PixlBit

 I Am BATMAN!

Hello everyone how, are you? Today is Batman Day, a day we celebrate the World's Greatest Detective/Hero, Batman. You all know how much I freaking love Batman. And instead of doing the usual why I love Batman stuff, I decided to try something different and write about Batman: Arkham Origins. Batman Arkham Origins is, as the name implies, origins on the Batman Arkham games, a prequel of sorts, which has been out for 3-ish years now.

I waited this long to get it because reviews said it wasn't that good and it was too buggy. In fact, they did patch the game but they never fixed all the bugs. Some of those are game breaking ones too, so there was no way I was paying full price for something that has Bethesda's Quality control. So I waited till I saw it for a good price earlier this year. So here are my thoughts on, Batman: Arkham Origins, 3 years later... 

The game has us play as Batman on his one man war against crime. Except this time, he's not the awesome Batman we all know, he's a much less refined/experienced Batman. If any of you have ever seen The Batman cartoon, well think of it like that, but in video game form. We get to see how Batman met his (In)famous Rogues Gallery for the first time, like Penguin, Killer Croc and so on, to some much lesser known villains like Anarchy and... the Electrocutioner.

This time around, Black Mask is the main baddie and has connections to all of Gotham's criminal underworld. However, Batman has thrown a wrench into Black Mask's plan and he has put a bounty on Batman's head, thus has attracted unwanted attention to Gotham City and Batman himself.

All of hell is breaking loose, or will on Christmas Eve if Batman doesn't stop him, and the 8 assassin's after the bounty. The game plays just like the other PS360 Arkham games, with some tweaks obviously. But basically, if you've played those games, then you know what to expect from the gameplay. There are some new gadgets though, so it's not literally the same gadgets you've used, even though there's the usual returning gadgets. New to the game are the Shock Gloves, which, when turned on, can power up Batman's punches with electricity. They aren't technically new as they were on Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition on the Wii U, but they will be new if you never played that one. It makes fights too easy though as you can punch through shields and armored enemies. But they are useful in a pinch.

New to the game is the ability to recreate crime scenes for more clues. I really thought it was neat. It can help you pin point clues to recreate certain events that helps you determine the prime suspect or the cause of death of the victim and so forth. You really get to play detective this time cause you're really looking for clues and following a trail. That and we get to see Batman use his detective skills.

The map of the game is basically most if not all of the map of Arkham City before it was Arkham City with new areas, so it (probably) has a bigger map. It's big and there's alot to do. There's crimes going on, trails to follow, things to collect, and areas to explore. 

Due to the bigger map, this time you can use the Batwing to travel to key locations around the city. You can't use it as take control and pilot it directly, but just pick your key location and away you go. Considering you have taken down a jamming signal in radio towers to allow you to fly there.

Boss fights seem really good actually, didn't think I wouldn't enjoy them, but I did. They actually seem like a step up from Arkham Asylum. Not sure about Arkham City though, as I play Asylum more than City, but the boss fights are really enjoyable. The Bane boss fight here is actually better than the Asylum one. You confront him a few times in the game before the final confrontation with him, and it borrows from the Mr. Freeze fight from City, but was really enjoyable.

Deathstroke's boss fight was easily my favorite. It's not often I get to see a villain or an opponent who has the same skills as Batman in a game. It was really fun as you just can't just spam attacks, you have to be able to counter attacks, dodge exploding propane thanks (bwah!) and more. It's really satisfying at the end. There are alot that borrow from previous games actually.

 As for the story itself, well it's good. Not the best, but still good. There are some plotholes and it's inconsistant with the other games actually. I really did like the Joker here, I thought he was done well. It's the first time Batman has met the Joker, so I was kinda worried how they'd do it, but he might be the best part of the game actually.

One thing I did like is that here, everyone treats Batman like a myth, or an urban legend, it kinda reminds me of the begining of the 1989 Batman movie where some thugs are talking about Batman being a myth or something. That also happened in the Batman cartoon too. Thugs here call him the Bat or the Bat-man. It's really cool seeing that.

Other than that, we see Batman ally himself with Gordon for the first time towards the end of the game. As well as seeing Alfred not being too fond of Bruce going out at night dressed as a bat. The story has alot of neat moments.

The game even has a multiplayer mode. I always thought of a mp mode in Batman would work as 2 players being Batman and Robin taking down thugs, or something like the 1966 Batman tv how. I would of loved that. I tried it for a bit and thought it was neat, but it crashes too much.

Final Thoughts: The game isn't too bad actually, I enjoyed it to be honest. Thankfully I didn't experience any game breaking bugs. One of the bugs involved having to start the game from scratch. I did see some really funny glitches, but nothing game breaking. Story is pretty good, except there are inconsitancies with the previous games. The Joker was probably the best part of the game, as well as some or most boss fights. I really loved playing as unrefined Batman and really like his armored look.

Voice acting was really good actually. Really loved the new voice actors for Batman and the Joker. Everyone else was pretty good too.

Problem is, the game is too similar or feels too familiar to Arkham Asylum/City, if you played those games, then you know what I mean. While I never ran into anything game breaking, there's still bugs in it. There's even some texturing problems too. That and the multiplayer mode crashes too often, but if you're not interested, then don't bother. You'd think the Quality Control in games would be better these days.

The game had alot of ground to cover and hype behind it being a prequel to the best Batman games. It's like a prequel that didn't need to exist. But if you can find it really cheap then go for it. It's a good game, but I recommend Asylum over this one.

There's also a mode that if you die once, it's game over and you start from the begining of the game. There's also a dlc pack that adds a new story to the game but haven't tried it. I'll do a follow up post when I try both.

So that's my thoughts on Batman: Arkham Origins, 3 Years Later. Have you ever tried this game? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Thanks for reading and Happy Batman Day everyone!