The Improvements To Batman: Arkham City’s Combat System

The PlayStation Blog took questions from their community to ask Batman: Arkham City developer, Rocksteady, about the game. While there are no shocking reveals in the Q&A, it fills in some blanks about the game quite nicely without any kinds of spoilers. Here’s one that I liked about additions to the combat system:

How has freeflow hand-to-hand combat been improved since the first game?

We didn’t want to overcomplicate the system. I think its strength is that it focuses on selecting the right move, not long combos or complicated sequences. You really feel like Batman when you play because it’s a very simple, very rewarding combat system. Now the number of options has been expanded massively.

 

We’ve added a lot of things, like simultaneous counters so that Batman can fend off two, three enemies at once. We added projectile counters, too, so he can throw objects back at enemies. Enemies can use combo attacks now, and you have to pull while countering multiple strikes. You can perform beatdowns, a series of really fast blows that can finish an enemy off without you having to use a takedown. You can even use your gadgets in combos: the Bat claw, the Explosive Gel, REC, even the Freeze Blast. It’s still really easy to pick up and play.

You can read the full Q&A at the PlayStation Blog link above. Arkham City is slated for release this coming week on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with the PC version following sometime in November.