News

Batman: Arkham City has 40-hours worth of content say team
Posted: 18.05.2011 12:56 by Simon Priest Comments: 13
Rocksteady has revealed that 25 hours make up the core story campaign in Batman: Arkham City, which is accompanied by about 15 hours of side missions.

It's "completely down to the player" how they approach the game world with "no right or wrong time." It's more like an "episodic TV series" than a feature film.


"The Side Missions in Batman: Arkham City are a good example. We have around 15 hours of story that’s off the main path,” said game director Sefton Hill of developer Rocksteady Games. We're free to explore Arkham City from the very beginning.

"It’s completely down to the player when and how they want to tackle this – there’s no right or wrong time. There’s no other medium that can offer this kind of flexible experience where the viewer gets to tailor the experience they want themselves."

"In terms of narrative structure, I think games are much more analogous to an episodic TV series than a film. You have, say, 15 hourly episodes to fill, each requiring its own narrative arc but each plugging into an overarching storyline," continued the developer.

"It requires a lot of planning to make sure that every single hour is consistent with each other, is feeding and driving towards a compelling crescendo, while remaining implicitly self-explanatory so players can pick up and play at any time and know what they are doing.”

15 hours can keep us occupied around the city as we dispense justice, but the main storyline will be hogging a delicious 25 hours alongside all that.

"It takes over 25 hours to complete the main stories in Batman: Arkham City. To keep players engaged for this length of time, not only do the characters and the story need to progress, but the core mechanics of the game they are playing need to change and adapt as well.”

Batman: Arkham City releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC October 18th in the US, the 21st in Europe. Are you looking forward to Rocksteady's sequel to Arkham Asylum?
Source: Guardian

Comments

By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on May 18, 2011
herodotus
Holy time vampire, Batman. Looks like setting aside every other competing title to properly complete this puppy will be the only way to go, particularly when the inevitable GOTY edition is released.
Still with the new Batman film due next year ("The Dark Knight Rises") I'm sure there'll be plenty of old and new fans. Blockbuster release on the horizion.
By neilmike (SI Core) on May 19, 2011
neilmike
hmmm, maybe too long....lol
By Eversor (SI Elite) on May 19, 2011
Eversor
Great.
By PowerJack (SI Elite) on May 19, 2011
PowerJack
Nice!!!
By Sneaksy (SI Member) on May 19, 2011
Sneaksy
This is unexpected! I couldn't get enough of Arkham Asylum and I believe this is a good idea... I just hope quality of gameplay stays the same or gets even better.
By Eversor (SI Elite) on May 19, 2011
Eversor
It will be alot better. Another perk is that you get to have all of the gadgets from Arkham Asylum.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on May 20, 2011
FoolWolf
This is sooo a buy going to happen. 40 hours? mmmmmmm
I really liked the first game - enough to stand the obvious console damages done to it - but it worked and it was a lot of fun playing it!
By Eversor (SI Elite) on May 21, 2011
Eversor
@FoolWolf. Console Damages?
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on May 21, 2011
FoolWolf
Console damages in the mean of how the camera works, the controls are obviously meant for a controller - but OK, they work for a keyboard mouse - the graphics are good and looks well, but you can notice that they didn't push the graphics further from the Xbox version. The overall design has the layouts and choices made that work well for a TV screen - rather then a high detailed LCD screen.
As you may notice any game from the console only ported - is in my world a bit console damaged ;)
By Eversor (SI Elite) on May 21, 2011
Eversor
The controls are definitely good on the PC as I have played Arkham Asylum.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on May 21, 2011
herodotus
Have to play "Arkham Asylum" again before this. Get back in the groove, as it were.
40 hours - isn't that what "Dragon Age: Origins" main quest line was set at?
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on May 22, 2011
FoolWolf
@Eversor - I think the controls are OK, but not great. The thinking behind Batman Arkham Asylum is what saves the controls since the idea is getting through both on the controller and the keyboard+mouse setup IMO. Had it been a game with a more classic approach - I think the controls and the way you set them up on the PC would have been worse.
By Eversor (SI Elite) on May 22, 2011
Eversor
Yeah.