New Batman Arkham Asylum Deets and my gripe with Co-op

So I know it's been a while since the news broke, but the good ol boys over at Rocksteady studios are finally letting the cat out of the "bat" when it comes to it's sequel to the 2009 hit game "Batman Arkham Asylum." If any of you have ever loved Batman, heck, even comic books in general, then you'll understand why this game is important to the nerd landscape.

Anyway, down to the juicy deets. Apparantly, the game is now stretching its wings out of Arkham Island and into Gotham City...but not entirely. It seems the overzealous Warden Sharp has decided to set up a makeshift prison inside Gotham, which may open up some possibilities in terms of how we can explore the area. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop anyone?

Besides the location, Rocksteady is promising to include additional villains in the game, which shouldn't be too hard given the fact that the Batman universe has arguably the finest villain line-up in comic book lore. Finally, I can batarang Mr. Freeze till his balls drop. However one interesting thing to point out is that on the latest issue of Game Informer, which is the source of all this bat-tastic news, is the spotlight on Catwoman, which is leaving many to speculate the inclusion of co-op in the game.

Here's my problem. What makes Batman great as a video game is the fact he operates mainly as a lone vigilante. Sure he joins up with Robin, Nightwing, and anyone else I don't care to think about, but we all love the concept of one man kicking everyone's ass. Adding Catwoman to the single player game is just a gimmick. Case in point, look at the biggest violator...Resident Evil 5. The RE series is all about tension and fear, and when you add another person into the equation it kills that sense of being alone and fending for yourself against hordes of zombies (which need to make a comeback by the way). Same goes for Batman. Developers need to get to the essence of what their story and protagonist are all about and determine what's the best route to take when including new gameplay types.

I'm not saying co-op is bad, but give me the experience as a standalone piece if it doesn't fit into the context of the story. The best way to do this is to do what the Splinter Cell series has done. That series gave us a satisfying single player campaign, and then added an entirely new mechanic that takes advantage of having another buddy...not to mention making a unique story to go along with it. 

Anyway, I'll be drooling for this game until its release date next fall. Until then, here's some more info on The Dark Knight's next digital adventure:  http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/111/1111550p1.html