Released on 26/03/2010

• Batman: Arkham City will be out next autumn

  Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum is possibly the best superhero game ever made - at least until the sequel comes out. According to the latest issue of Game Informer magazine, the follow up to last year's stealth classic is called Batman: Arkham City, and will be released in autumn 2011 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

  The Game Informer cover suggests Catwoman's going to have a pivotal role to play on this outing too - the main illustration shows her standing back to back with the Dark Knight, while a smaller picture shows her chained and hanging upside down.

  Warner Bros, the game's publisher, has just released a press release offering a few more details, too. "Batman: Arkham City builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, sending players soaring into Arkham City, 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."

  Cannot wait.

• Warner dates Batman: The Brave and the Bold

  Warner dates Batman: The Brave and the Bold

  Batfans! Publishing giant Warner Bros has announced a release date for the Wii and DS game Batman: The Brave and the Bold. You'll be able to give Gotham City's supervillains a righteous kicking on 24th September in the UK. Can't wait.

  Taking a brightly coloured cartoony look, The Brave and the Bold is a Batman game everyone in the family will be able to enjoy. With voice work by the cast of the brilliant animated series, the game focuses on co-op play as the Dark Knight is joined by Robin, the Green Lantern and Blue Beetle. If you really know your comics, you'll be pleased to hear that the quirky alien Bat-Mite will be unlockable if you link the Wii and DS versions together. He's a pretty obscure cast member, suggesting that the developers know their stuff inside out.

  The game's being made by WayForward Technologies, who are a frankly brilliant developer with games like A Boy and His Blob for the Wii on the CV. If you're a fan of Batman, then, and you're looking for something a bit different to play alongside Rocksteady's fabulous Batman: Arkham Asylum, this could be the game for you.
  

• Leaked video suggests unlikely co-op partnership for Arkham City?

  With the news dominated by the PSP2 today, only Batman: Arkham City is exciting enough to make us think about anything other than Sony's amazing new handheld. Well done, Bats: you sure know how to get our attention.

  What's the story? How about a mysterious new trailer that shows Batman teaming up with... The Joker in the new game?

  If the new trailer is to be believed - and it can't be right, can it? - Arkham City's much rumoured co-op mode will see Batman and his arch enemy working together to take out enemies. Eurogamer for one was so surprised by the video, leaked by French site Jeux Video, that it's contacted Warner Bros just to make sure the whole thing isn't a hoax - we'll bring you news of that tomorrow, if that's the case.

  Co-op's been the subject of speculation for some time with this game, but the assumption has been it will be Batman and Catwoman taking on Arkham City's thugs together. This twist - unless maybe it shows standard multiplayer? - would be unexpected, to say the least.

  Whoever Batman eventually teams up with, Arkham City is due for release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 later this year and we really, really want it.

• Batman: Arkham City dated

  Get excited, Bat fans: Warner Bros has just slapped a street date for Batman: Arkham City, and UK audiences can expect to get their hands on the game on 21st October.

  We've seen the game, and we can't wait. A direct sequel to 2009's comic book classic Arkham Asylum, Arkham City ups the ante considerably by letting Batman loose in a section of Gotham itself - an area five times the size of the first game's island.

  We already know you'll be facing off against the Joker and Two-Face, and you can expect to run up against Catwoman and Calendar Man, too. Batman will have new gadgets to play with and an expanded arsenal of moves.

  The most important change is that you'll be covering a much larger area - an urban sprawl where you're free to pick your way between buildings and tackle roving gangs of thugs as you see fit. The first game was brilliant, but we're expecting this to be the most authentic comic book experience we've ever played.

  Batman: Arkham City will be available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. We're so excited, we half want to try and get to bed early so we can sleep until October.

• Batman Arkham City has 40 hours of genius

  Batman: Arkham City is 40 hours of pure gaming genius

  Bats is back, and bigger than ever. According to the developers behind Batman: Arkham City, the new game offers around 40 hours of superhero carnage for you to enjoy.

  Speaking to The Guardian and reported by CVG game director Sefton Hill spilled the beans on what we can expect. "It takes over 25 hours to complete the main stories in Batman: Arkham City,he said. o keep players engaged for this length of time, not only do the characters and the story need to progress, but the core mechanics of the game they are playing need to change and adapt as well."

  On top of that, you can expect around 15 hours of side-quests, which you can take on as and when you please. "It's completely down to the player when and how they want to tackle this,said Hill. here's no right or wrong time. There's no other medium that can offer this kind of flexible experience where the viewer gets to tailor the experience they want themselves."

  Hill also added that the narrative of Arkham City has more in common with TV shows than movies. "In terms of narrative structure, I think games are much more analogous to an episodic TV series than a film,he explained. ou have, say, 15 hourly episodes to fill, each requiring its own narrative arc but each plugging into an overarching storyline. It requires a lot of planning to make sure that every single hour is consistent with each other, is feeding and driving towards a compelling crescendo, while remaining implicitly self-explanatory so players can pick up and play at any time and know what they are doing."

  Movies? TV? We don care which one Arkham City feels like as long as it feels like Batman, too.

  Batman: Arkham City swings onto the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on 21st October this year.

• Batman helps to inspire Bioshock Infinite

  When we finally get our grubby mitts on Bioshock Infinite in 2012, you can thank a certain caped crusader for some of the game's structure. That's because Ken Levine, head honcho of developer Irrational Games and Bioshock creator, has admitted that 2009 blockbuster hit Batman: Arkham Asylum tickled his creative reflexes and made him reconsider some of the choices he made in the original game.

  Talking to Eurogamer, the man responsible for seminal PC game System Shock confessed that he was impressed with the way Arkham Asylum changed things around whenever the story took the player back through a previously explored location.

  ne of the things that's great about Arkham Asylum is that it's similarly structured to BioShock in some ways but also one of their great innovations is when you come back through an area they establish an entirely different narrative he said.

  "I think we're very much inspired by that. In BioShock 1 we just had respawning when you came back through an area, so I think when we put you back through an area we want to do it in a way that feels different and meaningful."

  A true Bioshock sequel with a Metroid-style gameworld that evolves as you move through it? Next year can't come soon enough.
  

• Batman Arkham City - Review

  Super-powered sequel

  2009 Batman: Arkham Asylum was hailed by many as the greatest superhero game of all time, but Batman: Arkham City arguably takes the genre to new heights with the introduction of a stunning open-world setting and more fully-realised characters.

  Without giving away any major plot points, its premise sees different parts of the city claimed by villains vying for power, with each section of the world displaying a distinct personality. At about ten hours in length, the main story feels a little less focused than Arkham Asylum's tight plotting, perhaps due to the fact there are so many characters competing for top billing, from heroes like Robin, Catwoman, Alfred and Vicki Vale to villains such as the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, the Riddler and the Joker.

  Nevertheless, your journey through the campaign, from one brilliant set-piece to the next, is always engaging and remains a finely crafted experience rather than a sequence of loosely organised encounters, while the opening and conclusion serve as highpoints that will have Bat-fans frothing at the mouth.

  Amazing world

  Batman himself was the star of Arkham Asylum, but Gotham City takes centre stage in the follow-up. The open-world environment is much larger than the original game island asylum, and each location, from an atmospheric museum and a dilapidated subway station to the gothic streets and skyscrapers of the city exteriors, is presented in even greater detail.

  Stand on a rooftop and gaze out at the city before you and youl be floored by the architecture. Each building look unique, and gliding, leaping, climbing or rappelling across this urban playground offers as much exhilarating freedom as any open-world game to date.

  Electric combat

  Revolving around stealth, acrobatic combat and exploration, the core gameplay elements of Arkham City remain unchanged from its predecessor, with highly effective systems that are as simple to pick up as they are difficult to master. The free-flowing combat is still a game of timing as you leap from one target to the next, countering and chaining moves together to beat your way through crowds and increase the strength and speed of attacks.

  You have plenty of new gadgets this time round too, including a freeze gun, a smoke bomb and a remote electrical charge that can zap henchmen, each of which can be seamlessly used in battle alongside more traditional attacking moves. Your improved arsenal is a necessity given the large groups of enemies you face, who now carry shields, wear armour and take aim at you with knives and electric rods of their own.

  Good Knight

  Batman: Arkham City is fleshed out with a heap of side-quests and collectibles separate to the main storyline, which can be played as you go through the campaign or tackled after its conclusion. Answering a ringing payphone, entering a building on a whim or approaching mysterious figures in the shadows can set off all manner of optional, yet extremely substantial and satisfying quests featuring their own characters and sub-plots, from destroying weapons of mass destruction to tracking down serial killers.

  Batman: Arkham City offers a wealth of content and everything is polished to perfection, from the gameplay mechanics to the beautiful open-world setting. Playing as Batman is never less than a pleasure and the game offers one of the most impressive depictions of Gotham City in any medium to date. Quite how developer Rocksteady can go about improving on Arkham City has us stumped, but itl be a pleasure finding out.

  
  

  GAME's verdict

  Good:
  + The best superhero game ever.
  + Fantastic open-world setting.
  + Tonnes of things to see and do.

  Bad:
  - Story is a little less focused than Arkham Asylum.
  - Bosses battles could have evolved more.
  - Can this be bettered?
  

  Review by: Tom aped CrusaderIvan
  Version Tested: X360
  Review Published: 19.10.11

  Published: 19/10/2011

  Published: 19/10/2011

• Bring On The Bad Guys!

  
  

  

  This week sees the release of Prototype 2, where the Alex Mercer, hero from the first game seems to have become the new bad guy to beat. So, in celebration of all things vile and villainous, the digital team has once again been gently prodded to share with you our favourite evil-doers. These are the people, who, in the style of Bugsy Malone, are "the very best at being bad"

  
  

  

  Glenn - Mad Mod

  Diablo is the Lord of Terror and a Prime Evil of Hell. That's a job title that alone warrants a spot on our best bad guys list.

  He manipulates his opponents using their innermost fears and then obliterates them with his Demonic strength and incredibly powerful Spells. The strongest Demon in Hell, named after the Devil himself, and seemingly indestructible (Read - he's been destroyed a number of times, even with the Arch Angels helping and he's still keeps ticking, like a malevolent Duracell bunny), devious and able to possess his enemies, Diablo is the Ultimate Bad Guy. And he's back in Diablo 3!
  

  

  Marc - Analyst to the Stars

  The little girl from F.E.A.R. - Alma Wade.

  She was scary. Honest. Like the girl from the Ring (Japanese version, obviously). The first corridor experience with her and the ceiling of blood is one of the scariest scenes ever in a game.

  The Music and Sound was eerie too. It was just all far too scary and Alma was the cause of it all.

  Carl - Design Doodler

  Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat. Because he's massive and I can't kill him!

  

  Ali - Queen of the Internet

  My favourite video game villain is Revolver Ocelot. He started life in Metal Gear Solid as a random gunslinger who you could kill if you (as Solid Snake) waited for him to need to reload his revolver - he really should have named himself something with more than 6 bullets!

  After cutting off his arm you assume that's the end of him, but he's more maniacal than you realise as he replaces his arm with that of your dead clone brother Liquid Snake. In a strange twist of surgery his arm takes over his mind so you have to beat him again in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Finally the epic family feud of a lifetime is over, but with Metal Gear nothing ever seems to stay dead. Roll on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance!

  James - Captain Category

  G-Man from Half-Life - not really a villain but still very creepy

  

  Nick - Colonel Category

  Wesker from Resident Evil.
  
  How many times did he die escape get retconned? Nigh on unkillable (until the muddle that was Resident Evil 5), the variety of his super powers (whatever the situation demanded, basically) and his smartass one-liners made him the man (ish?) well all loved to hate.

  Plus, sunglasses in those dark places, yes, THAT's how hard he was!

  Louis - Merchandising Meddler

  Wesker be top of my favourite picks, too. From his humble beginnings in a dual life as a scientist/Umbrella genius/STARS Leader, he goes about sacrificing his entire team in the name of science... and obtaining reliable combat data.

  After he is foiled by Chris and Jill, Wesker fakes his own death, escapes, and, not content with the destruction of Raccoon City, tries to continue his research away from the tenacious and meddling Redfield...

  But, Wesker is a bad guy and is therefore doomed to fail. After failing twice, mutating his body beyond belief and moving to Africa, he becomes nothing short of annoying and impossible to kill. The only way he is stopped is by being tackled by Chris and Eva and hundreds of bullets later, is engulfed in a pool of lava.

  Truly special, I'll always remember him for his rubbish sunglasses (worn at all times) and even worse Matrix-esque coat (RE 5). It was also really weird the way his accent changed too. He went from camp American to indignant English... I guess that cemented the transformation from mildly devious to completely evil!

  My second pick would be The Shredder (many Turtles games, but in particular, the 1989 TMNT Arcade Game). Not content with burning down April's apartment building, he kidnaps her too - forcing the Turtles into action and on a mission to end all missions. To a degree, menacing, but generally just annoying and incessant ; )

  Finally, I'd say my third pick would be Dr. Robotnik from Sonic. Generally, he's also just annoying, but also very devious and innovative. From trying to run Sonic down with a drill machine, to smashing Sonic with a giant wrecking ball, to trying to drown Sonic, to pitting Sonic against Metal Sonic in a race to save Amy Rose. Robotnik never gives up... You gotta love a good villain!

  

  Robyn - In-Yer-Face Interfacer

  Baron von Blubba. You know, the whale in Bubble Bobble! When time runs out it goes ape and super fast... Waaaaaah!!!! (o_o)

  Damien - Good Word Writing Man

  Does 'Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames' from Guitar Hero: World Tour count? Talk about an unbeatable enemy... No? Well then there's always the Joker in Arkham Asylum and City - played with delicious glee by Mark Hamill. He won an award for it and everything.

  Published: 22/04/2012

As a valued customer we now offer you the facility to sign up to email price alerts. Please enter the price you want to be, or below, and if drops to that level we will let you know...