Speaker 1: Before inc met Page superheroes rose from American ideals. Now
these virtues take on a powerful new form, and America's
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at usmint dot gov slash DC. That's US mint dot
gov slash DC. Welcome back, everyone to the Game Informer Show,
a weekly podcast covering the video game industry. Join us
every Friday for a discussion but the latest gaming news, reviews,
and exclusive reveals, alongside Game of Home or staff and
special guests from around the industry. I'm one of your
hosts today, Alex van Aiken, and I'm joined by Kyle Hilliard.
Speaker 2: Are you doing Hey, how's it going. I'm doing all right.
Speaker 1: I'm doing good. We're gonna be talking about Lego Batman today,
Yoshi in the Mysterious Book. We've got an interview with
the voice of Lego Batman, Shi Matheson Uh and No
will are net No, No, that's uh. He's from Arrested Development.
He's never played Batman before ever.
Speaker 3: You's wrong?
Speaker 4: Are you?
Speaker 2: Are you joking?
Speaker 1: Or yeah, that's a bad joke. So I'm going to
start the show. I'm sorry, Charles Hart, how are you hi?
Speaker 4: I'm good.
Speaker 5: I have just the insatiable need to know the voice
actors for everything. So someone saying anything implying that a
voice actors different than the actor they actually are is
like makes me raises the my hackles.
Speaker 4: I'm like, no, what's wrong? I have to correct you?
Speaker 1: Fair enough? Fair enough. Well, if you do enjoy this
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We've got some great writing in this book. The Blood
of Don Walker is the cover story, which we talked
about a lot last week, and I think quickly shot
up several shot up my list of games that I
am planning to play this year after hearing Brian come
back and talk about it. If if a new vampiric
RPG from one of the directors of The Witcher three
or from the director of The Witcher three catches your ear,
you should go listen to that episode.
Speaker 4: But today we're.
Speaker 1: Gonna be talking about Lego Batman. Let's kick it off. Charles,
you of course reviewed Lego Batman for us. What do
you think of the game? Would you score it? What
if people need to know? Hit me?
Speaker 5: Uh? I don't know how they would make a sequel
to this game because I feel like they kind of
did everything.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 5: That was like one of my things coming out of
this is I was like, this is awesome, and also
I don't a thing that it does just broadly speaking
that I really respect is They're like, we're not gonna
try to save half of this for a sequel later,
or we're not gonna try to you know, sequester this
off is like DLC. It's like, we're gonna do all
of Batman. We're gonna see him as a young kids
Bruce Wayne, We're gonna see him with like gray hair,
as like the head of the bat family by the
end of the game. And it feels like a very
very ultimate Batman experience. I really really like this game.
I was expecting to like it, and it basically lift
up to all my expectations, which I was very very
happy about.
Speaker 2: Hell yeah, the movies are coming right, like they're not right.
They got the Batman two and whatever whatever James Gunn
is doing right, so it's like, don't they'll have other
stuff in the future. But that's to say it feels
like complete and you know with a Batman with a
comic book anything.
Speaker 5: You know, it's just the way that it like it.
It's it's not shy about like aging Batman and making
time passing. And it's like there's like past Lego Batman games,
uh are I guess just Lego Batman one, But there's
just games where it's like, oh, you'll play the level
and it's kind of like maybe there's a chronological order
in place, but it's a lot more like level based
and just kind of happening in the quote unquote world
of Batman. And this one is like very much like
the beginning of the game foreshadows the ending of the game.
There's characters that will come back and plot points that
will be tied together, and.
Speaker 6: Like, I guess they could.
Speaker 5: They could theoretically, I guess put in chunks where it's like, oh,
we skipped over this chunk of time, so maybe the
Batman two will take place in here, But.
Speaker 4: It's just like a I don't know.
Speaker 5: It felt like a way that I feel like I
haven't felt about a game in a while where it's
just like, let's honestly superhero stuff in a while. Maybe
that's where my instinct is coming so far from of
like everyone wants to start a huge franchise, they want
it to be the Iron Man one that launches off
the MCU, and this is very much that it's like, no,
this is the Batman game. We're gonna make it all
of as much of Batman as we can cover, and
it feels good.
Speaker 4: I'm glad. I'm glad that they did that choice because
it is awesome.
Speaker 1: How does this game kind of compare to like your
personal because obviously you're you're a huge fan of the
Lego games, Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman. How does this
this one compared to like just the general series the
Lego games, Like, is it does it reach like the
highest ties for you? Or is it somewhere where is
it kind of fall? Yeah?
Speaker 5: I uh I, I don't think it's It's that crazy
of a thing to say this is the best Lego game,
at the very least the best the best feeling Lego
game to play.
Speaker 2: So not even Lego Batman game, like Lego game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like Lego game, all right, it is it.
Speaker 5: I just think it approaches the game and the game
design in a way that's just fundamentally different than what
Lego does, which is, uh, you're most of your like
older era Lego games, and I'm talking like pre Skywicker Saga,
which I think is probably the only other game that's
really in contention for this title, was very much like
we have established a sort of formula, a like type
of level, a way that abilities are distributed throughout characters,
and you play a level and you can play it
back with free play and use all their characters. They
had like established a formula, and people were getting sick
of Lego games because they were like even the newest
ones are kind of barely.
Speaker 4: Deviating from this formula.
Speaker 5: And this new one is like, we're just gonna kind
of leave the formula behind in a lot of major ways.
So like Lego by even three, one of the biggest
points was like there's like a hundred something characters in
that game, and it was fun to be like, oh.
Speaker 4: They got Batman and Robin, but they also have the Condiment.
Speaker 5: King and lar Flees and just all these like obscure,
deep cut DC characters, And this one's a lot more
focused of like every bat character has like upgrade trees and.
Speaker 4: I don't know it.
Speaker 5: Also, it just feels like some of the design choices
are a little bit more I don't know, the rewards
feel a little bit more intentional as opposed to just
for the sake of completion. So like a classic Lego game,
you have ten mini kits in each level which are
just collect we'll have to find, and this one it's
like there's five items you can smash in the environment
that'll unlock a trophy in the bat cave, and then
there's five wayn Tech chips.
Speaker 4: Which are like your upgrades that are in each level.
So it's like a little bit more.
Speaker 5: I felt a little bit more incentivized to actually try
to have a completioness play style in this game, because
half of it was like actually good character upgrades that
it wanted to have, and then the other half it
was like just only having five that you have to
find is just so much more achievable than ten across
the whole thing. So if I have three, I'm like, oh,
I can find two more things pretty easily. It's also
not not locked behind like replaying the level like a
lot of the times it's like, well, you could get
this mini kid if you had a character that can
double jump, but no one can double jump right now.
Speaker 4: So you have to come back and play it.
Speaker 5: And this one's more geared towards like the first time
you play it. If you got sharp eyes you're looking
for the right things, you'll be able to get all
the collectives.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's cool. So what is the overall flow of
the game? Is this like like an open world Arkham
Night Arkham City where you're just kind of there's a
main story, but then it's dumping you back out into
the open world to do side quests and stuff in
between main missions. What's that kind of look like.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's That's pretty much what it is.
Speaker 5: The there's like a one pretty linear or pretty line.
Speaker 4: It's a linear story.
Speaker 5: There'll be some missions that are kind of taking place
in the open world, but generally speaking, you'll have pretty
enclosed levels where you're doing something You're like chasing Redhood
through Ace chemicals, or you're fighting mister Freeze at Is
Observatory or whatever, and then you're coming out back in
the open world.
Speaker 4: And doing open world of Jacksapson stuff.
Speaker 5: The Arkham comparison, I do want to I kind of
touched on it last time we talked about it with
the preview, but want to reiterate that it's like it
takes the most basic Arkham building blocks and it doesn't
feel dissimilar to those games at all. But I wouldn't
say that if you just want another Arkham game, you
should play this. I don't think it's as much of
a one to one as some people are hoping it is.
It's still is very much like some kind of ven
diagram between Lego and Arkham games. And one of the
things I pointed out on my review is this is
the first leg game that has difficulties.
Speaker 4: Which is great. I'm very happy about that. I played
the whole game on the hardest difficulty. Uh, and I don't.
I don't.
Speaker 5: I wasn't really challenged. You have like three lives, and
if you lose, you have four hearts and then three lives.
If you lose all three lives you have to start over.
And I lost lives, but I never fully died, and
I wouldn't. I'd say I only actually came close, like
once or twice. But for it being the hardest mode,
I didn't think it was that hard. I also played
a lot of Arkham games, so maybe that's just a
me thing, but.
Speaker 6: I do think.
Speaker 2: I mean you think, like like, if you've played all
the Arkham games and you like them, go ahead and
just bump it up just to give yourself a little pushback.
I guess, right, Okay.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I I I would honestly even say,
like if you've played action games before, like if you're
just if you're just comfortable hitting a counter button and
just seeing that coming and doing that sort of thing.
I don't think there's any I would just recommend most
people that are experiences gamers to just start on Dark
Knight difficulty.
Speaker 4: And also like you can turn it down at any time.
Speaker 5: As far as I know, the only achievement you get
is for beating one level on Dark Knight difficulty, so
there's not like pressure to stay at the highest difficulty
the whole time to get some trophy or something. So yeah,
and then the other other obvious part that I haven't
really mentioned all that much is it's it's taking elements
from Batman movies and kind of weaving them together into
one story, and that's really cool. I watched basically all
the Batman movies this year, so I could be able
to spot all of the references as they came in,
and it feels it's just nice to the way that
they recreate some of the scenes of like you chase
down the penguin in the batmobile Allah the Batman and
the camera does that shot where it's like upside down
and Batman's like walking out of the flames line into
like penguin upside down, and it's just it's just as
very fun. It's it's very much like a game made
by Batman fans that are like, Man wouldn't be cool
if you could fit this part in there.
Speaker 2: And it's weird because like the comic book, the Batman
comic book, excuse me, the Batman movies have always been
sort of an amalgamation of like the comics, right, Like
the writers and directors always just take like I like
this from Dark Knight returns, I like this from Year one,
and they kind of like mashed things together, right, like
they just pick and choose their favorite things. So it's
weird that it's like this weird snake eating its own tail,
where now the video game is like, oh, we're gonna
pick take this part from the movie that we like
and this scene and this sort of sort of tone,
and then we're gonna make the video game sort of
out of that. And it's like it's it's fun though.
Speaker 5: I do like it, Yeah, I uh, I find it
interesting too, because it's like it tells it. I would
say it tells a new story, like it tells it
puts the pieces together in a way that hasn't been
put together before. But It is very much like making
something out of existing pieces, but it's also it's it's
I think I used the word mythology in my review once.
It kind of does feel like when someone's like retelling
a Greek myth of like, uh, what's his name? The
labyrinth guy Dadalus is labyrinth and that the minotaur is
in and then him and Nicarus, like like there's a
bunch of different retellings of that story, but all, like
the major beat are the same. This is the same
one where it's like, you know, Batman fights the penguin
before he meets Robin, but the way that he gets
Robin is more or.
Speaker 4: Less the same, and et cetera.
Speaker 5: The two references I want to call out is one
my favorite sequence, and I think if you're a friend
of Arkham games, it'll be your favorite students. My favorite
sequence is in like chapter five or six. It is
like a very cool Arkham Asylum reference, like the video
game Arkham asyleunce mostly movies, there's like a few references
to the animated series, but that Arkham Asylum sequence is
especially is especially very gratifying.
Speaker 4: Also, we're noting that rock Star.
Speaker 5: Or not rock Star, sorry rock Steady is credited in
the There's like a few dozen rock Steady employees that
are credited as co developers in the game's credits.
Speaker 4: There were people in rock.
Speaker 5: Steady that were like involved in making this game, whether
that was like, you know, they were literally helping code
the combat system, or they were just brought on as like,
you know, maybe they just got made this feel better.
Speaker 2: Yeah you guys okay with this, and they're like, yeah,
I guess so, all right.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: The other one I want to mention, Uh there the
section where you get bat Girl is in a section
where you're fighting Firefly, the villain which I believe was
the proposed villain in the live action Batgirl movie, Brandon.
I'm wondering if that was originally the plan and then
they scrapped the Batgirl movie and so they just kind
of had to make something else up. This is like
pure speculation, but that was one of the things that
I was like, this is the only sequence that I
can't really directly tie to an existing property, and I
wonder if like that was the original plan and then
we change it. But yeah, I had a list of
other things I wanted to mention. Specifically, I wrote these
down as notes that are like two minor to put
in a review, but then like like so pros, I like,
you can one hundred percent level on your first try.
Speaker 4: You don't need to go back, which I mentioned that already.
Speaker 5: When you're gliding in the open world, you can click
the sprint button and basically just like jet across the
open world, and it just feels so good. I just
love that you can you can get around this world
very very quickly. Yeah, if you stun someone by hitting
them with a gadget enough times, they get like dizzy,
and then you do like the the beat down animation
from the Arkham Games.
Speaker 1: I put that in the review, and it's okay.
Speaker 5: You can even do the thing where you're beating someone
down and then you have to counter, and you counter
that guy and then you go back to punching the
first guy.
Speaker 4: That's like one of my favorite, like, uh, just things
in the Arkham Games. Riddler.
Speaker 5: They're not Riddler trophies, they're like Riddler puzzle boxes. But
those are in this game, all of the Arkham Games,
all over the open world. And I don't want to
spoil what it is, but there is a Riddler like
character that also has his own set of challenges, so
it's kind of a twist on it just being the Riddler.
Speaker 4: There's two of.
Speaker 5: Them and each have like about an equal number of
things to do, so it's not just listing the same
guy every time. Oh, Gotham City, this is a broader one.
Gotham City is really cool. I think there's a in general,
just like an entity as an open world setting in
this game. It works really well because the way the
streets are designed and the way the buildings are designed,
it's not like a straightforward grid. It's it's actually I
actually really feel like I'm exploring the space because I
don't know what's going to be around the corner, and
the buildings are very much varied heights. There's like normal trains,
and then there's those trains that like hang from the
top that are going around yeah, and then there's all
these different like landmarks in there. It just is I've
been going through and trying one hundred percent of the
past few days after I beat it, and it's just
is very cool to explore and feel like I'm not
I'm not just like Oh, here's another building I'm gonna
jump on top of. It's like, oh, this is a
different this is a different building.
Speaker 4: It's really cool.
Speaker 5: Civilians say really funny things just on the streets of
Gotham City.
Speaker 4: One of them said, am I made of buildings? Or
are buildings made of me?
Speaker 5: And that's all that's all we get from. There's a
lot of unique business logos, so like names of stores
and stuff. A lot of them are references. There's a
lay minifigure which is like ley miz Le Miserabla, but
it's just like the legos. Instead of Cats the musical,
there's Bats the musical and it's got Man Bat and
it says starring Kirk Langstrom. But then there's also stuff
like there's Gothamburger, but it's stylized to look like got Hamburger,
and that's just like a recurring brand you see. And
there's just a lot of like I'm just surprised all
kind of land on a Rand Street corner and be like, oh,
this is an art store and they designed a logo
for an art store and it's not a reference to anything,
and it just feel it makes the city feel a
lot more lively.
Speaker 1: I bet that was a fun environment art team to
be a part of.
Speaker 4: Yes, that'd be great.
Speaker 5: Oh there's also graffiti, but they're like it's all just
like really basic, just negative words where it'll just be
like super crazy greview that just says nope, or like
in Big Green text will be like silly and just stuff.
Speaker 2: Like that, which I appreciated.
Speaker 5: And then the other thing is I can definitely think
of some Batman villains that aren't in this game, but
between like major missions and a lot of like cameos
and side missions and especially like that Arkham sequence, there
are few Batman villains that don't pop up in this
game in some way, which is cool.
Speaker 4: Hell yeah.
Speaker 5: My minor cons one is that in the open world,
there's always two people you can play in the split
screen cop one of the characters is always has to
be Batman.
Speaker 4: The other character is everyone else.
Speaker 5: So I would have fun if it was like Catwoman
and Batgirl running around, or like Jim Gordon and Nightwing.
Like I like the idea of experimenting with different duos
and just seeing like what they would say to each other,
but it's always at one, but you're always just kind
of picking your sidekick.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it does the GTA thing right, like the
GTA five thing were like they are doing their own
thing in the world, and then you can teleport to them. Right, No,
misinterpreted some footage I was looking at.
Speaker 5: They're they're following you. I mean you can, Yeah, you
can fast travel when you want to, but they're if
you're playing single player, they're just falling around. If you're
playing on it okay co op, the other person can
go like all the way to the opposite side of
the city. Like there's no like spatial limit that they
have to stay near you, which is cool, and that'd
probably be a good way to like try one hundred
percent the game. It's just going through And now the
problem is sometimes there's puzzles that like need multiple characters
to do stuff, so that might be kind of annoying,
but yeah, I just And also, if you were playing
with someone else, like if I was playing with my brother,
one of us would always be Batman, who just kind
of naturally has more abilities than everyone else. The other
person gets to be everyone else, and so you kind
of have to like share by like switching the slots.
There's like a button to initiate a character swap if
it's like, well, I want to be you know, ta y'all?
Ghoul in this mission, you can be whoever you want
to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Also, characters are locked to their own vehicle, so I
can summon the Batmobile, but if I'm playing as Robin,
I can't get in the batmobile. Batman has to get
into Batmobile, which is interesting.
Speaker 2: But they all have their but they all have their
own vehicles, like, yes, Gordon has like a police cruiser,
I'm assuming and stuff like.
Speaker 4: That he's got.
Speaker 5: Gordon has a police cruiser, a motorcycle, and a swat van.
Robin has the Robin Cycle and then the Robin Mobile
right now.
Speaker 4: And then there's another one I haven't unlocked yet.
Speaker 1: It's very funny the way that they have multiple there's
multiple for each then.
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh yeah, everyone has a lot of vehicles. I
would say, I take that back. Batman has a lot
of vehicles. Everyone else has.
Speaker 4: Like three to five depending on the character. Usually three.
Speaker 5: That's more than I was expecting. So it is funny
to see, like, all right, night Wing, we can get
a good amount of costumes for Nightwing. We can get
like fifteen night Wing costumes if we really stretch the
lore a little bit. Night Wing vehicles, I guess maybe, Well,
we got the night cycle that's a new one. But
maybe we'll get him just kind of a plane motorcycle,
and then maybe he's got a regular car and that's
just Dick Grayson's car.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's just kind of is the bat Wing in this game.
Speaker 4: No, you cannot fly, which I think would be fun.
Speaker 5: That was what I was thinking, by the way, was
I was like, if they do a sequel to a
quote unquote sequel, I think the only way to really
follow up on this would be like a Superman game
or like some other game where you're like celebrating a
character's full legacy just on the note flying.
Speaker 4: That's what I thought of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: My other two things are one, Robin and Nightwing are
mechanically different characters, but they're they're like too similar for
my liking. Their gadgets are basically the same, except Nightwings
do electrical stuff, so they both can make like a
cable launcher, but night Wings can also be used to
like carry electricity, and the Nightwing has the same birder rings,
except their electric burder rings also, and I just kind
of wish that we had like they also both fight
with the Eskima sticks, and I wish like maybe Robin
had the staff and night.
Speaker 4: We had the sticks, or you could switch between them
or something.
Speaker 2: But what's that word you just said, eskrima sticks.
Speaker 5: That's the name for night wings. Yeah, I learned that
from the Arkham City DLC that that's just what his things. Also,
Robin can make tight ropes and you can't grapple to them,
which is odd to me. Like you can make a
platform to land on, you gotta kind of grapple around
them and then land on them, and.
Speaker 4: I just feel like it'd be nicer to be able
to do that. And then the last thing is that my.
Speaker 5: Main ripe with the open world is there's no mini
map and there's no GPS. So if I want to
set an icon and I'm like I'm gonna get across
the town and I'm in a vehicle, I just kind
of have to drive until I see a right turn.
You just kind of have to figure it out just
knowing that it's in that direction. I have a tips
guy that's probably going up the day that we're recording this.
I'll probably be live by the time anyone's watching, But
one of my tips in there is like just glide
everywhere you can do like a grapple boost and then
you can sprint glide and it's just a lot faster
to go in a straight line than it is to
try to get in a car and maneuver all.
Speaker 4: The roads and stuff.
Speaker 5: So got Yeah, that's I gave it. I gave an
eight seven to five.
Speaker 4: My other gripes, I don't love the stealth. I think
it's okay.
Speaker 5: It's not super important in a lot of sequences, like
if you fail.
Speaker 1: If breaks into combat rather than like fail stating you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it's combat against like more guys than you
have to stealthily take down. But I never had an
issue where I was like, oh, this is terrible. I
can't believe I got caught. This is ruining my time. Yeah,
and then there it is like a little bit buggy.
Speaker 1: Still.
Speaker 5: I'll try to I'll try to grapple to a ledge
and sometimes it won't land on. Sometimes you'll press a
but until like walk forward in it interact with a thing,
and characters will get stuck or freeze up for a
little bit. I never had any issues where it like
broke the game or crashed or even sent me back
all that much. But it's just like a noticeable like
just launch bugs that I hope get worked out, but
honestly wouldn't be.
Speaker 4: The end of the world.
Speaker 1: They weren't.
Speaker 5: So eight and five just Shiva nine personally for me
did absolutely everything that I would want out of a
Batman game, and I'm very very happy and very satisfied.
Speaker 1: Well awesome, you know, I can't wait to play this.
I'm I haven't do you know how it runs on
Steam Deck. Have you had a chance to try that?
I have not.
Speaker 5: I played on PS five where I did, I did
play in the quality graphics mode, and the way that
like the rain rolls off of these lego dudes is
really good.
Speaker 4: It's just as very very good.
Speaker 2: I'm going to the only person I've ever met to
play in quality mode.
Speaker 5: I wasn't going to, and then it was kind of
the default setting and I usually like to check it
out if I'm doing the review. And then as it
was going on, I was like, I don't I actually care.
I'm not, like, I don't really need the extra frames
in this city.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a third person lego game, Like, yeah, that's
cool though. Yeah, I I've got a work trip I'm
going on as of this recording tomorrow but I'll probably
be back by the time this episode goes up, but
I want to try to bring Lego Batman with me
because I'm I'm dying to play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 1: Well cool, Well, hey, Kyle, let's go over to you.
You've been playing Yoshi in the Mysterious Book. A new
Yoshi game? How what is it? Number one? Because I
feel like this one kind of snuck up on me.
I think I skipped Ano direct that this was on
or something, and I knew there was a new Yoshi
game coming out, but I feel like I don't know
a ton, so I would love for you to fill
me in. What's what's the gist of the game? How
is it?
Speaker 2: Does it execute all that it's intention? Yeah? Yeah, I
mean prepare for less passion than Charles and Lego Batman.
But that's not to say like it's like a terrible
or a bad game, really, but it is. It is
different than the Yoshi's before it. Yoshi's kind of weird though,
because it's, like, you know, I love Yoshi's Island, like
just one of my favorite Super Nintendo games, a game
that I will revisit every couple of years, like on
my switch or something. Like that, and I'm just forever
charmed by it. That's a game that will always look
good and feel good, you know. But every sub just
pretty much every subsequent Yoshi game has like really gotten
away from that initial idea of like transporting Baby Mario.
Like there was Yoshi's Island DS, which was not very good,
and there was Yoshi's New Island, which was also not
very good. But pretty much like all the other Yoshi
games are like something a little different, and this one
is arguably the most different, I think, because it's like
if you could imagine like Yoshi gameplay, right, you're eating
bad guys and you're pooping out eggs and you can
throw the eggs. Like that accounts for like like five
percent of the game. Like it's like it's almost like
they were just sort of like that mechanic is just
kind of grandfathered in where it's like we kind of
just have to have this here. But like the vast
majority of the game is like you just sort of
like poking around a level and seeing what kind of
interactions happen, and then you get like points for every
little interaction that you find, which unlocks like more levels,
and you know that's kind of the trajectory of the game.
So it's like it's not that you go into a
level and you try to get to the end, you know,
by doing a bunch of platforming challenges. It's like you
go into a level and you like check out all
the corners and you jump around and like you maybe
throw eggs at things, and like you're just trying to
find interactions. Like so for example, like the first thing
you get is like a little flower that you can
either eat and have it as an egg or you
can pop it on Yoshi's back. And then when you
have it on your back, if you run past like
flowers that have in blue and yet the flowers will bloom,
and the mister e the book that you're inside of
that you're exploring, will acknowledge it and be like, oh,
that's an interesting thing that happens. And then maybe you
jump in some mud and the flower on your back
gets muddy, and the book is like, oh, the flowers
can get muddy, and then you walk through the water
and they get clean, and the book is like, oh, okay,
like you can clean muddy creatures when that happens, and
like that's like the most basic example and then there's
stuff that's like you know, you know, you find this
creature you put on your back, you can go fishing,
you can like get a magnet, you can like pick
up trash on the bottom of the of the water.
I'm trying to think of some of the more complicated ones.
I don't want to like spoil any necessarily, but like,
but that that's what the game is.
Speaker 3: Like.
Speaker 2: You're just trying to find everything that you could conceivably
do in a level, and that is interesting and it
is rewarding for the book to basically be like kind
of watching you play and then saying like, oh, look
at all this stuff you figured out. That's cool, And
then it might give you a hint that's like, hey,
have you thought about me? There's that like big you
know pine cone over there, Have you done anything with that?
And that's and that's it's so it ultimately is a
puzzle game more than a platformer because you're just trying
to like find everything you can do on a level,
and sometimes, like I said, like that is very rewarding.
You do something by accident, you do something you don't
expect to happen, and then you get sort of a
little acknowledgment of it, and you it's like, oh, I
didn't think that would happen. That's cool. Or there's the
version where it's like I think this might happen and
then it does and it's like oh cool. But then
there's the other the third thing that is like, you know,
you should look for a cave, and it's like, okay,
well what does that mean? Like I I don't know.
I guess I'll just like try to find a cave,
and then I do. And it's like the puzzle was
that I had to get into this cave. It was
in a weird spot, you know, which is like less interesting,
and the puzzle is just.
Speaker 1: You like platforming up to the cave.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Like that's one example. Like I had to jump
on a bird, you know, and like fly it and
find it the right place to go, you know, and
then there were a bunch of birds up there that's
like where the nest was and stuff like that. Or
like you know, are.
Speaker 5: These like, uh, how are like the levels split up?
Is this like a big open space you keep going
back to? Are they different areas that you're experimenting with
all these things?
Speaker 2: Or no, it's it's it's individual levels, right, and then
it's like if you can think of like if you
can think of like Yochi's Island, right, like classical gells,
you have like the sort of the collection of stages
that are maybe thematically similar, but they're each an individual level,
and then there's like another set of sort of somewhat
thematically similar levels and you know, and so that's how
that is. Like you start in a sort of a
jungle and maybe the second level is more of like
an icy mountain, and then there's like smallish you know,
there's like six or seven smallish levels that you go
into within those worlds, and there's like ten total, but
you like you quote unquote beat the game after you
do the first six, like you see credits of six,
and then there's like a bunch of it, which is
like a thing that I like with my Nintendo games,
Like this is like we'll give you sort of a
conclusion and a satisfying experience like at the like fifty
percent mark, but there's like a bunch of extra stuff afterward,
and and frankly that's kind of where the most interesting
stuff is. You know, like the same with like Odyssey
or something like that, and but there's no like you
don't take damage, you can't die. It's it's very much like, uh,
it's tough with these things because it's like it would
be a good first game for like a young player,
but it does require a lot of reading, which is
always kind of a tough thing with like Nintendo games
that I would run into when my daughter was younger,
is like, I think you would really like this, but
like you're not quite there on reading yet, and maybe
that's and maybe that's okay because then you just kind
of sit with your kid and you play the game
and you read it to them, which is funny.
Speaker 1: And there's no like narration or voiceover.
Speaker 2: No, it's like gibberish, you know, like the book will
sometimes be like oh blah blah blah blah, Yoshi, you
know which is which is charming? It's it's all very charming.
I gave it a seven seventy five. I sort of
missed the challenge of Classic Yoshi, but like I also
acknowledge that this is like it's trying to do its
own thing. I mean, it's it's not beholden to that
like thirty year old game at this point that I
do love, like I do love that game, but I
just I like, I just I wanted a little bit
more sort of challenge, Like I wanted something, and there's
really not much here to sort of push against the player.
And that's by design, you know, like that's what they
wanted to be a very inviting, friendly experience, and it is.
But I ultimately just was kind of like it was
just okay, you know, I just was like not over
the over the moon for it. I didn't really ever
get like fully engaged and like want to find everything,
you know. It was more just like, Okay, I've done
enough things here. I think I'm ready to go to
the next level.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 1: You know, what's your what? What do you what do
you love about the game or like about the game?
Like what are your favorite parts of it?
Speaker 2: About the mysterious book? Right specifically, I didn't know if
you meant Yoshi as a genre. It looks great. I
love the look of it because it's like when you
go inside the pages of the book, you're kind of
like sort of like a stop motion look. I mean
like Spider Verse kind of just started this trend and
animation where people were like, we don't need all every
single frame here that's that's that's excessive, you know, but
it's like it's a trend that I totally embrace and
I'm fine with, you know, like I don't. I think
it looks good. I think it makes action more readable,
you know, in films and in video games too, and
especially and it's so so I like the way it looks.
It's got this kind of papery look to it, and
it's kind of like stop motion, and all the different
creatures that you find are are really well animated and
interesting and they do weird, unexpected things like That's that's
kind of the focus of the game, which was I
think maybe I kind of skipped over. Is like you're
trying to learn about all the different creatures that are
within the pages of this book, and so you're sort
of like going in as a researcher because the book,
the books this this is very complicated, you guys. But
the book's eyeballs are outside of the book. It's on
the front of the book, so it can't look inside
the pages of the book. You know. It's kind of
like us trying to like look at our backs without
a mirror. You know, you have to have a yoshi
to do that for you. Yeah, so, I mean that's
so it's like the toe, like the mood, the charming
like sort of just bubbly tone and like the sort
of and when you do sort of come across interesting
puzzle bits, I do like that, but I just it
was kind of it's like a cotton candy game. You know,
it's just kind of like empty calories. It just doesn't
really like stick with you or really pull you through
in a in a radical way other than it just
looking really pretty.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 5: Hm, did you find the like later levels, like how
much of it did you play after like the credits?
A bunch like I played. I played a lot after credits. Yeah,
I didn't like one hundred percent the game or anything
like that, but but yeah, I mean that is where,
like I said, like some of the more interesting stuff
is like that's where you'll find even like some specific
references to like Yoshi's Island, my beloved Yoshi's Island, which
is cool and like fun to see.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was just wondering how much that kind of
answered my question. Does it get notably more complicated or
difficult or interesting after that level? Is it like a
this is how much you have to play, and then
after this is kind of for the people that are
more dedicated that want to see kind of the length
that the system can go to.
Speaker 2: That that's kind of it. It's it never it never
crests into like, oh this is It's not like Kirby
right where you hit a certain point where you're like, oh,
this is where the sort of like the challenge of
the game was hiding. It's never that, But there is
just like more interesting stuff after the credits, and your
tools to solve the puzzles are are better and like
more diverse, you know. Nice. But yeah, it's just it's
ultimately just like Okay, like I I was thinking about it,
and I I have played every Yoshi game. I think
I haven't beaten every Yoshi game, but I have at
least played them. And I would put this like like
I said, above like Yoshi sixty four and I would
put it above Yoshi's New Island for three DS and
and Yoshi's Island DS. I've heard the titles get kind
of weird, like I would put it above those because
those games were like a little bit more beholden to
Yoshi's Island to a fault, right, like they like especially
the DS one, which I was so excited for it
because it was like meant to be a proper sequel
to Yoshi's Island and like Baby Peach was in it,
and Baby Donkey Kong and Baby Mario, and I was like, well,
this seems cool. And I remember playing it for like
an hour and being like this is not doing it
for me at all, and then Yoshi's New Island again,
which was like this is the one where we're trying
to do the callback felt like crap, Like I just
did not It just played so bad on the three DS.
I don't know what was going on there. I don't
know what happened there. But this, this plays well, This
looks good. It sets itself apart from that sort of
the Super Nintendo game in an interesting way of feels
like one of those instances where like which happens sometimes,
which I like, frankly, is where Nintendo kind of has
an idea of like we came up with this gameplay
mechanic where you just kind of like go around and
you figure out all the interactions you can do, and
then they're sort of like, well who fits that, you know, like,
what what franchise can we like use as the sort
of you know, the secret ingredient to kind of get
you in to try this new mechanic, and like, I'm
I'm fine with that, you know, Like I don't I
don't mind when they sort of use their sort of
properties to like trick me into playing something I didn't
realize that I wanted to play. That works out really
well for them often. But yeah, but this one is
which is like kind of a lame like review. I admit,
it's just like it's just okay, you know, it's just
it's fine, you guys, just fine.
Speaker 1: Well cool, Well that that that's sad to hear.
Speaker 2: I was hoping good. But if you love Yoshi, you
get to hang out with Yoshi, it's good.
Speaker 5: I think it's hard, like this time of the year
to hear a game is just okay because it's like, well,
there's like nine really good.
Speaker 4: Games a lot of people are very excited about that.
Speaker 5: I'll probably get to and then by the time i'd
get to Yoshi, it'll be like the Fall and there'll
be other stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean there's a kid out there who walked
out of Super Mario Galaxy Movie and was like, Yoshi's
the best thing that's ever happened to me, and then
this is gonna be available for them and it's super solid,
you know. But if you're an old if you're an
old man like Lover, Yeah no, don Vover's not in
this game as far as I know. But if you're
like an old man like me who's just like loved
Yoshi's Island, and it's like has always kind of checked
in with the series, like this one is like it's
it's interesting, but it's not it's not like a it's
not destination gaming.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 1: Well, before we get out of here, I did want
to just take like five minutes and chat about Thicke
as Thieves, which is the the new game from Other
Side Entertainment. It's like an immersive stealth action game. This
is the game that is kind of partially funded by
Warren Specter and kind of overseen by his studio Make
a Bit Publishing is obviously publishing it. But I have
played two missions so far of Thicke as Thieves, and
this is the one. It was originally supposed to be
PVPVE so there was like you know, play verse player,
get in, try to try to get what you can like, uh,
you know, loot wise treasure wise, because your thieves stealing
gyms and stuff and you would have like a score
and then you would try to get out without you know,
getting getting seen. But there were other thieves at play
that got changed. I mean, we did a feature in
January on the game where like I had an interview
somewhat exclusive interview with the team, uh, and they were
telling us about, you know, their plans for this, and
then like a month or two later, they came out
and said, actually, here's the new the next look at
Thickest Thieves and it's actually a single player and co
op game.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I was like, whoa, that's like way different change this
extraction sort of stealth game with immersive elements. And so
I've been playing it and I have to admit I
was kind of I was kind of bummed about the change.
I it's been. You know, stealth games are rare, but
asymmetrical stealth multiplayer games are even rarer. And for fans
of games like Spies Verse Merks like me from from
splinter Cell back in the day, you know, you when
you hear about these kind of like, oh, we're kind
of getting new one of these things, sort of you
get excited, and so I was. Actually I know a
lot of people were probably like, oh cool, it's like
single player now or like co op you know, co
op focused.
Speaker 2: But yeah, but also like I'm not a big stealth guy,
so it's like, I don't know if you sure needed
to appeal to me necessarily, you know, but like it.
I will admit, like it did sort of make me
a little more interested yet, but that's just my yes.
Speaker 1: And my guess is like it just wasn't working how
they wanted it to work, and they're like, Okay, let's go,
let's do what we know and like make this thing
work for single player and co op. I think they
think they have said like I think they've said that,
like they want to eventually consider bringing that element back,
but they just needed to launch it. And the big
I think the big the cool thing about this game
is right now, it is five dollars. It's four that's
the price. And this is the introductory campaign, as they
call it. So the introductory campaign is has two maps,
so it has the the whole world that this game
takes place in is called kill Cairn, and you are
essentially trying to like make your way like you've recently
become a member of a thieves guild, and they are
like sending you these cryptic clues and missions to go
on across these two maps. And there are three different
mission types. I haven't seen all of them. I've only
two missions and like sixteen contracts that you can pick
up across. I think what they say is like roughly
a four hour campaign that takes you through like two
of these maps.
Speaker 2: And this is like they're not calling this early access.
Speaker 1: No, they are not. And I even reached out to
PR and I was like, hey, I'm reviewing this thing.
I really am trying to wrap my brain around what
what this is this early campaign? And they literally said,
or this this like kind of introductory campaign, And They're
like it is an introductory campaign, and I'm like, okay,
so it's kind.
Speaker 5: Of more like more like an episodic release set. Like
maybe that's the closest comparison you could do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe, Like yeah, like there are like this is
a five dollars buy in and you get two well
designed maps. Like I so far, I have enjoyed exploring
the maps. I think my verdict is still out on
like what I think about the game as a whole,
but like level design wise, the maps are interesting and
and you know it's got that immersive sim thing where
there's multiple ways through a mission and multiple avenues to
get into way you're trying to get into and you
are playing as I believe there are two characters right
now that you can play as, the Spider and then
the Chameleon, and the Spider comes with I haven't actually
unlocked the Chameleon, but the Spider she has like a
grapple gun, like a crank grapple gun that like gets
you up high and she can throw smoke bombs. And
as you complete these missions, you the money that you
get from completing them, you can buy new like gadgets,
and that's how you like unlock the maps as well.
Back in your hideout, you can definitely tell like there
are the the bones of like a multiplayer and like
diegetic lobby system in your hideout, and it's like so
it's like just a little I don't know, it's a
little weird, but.
Speaker 2: The remnant of the sort of MODI.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was like a remnant. I think like maybe
if I hadn't known that like this thing was supposed
to be this in this other form. It wouldn't I
wouldn't really think of it, you know, because it there's functions,
Like everything has a function. It's not like there's just like, oh,
what is this doing here that you can't do anything
with this, you know, but like at the end of
your mission, like there's also things like as you're playing
and you steal an item from like a rare item
that you make it to like after you get past
all these traps and turrets and guards, you pick up
this like rare like owl statue and it says at
the top of your screen it's van ake and has
stolen the owl statue, and it's like, yeah, I'm the
in this game. And so it's like there are remnants
of like, oh yeah, this was like I mean it
would I guess it could be helpful and co opt
to know, like when your friend took a piece of it,
you know, but when you're just by yourself in the map,
it's just like, oh, yeah, this was like gonna be
a multiplayer game.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's kind of like Yoshan and Mysterious Book, where
it's just acknowledging the things that you're doing, yeah, exact
way to make you feel rewarded, you know, and it's
like my screen name too, so it's not like the
spider has like it's like very much like your online
name has taken this item. But yeah, there's like I
think there's six pieces of gear in the game right now.
I have not unlocked the Chameleon yet. I'm still working
my way through the game, so I'm hoping to finish
that this week. It's just I've just been kind of busy.
Speaker 1: But I did want to talk about it. I am
happy to have another, you know, immersive sim ish sort
of game. I think a lot of their like their
traps and solutions to traps and that kind of thing.
They're cool, they're fun. I think I still need to
see how the challenge of it all comes together and
see how multiple runs, because you're like going back to
this place to do new things there and I want
to see like what that's like, if there's substance there,
that sort of thing. But I think this game has
kind of come out. It's going to be out by
the time you're listening to this podcast. So if you
want to check out a new stealth game that is
co op, I haven't been able to test the co
op myself. It's not active yet until the game comes out,
and but you're like wanting like that think of it
like almost like a dishonored light, you know, like what
if like there was Like it's not it's more than
a tech demo. It's an introductory campaign. Everybody. It's five
dollars the introductory campaign. And I asked them about, like
is there a roadmap. They're like, we're gonna wait to
see what our players are enjoying about the game and
get their feedback and then go from there.
Speaker 2: And I think just just to touch on it, because
I don't know if we dove if you mentioned it enough,
maybe like you are not familiar with him, but like
this is a like this is a new Warren Spector game.
Speaker 1: Right works, like the creator of Thief what das x.
Speaker 2: Dais x epic Mickey, you know, which is kind of
a weird yea like designer, you know, Like I'm I'm
excited to see him like uh back, getting his getting
his his hands dirty again. I don't know how to
call what to have to refer to that, but he's
kind of been out of the game for a while,
you know, so it's like it's it's fun to see
him back in experimenting again, and it is a more
experimental designer like he always has been.
Speaker 1: So oh yeah, one hundred percent. I do want to
give credit obviously, there are plenty of other developers working
on this. Jeff Hickman is the game director. He is
in himself his own right as a very He's worked
on a ton of games. He's a veteran game developer.
Veteran there's I'm trying to I want to make sure
I call out because there's another name besides Warren Spector
that is attached to this thing. Shoot, they have so
many out Here we go, they have many assets on
their Steam page. Here we go. Sorry, Paul Nerath is
the other Paul Nerath and Warre Inspector present Thick as
Thieves's cool. But yeah, check it out five bucks. You know,
we don't get many stealth games often. If you're if
you're interested in that kind of game, I'm gonna I'm
gonna play more and I'll have like a proper review
up on the site, probably early next week because I
got to go on this work trip. Maybe maybe five time.
I'll try to finish it up while I'm away. But
but yeah, that's Thick as Thieves four nine nine on Steam.
I I recommend it. I think, I don't know. I'm
excited by it. I'm excited. We'll see if it actually
pulls it off. But it's like hard not to recommend
a new stealth game by Warre Inspector for five dollars,
even if it is two maps and like a handful
of missions on those maps. Like, come on, let's let's
let's get this thing. I want I want it to
be supported. I want more. You know, I do played
it before.
Speaker 4: Now, did you play it like an event or anything?
Speaker 1: I had hands off with it at an event. Yeah,
but this is my first time playing, and it feels good.
You know, I like the little puzzle lock box minigames,
that kind of thing. Grappling feels good. You know, it's
there is polish here. You know, it's just not a
ton of content. But yeah, for five dollars, I mean,
come on, y'all, let's anyways, let's take a quick break.
We got a few messages from our sponsors, and then
we're gonna come back and chat with Shy matheson the
voice of Lego Batman and answer some of our community
questions that they sent in for Shy. All right, we
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Speaker 5: Welcome back to the Game Informer show. I'm back here.
I've swapped my guests out a little bit. I'm joined
by co host Marcus Stewart and our special guest, Shy Matheson.
Speaker 4: Welcome Shy.
Speaker 3: You're a special co host, Marcus, I think yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean I'm the only host here wearing a Batman shirt,
so I.
Speaker 3: Guess the only host. Yeah, that's correct, that's correct.
Speaker 5: I'm kind of I'm kind of wrapping poison ivy more
right now.
Speaker 4: I suppose just with my leaves, so.
Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, yeah, we'll take it. And your darkness General
Charles has got Batman in his background. There, Jesus, that's true.
Speaker 4: That's true.
Speaker 6: You know you captured him. He's like a little thing too,
but much like I would do.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, correct? Is it a biodome?
Speaker 5: This is our epilogue? Is I caught? I called Batman
after credit rule? Well, Shi, thank you for joining us.
You were the voice, of course, for having me of
Lego Batman in Legacy of the Dark Knight, a game
that I have completed and wrote my review for. And
Marcus and I actually right before we did the stream,
we played the first ninety or so minutes, so Marcus
just downed the cowl.
Speaker 3: I did nice. So Marcus, you've only done ninety minutes.
What did you get to?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 6: Literally, I got to Gotham for the first time. I
got the batsuit and met Jim Gordon for the first time.
Speaker 3: That that's where it was okay, good, nice. Jim's great,
isn't he.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's very it's very good. Everyone's great. Everyone's silly
and weird, and also just tons of references. For an
old person like me that has like absorbed all this
Batman media, you're just like, it's it's all an assault
of nostality.
Speaker 3: It's so good, though, isn't It's so joyous for Batman
fans or I mean it's we'll talk about it, right,
it's joyous for everyone. But like if you're a Batman fan,
it's just like more more, more more, it's here.
Speaker 6: Here's all of the Batman.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we just met. We There was an event, a
pop up event in London by Tower Bridge, which is
what most people think is London Bridge. Just a little
bit of information there from the London Tourism Board. There
was pop up events. So I brought like a bunch
of the cast to do like pictures and things and
just say hi to everyone. So it's cool. Poison Ivy
was there. Yes, it's it's cool. There's such a good cast.
Speaker 6: The real poison Ivy was there.
Speaker 3: Real poison Ivy was there. She tried to stop us.
It was a whole mess.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 5: Well, we had some questions we wanted to ask you about,
Like I mean, we also have a few questions from
our community. But I can tell generally based on your
surroundings that you and also your your shirt, you are
a Batman fan.
Speaker 3: I really am, I really am. I'm trying to build
this thing. So this is very impromptu. It's not really
like it's not like my life, but like this. Yeah,
I was always found, but like I always had this.
I always had these figurines. I always had Oh I've
got a really so I had this guy from I
think like literally nineteen ninety.
Speaker 6: Oh, it's like a Batman action figure. It's like eighty nine.
Speaker 3: I think it might have been a Christmas decoration, but
I'm not sure knows what happened in the nineties. So
his cape didn't survive and his boot falls off. He's
what og that's like he's got swayed abs. I don't
know if that's visible.
Speaker 4: So yeah, so yeah, I've.
Speaker 3: Always I've always loved it. I've got like a few
of like my original comics here I don't know what
it means in terms of lore.
Speaker 6: Oh Batman, Shadow of the bat for audio listeners shy
as hold, Oh yeah, sure, number one, issue number one.
Speaker 3: That's right, baby from nineteen ninety seven, I think, yeah,
May nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and Charles was not alive in nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 3: Shame I the world now, Charles?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I was in ninety seven.
Speaker 3: No, I am definitely a Batman fan, but obviously this
is a lot more en hance, and I hastened to
say I'm a Batman fan and not a Batman expert.
I think I really sort of got into it the
films Gold Katan was my first and sort of my og.
Then I started loving it. I started reading the comics.
I got into it, but then there was a big gap.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: And then obviously for the role, I just started immersing
myself in everything.
Speaker 6: Batman have Have you ever? Did you ever?
Speaker 1: Have?
Speaker 6: And Charles Like, as a young Batman fan, I used
to have a Batman T shirt that was similar to
this one, but it was white, but it had a
cape attached to it, like a little black cape. Me
and my brother had matching those shirts, and you just
walk around with little Batman shirt with like cape on it.
I had like pajamas that were like that, but a cape.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, like a little little snuggly blanket cape.
Speaker 6: Oh. It was like functional.
Speaker 5: I mean generously, it's like it's a one two feets.
Speaker 4: If that's functional, then it was functional.
Speaker 3: But it worked, it worked if it kept in form
at night.
Speaker 5: I wanted to I wanted to ask what Batman had
the biggest influence on you. And this could be for
the performance, but I also just want to know in
general of like, and you think of Batman, what's what's
the Batman performance your mind goes to Again.
Speaker 3: It is because I think everyone their favorite Batman or
their most influential Batman if if that's what gets to you,
is their first one, right or the one that they
loved as a kid. So it has to be Michael
Keaton for me because he was my first those first
two films. I just especially Returns. Returns is genuinely my
favorite film of all time. If oh, I don't know
if it's the best film of all time, but it's
my favorite film of all time. I just, I mean,
I just adore it. I watched it again and again
and again. I watched Batman eighty nine in the cinema
with my sister and I was too young and it
was scary, but it was special. It was like something
that really stuck with me. Then I was a bit
older and more appropriate to see Batman returns and that
was it for me. Then, of course, you know, once
you're hit, once you're once you catch the Batman bug,
you're sort of there for life, and then you start
to appreciate all the next ones. I loved Falcolmer, I
even love George Clooney, and then Nolan films are just incredible,
Like I would say they are the best films out
there that exists of Batman. But my favorite Batman will
always be Michael Keaton and those two films, so you know,
and I love Albert Pattinson's Batman. I think he's a
great Batman and also the more Now I don't know
if I'm even answering your question, but we'll get there.
That's enough. But like, but I think it's such a
cliche to say it, but there's Batman is such a
versatile character that it can be anything, you know, not anything,
but you know, there's so many interpretations and they're all valid,
you know, like, we just loved at that comic. It's
really different to the other Batman comics, right, Adam West
is a very different Batman to Kevin Conroy. They're they're
both iconic. Yeah, and I think, like everyone else in
terms of voice, Kevin Conroy is Batman right like. And
I think a lot of people, especially in the generation
of people that are fans of Batman now, are fans
of the games. That was the Batman they grew up with. Right.
That was the first Batman for so many people. I
missed it by a few years or he would probably
have been mine, and I loved the show when I
was younger. So yeah, he's iconic. He's kind of the
voice that most people have in their head for Batman,
which I'm sure we'll get to at some point the
burden of that. But yeah, that's a really long answer
to your very simple question. There, Oh it's good. Michael
Keaton and that defined it for me. And then you go, oh,
that's cool, Oh that's cool. Oh that how does that?
I compare everyone to Michael Keaton, and so then it's
sort of strands of how far are you from Michael Keaton?
But other people will compare it to what they.
Speaker 5: Love, right, Yeah, for sure, I wanted to ask of
I totally agree, and I think a lot of people
resonate with that idea of like Batman's kind of a
moving target and it's fun to find the kind of
collaboratively designed spirit of the character by kind of amalgamating
all these different versions. So when you set out to
like do your Batman voice, what was your Were you
trying to say, like I'm going to pull this from
this person or this from this person, or were you
just saying let's just kind of take all of those
pieces and sort of come up with something new.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I never really made a conscious choice. I came in
thought and again, we're telling a different story, right, So
if Michael Keaton was this Batman and Kevin Conroy tells
this story and then tells the Arkham story in a
very different way but very similar, and wasn't the story
that we're telling in Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight.
Obviously I didn't know when I auditioned, but I'm not
going to come in with that version of with an
Arkham Batman to do a Lego game. And I think
what I actually was most conscious of is not to
sound like will Arnette, because sure for most people, lego Batman,
and so that was a conscious maybe thing. And then
I came into the room and it did what I
thought was right what I had in mind, and then
I'll get it will make sense in a second. Then
later on when I talked to the devs and the
team and the guys from DC, it was what we
loved about you is that you came in and it's
something completely different. You didn't try to sound like any
other Batman. In my mind, I definitely was trying to
slign on like every other Batman or what I imagine,
but just not will our Net. But then but then
for them, they they heard something completely different. And the
only thing I can think is that you know, first
of all, as a human being, as a biological piece
of meat, I have my own sound. Then all of
those things like the Keatons, the Bails, the Kilmer, the
Clooney is like everything bad a Flack Pattinson, they were
all there because I love the character so much, so
I've watched these films again and again and again and
again and again, so it was kind of there. I know,
it's kind of like a silly answer. It kind of
sounds like we planned, but it is. I think what
was going on it was just there and what I
imagine Batman to be.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we had a question from someone in our discord
who said it kind of is along the lines of
these partially answered already, but they said, how much of
your take on Batman came from direction from the devs
and how much of it came with pushing back with
something else that you personally wanted to try.
Speaker 4: And I think, like other way.
Speaker 5: Of putting it is even like after you got that
note of people being like, oh, we love that you
just did your own thing.
Speaker 4: Do you think that changed your performance at all?
Speaker 3: Yes' one hundred percent. And that's a great question because
I was going to get to that and I forgot.
But like it is a collaborative effort, and it is
obviously I am there to serve pt Games and Warner
Brothers story that they wanted to tell with this with
this game or what they envisioned for a fun is
of entertainment, And obviously they're they're so passionate about Batman,
like as you can tell you for playing it, they
love Batman. Do you want to respect that? So then
of course they wanted certain things, like when I came
in and was like, okay, the audition was that, like
they played me a few clips from my audition. I
was like, ah, I don't like that. We should probably
redo that. Oh I don't like how I said I
am the night. Oh I don't like how I said
let's get nuts. They're like, no, no, we love that.
We love this, and I was like, but that doesn't
sound like that. No, no, no, we love that. They
wanted it to be different to everything else, and so yeah,
I would have tried different things. You know, as an actor.
I had one today leave and you go, oh my god,
I could have done this, and I should have done
I could have done that voice. You can all and
I still like. I hear parts of the game and
I go, oh, I would have been better if I
delivered it like that, which obviously you can never fix
that level of perfectionism or beating yourself up. That's for therapy.
But yeah, it was a very collaborative thing to start with,
where they were like, no, we want it to be
like this. We sort of came up, you know, we
had discussions about what is the Batman voice? So why
does why does he have a Batman voice? Why does
he sound that way when he's Bruce Wayne and that
way when he's Man? And obviously there's the theories.
Speaker 5: Am I rambling by the way, No, No, this is
all I think of, just just for your own peace
of mind. When I do a sort of interview like this,
My question is trying to nudge a boulder to get
like a little bit of just kind of get us talking.
So as long as we're talking about Batman, I don't have.
Speaker 3: A lot of duds behind this boulder. It's absolutely gets
a verple one. No, but it is that. And we
had those early discussions of why does he sound this
way as Bruce Wayne? Why does he sound this way
as Batman? Ously we don't get too deep. It is
a lego game, but we are respectful, and you know,
is Batman his real voice or is Bruce Wayne his
real voice? You know, there's a lot of thinking and
we kind of think that Batman is it's not his
real voice, but his it's his real personality, especially later
down the line, you know, when he's older and he's
more sort of in meshed with the character. So yeah,
so who is the real person and if he's wearing
the Batman suit. He's speaking to Alfred. Does he speak
to as Batman or is Bruce Wayne?
Speaker 4: Sure?
Speaker 3: And it's kind of different every time, right, because he's
still Batman. How does this relate to the question? So
in a way, so it was like, okay, what's the
purpose of this voice? The purpose of this voice is
for him not to be identified, because in our version
he doesn't have a distorter, right, So that's the concept. Again,
it's lego, it's never too heavy, it's never too cerebral.
But yeah, that's kind of the thought. So it became
a whisper sort of disguise that if you hear him
as Bruce Wayne, you won't know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I guess that would be the
one the one like function of the voice is like,
don't don't let them know on Bruce Wayne, I guess
if you're thinking.
Speaker 3: And of course that's kind of a simple, that's a
Clark Kent glasses thing, right, but yeah, it's it's also
if the image of Batman, which we get in the
beginning of this and every Batman story, you want to
create a menace, you want to invoke fear in your enemies,
you want to become a symbol. I want to become
more than just a man, as we say in the game.
So it's that as well. It's like, but what's a
bit scarier because this is lego Batman? What sounds cool?
How can I sound cool? So you know, I like this,
this is cool.
Speaker 6: I like Batman's.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what did you say that said he's here?
Speaker 6: He's joining the Batman?
Speaker 3: Oh me, yeah, I am Batman.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 5: It is it is a little just just hearing you
drop into the voice, it.
Speaker 3: Does call cop my off guard.
Speaker 5: I was like, oh yeah, like logic it was the
same person.
Speaker 4: But it's always.
Speaker 3: Concentist, so you know, you spend a lot of time
with it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I would. I would love to know. Kind of
like we're talking about Bruce Wayne, I feel like oftentimes
with with any Batman performer, you don't really hear enough
about what goes into performing as Bruce. It's always like
what does it mean to be Batman? And I've going
back to what you said about how Michael Keaton your
favorite Batman. Does that apply to Bruce too, because I
feel like there sometimes you're like I've seen people say
like this actor is a better Bruce than they are Batman.
I actually like this other actor as Batman more than
I like this Bruce.
Speaker 3: Wayne, what do you like?
Speaker 6: Do you have any any like what goes into making
Bruce feel like Bruce? And how did you kind of
find your Bruce? And also who's your favorite Bruce actor
if it's if it's not, also just Michael Keaton.
Speaker 3: I need to think about it, and I think it's
such an I love the discussion, and I've had it before,
so I don't know that I have a go to answer.
Maybe when I do more of these, I'll sort of
be it will it will sort of be clear in
my mind, but like because I can discuss it and go, hey,
but you know what I loved about Val Kilmer is
this and what I loved I think, you know, I
think the way the ultimate Bruce versus Batman is Kevin
Conroy right where we have sort of quite cleared. He's like,
he's such a fifties debonair man. Then it becomes this
sort of machine, and I think a lot of the
other ones have are pretty similar. And you know, Hollywood
all that movie stars playing roles like it is you
also want that you want the movie star there. I
love that Robert Pattinson is different to everything we've seen.
And he's a young, young, angsty, sad guy, right. We
never see him smile. It's it's it's great and it
works so well for the character. It actually makes more
sense than anything else for the character, right because Michael
Keating so lovely and happy being it seems like a happy,
go lucky guy then becomes this beast and it works
because it's comic book. It works because it's Michael Keat
in for the character, it doesn't make sense. Ben Affleck's
a bit near that, you know, he's never happy, he's
always miserable.
Speaker 6: And Christian Bales, Bruce is kind of a himbo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that but that's that.
Speaker 6: Works right and it works for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it does and and again and we see Bruce
Wayne over the years. And to Christian Bale, he is
very consciously in the film because obviously what's what's cool
about the Nolan films is that they are realistic, right,
So everything has to have a reason. Everything has The
Tumblr is a tank or you know, whatever it is,
and Kevlar is because of this and it's for well,
actually it's from our army. You know. Everything has a reason,
and so we do get a lot of explanation why
he's putting on a front as Bruce Wayne. We see
him miserable at home and then he goes out for
a function. You know, it's it sort of works, and
others haven't dedicated that level of sort of like maybe apperentiation. Yeah, actually,
so my favorite. I just went through them all.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 3: I think I really like I think I really do
like Ill's contrast there. If we're talking films, if we're
talking obviously voice, it will be Kevin Conroy. Though I
absolutely adore all of them. You know, we don't have
a differentiation in like a Batman movies. But you know,
I think Troy Baker's incredible. Troy Baker actually is incredible,
not only because he played the Joker as well, but
you know his telltale Batman is completely different to his
lego Batman, right, yeah, yeah, a Batman twice. How cool
is that? Roger Craig Smith sounds like Dark and Batman
without trying to do an impression of Kevin Conroy, but
he sounds like him. It's incredible. So where are we
Bruce Wayne's Yeah, I actually really love I love I
love Christian Bale. I think he nails it. I love
Michael Keaton just because that's that version that I always love. Yeah,
but that's what you got. Yeah, because how do you choose?
Because again I love the contrast between you know, Bale's
Bruce Wayne to Bale's Batman. But it is either of
them my favorite of each, I'm not sure, but I
love the combination, right. I love that Robert Pattinson is
so different. Is that my favorite Batman? No, but it's
up there. I think The Batman is just such a cool, amazing, beautiful,
stunning to look at film, so exciting to see the
next one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yes, yours.
Speaker 3: By the way, that's a great question. Is Bruce Wayne?
Speaker 5: I I Robert Pattinson might have taken the top spot
for me. It was like the movie I was going
into expecting to like and then came out of it
like I just I just really love all stuff you
already said. But I really love how as Bruce Wayne.
You feel like he can't shake his like instinct to
be Batman. Like he and it's not even that he's
like he feels the need to go out and be Batman,
it's that he hates being Bruce Wayne. He's like, I'm
so uncomfortable in the skins obligation of like I guess
I'll do that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker 3: He's the most vengeance of all the Batman's.
Speaker 5: The way he even spends time like going over his
own footage from the night of like I'm actually just
gonna I'm going to relive last night again real quick
before I go to sleep. I just think, is I
love how obsessive he is?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And they had to almost Fridge his Alfred to
get him to sort of snap out. Yeah, but it's true,
and you get that, Marcus, we are getting to you.
You get that in the beginning of our game. Obviously,
I go less complicated, less angsty, but the beginning of Bruce,
Wayne and Batman, like, how do I find an outlet
to this anger and this vengeance that I have in me?
And I think, well, Batman is very much in the
thick of that. You know, he's new to it. Also
the fact that he's a great detective and the other ones.
You know, we get a lot of tech and stuff,
but like he's kind of it's that slow film feeling.
It's just a detective film.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Marcus, you go ahead and do yours, but I
do want to come back to that specific podcast.
Speaker 3: You do whatever you want.
Speaker 4: I don't want.
Speaker 5: I just want to I want to hear what Marcus
favorite Batman is, because I actually don't know.
Speaker 4: It's going to guess, but I'm not sure.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'll separate my Batman and Bruce Wayne's. My favorite
Batman is Kevin Conroy just because I was, like, I'm
a millennial, so like I was an Batman then made
a series kid like that was my like come home
from school and that was part of the after school
cartoon block, and so like I watched every DC like
animated series like that, Justice League, Batman Beyond. You're like,
that's that is what I hear when I read Batman
comics is I read Batman's dialogue in Kevin Conroy's voice.
But for Bruce Wayne, I'm gonna go Christian Bale just
because I love his Like I mentioned before that he's
kind of a duf Is and that in a way
is its own perfect cover because no one looks at
that Bruce Wayne and goes like, well that's clearly Batman
because he is. He goes out of his way to
be so the opposite of what Batman is to be
the perfect cover. Like the scene I rewatched The Dark
Knight recently, and the scene that kind of like perfectly
encapsulates his Bruce Wayne is when he takes the when
he drives his car in front of the guy, like
he basically takes a t bone to kind of protect
the armored vehicle that's escorting the dude that joker put
the hit on. Huh, And then you know, Gordon gets out,
was like, oh my god, that was such a brave
thing you did. And he just puts on the Anger's like,
what do you mean trying to cash a light? He's like,
you weren't trying to protect us?
Speaker 3: And he is bat Badman, and Bruce Wayne he is Batman.
Bruce Wayne is the front. And it's exactly because we
get to see with Bail, we get to see what
hopefully we get to see this game is that, you know,
the change and the like, you know, the miserable, sort
of older beaten Bruce Wayne at the end versus the
one that we start with and the cocky one that
we start with him. The more it's just it's great.
But that's why Batman's been popular for eighty six years.
I mean, it's just great and it can be anything.
It can be this, you know, it can be the
silly disco dancing Batman and it's still Batman. It can
be Adam West and it's still Batman. You know. And
again we're getting to like andem territory. There's everyone going
to have their favorite and so you can never win,
right Like, you can never or someone to be their
favorite Batman. But you just want to go as long
as you appreciate that we respected Batman in our story
that we wanted to tell them great.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, well I was.
Speaker 5: I'm glad you mentioned that about him being the old
grizzled because that was what I was gonna mention, just
in terms of your performance specifically of like we talked,
we're talking about all these different Batman and all these
different Bruce Wayne's. But the nice thing that Legacy of
the Dark Knight does is we acknowledge it's all the
same character and they're like and so we'll kind of
draw a line between them and see how a Robert
Pattinson type could become a Michael Keaton type could become Valkilmer,
et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I wanted to ask you.
Speaker 5: How how would you approach and if you did approach
it differently at all of doing like a scene where
you know, you've got a Bruce Wayne at the Iceberg Lounge,
even when Batman goes back to the Iceberg Lounge versus
you know, chapter five, chapter six, we've got gray hairs
where like the patriarch of the bat family. How do
you approach those scenes differently if at all?
Speaker 3: No, for sure, definitely we did so, very very conscious
that we're telling, you know, in essence, like a couple
of decades at least of story. I don't remember what
we landed on. I think originally it was thirty, but
then actually story wise it isn't thirty, because otherwise night
Wing would be in his forties. But it's somewhat condensed,
you know, I guess it's like about fifteen years. And
so yeah, very conscious in that to sound both as
Bruce Wayne and as Batman younger, eager, more keen, less polished,
less like you know, less knowing everything's a bit more raw.
Robert pattinsony in the beginning bit, so mostly chapter one,
the prologue obviously, and then maybe the other extreme point
was what would he sound like in the end, and
obviously let's not do any spoilers, but he's a lot
older and he's more grizzled in the end. And that
was those were sort of the two conscious points in
my mind, so trying to make because it's actually hard
because once you go down there, you're older, right, And
it's actually you can't speak fast because you're you're doing this.
Also vocally it's quite hard because everything's restricted. So yeah,
so it's about slowing down the syllables and being less raw,
less responsive, more sort of you know, more jaded, and
these are a lot more emotional. Again no spoilers, but
like he's a lot more and more emotional, especially in
the last up chapter. So those were kind of the
two points. And then and then you go, okay, what
are we on today? Like we would go, okay, what
are we on today? Is it chapter three? Bruce is
a chapter four Batman? Is it? I think Bruce sort
of stays almost similar and maybe a little aged up
towards the end because Bruce is like and also but
we don't get that much of Bruce. So yeah, so
that was the conscious thought. And then technically was on
the one hand, harder and on the one hand, easier.
The thing we started with was the gameplay stuff. So
in a way, when you play the game you run
down the streets of Gotham, or when you punch or
when you get hit or when you go huh or
you know, those are all the same. So that they
can pick and choose. That sound had to sound the
same from start to finish, because whatever you recorded they
could use for chapter one. You're not going to do
a grunt for old Batman just to sort of open
a door right for each chapter of his life. So
we had to find a bass Batman, like a base
sort of middle voice for Batman would work throughout the game,
which also meant you couldn't deviate from it too much
when you were doing the voice. So I know that
so sort of sounds like such boring detail. It's maybe
too much.
Speaker 5: Notes, but that's like exactly the amount of in the
weeds I was curious about.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's hard because you go, oh wait, but
that does that work? I can't sound too old they are. Yeah,
So in the emotional cut scenes it was a little
easier to maybe differentiate and the way he addresses the
family members. Yeah, but it was fun it was fun
playing around with doing what does this whispered voice sound
like when it's younger and it's older, but a whispered
voice usually just sounds the same.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: I wanted to transition to another one of our discord
community questions. It's from Prodible. Also, I don't know if
I said the last question was from then Tom was like,
I want to make sure I have credit him. Uh,
credible says, was there a line that is directly from
source material that you were adamant about getting your performance
of just right?
Speaker 3: It's almost all of them. I think there's one that
I didn't and then there's one, so it wasn't me
being adamant. So famous one from the trailer, come on,
do you want to get Do you want to get nuts?
Come on, let's get nuts. It's such a different one
in the film because he is nuts. He is going nuts,
and he's like, he's like peak Michael Keaton there right
with all that sort of fy, sort of eccentric, amazing energy.
But in our story it happens at a spoiler point
in the game and it isn't nuts. So I wanted
to do I'm like, oh, they're gonna judge me because
I didn't do a proper thing there because it's so
full of lines from the films. So that was I thing,
but we obviously had to do what was right. What
I had fun with and I got to do was
the uh where is she? Line? And I love doing
it anyway. I would do it just in sessions, just
for fun. So that where is she? Because last Christian
Bailey ges a lot of grief for that voice. But
again it's not it's it makes sense. Yeah, yeah, So
we did that at a point that you seen Charles Marcus.
You need to get there. It's a good point, and
I really so, I really wanted to do that, right.
You know, We've got other lines there that are from
the films. But I think, like with anything in this game,
which I think is incredible, you get Let's take the
Joker for example, right, got the same actor, incredible actor.
When is this coming out? Not today or tomorrow? Right Friday,
great Friday's day of release. We've got an amazing actor
called you and Bailey who plays the Joker. And but
I heard in the first time in the booth before
I met him, before I saw what he looks like.
How did they how did you find this guy? Because
he sounds like like Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. How
does that make sense? Because they are the most different
possible that can exist, and somehow the same guy starts
out as Jack Nicholson and becomes Fledger without Obviously it's
never either one of those because it's in the middle.
Stame as my one, right, because it's not that Joker,
and it's not that Joker. But what's beautiful about this
game is it's a remix game, right, so it's all remix.
It's like, this is gonna sound really stupid. Please cut
this out if it's dumb. It's sort of like a
like a chopped vegetable salad. Right, cucumber that's Batman eighty nine.
You take a tomato, that's the Batman. You say, you
know onion from here whatever, and we all know what
those things are, and then you chop them up and
you put them in a salad and you've got all
those elements, but they now have a different flavor, and
they now have a different different taste, but they all
still have the individual pieces of those vegetables. Yeah, Warner Brothers,
if you're listening to this, when it's out, please consider
incorporating in the marketing material. It's a chopped salad, says Batman.
Speaker 5: They're a McDonald's partnership where you can get the bat
salad and it's yeah, exactly fresh ingredients.
Speaker 3: But do you know what I like? It's it's that
it's like he's got a cucumber that's Jack Nicholson and
a carrot that's Heath Ledger, and together they have a
different flavor, but they have You're still tasting cucumber and carrot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely makes sense.
Speaker 6: That's fascinating, and I'm sad to hear that the I
just hear the Heath Ledger like, how did I get
the Scars monologue? But then he just ends it with, uh,
never rub another man's Rube Haard.
Speaker 5: But yeah, that's the spirit for sure.
Speaker 3: We've got all There's a lot of side by sides
going around now on Instagram and it's amazing to watch.
But again, the thing that I was rambling and not
getting to the point on was that we have all
these lines from the films, but they're not said like
in the film. Mostly they have to fit the characters
that's saying it. Who's a different you know, we've got Penguin.
That's again somehow a mix. The voice is any DeVito,
delivery is sometimes Colin Farrell and it still works. But anyway,
so whatever lines he says have to work for he
starts out is more Calin Ferrell and he becomes more
downy Defito, but it still works and it's still those
iconic lines get more of Like you know, our Freeze
is very very much yes, yeah, right, like that's a definitive.
We've got that. Our Bane crazily is well, there's only
one Bane in the films really except for Batman and Robin,
Like our Bane is a take on that, but obviously
it's Matt Barry and it sounds completely different but still
in a way makes sense. How does that make sense?
Speaker 5: But it does, Yeah, definitely. I was telling on our
stream earlier Marcus was asking. I mentioned that Lucius Fox
is going to show up and Marcs was like, oh
is it? Is it like Morgan Freeman? And I was like, well,
with all the voices, you can tell exactly who they're
going for and also know that it's not that person,
Like it's they're not going to fool you, Like you
don't think that Matt Barry is Tom Hardy in that scene,
but he's absolutely doing that style of voice in his
own way, which is always fun to hear, and it
makes sense, and it's still very much Matt Berry.
Speaker 3: I guess, I guess. You know, characters like Fox. We
have Lucia's. We have a very definitive and just really
the one performance of Lucia's Fox in the films, so
in a way it has to be that, right, But
we have such different Alfreds, and yet even our Alfred
is very obviously much more Michael Caine sounding. But I
met him earlier. He sounds like that you just said
that cool, But he's the only one of us that
genuinely just sounds like his character. But he still sounds
like Michael Kain's Alfred in a way.
Speaker 5: That must be such a relief to just be like, oh,
finally I can use this hyper specific voice, sound like
Michael Kaine. I finally re used for it.
Speaker 3: Right, And you know, actors, we get used for other things.
He's like, it's one of the first times I got
to use my voice in a project. It's such an
amazing voice. You love Alford in the game, isn't.
Speaker 5: He like Oh, he's great love and he's got really
great lines just when you're in the bat cave. That's
That's one of my favorite things in the game in general,
is just the sort of like one liners in the
environment as you're flooring, always very.
Speaker 3: Farn nice Marcus, get on it. I don't know what
else to do.
Speaker 5: My last question I wanted to have before we get
out here is just were there any rituals you would
do or like clothes you would wear to get into care.
Speaker 3: It's not really a ritual, but I would listen so
on the way to the studio it's kind of far
from the train station, just to be annoying, and at
some points I would do like a warm up on
the way if I didn't have time to do it
at home. I do things, And then I created a
playlist of which I still have of like my favorite
Batman music from the films mostly and it grew later
to become Arkham as well, because I wasn't that familiar
with Arkham before uh, and so it was that it
was a playlist and I would listen to a twenty
minutes worth of that music every time on the way
to the studio, and actually if I didn't have to
do it worth I had to have those twenty minutes
of just listening to it. It's so stupid, but actually
it really does. I don't know, it generates something like
I said, because I mean when I hear the any
Elfman in June, it's it does something to me that
I have in my body since I was a child.
Speaker 6: So oh, it makes you want to run through a wall.
You're just like, I'm ready to go or crash through
a glass ceiling.
Speaker 3: Right, how iconic that You know how many times I've
like watched that paused rebound to see just that drop.
It's incredible cool anyway, Yeah, so it was that and
then the funny it's not a ritual, it's just something
really stupid that doesn't make sense when I was trying
to get the voice in the beginning and be consistent.
Now I can drop into it anytime, it will be
there and I know who Batman is. But in the beginning,
it was like, oh wait, how do I what did
I do? Lesson? What did we set as that sort
of middle voice? And I listened to I recorded myself
in the session and then would listen to it, and
it's something that's stuck. This makes no sense. It's such
a stupid story, which was just the work the way
I said at girl, at girl, like what why does
that hook me in? But that hooked me in? So
if I go that girl somehow it's like, oh, I
know how that sounds interesting. A stupid story. It makes
no sense, but it was a thing. I'd go in
and go bat girl and I was there. We see
they play it for you as well.
Speaker 5: But you know I love that because it's such like
a It's not it's not an iconic line like I mean,
he I guess he says birl?
Speaker 4: What's a name?
Speaker 6: He does?
Speaker 3: He does?
Speaker 1: Is there?
Speaker 3: Is there enough?
Speaker 5: Is it something about the vowels of it? Like do
you have any idea what it is? Or is it
just like it's just the spirit of Batman possesses you
in that moment.
Speaker 3: It's not a spirit of anything. I think. I listened
to a recording that I did in the studio and
what jumped out of stuck that girl just the way
I said it. It means nothing, there's no But somehow,
this is why it's such a stupid story, because it
doesn't make sense. Somehow that's what got me into it
because I heard that it was I guess it was
like clipped. It was like, I mean, it's easy. It's
so easy. I get to do it, but you don't.
It's easy to say I'm Batman. But even that, like
I could say it a million different ways, and we
did say it a million different ways in the game. Uh,
you know why, it's a stupid story.
Speaker 5: Can you do one more bat Girl? And then me
and Marcus I think we'll try to do our best Batgirl?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, please, all right, here we go that girl.
Wait one more, that girl.
Speaker 7: You go first, Marcus. Okay, Batgirl, I don't way you
can do too.
Speaker 6: The bat girl.
Speaker 3: That girl, that girl. What I'm here too afraid is
bad girl. Okay, it's actually really good girl. And she's
called bat Girl good girl. Yeah, she's great.
Speaker 4: Well, thank you so much for joining us, Shy.
Speaker 6: This is a fantasy episode.
Speaker 5: We loved hearing about your experience, and of course Marcus
now has all the pressure in the world to finish
this game.
Speaker 6: Will be a great fun Mark.
Speaker 3: We might have to regroup to hear your thoughts. So jealous,
I want to go and play it, and I don't
have time in this week. But yeah, I can't wait.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm excited to get back to what I love.
What I played on stream, and I I know I'm
going to see I'm a huge Batman fan, and so
I was like, I'm definitely seeing this one all the
week through.
Speaker 3: You playing co op, either of you.
Speaker 5: I played a little bit with my fiance, but she
I had to play for review, so I did a
lot of okay while she was doing her adult job,
I was at home playing baby.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I might do some co I might try it,
but it'll probably be largely just me soloing. Yet I'll
let I'll let bet Girl be my partner.
Speaker 3: Or play as bet Girl later on in the game. Yeah, guys,
really nice to talk to you that. What could be
more fun than spending all this time nerding out about Batman?
Speaker 6: That is it's a great point.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we'll do our quick little podcast intro or outro rather.
Speaker 4: Thanks so much everyone for joining.
Speaker 5: Us this week on the Game Former Show. As always,
you can go to get forward to com slash subscribe
to subscribe to our physical magazine. I also want to
do a quick little plug for the Dayton black Box
Improv theaters where I do improv are doing really great,
and also I just just for fun. I didn't want
to do this in front of Shy, but I was
gonna do anyone.
Speaker 4: That's fine.
Speaker 5: I just put out a SoundCloud album for all my
silly little lunch song parodies. So if you've heard those
on past episodes of the show and you wanted to
listen to all those, one place that's on SoundCloud.
Speaker 4: It's called lunch Songs, a parody album.
Speaker 3: I think I'm on in front of shi What do
you mean? Of course that's on a level I expect.
Speaker 5: I'm also made at Chuck Duck three sixty five. Marcus
is Marcus Stewart seven Shy? Where can people find you
if you want to be found? And is there anything
else you would like to plug?
Speaker 3: Not a moment. I think this is a lot. I'm
Shy Mathison one word on Instagram and sometimes on Twitter.
I'm more active on Instagram, but yeah, Twitter is most
mostly games, but yeah you can you'll find me there
a lot of awesome just Batman spam at the moment,
good back, go back to Bam. That's bam. It's a
good name for that. Might like a condiment, man, if.
Speaker 4: They that'd be a great conment. Man episode.
Speaker 3: Alright, well let's pitch it.
Speaker 5: Well, I'm gonna go with Shy and we're gonna go
write a screenplay real quick for a new episode in
the Right series.
Speaker 3: Thanks everyone for joining us.
Speaker 4: We'll see you next week. Bye bye, Thanks guys,