Andy Naylor reviews Batman: Arkham Origins….
The third instalment of the popular Batman: Arkham series has arrived. This time Rocksteady, who were behind the first two games, has handed the reigns over to developer Warner Bros. Games Montréal. It returns to an open world map, much like Batman: Arkham City, rather than the confined spaces of a single institution. I still maintain that Arkham City wasn’t as good as Batman: Arkham Asylum because of the open world aspect to it, and this opinion continues with Arkham Origins. While it has its moments of close quarters fighting and stealth takedowns, it doesn’t feel claustrophobic or intense enough in an open world setting. Just because the open world formula works superbly well for GTA doesn’t mean that every game made should follow suit.
One of the most addictive aspects of Arkham Asylum was the superb story throughout. That need to know what happens next continually fuelled the player onwards. Arkham Origins lacks this trait. It is not a poor story by any means, but it is obvious and clichéd and the player can see any twists coming long before they happen. A little more care and depth could’ve been applied to it to help raise it to the benchmark that Arkham Asylum set.
The gameplay is more of the same. The fighting is combo driven and precise; combine that with the quite brilliant battle animation and it continues to look like one of the coolest games of this nature you will ever see. And that goes for the entire game too. Gotham is dark and depressing, hinting that some inspiration has been taken from Tim Burton’s Batman movies, each level is beautifully detailed and tailored towards each villain’s style. At no point will you ever wonder which one you are hunting down. One niggling problem I did have with the gameplay and the villains was the ease in which it took to defeat the majority of them. Like with the previous instalments, once you figure out the pattern you can quickly dispatch them, but with the others sometimes it wasn’t always that easy. With Origins, Batman barely broke a sweat dealing with the majority of his notorious enemies.
If you like the previous games then that will continue. Batman: Arkham Origins is for you. But be aware, there is no evolution, no advancement and no improvement, just more of the same with a different plot. It is solid if unspectacular. I am intrigued to see where the series goes next and if I’ll continue the trend of liking each sequel a little less than its predecessor. At this point I can’t decide if each subsequent game drops in quality a little or if the formula used to create Arkham Asylum rapidly grows stale and needs freshening up. I sincerely hope that the next instalment returns to the giddy heights set by Arkham Asylum. If you loved the first two, then get to the shops now, otherwise hold back until it drops in price after Christmas.
Andy Naylor – Follow me on Twitter
Originally published October 25, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
