Nintendo’s Wii U “living room revolution” has now been announced as a finished product and is shaping up a generous gaming line-up for its release which should arrive with enough time to see the console becoming one of the big sellers this Christmas. One of the titles we were introduced to during Nintendo’s All-Access Presentation yesterday was an award-winning game that’s been around for a while on other major consoles as well as Windows PC – but Nintendo fans will find that Batman: Arkham City has been well worth the wait.. Holy Touchscreen GamePad Integration Batman!
WB Games and developer Rocksteady have been working on something very special for the new Wii U version of Batman: Arkham City – dubbed the “Armoured Edition” for reasons we’ll get to shortly. The themes and storyline remain the same, with Bruce Wayne’s shadowy alter ego taking on thugs and major villains from the DC comic book’s history in a city overrun by the criminally insane and Lead Interface Designer for Warner Bros. Patrick Emond has been speaking about the introduction of the new Wii U touchscreen controller to expand the gameplay and how this will bring the Arkham City experience to gamers like never before.
The Dark Knight rises on the new Nintendo console utilising and showcasing the versatile GamePad in many different ways in this edition with button and touchscreen functions.For example the Wii U GamePad’s screen can be used as an “always on” real-time HUD map, which allows players to know where they are at all times and scan the massive scale area of play that’s five times the size of the preceding game, Arkham Asylum. This also means there’s no need to pause the game during a crucial point of play and allows Batman to freely roam while the map is only glance away and in the palms of the player’s hands.
Another benefit is a scanning mode that allows the Caped Crusader to look beyond what appears to us on the TV screen. Raising the screen to eye-level and “physically” scanning over the TV screen will provide a night-vision kind of view which picks up previously unseen secrets and clues and displays them as an Augmented Reality image on the controller’s viewer. Since Batman is the World’s Greatest Detective, and we are controlling him, surely we should get access to all his tricks to effectively manage his missions, right?
Now onto that armour which is the emphasis of this very special edition’s subtitle. Unlike previous console versions, the Nintendo Wii U and GamePad will introduce a new Battle Armour Tech (or B.A.T – get it?) this for both Batman and Catwoman as playable characters. A blue charger on Batman’s gauntlet is represented on the screen of play and the more damage that gets inflicted on thugs and criminal lowlifes the more super-charged the Batman’s armour B.A.T bodysuit becomes. This Kinect energy builds up until the meter is full and can be unleashed through the GamePad – strengthening the Dark Knights armour and making his attacks more potent.
Patrick Emond says the plan for this new and unique Arkham City experience on Wii U is to make players feel, that thanks to the new GamePad, they actually are The Batman – with all the gadget’s and computer right in the palm of their hand, and all the familiar weapons available quickly and easily on the touchscreen, which essentially becomes a virtual utility belt. Batman: Arkham City – Armoured Edition should prove to be a seamless experience which won’t require us to leave a second of the action. The game will be released sometime this autumn, around the console’s release date or soon after. We’re excited to see this one for ourselves!
