Batman: Arkham Asylum Joker Hands-On

PlayStation 3 owners recently got one up on the Xbox 360 crew when Eidos announced that the Joker challenge rooms would be exclusive to the Sony consoles. We got to check the character out for the first time at E3 as he was appearing at the Eidos booth for attendees to play.

You control The Joker in a broadly similar fashion to Batman, but his moves are much more theatrical in nature. Whereas Batman goes for a brutally efficient combat style, the Joker adds more flourishes to his kicks and punches. He also has a suite of his own moves, including the ability to shoot laughing gas from his sleeves in order to stun enemies.

The best Joker moves come when you build up combos, which allow you to unleash special attacks on your enemies. These moves change depending on your position to the enemies, but all of them are really entertaining to perform. If you build up a combo of five or more hits, you can press the triangle and circle buttons together to pull off a finishing move. The Joker will either shake hands with his enemy using his electric buzzer, or he'll jump on his enemy like a monkey and repeatedly smack him around the head.

If you manage to build up a higher combo, then you can throw your enemies, and the challenge room features plenty of electric walls at which to aim. The final challenge room featured Commissioner Gordon, who we particularly liked throwing into the wall. The Arkham Challenge Rooms offer some great old-school beat-'em-up action, and we can't wait to play more of them. GameSpot's Tom Mc Shea has also been playing the single-player mode, so watch out for his preview hitting the site soon!