Alternatively, The Dark Knight can call upon his detective skills in CSI style puzzles. As you would expect, Batman will have a range of gadgets to help him solve these puzzles, including an x-ray vision mode in which objects of interest are highlighted. Bats will also have an unlimited supply of Batarangs with an auto lock target feature and a grappling hook for escaping to high places when things get a little too intense. Batman will also need to employ his stealth skills in order to silently kill enemies. Enemies can be dropped from height or be left incapacitated, hanging from the ceiling, which, either way sounds like a lot of fun. You will need to take care or yourself during the game as Batman’s costume will be subject to deterioration. For example, his cape can become ripped and have holes which will make gliding in on an enemy a little harder to control.
So far the dark knights enemies in Arkham include Harley Quinn, Killer Croc and Bane. Both Bane and croc look like absolute monsters and we are promised more super-villain cameos are to come. As well as the main campaign mode, there will also be challenge rooms. There are 16 different challenge room mini games focusing on Combat or stealthy-ness. These are unlocked as you progress through the main campaign mode and when completed will give Batman better attributes. The Asylum was chosen as the venue for all this mayhem due to its limitations, i.e. it’s an island, so you wont be able to leave Arkham, but you will have the freedom to roam the island. To progress the story line you will need to reach certain areas. As is standard with most high profile game releases, there will be a Special Edition version of the game with some interesting bat-styled objects.
How does a 14-inch Batarang with stand sound? That’s enough to get me thinking about buying the special edition, but not only that, you also get a Wayne tech collectors box, a 50 page color character journal, a bonus interview DVD with the voice cast of the game and the games soundtrack. That sounds like a good package indeed. The game is developed by Rocksteady Studios using Epic Games Unreal Engine 3. This is only Rocksteady's 2nd title to be released and it’s only their first release on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, so anything could go wrong. But I will keep the faith. I can’t see this being one of those looks great/plays terrible games. All the signs so far seem to be pointing towards a great game. Lets hope its not number 23 in a long list of terrible, forgettable Batman games.
