After being shrouded in mystery for so long, Kemco’s Batman Dark Tomorrow is playable at E3. The game’s demo proudly boasts that the story line was conceived by DC Comics and scripted by Kenji Terada, who co-authored Final Fantasy 1, 2 and 3. The music is provided by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Tom Taylor. That’s all well and good, but what’s the game like?!

It sports an entirely different visual style than Batman Vengeance, the last Batman game to appear on consoles, which was based on the animated series. Gameplay is different too, but Dark Tomorrow is quite similar Vengeance in many ways. Players have access to Batman’s many gadgets; handcuffs can be used to restrain fallen badguys (though handcuffs are unlimited) so they can’t get back up; the game is in the third-person perspective, which switches to first person when using items like the Batarang… Even the listed villains are Joker, Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. There’s a lot that seems just a bit familiar.

Despite the similarities, Dark Tomorrow looks to offer a Batman experience that better combines the many aspects of the Batman without interrupting the flow of gameplay. For example, unlike Batman Vengeance where rooting through your utility belt would effectively pause the game, in Dark Tomorrow, Batman’s items can be cycled through using the D pad.

Also unlike Batman Vengeance, Batman Dark Tomorrow seems rooted in the continuity of the ongoing comic books. Cutscenes reveal Barbara Gordon serves as your sidekick once again, though is no longer Batgirl but the net-savvy information broker Oracle—a change that came about after she was crippled by the Joker. Other cut-scenes I saw had Batman consulting with Comissioner Gordon, and one where the Joker was cackling over some heinous scheme.

Gameplay wise, it’s Batman at his best. The demo starts out with Batman in an alley, with several thugs spread out at the end of it. The first few attempts, I tried to engage them, and though Batman has several cool martial arts moves (including jump kicks and evasive backflips) I soon found myself overpowered time and again. Eventually, a nice lady from Kemco pointed out that I could use the batarang to knock the badguys out from a distance, which I did. Using the Batarangs switches the view to first person, where a red dot shows where you’re going to throw it. I clobbered everyone this way, then ran up to cuff ‘em.

Graphics are decent, albeit a little hazy and dark. It’s not incredibly detailed and although it has a more realistic look to it, I think I almost prefer the animated-style seen in Vengeance. Not only is the game in third-person, it has a slight top-down view to it too, and all the characters are small. Still, it’s anything but ugly—it’s just nothing special.

For movement, the control is somewhat similar to Resident Evil, turn yourself in the direction you want to walk and then move. I found this to be highly problematic, because the areas were very open and it was hard to move over to a fallen baddie to cuff him. I also had a hard time correctly opening a door and hitting it with A.

The game needs polish, the graphics and control could really use some tweaking before this game becomes fully enjoyable. It has a lot of promise however, and looks like it will do a fairly good job of recreating the world of Batman for game players. The demo I played was listed at 70%, so here’s hoping it comes together a little more.