Batman: Arkham Asylum Demo is out

TheMadArtist

Anybody else giving it a try? I've already got it reserved, and this just makes me want August 25th to come that much sooner. The combat is satisfying as hell, and its a blast to sneak around freaking out baddies taking them out one at a time.

JasonLavoie

I second that... I give big props to Alex (Imslightlybored) and the rest of the team at Rocksteady (do we have any others on here that work at that studio?) with such an awesome art direction. Me and my roommates were playing the demo tonight... and I was floored at the visuals.

Was the starting cutscene pre-rendered? I mean the visuals in general seem to be pushing the engine pretty far, which is nice, but man I was really impressed with the first ctuscene, specially when they go inside Arkham.

This will be a buy for me, day 1!

Wahlgren

Have a buddy that worked on it as a Mocap /Animator-dude. He´s not registered here though.

I´ll have to give the demo a try after work today. Looks awesome.

adam

Hot damn this game is beautiful! Really good job with Unreal 3 boys & girls @ Rocksteady!

Fighting is WICKED. I love the cuts to different angles on death blows. I can't wait to unlock new toys and gadgets (assuming this is what XP is for) and see what other new manoeuvrer I can do.

I found 2 Joker trophies, btw!

HellMark

Demo rocks! Game looks amazing. Kill every chicken that gets in your way to play it!

c0ldhands

Been waiting for this demo myself, so with a bucket of icecream under one arm and my softest pillow under the other i ventured out into the demo. Visuals blew me away, especially the first scene when they pan over Arkham Asylum. Everything else in the demo is amazing, there are nice combat that will make you go "BAMM, criminal scumm!".

But I rather prefer steath combat as I am more of a gentleman, takes some time to practice, and you will mostly spend your time with the screen blue at all times(detective vision) but its so fracking satisfactory when you drag a baddie up the ceiling and hang him there screaming then cut his rope(anyone tried that?).

Only crit I may have ist that I dont think Batsy is agile enough, I know he is gianormous, but at least I would want a jump button. Pluss I love that they go back to the real Gotham feeling Batman and not the batman in the new movies. Like the old joker and the old batmobile and the real dark Gothamn.

JasonLavoie

The detective vision is cool, but I wanted my roommate to always turn it off due to the awesome-sauce environments in the demo... sexy in my pants long time!

It comes out August 25th right?

Super

Awesome work Rocksteady guys! Been waiting for this to be released. Must've killed to work on this title.

TheMadArtist

c0ldhands wrote: »

its so fracking satisfactory when you drag a baddie up the ceiling and hang him there screaming then cut his rope(anyone tried that?).

oooh, gonna have to try that when I play through it again.

The visuals are fantastic. Can't wait to really explore the rest of Arkham and look around at all the sights.

As for Batman not being more super agile, I can see why they'd go that route. Maybe they were trying to keep the combat and grappling more realistic and in line with the recent movies, and not have Batman jumping like 10 feet in the air at the press of a button like Kratos or Dante or other characters in 3rd person action titles.

Ged

looks awesome, love the way the artwork has such strong definition of shapes. Ive been saving up a game voucher for a while now and I think Ive finally found a game I want.

Marine

string a bad guy up, wait for one of his buddies to walk underneath him, cut rope, knocks the other guy out

JohnnyRaptor

hot damn, congrats to rocksteady on this! and from the look of it they are doing a mighty fine job! havent tried the game itself tho!

Target_Renegade

Played this today, really like it, great work.

odium

Yeah some of the cutscenes are movies. It seems like its all ingame, however the cutscenes ar pre-recorded, probably because they push the engine more so they needed them smoother than the consoles could render them...

But man, this is one sexy ass game. The gameplay is nothing short of awesome. Can't wait to purchase this baby.

Took some pics too:

Quokimbo

I am going to be playing this demo! This is the first Batman game since the side scrolling Batman Returns on the SNES that has interested me.

TheMadArtist

Heh, I remember that game. For me, the last really awesome Batman game was the NES one. That game was great.

odium

The NES one was hard as nails...

Andreas

OMFG I can't wait to get home and play this. Downloading it on the work comp now...

TheMadArtist

odium wrote: »

The NES one was hard as nails...

Beat it once. ONCE. Never been able to do it again. Not even in my adult life now.

MoP

Saw people playing this demo at work this morning.

Looks really good, congrats to the polycounters who I know have worked on it, seems you guys have done some impressive work

mLichy

Yeah, roommates are playing it now, looks very very nice. Very good quality all around.

adam

But I rather prefer steath combat as I am more of a gentleman

Awesome quote

dolemite

Demo was badass. Day 1 purchase for me.

conte

nice art in there, batman looks great.

RazorBladder

Visually gorgeous minus some of the stiff character animations, gameplay is great to watch but it felt way too much like the awesome melee was random rather than contextual, pressing 1 or 2 buttons felt TOO much like holding your hand and trying to fool you that your awesome, which inevitably makes it hollow, detective mode is pretty neat tho
Also, do you grapple and swing onto objects other than the same gargoyle over and over?

Small gripes overall, it's a sweet lookin game that I'll definately buy.

Jesse Moody

Just played the demo on pc. My god that is awesome. Will pick up for sure.

Slum

Definitely an awesome demo.

Seaseme

Wow! That was great! I'll definitely be buying it on release day. Congrats to everyone at Rocksteady

ImSlightlyBored

Andreas

Top class game making. Just a hell of a lot of fun. I'll be picking this up as soon as it gets released on PC. Well done to everyone at Rocksteady!

AstroZombie

I can't wait for this. Has anyone done a side-by-side with PC and consoles? It looks great on my PC, but I am not sure I want to wait the extra 2+ weeks for it

ScoobyDoofus

The graphics are really impressive. Such wonderful artwork. The gameplay has been a lot of fun as well. Great work. When I get the money, this will be a purchase for sure.

mat

i tried both pc and ps3, and its pure greatness on both. the environments and characters are fantastic, spent huge amount of time studying them
the gameplay is definitely fun too(reminds me of the old game for ps2 "the bouncer")

although preferred playing it on the ps3 as it crashed part the way through playing it on my pc
big thanks to rocksteady for this one and the demo

Vrav

Demo was just gorgeous, even though my computer couldn't run it at all when enemies came onscreen! But it was beautiful as far as I got and the cutscenes, menus, actions, brilliant all around.

I'll have to upgrade my hardware and enjoy this game proper sometime.

MALicivs

tried it out on ps3 and pc, both look awesome unreal engine never looked this good imo, but the physx support on pc is like the cherry on top of the cake. particle and cloth physics just make my engine go :P . gameplay is simple but effective and all the camera/voice work is awesome aswell. I seriously want this. congratulations to the guys at rocksteady if there's any in here.

Andreas

MALicivs wrote: »

particle and cloth physics just make my engine go :P

Oh, is the cape done with PhysX on the PC version? So it moves different on the consoles?

TheWinterLord

Cant wait to try it! Looks like the best hero to videogame adaptation I have seen. Love that its target audience seems to be the little older kids with the grittyness and stuff. Good job I love it at sight, cant wait to play it!
PC or console...

Vrav

Blenderhead wrote: »

Oh, is the cape done with PhysX on the PC version? So it moves different on the consoles?

Even sheets of paper on the ground!

Quokimbo

So the PS3 version is still top notch? That is what I plan on playing it on...

MALicivs

Blenderhead wrote: »

Oh, is the cape done with PhysX on the PC version? So it moves different on the consoles?

I think the cape is pretty much the same, but even the tape blocking stuff moves and breaks, and all the papers on the floor move arround and shit. looks awesome.

and yeah the ps3 version is just as awesome, but the pc version has some extra graphic treats.

odium

The PS3 version lacks decent AA and seems to also have zero AO, unlike the 360 version. But its still the same game.

fullofclovers

I got a nice surprise at 1am before going to bed by finding out the demo was released.

Played on PC. Awesome demo, gameplay was everthing I thought it would be. Loved the sneaky aspects especially. Batman is a true badass, I can't wait to play the full game.

Quokimbo

Just ran through the demo on my PS3...

I enjoyed it quite a bit, more then I thought I would. The art looks great!

crazyfingers

Rock solid game, but i got some gripes about the gameplay. It's too damned easy, and i'm not usualy one to complain about that.

Feels a LOT like bioshock, had there been no water.

Mash the left mouse button... Or while in stealth just crouch and keep doing long drawn out silent takedowns.

The joker was fucking awesome in every aspect, he makes this game.

Lee3dee

demo was awesome like everyone has said. I like the stealth and climbing aspect of the game, instead of just another batman beat-em up. Looking forward to playing it I downloaded the demo on ps3 and it looked really good now I have to see what it looks like on 360.

Asthane

I liked it, agree that I will never see 75% of the art because I will be in detective mode all the time. One thing gets me though... Why are there gargoyles _inside_ Arkham? >.>;;

crazyfingers wrote: »

Feels a LOT like bioshock, had there been no water.

Mash the left mouse button... Or while in stealth just crouch and keep doing long drawn out silent takedowns.

...Bioshock? You're gonna have to explain that one. I don't see any connection at all.

crazyfingers

I just thought both games had a 50's techno vibe to 'em. And both games of full of crazy peole who talk a lot.

Firebert

shit is awesome... dying to buy it and level up to get more gadgets!

ScoobyDoofus

So rather than just oogling art I sat down and just played through it about 3x in a row. Great game. I can see myself enjoying the full version provided they continue to give me gadgets, new moves and more diverse enemies.

buddikaman

I really like this game because more than even the movies, it captures the spirit of the real batman. I love how they got the same voice actors from the cartoon series(which owned). I thought the last Batman movie sucked hard, but this game just might make up for it.

Awesome job. I might even buy this.

-Buddikaman

AstroZombie

crazyfingers wrote: »

It's too damned easy, and i'm not usualy one to complain about that.

Are you serious? It's a freaking demo. From a marketing perspective, there is no better way to turn off a possible customer than to make a demo that is too damn hard. This is a perfect demo; it gives you a fun bit of gameplay that is indicative of what the final game should be.

crazyfingers wrote: »

Feels a LOT like bioshock, had there been no water.

Really? This feels absolutely NOTHING like Bioshock to me. Not quite sure where you are coming from on this ...