In the latest podcast from the Official PlayStation Magazine (OPM), the team shared a few revelations about Batman: Arkham City.
Leon Hurley, Commissioning Editor for OPM, visited Rocksteady Studios and left with some details; one of which is the game is further along than anyone might have thought. Leon reports that the game is finished – it’s playable from beginning to end. At this phase, Rocksteady is polishing the title and preparing it for release next year.
Side missions have been implemented within the story – For example, Zsasz is calling random telephone booths and telling those who answer they will die in the morning; it’s up to you to either investigate the issue or simply walk by and continue through the game. Batman can now “bullet dive” down from a building to quickly get to another area — Tech such as the “Boost Grapple” are now being refined. This allows you to fire up vertically so that you can zip across Gotham.
Expect environment changes; thin walls can now be punched through and so can vents. During his visit, Leon stated that it was raining a lot which added to the overall dark feel of the game. He compared the extremely open world to a cross between Escape from New York and Tim Burton’s Batman. Leon described everything as “crisp and dark”.
Detective mode has been enhanced – In one example of the new mode, the Joker tries to assassinate Catwoman. Bruce has to use detective mode, find the bullet holes, and then calculate a trajectory as to where the sniper should be.
Cooperative play is still a possibility. After observing that Catwoman has a combat move set like Batman’s, the question was asked: “What about co-op play?” The answer was a cryptic: “We’re not talking about that right now.”
What a way to close out the week. As soon as we have a release date, I suggest taking vacation, calling in sick or doing whatever is necessary to get your hands on this game on day one – I know I will.
[Source]
