In March we’re going to release our very first DLC for the low, low price of FREE. Just what’s in store for the first Gotham City Impostors DLC? Let us tell you!

• A BRAND NEW MAP: The 25th Floor of the Gotham Times building is about to be your playground for destruction! (Just make sure not to fall of the edge.)
• JOIN-IN-PROGRESS: Players can now join a match, even after it has started!
• MATCHMAKING FIXES: There have been numerous additional fixes to resolve nasty potential connection errors! Stability is something we strive for, and is always being improved.
• NEW WEAPONS: The Falcon Blade (a bullet-blocking katana worthy of warfare in Gotham) and the Kingmaker (a quick-draw pistol that can humble even the mightiest of Mighties) are available for you to unlock!
• A NEW SUPPORT ITEM: Toxic Gas! Leave a cloud of nigh-invisible noxious vapors in your wake, that will impair and damage those foolish enough to follow you.
• A MULTITUDE OF NEW COSTUME CHOICES: In addition to the myriad of costume items already available, we’re letting you dress up like a luchador, a corporate schlub gone mad, and so much more!
• NEW FUN FACT: The new Nimble Fingers Fun Fact will let you capture Gasblasters faster, and attach/detach batters quicker. The team’s clutch player? Yeah, that’s you.

Gotham City Impostors is a living, breathing game. We’re here to support you. So go ahead and enjoy this first pack of excitement on us.

Our full review for Gotham City Impostors will be going live over the next few days. Keep your eyes peeled!

Did any of you happen to spot any London City Impostors today?

The war between the two camps has also spread to twitter. To support the Bats simply tweet ‘I will bring order to the city #GothamBats’ or join the Jokerz and tweet ‘Chaos rules #GothamJokerz’

Gotham City Impostors is available right now to buy on your preferred digital store. We’ll bring you more coverage as soon as we hear anything.

Gotham City Impostors is an original first-person shooter where up to 12 players battle for control of an unhinged Gotham City overrun by impostors inspired by the DC Comics characters Batman and The Joker.  Players can engage in deliriously fast paced, uniquely vertical, and completely unconventional urban warfare where progress supports leveling up and access to a mind-boggling array of customization options.  Fans can unlock new Bats or Jokerz  Impostor costumes and build their own specific load-out from a huge assortment of traditional and homebrew weaponry, equipment, and perks. Gadgets such as the Glider Rig, Grappling Hook, and Spring Boots give gamers unprecedented mobility options, while support items like the Bear Trap, Boomerang, and Body Armor open up new tactical options.  The game will feature maps and modes inspired by DC Comics’ Batman license.

Gotham City Imposters was originally due to be released in January, but due to the significant feedback received from the private beta in December the game was delayed. With a new release date of February we shouldn’t have too much longer to wait to get our hands on the full game.

Stay tuned to newbreview.com for more details as and when we get them.

2011 has been a fantastic year for gaming. As well as featuring your standard high profile sequels, 2011 saw the release of a new portable console, Nintendo’s 3DS, as well as a number of fantastic new IPs.

Over the Christmas break newbreview.com’s staff furiously sat down and wrote down a list of their favourite games of the year. There were a number of high quality titles on our lists, but not every game could make the final cut. But before we get to our three finalists, here are newbreview.com’s 2011 Game of the Year Honourable Mentions:

Honourable Mentions:

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

Possibly the most nonsensical game ever released. El Shaddai adapts a discarded chapter of the Bible, the Book of Enoch, in the form of a button bashing third person action adventure game. You play as Enoch, whose task it is to hunt down a number of rogue angels… after being given a lovely pair of jeans by Lucifer, of course! This game can be summed up thusly: the deleted scenes from the Bible filtered through a psychodelic Japanese lens.

What El Shaddai lacks in terms of coherence it more than makes up for with a phenomenally colourful art style, and varied gameplay. You’ll frequently shift from third person button mashing combat, to 2D side scrolling platforming, with even a little bit of motorbike racing thrown in for good measure.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Released in the dim and distant past (January 2011) Ghost Trick Phantom Detective is a puzzle game for the Nintendo DS that puts you in the role of a dead man named Sissel that is investigating his own death. The main weapon in Sissel’s inventory is the ability to shift between the land of the living, in which time runs at normal speed, and the land of the dead, where time stops still. The real fun begins when you interact with dead bodies, allowing you to travel four minutes in to their past, and potentially stop them from being killed altogether.

This is a game from the same studio that brought us the brilliant Phoenix Wright series, and continues to fill our portable gaming time even now, almost a year later. The puzzles range from the ingenious to the ridiculous, and we love this game for it.

Catherine

Another gem from Japan, Catherine can best be described as an erotic-horror puzzle adventure game. You play as Vincent, a man that has a problem with commitment. When his long term girlfriend Katherine starts to hint that she thinks its time they settle down, Vincent starts having peculiar dreams that have him taking advice from sheep in his quest to solve a series of increasingly difficult block puzzles. Things only get stranger and more fatal in the dream world when a new love interest, a strange girl named Catherine, shows up.

European gamers still have to wait until an official release in February 2012, but those that live outside of the EU will attest that Catherine is a game that they will never forget.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex Human Revolution is a prequel to 2000′s award winning Deus Ex. Taking place in a grim corporation-run future, you play as Adam Jensen, a security officer that is mortally wounded when his workplace is attacked by terrorists that oppose his firm’s use of bio-mechanical augmentations. In order to save his life Jensen is rebuilt, a la the Six Million Dollar Man, complete with cybernetic upgrades.

Mixing stealth gameplay with frantic first person shooting, Deus Ex Human Revolution’s greatest strength is that it can be played in numerous ways. It is entirely possible to sneak through the entire game only killing the bosses. Conversely you can run and gun through the entire thing if you so choose, blowing away every street punk that happens to look at you sideways.

Battlefield 3

As far as online squad based military shooters go, Battlefield 3 is king. Sure its single player experience left a lot to be desired, but the game’s online multiplayer modes are fantastic. Nothing beats the thrill of teaming up with a squad made up of friends and testing your mettle against a bunch of randoms.

Graphically speaking Battlefield 3 is probably one of the most spectacular looking console games, although the PC version is substantially better… if you have a rig that can handle it! It may not have matched the sales of their rival Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, but in our opinion it won the online multiplayer war hands down.

Dark Souls

Punishingly cruel, dark, linear, and oppressive. These words best describe Dark Souls, sequel to the majestic Demon’s Souls. As far as fantasy RPGs go Dark Souls may be the most hardcore of the lot, with your repeated death being a key gameplay element. Other games end when your life bar is depleted, but Dark Souls resurrects and taunts you, demanding that you try again, and again, and again, until you eventually make your way through. If this wasn’t bad enough it is possible for other players to invade your game and go about ruining your day.

And yet we keep coming back for more. Whenever we die it isn’t because the game is being cheap, it is because we made a mistake. We are to blame all those times that we have died, and if only we’d learn from our mistakes then maybe, just maybe, we’d make it through another night in the land of Dark Souls.

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time

The remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the 3DS deserves praise for a number of reasons. Firstly they have taken a game that is over 10 years old and have given younger gamers the opportunity to play through one of the best games of all time, as well as giving veteran players the chance to experience it all again. Secondly they have made a few minor changes that have dramatically improved the overall experience – take their overhaul of the inventory system, putting it on the 3DS’ bottom touch screen. It is a simple change, but it is one that made one particular dungeon, which required you to frequently switch between equipment in your inventory, less of a chore.

Did we mention the amazing graphical overhaul? You’d be forgiven for not really noticing it, but just compare video footage of the N64 original to this version. The differences are astonishing. If you own a 3DS and don’t have Ocarina of Time do yourself a favour, go out and get it. Right. Now.

The Finalists

Batman Arkham City builds on its predecessor, Batman Arkham Asylum, in almost every way imaginable. Taking the action out of the Asylum and on to the streets of a walled off section of Gotham City that is populated by the most dangerous criminals in Batman’s rogues gallery, Arkham City is a clear candidate for Game of the Year 2011.

With a richly detailed city to explore, filled with side quests and hidden collectibles, as well as gigantic challenge mode, Arkham City really is the complete package.

Genuinely amusing comedy in games is a very difficult thing to achieve, but the people at Valve really knocked the funny ball out of the park with the script for Portal 2. With fantastic performances from Stephen Merchant (Extras, Life’s Too Short) and J.K Simmons (Spider-Man, Thank You For Smoking) Portal 2 managed to make us laugh every time we played it.

And then there’s the gameplay. With a fantastic mix of brain melting physics based puzzles that were so simple that you could rarely see the solution, and a huge variety in terms of what is required of you. And then there’s the lengthy co-op mode. ‘Nuff said.

Ever since Bethesda released the teaser trailer for the latest entry in their massively popular Elder Scolls series one word has been on the mind of gamers the world over: Skyrim. Fantasy RPGs really don’t get much better than this. After choosing your character at the start of the game you can essentially go whatever you want. Not interested in the story? That’s fine, you can ignore it, there are plenty of other distractions out there in the game world to keep you occupied.

Skyrim features a gigantic world to explore, populated with hundreds of individuals, a simple streamlined menu, advanced combat, and that addictive “just one more quest” style of gameplay that has resulted in more than a few sleepless nights at newb HQ.

2011 has almost certainly been a fantastic year for gaming, and each of our three finalists is worthy of the prize, but who will win? Check back tomorrow for our final results.

Xbox 360: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Batman-Inc-Batsuit-Skin/124ab6c1-1bb9-4a13-938e-1c1c0f49a357

Games for Windows: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Batman-Inc-Batsuit-Skin/00000000-0000-400e-80cf-000f57520fa0

PSN: Check PSN now!

- Rax

Game:

The latest piece of significant downloadable content for Rocksteady Studio’s Batman Arkham City takes the form of The Challenge Map Pack. For 240 Microsoft points (around £2) and £2.39 on Playstation Network you can purchase three new challenge maps to play in the Riddler’s Revenge mode.

Of the three maps on offer only one, The Bat Cave, is entirely new – the Joker’s Carnival was a preorder incentive, while The Iceberg Lounge came bundled with the limited edition of the game. We previously reviewed the Carnival and Iceberg maps individually before it was confirmed that they would only be sold as part of a bundle and not as separate downloads. This review covers the Challenge Map Pack as a whole, as well as looking at what each map in the collection offers you.

It is worth noting that all three of the challenge maps in this pack are playable with all of the game’s characters, Batman, Catwoman, Nightwing, and Robin. If you have already purchased the two new characters, and felt that there wasn’t enough to do with them, this may prolong your experience.

The Joker’s Carnival

When the Joker’s Carnival was first announced initial reports indicated that this challenge map would offer up to four hours of additional content. Well, unfortunately someone must have got their wires crossed somewhere along the line, as the Joker’s Carnival map is one single timed combat challenge.

However, what it does offer is a fresh new take on the game’s default combat challenge gameplay. The key to earning the top scores in The Joker’s Carnival is it defeat as many enemies as possible without getting hit (much like every other combat challenge out there), with the one substantial difference here being that, as you defeat more enemies, your score fills up a metre. The metre is broken up into multiple segments, and as you fill each segment more vicious types of enemies start to attack you.

In order to score points, and add extra precious seconds to the clock, you need to tactically bank your points. To score more points you simply need to take down stronger enemies, but by facing stronger foes you run the risk of getting hit and losing all of the points in your metre. It is a wonderful risk vs reward system that makes for an interesting gameplay experience.

The Joker's Carnival can best be described as a punchy version of The Weakest Link

Throughout the entire proceedings The Joker offers commentary, including character specific remarks (my personal favourite was the Joker’s surprise at seeing Robin, as he thought he had already killed him.) Mark Hamill excels as the Joker, and if you found yourself wanting to hear more from him then this is the download for you.

While you likely won’t be spending four hours playing The Joker’s Carnival, it once again shows that Rocksteady are willing to experiment with the gameplay, rather than resting on their laurels.

Iceberg Lounge VIP Room

The Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge was one of Gotham’s trendiest nightclubs before the walls of Arkham City were put up around it. Throughout the game Batman hears chatter about how Penguin has now turned the club into his own deadly version of fight club, with only the best fighters going on to join his ranks. Well now you can fight your way through the endless legions of Penguin’s forces in the Iceberg Lounge VIP Room challenge map for yourself.

This is by far the most simple of the challenge maps on offer; as your hero of choice, you fight off an infinite wave of enemies until you run out of life, with no time limits. As you progress further and further more varied and powerful enemy types enter the arena, such as armoured guards and those with shields.

I like to think that I am good at the Arkham City challenges, but I only ever last a few minutes in this challenge map due to the fact that there are always a dozen or so enemies on screen at any one time.

This challenge grants you the best opportunity to earn combat related achievements/trophies

Throughout the entire challenge The Penguin watches from the other side of a fence, treating you to more of Nolan North’s take on the character. Those that didn’t take to North’s portrayal of The Penguin as a cockney gangster likely won’t warm to it through further exposure, but if you found yourself enchanted with North’s performance then this will likely please you greatly.

This is by no means a bad challenge map, but it is one of the least experimental on Rocksteady’s part. Players of Batman Arkham Asylum may remember that Rocksteady released a similar map that took place in a library. Despite that, this is still a difficult map that will offer an additional challenge to those that have already conquered the game’s default challenge maps (and also provide plenty of opportunity to earn combat related achievements/trophies.)

The Batcave

The Batcave is the only Silent Predator challenge to be included in this pack and, as the name suggests, it takes place in Batman’s secret sanctum The Batcave. The challenge opens up with the Batcomputer running a simulation of what it would be like if the Batcave were ever breached by hostiles.

The aim of this challenge is simple; take out all six enemies, without being seen, using a variety of gadgets. In order to earn all three medals you must complete three objectives, such as electrocuting one enemy enough that he fires his weapon in to the air and startles another enemy.

The Batcave itself is quite small, but does feature a few items that will please long time Batman fans. The Batmobile, the Batwing, and Batman’s mechanical dinosaur all make an appearance, although you cannot really do anything with them. One noticeable omission is Batman’s trophy room, which is a real shame – it would have been great to hide among Batman’s trophy cases, filled with mementos of past cases. Another disappointment is the lack of environmental specific take downs or challenges, such as using the mechanical dinosaur to scare the enemies. You can press a button to make the dinosaur roar, but it doesn’t achieve anything.

The Batcave features the Batmobile, the Batwing, and a mechanical Dinosaur

If you have purchased the other playable characters then you will be pleased to hear that they have their own unique challenges on this map. This can potentially add to the challenge’s length, but overall it is a very basic challenge map. It would have been nice to see some of the creativity that Rocksteady have shown with their other pieces of downloadable content, such as the side scrolling combat challenge in the Robin Bundle, or the Joker’s Carnival’s challenging new take on established gameplay.

All in all this is a short and simple challenge map that, once completed, offers little incentive to revisit beyond trying to earn a higher position on the online leaderboards.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 5/5 - Although I am not a fan of the game’s “gritty” art design, the game looks spectacular.

Sound: 5/5 - Features more original voice work from Mark Hamill and Nolan North, as well as continuing to use the main game’s brilliant sound track.

Gameplay: 4/5 - The game’s brilliant combat system remains unchanged here, offering up infinitely respawning enemies courtesy of the Iceberg Lounge Map, and a devilishly challenging game show in the form of the Joker’s Carnival. The only let down is the Batcave map which, while being perfectly decent, offers little new beyond a glimpse at some of Batman’s more expensive toys.

Longevity: 4/5 - The only map that’ll likely take a long time to earn all three medals on is the Joker’s Carnival, with its devilishly high score criteria. The Iceberg Lounge likely won’t challenge seasoned players too long, while The Batcave can easily be beaten in a few minutes per character. Each challenge is playable with all of the game’s characters, so long as you have purchased them.

Overall: 4 out of 5

The three challenge maps included in this pack offer up a variety of different game types – a deviously violent version of The Weakest Link, an endless battle against a legion of foes, and a stealthy defence of Batman’s home. For the low asking price this is a must have for fans of Arkham City’s challenge mode.

- Luke Mears

Game:

Warner Brothers recently released Arkham City Lockdown, a portable prequel to one of the best selling games of the year, Batman Arkham City. This caught many gamers by surprise as no official announcement of the game’s existence had ever been made. Developed by NetherRealm Studios, who are also credited as working with Rocksteady on Arkham City, Arkham City Lockdown is a fighting game in which you take control of the caped crusader and must clean up the streets of Gotham.

Narratively the concept is fairly simple; taking place shortly before the events of Batman Arkham City, a number of high profile villains have escaped from custody, and it is up to you to go capture them. And by capture we mean beat the spit out of them.

The most immediately obvious thing about the game is that it looks fantastic, utilising Epic’s Unreal Engine, which has been used to power other iOS titles such as Infinity Blade. This takes place in a number of recognizable locations, such as the Sionis Steel Mill and the streets of Gotham. In order to select a mission you pick a location from a segment of the map of Gotham City. Each segment is broken up in to four missions, three generic fights against various thugs, and a finale against a memorable villain. Fans of the characters may be pleased to hear that Arkham City Lockdown features the villain Deathstroke, who has never appeared in an Arkham game before.

The boss battles offer up the most variety in terms of gameplay. For instance, when battling Two-Face there are two sections in which you make use of your device’s accelerometer to take control of a remote controlled batarang; simply tilt your device left and right until you reach your target. These short segments act as a nice way of changing up the gameplay, preventing the game from getting too repetitious.

Boss fights provide the most variety in terms of gameplay

The actual gameplay is incredibly simple to pick up and play.  You swipe across the screen to strike, and can string up to four moves together at any one time to create a devastating combo. You do not control Batman’s movements between fights, instead short cut-scenes play between fights showing how Batman moves from one enemy to another. This creates a refined focus for Batman; without any wandering around looking for collectibles or trying to solve puzzles, you can concentrate on what Batman does best – beating the snot out of punks.

Basic enemy attacks can be avoided by simply tapping the screen to perform a dodge. Your enemies are also capable of performing powerful rage attacks, which are indicated by a flashing red icon above their heads. You must dodge these powerful attacks or risk taking a ton of damage, especially from enemies whose rage attack involves pulling a gun on you. If you avoid enough blows the enemies will become dazed, leaving them open to your attacks.

At various points small blue icons will appear on your enemy; simply tap the blue icon to perform a counter.  If you are battling with an armed enemy this will remove their weapon, and leave them open to your fists. Regular attacks can be parried by swiping upwards on the screen, leaving enemies exposed and vulnerable.

Batman's gadgets can be used to give him the upper hand

One of the best points about this game is that the combat is incredibly smooth, and really quite intuitive. It is easy to pick up and play, and can be played in short five minute bursts as well as for lengthy periods of time.

Defeating enemies earns you experience, which can be used to buy upgrades from the Waynetech computer in the batcave. These range from new gadgets, such as the smoke bomb and electric gloves, to upgrades to Batman’s general performance.  This creates a real sense of progression, as you can really see and feel your performance improve when you purchase new abilities.

Upon completing missions you earn extra experience based on how many counters, parries, and gadgets you were able to use. Upon beating the game you move on to a more challenging new game plus mode in which the enemies deal out more damage and require quicker reactions in order to avoid their attacks. In exchange defeated enemies grant you more experience.

In order to fully upgrade Batman to his maximum potential you’ll need to earn an awful lot of experience points. For those that aren’t very good at the game there is the option to buy experience with real world money, but experience is usually easy enough to come by. Even if you die and restart a level all of the experience you earned before dying is retained.

You need to time your strikes in order to do the most damage

Right from the start the game comes with a number of extras including biographies for the main characters, wallpaper for your device’s background, and three issues of the Batman Arkham City comic book. There are also three alternative costumes, taken from the Batman Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and The Dark Knight Returns. These need to be purchased separately for a small fee. The extras menu also hints at the identity of bosses that you will face in future updates to the game.

The voice cast from Batman Arkham City return, including Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker respectively. However, one disappointment is that the in-game dialogue is fairly minimal and seems to have mostly been recycled from the game’s big brother on the consoles. This isn’t too big of an issue, as the quality of the voice acting is still incredibly high, but it would have been nice to see more original content.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 5/5 – One of the best looking iOS games to date. The game manages to replicate the look and feel of the console Arkham City game, which is a tremendous achievement.

Sound: 4/5 – Mostly reuses dialogue and music from Arkham City. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the high quality of the game’s music and voice acting remains intact.

Gameplay: 4/5 – The basic gameplay can be a little repetitive, with most fights coming down to repeating the same attack pattern (attack, dodge, attack, dodge, parry/counter, attack) but you will need some skill in order to excel. Boss battles provide more variety, and enemies faced on repeat playthroughs prove to be more challenging.

Longevity: 4/5 – There are 16 missions, not counting the basic tutorial, which will likely take a few hours to complete. Every time you beat the game you can restart with all of your upgrades and fight tougher more aggressive enemies which, when coupled with the game’s lengthy upgrade system, incentivises replaying the game.

Overall: 4.5 out of 5

Arkham City Lockdown sets a new standard in portable gaming with intuitive challenging gameplay and stunning graphics. NetherRealm Studios have created a game that manages to feel very similar to the console experience, while at the same time doing something new and exciting that compliments the other Arkham titles. If you have a compatible iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad then you should be playing this.

- Luke Mears

We’ll be bringing you our full review shortly, but in the meantime here are a tonne of screenshots for your viewing pleasure.

Looks very pretty doesn’t it! Our full review will go live very soon so stay tuned to newbreview.com for our official verdict!

Whatever it is called, we’re certain it’ll be a fantastic game, and we’re sure that Rocksteady know what they’re doing. However, until the game is officially announced all we can do is speculate on where they’ll go with the next entry in their Arkham series. Until that time, here are a few of our thoughts on what we want to see from Rocksteady. We’ll try as hard as we can to avoid major spoilers, but if you haven’t played Arkham City yet we recommend that you stop reading right now.

More Interviews:

Ever since the success of Bioshock it seems like almost every other game released these days has collectible audio diaries of some sort that are used as a quick way of filling in the game’s back-story. Arkham Asylum used this idea in the form of recordings of the villains’ psychotherapy sessions, and for the most part they were all fantastic. However, considering the vast number of villains contained in their games, it seems strange that there were so few of them to collect.

Rocksteady have made a great start with the audio tapes. Now we want more!

If I were Rocksteady I would feature more of these recordings as a way of giving villains more screen time, and take advantage of the extensive knowledge of the game’s lead writer Paul Dini, who wrote many of the best episodes of the seminal 1990s Batman Animated Series.

Animate the Arkham Stories:

One of the new additions to Arkham City was the inclusion of unlockable Arkham Stories, short stories that detailed what happened between the two Arkham Games. As Warner Brothers is the game’s publisher, and Warner are well known for their animation department, why not animate these Arkham Stories? Warner Brothers have already produced a number of short animated vignettes for Batman Gotham City Impostors, a downloadable shooter that is coming out in early 2012, so why not extend the budget a little to make Arkham 3 that much more spectacular?

Much like the inclusion of more audio diaries, this would also grant some of the obscure villains more screen time, and further flesh out the world.

Better Use of Villains:

One valid criticism of Arkham City is that some villains did not get the exposure they needed. For instance, the Mad Hatter was actually quite central to the plot, but was barely used outside of a handful of audio diaries and one short mission. And the final boss (whose identity we won’t spoil here) could have been used more effectively, considering the build up.

The Mad Hatter should have (and could have) been used more

While we’re at it, how about using some more unconventional villains? Rocksteady should be praised for using characters such as Zsasz, Calendarman and Deadshot, but how about more challenging foes like Prometheus, Man-Bat, or Firefly?

Calendarman Missions:

Imagine if Rocksteady took the concept of Calendarman, a criminal that only commits crimes on holidays, and used that in their next game? Yes Calendarman already makes an appearance in Arkham City, and if you visit him on set holidays he will share holiday-themed stories with you, but imagine if rather than listening to his crimes you had a chance to play them! For instance, boot up your copy of Arkham 3 on Halloween and you find Calendarman doing some fatal trick or treating? Or on Christmas Day he is dropping explosive presents down unsuspecting citizens’ chimneys.

That’d one way to keep people from trading it in!

Greater focus on Detective Mode:

Considering that Batman is supposed to be the world’s greatest detective a lot of the cases that Batman solves in the two Arkham games have been incredibly simplistic. Your average task in Arkham Asylum had you following trails of blood, pollen, and other substances, while the crime scene inverstigation in Arkham City expanded in to following the trajectory of a gunshot and scanning dead bodies. Not exactly jobs that require massive feats of deductive prowess.

Arkham City's crime scene analysis was deeper than Arkham Asylum's, but it still has further to go

We’re not saying that we want incredibly complicated puzzles, but a bit more variety would be a welcome addition.

Co-op Challenge Rooms:

After having introduced Catwoman, Azrael, Robin, and Nightwing to the Arkham Universe it would make sense to produce some sort of co-operative element to the next title. Personally we don’t think that the main story mode should be co-operative, but there is plenty of scope for co-operative challenge missions. For instance, you could just take the established Combat Challenges and Silent Predator missions from the previous two games and introduce co-operative missions. Imagine being able to co-ordinate stealth take-downs, or team together to take down a room full of thugs. It would be great.

But you know what would be even better? A separate co-op story mode, like the one seen in Splinter Cell Conviction and Rage, that compliments the game’s main story. How great would it be if you could play important moments from Batman’s past co-operatively?

Separate Catwoman Mode:

One of my major gripes with Arkham City was the way that Rocksteady shoehorned Catwoman in to the main game’s narrative. At various points in the story you would stop playing as Batman and take over as Catwoman, who had her own unique control scheme and missions. Now the main problem with this is that it really broke the flow of the story, and parts of it just didn’t make sense; at the end of the first Catwoman segment she is captured by Poison Ivy who threatens to kill her, then at the start of her second mission, some six hours later in-game time, the conversation picks up exactly where it left off as if only a few seconds had passed.

Catwoman's missions would've been better suited to a separate mode

Most people probably won’t care about that, but this disregard for the laws of time really got my goat. This could all have been avoided if they had simply made the Catwoman missions a separate mode, like Assignment Ada in Resident Evil 4. This would also allow people that didn’t like playing as Catwoman the opportunity to just ignore her, rather than having to slog through her missions before you get to continue playing as Batman.

Adam West DLC:

How amazing would the game be if you could play it as Adam West’s Batman? ‘Nuff said.

We don’t genuinely think that Rocksteady will take all of these suggestions on board, but we hope to see some of these ideas make the cut in Batman’s next adventure.

- Luke Mears

Developed by Monolith (makers of the Condemned and F.E.A.R games) Gotham City Impostors is a team-based first person shooter that pits Bat-fans against Joker-lovers, in recognisable Gotham City locations that are populated with wacky weapons, such as an electrified garden gnome.

If you want to try the game out, and help improve the final product, you can go to www.GothamCityImpostors.com to register for a chance to take part in the beta.

Gotham City Imposters is due to be released on 10th January 2012. Stay tuned to newbreview.com for more information over the coming weeks.

Barely a month after the release of Batman Arkham City developer Rocksteady studios have supported the title with an unprecedented amount of downloadable content. The first two pieces of DLC brought new characters to the game’s substantial Riddler’s Revenge challenge mode, Nightwing and Robin, as well as playing around with the game’s formula by introducing a side scrolling combat challenge.

Rocksteady have recently announced that a further three challenge maps will be available to purchase on 20^th December. We have downloaded The Joker’s Carnival and Iceberg Lounge VIP Room challenges and can safely say that, while they are not ground breaking, they do manage to offer up unique experiences that you will not be able to find in the game’s default challenge maps.

It is worth noting that both of the challenge maps are playable with all of the game’s characters, Batman, Catwoman, Nightwing, and Robin, so if you have already purchased the two new characters and felt that there wasn’t enough to do with them, this may prolong your experience.

 The Joker’s Carnival

Originally offered as a preorder incentive with all copies of Arkham City bought at mega supermarket Tesco in the UK, initial reports indicated that the Joker’s Carnival challenge map would offer up to four hours of additional content. Well, unfortunately someone must have got their wires crossed somewhere along the line, as the Joker’s Carnival map is one single timed combat challenge.

However, what it does offer is a fresh new take on the game’s default combat challenge. The key to earning the top scores in The Joker’s Carnival is it defeat as many enemies as possible without having your combo interrupted (much like every other combat challenge out there), with the one substantial difference here being that, as you defeat more enemies, your score fills up a metre. The metre is broken up into multiple segments, and as you fill each segment more vicious types of enemies start to attack you.

In order to score points, and add extra precious seconds to the clock, you need to tactically bank your points. To score more points you simply need to take down stronger enemies, but by facing stronger foes you run the risk of getting hit and losing all of the points in your metre. It is a wonderful risk vs reward system that makes for an interesting gameplay experience.

The Joker's Carnival is sort of a punchy version of The Weakest Link

Throughout the entire proceedings The Joker offers commentary, including character specific remarks (my personal favourite was the Joker’s surprise at seeing Robin, as he thought he had already killed him). Mark Hamill excels as the Joker, and if you found yourself wanting to hear more from him then this is the download for you.

While you likely won’t be spending four hours playing The Joker’s Carnival, it once again shows that Rocksteady are willing to experiment with the gameplay, rather than resting on their laurels.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 – The Joker’s Carnival is fairly empty, giving you plenty of room to move about in. The characters are lifted straight from the main game, and as such look great.

Sound: 5/5 – Fantastic performance from Mark Hamill as the Joker, and some great music.

Gameplay: 4/5 – The whole risk reward mechanic of banking points is an interesting new take on the typical combat challenge. If you are able to perpetuate a combo and take out more enemies, bigger and tougher enemies will take their place, granting your more points. However, if you get hit or break your own combo all of your stored up points are lost.

Longevity: 3/5 – Despite early reports this will not last four hours. However that doesn’t mean that there isn’t the chance to get plenty of gameplay out of it. You can play this map as each of the game’s playable characters, potentially multiplying its longevity.

Score: 4 out of 5

Ok, you’re not likely to get four hours of content out of this challenge map, but don’t let that put you off. The Joker’s Carnival is a fun and difficult combat challenge that delivers a new take on the established formula.

Iceberg Lounge VIP Room

The Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge was one of Gotham’s trendiest nightclubs before the walls of Arkham City were put up around it. Throughout the game Batman hears chatter about how Penguin has now turned the club into his own deadly version of fight club, with only the best fighters going on to join his ranks. Well now you can fight your way through the endless legions of Penguin’s forces in the Iceberg Lounge VIP Room challenge map for yourself.

This is by far the most simple of the challenge maps on offer; as your hero of choice, you fight off an infinite wave of enemies until you run out of life, with no time limits. As you progress further and further more varied and powerful enemy types enter the arena, such as armoured guards and those with shields.

I like to think that I am good at the Arkham City challenges, but I only ever last a few minutes in this challenge map due to the fact that there are always about a dozen enemies on screen at any one time.

Throughout the entire challenge The Penguin watches from the other side of a fence, treating you to more of Nolan North’s take on the character. Those that didn’t take to North’s portrayal of The Penguin as a cockney gangster likely won’t warm to it through further exposure, but if you found yourself enchanted with North’s performance then this will likely please you greatly.

The Iceberg Lounge map pits you against an endless supply of enemies

This is by no means a bad challenge map, but it is the least experimental on Rocksteady’s part. Players of Batman Arkham Asylum may remember that Rocksteady released a similar map that took place in a library. Despite that, this is still a challenging map that will offer an additional challenge to those that have already conquered the game’s default challenge maps.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 – The actual VIP room itself is fairly small and barren. This gives you plenty of room to move about it, but doesn’t give you a lot to look at. Nonetheless the game’s high graphical quality remains unchanged.

Sound: 3/5 – The music is lifted directly from the main game, along with most of the dialogue. Fans of Nolan North’s portrayal as The Penguin will be treated to more dialogue, while those that disliked his take on the character will have their ears assaulted by his voice.

Gameplay: 3/5 – This a basic survival map, pitting you against an endless supply of enemies. There are always plenty of enemies on screen, making this a very crowded map.

Longevity: 3/5 – A challenging map, especially if you’re aiming to earn all three medals.

Overall: 3 out of 5

The Icerberg Lounge is the most unsurprising downloadable challenge map so far, but if you’re looking for a difficult fight against impossible odds then this may be the map pack for you.

As of writing the final challenge map, a silent predator map that takes place inside of the Bat Cave, was not available for testing. It is unclear if all three maps will be sold together in one bundle, or if each map will be sold separately. We personally hope that each of the maps will be available separately so as to not force players that pre-ordered the game at varying retailers into buying content that they already have.

Stay tuned to newbreview.com for more information as and when we get it.

- Luke Mears

The Nightwing Bundle Pack is the first piece of paid downloadable content for Batman: Arkham City and, as the name suggests, it brings Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing, as a playable character. However you will not be playing as the former boy wonder in the streets of Arkham City, instead you can test your might against the Riddler and his challenge maps.

The actual character design is probably the most faithful to the comics out of every character to be in an Arkham game. There has been no substantial redesign, or alternative take on the character’s looks, which will likely please Nightwing fans out there.

As an added bonus Nightwing comes with a costume based on his look in the Batman Animated Series from the mid 1990′s. Much like the Animated Series costumes for Batman, Catwoman, and Robin there is a superimposed quality to the character model that makes it resemble the way animated characters were paired with real life actors in films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Cool World.

The pack includes two extra challenge maps that can be used with all playable characters in the game (Batman, Catwoman, Nightwing, and Robin, who is set to be made available to the public on 22nd November) that take place inside of Wayne Manor. Nightwing is also fully playable in every other challenge map, including downloadable maps such as the Joker’s Funhouse (a retailer specific preorder incentive) and the Iceberg Lounge (which came with the Special Edition version of the game).

Nightwing is far more acrobatic than Batman

The first challenge room, Wayne Manor Armoury, is a Combat Challenge that pits you against four waves of increasingly tough enemies. When playing as Nightwing it is clear that he is no mere reskin of Batman; Nightwing has his own distinct moves and animations and, despite utilising the same combat system, really feels like a different character. Nightwing is more agile and nimble than Batman, and this is apparent in the way he fights – when dodging enemies Nightwing gracefully rolls past enemies, flipping over them with ease, before landing a flurry of devastating blows.

Nightwing has fewer combat combos in his arsenal of moves than Batman, for instance Batman has a combo that can destroy enemy weapons, while Nightwing does not. This adds an extra level of challenge, almost like a handicap in some ways, making it fairly difficult to earn the required high scores in order to earn all three medals on each of the challenge maps.

The second map, taking place in Wayne Manor’s main hall, is a Silent Predator challenge in which you must stealthily take down a group of patrolling enemies. It is in the Silent Predator challenges that you really get to see what differentiates Nightwing from Batman. As Nightwing does not have a cape, he cannot freely glide around the level. He can use his grapple to pull himself on to high ledges and, being a former circus acrobat, he is able to leap across large distances without too much trouble. However, this lack of a glide can make some of the challenge maps incredibly difficult to navigate through without being spotted.

As well has sharing some of Batman’s weapons (batarangs, grapple, and explosive gel) Nightwing has a few unique devices, most notable are his combat sticks, which can be thrown at enemies or used to stun them with an electric shock, and his wrist gauntlet that can be used to fire stun darts at enemies. When aiming the wrist darts the view shifts to the first person perspective, as if you were looking through Nightwing’s eyes as he lines up his shot. While it isn’t a significant game changer, it is pleasing to see that Rocksteady are trying to do something different with this character.

Nightwing can shift to the first person perspective in order to use his wrist darts

Similarly Nightwing’s detective vision is a stripped down version of Batman’s, with a new addition that is exclusive to Nightwing. While Nightwing cannot differentiate between enemies that are armed with firearms and those that are not, he has a radar. This only seems to activate when you are performing a takedown, or have just disposed of an enemy, but it is very useful at indicating when there is an enemy just outside your field of vision.

Having said that, I cannot shake the feeling that Nightwing will be defined by what he cannot do more than what he can. Much like Robin and Catwoman, the more you play as these additional characters, the better they make Batman seem.Yes, it is nice to be able to use a bullet shield, or a whip, or electrified batons, but at the end of the day it doesn’t get any better than being Batman and beating the snot out of a dozen men with you bare hands.

As for the maps themselves, die hard Batman fans may get a thrill out of exploring parts of Wayne Manor – an area that has yet to feature in any of the Arkham games – but for the most part they are fairly generic. Where the Robin Bundle Pack really excelled was in the way its Freight Train challenge changed to the 2D side scrolling perspective, which  was a breath of fresh air, and showed a lot of potential for the future. Beyond the inclusion of first person aiming with Nightwing’s gauntlet, there are no similar changes in this pack.

Review Round-Up

Graphics – 5/5: Nightwing enthusiasts will be pleased to see that they have not dramatically redesigned the character’s look, and the addition of the Animated Series Nightwing costume only sweetens the deal.

Sound – 3/5: Aside from the odd grunt and groan when he gets hit, Nightwing is essentially mute, which is disappointing. The music and sound effects are as great as ever.

Gameplay – 4/5: In some ways Nightwing is defined by his limitations – he doesn’t have as many combos as Batman, and he cannot glide. Having said that, his unique weapons are fun to use and bring something new to the table.

Longevity – 4/5: Nightwing is playable in every challenge map in the game, including any other challenges you download. Likewise Nightwing’s challenge maps are playable with Batman, Catwoman, Robin, and any other downloadable character they may release in the future.

Overall: 4 out of 5

For the fairly low asking price of 560 Microsoft points (or £5.49 on Playstation 3) you can potentially get a number of hours of gameplay out of this downloadable pack, not just with the two new maps, but by revisiting old maps as Nightwing. Considering that Arkham City is one of the best games of the year (if not the best) any reason to continue playing is a good thing.

- Luke Mears

Game:

Initially released as a preorder incentive with various retailers, the Batman Arkham City Robin Bundle pack allows you to play as (almost) nobody’s favourite sidekick Robin.

A lot of the hostility towards the character of Robin can be traced back to the famed 1960s Batman tv series, and Burt Ward’s portrayal of the Boy Wonder. Clad in tiny unflattering green shorts, flesh coloured tights, and pixie shoes, Robin would spout out inane quip after inane quip ad nauseum, leading to a legion of humourless comic book fans despising the character.

However, developer Rocksteady have tried to appease these folk with a take on the character that is far more grim and gritty. Rather than being a young boy in paedo-bait tights, Arkham City’s Robin is a shaven-headed hoody, armed with a fighting stick and a tough attitude. This will doubtlessly please many that found it hard to believe that Batman would endanger a child’s life by letting him dress up in brightly coloured tights and prance around in front of armed criminals on a nightly basis, however, I’m not a fan of Rocksteady’s take on the character (or many of their Arkham-verse character designs for that matter).

It is fortunate then that, for those that share my views, there are two extra costumes included in this download. The first is Tim Drake’s Red Robin costume from the comic books, which still manages to fit in quite nicely with the games’ overall aesthetic. The final costume, and my personal favourite, is the Batman The Animated series costume, which is an authentic replication of the Animated series’ visual style. It may look a little strange at first (almost like the mix of real time performances and cartoon characters in movies like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Cool World) but overall the Animated Series costume is a fantastic addition.

The Animated Series costume is a welcome addition for those that aren't fond of Arkham City's 'gritty' character designs

As well as letting you play as Robin in any of the game’s existing challenge maps, Robin also comes with two of his own exclusive maps featuring the Villain Black Mask. Eagle eyed players may have noticed Black Mask being tasered by Tyger Security Guards during Arkham City’s opening, and I am pleased to report that he features in both of Robin’s challenge maps.

The first map is simply called Black Mask, and is a silent predator challenge map that takes place inside one of Black Mask’s factories, with the aforementioned baddie surveying the environment from the safety of his office. You are required to stealthily take out the room’s patrolling guards one by one until they are all defeated. As with the main game’s Silent Predator challenges, in order to fully complete each challenge there are a set types of takedowns to perform using Robin’s unique gadgets.

As well as featuring the standard Batman weapons (batarangs, smoke bombs, and explosive gel), Robin comes with three unique weapons. Firstly he has a portable bullet shield that he can use to resist oncoming bullet fire for a short time and shove enemies over with. Secondly he has a stun grenade that he can stick to the back of an unsuspecting enemy. This can be detonated remotely whenever you see fit, opening up the potential of causing some real chaos. Finally Robin’s grapple allows him to perform a zip kick maneuver, launching him at high speed towards his enemies and kicking their heads in.

The second challenge map, Freight Train, is by far the most interesting of all the challenges available in the entire game so far. Taking place on board a careening train loaded up with weapons stolen from Tyger Security Guards, this level shifts from the traditional three dimensional gameplay and resembles a retro 2D side scrolling beat-em up. It even features a mini-story in that you have to fight your way through a series of carriages before defeating Black Mask and bringing the train to a halt. It is astonishing how a simple change of perspective can change things so much.

The Freight Train combat challenge makes me hungry for a downloadable side scrolling Batman game

Sure, the change of perspective has a few problems – on the odd occasion the train’s window frames can obscure your view of what is going on, and can be hard to see where enemies are at times – but overall it is a genuinely exciting move from Rocksteady. By evoking images classic 16bit side scrolling beat-em ups, such as Streets of Rage, Rocksteady have immediately filled my mind dreams of a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade/Playstation Network side scrolling Batman game.

As pleasing as it is that Robin plays completely differently to Batman, part of me found that I would much rather spend my time playing as Batman instead. After all, Batman has more gadgets, his gadgets are more useful in stealth scenarios, he has more combat combos and, overall, Batman is far cooler than Robin ever could be. Thankfully you can play through both of Robin’s challenge maps as Batman, and Catwoman… if you really want to.

Still, it is an accomplishment that Rocksteady have managed to make Robin such a fun character to play as, despite nearly 50 years of animosity towards the character.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 5/5 - Although I am not a fan of the Arkham games’ visual take on the Batman characters, you cannot deny that this is a great looking game.Rocksteady should be praised for giving pedants like myself the option to play as other versions of Robin in the form of the Red Robin and Batman Animated Series costumes.

Sound: 3/5 - While the game’s great music is intact, there is a disappointing amount of vocal performance from the actor that plays Robin, beyond the odd grunt when he gets hit. Considering that Batman has a number of fantastic one liners between rounds of the challenge maps I was surprised to see that Robin is mostly mute.

Gameplay: 5/5 - Robin’s new gadgets are fun and easy to use, with a particular shout out going to his explosive device that he can attach to the backs of unaware enemies, leaving them to wander around blissfully ignorant of what awaits them. Meanwhile, the simple shifting of perspective in the Freight Train challenge map is an inspired move that I hope to see more of from Rocksteady in the future.

Longevity: 4/5 - While there are only two challenge maps added to the game in this bundle, they are playable with Batman, Catwoman, as well as all future downloadable characters, such as Nightwing. This pack also lets you play through every other challenge as Robin, potentially adding hours of life to the game.

Overall: 4.5 out of 5

Rocksteady could have easily released this Robin DLC as nothing more than a cheap re-skin of Batman, however they have very clearly put a lot of thought in to making this as worthwhile a package as possible. By giving Robin unique gadgets and combos, as well as introducing a brilliant 2D combat challenge, Rocksteady have made me very hopeful for future downloadable add ons, as well as their inevitable next Batman game.

The Robin Bundle pack will be available for download on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network from 22nd November, for 560 Microsoft points and £5.49 respectively.

Keep your eyes peeled for our full review of Batman Arkham City’s Nightwing Bundle Pack later this week.

- Luke Mears

Rocksteady Studios’ second game ever, Batman Arkham Asylum, was surprising on a number of levels. Firstly, it was genuinely surprising that a licensed title could be so good, and secondly it was a massive surprise that such a young team were capable of making a game as phenomenal as Arkham Asylum. After the game won multiple awards, including the inaugural newbreview.com game of the year award, and the studio was snapped up by DC Comics’ parent company Warner Brothers, it was inevitable that the studio would be hard at work on another Batman game.

But considering how good Batman Arkham Asylum was it was hard to imagine how they could possibly improve on it. Well, ye of little faith, it turns out that Rocksteady have managed the impossible – not only have they made another great game, but they have made a game that is so good that it has almost rendered Arkham Asylum unplayable in comparison. Bravo Rocksteady. Bravo.

From the outset it is clear that Arkham City is bigger, bolder, and better than its predecessor. From the moment you start the game the developers have gone to every effort to teach you everything you will need in order to survive the night in Arkham City in an entertaining and engaging way.

The city itself may not be the biggest in gaming history, but it is incredibly dense. Almost every other building features a puzzle, courtesy of the Riddler. With over 400 Riddles to solve, and each completed Riddle offering various unlockable items, such as concept art, character models, and short stories, Arkham City is filled to the brim with content.

The streets of Arkham City are filled with criminals that are just begging to be punched

There is literally something to do on every street, and there are a wealth of side missions to distract you from completing the main story too quickly. These are all too easily picked up thanks to Batman’s ability to listen in on private conversations. I lost track of the number of times that I would be travelling across the city with the intention of sticking to the main story, only to find myself spending half an hour trying to solve all of the Riddles that caught my eye on the way.

These side missions range from protecting victims of assault, to battles with established super villains. It is worth noting that no two side missions are exactly the same; one set of missions will have you destroying certain objects that are strewn about the game world, others will have you examining murder victims and looking for evidence that will lead you to the perpetrator, while others simply task you with going to a set place and kicking the living crap out of whoever gets in your way.

For those that are unfamiliar with Batman’s combat system, which remains mostly unchanged from Arkham Asylum, the premise is incredibly simple: the key to winning battles is to string together a long chain of attacks without being hit or being interrupted. The trick to performing lengthy combos, and gaining access to special moves, is to carefully time your attacks, and successfully perform counters. Fortunately Rocksteady have included a handy flashing icon that appears above an enemy’s head indicating when you need to press the counter button. In Arkham Asylum Batman could only counter one enemy at a time, whereas now Batman can counter multiple enemies at once, resulting in some truly spectacular counters.

The beauty of the game’s combat system is that it is incredibly easy to to pick up and play, but there is a tonne of depth, especially when you take into consideration that you can now use a number of gadgets in combat. There are also numerous special enemies, such as the armoured henchmen, that cannot be defeated by conventional means. Yes, you can get through fights by simply button bashing, but in order to excel you will need to master the art of reversing moves, and know every move in your arsenal.

Mastering the art of countering attacks is essential

Another key feature of the game comes in the form of Batman’s reliance on stealth when facing enemies that are armed with firearms. As Batman is only human he can easily die when coming under sustained fire. In Arkham Asylum there were specific rooms that were dedicated to stealth, whereas Arkham City has entire sections of the City that are basically giant stealth challenges.

As fantastic as the combat is, it pales in comparison to the beauty of the stealth sections of the game. Nothing comes close to the feeling of empowerment that you feel as you slowly pick off enemy after enemy, and watch as the survivors start to break down and cry, trembling at the very thought of you getting your hands on them.

When you start the game you have access to about half a dozen of Batman’s gadgets, and by the end you will have a twice that number of weapons in your arsenal. One of Arkham City’s biggest strengths, in terms of gameplay design, is the way you are literally transformed as you progress further and further through the game and are able to purchase upgrades, including bullet resistant armour, new special moves, and new gadgets. At the start of the game you may fumble your way through fights and stealth sections, but by the end you will be a fighting machine, obliterating foes left and right.

Batman’s main means of traversal is using his cape to glide across the city. This is performed by simply running off of the edge of buildings. You can perform a dive bomb in order to gain more momentum, potentially allowing you to glide across the entire city without ever hitting the floor.

Completing the gliding training missions (which are by far the most tedious thing about the entire game) unlocks a new upgrade for Batman’s grapple gun, allowing him to perform a massive boost when launching up to roof tops. This actually proves to be an essential upgrade for later on in the game, so it is advisable that you just grit your teeth and get through the gliding training as soon as you can.

One area that Arkham Asylum fell short on was on the boss fights. While some of them were fairly inventive, overall the boss fights were a repetitious chore more than anything else. Fortunately Arkham City’s boss design is substantially better. The boss battle with Mr Freeze in particular is the one of the best boss battles in recent memory. Mr Freeze is able to adapt his defences based on the way you attack him, which means that you have to constantly switch tactics in order to defeat him. For instance, if you use a ledge to jump down on to him, from that point on he will freeze all of the ledges on the level, forcing you to rethink your strategy. On normal difficulty the boss fights are just about challenging enough without ever being frustrating, which is a rare trait these days, while on hard mode they are incredibly difficult, without being cheap.

Batman's detective vision makes spying on foes a real joy

Completing the game unlocks a new game+ mode that allows you to carry over all of your upgrades and completed Riddler Challenges to a new game. However to offset any advantage you might have, enemies are infinitely more powerful, armed with better weapons from the outset, and your counter indicator is disabled, making countering enemy attacks that much harder.

After you are done with the story mode, you can play through the game’s numerous challenge missions. These are broken down in to three categories: combat challenges, which have you fight off four waves of increasingly difficult enemies, Silent Predator, which are stealth based missions, and Campaign missions, which string together a sequence of Combat Challenges and Silent Predator Challenges.

The Campaign Challenges are easily the most challenging as you have a set number of lives, and there are various modifiers included that have both positive and negative effects on you. These range from granting you less health, and having an enemy that cannot be harmed until everyone else is defeated, to granting you regenerating health, or electrified batarangs that take out enemies in one hit.

You can also play custom challenges that allow you to add your own modifiers, if you want that extra level of challenge. All challenge scores are recorded on online leaderboards, which allow you to compare your scores with friends and strangers alike.

Online Leaderboards have the potential to add endless hours of replayability

New copies of the game come with a download code for playable Catwoman story missions. Catwoman is no mere reskin of Batman, she has her own distinctive character animations and move set, complete with unique weapons. Catwoman is also playable in the game’s challenge mode and with two alternate costumes, one based on her costume from the Batman comic book The Long Halloween, and one based on her Batman the Animated Series costume.

Catwoman’s missions are fairly short, and tend to revolve around fighting your way through one specific room, or sneaking past armed enemies. As fun as these missions can be, they’re not massively important to the game’s overall narrative, and those that buy the game second hand shouldn’t worry too much about missing out on the Catwoman content.

Of course once the story is completed you can return to Arkham City and continue any pending side missions… or you can just patrol the streets looking for punks to brutalise.

Review Round-Up

Graphics – 5/5: Although I am not a big fan of most of the character designs, Arkham City itself is a beautiful grim and snowy environment. The City oozes character from every brick, and really feels like a nightmarish penal town.

Sound - 5/5: Featuring brilliant performances from the voice actors, including Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker respectively. The music also manages to be evocative of Danny Elfman’s score from Tim Burton’s Batman Movies, Shirley Walker’s work on Batman the Animated Series, and Hans Zimmer’s work on the recent Batman movies.

Gameplay - 5/5: Flawless combat, fantastic stealth, and some light detective work make for a brilliant Batman experience. Once the game’s story is out of the way you can dedicate the rest of your life to collecting all of the Riddler’s riddles and working your way up the challenge mode leaderboards.

Longevity - 5/5: The game’s story mode will take about 10 hours to complete if you ignore all distractions. Meanwhile the sheer number of entertaining Riddler puzzles to solve, and the lengthy challenge mode, really do make this the complete package.

Overall 5 out 5

Rocksteady have managed the impossible: they have taken the definitive Batman experience of Arkham Asylum and improved on it in every possible way. By taking Batman off of Arkham Island and throwing him in to the dingy streets of Arkham City Rocksteady have made not only the finest Superhero game, but one of the best games of this generation.

- Luke Mears

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Still here?

The final boss is Clayface, who notably made an appearance in Batman Arkham Asylum, trapped in his cell. But what part does he play in the game’s overall narrative? We shan’t say… but it is genuinely surprising. You can find out for yourself when Arkham City hits store shelves this week.

You’ve probably seen the footage online from the press demo (Rocksteady released a 10 minute gameplay video detailing a chunk of the game’s opening act) to tease those that are starring impatiently at their calendars, waiting to get their hands on Batman’s next big videogame outing.

For those that haven’t seen it, the basic gist is that Two Face’s goons are attempting to break in to a safe containing an important document, only to be ambushed by Catwoman. At this point you take control of Catwoman and must defeat the room full of thugs. From the start one thing is abundantly clear, Catwoman is no mere reskin of Batman. As well as having a distinct sensual walk, she has her own individual moves, including whipping enemies with her whip and using her claws. A nice touch revolves around one of her reversal moves – after flipping over the enemy she tenderly kisses him on the cheek before smashing his brains in, displaying the character’s seductive and playful nature.

Shortly after defeating the thugs, Catwoman is apprehended by Two-Face, and the game flashes forward 24 hours, putting you in control of the titular caped crusader. After hacking into the Arkham City security feed you are told that the guards have spotted Catwoman being escorted to the court house, where she is likely to be executed. However, rather than following the bat signal in the sky, which is a genius way of indicating where your next mission is, we decided to venture off into Arkham City to see what we could find off the beaten track.

It turns out that the massive city is positively packed full of side missions and distractions. One of the new features of the game is Batman’s ability to glide, which makes traversing the city at speed incredibly easy. Gliding itself is very simple, all you need to do is jump off of any building while holding forward and Batman will automatically start gliding. It is actually quite fun, and our first instinct was to see how far we could glide before hitting the ground, or crashing head first in to something. Fortunately, for the clumsy players out there, you can fire your grapple line to attach to any building by pressing the right bumper, which comes in handy should you wish to avoid losing your dignity by smashing (square) chin first in to the side of a building. You can also attack groups of enemies from a glide by pressing X when prompted to, which leads to Batman performing a devastating gliding kick.

The combat system manages to feel very familiar despite the number of changes

Within moments of starting I noticed a passing crowd of thugs and immediately put the combat to the test. One of the best parts of Arkham Asylum was its deceptively simple combat system – sure you could bash buttons and just about get your way through the game, but in order to truly succeed you needed to carefully time your every action. As with the previous game, when an enemy is about to hit you a flashing icon appears above their head, indicating that you can counter their attack. While you could only counter one enemy at a time in Arkham Asylum, in Arkham City you can counter two enemies at once, resulting in some impressive cinematic reversals being performed. This is especially handy as the groups of enemies patrolling Arkham city are significantly larger, and seem to be very aggressive.

Speaking of Arkham City, the most immediately noticeable thing about it, apart from the sheer scale of the place, is the fact there the city is literally plastered with Riddler graffiti. Almost every other building we went past had some sort of question mark graffiti plastered all over it. These act as a signpost letting you know that there are Riddler trophies or challenges nearby.

The first trophy that we came across was clearly visible behind a metal fence, secured away beyond our reach. After inspecting the scene it became clear that there were a number of Riddler branded pressure pads dotted around the scene, however only one of them would activate the hatch that would grant access to this specific trophy. It turns out that the challenge is not so much the act of identifying which pressure pad opens the locked door, but it is getting to the trophy before the door closes.

The city is filled with a near endless supply of distractions

Much like in Arkham Asylum, whenever you collect a trophy the Riddler will contact you to sarcastically congratulate you on your accomplishment, however after collecting a few trophies the Riddler offered up a special reward in the form of an optional side mission. The Riddler has kidnapped a number of innocent civilians and will only reveal their location, one by one, as you solve more riddles. After a quick button press the map updates with the location of this hostage and we were on our way to save the day.

Unfortunately that was all the time we were allowed to have with Arkham City, and being left on a cliffhanger like that has made us even more impatient for the game’s October release date. Despite feeling very familiar we feel that enough changes have been made to improve the overall experience, easily making it a contender for newbreview.com’s Game of the Year title. We won’t have long to find out for certain, as the game is released in the UK on 21^st October. Stay tuned to newbreview.com for our full review around the game’s launch.

- Luke Mears

Gamers on Xbox 360 and PS3 can delve deep into Arkham City’s breathtaking environments and immersive gameplay in stereoscopic 3D when playing on any 3D HDTV and wearing active shutter glasses that are compatible with the television.  In addition, Batman: Arkham City supports NVIDIA 3D Vision technology, allowing PC players to also experience the action in stereoscopic 3D on GeForce GPU-equipped desktop or notebook PCs and compatible 3DTVs.

Fans with HDTVs can enjoy Batman: Arkham City in anaglyphic 3D with technology compatible with all high definition TV sets and visible to players wearing 3D glasses available for the video game.

Published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and developed by Rocksteady Studios, Batman: Arkham City builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, sending players soaring into Arkham City – five times larger than the game world in Batman: Arkham Asylum– and the new maximum security “home” for all of Gotham City’s thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds. Set inside the heavily fortified walls of a sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City, this highly anticipated sequel introduces a brand-new story that draws together a new, all-star cast of classic characters and murderous villains from the Batman universe, as well as a vast range of new and enhanced gameplay features to deliver the ultimate experience as the Dark Knight.

The screens show off a number of weapons, including an electrified garden gnome and a freeze gun, as well as the high level of customisation that the game will feature.

Gotham City Impostors is due to be released in early 2012 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It is expected to cost £8.99 on PS3 and 1200 Microsoft points for the Xbox 360.

The above video / audio has been “leaked” via MovieViral (’nuff said!) who today posted a strange message in the form of; “I f n W C O g 2 D 5″.

The UK Batman game community correctly deduced this was a YouTube code and swiftly published the connection.

This builds on the earlier leaked Penguin vs Strange “conversation”…

It’s nice to see a game with an interesting spin on it’s marketing… a good sign all round for fans we think…

- Richard “Rax” Burley

These screens revolve around The Riddler, who is taking a more active role in this sequel. In Arkham Asylum The Riddler was a more passive antagonist that tasked Batman with hunting down hidden items and solving puzzles for his own amusement. However, in Arkham City it looks as though The Riddler will be endangering the lives of innocent civilians in his efforts to prove himself superior to Batman.

Batman Arkham City is due for release in the UK on October 21st, and we cannot wait!

P-p-p-p-Pickup a P-p-p-p-Penguin?

The Newb News has just received a very interesting scan of a forthcoming magazine…

And let’s just say he won’t just be waddling into the city alone… oh no… he’ll be bringing friends, and his not inconsiderable supply of heavy ordinance too!

Gotham City Impostors is a competitive multiplayer first person game that puts you in the role of “amateur vigilantes or villains” in Gotham City “overrun by impostors inspired by the DC Comics characters Batman and The Joker”. It is being developed by Monolith, the makers of F.E.A.R and Condemned, so we can likely expect dark grisly visuals and a tense atmosphere.

The game will apparently feature character customisation allowing players to “create their very own Bats and Jokerz characters” using tools that include “costumes, homebrewed gadgets and a wide range of traditional and imagined weapons”.

Warner’s senior VP of production and development, Samantha Ryan, said: “Monolith is creating a game that turns Gotham City upside down and we think fans are going to have a blast with this creative twist on multiplayer heroism and anti-heroism as they play up the classic rivalry between Batman and The Joker.”

As of writing there is no release date, but we are expecting it to arrive before Batman Arkham City’s October release date.

UPDATE:

According to Eurogamer “It’ll be online-only, with available weapons including an assault rifle, shotgun, pipebombs, grappling hook and a firework launcher called the Thunder Dragon. Monolith is yet to decide how many players the game will support but has stated there will be no bots.”

UPDATE 2:
Warner Brothers have released the first screenshot of the game, and we are genuinely surprised by the visual direction the game appears to be taking.

At first glances the game appears to be influenced by the likes of Team Fortress 2, with stylised, cartoony graphics, and a number of character classes, including heavies, and snipers. It may not be entirely what we expected it to be, but needless to say we are excited by the game’s potential.

Coming October 18th... ready or not!!!

So, one of the most anticipated games of the year finally gives up it’s launch date and hands itself into Gotham Police.

Police reports suggest it squeeled to Rocksteady’s planned date of 18th of October… you’ve been warned citizens…

Licensed titles, especially those based on Super-hero franchises, have a history of being somewhat uneven. For every decent game you have a dozen Superman 64s; titles so appalling they deserve to be sealed in a titanium box and launched into the sun.

Perhaps the character that best personifies this phenomena is Batman. Great games such as The Adventures of Batman and Robin on the Super Nintendo and the 2009 newbreview Game of the Year winner, Batman Arkham Asylum, have been offset by mediocre titles like Batman Vengeance on Playstation 2 and Batman Gotham City Racer on Playstation 1. So it is with some trepidation that I approach the latest Batman game Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold is a side scrolling 2.5D beat ‘em up based on the current Batman cartoon of the same name. Rather than featuring a dark and gritty version of the caped crusader the game takes a more light-hearted, slightly camp, take on the character. It is not quite as campy as the 1960′s Adam West starring TV series, but it does not take itself too seriously at all.The game is made up of four episodes, each broken up in to about half a dozen levels. As with the cartoon, Batman is the main star with a different hero acting as the co-op partner in each episode. Each player can also choose an assist character, such as Aquaman and Captain Marvel, to be summoned to perform a single devastating attack.

The pre-titles boss fights in each episode are a great touch

Each episode opens with a battle against a notable villain, such as Two-Face or The Flash’s Rogues, that sets up the story for the rest of the episode. As with the cartoon, upon defeating the boss the episode’s title sequence runs, which contributes to the feeling of authenticity.

The controls are incredibly simple, with only one button to perform basic punches and kicks, and a separate button to use weapons. Each co-op character has at least four weapons to choose from, while Batman has eight, including batarangs, explosives, and a laser sword. As well as punching your way through wave after wave of foes there are some basic puzzles and platforming sections. The game has an incredibly generous respawn system – so long as one of the heroes is still alive you will be able to respawn without penalty. Should both of you die then you simply restart from the last checkpoint.

Defeated enemies leave behind coins that you can collect and spend on upgrades for your weapons. Coins are also hidden in secret areas of each level, which encourages a certain amount of exploration. Certain secret areas cannot be reached until you have unlocked specific weapons which also could offer incentive to keep you playing.

Deafeating enemies earns you coins that can be spent on upgrades

Being a Wii title, you would expect there to be some sort of motion control in the game. Motion controls are limited to aiming your Batarangs and, once you have landed enough hits, shaking the remote to activate a deadly combo attack. It is refreshing to see a Wii game that actually puts some thought in to how to use the motion controls, and not just shoehorning in generic waggle controls.

Whilst the game is entirely co-operative there is a certain element of competition between players. At the end of each level your performances are compared. The categories that are compared are the number of coins collected, number of deaths, longest combo, number of blows landed and most enemies defeated. This brings a fun sub game in which you try to hinder your co-op partner’s performance by stealing as many coins as you can, or attempting to ruin their combo.

One of the real highlights of this game is the authentic script, complete with great performances by the voice actors from the cartoon. The way the characters talk to each other as you progress through the level, even mid-battle, is worthy of particular praise, and acts as a way of furthering the episode’s narrative, rather than just a repetitive stream of quips.

One word sums up this game: authentic

One feature that I have not been able to test is the cross compatibility with the Nintendo DS version of the game. Should you be fortunate enough to have access to both the Wii and DS versions of the game then an extra player can take control of the 4^th Dimension mega bat-fan Bat-Mite. As Bat-Mite you can drop bombs on enemies and health packs for Batman on your DS, which will magically appear in the Wii version of the game.

Bat-Mite makes several appearances throughout the game as the in-game tutorial, explaining each of the new features as they crop up. Completing the game also unlocks a survival mode in which Bat-Mite challenges you to prove your skill against wave after wave of progressively more challenging enemies.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 The graphical style is modelled on the visual styling of the cartoon. Cut scenes look as if they have been ripped straight from an episode of the cartoon.

Sound: 5/5 Music and sound effects are exactly what you would expect from a game based on The Brave and the Bold. Likewise the voice acting is of an equally high standard, thanks in no small part to vocal director Andrea Romano’s involvement.

Gameplay: 3/5 There’s a nice variety in the game’s controls, from simple button presses to well implemented motion controls. The actual gameplay itself is a little monotonous but still fairly satisfying.

Longevity: 3/5 With only four episodes, each lasting about 45 minutes to an hour, this is a short game. Completing the game unlocks a wave based survival mode, and there are dozens of upgrades to purchase. However, once you have beaten the game for the first time there is not a great deal of incentive to return.

Overall 4 out of 5

Batman: The Brave and the Bold is a fun, if somewhat repetitive, co-op game that is ideal for Batman fans of all ages. A lot of the game’s success can be attributed to the developers going out of their way to make it an as authentic Batman experience as possible. If you are a fan of Batman: The Brave and the Bold then there really is no excuse for not playing this game.

- Luke Mears

"No! I love you more!!"

Yup, just to make sure some exciting press is guaranteed rumors are circulating that The Bat & Mr. J will be hooking up for the most mentally unstable team in the history of gaming for the forthcoming sequel to the super hero sized hit.

One can hardly but sit back and stroke one’s white cat in bemusement… but don’t! No one is safe when both the Bat & the J are holding hands and making all kinds of plans!

These are crazy, crazy nights…

Check it out @ http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-GB/bestof2010/

Reprising her role from Batman the Animated Series, Arleen Sorkin returns as the Joker’s deranged love interest Harley Quinn.

It is hard to imagine anyone but Arleen Sorkin lending their voice to Harley Quinn

Fans of the DC animated universe will also rejoice to hear that Corey Burton will reprise his role as Braniac from Superman the animated series, and Justice League. Will Wheaton, most famous for playing Wesley Crusher in Star Trek The Next Generation, will voice Robin and other famous TV face Dwight Schultz – Howling Mad Murdock from The A-Team – will play The Flash.

“The addition of these actors to our existing cast reaffirms our commitment to gamers to deliver the most fun and authentic DC Universe experience possible,” said Sony Online Entertainment executive producer John Blakely.  “They’re all experienced and talented performers and we’re excited for players to hear their work when they encounter them in the game.”

DC Universe Online is due for release early in 2011 for PC and Playstation 3. Stay tuned to The Newb Review for more coverage on this game as and when we get our hands on it!

All Aboard!

Throughout my gaming life I’ve always been a sucker for hype. I’ll always be the guy pushing in line at the ticket office, making sure I get two seats booked on the hype train. With videogames gaining ever more exposure in the mainstream media, it’s hard not to jump on board, and I do like to put my feet up from time to time. But more often than not the trains are shoddily built from cheap materials, and they soon derail; sometimes even before the’ve left the station.

If game developers are lucky, and have an excellent marketing campaign, they can turn an appalling excuse for a game into a work of art before it has even hit the shelves. All thanks to the hype train.

Did you ever play the original “Alone in the Dark”? Well, back in July 2008 Atari felt the need to publish a reboot of the aforementioned game, which had been six feet under for many years. Sadly, the gravedigger should’ve dug a little deeper and hammered a few extra nails into the coffin, because this is one game which, despite the best efforts of the hype train, should’ve stayed underground.

Alone in the Dark should never have been unearthed

Alone in the Dark, undead edition, was released on PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox360 and of course the Wii. What you guys probably don’t know is that, despite being strictly Xbox 360 at moment, once upon a time I too owned a Wii (I even bought it on launch night). After watching numerous trailers and reading endless articles (to be honest, I just looked at the pictures), I was looking forward to Alone in the Dark, more than any other scheduled Wii release in 2008 in fact.

It was like no game I had ever played before, and its visual style really appealed to my love of the paranormal, BUT the stupid hype train got the better of me. I got up early to buy the game on it’s first day of release, and I finished the game at around midday the same day. Yes, it was that short. There are no words to describe how terrible this game turned out to be. I consider it to be the worst game ever made and I’ll probably take that to my grave…in fact, now I think about it, I might have that as my epitaph. Anyway! Alone in the Dark single handily killed my already rocky relationship with the Wii, and it was all thanks to the f*cking hype that had surrounded it!

But, my friends, it doesn’t end there. Did you ever play an RPG game called Lost Planet? Back in 2006 it was one of my favorite games. I’ve been a fan of third-person gameplay ever since I got my grubby hands on a copy of Resident Evil 1 on my Greystation (thats Playstation 1 for those of you that aren’t cool), and shooting aliens never gets old. Combining the two, Lost Planet came with a crisp look and an abundance of huge enemies to slaughter, with a unique storyline to tie it all together.

Lost Planet 1 was awesome

The sequel on the other hand, oh boy was that a big disappointment, even bigger than it’s enemies (with are MASSIVE by the way). This time around there was a heavy focus on online co-op gameplay, something which any gamer will appreciate: exploding aliens that are larger than your house is even more satisfying when you’re with your friends, yet somehow CAPCOM failed to deliver.

However, Lost Planet 2 was marketed very well. First of all they let us all in on two very impressive demos, one demonstrating the single player aspect of the game, and another for the multiplayer, and after five minutes on both, I was sold. There was practically nothing about the game I did not like and it was hard to find reasons not to buy it on launch day. Add a nice spoonful of TV & internet advertising and it sounded like a recipe for success.

On the day of release, I was once again first in line at my local game shop; I couldn’t wait to find out what the rest of the game was like. Once again though, the hype train had hit me hard. Though my experience with the demos had been great, I just didn’t enjoy the full game as much as I had expected to. For some reason Lost Planet 2 had Lost (see what I did there?) its charm, and most of the critics agreed with me too. Capcom had made a few designs missteps which hindered the game. Camera angles were dodgy, AI was stupid, and I felt like I needed to buy some insurance for my controller because the game is so frustrating at times I almost smashed it against my cell door.

Lost Planet 2? Not so much..

So…. We’ve established that a bad game can still sell, but what about the games which don’t get the hype train they deserve? Take Batman: Arkham Asylum for instance. There have been a lot of Batman games released during Bruce Wayne’s tour of duty, but none of them had ever really met the expectations of the fans of the comic books. The films were not exactly Oscar material either mind you (Dark Knight excluded), so it was understandable when nobody really believed the hype around Batman: AA. We had videos and screenshots floating around the internet like band-aids in a swimming pool but it just never caught anyone’s attention, it was dismissed as nothing more than a Splinter Cell clone. That is until it was released in August 2009. The game was brilliant, a great success. It had solid gameplay and some of the best fighting mechanics seen in a video game for a long time. It had a cool and dark narrative, and most of all it was bloody good fun. For once, a game had exceeded everyone’s expectations and ultimately lived up to the hype surrounding it. Batman proved he was still the king of all flying rodents, and the best superhero by far.

As a consumer, by jumping on the hype train you are also becoming a sheep. All games should be judged on their own merits, but the opinion of the masses all too often overshadows everything a game has to offer. If you can get everyone on the internet raving about it, and you are lucky enough to have a TV ad campaign, you will most likely shift a metric ton of discs. That said, it will be hard to recover your reputation after gamers find out your games can’t live up to expectations. In the short term though, it’s the hype that will determine whether the latest games end up on the top shelf or in the bargain bin.

This is one of the many reasons why independent games have become so important in preserving originality throughout the gaming industry. Downloadable games from XBLA and PSN are getting better; becoming more impressive and visually spectacular as small time developers churn out more engrossing content. At the same time, these developers are not subjected to the hype which all the big wigs inevitably receive.

The fruit based title Apple Jack is a prime example. Apple Jack is a simple platformer, with the main objective being to kill all the enemies in each stage by throwing them into one other. Levels start simply enough, but quickly become challenging as you progress, introducing all manner of puzzles. Sometimes foes will be the only solution to completing a puzzle, as you use them as platforms to reach areas that would be otherwise inaccessible, while others border on the bizarre, with some levels completely covered in pandas and washing machines, as well as the return of the dreaded spiked maze.

Apple Jack.. underrated brilliance

Apple Jack is mechanically solid, and has a great sense of humour. Enemies and stages are named after British towns and counties, which is a delightful addition, and whats more, it looks fantastic. But despite how well this game was received, it amassed a hype percentage of zero: I had no idea it even existed until recently, but its one of the best indie titles out there.

Ultimately, the situation is unlikely to change. Smaller developers have smaller budgets, meaning that they have fewer options for promoting their games.  Sadly, that means that all too often they don’t get the recognition they deserve. The games industry is a circus, and creating buzz around games gives gamers a reason to be excited and journo types stuff to write about, but those that ride the hype train are going to be left disappointed. So keep your heads on, stay calm and keep your eyes and ears peeled, because whilst you drool over the brand new and the shiny, you may be missing out on some absolute gems.

2009 was a great year for games. We had Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Left 4 Dead 2 amongst others, and this year seems to be a continuation of that. It’s incredible to think that already this year we’ve managed to get our hands on Mass Effect 2, God of War 3 and Super Mario Galaxy 2, with games from the Halo, Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, Fallout and Castlevania series all still to come.

With a constant flow of big titles coming out there’s fierce competition and with that comes fairly big titles losing out on sales and somewhat slipping under the radar. No game this year sums this up more than Alan Wake.

Despite all the time, money, effort and publicity pumped, and is continuing to be pumped into Alan Wake, it’s safe to say the game didn’t sell well…. not at all really. This could be down to a number of things. The fact that the game came out on the exact same day as Red Dead Redemption (which sold TONS by the way) obviously had something to do with it but to place the blame for the game under selling solely on the fact it came out on the same day as another popular game is just being plain delusional. Perhaps people got tired of all the hype and delays over the years that when the game actually came out not as many gamers were interested. Who knows? But you can’t change what has already happened.

Pinning the blame of poor sales solely on Red Dead Redemption is perhaps a little bit ignorant

So Alan Wake sold badly and this has thrown the possibility of a sequel, that the game so richly deserves, into doubt. But whilst the gamers didn’t flock out in their masses to pick up the game, I was one of the very few who actually did and for me Alan Wake will go down as THE most underrated game of 2010. Despite no one buying it and it’s reviews seemingly missing the point, the fact remains that everyone that I personally know that has played it has loved it, and that includes me too. Alan Wake was refreshing, compelling and intelligent, something that games rarely are these days, so when it was announced that, despite it’s sequel being in jeopardy, 2 bits of DLC were being release, I embraced the news with open arms.

With “The Writer” DLC yet to come, Alan Wake’s first piece of downloadable content “The Signal” sports as much attention to detail and polish as the original game itself. Attempting to bridge the gap between the first game and a possible second, The Signal picks up right where the original game finished, this time giving previous Alan Wake players the opportunity to experience the involvement of some of the more mysterious and unknown characters of the original, namely that of diver, Thomas Zane, thickening the plot and adding depth to an already weighty story.

The Signal allows you insight into the role of the mysterious, Thomas Zane

If you were one of the very few that played Alan Wake and enjoyed it, you will undoubtedly enjoy The Signal as essentially it’s just more of the same. The gripping, psychological storytelling that made the original game so compelling is still there, at times coming across a little more harrowing than the original and the same combat mechanics are there.

That’s not to say Remedy haven’t made SOME changes of course. As someone who played the original on normal difficulty, The Signal felt a lot more difficult, a lot more like the full game’s harder difficulties. More enemies attack you at once and in more confined locations too, perhaps the whole sense of the DLC feeling more harrowing is down to the fact that throughout The Signal you are constantly fighting for survival; not only are there more enemies and less places to hide but equipment, such as ammo, seems in short supply adding more focus on rationing and survival. The intention of making The Signal just that little bit harder is then hammered home by the fact that there is an achievement for not dying or restarting from a checkpoint.

Possessed cars, trucks, people, debris, poles, bits of machinery, it's all out to get you and it's everywhere

What, I hear you cry, the DLC contains more achievements? Indeed, achievement whores, it does. In fact The Signal comes with a whole host of new features which is a testament to the effort being put in to the I.P considering Remedy could’ve gotten away with just tacking on some DLC with minimal effort. But no, The Signal reeks quality and attention to detail. There are more achievements to unlock, collectibles to collect, more of the overall Alan Wake story to experience, a new unique end boss to fight, and a brand new world to explore (still set in Bright Falls, but the environment is much harsher and much more dangerous this time around).

Despite the DLC not costing a single penny/dollar/whatever the currency in your country is, (THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S FREE! So long as you kept your downloadable token when you bought the game new, because we all bought the game new right?), it’s also not very short either, giving more bang for your buck (wait, no, that doesn’t work does it?). Whilst being feature packed, The Signal is about as long as your average chapter length in the original game. One play through, neglecting achievements and collectibles, will clock in at around an hour on it’s own, which means that although The Signal is a piece of downloadable content, on it’s own merit, it provides at least 2 -3 hours worth of play to unlock and collect absolutely everything.

Alan himself was even shocked by the notion of The Signal being free

The Signal contains all the trademark features that made the original, full game different and so special, and it all ends so perfectly leading up to The Writer (sadly though, that piece of DLC won’t be free, 300 odd MSP though so still not bad). And as David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” (yes that’s right, SPACE BLOODY ODDITY), plays over the credits, you draw the first breath you’ve taken in an hour, an experience.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 – Facial animation is still a little bit weak, but the way they’ve changed the environment in conjunction with the progression in story is great. Contains all the polish and attention to detail as the original, full game.

Sound: 4/5 – Space Oddity FTW!

Gameplay: 3.5/5 – The Signal is harder and more harrowing than the full game, but nothing has changed drastically, more of the same. Something a little bit different would’ve been nice though.

Longevity: 4.5/5 – For a piece of DLC, it has a lot of replay value.

Overall: 4.5/5 – Overall The Signal gets 4.5 possessed toasters out of 5.

[starreview tpl=16]

- Kieran Roycroft

One of the best things about this generation of consoles is the rise of the downloadable game. As well as offering great little original games like Shadow Complex, it also means we can enjoy games from previous generations without having to dust off our ancient consoles.

Thanks to the Wii Virtual Console, the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade we can now access these old gems without paying a small fortune for a second hand copy on ebay, or waste hours searching through the bins behind your local game store.

However, as wonderful as the service is, there are still some games that, criminally, have yet to be re-released. Today, in the second edition of Everybody Loves Lists we bring you a small sample of games that we here at The Newb Review desperately want to be re-released.

X-Men The Arcade Game

My own experience of the X-Men arcade game came during a family trip to Florida in the early 1990s. It was one of three arcade machines that were in the lobby of our hotel and the moment I saw it, I was hooked. The game features Six Player co-op, with players choosing from Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Dazzler.

Rather than being based on the, then running, X-Men Animated Series, the game was based on a one off pilot from a few years prior that was never picked up – a pilot that stuck closely to the comics of the time; apart from the mishap of casting Wolverine as an Australian.

The premise of the game was simple; Professor X and Kitty Pryde have been kidnapped by Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. As the X-Men you would walk right (and sometimes down and to the right) and hammer away at the legions of Magneto’s forces, before facing off against an end of level boss, such as The Juggernaut or The Blob.

A lot of fights broke out over who would get to be Wolverine at the arcades.

With gigantic brightly coloured graphics, and wonderful character designs, X-Men the Arcade Game was all about teamwork. Each character had their own special mutant abilities that could only be used a limited number of times; and were best saved for the boss battles. Having six players on the screen at the same time made for some very frantic and crowded battles. Made by Konami, the game features some amusingly bad Japanese to English translations, including the infamous “Welcome to Die!”.

Mutant powers can only be used once, but are really devastating

Currently Activision owns the Marvel license, which may hold up a re-release of this game. Having said that, Konami have successfully managed to broker a deal with Ubisoft, current owners of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, to release their Turtles Arcade games on Xbox Live and Playstation Network. So there is some hope that we may eventually see this game released online.

Power Stone 2

Capcom’s Dreamcast brain blisteringly mental arena combat game Power Stone 2 would make a fantastic addition to the any console’s game library. Supporting up to 4 players, the main objective of the game is to beat your opponents senseless in order to progress through a tournament and earn your freedom from a spooky castle.

Power Stone’s main gimmick, aside from the large open multileveled arenas and hundreds of weird and wonderful weapons, is the titular Power Stones. Collecting three Power Stones will temporarily grant your character super powers, including near invulnerability and the ability to perform devastating super moves.

Dashing for the Power Stones can be quite a gamble!

Each character has two unique super moves, although performing one of these moves dramatically reduces the amount of time in which you can stay in your super form. Of course if you are unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a super powered player that does not mean that you are entirely defenceless. Power Stone 2 features some of the most imaginative weapons in the history of gaming, including a black hole and a pornographic magazine.

Frantic. Bonkers. Chaotic. These words describe Power Stone 2 pretty well.

The environments themselves would change the longer you lasted, and in some cases actually turn against you. Take for instance the Aztec tomb level that features a collapsing floor, complete with Indiana Jones style boulder that chases you down a tight path littered with holes and death traps. Chuck in a statue of a cat with a roulette wheel that will either dish out a great reward or shoot you in the face with lasers, and you have one of the most bizarre, frantic, and brilliant games currently unavailable on this generation of home consoles.

Cool Spot

Back in the hey day of the 1990s, Business Entrepeneur Richard Branson’s Virgin was a games company. As well as publishing some Capcom games in the UK (including the Resident Evil series) Virgin made a number of classic titles, including the brilliant platformer Cool Spot.

Cool Spot, as you may already know, is the Red Spot on the bottles of 7 Up. Cool Spot clearly went to the Sonic the Hedgehog School of Cool, and graduated in the early 90s. Armed with his sun glasses and white sneakers, Cool Spot is the very epitome of the 1990s ‘cool’. But don’t hold that against him.

That there is some subtle advertising

As this living spot, your objective was to traverse dangerous environment after dangerous environment collecting other Spots. Cool Spot was able to fire off bubbles in any direction to scare off potentially dangerous foes, such as Crabs and Wasps. This made perfect sense; after all, how many times have you spent a warm summer’s day at the beach, sipping a cool can of 7 Up, only to discover some pesky wasp or crab was trying to get in your drink?

At the time these graphics were really spectacular

All joking aside, Cool Spot was a fantastic platforming game that rivalled Sonic the Hedgehog, and arguably Mario. With bright, expressive and incredibly clear graphics and just the right amount of challenge, Cool Spot is a great classic title that really could do with a re-release. With the recent news that Virgin is getting back into gaming, is it too much to hope that maybe, just maybe, Cool Spot will see the light of day once more?

The Adventures of Batman and Robin

Released in the mid 1990s on the Super Nintendo, The Adventures of Batman and Robin is perhaps one of the best Super Hero Games ever made. There, I said it. A side scrolling platformer with fist fights and Batman’s trademark gadgets thrown in, The Adventures of Batman and Robin has some of the best graphics of any Snes game, complimented with a strong visual style ripped straight from the cartoon.

As a self confessed fan of the cartoon, perhaps I am biased simply because so many of the levels in the game take inspiration from early episodes of the series. Particular mention must be made of the boss fights against big villains (such as The Joker, The Penguin, and The Riddler) which clearly take influence from specific episodes.

The graphical style is ripped straight from the cartoon

One of the best things about this game comes in the form of the final level, entitled the Gauntlet, in which you must face off against every boss you have defeated in a row, as well as adding two new boss characters to the mix, Clayface and Manbat. As well as offering simple puzzles and combat, the game is more of a test of your ability to spot patterns and determine the best time to act.

Boss fights mostly consist of observing patterns and choosing the right time to attack

It wasn’t a very long game, but offered a satisfying challenge to those who were willing to put the effort in. Again, Konami no longer have the Batman licence, so it is doubtful that this game will ever get re-released. However, judging from the success of Batman Arkham Asylum, which took a huge amount of influence from the Animated Series as well, perhaps if we are lucky this gem may pop up once again.

The Simpsons Arcade Game

Much like the aforementioned X-Men arcade game, this game was made by Konami, and basically plays exactly the same way. Rather than having six players, the four main Simpson Family characters are playable.

After stealing a giant diamond, Mr Burns and Smithers accidentally bump into the Simpsons, which leads to baby Maggie picking up the diamond and using it as a dummy. In an effort to retrieve the diamond, Smithers and Burns snatch Maggie, setting the Simpsons out on their raison d’etre.

Players could perform tag team moves to inflict extra damage

Much like Konami’s other big side scrolling beat ‘em up arcade games, the game play revolves around walking to the right, and punching every enemy you come across. Each level is set in recognisable Springfield locations, such as Moe’s Tavern and the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.

As great as the game was, it was a game best played in co-op

Recently EA, current owner of the Simpsons licence, released a new Simpsons Arcade game (that borrows heavily from this game) on the iPod. However, the iPod version is a fairly tedious affair, with Homer Simpson as the only playable character and only one attack button. This serves only to remind us how much we need EA and Konami to broker a deal to release this classic Arcade game.

So, that’s our pick for 5 classic games that really need to be re-released. Of course, this is just a tiny selection of a hundreds of games that deserve to be re-released. Do you think we’ve missed out on something totally obvious? Leave us a comment at the bottom of the article or head on over to the forum… you never know who might be reading…

–Luke Mears–

It’s a phenomenon that has existed for years, but is becoming more and more common as the games market expands. I am of course talking about expensive Collector’s Edition copies of the latest new release.

It seems every developer these days is releasing a high priced “limited edition” complete with in-game bonus items, books, soundtracks, short making of DVDs, and little action figures.

Until recently I loved them; my home is littered with all sorts of crap that I have picked up over the years through purchasing limited editions. In my Bedroom you could find Bayonetta’s Gun, a plastic Batarang, and a pewter Big Daddy statue (to name a few examples) cluttering up the place.

It is clear that publishers and developers have realised there is a very strong demand for Collector’s Editions, especially if they come with “exclusive” content. I don’t think it would be too unfair to say that the average hardcore gamer, the sort of person that jumps at the chance of buying the latest games on release day, has some geeky tendencies in him/her.

Average game. Below average Collector's Edition.

The words “limited” and “exclusive” are banded about when describing these products, and are probably enough to get any fanboy’s pulse racing, fearing that this rare treasure may soon disappear. Deep down that’s exactly how I feel when I read the details of the latest Collector’s Edition version of a game I’ve had my eyes on.

However, more often than not, these collector’s editions are released at a premium price, but come in exceptionally poor quality packaging with mediocre additional content at best.

Of course, every now and then a collector’s edition comes along and makes everything better again; take for instance the recent Alan Wake Collector’s Edition. The package included the game, a 100 odd page book that filled in some of the back story behind the events of the game (including samples of Alan Wake’s own writing), a making of DVD that also unlocks developer commentary mode in the game, two premium themes for your dashboard, Avatar awards, and the soundtrack, all wrapped in a hollowed out book. For the price I paid, a mere £40, it was completely worth it.

A Fantastic Bargain at £40

And yet, for every Alan Wake Collector’s Edition there are about half a dozen Red Dead Redemption Collector’s Editions. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the game as much as anyone else out there, but the Collector’s Edition, which I foolishly purchased, was the text book definition of a waste of money.

For £50, it shipped with a download code that entitled you to three pieces of downloadable content: Golden Guns, which increase your fame slightly, the War Horse, a steed that has better stamina regeneration, and the Deadly Assassin outfit, which refills your Dead Eye Metre a little bit faster.

Also included is a download code for the game’s Soundtrack. Let me reiterate; a download code. They couldn’t even be bothered to put it on a CD and slip it in the case. And yet it cost £10 more than the plain old regular version of the game.

If that wasn’t bad enough, I discovered that half of my downloadable content is not available right from the get go; in fact, in order to unlock the Deadly Assassin outfit you have to meet a number of in-game goals, and progress through the story beyond a certain point. It’s not the end of the world, but it is an irritation.

I don’t mean to single Red Dead Redemption out, they are not the only ones releasing crappy Collector’s Editions that fools such as myself keep buying; who can forget the “special edition” Dead Rising, with the only special feature being that it came in a tin case at a £10 premium, or the infamous Batman Arkham Asylum special edition that came with a bonus challenge map, a 10 minute DVD, a short book with character designs in it, and a cheap plastic Batarang on a stand.

To make matters worse, the copy of the game itself was packaged in a flimsy cardboard box, with a faux wooden finish, almost as if they wanted to emphasise how cheap it looked.

A Fantastic Game, But An AWFUL Collector's Edition

Of course no one is forcing people to buy these Collector’s Editions – it’s not like burley men in black kicked down my door and dragged me to my local retailer, forcing me to hand over my hard earned cash for some rubbish downloadable content. But at the same time I have to wonder, how long can this last? How long can Publishers, Developers and Retailers expect to rip people off before they start getting wise to what constitutes a good deal?

To play devil’s advocate for just a brief moment, it cannot be easy for Publishers and Developers trying to find good content for their Collector’s Editions. I would imagine that most game developers are too busy working hard to get the game out on time to spend time sitting in front of a camera talking about how wonderful their game is going to be.

When you take in to account things like Electronic Arts’ Project $10, which offers everybody that buys a new copy of one of their games about $10 worth of free downloadable content, what else do they have the time to make and cram in to the special editions? These DVDs and books don’t just magically turn up out of nowhere, they cost money, and people have put in time and effort in order to craft these bonus items.

A Very Good Collector's Edition For A Not So Great Game

Calling for a blanket boycott of all Collector’s Editions will do little else but deprive Publishers of much needed extra income. Having said that, however, there are a number of ways in which things could go in the future if we stopped buying the bad Collector’s Editions. The best case scenario is that the involved parties take a good hard look at their product and strive to put out better Collector’s Editions.

On the other hand, the involved parties may decide that Collector’s Editions are not profitable and they stop producing them all together. It’s not going to happen overnight, but one day maybe we won’t even have the option of buying expensive variants of our games that come with a load of old tosh. And that would be a real shame.

–Luke Mears–

Originally announced in early 2007, Splinter Cell Conviction – the fifth in the Splinter Cell series – has had something of a shaky development. Originally due out towards the end of 2007, the game has apparently been through a number of redesigns since that initial announcement. In fact, so little was said after the game was originally announced that people started to believe it would never come out. Yet here we are, March 2010, and the game is almost upon us. The Newb Review recently got hold of the Xbox 360 demo to take it through it’s paces.

After the events of Splinter Cell: Double Agent, gruff, old-age super spy Sam Fisher is on the run from his former employees, government agency Third Echelon. Without their backing, Sam is forced to rely on less high tech methods of infiltration. For instance, early in the game, rather than using his usual spy camera to peer under doors, Sam uses a bit of broken glass he procured from a car’s wing mirror. The demo features two levels from the game, the first level being an interrogation from early on in the game, and the second level taking place later in the game, when Sam has a bit more equipment.

The interrogation scene is short but stylish

In the first scene you take control of Sam in a public toilet, interrogating someone about the death of his daughter. By interrogate, I of course mean beating the shit out of him until he talks. Certain parts of the toilet are interactive, such as the sink or toilet door, and pressing B will cause Sam to use the interactive scenery to aid him in getting answers. Press B near the sink and Sam will Slam the guy’s head clean through it, while Pressing B near the toilet door will cause Sam to throw the guy through it. Whenever any information is given to you it is stylishly exhibited on the walls, as if a large projector were beaming the events for you as a visual aid. For instance, when the name of the person responsible for your daughter’s death is revealed, a picture of him appears on the wall, along with a few details about him.

After the interrogation is over, the demo jumps forward a few levels – in order to avoid spoilers apparently – to a level that shows us just how much the actual gameplay has changed since the last game. In previous Splinter Cell games it could be argued that you would be better off avoiding confrontation all together. Head to head conflict would, more often than not, lead to a swift death. Conviction is a very different animal – you are actively encouraged to kill everyone you come across. Having said that, Sam is by no means invincible, and death is easily achieved. In order to be successful in defeating your enemies, you have to be crafty.

The main new combat feature is the Mark and Execute tactic. Successfully taking an enemy down silently, with your bare hands, fills a bar which means you will be able to perform a quick kill on an enemy with your gun. By aiming at the enemy you want to take down and pressing the right bumper, the enemy is marked for death. The demo only has situations where up to two enemies can be marked at a time, but the mark and execute metre appears to have three slots, which suggests that perhaps you can mark three at a time. Pressing the Y button performs the execution animation, in most cases a few quick headshots with your silenced pistol.

Successful stealth kills will allow you to perform Mark and Execute kills

As well as the pistol, Sam has access to Sonar Vision goggles (think of Batman’s goggles from towards the end of The Dark Knight) that allow him to see through walls, an EMP device that disrupts computers, and machine guns. Using this equipment, as well as your wits, you must breach a warehouse, rescue a captured scientist, and disable an EMP Bomb. There are multiple paths you can choose to take. Rather than taking a side entrance, I chose to climb up a drain pipe and enter through an open window. Once on the upper floor of the warehouse I was able to watch the enemy guard patrols and work out the best tactic to get through the warehouse unscathed.

If you are unfortunate enough to get spotted, then you had better run. If you try and stick around and fight then the chances are you will not survive. Fortunately there is a new gameplay mechanic that will aide you in evading your foes. If you manage to leave the enemy’s line of sight then a silhouette of Sam appears where the enemies last saw you. With this knowledge you can rethink strategies with ease.

Sam is on his own this time.

While you are given plenty of opportunities to use the Mark and Execute move, I found it just as easy to line up headshots with the silenced pistol from the shadows and take out most of the guards that way. This is primarily because the enemy intelligence is, at times, comparable to the career of Lindsay Lohan: non existent. However that does not take away from the fact that executing enemies from the darkness is incredibly satisfying.

Overall the demo is fairly short considering it’s file size (1.2 gigabytes), but it exhibits the changes made to the franchise in a positive light. Much like The Newb Review Game of the Year: Batman Arkham Asylum, Splinter Cell Conviction is successful in empowering the player, while at the same time punishing you if you mess up.

Splinter Cell Conviction will be released on the Xbox 360 on 16th April, and on PC on 30th April. Look for a full review at The Newb Review around that time.

Why not help out this site by pre-ordering this game from our Amazon Store:

Standard Edition

Limited Edition

The epic war of the consoles between Sony and Microsoft (the Wii isn’t made for gamers; see ‘iRate: Wii never play it really’) seems to have descended into a tit-for-tat squabble; each company sinking to new lows by securing the exclusivity of relatively minute amounts of individual titles. Sure, the Joker maps from Batman: Arkham Asylum are only available to PS3 customers, but does Sony really think that this pathetic half-step is going to incense XBox owners into purchasing the rival console?

The PS3 exclusive Joker Maps are no laughing matter for XBox owners

Don’t get me wrong, I use Sony only as an example here; Microsoft is by far the worst offender. Since launch there have been a number of DLC exclusivity deals struck by Microsoft, but here are perhaps the two biggest: Grand Theft Auto IV and Fallout 3.

What makes this worse is the overall quality of this exclusive content. The DLC for Fallout 3 in particular has been met with some mixed reactions. It’s difficult to argue that Mothership Zeta and Operation: Anchorage achieve anything other than detracting from the overall quality of the Fallout experience. Also, our very own Luke ‘Mightyles’ Mears didn’t think much of The Ballad of Gay Tony.

The Ballad of Gay Tony? More like the Ballad of Gypped PS3 Owners!

The word “exclusive” is also something of a misnomer in this context. With the exception of the Joker maps for Batman: Arkham Asylum (although time will tell on that one), almost every piece of exclusive DLC has been a timed exclusive. So after a period of time the DLC is launched on the rival console anyway, usually to the complete disinterest of gamers everywhere. Only the most hardcore fans of Fallout 3, for example, are going to shell out an extra £30 to get their hands on the five packs of new content. The majority will leave it on the shop shelf where it belongs.

Bad DLC in itself isn’t a massive issue, but when the companies we rely on to produce quality products that are worth our time and money begin to shell out large amounts to secure bad content, you know that something is awry. The global gaming industry has become so concerned with rivalry and getting one up (intentional cheeky Mario reference) on each other that it has completely forgotten the people in the middle, the people that really matter, us bloody gamers! And exclusive DLC is living proof of this.

A prime example of timed exclusive DLC not worth the wait

Games developers should be committed to producing titles that deliver the complete experience for anyone that digs into their wallets to purchase a game. It doesn’t matter what format, gamers should be afforded the courtesy of this complete experience.

DLC exclusivity is a corruption of this. Not only are developers selling off parts of the “experience” to the highest bidder, but by doing so they are segregating their audience, causing increasing disillusionment with the developer. We shouldn’t be punished for choosing one console over another. The only kind of exclusivity The Newb Review can endorse is for a full title. Furthermore, by selling off the rights to portions of games through DLC, developers are not only showing a lack of backbone, they are also telling the world that they are driven solely by profit and that they don’t respect the very people to which their products are aimed.

Developers aren’t the only ones at fault though. The tit-for-tat rivalry between Sony and Microsoft, expressed through DLC, is nothing short of childish, playground bullsh*t. If they weren’t so willing to throw away cash carelessly, just to ensure exclusivity rights on the latest and greatest game ad-ons, the thought of exclusive DLC for consoles wouldn’t be so imprinted on the minds of developers, and perhaps us gamers would be treated a little less like mindless sheep.

This is a call to arms: gamers of the world unite. We need to tell the corporations to cease this petty battle for DLC exclusivity. From now on it’s full exclusivity for a title or nothing at all. No more of these petty half-steps to nudge people towards choosing your console.

Check back each week for the run-down of each weeks video gaming news.

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Game: Batman Arkham Asylum
Format: XBox 360
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
Publisher: Eidos

Before getting down to the specifics of this review let me first make an admission. I am, and have been for as long as I can remember, a huge Batman fan. I learnt to read thanks to the Fleetway Batman comics that were sold in the local newsagents. Every Saturday I would forsake a lie-in to catch the latest episode of Batman The Animated Series on shows like What’s Up Doc and Scratchy and Co. To this day I spend more money than a grown man probably should do on following his adventures in his numerous monthly comic books. I even went to see the awful Batman and Robin in the cinema. Twice. So you might understand why I may consider myself something of an authority on Batman. With that out of the way, let me say that Batman Arkham Asylum is not only quite probably the greatest Batman game ever made, not only is it one of the greatest super hero games ever made, but it is one of the best games to be released on this generation of game consoles.

The game begins with Batman escorting the Joker through Arkham Asylum after having successfully thwarted his latest plot to kill the Mayor and cause havoc in Gotham city. Surprised by the ease of defeating the Joker, Batman decides to accompany the guards as they escort the Joker to his cell, as he fears that there may be more going on than he realises. Unfortunately, Batman’s fears are realised when the Joker manages to escape with a little help from his friends who have infiltrated the Asylum. With the Asylum under lock down, and the Joker in charge of the keys, Batman must fight his way through the Joker’s henchmen and a number of the more unusual patients in the Asylum.

Batman fights his way through a sea of henchmen, as well as other assorted mentals

It would be impossible to discuss the story any further without first commenting the sublime voice acting work and sound design in the game. The game features a number of the main voice over actors from the early 1990′s Batman The Animated Series Cartoon, including Mark (Luke Skywalker) Hamill as the Joker, and Kevin Conroy as Batman. These actors have been portraying these two characters in various media for nearly twenty years now, and as such their grasp of the characters is second to none. The story itself was written by Paul Dini, the man who scripted many of the better episodes of Batman The Animated Series as well as numerous Batman comics, which helps round out this game as an authentic Batman experience.

In terms of gameplay the story mode consists of a fairly open world; Arkham Asylum is located on an island with several main structures to explore, as well as the grounds of the Asylum itself. Yet at the same time your path through the story mode is fairly linear, as not every area is accessible from the start. At first there is little room for you to branch off from where you are supposed to be going, until you unlock more of the gadgets and progress further through the story, although you can return to most areas at any time. By pressing the left bumper you can activate detective mode, which allows Batman to scan the surrounding area and identify enemies, objectives, and interactive objects in the environment, such as destructible walls or air vent grates. When looking at enemies in detective mode, you see their skeleton, as if looking at them with X-ray glasses on. Enemies that are unarmed are blue, while enemies that carry guns are red. You can also check their pulse rate which indicates how frightened they are. The more frightened an enemy is, the more likely he is to break formation and run off on his own. The only downside with detective mode is that it is so useful that you may rarely find yourself switching it off, meaning you will miss out on some of finer points of the beautiful environments.

Exploration is the key

While wandering the Asylum you are contacted by The Riddler, who informs you that he has left 240 challenges on the island that he demands you solve. These challenges usually revolve around finding question marked shaped hidden statues, patient interviews, and following a cryptic clue in order to find an object of the Riddler’s choosing. Solving riddles unlocks character profiles, 3D character statues, and challenges in the challenge mode. The challenges revolve around the two main aspects of the game, combat and stealth.

Combat in the game is deceptively simple, yet at the same time is fairly deep. Pressing X makes Batman punch, Y is counter, B is stun, and A is dodge. Combat is entirely based around the concept of building up combos and maintaining momentum, dodging and reversing enemy attacks, to cause the maximum amount of damage. The combat itself is really very satisfying once you get to grips with it, Batman deals out a lot of damage, and each connecting blow delivers a satisfying thud. New attacks, weapons, and improved abilities can be unlocked by earning experience. Experience is earned through building up combos, successful stealth take downs, discovering riddles and completing objectives. Eight combat challenges come on disk, featuring online leader boards so you can see how badly you suck compared to the rest of the world. Each challenge features three medals that you can earn by scoring a certain amount of points. In order to achieve all three medals you need to keep your combo going as long as possible, and try not to get hit, while using as many different moves as you can. The combat challenges are by far the hardest part of the game if you’re particularly obsessive about earning 100% completion. As you progress further through the combat challenges tougher enemies are thrown in to the mix, including enemies with knives that have to be stunned before you can hit them, and enemies with tasers that can only be hit from behind.

The real area in which Batman shines is the stealth. Unlike many other stealth games you feel really empowered as you stalk your prey, hiding up in the rafters or on conveniently placed gargoyles, watching the enemy. There is no need to memorise the patterns that the guards walk, all you need to do is turn on detective mode and look for an enemy on his own and strike him down. There are numerous ways to stealthily take out your enemy, from sneaking behind him and choking him out, to dangling upside down from a gargoyle and stringing your hapless victim upside down, leaving him to call out for help from his friends. While Batman is physically superior to the Joker’s henchmen, he cannot survive sustained shooting for very long. If you are unfortunate enough to be discovered, then all you need to do is zip line up to a gargoyle and swing around the rafters. The enemies are stupid enough that they will quickly lose sight of you. In order to earn all of the medals in the level, you must perform specific take downs (press the back button at any time to read a description for what you need to do in each level) which range from easy – punching an armed enemy – to hard – taking down three enemies with one destructible wall. As the challenges progress the difficulty is increased by the fact that the enemies wear collars that ring an alarm when they are defeated, causing the rest of the enemies to come to your location. Bombs are also placed in the rafters, limiting the area in which you can hide.

Tell your friends about me.

Overall the challenge mode adds a decent amount of replayabilty to the game, especially if you aim to earn all 48 medals. More challenge levels are being made available by download, with one map being included with the special edition of the game, and one scarecrow themed survival mode map being made available to customers who preorder with Game. Judging by the sales success of the game, Rocksteady would be foolish not to release more downloadable content, in fact a banner at the bottom of the main title screen proclaims that more downloadable content will be made available soon.

The only real downside to Arkham Asylum is that some of the boss fights are a bit repetitive with the final boss in particular being the most guilty of this. Some might say that the lack of multiplayer is downside, however I am of the opinion that having a superb single player is far better without having some generic multiplayer mode tacked on. Arkham Asylum certainly delivers a fantastic looking, smooth handling, well written single player experience.

Review Round Up:

Graphics: 5/5
Gorgeous art design, fantastic character models, and a dark, yet colourful world really brings the Asylum to life.

Sound: 5/5
Atmospheric music, heavy satisfying punches, and some of the best voice acting in any game ever courtesy of Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy. Honourable mentions go to Arleen Sorkin, the voice of Harley Quinn, who delivers as strong a performance as ever.

Gameplay: 5/5
A nice mix of stealth, action, and exploration. The game is just about challenging enough without getting frustrating. The combat is simple enough for casual gamers to pick up, but there is enough depth to it for more hardcore players to really have fun experimenting.

Longevity: 4/5
Finding all 240 riddles may very well consume your life. The addition of the Challenge mode gives players something extra to do once they complete the game, and attempting to climb the leaderboards is fairly addictive. However, if you’re not particularly competitive, or do not care about earning achievements, then there isn’t much else for you to do once you beat the game.

OVERALL: 5 Batarangs out of 5

[starreview tpl=16]