With an entire city at its disposal, the game's developer wants to explore as much of it as possible

Dec 16, 2009 08:06 GMT  ·  By

Batman: Arkham Asylum managed to prove that comic-book superheros and their games were anything but dead and that the genre could still produce some genuinely good products. The game scored big time not only with the critics, but with the fans as well, and even won a world record, Guinness awarding it the title of "Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever." So, while a sequel was something everyone expected, no one would have believed that a new Batman game would be announced so soon. But the Video Game Awards did just that, and offered an unveiling trailer of a brand-new title that would take place in the city of Gotham.

Judging by the trailer, most people believed that it would follow its predecessor very closely, considering that the Joker was once again present, as well as his hired henchmen. But talking to PC Zone, Paul Denning, the game's senior gameplay programmer, revealed that the chances were very slim for Batman to hang around Arkham once again. Asked if Roksteady would like to explore other parts of the city except for the asylum, Denning replied that, "I think you're probably right in that it's almost run its course."

He further added that, "We did pick a selection of buildings that we thought would fit the [original] game well. You could quite easily point out that there are various things that you wouldn't usually find in an asylum especially on an island that's supposedly self-contained. So, you could always expand that out and there are games in the past that have gone down that route. But I think you're right. Gotham itself is a fantastically realised fictional city and there are so many places that would be probably ideal for gameplay and great to explore."

But, while the new game has an entire city as its playground, this doesn't mean that some of the fears that this statement has generated should be trusted. According to Denning, just because there is a vast amount of flexibility in the title's setting doesn't mean that Batman will follow the sandbox theme of so many recent games.

"I think sandbox games that do that well are so hard to realise," Denning said. "GTA is obviously a fantastic example of one that gets it right but there are so many that get it wrong and I think you have to be so careful when you take that route." He concluded by saying that, "I think if Arkham Asylum had been that kind of game I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been as good," and he is most certainly right.