A Purrfect Thief Becomes Playable in Arkham City

Gamers who pick up Arkham City will have the chance to do some cat burglary of their very own.

We’ve known now for a while that Selina Kyle – better known as Catwoman – would be appearing in Batman: Arkham City, but we didn’t quite know how. Would Batman’s on-again-off-again love interest/antagonist be there to aid the Bat, or would she be there to trip him up?

According to Destructoid, it’s a little bit from column A, a little bit from column B, and a little bit of “none of the above.” Catwoman won’t be overtly antagonistic to Batman this time around – and their interests may coincide once or twice – but she is there on her own terms and for her own reasons.

You see, Arkham City villain Hugo Strange has stolen many things from the Arkham inmates, and Selina wants these “stolen stolen goods” for herself, which would make them “stolen stolen stolen goods,” phew. Many of the most valuable goodies are heavily guarded by Strange’s security force, and Catwoman will have to use gadgets and her stealthy agility to get her paws on the prize.

There will be mandatory Catwoman segments in the game, said Rocksteady’s marketing manager Dax Ginn, but most Catwoman missions are sidequests activated by finding stray cats throughout Arkham City. All in all, Catwoman content makes up “about 10%” of everything in Arkham City – this is still Batman’s show.

From the sound of it, the Catwoman gameplay is more technical than Batman’s. She doesn’t have as many gadgets – only 3 to Batman’s 12 – but she’s quicker, using her whip and claws to stealthily move across the rooftops in the city asylum. Her movements are effected by a combo meter which rewards perfectly-timed swings and leaps: The better you play, the faster she goes.

While she can also engage in acrobatic combat, she’s more suited to stealth than the Dark Knight, and can use her claws and whip to crawl across a ceiling, a la Spider-Man. However, her Thief Sense doesn’t show enemies in the same way that Batman’s Detective Sense does – it merely points the way to valuables. So, players who slip into the catsuit will need to be stealthy and smart, lest Strange’s TYGER goons bring the career of the sensual cat burglar to a violent end.

Batman: Arkham City is scheduled for release this October, and Catwoman will be playable across all three platforms.

(Destructoid; Image from Game Informer)