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Games of the Decade: Expansion Pass #21/Blog a Day #10

Hello everyone, how are you?

As mentioned before, these past few years have been good to video games based on licensed properties. For the most part. Take Batman for example, games have been kind to the Dark Knight for these past few years with the amazing Arkham Trilogy by Rocksteady Studios. Though technically there are 5 games in the Arkham series. One of them is considered the black sheep of the series known as Batman: Arkham Origins...

                                        The music in this game is pretty amazing

I remember being excited when this game was announced, however there were some doubts from many. 2 of the things people were worried about was that this game is a prequel to the entire Arkham series. And the other one was that this game was being made by a different developer, WB Games Montreal. I understand why people were worried, so I decided to take a wait and see approach and wait to see what everyone had to say once it released. It was a good thing I waited since the game was plagued with glitches and bugs at launch, which is reminicent of a recent game. I remember finally buying the game in early 2016 at a price I felt the game was worth getting, which was $20 for a new copy, with some free dlc included too.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a prequel that takes place 8 years before Arkham Asylum and it takes place within year two of Bruce Wayne assuming the role of Batman. He's more aggressive and hotheaded, not quite the refined Batman were were used to in Asylum and City. Gotham City crime lord Black Mask has put a $50-million bounty on Batman's head which has attracted 8 of the world's most dangerous assassins to Gotham to take down Batman and claim said bounty. All this, happening on Christmas Eve. But how's the actual game?

          But happens if you kill Batman the next day? How much money will you get?

If you've played any of the previous Arkham games then you know what to expect here in terms of gameplay. Batman pretty much controls and plays the same as he did in Asylum and City which isn't a bad thing. He does come with some new tricks in his utility belt though. For one, Detective Mode, a staple of the franchise has been expanded upon. You can now recreate crime scenes using holograms and view them from from a first-person perspective as you attempt to search for clues to solve a crime or part of it till you move on another area to recreate the next part of a crime scene. I definitely feel this is a really cool touch and it really puts you in Batman's boots.

The Shock Gloves are a new addition to Batman's crime fighting tech, well he technically took them from an enemy, and these things make Batman stupidly overpowered. They give 2x the damage to regular thugs, they can penetrate the defenses of armored enemies, penetrate through shields, and you can counter stun batons. You can pretty much take on every type of enemy the gtame throws at you. Imean sure you have to wait for the to recharge when you want to use them again but once you use them all bets are off.

The map of the game is pretty much the same one from Arkham City, but with some new areas sprinkled in to explore. I really love the Christmas backdrop in the game, it really makes for quite an interesting atmosphere in Gotham. One of the best things about the game are the boss fights. Rocksteady's games are great but an area that they are severly lacking in are the boss fights  I feel like they have some of, if not the best fights in the entire series here in Origins. When I fought one of the bosses in Origins, I was really amazed at how good it was and that same boss was in Arkham Knight, I thought how amazing it would be on the PS4. Except it was rather dissapointing. 

Alfred: May I persuade you to take a sandwich with you, sir? Batman: I'll get drive-through

"But Captain N, where can I play this game?" Well you're in luck, it's available on PS3, 360, Wii U, and PC. It goes on sale quite often on PC and on Xbox, however it is backwards compatible on Xbox One so I feel like that might be the best way to play it. Wii U could also be a good way to play it but it's missing the online multiplayer if you care about that and I heard that it messes up the disc reader, I can't confirm if that's true or not since I never played it but I'd avoid that one just in case. Online was fun but it is something that was unnecessary. The game hasa season pass and it comes with some story dlc called Cold, Cold Heart, which yes it's like the famous Batman: TAS episode Heart of Ice. That alone makes the pass worth it.

Final Thoughts: Batman: Arkham Origins is a really underrated game, it definitely doesn't deserve all the hate it got. One thing I really loved about the game is how Batman is seen as a myth or an urban legend which I found was a neat twist to the story. The only other time I have ever seen it is in The Batman cartoon where Gotham thought that Batman was nothing but an urban legend till he started fighting super villains. It feels like that's where that inspiration came from. I have no idea if the comics did something similar though.

One thing I really loved is Batman's relationship will Alfred in this game. I really loved the dynamic between those two in this game. Alfred is Bruce Wayne's butler and has been a father figure for him since the death of his parents. He doesn't really approve of Bruce using his family fortune to dress up in a costume to fight crime ut at the same time he really isn't against it. There are many times he offers words of wisdom and there's even times that they oth come at odds. While I loved Rocksteady's trilogy, that's one thing I feel that Origin's did so much better here.

However with is being a prequel there are some inconsistencies with the games that are supposed to come after this one. I did love the story but I feel like it definitely could have been better. The bugs and glitches at launch didn't help at all. The game feels more of the same but I imagined they thought if it works, why fix it? Thing is while that's true, that shouldn't stop them from trying to improve. You can only release a game from a frachise with minimal changes so many times till people get sick of it. Just because it prints money doesn't mean you shouldn't try to do better.

                                                          SWEAR TO ME!!!

It's not perfect, but Batman: Arkham Origins is a really great game and if had the game had no glitches and if the wasn't a copy and paste of Arkham City it would of been seen in the same light as the rest of the Arkham trilogy. It's a shame it never got a remaster since I imagine if they fixed any issues then it could of been a better game. Still, it was a treat seeing Batman in his early years, unrefined but could still beat you in a fight. It's definitely my favorite Christmas game and definitely the best one.

Like all of us in our early years, we weren't the best, we were learning as we go. Never forget were we all started from, take that as a lesson to see what we failed at and to see as a way to improve. Failure is the greatest teacher and the best we can do is to take something from that and try again the next time and keep on trying till we improve.

So that is it for this one. For the next one we are going to be running in the 90's to a more simpler time, but re-imagined. See you later and remember...