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Batman: Arkham Origins Review
Batman games have been a huge success in the past thanks to the talented bunch over at Rocksteady studio, butnow the franchise is in the hands of Warner Bros and you have to wonder… Can they continue the success of this super-ninja badass?
It’s Christmas Eve and 2 years since Batman first started his crimefighting career. A ruthless crime lord named Black mask has put a generous bounty on Batman’s head which has encouraged 8 of the world’s deadliest assassins to venture into Gotham City and try and pick up the reward.
Gameplay is as smooth as it has always been but there is nothing new here. It’s the same “X” button tapping and odd “Y” tap in order to counter, and yes it looks great and works brilliantly, but, come on, let’s change it up a bit. You will (as you did last time) glide about the map beating on groups of people and police and justify it by saying “They were corrupt”. How many corrupt police and dogdgy gangs are there in Gotham? Does Batman definitely know this as fact, or does he have an illness where he constantly feels the need to bully and kick the *Beep* out of innocent people and government workers?
Back at the bat cave you can go into challenge maps and earn rewards for use in the campaign, change your batsuit, collect new inventions modified by Alfred or just mince about and check out how cool your cave is. Alfred is a-bit-of-a-loose-cannon, too. He often shouts at Batman, trying to get him to reconsider leaving the cave and helping the innocent due to a promise he made to Bruce’s parents. Obviously, Batman won’t have any of it and leaves in a mood, and with his huge ego problem.
As mentioned above, there are 8 villains but there is no guarantee you will see them all. You have to actually select some of the villain’s missions in order to hear/see the story they have to offer. Definitely do this because some of the missions are great and should have been part of the campaign in the first place... Silly WB! But if you can’t be bothered, just stick to the Mad Hatter missions and enjoy the story as it flows.
Graphically, you won’t have anything bad to say about the design and layout of the city. Eerie snow covered streets with neon lights and dark alleys make up a brilliant and cold city full of crime and deceit. Batman looks superb and as cool as ever and the villains are quirky and a twisted, strange bunch that fit brilliantly, as usual.
The biggest problems I have with Batman: Arkham Origins are…. The camera angle is, at times, a little too far over to the side of the screen. Quite often I missed my chance to counter and ended up getting my face smashed in or even killed. This is very frustrating as you can imagine. On top of this, boss battles can be a nuiscance. Bosses are hard (as they should be) but no matter how far you get their health down, if you get killed you have to start over and with the added annoyance of the camera, this may happen often until you start to awkwardly use the right analogue stick whilst fighting in order to gain a slight advantage. Your hands will at times, ache due to the constant tapping of the “X” button but thankfully you can pause the game and give yourself a break before the muscles totally lock up and leave you like an arthritis ridden electrician. The map is a bit of a pain at times too. When you have an incident to attend you will see the Bat sign in the clouds, so obviously, you head for it. When you get there you will more often than not have to go into a building but this is not as easy as it sounds. At one point I scaled the whole of a skyscraper in order to try and find the entry to the building and no lie, it took me 15 minutes to find the door and it wasn’t even on the building it was meant to be. Maybe I was being stupid but this happened far too often. I blame WB!
Batman: Arkham Origins is a great game and can keep you occupied for hours, especially if you’re a collector, but it plays it safe and is very predictable. I am a fan of the saying ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ but I can’t help but feel that Warner Bros should have and could have made a few changes and added some variations to the combat system rather than a couple of shoddy multiplayer modes and a new gadget. At the very least, rent Batman: Arkham Origins but if you’re a true Batman fan, you’ll probably buy it regardless of what anyone says.
8/10
Review By Wicket2961
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