Here's 17 Minutes (!!!) of Narrated Batman: Arkham Origins Gameplay

'Thanks for explaining how to use the thing i built, Alfred! BTW, you look a little haggard, Old Chap!'

A lot of things are not as glorious as the previous games.

I don't understand you guys. Why is everybody whining about this being "Assassin's Creed-ified?" It's the third game in 6 years. Not the 6th game in 6 years. I cannot comprehend why people are acting so burned out on a high quality series, like three games in one generation is too much... please. This single-handedly brought comic book hero games into relevance. Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty are rehashed twice as often at half the quality, yet they still sell through the roof every year. Incomprehensible.

And it's obvious that the framerate issues are due to how they captured the source video. I agree that it's a huge mistake to release something like this to promote the game, but we've already seen the game in action 5 months ago and it ran like a dream. Watch the Machinima demo video. Unless they bombed the framerate in the last 5 months of development, the game will run just fine. Granted, it could just be the PS3 version that blows, it wouldn't be the first time. If that's the case, buy it on PC or 360 instead. Btw, this commentary is much better and explains why Batman may have different/better gadgets at an earlier chronology. Basically, he doesn't always leave the cave with the same configuration and is constantly changing, testing, and tweaking his loadout. Might sound flimsy but canonically, it's totally accurate.

I had this on pre-order, loved the cinematic between batman and black mask , but this, ... looks incredibly recycled and dull. Infact once I saw all the gliding around the city, I was immediately brought back to the tiresome, riddler trophy stunts and how un fun that shit was. (infact never finished them in AC) the framerate and really plain looking city has me thinking this is the wii u version or something.

A stripped down, more younger an vulnerable version of batman would have been way more fun, and I feel it was a missed opportunity not being able to drive the batmobile around the city and removing the long distance glide

Yes, Hamill was very unlikely to be coming back, because he said the Joker voice was killing his vocal chords. And I believe the re-casting of Bruce was a good faith attempt to address him being younger - but I also think it was still a mistake. Kevin Conroy's Batman doesn't sound old; he has a great, deep, growly voice that is absolutely perfect for the character, and completely timeless (he's been doing it for approximately 15-20 years now). Plus, it's not like the Arkham City Bruce Wayne was depicted as being noticeably old.

So yeah, I get their reasoning. I just think it was an unforced error. I'm sure the game will still be good.

@dudelongcouch: I don't think it's really a case of people getting burned out on the franchise. I think it's more that many feel this particular entry feeling was tacked on just to get a little more mileage out of the current gen install base while Rocksteady works on the next true game in the series. Along the same lines as Gears of War: Judgment and God of War: Ascension, this looks like it's a bit of tired attempt to fill in this awkward time where things are starting to transition to a new generation of hardware.

I haven't seen this video yet, but I've seen another narrated video of theirs, where they said the opposite - that the GCPD is rife with corruption, and Batman has little to no respect for them whatsoever at this point. The game even goes out of it's way to show you how crooked they are, what with beating homeless people for sport, phone calls about tampering with evidence, and of course, a bunch of them trying to kill Batman for the Black Mask. You sure you heard it right? They even said it would be a point of some friction between Bruce and Alfred, because Alfred doesn't want to see them harmed.

Also, if you're read seminal B-Man comics like Dark Knight Returns, you know Batman has no problem knocking out some cops if they get in his way. He just doesn't kill people.

I'm excited for this game. The use of lesser-known villains like Copperhead could be really cool for Batman fans.

EDIT: You're totally right, they do say he's "pulling punches" with the cops, though as far as I can tell, the only difference is that he isn't hanging them from gargoyles or using explosive gel on them. What a humanitarian, haha.

A truly open-world Batman game with the Batmobile and everything would be awesome if done right, but it would require a complete reinvention of these games, because the scope would have to be way bigger for driving to be any fun. Perhaps this kind of massive change is what Rocksteady are working on.

My only concern with this game right now, is the framerate. It's the only reason I haven't already pre-ordered.

Amazons $10 credit had me on a pre order but after this video, ehhhh not so sure. Rather wait for some reviews and a black friday sale.

The narration on this video is painful. So slow and over-enunciated, like they are talking to five year olds, and want to make sure we understand all the words.

Wow, people aren't kidding about the framerate huh...

Oh well.... Let's suffer through a few until next month.

Edit: Having now fully watched it, I'm convinced it's mostly a problem with the video. Right?

Man, look at that framerate! I have a feeling that this video was made ages ago on an earlier build of the game. Hopefully it doesn't look that chuggy when it releases this week.

"he will not treat the GCPD with the same random brutality"

*punches GCPD guard roughly ten times*

Well, at least the two people talking over the game seem to think it looks great...

Looks like more Batman. Don't know that I care.

Wow, I'm conflicted on a number of levels. It's undeniably Batman. As. Fuck. They are definitely taking the evolution not revolution approach, but the first two Arkham games were really good so I guess that's fine. But I'm not sure making an environment twice as large as AC was the way to go. That already felt large enough. In fact, I actually preferred AA because although it's mechanically inferior to its sequel, it felt like a tighter, more focused experience. And it'd be nice if piloting the Batwing was more than just a cutscene. I think it'd be awesome to actually pilot it yourself, between buildings, under bridges and then eject and dive down to your target.

On the plus side though, I think I prefer the new VA over Kevin Conroy, who came off as a little too robotic and emotionless in the other Arkham games for my liking. The moment-to-moment action appears to be more diverse and interesting. I wish they would have stepped outside the shadow of Rocksteady a bit more, but I've seen enough to be on board for this. I think I'll probably jump on that GMG 25% off deal.

I have not turned my back on this game by any means. Nor have I watched this video...and I do not think I will. I have read about it at steam and also every comment here.

I think I may wait for a review or 2, but despite it not being the by now experienced dev, Arkham Origons from other sources than this video sounds good. And though I would buy console in a second if that is what I had, I have my pc (and a controller). I am not often the best video game player, and there was a moment in Arkham city where I caught on what to do, and the game seemed to recognize it. Magic moment, and I prevailed with nearly zip health or whatever. That plus the dark and visually goth story line is what I hope for, a good game based on something I usually now do not care about, a comic book hero.

I hope they add an option to turn off snow effects. Consoles gamers are going to be "playing" a slideshow.

Holy FUCK that framerate! Jesus!

Batman is supposed to be emotionless. At least I always read the comics as dead flat. He yells a bit for emphasis, but for the most part Batman is flat. Only two emotions, Batman and BATMAN

That framerate is terrible, good thing i wasnt planning on getting this game

The PC steam sale can't come soon enough for this one.

Make. Them. Stop. Talking.

More of the same then...

You can tell these are the same dudes who made Armored Edition because of all these awful frame drops. Here's hoping the PC version is a bit better.

This looks pretty good, I don't know what people were expecting other than a solid sequel. I was really worried they would try to do too much, they realized Arkham City is one of the greatest games ever and did a smart thing by simply adding a few features and changing things rather than overhauling anything. I mean come on, combat in these games is a genius level accomplishment.

When he said "Now, Batman is not stupid." I had a stupid idea, for a batman comic called "Batman is Stupid", where Batman is literally stupid, and somehow doesn't know how any of his own equipment works. Basically like The Tick, except he's still got that super serious tone.

So Commissioner Gordon can call up and say "The Joker is at the main street Museum!" and Batman would say "I don't know where that is."

Or somebody would escape through a door, locks it, and Batman would just stand there and say "I don't know how to open this door."

It doesn't really work.

I would read the shit out of that!

anyways I still don't like how they keep saying "this a younger inexperienced Batman" and then he proceeds to take down guys like it's nothing, I don't see how they translate the whole year one Batman into gameplay.

I say they have the gameplay down pat but oh boy, they got to work on that frame-rate.

This looks pretty neat actually, and makes me want to go back and finish Arkham City. That said the frame rate is garbage and I wasn't too impressed with the facial animation during the conversation between Batman and Alfred.

I think I'll wait for a cheap PC/PS4 version.

Holy negative mindsets galore! Jesus people, it's like the pessimism is beyond contagious up in here, to the point where so many of you rag on what is clearly video production issues (the framerate).

But I guess that's the Internet for you - spewing venom regarding things not a single one of us has any idea about.

This looks like it has the potential to be just as fun as the previous two games. Granted I don't know that I'm hungry for a third Batman game at this point but I might still pick it up.

I don't know about that...I remember Arkham City on PS3 turning into some level of bullet-time at certain spots, when you were stricted to a single room with dozen of baddies coming at you. That said, I still loved that game and don't really recall it ever really bothered me, even when it happened. Got even worse with Far Cry 3, which is one of the few console games that made me go "Oh maaan, that framerate is really terrrrrible..." more often than once. But I loved that game just as much.

So that being said, I'll probably end up enjoying this, only if it's Arkham City 1.5...though if it isn't good and also has that sloppy framerate on top of that, then I might sigh out loud and slap myself for pre-ordering...

Yeah it suffers from the same re-hash treatment as AC, but the combat in these games is, y'know... good. Also Playing on whatever difficulty that removes counter warnings is the most engaging way to play a Batman: Arkham Whatever game.

"Now, Batman's not stupid."

Though choppy, still looks pretty good. This video inspired me to re-download and play Arkham City.

Yeah, weird how so many games are being demoed on PS3 instead of 360 these days. Some marketing push by Sony to get more exposure maybe?

I like that super cool text in the middle of the screen, obscuring what i'm doing. Thank's UI designer!

I'll be skipping this one, and that framerate is the worst.

Good on the developers for making their own "quick look" though.

That fucking framerate. Why, WHY do they insist on playing demos on consoles?

@pr1mus: I got a chance to play a preview of this game and the framerate was horrific. I never get motion sickness in games or anything, but it was genuinely making me feel a little ill while playing, it was that jarring, especially when you were out in the heavy snow

<3 the first two Arkham games, and while I kinda would like to play this at some point, it doesn't have nearly the same TAS appeal as the Rocksteady games.

I really hope they're not wasting their time on a Superman game :(

Twice as big traversal area as AC ain't exactly selling me on this. But seeing Bats take down goons in a variety of ways in a smaller space similar to AA gets me excited again. Frame rate schmame rate, this looks good.

Batman games need more Bruce Wayne mode. Charity dinners, being rich, maybe a dating sim. I wanna hang out in Wayne Manor and have Alfred make me cookies.

Low fps... I hope that's somehow being aggravated by the way they captured the video.

If Batman isn't all buddy-buddy with the GCPD in this game, then who owns/turned on the Bat-signal?