The majority of Batman: Arkham City's gameplay takes place on the streets, developer Rocksteady's told PSM3 magazine.
Speaking in the mag's latest issue, which features a four-page Arkham City preview with new details and screens, the developer said building a larger world in the sequel has been a "huge technical challenge".
"This means you can begin the game and just start exploring," he added, assuring the mag that a focus on freedom doesn't mean sacrificing the narrative. "Plot is really important to us," he said.
"Our objective was not to make a bigger game world just for the sake of it. We want to fill it with content, and there's no better world than Batman's universe to take inspiration from.
"We have 97 people on the team, compared to 65 on the first game. Because we've decided to make such a large world we had to bring in more artists, animators and so on. It's been a pretty huge technical and creative undertaking for the team."
Earlier this month we posted 76 Arkham City screenshots from the latest gameplay trailer.
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Comments
14 comments so far...
ingy on 31 Mar '11 said:
Open world games tend to lack focus because of their very nature, i loved exploring the buildings in AA and i'm worried this new one is going to be all about the open world fighting, more action less substance.
Endless fights with respawning enemies when returning to the same street for the 20th time does sound a little worrying, please let me be wrong.
budge on 31 Mar '11 said:
This. I loved it in AA when you would return to previous areas and they would be empty of 'baddies', it gave it a real haunted feel i thought and kept you on edge.
Gambini on 31 Mar '11 said:
Oh God, I haven't even considered that...
Far Cry 2 was ruined by thay exact same thing (well, actually, it was just one of the broken things in FC2...) so I really hope there's still a "linear" narrative without that kind of repetition.
STEVONYMO on 31 Mar '11 said:
"Hey you the Rock Steady crew show em what to do make a break make a move!" Now that was a sad song and shows my age...
BeauBeau on 31 Mar '11 said:
Couldn't agree more. I hate respawning enemies.
corkscru74 on 31 Mar '11 said:
Respawning enemies should be resigned to the history books.
Please, please, please be good!
ensabahnur on 31 Mar '11 said:
Yeah but FC2 respawned enemies after about a minute of killing them, you'd turn your back and then they were there again. I don't mind Arkham City's streets being repopulated after certain story events like Asylum was, just as long as they don't respawn every time you re-enter an area. It'd be pretty boring if by the end of the game the streets were nearly empty.
@STEVONYMO don't worry your not the only person who remembers that song.
chunkyboymania on 31 Mar '11 said:
Respawning enemies certainly do suck balls. The worst case for me was in Killzone 2 because there was only one point in the game where enemies respawned, right near the end. So I was stuck in cover taking them out for about half hour until I realised you were supposed to just leg it through them.
Anyway I still have no doubt this will be amazing.
Kintypoo121 on 31 Mar '11 said:
Reminds me of the end of Bioshock 2, i wasn't paying full attention and didn't realise I had to destroy a certain object. Instead I just kept trying to kill wave after wave of hulk guys, thinking that this was THE hardest boss fight i've ever had lol. Silly me!
But yes, respawning is a no, no! But i doubt Rocksteady would do it in the way that things respawn everytime you leave the area, probably more like what someone above said about it happening at key points.
humanhand on 31 Mar '11 said:
... And let's hope for a better end boss battle.
chronicwombat on 31 Mar '11 said:
one of my gaming pet hates is having a big sandbox world where there are loads of buildings that you cant go into - it just destroys the sense of immersion for me. having said that, im sure that this is gonna be fun.
Black Mantis on 31 Mar '11 said:
Limitations of hardware, although Crysis 2 is supposed to have addressed this in someway though. Haven't picked it up yet.
Kintypoo121 on 31 Mar '11 said:
Or no boss battle at all if that's the best they can think of. Felt that was the worst part of an otherwise awesome game
chronicwombat on 31 Mar '11 said:
speaking of crysis 2, im currently about 5 hours in and loving it. i havent felt as badass since, well, batman: aa.
if someone is sniping you its not a good idea to leave your cover to walk around in the open looking for them :/)
(ps. the ai is pretty s**t in crysis tho