Game #1 - Batman: The Battle for Gotham City
The Setup
Our first game picks up right after Arkham Asylum. With Batman and Jim Gordon occupied all night, the escaped inmates have set upon Gotham City with renewed vigor. Two-Face, Penguin and Black Mask are attempting to reclaim their territories, and a gang war has erupted throughout the various districts.
Without getting into too much gameplay, we're envisioning a mixture of Crackdown with Arkham's established formula (which is a bit of a mix between Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil and God of War). We wouldn't create a completely open city, forcing instant transportation between "zones" via Batmobile.
The Villains
Black Mask
Black Mask might look like a clone of Marvel's Red Skull, but he's a perfect boss character for a videogame. Mask would function as our first major obstacle for Batman when he returns to Gotham, and would be the third major player in the gang war that occupies much of this game.
Acting as Mask's lieutenant would be none other than Firefly, a bad guy that is too cool to ignore but a little too lame to be a major component of a Batman game on his own.
Penguin
Oswald Cobblepot is a bit of an odd character to fit into a combat heavy game, but we think he'd mix things up a bit. The second of three major Gotham lords to overcome in our second game, Cobblepot would be using the services of Great White Shark to finance his operations.
If we had our way (and since this is our article, we will), we'd slot Penguin as the second major boss of the game – and design his battles and environments to be drastically different from the typical battles of Arkham and much of our sequels. Much like Scarecrow, Penguin's encounters could be a great diversion.
Two-Face
One of the biggest Batman villains not featured in Arkham Asylum, Two-Face makes an ideal focus point for our sequel concept. Clearly the Rocksteady designers had Harvey Dent in mind. Not only is he featured in several puzzles, but he's referenced by name in the final scenes.
Our use of Dent sees him returning to Gotham during the events of the first game. Being a heavyweight crime lord in the city, Two-Face quickly seeks to establish his dominance with the help of the ruthless mercenary, Deadshot. As players seek to contain the gang war, they will have to throw down with 'Shot before getting to Dent. We're picturing a sniper-esque battle ala Sniper Wolf from Metal Gear Solid. The one catch? Batman doesn't use guns. Bummer, Bats.
Hush
While a gang war is the perfect backdrop of our sequel, we have much bigger plans in mind. You'll get a better picture of this in our "story description" section (see below), but Hush's appearance in our game has far bigger implications. As Batman struggles to contain Black Mask, Penguin and Two-Face, he'll run across Hush, who's obsession with taking down his former childhood friend, Bruce Wayne, has driven him insane.
Hush would function a bit like Riddler in our sequel, albeit one who physically confronts the Dark Knight from time to time. But we have grander plans for Thomas Elliot – plans that lead into our vision for a third game.
The Story
Our story starts where the first game left off: Two-Face is robbing a bank somewhere in Gotham. As Batman has secured Arkham Asylum, the realization hits him that the inmates the Joker set free have had plenty of time to wreak havoc on an unprotected city.
It turns out three of Batman's biggest villains (Two-Face, Black Mask and The Penguin) have been violently reclaiming their criminal empires - fighting for total control of the city. With Gotham split into territories (much like a condensed version of the 1999 No Man's Land storyline), it is up to Batman to take down the crime bosses and restore order.
Batman's first stop takes him to the aforementioned bank. Unfortunately Harvey Dent has fled the scene, leaving Batman to deal with hired gun, KGBeast. A quick interrogation later leaves the Caped Crusader with more questions than answers. There's definitely a gang war going on, but why is he hearing that Hush has been spotted throughout the city? And what's this about the League of Assassins? Isn't Ra's Al Ghul dead?
From this point on Batman is forced to fight through each of the three gangs, working his way up the ladder - from street thugs, to underbosses to the head of each gang (much like a "less sandboxy" style version of the videogame Crackdown). Batman targets the Black Mask's criminal organization first - which includes Firefly for muscle. With part of the city back in police control, the Dark Knight is confronted by Hush, who cryptically mentions the League of Assassins. After Hush makes a daring escape, Batman sets his sights on The Penguin and The Great White Shark (see what we did there?), who have united to claim another area of Gotham.
After defeating Penguin, Batman takes on the final villain reclaiming his territory: Two-Face. This proves to be the toughest fight yet as Dent has hired the assassin Deadshot as an enforcer. Eventually Gotham's hero comes face to face with Harvey Dent. Exhausted from stopping the war, not to mention the events at Arkham Asylum, our Caped Crusader heads home.
Upon arriving at Wayne Manor, Batman notices some late-breaking news. On every station is "leaked" footage of Batman negotiating with Two-Face, presumably bargaining the fate of Gotham away on a handshake. As this drama unfolds, Hush emerges from the shadows... only with the face of Bruce Wayne. In a much-needed villainous monologue (because we love those), Hush explains he plans to take his old friend Bruce Wayne's life hostage (a la Paul Dini's excellent Heart of Hush storyline) - but only after he defeats Batman once and for all. The final battle of the game features Hush and Batman clashing throughout the mansion and Batcave.
