It's an understatement to say we're looking forward to Batman: Arkham City . It's shaping up to be a dark, brutal and compelling slice of action, dropping Batman into a large section of Gotham City and giving him more versatility in movement, combat and gameplay. And a large part of that - as anyone who played the original would know - comes down to the gadgets.

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"With Batman's utility belt, what we've done is we've really thought about the way in which he used them and developed them within Arkham Asylum, and then considered the challenge that he faces within Arkham City We asked Dax to tell us about his five favourite gadgets, in no particular order. Here's what he had to say:"The Cryptographic Sequencer was a gadget that Batman had in Arkham Asylum, but he was using it to unlock security panels and door locks that were basically right next to him. Out in a sprawling game world like Arkham City, he uses it to hack into conversations that are happening anywhere in the city, so you use the Cryptographic Sequencer in this game to identify and hack into communications between criminal masterminds and their thugs, the various factions, it gives you a kind of clue and an insight into the broader narrative that's happening, not within your immediate vicinity.""The Explosive Gel was something that has evolved out of Arkham Asylum in a really awesome way, because rather than just being able to use Explosive Gel to take down a weakened wall we've given Batman the ability to just smash through that wall, and so we've taken Explosive Gel in a different direction and integrated it into combat, so if you've got four or five guys around you and you're taking them down, you can use Quick Combat Gel."Batman basically does a summersault handstand and sprays the gel on the floor, and then kicks out of that, and then from that remote position he can then detonate the gel, which obviously takes down a load of guys or delivers a lot of damage at that point. Integrating gadgetry into combat is a totally new feature for Arkham City, and it works so sweetly.""Another example [of using gadgets in combat] is the Batclaw, so using the Batclaw to remotely grapple onto Riddler trophies that are around the place means that the Riddler has put these trophies in some ridiculous locations, which is what makes interrogation so important, but also within combat, if there's a guy on the other side of the battle from you, you can unleash your Batclaw, drag him across, and go into a body slam or an uppercut. There's a whole load of different moves that link into that.""The Line Launcher that we developed for Arkham Asylum has been evolved in a way that gives the player an incredible sense of flexibility in navigation. The Line Launcher in the first game just connected a wire between two points, and then Batman used that as a zipline to get across a gap or whatever it might be. Now, you can connect that wire between two points, and as you're zipping across it you can flip up onto it and balance on the wire, or during that flip you can fire another wire at 90 degrees to that first wire."So it puts you in a position where you can flip up, then use that freeform, emergent perch point you've just made to then attack from the shadows or attack from above, or if you use the double line launch, you can get around, navigate through tight spots. There are particular, specific puzzles that have been built up just to encourage the player to use the Line Launcher in an awesome, strategic way.""The Smoke Pellet is something that you use when you're absolutely outnumbered and - most importantly - outgunned. So if there's a load of guys who are all packing assault rifles and you know there is no way that you are going to be able to take them all down, if you drop a smoke bomb it buys you, maybe half a second, to then get out of there, whether that's grappling up to the ceiling or a gargoyle or making a covert exit. It's kind of like a last ditch 'this is your final opportunity to get out of here alive'."More on Batman: