Broken Bat: Batman: Arkham Origins Review

Screenshots courtesy of Warner Bros. Interactive.

The PC version of “Batman: Arkham Origins” was reviewed, and is available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii U, and PC. The game was purchased by the reviewer.

“Arkham Origins,” the prequel to the popular “Arkham” series of Batman video games, was developed by a new team at Warner Bros. Montreal instead of Rocksteady, who had helmed “Arkham Asylum” and “Arkham City.” “Origins” is an ambitious, but flawed prequel that attempts to deliver an experience on par with Rocksteady’s titles but doesn’t live up to the quality.

The basic premise of “Origins” involves a plot where Batman must find and stop eight assassins hired by Black Mask. This situation isn’t really immediate like the events of “Asylum” or “City,” thus the first chunk of the story drags along as Batman punches criminals in the face without an engaging plot until the midpoint of the game. While eight assassins may seem intimidating to a normal person, it’s a cakewalk for Batman. The story plays the “he’s a younger Batman” card, but “Origins” takes place when Bruce Wayne has been Batman for two years.

The “younger Batman” is used to demonstrate some of Batman’s naivety in some sequences, but I don’t buy it for the first story arc of the game with its focus on the assassins. The lack of any actual tension or threat makes the first story arc seem meaningless and a waste of storytelling, especially when compared to the previous Arkham games. Thankfully the story picks up after certain events take place, and actual threats to Gotham are established. The game also falls under the prequel trap, where we’re already familiar with the characters and we don’t really gain anything new from the story or characters, this impacts those that are already familiar with Batman lore the most.

Story issues aside, the gameplay has some balance issues in terms of what the game offers players. The game has a greater focus on combat than the exploration and puzzles of the previous games. Because of this focus, combat is enjoyable, but when compared to the other things that make up a successful Batman game as seen in the previous games, “Origins” feels one-sided. The decision to focus on combat makes me feel that WB Montreal didn’t have time to come up with good puzzles or missions like those in the previous titles.. While there are Riddler puzzles in the overworld, those puzzles aren’t particularly satisfying. There’s also a lack of Riddler’s challenge rooms introduced in Arkham City. I feel bad for any completionists looking forward to more challenge rooms or good puzzles, because they’re just not enjoyable.

The emphasis on combat in “Origins” makes combat more engaging, however other gameplay elements like exploration and puzzle solving are weaker in this installment.

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The main story missions have few variation due to the greater focus on combat, and the side missions are a mixed bag. The “Crime Scene” side missions are essentially glorified cutscenes as they walk you through solving a crime scene step by step without any sense of reward, and some of the side villains have lame side mission arcs that usually include beating up a couple of goons (there’s that emphasis of combat again!). There are some stand out missions, like ones involving The Mad Hatter, and Deadshot: missions that actually change the game’s mechanics. These missions make me wish there was more variation and creativity throughout the game, especially in the first half of the story missions.

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[one_half_last][alert type=”green”]Holy New Voice Actors Batman! The new voice actors in “Origins” manage to succeed, despite the shaky story. While Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill who voiced Batman and the Joker respectively in the previous Batman games don’t make a return for “Origins” due to the fact all the characters are younger, Roger Craig Smith (Batman) and Troy Baker (Joker) do an excellent job emulating their predecessors while adding their own twist to the characters. Even the lowly thugs conversing throughout Gotham do a great job conveying their character. [/alert][/one_half_last]

The Gotham in “Origins” doesn’t really feel different from “Arkham City” either. After gliding around and traversing the city, “Origins” Gotham is very familiar to “Arkham City” in some aspects, as some locations make a return. The lack of variation makes the overworld environment boring, especially if you’re someone that already spent hours exploring Arkham City. The weather doesn’t help either, as Gotham lacks the color splashes amidst the gothic architecture Arkham City had.

During my time in “Arkham Origins” on the PC, I encountered several bugs, and one which prevented me from solving an Enigma Radio tower puzzle. This bug prevented me from fast traveling to one of the locations on the map throughout my playthrough. These bugs range from middling to frustrating, especially those that end up forcing you to go back to a checkpoint making you repeat your progress again.

It’s clear that the game needed a little bit more work to be as polished as “Asylum” and “City.” Unfortunately, the overall game suffers due to these bugs that make you wonder if the Riddler or Scarecrow had any involvement in making these bugs in “Origins.”

Some of the bugs and glitches are funny however, like punching thugs and making them fly out of Gotham like a speeding bullet. Becoming one with a roulette table was also amusing, along with watching the AI scramble attempting to fight me while I assimilated with the roulette table.

After playing through the single player and completing every side mission except for the Riddler puzzles, I dove into the new multiplayer mode.

This new multiplayer mode was developed externally by Splash Damage, known for their success of “Enemy Territory” series and their failure in “Brink.” The multiplayer features one mode that pits three elite Joker thugs against three elite Bane thugs against Batman and Robin. Joker and Bane also show up during a game and are used during the match as well, but only one of the super villains will show up during a match.

In my several matches in “Origins” multiplayer, the only time the Batman team won was when I played as the Dark Knight, and I had a competent player playing as Robin.

It’s a creative asymmetric multiplayer mode. I enjoyed grabbing the thugs as Batman and silently taking out team leaders to gain points. I wanted to like the multiplayer, but the bugs and technical issues made it difficult to fully enjoy the multiplayer.

A friend of mine that played the multiplayer had all his stats and progress erased after spending an hour and 30 minutes playing. There’s some lag issues, and at times the controls don’t quite work as you intend them to. When playing as an elite thug, it doesn’t feel as tight as other third person shooters. It’s hard to enjoy this experience because of these problems, which is a shame, because of the creative system set up by Splash Damage.

A couple of patches have been released since launch, but upon going on several online forums and testing out the game again, “Arkham Origins” still seems broken in the single player and the multiplayer.

Don’t worry Bane, this Bat has already been broken.

The Verdict:

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The decision to go back in Batman’s timeline was a misstep in storytelling and gameplay, despite the improved combat.

Besides the superior second half of the story and a handful of side missions, “Origins” is forgettable thanks to the bugs and poor decisions made in this game. I found myself wishing I had some actual threats to Batman, as seen in “Arkham City.”[/one_half]

[one_half_last][alert type=”red”]BUG ALERT: As pointed out in the review, “Arkham Origins” is a buggy game. I can’t recommend the PC version as of 11-13-2013, but the jury’s out on the console versions of the game. After doing some digging online, other reviews have pointed out that the Wii U version has the least amount of bugs. In short, go with the console versions if you want less bugs.[/alert][/one_half_last]

Yes, the combat and predator sections are cool, and the visuals are impressive in “Origins.” But the reduction of exploration and puzzles takes away the “detective” in Batman’s title of “World’s Greatest Detective.”

The biggest flaw in “Origins” is technical thanks to the bugs and glitches that exist throughout the game. I feel “Origins” would have benefitted from a delay (maybe releasing it closer to the holidays during the in-game time frame?)

I can’t fully recommend “Arkham Origins” due to my experiences with the bugs and glitches I encountered. If you can’t take my word for it, just visit any “Origins” forum and see what you would be getting yourself into. (Particularly the PC, 360 and PS3 versions, surprisingly, the Wii U version hasn’t been getting a bad rap.)

Behind all the technical issues, the increased focus on combat and inconsistent story is a Batman game experience that wants to be as great as the previous “Arkham” games. “Origins” does try, and I’ll give the WB Montreal development team credit for being able to develop “Origins” in two years despite the plethora of issues. I won’t give credit to the publisher, Warner Bros. Interactive, who decided to release “Origins” in such a broken state. Maybe Batman should pay them a visit and remind them what a good game starring Batman actually is.