Batman Arkham Origins
Developer: Warner Bros. Games
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Release Date: 25/10/2013
Format: PC, PS3, Xbox360, Wii U
With both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City gaining a multitude of plaudits from videogame critics all over the world, when Rocksteady handed their final entry in the trilogy to new developers Warner Bros. Games Montreal – gamers and Batman fans around the world feared the worst. How on earth could a fairly uninspiring set of developers craft a Batman game with the same passion, technical expertise and quality storyline that Rocksteady had managed? Would they be able to live up to the hype, or would their game be a shambles in comparison to those that came before it. Well, it’s a no to both those questions…
Arkham Origins is a technical mess. Even though all the core game mechanics remain intact, frame rate issues are a plenty, and the occasional glitch will force you to restart missions in order to complete them properly. The new gadgets and combat moves are very poorly balanced, and take away much of the skill and cunning required in previous games. Electric gauntlets (activated by pressing R3 and L3) essentially act as an instant win strategy – making each of your blows near fatal to enemies. A new double sided grapple hook – allowing you to attach one side to enemies, and one to something in the environment – make predator sections all too easy. With three shots of the device allowed in each section, you are near enough guaranteed to take out three enemies silently by attaching them to gargoyles without any hassle. These technical faults and game breaking gadgets are without a doubt the biggest issue I had with the game.
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Release Date: 25/10/2013
Format: PC, PS3, Xbox360, Wii U
With both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City gaining a multitude of plaudits from videogame critics all over the world, when Rocksteady handed their final entry in the trilogy to new developers Warner Bros. Games Montreal – gamers and Batman fans around the world feared the worst. How on earth could a fairly uninspiring set of developers craft a Batman game with the same passion, technical expertise and quality storyline that Rocksteady had managed? Would they be able to live up to the hype, or would their game be a shambles in comparison to those that came before it. Well, it’s a no to both those questions…
Arkham Origins is a technical mess. Even though all the core game mechanics remain intact, frame rate issues are a plenty, and the occasional glitch will force you to restart missions in order to complete them properly. The new gadgets and combat moves are very poorly balanced, and take away much of the skill and cunning required in previous games. Electric gauntlets (activated by pressing R3 and L3) essentially act as an instant win strategy – making each of your blows near fatal to enemies. A new double sided grapple hook – allowing you to attach one side to enemies, and one to something in the environment – make predator sections all too easy. With three shots of the device allowed in each section, you are near enough guaranteed to take out three enemies silently by attaching them to gargoyles without any hassle. These technical faults and game breaking gadgets are without a doubt the biggest issue I had with the game.
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Luckily, you still feel like Batman, despite a few uncharacteristic new animations – would Batman really skip around like a boxer in combat? Why doesn’t he just walk like in previous games? The atmosphere also holds true to the previous games. Gotham City now comes kitted out with creepy Christmas decorations hanging from cold, lifeless walls. You get a real uneasy sense as you explore – the game really captures that time at night when a city is dead. No one is around apart from the odd thug, and eerie Christmas music oozes out from various buildings and apartments. However, despite larger, the city feels a lot emptier than in previous games. Don’t expect the same amount of detail that you found in Arkham City – it just isn’t there. There aren’t even proper Riddles anymore, probably due to the lack of detailed scenery the player can take photos of to solve them.
Where Arkham Origins shines though, is its story. Warner Bros. Montreal has played a clever trick with the marketing of the game –
the story really isn’t as simple as they were leading you to believe. Yes, eight assassins are out to kill Batman on Christmas Eve; but don’t expect to go through them one by one until the credits role. The story quickly takes an unexpected twist, and what follows is some of the greatest character building both The Joker and Batman have ever seen. Arkham Origins isn’t an action game – it’s a love story.
Despite the plot holding my interest until the very end, the games frequent copy-work of the previous two in the series really holds it back. Some “shock scenes” are literally pulled straight from the old games, and make you cringe more than they surprise you. Both Rodger Craig Smith (Batman) and Troy Baker (The Joker) aren’t as iconic as Conroy and Hamill either, although Baker at least does The Joker justice with his modern take on Hamill’s vocals.
So, is Origins any good? Yes. Is it as good as the previous two games? Absolutely not. However, for the story alone, this one is worth picking up for a reasonable price.
Where Arkham Origins shines though, is its story. Warner Bros. Montreal has played a clever trick with the marketing of the game –
the story really isn’t as simple as they were leading you to believe. Yes, eight assassins are out to kill Batman on Christmas Eve; but don’t expect to go through them one by one until the credits role. The story quickly takes an unexpected twist, and what follows is some of the greatest character building both The Joker and Batman have ever seen. Arkham Origins isn’t an action game – it’s a love story.
Despite the plot holding my interest until the very end, the games frequent copy-work of the previous two in the series really holds it back. Some “shock scenes” are literally pulled straight from the old games, and make you cringe more than they surprise you. Both Rodger Craig Smith (Batman) and Troy Baker (The Joker) aren’t as iconic as Conroy and Hamill either, although Baker at least does The Joker justice with his modern take on Hamill’s vocals.
So, is Origins any good? Yes. Is it as good as the previous two games? Absolutely not. However, for the story alone, this one is worth picking up for a reasonable price.
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Positives
+ Quality Story + Eerie Gotham + Nails Batman and Joker’s relationship + Detective sections are improved Negatives - Copies Rocksteady’s games too often - Overpowered gadgets - Empty City - Glitches are common |
7.4/10
Jack Gillespie |
