The Dark Knight Game: What Really Happened

[CRABBAH HUK!]

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2009/01/how_pandemics_dark_knight_turned_into_a_nightmare.html

In Summary:

1) Pandemic Brisbane was told by EA to develop a Batman game. I imagine that for a game developer, that would be akin to a rich uncle giving you the keys to his new Ferrari. They got to work right away. Six months later, EA calls to tell them, "By the way, it has to be a Dark Knight game based on or associated with the movie." Pandemic had gone a different route completely and had to scrap 6 months worth of work.

2) The project was a rush job. EA's liscense to publish the game was set to expire this past December. Initially the game was supposed to release along side the film in theaters; when this proved impossible, Pandemic was told that the DVD release in December would be the last possible option.

3) Pandemic decided to set the game in an open world Gotham City, even though no one on the team had experience with sandbox style games.

4) Pandemic decided to use the same game engine as their upcoming WWII title, Sabatoeur. However, Sabatoeur is much smaller in scope and the gameplay very linear compared to what the designers had in mind for TDK. Instead of using a new engine they kept trying to modify the old one. Basically, they took a Cadillac into the garage and tried to turn it into a Camaro.

By all accounts the game looked amazing. The technical issues were significant but not irrepairable given time, which unfortunately there just wasn't enough of.It seems that a dream game for many, with vast potentional, was mishandled from the start and ultimately canned due to liscensing issues.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Ah well, sucks, but i have a feeling well be getting a much better Batman game in Arkham Asylum.

 

[Mutagen]

Sad story. What a waste.

Still, I have high hopes for Arkham Asylum, as previously mentioned

 

[Drizzle]

You know, I think we will see "The Dark Knight" in video game form, but not until the third movie. My guess is that they'll make a two-movies-in-one game, similar to games of the past like "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (combined "Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" into one game) and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (combined "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End" into one game). I think that if they do a video game for the third film, the first third of the game could focus on key moments from "The Dark Knight". And let's face it, there are a limited amount of scenes from "The Dark Knight" that would make for fun gameplay, assuming of course the playable character is just Batman. Some stuff from the movie that would be fun for the game would be the drug bust in the garage, Lau's apprehension in Hong Kong, maybe the penthouse fight, the Tumbler/Batpod chase, and the Prewitt Building situation. Those are pretty much the only sequences from TDK that could generate fun gameplay. As Batman, anyway. However, if they made The Joker the playable character for half the game, however unlikely that may be, things could be a lot more interesting.

 

[Mister J]

What a shameful cluster****. It looks like, with better communication, we could have had something enjoyable.

Thankfully, AA looks to fit the bill. Hope it pans out.

 

[Joker]

As bad ass as AA looks, it's still not the open world Batman game that everyone wants.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm sure an open world Batman game has potential, but I'm not particularly aching for one. Superman had an open world game and it sucked. AA looks like it'll be pretty awesome, so I'm content with that. If it does well, who knows? Maybe someone with experience in open world games will take a crack at making one for Batman.

 

[Crook]

Yeah, I'm not really looking forward to an open-world Batman game. It's a concept that works for someone like Spidey and Supes, because of their superpowers. Makes it easy to travel, and the powers themselves are exciting to test out in an open-world. Being amongst the public isn't abnormal either.

None of this applies to Batman.

Open-world environments are only fun without superpowers...if you're a bad guy. Like GTA and Saint's Row, you are free to do anything you please, which is mostly just to cause havoc. Not very fitting for this character.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

All fair points. But, on the other hand, an open world game would allow you to drive the Batmobile. That's sort of a fanboy wet dream.

As for the public, just set it at night, which is sort of what you'd need to do anyway. Or you could even work it into the game--like during the day, Batman has to stick to rooftops and use stealth mechanics to stay out of sight, while at night he can roam around freely.

 

[Spider-Vader]

You know, I think we will see "The Dark Knight" in video game form, but not until the third movie. My guess is that they'll make a two-movies-in-one game, similar to games of the past like "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (combined "Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" into one game) and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (combined "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End" into one game). I think that if they do a video game for the third film, the first third of the game could focus on key moments from "The Dark Knight". And let's face it, there are a limited amount of scenes from "The Dark Knight" that would make for fun gameplay, assuming of course the playable character is just Batman. Some stuff from the movie that would be fun for the game would be the drug bust in the garage, Lau's apprehension in Hong Kong, maybe the penthouse fight, the Tumbler/Batpod chase, and the Prewitt Building situation. Those are pretty much the only sequences from TDK that could generate fun gameplay. As Batman, anyway. However, if they made The Joker the playable character for half the game, however unlikely that may be, things could be a lot more interesting.

Or they could do what most movie games do & have levels/villains that weren't in the movie.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Yeah, I'm not really looking forward to an open-world Batman game. It's a concept that works for someone like Spidey and Supes, because of their superpowers. Makes it easy to travel, and the powers themselves are exciting to test out in an open-world. Being amongst the public isn't abnormal either.

None of this applies to Batman.

Open-world environments are only fun without superpowers...if you're a bad guy. Like GTA and Saint's Row, you are free to do anything you please, which is mostly just to cause havoc. Not very fitting for this character.

Of course, Batman could have other ways of moving about, like roof-top hopping (a part of the character that was definately missing in TDK, by the way), using your glider, and the aforementioned Batmobile/Bat-Pod.

As for other things to do, there's always smaller crimes--from muggings to murders you can find and solve.

Or they could do what most movie games do & have levels/villains that weren't in the movie.

Oh, hell yes--I'd love to see someone do, like, movie versions of other, smaller villians, have them either being manipulated by Joker or doing their own thing amongst all the chaos.

 

[[A]]

All fair points. But, on the other hand, an open world game would allow you to drive the Batmobile. That's sort of a fanboy wet dream.

As for the public, just set it at night, which is sort of what you'd need to do anyway. Or you could even work it into the game--like during the day, Batman has to stick to rooftops and use stealth mechanics to stay out of sight, while at night he can roam around freely.

Drive the Tumbler around and destroy things?? *drools*

Spoiler

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm thinking more along the lines of the animated Batmobile, but a variety would also be cool. If Halo can stick like 6 different vehicles into a linear FPS, I think they could fit a couple Batmobiles and maybe a Batplane into this game.

 

[[A]]

Sticking strictly* to just one playing style nowadays.. seems lazy.






*say that fast

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I agree. I always have the urge to hop out of my car and run around in Burnout: Paradise, in fact. It wouldn't improve the game in any way, it just seems like it should be there.

 

[BeserkerHilf]

You know, I think we will see "The Dark Knight" in video game form, but not until the third movie. My guess is that they'll make a two-movies-in-one game, similar to games of the past like "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (combined "Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" into one game) and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (combined "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End" into one game). I think that if they do a video game for the third film, the first third of the game could focus on key moments from "The Dark Knight". And let's face it, there are a limited amount of scenes from "The Dark Knight" that would make for fun gameplay, assuming of course the playable character is just Batman. Some stuff from the movie that would be fun for the game would be the drug bust in the garage, Lau's apprehension in Hong Kong, maybe the penthouse fight, the Tumbler/Batpod chase, and the Prewitt Building situation. Those are pretty much the only sequences from TDK that could generate fun gameplay. As Batman, anyway. However, if they made The Joker the playable character for half the game, however unlikely that may be, things could be a lot more interesting.

I see where you're going with this, but you should take into account that these sequels were guaranteed movies to the public. They were going to happen and happen not far apart. batman 3 might not even happen

 

[dusk20]

I've wanted to see a Batman freerom game for years. And it's totally possible too. Why they never made one is beyond me considering how much fun Crackdown is to play. And with online play so open these days, you'd get the chance to have the bat family playable by your friends.

I made this ages ago. My controls for a Batman game. Enjoy.
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=265324

 

[Terminator]

I'm hoping some leaked footage gets out eventually.

 

[shadowforce420]

All fair points. But, on the other hand, an open world game would allow you to drive the Batmobile. That's sort of a fanboy wet dream.

As for the public, just set it at night, which is sort of what you'd need to do anyway. Or you could even work it into the game--like during the day, Batman has to stick to rooftops and use stealth mechanics to stay out of sight, while at night he can roam around freely.

Thats a good idea but I'd add an intimidation meter. Think of it like this, at the start of the game you can take out regular criminals with a punch or 2 but as more people start to see Batman the meter drops and they becoming harder to beat because they arent as scared when you show up. Staying stealthy for a while can refill the meter. The meter wouldn't effect boss battles though because people like Joker and Two-Face already know about Batman.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That'd be interesting.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

I think a Batman free-roamer could work. Do it in the mould of Crackdown, but instead of just taking down different crime bosses Batman has to disrupt the Gotham mobs operations, maybe throw in some investigative work or levels where you have to follow someone from the rooftops in the shadows or something.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

I think a Batman free-roamer could work. Do it in the mould of Crackdown, but instead of just taking down different crime bosses Batman has to disrupt the Gotham mobs operations, maybe throw in some investigative work or levels where you have to follow someone from the rooftops in the shadows or something.

I always thought a Batman freeroam could work really well, if you use No Man's Land as the basis. You start out with Batman only holding one small section of the city and you have to retake the city from the different Bat villians, slowly taking out their lower levels thugs, up to finally taking down the villian and retaking the terroritory. Use other Bat-family characters as protectors from other factions trying to take over that area if you're too far away. I think it'd work really well if you used somewhat of the gang war ideas in GTA: San Andreas.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Ohh yea if it was like No Mans Land that would be frickin spectacular!!! All the different gang areas suited to different Bat-Rogue. That would be awesome

 

[[A]]

Doing stuff as Bruce Wayne would be good too.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Yea if they have talking parts in it like Mass Effect, where you choose different responses which effect the outcome of the game, scenes as Bruce Wayne could be cool. Maybe at board meetings with shifty characters and you have to find out as much about them as possible, posing different questions and what not. Could make a nice change of pace from the action oriented Batman parts.