Wii U Pre-Launch Preview of 'Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition'

Nintendo's Wii U will launch on November 18 with 23 very promising launch titles.

The lack of third party content on previous systems has been a sore spot for Nintendo. But the launch lineup seems to indicate that third party developers are attracted to the Wii U. Among the major titles in the lineup is 'Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition'. The game was critically acclaimed (it received an aggregate score of 94 on Metacritic) for its plethora of content and its strong fighting mechanics. It was also adored for strong performances from Mark Hamill as the Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman.

What makes this release all the more impressive is that Rocksteady games did not do a straight port using the Wii U's classic controller of the year old game. They are not only adding new missions and content, but the game was restructured so that playability could be smoothly incorporated on the Wii U Gamepad.

Gamepad Functionality

Players can choose all of Batman's utilities anytime during the game straight from the Gamepad. Items such as the batarangs and cryptographic decoder can be pulled up with just a tap on the gamepad's touchscreen. Players will also be able to pull up and scan the city map at any moment on the Gamepad's screen. The screen also lets players upgrade their gear without having to pause the game. In the PS 3 and Xbox 360 versions, players would have to stop the game in order to achieve any of these goals.

Detective Mode also gets remade as players can hold the pad up to the TV screen to search around. This is opposed to moving the camera around using a control stick. The decision for this addition is to immerse people in the experience of scanning locations through the Wii U Gamepad. With the cryptographic decoder sequence players simply need to drag their fingers across the touchscreen. Once the signal is detected, players can decode it from the gamepad.

The Batarangs are also thrown using the Wii U pad. Using the gyrosensitivity of the Gamepad, players will tilt the gamepad in order to guide the batarang as it makes it way around. It is akin to the beetle in the Wii's Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

No information has been provided on the new missions of the game.

Other Wii U Launch Game Previews

New Super Mario Bros. U