard squat about Scarecrow, who was a fan favorite in the first game. Talia's presence, and her father's cameo in the first game, is another huge question mark.

BTW, some villains other than Catwoman will be smart and do what's needed to survive rather than fighting with Batman. Check out this MASSIVE Spoiler picture.

In this video you get a sense of how large they've made Gotham City. They say this game mode was for the game convention, so I wonder how the load times will work within the game. In AA it forced you to load a new level every time you went to a new section of the island or building.

http://kotaku.com/5832473/see-how-bi...orld-really-is

They must have taken that link down?

See if this works: http://youtu.be/HopIsJI84U0

That's pretty cool. That was Sarah the mod from the official forum btw. She pretty much only went in a straight line so the map will probably be even bigger when you go the other way. I wonder how many buildings we'll be able to enter also?

Considering that they are said to be planning for a couple more games I wonder if they will make a different section of Gotham in each one or if it's possible to do the entire city.

fucking huge world....

Wow. The scope of the world is incredible.

Also, the continuous swinging and gliding looks like a ton of fun, and a huge upgrade from the first game.

What's the big deal? I didn't see anyone shooting their load over Just Cause 2, which had that same swing/glide mechanic and a much bigger world.

Did Just Cause 2 also have Batman?

Yes, though he was more like Banmanuel.

Get a Green Lantern "Batman" suit if you buy the Green Lantern blu-ray. As tempting as that is, the GL movie sucked big balls. Might be worth throwing on ebay, though.

http://bluray.ign.com/articles/118/1189817p1.html

A Green Lantern Batman suit? Will it look as stupid as the actual GL costume in the movie?