In an interview with Gamespot, Rocksteady revealed some details about Batman Arkham City. According to Sefton Hill, Arkham City is five times larger than Arkham Asylum. However, as the developers already stated last year, the city is not a sandbox open-world.
“I wouldn’t describe the game as “sandbox” because a totally open and free-form gameworld would not allow us to create the kind of atmosphere that we wanted to, but we don’t hold your hand either.” He also said, “Players will be able to go anywhere at any time, but we have made sure that players will always have a very clear idea of where they are needed most if they want to just stick to the core narrative path of the game. Explore the streets of Arkham City, and you will find many side missions, secrets, and street brawls, so players won’t find it difficult to get into some trouble if that’s what they are looking for.“
On traversing the much larger environment, Hill states:
“The range of moves and abilities that we developed for Batman in the first game were designed to meet the threats and obstacles that gamers would find within Arkham Asylum. We wanted to reinforce the feeling of genuinely being the Dark Knight and then come up with a series of challenges, which best tested these abilities. Taking the game onto the Gotham streets has given us the opportunity to significantly increase Batman’s repertoire. Our primary goal is to deliver the “Batman in Gotham” feeling, and this meant completely overhauling the traversal and navigation system. We wanted the player to experience the freedom and exhilaration of gliding down alleyways and soaring above the skyline, and this has meant [adding] nearly twice as many moves and animations as in the original game.“
Batman: Arkham City is planned to release late this year. Will you be picking this up? Let us know in the comments.
