No Batmobile in Arkham City

By Fred Dutton Published 26 November, 2010

No need - Bats is "the ultimate vehicle."

Hoping for a bit of Batmobile action in the forthcoming Batman: Arkham City? Tough luck - there are no vehicles in the game, developer Rocksteady Studios has revealed.

Speaking to GamesTM, as reported by fan site Arkham City, the game's director Sefton Hill explained "There aren't any playable vehicles in the game. What we've really focused on is Batman himself. We see him as the ultimate vehicle."

Precious little info has seeped out so far regarding the much anticipated follow-up to the ruddy brilliant 2009 blockbuster Arkham Asylum.

We know it's set in an anything-goes mad house in the centre of Gotham City, that Catwoman and Two Face are getting in on the action and that The Joker is back on the scene, but that's about it.

Alas, there's a bit of a wait before we'll find out much more - the game's not out until Q3 2011. To stave off the hunger pangs in the meantime, why not check out the teaser trailer below.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • M4RV #1 2 years ago

    No problem with that. Wouldn't mind a small cameo(?!) from the Batmobile for instance, like we had on the original. Same thing with the flying one.

  • CaptainQuint #2 2 years ago

    Probably for the best. Doing it properly would have been a strain on resources. The alternative would've been a rubbishy tacked on one-off level, no doubt.

  • MerricK #3 2 years ago

    thank godness. might have been a mako moment from mass effect or something similar. if it ain't broke ...

  • trip919 #4 2 years ago

    ''We see him as the ultimate vehicle."

    Didn't expect it to be in tbh and nor am I upset it isn't, but that statement is a copout.
    Edited by trip919 at 26/11/10 @ 18:42

  • Master09 #5 2 years ago

    Great news for me! Putting too many things in the game may spoil it.

    And please no Robin or co-op.



  • dsmx #6 2 years ago

    Actually I would like co-op so long as it doesn't impact on the main game, Wouldn't mind it in the challenge rooms for example.

  • Quak #7 2 years ago

    > We see him as the ultimate vehicle

    What a cop-out. You'd ride Batman, would you? Actually, don't answer that.

  • 8bitMofo #8 2 years ago

    That just sounds so fucking stupid.

    Okay, no driving. Fine. Don't say anything more...Developers cant help themselves sometimes.
    Edited by 8bitMofo at 26/11/10 @ 19:22

  • wizlon #9 2 years ago

    Excellent news!

  • Marsun #10 2 years ago

    ''We see him as the ultimate vehicle."

    I didn't really expect to see Rocksteady including driving sequences in Arkham City not after how AA was structured which was a solid game don't get me wrong probably the best super hero game ever it set a new benchmark for super hero genre type games. However that statement is like the transport department in the UK releasing the following statement to the public "we've ran some focus group tests and decided that walking is the best possible form of transport".

  • dsmx #11 2 years ago

    Batman Arkham Asylum was not a great super hero game (technically batman isn't a super hero, but I can't be arse arguing).

    Batman Arkham Asylum was a fantastic game, the fact that it was about batman is not important.

  • benfresh76 #12 2 years ago

    Awww man, I would have put money on some form of vehicle, I was really excited about having a batmobile/bike/wing. Very disappointing...limitations of the Unreal Engine maybe?

  • darkmorgado #13 2 years ago

    Damn. There was me hoping to be able to drive a Skyline :-(

  • darkmorgado #14 2 years ago

    I just hope it's a lot more metroidvania this time round. AA flirted with it, but it was never really "open" as the new abilities were only ever used to gain access to the next linear area. There wasn't much scope for exploration. Though this sounds like it will fix that, being much bigger and in a more open environment.

  • darkmorgado #15 2 years ago

    Very disappointing...limitations of the Unreal Engine maybe?

    Or maybe because it would just be a bit shit to include a tacked-on vehicle section in a closed-off section of a city. Unreal Engine can handle vehicles just fine.

  • Rack #16 2 years ago

    Either a tacky oen off level or turn the whole thing into a GTA knock-off. Really glad about this, and that it's being given a decent dev cycle. All good news really.

  • PeacockDreams #17 2 years ago

    @Bobby_Kotick

    "I do hope The Penguin is in this new game. He's the only character in Batman I can relate to."

    Your four feet tall and extremley camp?

  • darkmorgado #18 2 years ago

    Or maybe he has an interest in luring children into the sewers?

  • goatjugsoup #19 2 years ago

    I heard about the batmobile possibly being in the game and it didn't sound like it would be a good idea to me, very glad that it has turned out to not be the case.

  • Lucodeath #20 2 years ago

    I normally avoid super hero games like the plague, but I found a cheap copy of bmaa at asda and it tuned out to be one of the best games ive played for a while. It doesnt need vehicles but please retain the riddle bits as that was the icing on the cake.

    If I saw a cheap plague though I would still avoid it like the, you get the idea.

  • ShiroBen #21 2 years ago

    Nice to hear they're not tacking on unnecessary gameplay elements 'just because'.

  • benfresh76 #22 2 years ago

    @darkmorgado

    A lot of the big Unreal games don't include vehicles, I wasn't slagging off the Unreal Engine, engines have limitations, and my experience of Unreal suggests that this might be one of them, it certainly makes more sense than justifying the lack of vehicles with the 'Batman is the ultimate vehicle' line...I don't get this idea that vehicles would be 'tacked on', they are integral to the Batman character; he is after all an ordinary man with a lot of money, a lot of technology and a big chip on his shoulder. AA was commended for Rocksteady's success in conveying the character and his abilities through brilliantly executed gameplay mechanics, I see no reason why Batman's fleet of military prototype vehicles wouldn't add to that in a brilliant way...especially in a walled off area of a city, which is pressumably going to be a lot more open than the asylum was. I loved Arkham Asylum in a big way, but expanding on that to give the player more variety would be a great thing.

  • Benno #23 2 years ago

    thats fair enough, would rather them not waste time on vehicle modelling

  • Vin #24 2 years ago

    Huzzah! No shitty unnecessary vehicle sections with bad handling! Just Bats BREAKING FACES.

  • Kaminari #25 2 years ago

    I want my Batmobile back.

    http://bit.ly/giIUb6

  • WinterSnowblind #26 2 years ago

    The game was already kind of an open world thing.. More similar to Metroid or Castlevania, yes, but since we're set in a city this time, being able to use the batmobile to quickly get between areas would have been pretty cool. Think Epona from Zelda.

    But I can see why they didn't do it, if done wrong it could ruin the game and if the rumours of co-op are true it would cause problems there.

  • CaptainKid #27 2 years ago

    Good call.
    Some tacked on crappy driving sections makes no one happy.
    The only good alternative would to make it like a GTA game where driving is an integral part of the game.
    And this game was never supposed to be like that.

  • Zebula77 #28 2 years ago

    Good news - I feel that adding silly driving sections would cheapen the experience. Still, it was incredibly cool to just SEE the Batmobile in Asylum. :)

  • Phantom_Dynamite #29 2 years ago

    No need - Bats is "the ultimate vehicle." but can I ride him to get some milk from the shops, umm thats not what i ment.