Batman Arkham Origins game review

Here's what you need to know, many Christmases before the events of Arkham Asylum, Black Mask puts a $50 million bounty on Batman, bringing in 8 of the world's deadliest assassins to kill the Bat. Not prepared for anything like this, Batman must save himself and Gotham on the toughest night of his career so far.

Let's address the elephant in the room, this game isn't developed by Rocksteady; the company that developed the first 2 Arkham games. I don't really have that big of a problem with that, but it is evident when playing the game; the game just lacks the same amount of detail as the Rocksteady Arkham games, the game is sorely lacking all the cute little easter eggs present in the previous Arkhams. And The world is not very interesting. The open world is split into 2 islands connected by a bridge, 1 island is just ripped straight from Arkham City and the other is just the other island, neither of these are particularly interesting to explore, and feel lifeless and empty thanks to the boring snowy environments and the lack of civilians. There are Riddler trophies, now called Inigma data packs, and random crimes to stop, but they don't keep you busy for long, and the Riddler trophies aren't as challenging as the were in Arkham City.

If you want things to do, this game has a decently sized story with a host of side quests, so a typical open world game. The story of Arkham Origins is actually extremely good. Batman hasn't been Batman for very long, and hasn't ever dealt with super villains like this before. A big part of the game is Batman's insistence on working alone, and how this is ultimately detrimental to his cause and harmful to those he loves. The game also explores how far Batman is willing to go to avoid taking a life, which I thought was really awesome to see. The assassins were all really cool as well, Deathstroke, Deadshot, Bane, etc. More on them later though. Something a lot of people weren't fond of was that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill did not return to voice Batman and the Joker. The Batman replacement does a fine job though, still managing to keep the spirit of the Arkham Asylum and City Batman. And then there's Joker, who this time is voiced by Troy Baker, and holy fucking shit, he's magnificent as Joker, I might actually prefer him to Mark Hamill, I'm serious, he does such a fantastic job that he is easily on par with Hamill. Arkham Origins is pretty much the Origins of Joker, dealing with him and Batman meeting for the first time, the psychological torment Joker inflicts on Batman, and Joker's infatuation with Batman. Arkham Origins has a really strong story, and I love it for that.

Gameplay very closely resembles Arkham City gameplay, with the same combat and stealth systems. Gadgets are as ever very important, but the gadgets aren't new or shiny, Batman only has a couple of new toys, and what returns from Arkham City is just copy paste, the Glue grenade is the worst example, that does everything the ice grenade does in Arkham City. New gadgets like the remote claw and shock gloves are somewhat overpowered, this is something I personally don't mind, but I understand why gamers looking for more of a challenge wouldn't like this. An area where gameplay is improved on previous Arkhams is boss fights, each boss fight is unique, and each requires different strategies to beat, some are more skill and time based while others require a more tactical approach. What at first was a fight I found unfair and annoying; the Deathstroke fight, quickly became my favourite fight in the game once I realised what I needed to do. The Deadshot and Firefly bosses are also favourites of mine. When exploring the dull open world you are given the option of fast travel, which is good given how A the world isn't that fun to explore and B the grapple gun is much less useful here than in previous Arkhams, the list of things you can grapple on to is somewhat short.

All in all this game has a lot of merit, having inherited an excellent combat ad stealth system from Arkham City, and telling an excellent Batman story that goes to pleasantly surprising depths with it's characters, complete with a beautiful performance from Troy Baker. That said, the game is far from perfect, with a lack of innovation from Arkham City, and a boring and not worth exploring open world with none of the love or detail found in the Rocksteady games. This is still worth the time of any Batman Arkham fan, and it's still a very well made game, just don't expect he same greatness as in Arkham Asylum or City.