Before Warner Bros. handed them the coveted Batman license, Rocksteady were a small independent developer based in London, known to only a handful of gamers for their Playstation 2 title Urban Chaos: Riot Response. After Arkham Asylum was released though, Rocksteady blew up - not literally, thankfully - and their star-power only rose higher with its follow-up, Arkham City. Then came a whole lot of confusion when the next Batman title, Arkham Origins, was announced, as in Rocksteady's place as developers were Warner Bros. Montréal. What was going on? Warner Bros kept schtum throughout the wild fan speculation, fuelled further by the absence of iconic voice actor Kevin Conroy, who played the part of Bruce Wayne ever since the animated Batman series of the nineties. It turned out our concerns were unfounded, since Rocksteady just needed the extra time to get to work on Arkham Knight. However in the meantime many fans were disappointed by Origins, which seemed lacklustre and a bit phoned-in when compared to the bravura blockbuster titles Rocksteady had helmed. From everything we've seen of this game so far though, the original developers are back and they're better than ever. We're even willing to accept Arkham Origins as an unfortunate but necessary pitstop, a 'sacrifice' of sorts to ensure Arkham Knight ends up being as glorious a game as we're expecting it to be. Well, judging by everything that's emerged, it's definitely going to be worth the wait. What did you think of finally seeing the game in action? Let us know in the comments!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
