Rocksteady and Warner Bros. are keeping the identity of the Arkham Knight a secret for now, but, during the course of the game, Oracle mentions to Batman that she’s tracked the mysterious villain back to Venezuela. (She also at one point displays her fantastic detective skills by helping Batman find the tallest building on the block; no strenuous looking up for our hero!).

Picking up where the GDC demo left off, the new segment we played has Batman finally tracking Scarecrow to Ace Chemicals and confronting the Arkham Knight. As Batman waves Gordon and the rest of the Gotham PD off, the Arkham Knight flies in on a powerful military helicopter and destroys the bridge leading to the chemical plant. Just as he’s about to fire a missile at point blank range into Batman’s face, the Scarecrow calls him off, presumably to keep this from being the shortest super hero game ever.

I won’t spoil what happens once Batman gets into Ace Chemical, except to say that, the coolest new toy he gets his hands on is the Batmobile. It has two main modes – Pursuit and Battle – which you can switch between as you like. Pursuit mode is great for typical driving challenges, from access new areas via ramps and jumps to simply doing afterburner donuts in the Ace Chemical parking lot.

The vehicle is remote control, so you can swap back and forth between controlling Batman and controlling the car, even if it’s nowhere near Batman. This can be very helpful when Batman is pinned down and needs some support. It’s also used to solve some of the game’s puzzles. In one sequence, I was able to use the winch on the Batmobile to raise and lower an elevator that I needed to move so Batman could access a new area. As engaging as all this utility is, probably my favorite thing about the Batmobile is calling it in remotely and watching Batman smoothly leap into the drivers seat as it screeches to a halt beside him.

In Battle mode, which you can swap to any time, the Batmobile is really more of a tank than a car. With a full 360-degree range of movement, including strafing in any direction, the Battle mode makes the Batmobile play a bit more like a third-person shooter.  There are multiple weapon systems on board, including a Vulcan gun for quick damage, a massive 60mm cannon for tank-busting, missiles for wide-ranging damage, and a non-lethal riot-suppressor for those times when Batman is feeling charitable.

Batman’s got a number of other cool new tricks and toys to play with in Arkham Knight. A rumble-driven, stick-twisting hacking game lets Batman access terminals, learning for instance that a handful of perfectly innocent Ace Chemical employees are still in the facility and in desperate need of rescue. He also has a batarang sensor that he can throw out and gain intel on the areas around him. In addition to the new mobility options provided by the Batmobile, Batman is now able to chain his grappling hook moves together, which makes for an aerial sort of mobility that is a bit like flying

On the ground, Arkham Knight still preserves the fluid, counter-heavy combat of the previous games, but it also adds new fear takedowns, which takes full advantage of Batman’s image and ninja-like skills to incapacitate enemies purely through his presence. It can be particularly helpful when you drop down into a room full of bad guys and need to do a bit of crowd control. Batman can even team up with the Batmobile, leaping from it straight into a glide kick that takes down whatever enemy happens to be in front of him.

I was very glad when Arkham City finally allowed Batman to be the urban hero he’s meant to be. There’s something about brooding on top of skyscrapers and dropping down onto crooks in alleys that helped fulfill the fantasy of being Batman. With Arkham Knight’s addition of the Batmobile, the picture of the Dark Knight Detective is complete.

Warner Bros will be showing off even more of Batman Arkham Knight at E3 this year. Be sure to come back next week for more details on this and all the latest games.