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A few weeks ago Game Trailers posted a Wish List video for the sequel to 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum. It analysed the short trailer that premiered at the most recent Spike Video Game Awards, speculating what the sequel to one of the most pleasant surprises of last year “could and should” contain, running the usual gamut of gamers’ desires for a sequel. A bigger playing area, more varied missions, and so forth. It sort of bothers me, actually.
Arkham Asylum was a fantastic game because it was so surprising—not just that it wasn’t another terrible licensed game, but because it did things that we didn’t expect, even out of a good Batman game.
The number of villains was kept to a shortlist, while Rocksteady Studios peppered the island with very smart references and visual cues to the wider Batman mythology. Yet because of some references in the trailer, GT proclaims that “the teaser left obvious signs that Penguin, Two-Face, Catwoman and Black Mask will be among the new sets of bosses in Arkham 2.”
The aforementioned characters’ appearances are probable, even anticipated. But the fact that the Iceberg Lounge appears doesn’t scream out to me that Penguin must be a boss character to fight mano-a-mano (or even mano-a-goons-mob). Batman’s encounters with Killer Croc and Scarecrow in the first game were impressive because they bucked the typical boss fight template.
Perhaps the GT Wish List is pedestrian because we have nothing but a 1:25-long trailer to a game with no official name. But with so little to go on, I would suggest that it’s better to just wait, and hope that the people at Rocksteady are able to put as much work and ingenuity in the first Arkham game to surprise and delight us again when the time comes. Because if the sequel really does end up a “Grand Theft Gotham,” it will be nothing short of a by-the-numbers disappointment.
