To start with, let me just say that this is not a preview. I have not played, seen footage, or been privy to any kind of advance peek at this game other than what’s out there for everyone. No, this comes purely from someone who is looking forward to this game enough to write about it. I have no idea how it’s going to turn out, and I have to say I seem to be feeling much the same way about this game as I was in the run up to the release of The Dark Knight. Since then, I have been geeking out over the caped crusader, and more specifically his nemesis, The Joker. You could put it down to Heath Ledger's chilling portrayal in last year's blockbuster hit

After picking up a copy of the graphic novel, which gifted the game its storyline, I ached for it to be translated in any format. On film would have been preferable, having witnessed Chris Nolan’s reinvention of the franchise over two superb chapters, I would have loved to see his take on this. Dark, brooding and with enough moral ambiguity bubbling under the surface to fill a thousand psychiatrists' couches, the possibilities were mouthwatering. Not long after finishing the book I discovered Rocksteady were developing a game, and then my life was consumed again.

Never before I have I actually bought so many gaming magazines off the back of a particular title. Casting news, screen shots, previews, even the smallest sniff of news led me to picking up magazines, to the point where I could have probably bought the game twice over. Adaptations of popular properties, be they movies, comics, TV or written fiction, very rarely live up to the source, but with Arkham things appeared different even in the earliest stages. With the voice talent lifted almost wholesale from the Batman animated series, there were few quarrels over the quality of the cast. The plot was also never questioned, given the stellar blueprint left by Grant Morrsion and Dave McKean’s novel.

The novel, first published in 1989, revolves around a plot by The Joker to lure Batman to Arkham by taking the staff at the asylum hostage, and threatening to start killing them unless Batman ventures inside. Locked up inside are a rogues gallery of Batman’s deadliest foes, including Killer Croc, Two Face and Scarecrow. The inclusion of multiple villains has certainly been tried before in movies and games, but the steady, subtle approach in the novel - that hopefully informs the game - makes for a measured, well paced storyline. If this can be transferred to the game it could be one of the title’s biggest strengths.

Another strength, alluded to in early previews of the game, is the fluid combat system. Too often tie-in games have been guilty of flawed combat systems as a result of being rushed to pre-empt or follow up on a movie's success. Given that the game is a standalone title not affiliated directly with any movie certainly helps, although given the success of The Dark Knight many casual punters will view it as such. This means the combat (if the gaming media are to be believed) is fast, but more importantly, less heavy-handed than some recent titles, although hopefully not to the point where things become any less challenging.

The majority of what’s written here is, of course, speculation, nothing more than the excited ramblings of an expectant gamer. So, whilst I’m looking forward to the game immensely, it is only what I’ve read and seen in the media that whets my appetite. The one thing that is (only slightly) worrying, is the fact that a supposed June release has recently been pushed back to August, raising one question, and one question only, in my mind: What’s wrong with it?

I’m sure it’s nothing serious, a legal matter or a developer’s schedule, something and nothing probably. But, as a massive fan of the franchise and a bigger fan of the novel specifically, I can only hope the game lives up to its source material.