When it comes to Superhero games the selection of worthwhile entries is rather small. Undoubtedly two of the better and more acclaimed entries have been Rocksteady’s two Arkham games. Arkham Asylum managed to take people by surprise with its innovative combat system, satisfying stealth system and overall high quality. Arkham City managed to up the ante with more villains, more options and a huge map to explore. Then Arkham Origins was announced and people where skeptical. A new Developer? A Prequel? New voice actors for both Batman and the Joker? Eyebrows were raised higher and higher with ever y piece of information. Then the game was released and according to many plagued with technical problems like freezes and game-breaking bugs. Just like The Dark Knight Rises, Spider-Man 3 and X-Men 3 Arkham Origins seemed to be struck by the Curse of the third. If such a thing exists I don’t know, but whatever.
Half a year later the game has already been moved to the bargain bin at my local electronics store, sitting alongside “masterpieces” like Duke Nukem Forever and that Ride to Hell game that everybody (rightfully) hates. And since I liked the other two games, curiosity took the better of me.
Arkham Origins is, as the name implies, an origin story of sorts. Bruce Wayne has donned the cape for about a year or so and is still a just a myth among many criminals in Gotham City. It’s Christmas Eve and the caped crusader investigates a disturbance in Blackgate prison. There he learns about Black Mask’s plan to assassinate him with the help of 8 high profile Killers. So now Batman’s objective is clear: Survive the Assassins, capture Black Mask, have Alfred’s delicious Christmas ham.
Source: WB Montreal
Along the way you encounter several villains, small time criminals and corrupt policemen. You witness the beginnings of Batman’s friendship with Jim Gordon and his not so friendly relationship with characters like Bane or the Clown Prince of Crime.
The story is without a doubt one of Origins best aspects. It’s fast paced, filled with a handful of twists and is quite intense at times. It’s not perfect though, relatively early on Batman has to solve a mysterious murder-case that is supposed to be one of the game’s bigger mysteries… which would be fine hadn’t WB Montreal ruined this twist for marketing reasons to an extend that you don’t even recognize it as a twist anymore. Heck, even I have given away the surprise and you probably didn’t even notice it.
Another disappointing aspect are the assassins themselves. Out of the 8 hired you don’t even encounter all of them during the story, some are used in sidemissions. And even among the few you do encounter most are severely underdeveloped. The only one having an actual impact on the story is Bane, the others are only there to spice up the gameplay with an occasional boss fight (which are pretty good by the way). I found that a bit disappointing as I’m not too familiar with Batman’s rouge gallery so learning a bit more about someone like Copperhead or Firefly would have been okay in my book. But as it stands, Wikipedia was a bit of a necessity.
Source: WB Montreal
Underdeveloped villains and that one underwhelming plot-twist aside though Arkham Origins’ story is very enjoyable and definitely stands above Arkham City’s pile of conveniences and happenstances.
One thing that has seen a pretty drastic change are the game’s visuals. Asylum and City were most definitely rooted in Batman’s comic-origin: Enemies wore gang-specific overalls, architecture was over-stylized and unnecessarily dark and moody, the Penguin kept a shark as his pet in Arkham City. A friggin’ shark. Neither the Asylum nor the City felt particularly real, Origins however tones these roots down a bit and feels a lot more real as a result… well, as real as a world in which a rich dude dresses up like a bat and beats up a sociopathic clown and a green steroid abuser can be. The worldmap is largely the same as in City but it’s also a bit less colorful and stylized. Enemies now look a lot more like normal dudes in combat gear (although they still wear gang specific masks). If I were a cynical man I would say it loses a lot of personality and looks a bit generic, but I’m not, so I say it adds a dose of realism and makes the whole premise much more believable. I personally found Origins’ aesthetics much more appealing than Asylum’s and City’s, but that’s just me. Although I do miss that shark…
Source: WB Montreal
Just like Arkham City, Origins let’s you explore Gotham at you leisure. The world has seen a significant boost in size; although a large section is pretty much just copy/pasted from City. You still traverse the map via grappling hook and gliding from rooftop to rooftop. Occasionally you can stumble upon sidemissions and random crimes to stop but just like Arkham City Gotham feels rather empty. They address that by stating the city is under a curfew, which explains the situation but doesn’t necessarily make it any more interesting. Making Gotham inhabited by some non-criminal humans would certainly help fleshing out the world. But then again Batman communicates by punching people in the face, so I guess it makes sense to lock civilians away.
In terms of gameplay there isn’t much to discuss here unfortunately as it is pretty much Arkham City with some slight alterations. The combat is still heavily rhythm based. You attack mooks and occasionally counter their attacks. Enemies with weapons or shields need some extra effort and once you build up a long enough combo you can perform special moves like instant takedowns or special disarms. Gadgets make a return as well, but there is nothing really new here that wasn’t in City already with the exception of the shock gloves. Those can be charged during battle and, once activated, do considerately more damage. It’s a nice addition, but far from game changing.
Source: WB Montreal
So then what is new in Origins? Well, there is a new enemy type that can not only counter your attacks but also uses an attack that you need to counter twice. WB Montreal apparently went all out on that idea because that is pretty much it as far as new content goes. Everything else has been done before and done better. Why better? Well, one of Origins’ biggest problems is its lack of polish. Controls are imprecise, counter times frequently feel off and even the camera is occasionally not on your side. Many of these hiccups could be forgiven if this would be the first game in the series, but since it’s the third, it really feels like the game was rushed and needed a couple of months in the oven.
The Predator parts have apparently received not a lot of attention as well. I don’t recall a single instance that felt new or fresh. Enemies still patrol the rooms and can be taken down in a multiple ways, just like in the other two games. Pulling of an inverted takedown is really cool and watching a group of mooks get more and more paranoid as you take them out one by one is still immensely satisfying. It still feels good, but it also feels like we already did it all before.
Source: WB Montreal
Now while it may seem like I paint a rather negative picture of Origins, that is actually not really my intention. Yes, there isn’t a whole lot of new content here, but it is still an Arkham game. The combat is, despite being less polished, challenging and fun while offering a lot of visual splendor. And the Predator parts are once again intense and satisfying. It’s just “more of the same” really. City built so much atop of Asylum’s foundation and many people expected Origins to kick it up a notch (bam!), but it played it save. I’m okay with that, because the foundation is so strong and the series hasn’t reached the point of stagnation like some other franchisees have. It’s not a Nintendo IP is what I mean.
By now the game has seen a significant drop in price and there is really no reason not to play it, unless you didn’t care for the other Arkham games of course. The glitches have been ironed out (although I did experience some random framerate drops here and there), the story is entertaining, the gameplay satisfying and the game is just overall a lot of fun. It may not be the big step up that Arkham City was and it may seem like a cheap cash grab on Warner Bros. part, but I really think Arkham Origins is good enough to stand above such accusations.
Source: WB Montreal
Oh, and buying it new on the PS3 gives you access to the Knightfall-DLC letting you access to two additional costumes. One of which is the 1966 Adam West Batman. And it is glorious! Seriously, this alone warrants the purchase on the PS3, it is just that amazing. If that doesn’t qualify as good news then I don’t know what would…
There is also a multiplayer mode added, but I haven’t tried it. I just don’t care for multiplayer.
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