Batman: Arkham Origins Review
The following does contain some spoilers for the game. So if it's still sitting in your backlog and you'd like to go in fresh, don't continue. I also haven't touched the multiplayer and despite some bad reviews about it I wouldn't mind jumping in and trying it if anyone would like to play on the PS3.
Arkham Asylum was one of my favorite games of the last generation. Achieving that same level of success while growing and improving the franchise isn't easy. Arkham City tried its best and did improve on the original concept of being motherfucking Batman. For me though City introduced a little too much to the formula but I couldn't complain, I was playing more Batman and enjoying it. When Origins came out I avoided it. RockSteady, the developer of the first two games, weren't working on Origins and as it came out it already seemed too soon after City's release. That along with middling reviews drove me to stay away from the Bat's newest adventure. Eventually though I found myself a cheap, new, copy of Origins and snagged it up for the PS3. I expected more Batman but without much added. What I got was a hodgepodge of ideas, old and new, and a technical mess you normally don't see in a fully released AAA title.
Origins is just that, an origin tale about how became known more as a Gotham savoir than vigilante. You watch as Batman and eventual Commissioner Gordon get to be on good terms, you see as The Joker begin to wage his brand of insanity upon Gotham, and you explore more of the city of Gotham than ever before. The usual combat system is still in place, your gadgets are just as varied (even if that doesn't follow the timeline of the other games), and your ability to glide and repel around the city is fully intact. Even the tried and true formula of story is alive in the game but it fails to consistently feel fresh.
The overall story design of being Batman trying to figure out what these crazy villains are doing all in one night just isn't believable. The streets are empty because it's Christmas Eve and there is a snow storm but yet every few buildings has criminals hanging around? The story seems tacked onto the technical limitations of creating a new game on top of the old one. And that's the glaring fault within Origins.
Most of Origins is a rehash of City. Even Gotham's map is mostly the same with a sizable southern portion added on over a bridge. Gone, however, are the many grappling points making gliding through the city feel more like a game of dodge-ball with buildings than the Dark Knight searching for criminal scum. Moreover the villains mostly seem like filler before getting to the main villain, the Joker. The story between the Joker and Batman is really interesting. It examines the nature of Batman's existence and if he causes Gotham's problems or cures them. It sets up the continual struggle the two will have for their entire lives but before you can do so you need to fight Firefly and other Batman villains. It was neat to see some of the lesser known villains pop up and pester the Bat but seeing Bane, Mad Hatter, and the Riddler all around again to fill in the gaps wasn't necessary. Batman's villains are arguably the best in comics but yet you fight Bane...twice.
The biggest sin committed by Origins are the technical issues. Playing on the PS3 I was met with hitching, frame rate drops, a lock up, an audio bug, and a game breaking disappearing elevator. Any time the game transitioned between cut scene and actual gameplay it hitched. When the game was saving, loading, or doing pretty much any two things at once it hitched. This happened in boss fights, surrounded by thugs, and even during the final interactive scene before the final cut scene. This was shockingly bad for a major released from a big publisher. These bugs almost made the game unplayable at points and required a restart a handful og times. At one point I removed the game from my console and put it up before caving in and hoping to push past it all and finish the game, which I did.
Note: While trying to look up a walkthrough to gauge about how far I was in the game and how much longer I had to go I found an article, from February, saying WB Games had stopped updating for bug fixes to focus on DLC. A real let down if that's still the case.
Overall I really think I could have enjoyed this game. It wasn't anything too new from the Arkham franchise but it was an interesting addition. But the rehashed ideas combined with the inexcusable technical issues ruined the height of fun I could have been having. I'm looking forward to see what RockSteady can achieve with their upcoming Arkham Knight because Warner Brothers left them with a gaping hole in a franchise that could really be a lot better.
