TRO is back at it again with yet another Batman game! I still don't know what took me so long to try these out...
Batman: Arkham Origins is the third game in the Arkham series, although Origins, true to its name, comes first in the timeline. Origins has all of the hallmarks of a game that is destined to fail. It's a third game in a series that came very quickly after the first and second (2009 to 2013), it's the biggest game of all of them in terms of geography, development was handled by a studio different than the previous two, the writing staff changed, the voice actors changed, they added a multiplayer feature, etc. ad nauseam. There are a lot of areas for this one to disappoint, and so I was looking forward to this one least of all.
So how did it actually stack up, once I experienced it? The gameplay is still remarkably similar to the gameplay in City, with an open world for you to explore (Gotham City this time, rather than Arkham City), enemies everywhere to defeat, missions to complete, more minor crimes to investigate, and a sinister plot that threatens the future for all of Gotham City's innocent citizens. The plot basically begins with the idea that Black Mask (Roman Sionis) has placed a huge bounty on Batman's head, and hired the best assassins in the world to carry out the hit. For various reasons, this plot point didn't remain the central idea, but I don't want to spoil it. It was actually ok, but it wasn't the most convincing plot twist I've seen.
The world you explore just doesn't seem quite as delightful as the one in City. You now have a fast travel feature, which is nice, but the actual city is poorly designed and uninteresting. Some of the textures look PS2-esque, and the snow in particular is just a flat white carpet that coats everything. I kind of wonder if they set the story at Christmas just so they didn't have to use more detailed textures. There are also a lot of technical problems with the game in comparison to the smoothness of the other two. There are times when you'll get "stuck" upon going to a new area, and it will take a while to load. There's also a lot of slowdown and lag at certain parts of the game than there was in the previous two. It's pretty clear that this was a different team programming the game, and they weren't able to optimize it quite as well as the original studio. The levels are also not quite as fun to return to, with only a handful of secrets riddled throughout once you obtain all of Batman's technology.
Combat is still an absolute blast, and is the main reason that I was ready to dive back into a third Batman game. The animations are basically identical to City, but it was so good then that it's hard to complain. The boss fights, however, were much superior to those in either of the two earlier games.
Batman's progression system is a delight in this game, and is more detailed and fun than in the previous games. His progression seems more impactful here, and you can unlock additional upgrades by progressing through different achievement lists in the game. This encourages you to play around more with all of Batman's abilities, and creates a more convincing narrative reason why Batman should be advancing in skills throughout the game.
The writing, which I was nervous about, is actually excellent. The game definitely leans in to the age old Batman tension of "is this psychopath actually making things better"? Of course, as usual, the answer is yes. But interactions with Joker, Anarky, and James Gordon in particular will really make you question the effectiveness of Batman's interventions into the world of Gotham City. This narrative trend also works due to the brutality of Batman's fighting, feature arm and leg snapping, frequent taunts about whether or not a criminal will ever walk again or need to be fed through a tube, etc. The voice acting is also quite good, despite featuring an all-new cast.
The secrets in this game aren't quite as clever as City, but I didn't mind that. There's something fun about collecting all of the trophies, and if it's too hard, it's not fun anymore. There were also way too many in City, so I actually got all of them this time. There's also a more serious narrative journey attached to these trophies, as they're now encrypted datapacks containing extortion files for Gotham's residents. This was a really nice change.
The music in the game was just fine. It's your typical Batman music, and I enjoyed it.
While I was expecting to be disappointed by this game, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's not a great game in the same vein of the earlier two, but it actually improves on a handful of things despite wacky technical issues. For a game that could have failed so mightily, it was impressive that they were able to turn in such a high-quality product. I'll give it an 8.5/10.
Up next on What I'm Playing is a quick little jaunt through a game that was far quicker to beat than I expected. Tune in next time!
-TRO
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