When The First round of publicity for Arkhctm Asylum came out there was the impression of a certain lack of confidence. Taken to a room in Eidos, we were shown Batman accompanying Joker into the iconic madhouse, and not much else. While it was the best opening to a game since Freeman's monorail ride, it didn't give you much of a feel for the game.

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The first look at Arklicmi City showed no such timidity. It's accepted that Arkham Asylum was a defining moment for Batman in videogames, the first time he'd ever been done right. It was pitch perfect, sitting cheerfully alongside the beyond-black psychopathic graphic novel with which it shares its name, the commercial dark tint of the Christopher Nolan movies, and the approachable kid-friendly action of the '90s classic The Animated Series. Batman may be a flexible franchise, but lie's got rules, and Arkham Asylum played within them rules with love and art.

So, having delivered the comic book look, with the scriptwriter and voices of the '90s cartoon, where do you go from there? Well, where else is there? Gotham City, stupid.In the first game, Quincy Sharpe was the corrupt governor of the Arkham Asylum and he made no secret of two things: his contempt for the human rights of lawbreakers, and his plans to become mayor of Gotham.

Urban Prison

The events of Arkham City take place a year after those in Asylum, and Sharpe has been hard at work. Taking all the credit for Batman's work in his failed facility, lie's convinced the populace that what Gotham needs to be crime-free once and for all is a super-facility bigger than any one building. So lie's bringing the madhouse onto the streets.

So a large area of Gotham has been slapped with compulsory purchase orders, the residents evicted, and a wall erected. The insane supervillains of Arkliam Asylum and the brawling thugs of Blackgate Penitentiary have all been transported into this walled area of Gotham. This is Arkham City, both an anarchic nightmare and a madman's dream come true.

Presiding malevolently over Arklicim City, with a threatening poster campaign and Tannoy announcements, is a new character (to Rocksteady's game at least) Hugo Strange. He's not on Batman's databases. Even Oracle, who once again shares your earpiece with Alfred's grounded advice, doesn't know who he is. But Strange's rule in the City is absolute, and he enforces just one law, you try to escape, you die. Beyond that, there's a laissez-faire attitude to gang violence and murder. After all, who'll you be killing? Just another scrap of lowlife detritus.

Of course, it's not that simple. The corrupt establishment of Gotham is also throwing political prisoners into Arkham City, and trusting the more seasoned inhabitants to deal with them. Take Jack Ryder - once a vigilante called The Creeper, now a shock-jock chat show host - his broadcasts got a little too close to Quincy and Hugo's mysterious arrangement, and Batman finds him tasting the fist end of a thug's arm.

That's the world of Arkliam City. Watching Batman fly around, it's obvious that this is the same figure that stalked the Asylum, substantial, powerful, yet still vulnerable. His combat relies on the same simple but satisfying combination of light and heavy attacks and combos. Detective mode still lets you investigate crime scenes and see enemies through walls. And Predator mode still lets you take out crowds of armed hoods stealthily, when a full frontal assault would prove fatal. They've all been improved, but more on that later. Because now, we're going to look at the most exciting thing about this sequel.

Roam Free

Arkliam City is an open world game. You can explore. There's a strong central mission that'll take you through the story of who Hugo Strange is, Joker's mysterious illness, Two-Face's bid to establish himself in the anarchic regime, and the eternal question of whether Catwoman will turn out to be a friend or foe. But the sheer number of supervillains, legendary and obscure, gives Rocksteady a chance to hide away a massive amount of optional missions. If you rush Arkham City, you'll miss a lot of stories.

For example, there's Victor Zsasz.You can finish the game without picking up a telephone. And if you do, you'll never know Zsasz was in the game. But that would mean you'll miss out on the serial killer's game of cat and mouse.Detective Mode has had an overhaul, too. Now, it's not just a matter of following the stink of a cigar butt, you're more a crime scene investigator. The example we're given is pretty tame, but it shows there are possibilities.

After an assassin tries to snipe Catwoman, flipping into Detective mode lets you hunt for, and piece together, scraps of evidence. The site of the bullet's impact and the hole in the window lets us extrapolate a line across Arkliam, that lets you deduce that the shot was fired from a church bell tower.

You can also investigate using your broadcast analyser, a new gadget that acts like an FBI snooping device, scouring the airwaves for keywords. More entertainingly, it also lets you manually scour frequencies for anything going on. You'll find radio stations, GCPD despatch radio, and a host of hidden bonuses that'll help you uncover a whole new set of Riddler's secrets.

Fist Of Fun

The combat system now has twice as many moves squeezed into its three simple buttons. A beatdown attack can be used to whale on one guy in an extraordinarily heavy fashion. This is also the only way you'll open up armoured enemies to damage. You can use the environment to pull off acrobatic evades, and the countering system has been extended to allow for multiple blocks. And if an enemy is stunned you can pounce off him. It's the same simple system, in theory, and all these new powers mean enemies need to be a bit tougher.

The gadgetry has also been redesigned to fit the new, open world. The remote-controlled Batarang can be charged with electricity by navigating it near sparking electricity cables and can then be used to overload electrical circuits, if you manage to guide it into a control box. And the Grapple Boost transforms your humble hook into a launch pad, instead of lifting you to the ledge it sends you flying upwards, giving you an overview of the city. From this height you can soar around Arkliam City, or dive and pick off thugs. But you can also use your gadgetry to navigate the city. Firing a rope between buildings lets you create your own paths through the sky, and half-way through zipping to a building on a grappling hook, you can slow down, fire another, and change directions completely.

Swinging Fun

'Getting around Gotham City isn't a problem for Batman,' says Sefton Hill, Rocksteady's studio director. 'So we're not going to make it a problem for you.'Jamie Walker explains their attitude to skill resets, too. 'We didn't want to take away the abilities you earned in the first game. So we've said, what would the villains do, what measures would they take, knowing that they were fighting a man with those powers?'So instead of powering you down they've given the enemies the ability to deal with your powers. And opened up a whole new set of skills for you to learn. Won't this he daunting for newcomers?'You don't have to have played the first game to get it. It's still the same, accessible system. But you'll be pulling off the stylish moves more quickly if you have,' explains Walker.

The intimacy of Arkliam Asylum could've been lost in its expansion to an effective township. But the chance to explore, coupled with a relatively small area and a high density of special events, gives you a chance to make that intimacy yours. You can get to know the streets and the gangs that are inhabiting them.

'Arkliam City is about five times bigger than Asylum, but it's not about the size. It's about the detail,' explains Walker. By keeping the area manageable, they can fill every corner with intrigue.A phone rings nearby. We've all played CTA and we all know telephones mean missions. But this phone is surrounded by gang members. They're talking about a legend that's grown in Arklicim City, if you answer a payphone, you die.

We answer the phone, and a vaguely familiar voice leers at us. It's Victor Zsasz, the gore-fantasist serial killer whose appearance in Arklicim Asylum was a cameo. This time, he's got his own story and chain of missions.

Good Voices

The dialogue with Zsasz - and in general - is more knowing and skillfully written than most other games. Compared to the endless taunts of the NPCs in Splinter Cell: Conviction, Arklicim City is a masterpiece of background dialogue. Scripted by Bat

Batman Arkham City