Winter 2013 (Part 1) - Year Of The Bat?
Batman: Dark Legend
An adventure/brawler game published by THQ for the Nexus (and later for the Virtua and Reality), Batman: Dark Legend is the sequel to Batman: Gotham Stories, and features dual protagonists Batman and Nightwing as they battle crime in Gotham while attempting to work together as partners to stop a dangerous enemy. Like its predecessor, the game plays more like a straight-up brawler than the OTL Arkham games, but does include more stealth and detective elements than Gotham Stories, particularly during the Batman segments. The game is also designed from the ground-up for next generation consoles, with a larger city to explore, much smoother animation, and more realistic looking buildings and characters. Batman and Nightwing both have their own unique skill trees and sets of gadgets, with Batman's gadgets focusing more on mobility and subterfuge, and Nightwing's gadgets focusing more on aggression and technology. The two do share gadgets between them as well, with both having the basic grappling hook/Batarang type equipment, with more specialization happening later on. Dark Legend also avoids breaking its action up into multiple individual stories, and instead has one flowing narrative. Batman and Nightwing each have their own parts in that narrative, which converges and then splits at least once over the course of the story, but the individual stories and character chapters of Gotham Stories are gone. There's also less of an open world feel to this game. Batman and Nightwing are both able to explore Gotham relatively freely, but the story is largely confined to certain areas, and there's not much in the way of side quests, with the game instead electing to tell a more unified and rigid story. The two also have their own brawling styles: Batman is a heavy puncher and a bit slower, while Nightwing is faster and works more kicks into his attack style, but is also a bit weaker in terms of absolute damage. The two characters each have their own distinct style, but rather than be asked to pick a favorite, the player will need to master both in order to progress through the game. Both also have their own ways of dealing with non-combatants. Batman uses his familiar fear-based approach and hiding in the shadows, while Nightwing is more direct and impulsive. The two do have a lot of similarities, but also plenty of differences, which cause them to clash at times throughout the game's story. As implied by the game's title, the tone of the game is somewhat darker than Gotham Stories, which was already a fairly dark game to begin with. The game's rating is a very strict Teen, with decent amounts of violence and blood (though there's not a lot of strong language). The game goes for a tone that somewhat combines the classic animated series with some of the more darker stories from the comics, creating a type of game that wouldn't be out of place among the contemporary animated films. Kevin Conroy reprises his role as the voice of Batman, and Kevin Michael Richardson, Cat Taber, and Grey Delisle reprise their roles as Joker, Batgirl, and Catwoman respectively. Harley Quinn appears in this game in a prominent role, voiced by Lyssa Fielding, while Will Friedle appears as Nightwing, replacing Mitchell Musso and making his first appearance in something Batman-related since his role as Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond.
The game begins with a quick brawl segment in Bludhaven that serves as a tutorial for Nightwing. Then, after a few more scenes, Nightwing comes to Gotham, and the game begins. The main antagonist of Dark Legend is the Joker, with Harley Quinn as the secondary antagonist and several other members of Batman's rogues gallery playing somewhat minor roles. There are a few original villains and characters to speak of, and a couple returning characters from Gotham Stories, but for the most part, the game revolves around Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, Joker, and Harley. Joker is no longer as feared as he once was, with several powerful crime bosses having taken hold of Gotham (emboldened by Joker's failure to kill all of them in Gotham Stories). Meanwhile, Harley Quinn, though still devoted to him, is slipping increasingly out of his orbit, and he feels he needs to bring her back to him by making himself one to be feared again. Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon have been dating for several months now, something that both Batman and Commissioner Gordon oppose. There's still a rift between Batman and Nightwing, a rift that Joker would attempt to exploit as the game progresses (indeed, he feels that turning Nightwing against Batman would be the "ultimate joke", and becomes obsessed with this, putting all of his other plans aside). Harley believes that Joker is capable of destroying Gotham, and wants to see him achieve this goal, and while her plans are surprisingly pragmatic, Joker rejects them all, and eventually tries to control Harley through increasingly violent means. Though the main driving action of the game is Batman and Nightwing teaming up to take down a mob boss who happens to be an old enemy of Gordon's and who has exerted influence on a number of Batman's enemies, including Poison Ivy and Killer Croc (probably the two most prominent non-Joker or Harley villains in the game, with Poison Ivy trying to get revenge on a corporation responsible for killing a rare species of tree while also trying to save Harley from Joker, and Killer Croc playing a morally conflicted tough), the Joker's scheming plays into everything. Meanwhile, Catwoman, becoming increasingly disillusioned with her life of crime and trying to protect Batman, attempts to get close to him through Batgirl, and the two almost have a conflicted mentor-student relationship that develops in numerous story segments. This complex web of relationships and conflicts plays out across a tightly crafted nine chapter story, with four chapters seeing the player control Nightwing and four chapters seeing them control Batman, before having the player alternate between both of them for the final story segment. The first three chapters focus on Batman and Nightwing going after the mob boss but also forced to deal with an increasingly unpredictable Harley. The next three chapters see open war break out between the Joker and the mob boss, with Batman catching the Joker just after the mob boss is brutally murdered at Harley's hands (though Harley would come to regret this, with chapter seven featuring a harrowing sequence in which Nightwing and Batgirl chase Harley down, Poison Ivy and Catwoman both getting involved, and the chapter ending with Catwoman shot and feared dead, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy captured, and Nightwing embracing a tearful Batgirl, who nearly killed Harley before being talked down). Chapter eight sees Joker executing a convoluted plan to escape police custody, but not before we see a very dark side of Batman. The chapter ends with Batman engaging in a brutal hand to hand fight with Killer Croc, who was forced to fight Batman by the Joker. Meanwhile, the Joker is able to abduct Batgirl, setting up the abduction to make it look like Batman was to blame. Chapter nine borrows somewhat from The Killing Joke, with the Joker attempting to drive Nightwing to madness and direct his anger at Batman. However, Batgirl throws a wrench in his plan by fighting back and preventing the Joker from crippling her, but she isn't able to reach Nightwing in time before Nightwing attacks Batman. Nightwing nearly kills Batman in anger, but Batman is able to disarm him, and the two work together to defeat the Joker. The game ends with the Bat-Family somewhat broken: Nightwing and Batgirl leave Gotham together, both of them somewhat traumatized by their experiences. However, there is a bright spot, as Harley renounces the Joker forever from her prison cell (and it's implied that she and Ivy have an escape plan). Batman has lost his companion (for now), but so has the Joker, while Gotham is saved for at least another day.
Batman: Dark Legend is released on February 5, 2013, and is originally a Nexus exclusive, though it would be released for both the Virtua and Reality at their respective launches in March and June. The game's detailed graphics, revamped fight system, and strong characterization are all highly praised, but its linearity and lack of scenario variety are both criticized, and the game would ultimately see reviews averaging right around 8/10, the same as Gotham Stories. Batman still doesn't have that Arkham-type game that made it one of the top OTL game franchises of its time, and it may never get it, but the Caped Crusader is still highly respected amongst gamers, and sales for all three versions of the game are fairly solid, with the Nexus version selling just over 150,000 units in its first week.
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Batman Revenger Ad Scores Strong Reviews During Super Bowl
Among commercials for several upcoming blockbusters that aired during the Super Bowl last night was the ad for Batman Revenger, the sequel to Batman Crusader, which was the most lucrative Batman film in several years. The upcoming film showed Batman locked in an escalating war with Two-Face, a villain who was once the heroic district attorney Harvey Dent, one of Bruce Wayne's best friends. Two-Face has murdered someone quite close to Bruce Wayne, while blaming Bruce Wayne for the accident that transformed him into a monster (and also for the death of his young daughter). The ad showed just how personal the struggle between Batman and Two-Face will become over the course of the film, and has the question of whether or not the Batman will break his "no killing" rule hanging over it. Batman Revenger is expected to be one of the year's most successful films, building heavily off the reception to Crusader and continuing the story of one of DC's most popular cinematic heroes. The film will release during a 2013 that many are calling the "Year Of The Bat", a year that will see not only the release of Batman Crusader, but also several video games and animated film spinoffs, and at least one DC feature film that will see Batman making a cameo. Batman is still having an incredible decade, and a number of projects featuring Batman and his various supporting characters are still expected to be announced before the end of the year.
-from an article on Tubehound, posted on February 4, 2013
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Be A Batman Villain, Only On Mobile (and Google Nexus)
Batman: Rogues releases this week for iOS and Android devices, and allows players to create their own unique member of Batman's iconic rogues' gallery. Customize your character's appearance, from their face and body to what kind of clothes they wear and weapons they use, give them a variety of skills, and give them a motivation for taking down the Batman. Then, battle it out with other rogues in a miniaturized Gotham City! Gameplay consists of completing various missions in the game's overhead perspective, which can range from setting up traps to robbing banks, or you can also choose to challenge other players for turf. It plays somewhat like a hybrid of a tower defense game and an RPG, and features in-app purchases that players can use to improve their character (with the game itself being free to play). It's fairly well crafted, and thankfully doesn't rely on the tiresome "energy" mechanic that some apps use to force players to pony up cash just to play. Players can complete a set number of missions per day regardless of whether or not they pay to do so, and the only things available for purchase are clearly defense upgrades and wearable cosmetics. It's also possible to earn points toward upgrades by completing missions, beating other players, or winning turf wars, and the graphics, while fairly simple, invoke classic Batman motifs and characters quite well, with guest appearances from classic heroes and villains from the animated shows and comics alike. Batman: Rogues is one of the year's most anticipated mobile games, and it's available for play on iOS and Android enabled devices (including the Nexus).
-from an article on Kotaku, posted on February 13, 2013
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Barbara Gordon Becomes Batman In Limited Comic Series
Bruce Wayne has gone missing, but Batman still stalks the streets of Gotham... because the former Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, has taken up the cape and cowl in this offshoot from the main Batman comic series. As many readers will recall, Barbara Gordon was paralyzed in the classic graphical novel The Killing Joke, a condition which carried over to the comics, making her the Oracle. That condition has become somewhat ambiguous in recent years, with Barbara disappearing entirely from the comics in recent months, rumored to be coming back as the Batgirl after a possible recovery. This new Batman comic series also takes place after the incident in The Killing Joke, but with Bruce Wayne gone, Barbara was forced to turn to "certain means" (the comic hasn't yet revealed how, but it's rumored that either Lex Luthor or magic was involved) to gain her mobility back so that she could keep Batman alive. Keeping Batman around is seemingly the only way to keep an as of yet unseen villain at bay, who would rage out of control if Batman were out of the picture. Barbara doesn't resort to physical transformation to make herself look the part (though the suit she uses has armor that resembles Bruce's musculature and hides her figure), she instead resorts to subterfuge, shadows, and a voice modulator to make villains see her as the Batman they fear. It's an incredibly clever take on the Batman mythos, and also an amazing exploration of Barbara's character, as she's forced to fight and act in ways she sometimes disagrees with for the greater good of keeping this mysterious evil at bay. Meanwhile, she also has to keep her father, an aging and nearly retired Commissioner Gordon, out of the loop. The series is expected to run for 16 issues, and we've seen three so far, with Barbara engaging in heated battles with Catwoman, Two-Face, and in the latest issue, a somewhat skeptical Harley Quinn. The comic is enjoying some of the best sales that DC has seen in the past several years, just behind sales of the main Batman comic series.
-from an article posted on the Comics Collected blog on March 1, 2013
An adventure/brawler game published by THQ for the Nexus (and later for the Virtua and Reality), Batman: Dark Legend is the sequel to Batman: Gotham Stories, and features dual protagonists Batman and Nightwing as they battle crime in Gotham while attempting to work together as partners to stop a dangerous enemy. Like its predecessor, the game plays more like a straight-up brawler than the OTL Arkham games, but does include more stealth and detective elements than Gotham Stories, particularly during the Batman segments. The game is also designed from the ground-up for next generation consoles, with a larger city to explore, much smoother animation, and more realistic looking buildings and characters. Batman and Nightwing both have their own unique skill trees and sets of gadgets, with Batman's gadgets focusing more on mobility and subterfuge, and Nightwing's gadgets focusing more on aggression and technology. The two do share gadgets between them as well, with both having the basic grappling hook/Batarang type equipment, with more specialization happening later on. Dark Legend also avoids breaking its action up into multiple individual stories, and instead has one flowing narrative. Batman and Nightwing each have their own parts in that narrative, which converges and then splits at least once over the course of the story, but the individual stories and character chapters of Gotham Stories are gone. There's also less of an open world feel to this game. Batman and Nightwing are both able to explore Gotham relatively freely, but the story is largely confined to certain areas, and there's not much in the way of side quests, with the game instead electing to tell a more unified and rigid story. The two also have their own brawling styles: Batman is a heavy puncher and a bit slower, while Nightwing is faster and works more kicks into his attack style, but is also a bit weaker in terms of absolute damage. The two characters each have their own distinct style, but rather than be asked to pick a favorite, the player will need to master both in order to progress through the game. Both also have their own ways of dealing with non-combatants. Batman uses his familiar fear-based approach and hiding in the shadows, while Nightwing is more direct and impulsive. The two do have a lot of similarities, but also plenty of differences, which cause them to clash at times throughout the game's story. As implied by the game's title, the tone of the game is somewhat darker than Gotham Stories, which was already a fairly dark game to begin with. The game's rating is a very strict Teen, with decent amounts of violence and blood (though there's not a lot of strong language). The game goes for a tone that somewhat combines the classic animated series with some of the more darker stories from the comics, creating a type of game that wouldn't be out of place among the contemporary animated films. Kevin Conroy reprises his role as the voice of Batman, and Kevin Michael Richardson, Cat Taber, and Grey Delisle reprise their roles as Joker, Batgirl, and Catwoman respectively. Harley Quinn appears in this game in a prominent role, voiced by Lyssa Fielding, while Will Friedle appears as Nightwing, replacing Mitchell Musso and making his first appearance in something Batman-related since his role as Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond.
The game begins with a quick brawl segment in Bludhaven that serves as a tutorial for Nightwing. Then, after a few more scenes, Nightwing comes to Gotham, and the game begins. The main antagonist of Dark Legend is the Joker, with Harley Quinn as the secondary antagonist and several other members of Batman's rogues gallery playing somewhat minor roles. There are a few original villains and characters to speak of, and a couple returning characters from Gotham Stories, but for the most part, the game revolves around Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, Joker, and Harley. Joker is no longer as feared as he once was, with several powerful crime bosses having taken hold of Gotham (emboldened by Joker's failure to kill all of them in Gotham Stories). Meanwhile, Harley Quinn, though still devoted to him, is slipping increasingly out of his orbit, and he feels he needs to bring her back to him by making himself one to be feared again. Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon have been dating for several months now, something that both Batman and Commissioner Gordon oppose. There's still a rift between Batman and Nightwing, a rift that Joker would attempt to exploit as the game progresses (indeed, he feels that turning Nightwing against Batman would be the "ultimate joke", and becomes obsessed with this, putting all of his other plans aside). Harley believes that Joker is capable of destroying Gotham, and wants to see him achieve this goal, and while her plans are surprisingly pragmatic, Joker rejects them all, and eventually tries to control Harley through increasingly violent means. Though the main driving action of the game is Batman and Nightwing teaming up to take down a mob boss who happens to be an old enemy of Gordon's and who has exerted influence on a number of Batman's enemies, including Poison Ivy and Killer Croc (probably the two most prominent non-Joker or Harley villains in the game, with Poison Ivy trying to get revenge on a corporation responsible for killing a rare species of tree while also trying to save Harley from Joker, and Killer Croc playing a morally conflicted tough), the Joker's scheming plays into everything. Meanwhile, Catwoman, becoming increasingly disillusioned with her life of crime and trying to protect Batman, attempts to get close to him through Batgirl, and the two almost have a conflicted mentor-student relationship that develops in numerous story segments. This complex web of relationships and conflicts plays out across a tightly crafted nine chapter story, with four chapters seeing the player control Nightwing and four chapters seeing them control Batman, before having the player alternate between both of them for the final story segment. The first three chapters focus on Batman and Nightwing going after the mob boss but also forced to deal with an increasingly unpredictable Harley. The next three chapters see open war break out between the Joker and the mob boss, with Batman catching the Joker just after the mob boss is brutally murdered at Harley's hands (though Harley would come to regret this, with chapter seven featuring a harrowing sequence in which Nightwing and Batgirl chase Harley down, Poison Ivy and Catwoman both getting involved, and the chapter ending with Catwoman shot and feared dead, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy captured, and Nightwing embracing a tearful Batgirl, who nearly killed Harley before being talked down). Chapter eight sees Joker executing a convoluted plan to escape police custody, but not before we see a very dark side of Batman. The chapter ends with Batman engaging in a brutal hand to hand fight with Killer Croc, who was forced to fight Batman by the Joker. Meanwhile, the Joker is able to abduct Batgirl, setting up the abduction to make it look like Batman was to blame. Chapter nine borrows somewhat from The Killing Joke, with the Joker attempting to drive Nightwing to madness and direct his anger at Batman. However, Batgirl throws a wrench in his plan by fighting back and preventing the Joker from crippling her, but she isn't able to reach Nightwing in time before Nightwing attacks Batman. Nightwing nearly kills Batman in anger, but Batman is able to disarm him, and the two work together to defeat the Joker. The game ends with the Bat-Family somewhat broken: Nightwing and Batgirl leave Gotham together, both of them somewhat traumatized by their experiences. However, there is a bright spot, as Harley renounces the Joker forever from her prison cell (and it's implied that she and Ivy have an escape plan). Batman has lost his companion (for now), but so has the Joker, while Gotham is saved for at least another day.
Batman: Dark Legend is released on February 5, 2013, and is originally a Nexus exclusive, though it would be released for both the Virtua and Reality at their respective launches in March and June. The game's detailed graphics, revamped fight system, and strong characterization are all highly praised, but its linearity and lack of scenario variety are both criticized, and the game would ultimately see reviews averaging right around 8/10, the same as Gotham Stories. Batman still doesn't have that Arkham-type game that made it one of the top OTL game franchises of its time, and it may never get it, but the Caped Crusader is still highly respected amongst gamers, and sales for all three versions of the game are fairly solid, with the Nexus version selling just over 150,000 units in its first week.
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Batman Revenger Ad Scores Strong Reviews During Super Bowl
Among commercials for several upcoming blockbusters that aired during the Super Bowl last night was the ad for Batman Revenger, the sequel to Batman Crusader, which was the most lucrative Batman film in several years. The upcoming film showed Batman locked in an escalating war with Two-Face, a villain who was once the heroic district attorney Harvey Dent, one of Bruce Wayne's best friends. Two-Face has murdered someone quite close to Bruce Wayne, while blaming Bruce Wayne for the accident that transformed him into a monster (and also for the death of his young daughter). The ad showed just how personal the struggle between Batman and Two-Face will become over the course of the film, and has the question of whether or not the Batman will break his "no killing" rule hanging over it. Batman Revenger is expected to be one of the year's most successful films, building heavily off the reception to Crusader and continuing the story of one of DC's most popular cinematic heroes. The film will release during a 2013 that many are calling the "Year Of The Bat", a year that will see not only the release of Batman Crusader, but also several video games and animated film spinoffs, and at least one DC feature film that will see Batman making a cameo. Batman is still having an incredible decade, and a number of projects featuring Batman and his various supporting characters are still expected to be announced before the end of the year.
-from an article on Tubehound, posted on February 4, 2013
-
Be A Batman Villain, Only On Mobile (and Google Nexus)
Batman: Rogues releases this week for iOS and Android devices, and allows players to create their own unique member of Batman's iconic rogues' gallery. Customize your character's appearance, from their face and body to what kind of clothes they wear and weapons they use, give them a variety of skills, and give them a motivation for taking down the Batman. Then, battle it out with other rogues in a miniaturized Gotham City! Gameplay consists of completing various missions in the game's overhead perspective, which can range from setting up traps to robbing banks, or you can also choose to challenge other players for turf. It plays somewhat like a hybrid of a tower defense game and an RPG, and features in-app purchases that players can use to improve their character (with the game itself being free to play). It's fairly well crafted, and thankfully doesn't rely on the tiresome "energy" mechanic that some apps use to force players to pony up cash just to play. Players can complete a set number of missions per day regardless of whether or not they pay to do so, and the only things available for purchase are clearly defense upgrades and wearable cosmetics. It's also possible to earn points toward upgrades by completing missions, beating other players, or winning turf wars, and the graphics, while fairly simple, invoke classic Batman motifs and characters quite well, with guest appearances from classic heroes and villains from the animated shows and comics alike. Batman: Rogues is one of the year's most anticipated mobile games, and it's available for play on iOS and Android enabled devices (including the Nexus).
-from an article on Kotaku, posted on February 13, 2013
-
Barbara Gordon Becomes Batman In Limited Comic Series
Bruce Wayne has gone missing, but Batman still stalks the streets of Gotham... because the former Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, has taken up the cape and cowl in this offshoot from the main Batman comic series. As many readers will recall, Barbara Gordon was paralyzed in the classic graphical novel The Killing Joke, a condition which carried over to the comics, making her the Oracle. That condition has become somewhat ambiguous in recent years, with Barbara disappearing entirely from the comics in recent months, rumored to be coming back as the Batgirl after a possible recovery. This new Batman comic series also takes place after the incident in The Killing Joke, but with Bruce Wayne gone, Barbara was forced to turn to "certain means" (the comic hasn't yet revealed how, but it's rumored that either Lex Luthor or magic was involved) to gain her mobility back so that she could keep Batman alive. Keeping Batman around is seemingly the only way to keep an as of yet unseen villain at bay, who would rage out of control if Batman were out of the picture. Barbara doesn't resort to physical transformation to make herself look the part (though the suit she uses has armor that resembles Bruce's musculature and hides her figure), she instead resorts to subterfuge, shadows, and a voice modulator to make villains see her as the Batman they fear. It's an incredibly clever take on the Batman mythos, and also an amazing exploration of Barbara's character, as she's forced to fight and act in ways she sometimes disagrees with for the greater good of keeping this mysterious evil at bay. Meanwhile, she also has to keep her father, an aging and nearly retired Commissioner Gordon, out of the loop. The series is expected to run for 16 issues, and we've seen three so far, with Barbara engaging in heated battles with Catwoman, Two-Face, and in the latest issue, a somewhat skeptical Harley Quinn. The comic is enjoying some of the best sales that DC has seen in the past several years, just behind sales of the main Batman comic series.
-from an article posted on the Comics Collected blog on March 1, 2013
