Teaser trailer talk: BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM 2

[thehefner]

I have returned from Tuscaloosa with a Henchgirl and a stomach flu, to discover that the teaser trailer for the video game sequel to BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM has made the rounds.

I couldn't actually play B:AA, so perhaps I missed out on a lot of the game's much-lauded appeal. I was expecting a lot more from it, between the Holy Trinity of Conroy, Hamill, and Sorkin united under the usually-superior pen of Paul Dini, and the rave reviews all-around. Instead, I found the dialogue to be far beyond Dini's usual standard, with the Joker being not that funny and Harley sounded rather more like Grant Morrison's tone-deaf Squeaky Fromme take from that abysmal BATMAN (purple) prose issue. I was holding out hope, that maybe it was all going somewhere really awesome. And then, yeah, not really.

Maybe it was more fun to play than to watch. Either way, I felt like the only person to be rather disappointed by the game.

That said, the trailer fills me with giddy geek glee. Hamill's laugh STILL makes my heart go aflutter, especially the way it's done there. The hints at the other villains to be included also pleases me gr... oh fuck it, if you watched that, you know exactly why *I'm* excited:





On one hand, I'm nervous about how this game might cock-up the character. On the other...*fingers crossed* get Richard Moll, get Richard Moll, ohpleaseohpleaseohplease get Richard Moll...

Comments

[civilbloodshed.livejournal.com]

Dude, B:AA has dead baby jokes. Also, it's excitingly like playing an episode of B:taS!

[kiffie.livejournal.com]

...get Richard Moll, get Richard Moll, ohpleaseohpleaseohplease get Richard Moll...

*joins in this chant*

[swimpenguin.livejournal.com]

Hey they did Luthor as President, why NOT Harvey?
And, um, Mr. John, why does Joker look like something out of Spawn in that picture link? And is it ok that it scared me?

[the-mithril-man.livejournal.com]

Taken on it's own it was a great game. All the joy and wonder of leaping around terrifying and pummeling miscreants dressed as a bat. But none of the childhood trauma that most folk need to have to get such ambitions started.. As for the script, it's adaption decay, there's only so much writing you can do in a video game before it becomes like the Metal Gear series. And we don't want that.

[surrealname.livejournal.com]

I had a lot of fun watching my roommate play the game (although how anyone can put up with the shenanigans of getting used to the controls in modern videogames is beyond me). I found harley annoying and thought the ending was more than slightly moronic, then again, it's a videogame and video games these days are made by and for idiots. (I know the kind of people who make them now. Lets just say that's scad's game design department consists of moronic frat boy types with wacom tablets.) Other than that, though, I found the bat and the joker very entertaining.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Remember how TV used to be filled with total shit, with only channels like HBO putting out true quality shows? Nowadays, we have even basic cable networks like FX and AMC doing series that actually surpass Hollywood for creative brilliance. I long for the day when video game makers can follow suit. I hope/believe it'll happen gradually over the next twenty years.

[surrealname.livejournal.com]

I've sort of lost faith in the videogame. They are something that truly seems to be the dumbest by the mostest. Everything's so military and macho and juvenile. I don't think it's going to happen, is basically what I'm trying to say here. I kinda hope it doesn't, either. I've really grown to disdain videogames these days. Whatever I loved about them as a youth has long since been lost. Or, as I love saying to my video game playing friends at scad "yeah, while you guys were learning how to play Call of Duty, I was getting to second base. I think my time was better spent."

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, there's Wii. The games they're making at Nintendo are more often on par with the kind of fun and great games we grew up with. Nintendo still has their integrity, and that's gives me hope. I'm very happy to own a Wii, I must say, even if I don't play it that often.

[surrealname.livejournal.com]

My mom bought us a wii last christmas. I haven't really touched it. There's a certain learning curve with the new fangled games i don't care for. I like the days of simple a is jump, b is punch, c is special move, and d pad is d pad and i don't have to worry about a toggle stick. Now adays it takes a 45 minute tutorial just to play the game.

And, I want to take the time to say that my videogame dislike does have its exceptions. I've truely enjoyed the experiences i've had with the X-men legends and marvel ultimate alliacnce games... and my former roommate jordan will be the first to tell you that the reason he has all of the alternate costumes in DOA 4 is because I spent a friday post midterms working off stress by spending several hours button mashing the hell out of some big boobed pugilists. Then again, fighting games and beat um ups have always been my forte, and it's been hard for video games to fuck them up.

also, is it sad or just kind of predictable that I am willing to sit through several hours of youtube videos to watch a full play through of the ghostbusters game so i can get the story with out bothering to buy a ps3?

[dormsquirrel.livejournal.com]

The thing about video games is that while there is a huge emphasis on the visual design and storyline nowadays, the game play always will come first. Any storyline has to serve the mechanics of the game, not the other way around. The reason video games are so addicting is that they create a series of increasingly complex tasks to solve that engage the reward circuitry of the brain in a very concrete fashion (more so than real life, a lot of the time).

I think this is the major reason why Arkham Asylum was so successful and Ghostbusters was not. Yes, Batman had great voice acting and dialogue and an interesting storyline, but it was the somewhat innovative and seamless game play that really made the game popular. Ghostbusters, on the other hand, had the voice acting and dialogue and something of a story, but the game play was atrocious. Or, at the very least, more frustrating than fun. So all of the atmosphere and ambiance of the game (which is what the storylines are, essentially) couldn't save it.

[night-train-fm.livejournal.com]

Wha - there's a sequel teaser already? That was fast. Thanks for the heads-up!

As fantastic as Hammil's Joker is, I find myself hoping they have a bit less of him this time around, if only to avoid retreading the first game. Also: any idea what the 'Sionis' sign means?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

It's a reference to Roman Sionis, AKA Black Mask, one of the nastiest, least-fun, and recently overused member of the Batman Rogues Gallery.

[surrealname.livejournal.com]

Yeah, why have people decided he's fun to write?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I wish I knew. He was an obnoxious Doug Moench character that not even the animated Batman comics could make compelling, and even after they've killed him TWICE, they have to bring back a "new" one who's pretty much exactly like the old one.

Plus, I still don't know how I feel about his action figure, which seems to be giving a thumbs up:

[valis429.livejournal.com]

Pretty much all of the above. It didn't make the best-of lists (mine included) for the plot or dialogue, which were par. Par as video games go, mind you, not movies or even most cartoons. Certainly not Batman's.

You really had to play it. You were able to skulk around on gargoyle statues and watch henchmen freak out while you whittled down their ranks, and punching people has rarely felt so ... punchy. The whole thing just felt very Batmanny.

But yeah, Harley was particularly grating.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Most times, I get by with just watching. I spent hours of fun watching my gamer friend play RESIDENT EVIL 4 and 5, GHOSTBUSTERS, and most recently PROTOTYPE (which was way sillier than all the rave reviews have led one to believe).

But in this case, I really was banking on enjoyment from the plot/dialogue aspect. They just seemed to be a lock, damn it! Damn it. At rare times like this, I really do wish I had something other than a Wii.

[superfan1.livejournal.com]

I'm so hype up for this game. :)