Ever since Batman: Arkham Asylum was first released, expectations for a video game based on a comic book have never been higher. Whereas before, comic book games were expected to be mediocre at best, Batman titles are now under a different type of pressure: They better be good.
There's been some worry that the new Batman: Arkham Origins will suffer, since it's being handled by a new developer, but the new PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS version is being helped by some of the people directly responsible for the spectacular Metroid Prime, including director Mark Pacini. So forget the usual expectations for a comic book game; when you have the director of one of the most beloved titles taking control of a new Batman project, you're entering uncharted hype territory.
In a refreshingly honest interview with Game Informer, Pacini offers a surprisingly frank take on the burden of expectations. Like many creators, he's always carrying around the fear that everything he does is awful, and he's hoping that his team is able to craft an experience that fans will truly enjoy.
Here's an excerpt from the interview, which also includes information on the new game, as well as why Pacini left Nintendo and Retro Studios:
Even though you don't want to be seen as the ex-Metroid Prime guys, fans are going to be excited when they know ex-Metroid Prime guys are going to be making a Super Metroid-style game.
I hope so. I hope we don't disappoint them. That's always my fear, because I think everything we do sucks. But that's just me because I thought all the Prime games suck. At the end of the day all I see are all the bad things. Prime 2 was a blur to me. It was so quick, it was so fast. That thing just went out the door and it was a very divisive game. People either liked it or thought it sucked, and I can completely agree because I couldn't tell you what that game was because it happened so quickly. Prime 1 was the best designed game. Prime 3 I feel is the most fun one to play. Prime 2 is divisive. You either like it or you don't. That's kind of the way I look at it.
It is the same thing here with the Arkham game. All I see at this point, because we are knee deep, we're in the woods right now in development, and all I see is all the crap that's wrong with it. In my gut I feel like, yeah, it's going to be cool. I'm excited for it. But at the same time, I hope we don't disappoint people and I hope that they like it. We're trying our hardest. I would like to play a game like this, so hopefully everyone else will, too.
