At the VGA awards there were a handful of trailers, some generated a lot of positive buzz very quickly while others received quite negative reactions. Arkham Asylum 2 is one very much in the former category, the positive buzz that hit the internets happened almost instantly. It’s not a surprising thing; the first game was both critically and commercially successful and is hovering around the top choices for a lot of people’s games of the year. While the huge November releases makes everything pre MW2 seem forever ago I would like to point out the reason that it can be considered for GotY is that it came out in August. 4 months before the trailer for the sequel came out.
The reactions have pretty much been of the ‘Hell yeah! Bring on more Batman’ variety with people proclaiming how much they loved the first and how they cannot wait for a second. It’s fair and understandable; the first was a great game and definitely GotY contender. However the set up reminds me of another game
Critically successful
Commercially successful
GotY contender
Lots of potential for DLC with little released
While I am not a complete idiot and realise there are some major differences between the two properties being one is a single player experience with little replay value, the other a multiplayer experience with a lot of replay experience this trailer couldn’t stop me thinking about Left 4 Dead.
Mainly what I have been thinking about is the complete opposite reaction that the games fans had when a sequel is announced, even though Valve waited more than twice as long before announcing a sequel.
Batman
‘I loved the first so much; I can’t wait to play a second’
Left 4 Dead
‘I loved the first so much, why would I play the second’
Batman
‘I can’t wait to do some new predator challenges, those rocked’
Left 4 Dead
‘I can’t believe valve want me to pay for more of the same’
Batman
‘I am so getting this, I can’t wait’
Left 4 Dead
‘I am going to boycott this; I can wait for it to drop down to 10 bucks’
The big difference is that Rocksteady don’t have a community they just have fans of their first game while the negative responses to Left 4 Dead 2 all came from the ‘die hard’ Valve community. One Valve has nurtured, given special treatment to, thrown free upgrades at, created fan services for and listened to for many years. My question is why?
While I know in the end the sales for Left 4 Dead 2 didn’t suffer and the boycotters lost their resolve so the argument is academic. It doesn’t change the fact that Valve at the start of the marketing for their game suffered blow after blow from a community they have been nothing short of godly to when compared to other Publishers. The people who have been given reason after reason to support this company turned on them.
Yet how many of the people in the boycott probably gave a little cheer when they heard the words Arkham Asylum 2?
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