The Rage gaming expo kicked off its ninth and biggest event to date, proving the local gaming industry is growing in popularity every year.

Thousands of hardcore gamers descended on the Coca-Cola Dome, in Johannesburg, to attend the expo and experience the latest games and gadgets, and meet their gaming heroes.

Gamers played this year’s most anticipated games yet to be released, including Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Dead Rising 2, Street Fighter vs Tekken, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Mass Effect 3 and Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Paul Crocker, lead narrative designer for Batman: Arkham City, spoke with ITWeb about the latest game that will be hitting shelves in mid-October. He said what made this game bigger and better than its predecessor was its sheer size and character development. He added that the game is much darker than Batman: Arkham Asylum, and that it has a lot of surprises for gamers. “We are very focused on the Batman experience in this game. For gamers, they are going to be put in a place to make difficult decisions, and [experience] what it feels like to be Batman. We’ve put together a much darker storyline, and re-imagined some of the villains, such as Penguin, in a very different light.”

Top five demos

By Sameer Parker, My Digital Life

5. The Darkness II
This was one of the more surprising titles. The player traverses this first-person shooter with a combination of guns and snake-like appendages, which the user can psychically manipulate to defeat enemies.

4. Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect is one of the best story-driven RPG console games from the last five years. The third instalment sees the return of Captain Shepard and all of your favourite characters from ME2. The combat system is souped-up with a number of new biotic powers, new classes and a host of new weapons.

3. Assassin’s Creed Revelations
After the dramatic ending of the third instalment (AC: Brotherhood), most fans of the franchise couldn’t wait for the conclusion of the story. The demo highlighted a number of improvements to the combat dynamics and inventory systems. Overall, the game seems very similar to the previous game, but fans of the franchise will want to know how it all ends.

2. Tomb Raider
This was one of the most surprising games at Rage. The game has been completely rebooted – Lara Croft is a 20-year-old archaeology student who gets stranded in Dragon (aka Bermuda) triangle with her mentor. She is now portrayed as a tougher character struggling to survive. Gameplay is similar to both Uncharted and Batman: Arkham Asylum, with Lara Croft solving environmental puzzles to escape. The environment is beautifully crafted and every part of the island they are stranded on can be reached.

1. Batman: Arkham City
After Arkham Asylum descends into chaos, Batman has to navigate the entire city of Gotham, fighting escaped inmates and super-villains. Batman is now able to grapple to the top of buildings and water towers, swooping down onto unsuspecting baddies. The game movement is smooth and traversing rooftops is intuitive. Combat dynamics holds true to the original game, keeping the one-person-attacks-at-a-time model, but adds a number of variations to his weapons and fighting style. This is definitely the Christmas game to look out for.