First Look - Batman Arkham City

Last year's Batman: Arkham Asylum was a massive hit - executing perfectly the style of the Bat, terrific game play and an engaging storyline. It captured the brilliance of being the Dark Knight to a tee - so it's no suprise the sequel has spawned so much hype and rumours,  forums reaching feverpitch at the release of new screens. Although fans will have to wait another year until they get their hands on the Black Bat. And I am one of the fans who cannot wait for its release.

Named Batman: Arkham City, things are a little bit different this time as inmates are fenced off in a secluded area of Gotham - free to run havoc without worry. Except the worry of the Batman - who stalks the streets, keeping the crazies in line.

> Above The Catwoman is set to play a part in helping Batman, but her intentions, as ever, are unclear.

But where is The Joker? He appeared on a drip in the teaser trailer but is no where to be seen. He can be heard over the speaker system through out the opening of the game - similar to Arkham Asylum. Is he ill from taking the Titan chemical in the previous game? Is he too old? Or is it something else? Who knows... developer Rocksteady is keeping tight lipped on that.

Old characters are set to return - as well as new ones such as Two-Face and Catwoman. My personal favourite, Harley Quinn will be more visible in this game - crazy as ever but now with less clothing. She will be hounding the Batman at every opportunity possibly acting as The Joker would.

>  Harley Quinn has had a slight make under - probably to appeal more to the straights

The new game looks bigger than the previous one - and that was big already! As designer states: “Gamers who played Batman: Arkham Asylum will know how dedicated we are as a studio to injecting an incredible amount of detail into every environment we build. It is this attention to detail that gives our games the deep and intense atmosphere that so many players have found so compelling, and so we have had to seriously scale up our art team in order to bring the same level of detail to Arkham City.”

So, with a year to wait Batman: Arkham City is looking just as good as it's predecessor. Batman looks sexy as ever and I cannot wait to see what tricks The Joker has up his sleeve.