14 DAY TRIAL // Just as Batman: Arkham City is being released this week across the globe, Rocksteady Studios' game director, Sefton Hill, has talked about the upcoming Batman game and how the team added not just big features like the open world of Arkham City, but also new upgrades and gadgets that can be used by the Caped Crusader.
Batman: Arkham Asylum brought forth a variety of content and experiences to Batman fans and gamers in general, so it's only obvious that Rocksteady is going to add even more new things to the sequel, which is released tomorrow in North America, and later this week in the rest of the world.
Speaking with the PlayStation blog, the game director of the UK-based studio, Sefton Hill, has detailed the new upgrades that are in place in Arkham City, and how it allow players to unlock powers that fit their play style.
"We’ve certainly expanded the number of upgrades in the game – we had 20 upgrades in Arkham Asylum, and we now have 33 different upgrades in Arkham City," Hill said. "There are a lot of ways to develop your skills and use them in the game. There’s not a massive skill tree, per se, though certain upgrades do unlock other upgrades. Ultimately, it’s more about how you decide to use your skills. We’ve really expanded those options with Arkham City."
Hill also tackled the aspect of gadgets used by Batman, saying that five from the first game are coming back, while others have been added to bring even more variety to the title.
"You start with five of the gadgets from Arkham Asylum: the Batarang, Bat Claw, Remote Batarang, Explosive Gel and Cryptographic Sequencer. And every single one of those gadgets has new features and improved usage. Overall, we’ve expanded the number of gadgets from eight to 12."
"We have a number of new gadgets as well, such as the Remote Electrical Charge, called the REC for short. It’s a projectile-taser weapon that you can fire into enemies to stun them or fire at their gun to make it go off and create a distraction. The REC can also power machinery and create magnetic fields that work in some puzzles. Another new gadget is the Freeze Blast technology from Mr. Freeze: it can freeze enemies in place, or you can use it to freeze an enemy’s weapon and take it out of action. Our focus was to give the player as many options as possible," he concluded.
Batman: Arkham City is out on October 18, in North America, and October 21, in Europe, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, while the PC version is expected on November 8, because of a slight delay announced last month.