Batman: Arkham Asylum

By Robert Purchese Published 29 July, 2009

Rocksteady answers your questions.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

by Bert Bert

29/07/09 14:00

Rocksteady answers your questions.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Eidos Rocksteady Studios PC Batman: Arkham Asylum Eidos Rocksteady Studios PlayStation 3 Batman: Arkham Asylum Eidos Rocksteady Studios Xbox 360
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About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • myiagros #1 3 years ago

    Ask about the review emargo for sites and mags scoring the game less than 90%.

    [link url=http://kotaku.com/5311606/
    ]http://kotaku.com/5311606/
    [/link]

    Why should potential consumers only be able to access positive opinion prior to making a purchasing decision?

    Surely if the game is really strong enough to stand on its own two feet, these sorts of PR bribes should be unnecessary.
    Edited by 3 at 29/07/09 @ 14:19

  • mashk #2 3 years ago

    I wonder how pleased they are all the accolades they've received from the specialist gaming press. I haven't seen a review that's been less than 9/10 so far...

  • Gnort #3 3 years ago

    @myiagros

    The whole embargo for sub-90 scores thing (if it is true) is despicable, but if it is it will be the publisher's (Eidos) doing, not the developer, so you can't really grill Rocksteady over it.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/09 @ 14:34

  • henza #4 3 years ago

    Honestly, that kotaku article is really sensationalist. i haven't heard of any such thing. there's an embargo on story content, not scores. also review code has only been sent out yesterday, the code that other people have reviewed off is preview and is only half of the game.

  • henza #5 3 years ago

    That's Gamesmaster though! They overbloat all of their big game review scores. If a game's on their cover it doesn't get less than 90%! Honestly, I haven't heard anything of the sort from Eidos.

  • myiagros #6 3 years ago

    try this one instead for the background:

    http://ra mraider.blogspot.com/2009/07/ei...

  • uglygamer #7 3 years ago

    Yep the only question first worth asking is the 90 percent thingy about the review bit

  • Yossarian #8 3 years ago

    By the way, a viral campaign for this has kicked off:

    [link url=http://www.gotham citymunicipal.com
    ]http://www.gotham citymunicipal.com
    [/link]

    For starters. ;)

  • JahB #9 3 years ago

    so, no new questions so far probably means everybody wants an answer to the 90% thing. i hope we get one

  • ChrisS #10 3 years ago

    Here's an unusual idea: DON'T ask about the embargo thing. It's nothing to do with the developer, and wastes valuable time when they could be discussing more interesting aspects of the game itself.

    Game's brilliant, btw.

  • NewbieZilla #11 3 years ago

    1) Were the substantial changes in character models from Batman The Animated Series due to ownership rights, or a choice Rocksteady made themselves? And if Rocksteady made by themselves, did it take long to come up with the revisions to the characters we see?

    2) How many game hours approx in the game?

    3) This one is for a friend who wonders if Mr Freeze will have justice done. After the debacle that was the movie Batman & Robin, the character needs to be done well for the first time.

    4) With the announcement of Scarecrow, the main villains in the game have now been revealed, but we're not really giving away too much about how you'll get to fight them.
    please tell me thats not everypne? and no two face?

  • Oh-Bollox #12 3 years ago

    Honestly, I haven't heard anything of the sort from Eidos.

    Why would you? Who are you and what do you do then, if Eidos would have told you about it?

  • schnide #13 3 years ago

    He's pretty much just dodged the Eidos review score question, but maybe he's not allowed to say anything more. I would've liked to hear something substantial said about this otherwise things are unlikely to change any time soon - but if the game's as good as we all hope then he can dance around in a pink tutu for all I care.

  • JJrabbit #14 3 years ago

    @NewbieZilla : You can read the Games Master review here:
    [link url=http://forums.gametrailers.com /thread/batman-arkham-asylum-review--9/874931?page=1
    ]http://fo rums.gametrailers.com/thread/ba...[/link]
    I haven't read it, but the final verdict estimates 12 hours of game play. Of course, judging by the context of this entire thread, take the review with X amount of salt depending on your stance.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/09 @ 15:41

  • JahB #15 3 years ago

    Honestly, that kotaku article is really sensationalist. i haven't heard of any such thing. there's an embargo on story content, not scores. also review code has only been sent out yesterday, the code that other people have reviewed off is preview and is only half of the game.

    then you must have been living under a rock for a while. Eidos has quite a track record for fucking with reviews, going all the way back to the original Gerstmann incident, where they had a reviewer fired because he reviewed a game too low.

  • NewbieZilla #16 3 years ago

    12-15 hours is better than I was expecting. Oh, and about the Jeff Gerstmann thing, a funny vid...

    [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=KUn5aJ6F3zg
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=KUn5aJ6F3zg
    [/link]

    Oh, also, auto refresh doesn't work on google chrome.

  • Hunam #17 3 years ago

    Robin is for gayers.

  • schnide #18 3 years ago

    I read the comics for quite a few years and Robin really isn't that good, and nor is he "thematically inseparable" or any such guff.

    This interview is a teeeeeny bit dull, but then we are asking the questions.

  • Yossarian #19 3 years ago

    No, EG are asking the questions they deem question-worthy.

  • henza #20 3 years ago

    I remember the Gertsmann thing and that was bad, but Kane and Lynch was a bad game. Batman isn't. Sorry for igniting a bit of an argument. But I still stand by what I said.

    I'm glad they asked me beefcake question! Thanks Eurogamer!

  • schnide #21 3 years ago

    @Yossarian

    Given that darkmorgado has had four questions asked (and you've had one too), I think we're probably looking at this from different perspectives.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #22 3 years ago

    Nope, Robin is excellent, and anyone who thinks different smells.

    Read the current Batman & Robin comic if you want proof of my genius.

  • Yossarian #23 3 years ago

    I don't mind Robin, but my favourite Batman comics are always the ones that explore his isolation and insanity (unlike Sefton, I really do believe Batman is crackers in several ways), and Robin tends to deflate those aspects a bit.

  • ChthonicEcho #24 3 years ago

    Weird moderating. Oh, well, at least most of my questions were asked by others and answered. Pity that PC-related questions were ignored. Playing on PC almost makes me feel like I own a Dreamcast.

  • schnide #25 3 years ago

    @britesparc

    Yeah?

    "Robin would have made Batman Begins and/or The Dark Knight better films."

    Discuss.

    Edit: Yossarian, you hit the nail on the head mate.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/09 @ 16:06

  • Monkey_Chops #26 3 years ago

    Glad they picked my question. Bat-Mite kicks ass, dammit!

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #27 3 years ago

    I think both Batman Begins and TDK pre-date Robin's involvement in Batman's life ;-)

    But I sincerely think you could add Dick Grayson to Nolan's Bat-Verse without compromising the "realism". You'd have to make him a bit older, maybe, or operating on his own, inspired by Batman. That sorta thing.

    It's the dynamic between the two of them I like best, plus I like the generational aspect of Dick one day taking over from Bruce. And Dick is a brilliant, funny man-whore who's shagged his way through the Justice League (almost).

  • monkeywithnoeyes #28 3 years ago

    Joker is exclusive to the ps3 version...with i assume his own unique levels and challenges attached. As a 360 owner why should i pay the same cost as the ps3 game yet get less content on the disc? plus we all know that it will come to us as dlc within a month of release as way of trying to get extra money out of us.

    Fuck it, word on the grapevine is that the innitial promise isnt holding very well

  • Yossarian #29 3 years ago

    You must have a different grapevine to me.

  • jaguarwong #30 3 years ago

    What a pointless bunch of non-questions and non-answers.

    Why waste your time on an interview when the questions the interviewee is allowed to answer (or even be asked) are clearly so heavily vetted by his employers?

  • RexRunti #31 3 years ago

    monkeywithnoeyes: "Joker is exclusive to the ps3 version...with i assume his own unique levels and challenges attached"

    Assume makes an ass out of u and me. Of course I'm assuming it's just a reskin with absoloutly no effect on the game what so ever.

  • Yossarian #32 3 years ago

    The Joker is more than just a reskin, but he's only available in the Challenge Rooms. (All of them? Just one? I don't know.) You won't be able to play him in the story/campaign mode.

  • RexRunti #33 3 years ago

    Britesparc: "But I sincerely think you could add Dick Grayson to Nolan's Bat-Verse without compromising the "realism". You'd have to make him a bit older, maybe, or operating on his own, inspired by Batman. That sorta thing."

    Isn't that basically Barbara Gordon aka Bat Girl? Also I thought Oracle was in this game which would imply post-Robin not pre-Robin as Mr Developer suggested.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #34 3 years ago

    Good point, Rex.

    TBH, if I was adding Robin to the Dark Knight-verse, I'd make him Gordon's son, following on from the end of TDK. That's despite my man-crush on Dick Grayson.

  • monkeywithnoeyes #35 3 years ago

    RexRunti :Assume makes an ass out of u and me. Of course I'm assuming it's just a reskin with absoloutly no effect on the game what so ever.

    Well considering the Joker and Batman have different ability and available weapons to them then i would ASSUME its more than a reskin.

    Also the "grapevine" i was talking about was "invisable walls" on GT.. where having had a recent hands on with it said it simply didnt "feel right"... make of that what you will.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/09 @ 16:55

  • WinterSnowblind #36 3 years ago

    Good to know there are no lame QTE boss fights!

    I loved the system when it was used in Shemnue, but it's since become a very over used system to make cheap, flashly looking fights, with no real gameplay. Force Unleashed was very guilty of this..

  • beastmaster #37 3 years ago

    The very fact is even getting scores near 90% can only be a good thing. Most publishers would love to be able to do something like that. I remain optimistic.

  • drunkymonkey #38 3 years ago

    "And I can also assure you that they'll be no QTEs!"

    YEA!

  • schnide #39 3 years ago

    @Britesparc

    Sincerely disagree. There's no way Nolan's Batman would allow anyone to follow in his footsteps. Wayne's clearly a force unto himself, and his brief attempts at letting another take up the (metaphorical) mantle led to Dent's downfall. So he's certainly not going to trust a kid to do it.

  • dudefella #40 3 years ago

    Hey - how can the game pre-date Robin, it has Bane in it. In comic books Bane was introduced WELL after Robin, in fact Batman was on his third Robin at the time! So that's a bit of an odd answer.

  • darkmorgado #41 3 years ago

    The questions I originally typed and the ones that appeared with my name on them were heavily edited. In one of the cases, it was almost entirely changed.
    I also submitted one asking why one set of players should get more content than another set, given that they are all paying the same amount of money. I know it's more a publisher decision than a developer one, but the whole platform-exclusive content thing really pisses me off. It wasn't fair on PS3 owers with GTA, and it isn't fair here. Though I am less annoyed about a bunch of "challenge rooms". If it had been an entire single-player chapter or something, then I would have been a lot more miffed.
    I asked if it was a timed exclusive as well. Again, no answer.

  • Thrawny #42 3 years ago

    yay no QTE's

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #43 3 years ago

    @ GhenghisNaan

    Very, very, very well said.

    Although I'm still partial to Miller. All Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder is hilarious.

  • Caspar_Esq. #44 3 years ago

    Never asked the big question :(

    Only a subtle reference to "pressure for review scores"

  • schnide #45 3 years ago

    Robin is quite essential, and he's always welcome, at the right time (the best writers know when to use him and when to keep him out of it). He's the light in Batmans dark, he routinely stops Batman from becoming a villain himself, he keeps him human, keeps him sane. Alfred is the father, Jim is the freind, Robin is the son; they both act as anchors as Bruce takes his usual dive into the nightly madness.

    I have to disagree. Robin is a liability, the light in Batman's dark should be in his Bruce Wayne persona whether an outside influence or that human persona itself. If Robin is a son figure then it's Wayne's ultimate responsibility not to go out at night putting both their lives in danger. Batman isn't an unrestrained vigilante who needs scaling back by a lesser trained boy, it's his ethics and his primary reason for becoming Batman in the first place are what drives him and anything else dilutes that.

    The day Batman is unable to function without a sidekick is the day that Batman is unable to function, and would need to be brought down by higher forces than an orphan from the circus.

    Half the reason for having a sidekick is to introduce comedy, light heartedness or the ability to have dialogue from the protagonist's point of view. Perhaps some of the comics can have Robin, but Batman in Nolan's world or the more adult takes in print, Robin just isn't plausible or consistent. I think from what we've seen so far, that also applies to Arkham Asylum.
    Edited by 2 at 30/07/09 @ 13:51