Only two minutes in and the familiar deranged, sinister world swept overwhelming nostalgia over everybody in the room. Tiny Shaz curled up on the sofa, hugging her knees with eyes glued to the screen; captivated by a classic comic-book hero. Her jaw was wide open as she was helplessly fixated on the dark knight, the more she watched the less her pen was scribbling notes of the preview at Eidos offices.

There’s no denying that these days we find ourselves glancing over the comic based games and wishing we were kids again because that’s all these games seem to cater for. What happened to our favourite heroes? The past years have seen them being churned into entirely different personas, leaving the majority of adult gamers reluctant to bother… until now. Thanks to Eidos and Rocksteady Games faith and loyalty will be restored to many of our hearts.

Based on the DC Universe comics, it’s a welcome return for the dark knight. The opening of the preview was quick in drawing the room into the dark, nitty, gritty setting of Arkham Asylum where we find Batman having caught the Joker, escorting him back into custody. Built with the Unreal engine, hearing the reputable voices of Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Mark Hammil (Joker), the traditional colours and comic style graphics in the game menus and armed with the fantastic writings of Paul Dini (thank you for the ever awesome 90’s cartoons ‘Batman: The Animated Series’!). The entire combination captures the rich, disturbing environment as successfully as Bioshock and also pulls off a sweet introduction sequence with the credits. There’s no doubt that Batman: Arkham Asylum is setting new standards to comic games.

Naturally you couldn’t help but let out a faint gasp or a little chuckle when recognising villians in the foreground or background. At the same time we’re engaged in the moments of suspense upon meeting a few up close; all the while our infamous Joker is up to his old cheeky tricks and we’re entertained with him taunting everyone constantly. It’s no surprise that the Joker, partnered by the cold-hearted, sexy villainess, Harley Quinn soon turns the events around in his favour. The Joker escapes and disappears out of sight and Arkham Asylum becomes his playground. From here on we’re witnessing the scary change of authority, in one scene a prisoner was electrocuting one of the guards in a chair, toxic gas was set off on guards and prisoners, convicts roam the place and there’s the threat of other super-villains lurking free. The big anticipation is who will you bump into?

Batman has a free flow combat, encouraging the player to link their moves varied from punches, kicks and vaulting over enemies. As well as the basic blocks of attack (X button), stuns (Y Button) and counters (e.g whipping out the Batarang) the more action packed in it’ll contribute to the XP system (which is indicated by a shadow of flapping bats). Fighting criminals, saving lives of the good and bad (which is amusing when our big, bad-ass Batman knocks them out ‘just incase’), solving puzzles all add to gaining experience points. The points enhance your combat skills and gadgets such as the grappling hook, batarang and bat claw, to name a few.

Some may want to run around with Batman punching baddies in the face but there is freedom to how you approach situations. The game is open for both aggressive and stealthy players, you’ll be able to sneak around silently with the ability to zip up to platforms above and to observe the scene before tackling anyone. Perhaps put a little fear into the enemies as you fling yourself from above, attack a thug and leave him tied up hanging upside down in the air from a ledge. Hints of Metal Gear Solid or Tenchu elements come to mind and the A.I. will respond to what’s going on around them. They’ll spot something that doesn’t feel right, shout for Batman to reveal himself, group up together to hunt you down, split off, become frustrated or begin to panic. A particular feature shown through the preview was the ‘detective mode’ (Left Bumper) which shows points of interests to help game progression and skeletal mugs of characters around you.

Now here’s a cheer for the achievement hungry or completionist gamers, adding a bit of humour there’ll be plenty of Joker’s chattering teeth to hunt and destroy. Also placed all over in the Asylum are Riddler’s question mark trophies and these side quests will add a little exploration alongside the stand alone storyline. The other bonus to your findings is that it’ll unlock a range of character biographies too.

So I’ve revealed to you a little more on the upcoming title and I’m pretty glad of the more mature approach to Batman: Arkham Asylum. While there’s still some time to wait out, I’ll dip back into the cartoon series and the good old comics to feed my need. I’m highly looking forward to this game and so should you!