This Batman series has gone on for quite a while, and because we’ve already beaten Joker into submission on numerous counts, the only place to go was backwards. In time, that is. Batman: Arkham Origins takes place before the big meetup between Batman and Joker and allows you to experience the very first clash with the clown prince.
I need to take a bit of issue with something here right off the bat. Including the word “Origin” into the title implies that this is some sort of origin story. It’s not. Even at the very start of the game, everyone knows exactly who you are when they see you, and there are at least a dozen high-end criminals already operating in Gotham including Black Mask, Bane, Killer Croc, Penguin, you name it. You gain access to all of your gadgets very quickly, and it just feels like Batman has been… well, being Batman, for years and years. I reiterate: This is not an origin story for any character except possibly the Joker.
Hey, you never got to do this in Arkham City.
In Arkham City, we finally had free reign over Gotham. You’ll immediately feel familiar with Origins then as it too allows free roam over the city. Sadly, the city itself is still dead, and the very contrived reason is that there is a curfew (which apparently every single person in the entire city obeys). Even still, you would think there would at least be some squad cars driving in the streets, but no. Gotham is once more like an outdoor RPG dungeon; the only living things in it are stationary mobs of enemies waiting for you to draw aggro. Since you’re still not friendly with Commissioner Gordon, this includes the police, who will fight you on sight. In Arkham City it made sense that the streets were devoid of any neutral parties since it had become a war zone, but here the curfew serves as nothing more than a lazy excuse to not bring Gotham to life.
It’s not all samey. A few features have seen face lifts, primarily detective mode. Although outside of an investigation its function is unchanged, inside of one it now allows you to completely reconstruct the events of a crime scene. A timeline appears at the top of the screen with nothing on it; as you scan in new evidence, chunks of the timeline are rebuilt. You can scrub through it to see pretty much everything (as if by magic): silhouettes of the people involved, how they interacted, and what they dropped or left behind during the scuffles.
Oh look, more bad hallucination missions where the controls suck.
If you’re scrubbing through and see that something was dropped, it will paint a red tracer, and if you follow it to its final resting point you can then scan that particular object. It seems a bit silly that before you follow its tracer, these objects simply don’t exist, and though this new system is more interesting it’s every bit as on rails now as it was before. You never really feel like you’ve discovered anything on your own, and Batman practically holds your hand in voice-over about what to look for next every time you scan a new object in. The feature might as well not exist; it’s superfluous, as it was in previous Batman titles.
The bread and butter of the series has been its freeflow combat system, and it faithfully remains intact. That said, it doesn’t come with any improvements, so quick-firing gadgets in combat is still nearly impossible. In order to do so, you must double tap a gadget’s number on the keyboard. This means reaching across several keys while every millisecond can be the difference between keeping your combo going or getting socked in the face and messing up your flow.
As far as the general atmosphere is concerned, I happen to like it quite a bit more than the past two games. The music bounces between something reminiscent of one of the old Michael Keaton Batman movies and Nolan’s Batman movies. Batman himself as well as his suit totally reflects Nolan’s Batman, with the ribbed neck on the batsuit and his gruff, at times growling voice. Overall it’s a nice change, but the villains for whatever reason didn’t change along with it and still say really campy cartoony things, which clashes badly with the new tone.
If I haven’t said much about the story it’s because there’s nothing to say. Most of the tasks you undergo might as well be copied and pasted from Arkham City; remember beating up Riddler’s thugs for information and hitting all his green button thingies? Well, you can do all that and more all over again. What’s that, doesn’t sound quite as intriguing the second time? You’re right, it’s not.
Perhaps the only thing that’s new and enjoyable are crimes in progress, which alert you to a spot you can travel to where there’s a mob of thugs who will basically offer a higher XP reward when defeated. However, calling them crimes in progress seems silly as half the time they’re not actually doing anything… just standing there. Sometimes though they do have police tied up, or are actively fighting police officers. In these instances you generally don’t have to fight the police, and they’ll thank you for saving them. It at least gives you the feeling that something is organically happening and you’re responding to it, making a difference (if only a superficial one) and it’s something that has always been lacking in this series.
Although I didn’t spend much time with it, Arkham Origins does feature a pretty hefty multiplayer mode. It requires a whole different application to be opened and seems to be where this new development team spent most of their resources. Most of the modes play to the idea that it’s a 3-way battle; you can either be part of the Joker gang, the Bane gang, or–yes, it’s true–be Batman and ruin everyone else’s fun. Depending on your performance as a gang member, you might be allowed to spend some temporary time as Bane or the Joker, acting as a sort of supercharged thug with the potential to kill Batman or wipe out quite a few people on the opposing gang.
If you always wanted to be a dirty clown, now’s your chance.
Character customization is surprisingly deep, and you can load out your gang member with cosmetic clothes, clothes that protect you, weapons, and a few minor gadgets. It’s a solid addition, but it seems that it may have detracted from making the single player anything more than mediocre.
Honestly, wait for a price drop. It’s not a bad game, but this Batman series is quickly running out of tricks… and it shows.
