Batman: Arkham City – Robin Skins, Villain Side Missions and More!

I can’t wait for this game. Seriously. How often do I say that? All the freakin time. Doesn’t matter. Changes nothing.

I can’t wait for this game. And the more news we hear about it the more excited I become. I started playing Arkham Asylum again just to get back in the mood, to warm my sticks up. This only further increased my excitement, and I’m ready to snap in a fit of rage if this game doesn’t come out soon. Anyways, I digress.

“Get on with it…”

If you need to get caught up or haven’t been paying attention, you can check out our last look at the game here, where we covered a ton of game trailers. We also got to take a look at some cool skins/costumes for Batman. We already know that Robin has some challenge maps in the game, and some pics from Arkhamcity.co.uk reveals that he gets some additional skins as well.

L to R: Red Robin, Arkham City Robin, Animated Series Robin

I love the addition of the Red Robin costume, and I would have preferred to see Robin get his own campaign mode much like Catwoman’s, but I won’t complain. Although I will mention that while the Animated Series Robin skin is cool, it isn’t totally accurate to the game as Arkham City and Red Robin are both Tim Drake, and animated is Dick Grayson. That’s just the nerd in me nitpicking, otherwise I’m stoked.

As to what the game and story line entails a lot of it is still under wraps. What we have learned is just how much of that story there actually is. CVG reports:

“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”, game director Sefton Hill told The Guardian.

According to Hill, the game also features around 15 hours worth of side-quests, which can be tackled by the players when they please.

“The side missions in Batman: Arkham City are a good example. We have around 15 hours of story that’s off the main path,” he said.

“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.”

And I heard a report that a lot of these side missions will feature a some of Batman’s Rogues Gallery like Zsasz and Calendar Man. I love that they are able to offer up additional missions to the game, very similar to any other free-roaming city based game out there like any of the Spider-Man games, or even Prototype and Infamous. And over 40 hours of gameplay? That’s pretty awesome.

But what happens after you beat the game? A new game mode was revealed over at WhatCulture! called New Game Plus. It’s a slightly different way to run through the game a second time, which Arkham Asylum lacked.

Here’s a bit of the Q & A with Rocksteady European Community Manager Sarah Wellock, with more at the link.

WHAT DO I START NEW GAME PLUS WITH? 
ALL of your gadgets from the end of your first play though, ALL of your XP (including unlocked upgrades)

WHAT IS DIFFERENT? 
No counter icons on thugs
Different Thug Levels: tougher thugs are available from the start of the game
Different Thug Configuration
Increased difficulty Bosses : Bosses will be even more cunning

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM HARD MODE? 
The main difference is that you will have ALL of your gadgets and xp so even though the enemies may be tougher you will have the technical upper hand

IS NEW GAME PLUS ONE DIFFICULTY SETTING?
Yes, regardless of whether you finish the game on normal or hard new game plus will be the same difficulty

I will definitely enjoy that, and it’s a great improvement on Arkham Asylum, which fell short in the aftergame. That’s pretty much all the news that I have today, but this game keeps getting closer to release, which means I keep getting closer to release. Uh, that came out wrong. Actually, no, no that’s right.

Batman: Arkham City busts heads on Oct. 18th.

Want more Arkham City news, like the recent announcement and screenshots of Nightwing? Click here!