New Batman: Arkham City Interrogation Mode

Batman’s ‘Detective Mode’ in Batman: Arkham Asylum was a well implemented, if underused, game mechanic allowing you some in-depth analysis of the game’s many crime scenes. Rocksteady Studios is stepping it up in the sequel, allowing you to interrogate specific thugs to grab some new info and beat some of those harder Riddler puzzles… yes, the Riddler apparently made it out of Asylum.

Click through for more info, new features, and more unauthorized screengrabs.

 ”As with nearly every area of the game we’re enhancing it. One example is the criminal database coupled with the new interrogation mechanic,” said Game Director Sefton Hill to PSM3.

“The Riddler continues to taunt the Dark Knight with mind-bending puzzles and exploration challenges, but the location of his biggest secrets are known only to him and people he’s told. Rather than unlocking their locations using maps, Batman will be able to scan a gang of thugs to find a potential informant.”

Once you played through the original game and discovered the nuances of Batman’s FreeFlow combat system, it became a much more rewarding experience, yet I know only a handful of people who truly explored the combat system to its depths. Adding a ‘special’ enemy into a cluster of thugs should force people to spend more effort to eliminate the rest of the gang before interrogating the survivor. Well played Rocksteady. Wed’d love to see something along the lines of Sam Fisher’s last outing, but that might be asking too much???

Other improvements to the now completed game (the studio is using the next year to polish and tweak) include an improved ‘Boost’ Grapple Gun, allowing you to grapple around Gotham Arkham City in a way reminiscent of Just Cause 2. I’m so glad that someone is picking up where Just Cause 2 left off, because flying around the environments in Just Cause 2 was the most fun I’ve had with a new game mechanic since being able to take cover in Gears Of War.

Another notable feature is the inclusion of side-missions. The original game was notorious for its linearity, so this should add some replayability and diversion from the main narrative. One example of this is Mr. Zsasz calling up random folks from payphones and telling them their numbers are up in the morning. It’s up to you whether you want to put the boots to Zsasz or just continue along your merry way. Zsasz? Really?? Didn’t Batman manage to put away anybody from the last game?

A topic the developers are being mum about is the inclusion of a co-op mode. ‘No comment’ and “We’re not talking about that right now” is as good as one in our opinion.

[CVG via Joystiq]