Also available for XBox 360, PC with versions for WiiU, PSV, Android and iOS
Released 25/10/2013
8/10
Arkham Origins is the third installment in the Batman – Arkham series of games. After the amazing revelations of the ending of Arkham City, making players thirst for answers, this game takes us back in time to well before the first title: Arkham Asylum.
Forgoing the normal slow opener that was previously a game signature, this one throws you immediately into action with a younger, less refined Batman/Bruce Wayne. The starting mission acts as a tutorial on the basics of gameplay and warms you up for what is to come.
It is Christmas Eve and the Black Mask gang has riled up trouble all through Gotham City. The streets are teeming with crooks and corrupt police officers, while the citizens have locked themselves away while a curfew is in place. It is up to Batman to put everything right.
It is not long before Batman learns that the true nature of the rioting is that eight dangerous assassins have been hired to kill him and that the gangs are merely a ploy to get him out in the open.
Little has changed since the other titles. Batman begins with a selection of classic gadgets: batarangs, explosive gel, smoke pellets, decoding device and the batclaw. The free flow combat style and the regular appearance of predator tasks remain intact. While festive decorations are about Gotham, the dark and grim atmosphere remains among the wreckage.
As before, progression through the game, completing missions and beating bad guys rewards you with experience which levels you up allowing you to purchase upgrades to armour, gadgets and skills. Slightly different to before, they come in skill trees, meaning players may have to progress along a line to reach the bonuses that they really want.
Gotham is at least double the size of Arkham City now. With a chunk of the map in its pre-prison form from the previous game, there is now a south side across a bridge with more areas to explore. Some parts of the city are still cut off though and there is no visiting the famous asylum. There are however, a lot of interiors to go through, including the Police Department, Church and of course sewers.
The game’s rogues gallery is impressive. If eight assassins were not enough, plenty of other notorious names have taken the opportunity to cause havoc and further distract Batman. For some, as the game is called ‘Origins’, this is the first time dealing with the dark knight.
The mysterious Enigma has hidden several data packages across the city which he plans to use to blackmail numerous influential figures. These take the place of the Riddler trophies of earlier games and function in much the same way: a large number of collectibles protected by traps and puzzles. Unfortunately, the exciting sections of freeing hostages from ‘Arkham City’ do not make a return, but Enigma has also hijacked a number of communication towers across the city which Batman can unlock and provide himself a location to fast travel to using the Batwing.
For those who enjoy the mind games Batman suffers through, Mad Hatter makes a return for an unusual mission, while some other enemies have a few tricks of their own.
Anarky, a gang leader driven by a desire for revolution, also gives the caped crusader a few tasks that are reminiscent of the Zsasz missions of ‘Arkham City’.
Besides these and more, there are the normal gang members. Those that wield knives, baseball bats and riot shields return, but are also joined by armoured thugs, martial arts experts and venom addicts who add extra challenge to combat.
Of course, the main thrust of the game is hunting down the assassins who are looking for bat blood. A number of boss fights are greatly improved from previous titles in which they were a weak point. Deathstroke is a test of reflexes while Bane finally puts up a fight worthy of his name.
Non-story challenges can now be accessed in the Batcave. The usual combat and predator maps return, with options to play using different batsuits and characters if you have them. Completing these rewards you with concept art that can be viewed in the main menu.
There are also now ‘Dark Knight Challenges’ in story mode. They test your skills with Batman and allow you to unlock more gadgets and moves to increase your arsenal.
The main problem with these is that they have to be completed in order. There are four paths to go along, meaning you can have at most four challenges to complete at any time, but they would be better served if all 60 were available from the beginning. Regular failures on one that you are stuck on might mean you struggle to complete them all before the game ends.
There also seems to be trouble with the game recognising whether or not you have actually completed a challenge. One such challenge is to ‘Complete a Predator room without being seen’. After doing this three times in rooms with seven or more armed guards, I had still not had the challenge successfully checked off, yet later after sneaking up on a sole sniper the reward was given.
If the supervillains and challenges weren’t enough to keep you busy, Gotham City regularly has small time crimes popping up needing Batman to step in and beat down anyone involved.
There are also a number of crime scenes for the world’s greatest detective to investigate. Batman has to scour the scene for evidence, scan and analyse it, then often reconstruct the crime using holographic projections which can be fast forwarded and rewound to find further clues to help him solve the case.
Besides that, there are several things to collect on the rounds. As well as the Enigma data packs, there are relays to smash, Anarky tags to scan, weapons caches to destroy and a lost architect diary to uncover.
The game includes a few things that have strangely been made worse than the other entries in the series. It takes Batman the same amount of effort to pull a grate from its vent as it does to tear down a weak wall. Cardboard walls now need to be exploded with gel rather than punched through, yet are not strong enough to knock out passing enemies. Though something had to be done to keep Batman from wandering off the edge of the map, it seems strange that a strong wind is too much for him to walk against when he is able to toe-to-toe with Killer Croc.
However, one thing has been done on purpose and serves the story well. Batman’s attitude is much more aggressive and raw. He’s a younger man and not as refined as he will one day be. He is still fairly new to the vigilante life and has a lot to learn. Alfred is always on hand to lend words of wisdom and advice, which at this stage, Bruce is not always willing to hear. It’s an interesting insight on how Batman is to grow into the hero he one day becomes.
Players are also treated to seeing how the Joker sees the Bat in what could almost be seen as a romantic way, in an interesting segment that comes as a nice surprise.
‘Arkham Origins’ also includes a multiplayer mode. Players join either Joker or Bane’s gang with customised goons and fight it out in turf wars in fairly standard shooter style.
The twist is that two players are randomly selected to play as Batman and Robin, who using their predator skills, pick off the thugs and attempt to stop either side from winning.
There is also the opportunity to play as Joker or Bane, but this unfortunately forces team members to compete against one another if they hope to do so.
Online play levels up your hoods and allows you to unlock more gear for them, including suits for the dynamic duo.
Each match requires 8 players, which can mean a lot of waiting around and ruined games if players leave early. Though the Invisible Predator mode is the only one currently available, future DLC may rectify this with other game options.
Overall, ‘Arkham Origins’ feels as though it has taken the other games and given you more of the same. It’s improved in some areas and though nothing is really new, it may well be a case of not fixing something that isn’t broken.
It’s bigger, crammed with more stuff and enriches the story world further. There’s little else that you can ask for.
