One of the many lovely aspects of "Batman: Arkham Asylum" was just how much there was to keep you occupied beyond the main story. The Riddler's trophies, hidden character clues and those crazy shadow puzzles made for some interesting brain teasers without requiring actual brawn. We've already learned that "Batman: Arkham City" will offer up even more of those puzzles and extras, but that's not the whole story. When you complete "Arkham City," you'll also unlock a New Game Plus mode, which Rocksteady has now detailed.
Finishing the game on Normal or Hard mode will unlock New Game Plus, which allows you to start from the beginning of the story with all of your gadgets, experience and unlocked special moves.
Usually playing on New Game Plus makes a game much easier, but in "Arkham City," playing this mode will increase the difficulty of all of the enemies you face, including bosses. It also removes the icon that'll appear above an enemies head before it's about to attack, making countering a lot tougher. New Game Plus won't have a variable difficulty setting, so it doesn't matter if you completed the game on Normal or Hard your first time through.
It's rare that I have the chance to play through a game twice, but when a game is encouraging and welcoming to the practice, as was the case in "Dead Space 2" and "Bastion," I generally have a blast cruising through the competition. Seems like every move the team behind "Arkham City" has made has been for the best, thus making the wait until release all the more painful.