Battle, ambush and race your way to leaderboard domination in bigger and improved challenge mode.

The latest news from Rocksteady Studios is that Batman Arkham City will be five times bigger than Arkhum Asylum, so no suprises to fans that the roaming areas have been expanded to give more character freedom and cure one of the few faults of the original game Arkham Asylum, one of the best gaming titles to be released to date.

Great news is the return of the challenge mode, after you complete the campaign mode and collect all the Riddler trophies, a more expansive and competitive challenge mode awaits to play as either the Batman, Catwoman or Robin and we all give thanks to the developers for including these playable characters free of charge and resisting the temptation to charge us for the extra content. I wouldn’t be surprised if a villains pack was available to download some time after release to compete in challenge mode but that’s just me thinking of how they’re going to hit our pockets and keep the game fresh during some really major release titles in the months after this baby hits shelves, pure speculation on my behalf.

Follow up:

Just like in the previous game, Arkham Asylum, the challenge mode consists of three different types of games, Combat, Stealth and Speed.

COMBAT:

Survive wave after wave of Arkham thugs for as long as possible, so keep those combos going to boost your score, pound their skulls in and enjoy. Simple but addictive challenges to smash your way through and bring an old school feel to what is expected to be another blockbuster.

STEALTH:

Shades of Splinter Cell here again as you lurk in the shadows to pick off your opponents without being detected and clear the room of thugs to complete the challenge. You get a real sense of being the caped crusader in this mode and with improvements promised in all modes I’m looking forward to hoisting an anabolic halfwit into the rafters in this one most of all.

SPEED:

You’re going to need an injection of superhero steroids here as you race across the city to reach indicated landmarks in as little time as possible. Tick Tock.

The challenges for all three modes are promised to have been improved with bigger playing environments and tougher AI to deal with. This latest instalment news from Rocksteady is not groundbreaking but I thought I’d keep you in the loop as we search for any information to keep the excitement at bay.

ONLINE:

The results of all three challenges will again be separately displayed in each genres online leaderboard and they will be revealed with your character choice that you used to achieve your score. I can only assume that wise character choices will benefit certain challenges and Hero attributes must play a part when making your choice. Gamers will be experimenting into the small hours to find the best combinations and climb the online leaderboards so plenty of replay value, and that’s without the possibility of DLC.

Sadly no news of online multiplayer again and that is disappointing as developers must have considered the option from the start. The thought of 12 superhero’s battling in a free for all mode in some wickedly playable levels sounds amazing to me and the inclusion would guarantee the games lifespan whilst Rocksteady ponder their next adventure for the Batman franchise.

I’m not too disappointed with developers that they have not included the multiplayer and after playing and loving Arkham Asylum I would have been happy with minor improvements to an almost perfect game. The chance once again to take control of Batman in a different adventure set in different enviroments would have been enough for me to make a purchase.