Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Batman Comic Book Writer argues about Batman: Arkham Assylum



Landry Walker, the writer of comic book Batman has an opinion himself about the hugely successful game. In his own words:
There was practically zero sneaking. Almost no subtlety or grace. He would just run up and punch the bad guy, usually taking a few machine gun shots to the face, and then zip away to a magical gargoyle that would render him invisible while his Bat-health recharged. Then he would repeat the process until there was nothing left to punch.
It was effective, I will grant that much. But to me, it kinda missed the point of Batman.
And he added that the violence is not enough to be a realism of true Batman:
I want a game that recreates that insane rush of endorphins and adrenaline or whatever it is after hearing a simple bullet crack past your ear. That's what games should be. So real that I just have to put down the controller for a minute because some part of my lizard brain is shaking in disbelief over the scenario I somehow managed to survive.
True, being the writer of Batman comic book made him the person who knows better about Batman than everyone else. But is it applicable in game? Let's see reader's response:


@Kotaku

the7k
This would be like someone playing Metal Gear Solid 3 on Very Easy, and then complaining that it didn't encourage stealth enough because you could easily survive gunfire and take everyone out by just slamming them into the ground.
It's European Extreme or nothing, Mr. Walker.

Darkmirage
If you play on hard, you can't use the gargoyles because they explode. All you do is sneak.

Beside that point though, it's a videogame. It needs to be accessible to people with numerous skill levels. That will, of course, create situations which don't quite suit the character. And besides that, it's not a comic. Batman isn't constrainted to what we see on paper panels. YOU are playing Batman. So unless you're actually Bruce Wayne, I wouldn't expect the game to replicate him. The gameplay choices are yours to make, not Batman's. If you want to run into a room full of armed thugs, you can do just that.

I understand his complaints, but their frankly not valid in the world of videogames.


Sure, being a Batman is suppose to be stealthy, plant fear in the enemy minds and eat them like breakfast, but I prefer the way it is on Batman: Arkham Assylum. Sure, you can play as Batman with sneaking and stealth stuff, and I played it that way, but the game shouldn't punish people who play it differently aka gung ho mode, rush and beat the crap of everyone else. It's the freedom of choosing the style of play that is interesting and even the writer of comic shouldn't take that away.

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