The games feature tons of references to the Batman comics and TV series-- more than just DLC costumes to wear-- and even some lesser-known characters were highlighted or shown off. The combat system was praised and has been seen emulated in other games (Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor come to mind) and the use of the various gadgets helped with that feel of being Batman. And it helped that he was being voiced by the man that my generation heavily associates with the character-- Kevin Conroy.
I feel that Arkham Knight was a good conclusion to the story being told, but there's still a way they can continue making Arkham games without compromising it too much. And that's to take the series to the future.
Submitted for the approval of the Gamr Drivl readers, I call this idea: Arkham Beyond.
(Spoilers for the Arkham series below the break.)
Arkham Beyond
The initial game was set at the titular Arkham Asylum, as Joker and several of Batman's rogues gallery took over the facility and took hostages. The follow-up, Arkham City, borrowed elements with the No Man's Land storyline from the comics, wherein Gotham was cut off from the rest of the country by the government, although in the game, part of the city is walled off from the rest and turned into a prison. Batman has to go into the walled-off area to deal with a nefarious scheme hatched by several villains. Arkham Origins was a prequel during Bruce Wayne's early days as Batman, when a price has been placed on his head by the crime mob. And the most recent game, Arkham Knight, concludes the series, as Scarecrow launches a terrorist attack on Gotham.
Over the course of the Arkham series, Batman's most notorious and infamous villain, The Joker (voiced by the incomparable Mark Hamill) ends up contracting a deadly disease after dosing himself with a Venom steroid-derived serum during Arkham Asylum, and ends up dying from it at the end of Arkham City. During Arkham Knight, it's revealed that several people who had received tainted blood transfusions had started converting into Joker themselves, Batman himself included, with the Caped Crusader having to deal with Joker hallucinations throughout the game. But Arkham Knight also featured Batman's identity getting revealed by Scarecrow, and Batman himself seemingly dying at the end of the story.
That need not be the end of it, however. Around the turn of the millennium, Bruce Timm and the same team that had created Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, created Batman Beyond, set some forty-odd years in the future of what would become the DC Animated Universe. It centered on a high-school study named Terry McGinnis, who after an encounter with a Joker-inspired street gang, meets an elderly Bruce Wayne, and eventually dons a futuristic Batman suit and takes up the mantle of Batman to fight injustice. Batman Beyond featured its own rogues gallery, though several characters turned up in older incarnations. It eventually received a proper ongoing comic book title of its own in 2014, and many in my generation still remember it fondly.
Combining elements of the Arkham series with Batman Beyond isn't impossible, and it would make for an interesting take on the setting.
Setting
Obviously, Arkham Beyond would have to be set in the Gotham of the Arkham series, after about forty years. Towering skyscrapers and holographic billboards and the usual Blade Runner-inspired aesthetic. It's not unusual for people to get cybernetic enhancements, and there's also the "splicing" movement, allowing people to splice animal DNA into themselves and receive mutations giving them animal traits and abilities. And the usual problems still plague society. Crime and corruption and injustice are everywhere. One of Beyond's main villains is a corrupt corporate executive, in fact, and has all the protections one might expect of a highly-connected businessman.
Gameplay
Ideally, the same gameplay as in the previous Arkham games would still apply in Beyond. Rocksteady came up with a winning formula for combat, investigation, and traversal which didn't need to change too much throughout the series. Batman not having full access to his gadgetry at the start of the game always made sense. He can't carry all of it on his person at all times, and often needed to call in a supply drop from in-the-know allies (such as Alfred or Lucius Fox) in order to have the gadget he needed to access a location or solve some problem.
One of the primary differences between classic Batman and Beyond's Batman, however, would affect traversal. Classic Batman has his grappling hook, but Beyond's Batman has rockets in his boots that allow him to fly more easily and doesn't make use of a grappling hook to the same extent that Bruce did. He also had a cloaking device in the suit, so he could blend into his surroundings while investigating a crime or enemy stronghold.
This would introduce a different element to Arkham's "Predator Challenges," wherein Batman has to take out a group of thugs in an area without alerting them en masse to his presence. In previous Arkham games, Batman can stealthily grapple to overhanging ledges and struts to avoid detection, but rocket boots aren't going to be so silent. Adapting things somewhat so the Batsuit has magnetic grips in the hands and feet, perhaps, and having to use particular architecture to be able to climb to overhead hiding places, or making use of other gadgets-- flash or smoke bombs-- to escape when detected. Additionally, a cloaking device might not disguise you from a thug with cybernetic eyes, or a splicer who can still smell you, adding an additional difficulty to these encounters.
Characters
Heroes and Allies
Batman would be Terry McGinnis, still relatively fresh in his role as the Capeless Crusader. He's not brand-spanking new, but he's not overly experienced yet. A young man who has seen how the corruption in the system has fostered injustice and cost him the life of his father, he's young and fights differently from Bruce's Batman, though the basic combat cues remain the same. He visits the ruins of Wayne Manor (which was destroyed in the closing moments of Arhkam Knight) and eventually discovers a hidden and sealed part of the Batcave, where he finds the new Batsuit. This also brings him into contact with...
Old Bruce, Bruce Wayne himself, who is still alive. He faked his death after the events of Knight, and has been keeping out of public view. He still has connections in Gotham, although they may not know who he is exactly, and while initially hostile to Terry, due to his theft of the Batsuit, he comes around and serves as mission control for him from his bunker beneath Wayne Manor. Some collectibles or hidden items may hint that he remained active after he faked his death, as the 100% completion ending of Arkham Knight implied, but by the time of Arkham Beyond, he's been forced to retire due to old age and lingering health issues from his lifetime of crimefighting.
Barbara Gordon would factor into the story when she becomes aware that someone is active as Batman again, but knows that it's not Old Bruce. In this setting, she's not Commissioner of the GCPD the way her Beyond self was, since that version of her was never shot and paralyzed. Knight also implies that she and Tim Drake got married. In Arkham Beyond, she instead oversaw the Wayne Foundation to continue Bruce's philanthropic endeavors, though she still has her hacking chops, even if she hasn't been Oracle for a long time.
Lucius Fox Jr., the son of Bruce's old business partner, still maintains a significant share of Wayne Tech stock, which puts him on the board of what is now Wayne-Powers Consolidated. He's not the one in charge of the company, though he serves as the voice of reason to the corruption in it. Lucius Jr works alongside Barbara in working through the Wayne Foundation to try to do some good in the world, and provides help to Terry where he can in exposing some of WPC's evils, and the schemes that are being unfolded.
Sam Young, who in the Beyond cartoon had been Barbara's husband and District Attorney, instead takes her place as Commissioner of the GCPD. As Terry is new to being the Batman, he's opposed to his actions, since Terry hasn't had the chance to earn their trust. I perceive him as someone who is still trying to be a good person, but hampered by the corruption rampant in Gotham. There's only so much he can do when most of the force is on the take in some fashion.
Villains
The villains of Arkham Beyond fall into one of two categories. As the central plot that Terry's working on is trying to unravel the web of corruption in Gotham, so much of which stems from Derek Powers, several of the villains will serve as "links on the chain" that leads up to him. Others serve more as side quest villains that Terry still has to deal with, but don't provide the same link to Powers.
Links in the Chain
Derek Powers, the corrupt businessman who performed a hostile takeover on the remnants of Wayne Tech, he runs WPC and is the source of a great deal of the corruption in the city now. He took Wayne Tech's Applied Sciences Division and turned it to developing weapons and other technology that ran counter to Bruce's more humanitarian goals. Oh, Powers dresses it up in corporate speak about how the weapons development earns them the money they need to funnel into humanitarian ends, but it's accepted that he only says this to appease the shareholders. Whether he actually has been exposed to the mutagenic bioweapon that turned him, in the cartoon, into the radioactive villain Blight, I'm not sure. Fighting Blight would make for an interesting encounter, but even in the show, Terry could not get close enough to him to be able to take him down without risking acute radiation poisoning.
Mr. Fixx, Powers' right-hand goon, is a significant character in that he was the cause of Terry taking up the mantle of Batman in the show. He killed Terry's father-- framing it on the Jokerz-- and had a classic confrontation with Terry's Batman. ("You're pretty strong, for some clown who thinks he's Batman." "I am Batman.") Mr. Fixx was only in the pilot of the show, meeting his demise when the plane he's on crashes into the sea. His role could be expanded in Arkham Beyond, making him more than just a starter villain, though he would still provide that first crucial link they need.
Inque is a recurring villain for Terry in the show, a shapeshifting saboteur who can turn herself into a liquid after being dosed with a mutagenic compound. Her ability to infiltrate secure facilities by literally flowing through the cracks makes her dangerous, and she even comes close to killing Terry and Old Bruce. In Arkham Beyond, she's working for Powers, sabotaging corporate rivals and similar. She's difficult to defeat, however, due to her liquid form, and would require Terry to acquire some old technology developed by Mr. Freeze in order to detain her.
Shriek had been an engineer working for WPC, who developed sound-based technology he thought could be used in demolition-- using resonant frequencies to destroy buildings-- but his tech wasn't very cost-effective. He turned to criminal life following a failed assassination attempt. (In the show, it was on Old Bruce; here it could be against the mayor or Commissioner Young.) He is an expert in almost all-things sonic, able to adjust his technology to hone in on specific sounds. Adapting him into being an even more expert engineer than his cartoon counterpart was, Shriek could serve as a puzzle boss like Mr. Freeze was in City. In that boss encounter, Freeze adapted to every move that Batman used against him, forcing the player to change up their play-style in order to defeat him. Something similar in a fight with Shriek would make for an interesting challenge.
Curare is a member of the League of Assassins, and one of their best. She only makes one appearance in the show, though turns up later in the comics to receive some additional backstory. An extremely deadly fighter with an absurdly sharp scimitar, Curare is a silent and extremely deadly foe. In Arkham Beyond, she can be in Gotham to go after specific targets (hired by Powers, presumably, though given she isn't known for talking, it would be hard to prove anything), but also there to measure up the new Batman on behalf of the League.
Armory was a weapons engineer at WPC who lost his job, and had to turn to crime to feed his family. He carries a seemingly endless supply of weapons, and has access to lots more. While he's got his issues with WPC because of his firing, he's not on their payroll, and he's got knowledge of a lot of the shady things that WPC have been doing in their weapons development and similar. Once he's taken down, he can provide information to Terry and Old Bruce to further build their case against Powers.
Side Villains
The Jokerz are gangs all drawing their inspiration from the infamous Clown Prince of Crime. There's no central leadership, per say, instead being several smaller gangs who paint and dress themselves up like clowns or circus folk before committing random acts of violence and crime. One of the more iconic Jokerz gangs was run by J-Man, a glory-hound showman who dressed and painted himself up the most like Joker himself but was nowhere near as dangerous. Another was run by Terminal, much more intelligent and prone to violence. There's also Ghoul's gang, who featured as the henchmen in the Beyond movie, Return of the Joker. Ghoul was later established as being a brilliant chemist and is able to recreate the Joker Toxin.
Spellbinder is a psychiatrist who turned to villainy when he felt he wasn't receiving the compensation he deserved for his work. Using VR technology, he was able to get children and teenagers to steal for him, crafting illusions to get his victims addicted to the virtual reality in order to get them to fall in line. This can be how Spellbinder is introduced in Arkham Beyond, before he turns his attention on Terry instead, crafting illusions to try to mess with Terry's head. He's not quite like Scarecrow, whose fear-toxin was able to affect someone's mind without needing to hand-craft an illusion for him. Still, Spellbinder is the kind of villain that plagues Gotham and needs to be taken down, even if he doesn't supply a link in the chain to Derek Powers.
The Stalker is a hunter-of-men with keen senses, preternatural reflexes, and cybernetic enhancements. He comes to seek to hunt the Batman, believing him to be a reincarnated warrior spirit. The Stalker hears of a Terry's activities in Gotham and comes seeking to face the Batman, believing that Bruce Wayne has reincarnated himself. He's dangerous, but honorable. In the show, he learns who Terry is, but doesn't care about it, and even insists that he's the only one allowed to defeat Batman. He can be a recurring antagonist throughout the game, who fights Terry multiple times before retreating, assessing his threat and abilities, and even intervening in one of Terry's fights with Curare, seeking to save the kill for himself.
Mad Stan hates "the System," and all the little injustices that it causes, and his solution is simple: "Blow it all up!" He's a bomb-throwing anarchist who hates technology, the government, and all the ways it inconveniences him. While one might argue that in a corrupt society like Gotham, Mad Stan has a point, he goes about it without concern for collateral damage. Making Mad Stan a side quest that Terry has to deal with while flying around Gotham, having to track down and disable bombs that Stan has planted around locations, would make for some interesting content. Plus, if we can get Henry Rollins back in to play the character, it would be awesome.
Big Time is a former friend of Terry's who turned to crime and like his name implies, he wants to be the shark in the sea of Gotham's underworld. In the show, he turns into a hulking monstrosity when he's exposed to a super serum. In Arkham Beyond, it wouldn't be out of consideration for Big Time to have dosed himself with something like the Titan serum, the same one that transformed Joker into a monster (and later gave him a terminal illness), and is trying to use his newfound power to carve out a niche for himself in the criminal underground. However, I see him as a one-off foe, someone that Terry has to take down to stop him being a threat, rather than a link in the chain.
The Royal Flush Gang may look ridiculous, but they're a criminal institution. They've been active for generations, being a family that recruits new members as older ones retire or go to prison, "The aristocrats of crime." Terry encounters a version of them in the show and ends up developing romantic feelings for Ten in their civilian guises. If Arkham Beyond does go with Terry as being new to being Batman, then it would be difficult for the two to develop any affection for one another outside of their costumed lives. King leads the Gang, but is seen as a poor replacement to his predecessor, and is abusive to his wife and children about it. Queen, his wife, is abusive to their children as well, but emotionally so. Jack, their son, is more pragmatic about things, not seeing any profit in going after Batman, but is still loyal to the family. Ace, meanwhile, is a robot, nigh-unstoppable, but vulnerable to water. Similar to the Jokerz, Terry would have to deal with the various human members separately, and would each have their own area of expertise to make dealing with each one a unique encounter. The show's Jack was a knife nut, good at sticking to the shadows and evading attacks of his own before going in for the kill. Arkham Beyond's Ten uses guile to pose as a civilian threatened by some gang or other, luring Terry's Batman into an ambush, where she dons her Gang attire and tries to use her agility to evade and attack, though might not be too dangerous a boss. Queen and King, however, are both veteran criminals, using various tech they've acquired to gain an advantage over Batman, and King is an expert swordsman to add an additional danger.
Story
Much of the basics of Batman Beyond's story remains the same. Gotham has been without a Batman for a long time. There is the rest of the Batfamily, who tried to fill the void, but have all either moved on or retired in the interim between Knight and Arkham Beyond. With Bruce Wayne declared dead, his company and his fortune became prey for other corporate sharks, chief among them Derek Powers. He swooped in and took over a large portion of Wayne Enterprises, merging it into his company and creating Wayne-Powers Consolidated (WPC). Without the philanthropic force of Bruce Wayne to keep it in check, corruption has flourished, and even the idyllic post-Knight age under Mayor Jim Gordon has faded with crime running rampant again.
Terry McGinnis' father, Warren, worked for WPC and discovered that Derek Powers had moved the Applied Sciences Division to create bioweapons-- specifically deadly neurotoxic gas-- in spite of international bans and treaties against such a thing. These bans were put in place after Scarecrow's terror attack on Gotham during the events of Knight. As a result of Warren becoming aware of this, he was murdered. Powers' right-hand man, Mister Fixx, had it done, though it was staged to pin the crime on one of the city's Jokerz gangs.
Terry wasn't at the McGinnis home at the time, because he'd stormed out after an argument with his parents about his delinquency, and ended up accosted by a gang of Jokerz. He holds his own against them, but then receives some help from an old man, who sends them running. Terry thanks him, but has to help the old man to safety when he starts having heart problems. This leads to him being led to an underground bunker, filled with Bat-tech (including the new Batsuit) which is when he finds the old man is none other than Bruce Wayne, the Batman himself.
Terry knows no one will believe him, but promises not to tell anyone as he leaves Old Bruce and returns home, to find his father has been murdered. Enraged, Terry returns to the bunker and steals the new Batsuit to go looking for revenge. Old Bruce locks down the suit, furious at the theft, but Terry's story speaks to him. He knows how it feels to have lost his parents, and relents, allowing Terry to deliver some retribution to the Jokerz gang... but then he finds out that the gang in question weren't responsible. Terry investigates a lead from a thumb drive (or equivalent futuristic storage medium) that his father had in his possession, which points him to Wayne-Powers Consolidated. It suggests that WPC has been experimenting with Joker Toxin and Scarecrow's Fear Gas from Knight, which leads into the main story.
Old Bruce is not happy that Powers took over his family's company and has been undercutting the Wayne Foundation's philanthropic endeavors, but hearing that Powers is working on bioweapons gives him and Terry common cause. Terry wants justice for his father's murder, and Old Bruce wants to dismantle Powers' corruption. Old Bruce uses his experience (and some assistance from Barbara Gordon) to connect the dots between various links of corruption, while Terry does the legwork, chasing down the leads and taking down the bad guys, while also fighting some crime as he flies around doing it.
Conclusion
The Batman: Arkham games were classics which appealed to fans of the Batman franchise as a whole, with a combat system that has been emulated in many games since, with a robust story throughout the games and a deep roster of bad guys for you to take down. Batman Beyond was a great series that explored a "next generation" for Batman. Combining the two into a game that can continue the Arkham franchise just makes sense.
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