To commemorate the conclusion of the best-selling, critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham video game series from Rocksteady Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Abrams Books have published The Art of Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City & Arkham Knight (Abrams; July 2015, £25; Hardcover with jacket), the first book to look behind the scenes of this ground-breaking video game trilogy.

This isn’t a review of the games, just the Art of book. You see, i’m a big Batman fan and have really enjoyed the Arkham series of games (let’s just forget about Arkham:Origins for the moment shall we?) Thing is, I still have nostalgic memories of playing Batman-The Movie on my Commodore +4 back in the early 90’s (Yes, you read that right, Commodore +4, don’t get me started on the story of how I didn’t receive a Commodore 64 that Christmas.) Of the many iterations of Gotham’s Dark Knight available to us, in my opinion, Rocksteady Studios have come the closest to nailing a gritty, violent version of Batman that we haven’t quite seen in cinemas yet. As close as Chris Nolan’s vision came, it still didn’t feel like the Batman I knew from the 90’s comic runs. Rocksteady’s Batman is equally served by his combat skills as he is his detective abilities.

If you’re a fan of the games and/or a Batman fan in general, you won’t be disappointed if you buy this book. It’s big! Coffee table big. There is an absolute ton of gorgeous artwork to feast your eyes on. It leads the fans through every stage of the creative process, from story work by legendary, Batman-The Animated Series writer Paul Dini, as well as all of the concept art, development art, production art and CG artistry in between. Key creative and development talent offer insights into the creative process through exclusive, candid interviews, making this fully authorised book the definitive look back at six years of gaming innovation that have helped re-imagine the Batman mythos in yet another iconic incarnation.

The few images that I’ve posted in this review really doesn’t do the book any justice. It took me a good couple of days to soak it all in. With text by author Daniel Wallace, this lavishly illustrated collector’s item features the best Pre-production art, concept sketches, background paintings, character turnarounds and sketch-to-final-in-game-comparisons from all three of Rocksteady’s core Batman: Arkham titles. Wallace is a prolific and talented Author and has also writen; The Joker: A Visual History of the Clown Prince of Crime, Batman: The World of the Dark Knight, Star Wars: The Jedi Path and Star Wars: Book of Sith. He provides am exhaustive insight into the development of all three games. A slight disappointment is that the Arkham Asylum game is given slightly less coverage than the other two games, as of all three games, this game had the best collection of Arkhamverse rogues and villains and I would have liked to have seen a bit more lip-service paid to them. However, it is only a slight disappointment.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. If you’re a fan of the Batman: Arkham games, game development, or even if you’re just a fan of The Dark Knight, you won’t be disappointed.

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