Batman: Arkham Origins

Genre: Open-World Action-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Batman: Arkham Origins is an Open-World Action-RPG released on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U in 2014. The third game in the Batman Arkham series, Origins is generally spoken of as sorta’ the black sheep of the Arkham series. The only game in the mainline series not developed by Rocksteady Studios, Origins was helmed by WB Games Montreal, who previously worked on the Wii U port of Arkham City. As such, it makes sense that many of the enhancements for that game made it into the Wii U version of Arkham Origins as well.

Specifically, this means that the Wii U version of Arkham Origins makes use of the Wii U gamepad’s unique features, including an interactive map and menus, as well as using the gyroscopic motion control to make elements of the game’s signature “detective mode” a bit more immersive. Once again, I don’t really feel like these elements dramatically improve the game, but neither do I think they detract from it. They’re amusing, but ultimately I feel like they just make this game a little different rather than better or worse.

Graphically, this game seems to be about on par with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Which is to say it looks good, with detailed 3D visuals, great character models (for the time, anyway), and environments with a fair amount of personality to them… albeit not quite as much as what we saw in Arkham Asylum and City. Yeah, like much of the rest of this game, Arkham Origins still looks great, but can’t help but find itself in the shadow of its predecessors.

This also extends to the game’s writing and voice acting. Without Paul Dini’s involvement, the story here is good, but nowhere near as engrossing as the two prior games. And while this game still features some good voice acting, one can’t help but feel the loss of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill’s involvement.

This game’s story is a prequel to the other Arkham games, inspired by stories like Batman: Year One. In the time this story takes place, Batman is still something of a mythical figure in Gotham. The main arc of this story has Batman contending with an assortment of assassins hired by the villain Black Mask to take out The Caped Crusader, and Batman must root out Black Mask’s location and figure out his plans while fending off attempts on his life. In terms of reasons to get into the action, it works, but it’s not anything truly remarkable. After all, people try to kill Batman every day, so what’s a few more, right?

I have to say, I know there’s a lot of low opinions of Arkham Origins, and I’m not sure I understand it. Yes, the gameplay here is derivative of Rocksteady’s games and doesn’t add anything truly significant to the formula. Yes, the pacing isn’t as good, and some of the gameplay elements here feel a tad more tedious in ways that are hard to articulate. However, the gameplay here is still top-notch, and most of [what I said about Arkham City]() applies here as well – this game still has excellent, fluid movement, fun combat, great stealth, and overall this game makes it a delight to be Batman.

There is one thing I’ll say that makes the Wii U version somewhat lesser than other versions of the game – the multiplayer mode of other versions of the game doesn’t appear to be present here. I would guess that by 2022, the online multiplayer is likely to be deserted regardless of which version of the game you play, but you’re definitely not playing it on the Wii U version.

Still, while Batman: Arkham Origins has its flaws, and it falls short of the absolutely phenomenal Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, most of what made those games great is still fully intact here. I would still say that you should absolutely play the first two games before going to Origins, but I don’t agree with the narrative that Origins is a terrible game just because it doesn’t reach the same heights as two of the best games of all time. For what it is, it’s still pretty damn good, and well worth playing, especially for Batman fans.

tl;dr – Batman: Arkham Origins is the third game in the Batman Arkham series, and a prequel to Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. This game is an Open-World Action-RPG much like Arkham City, and unfortunately, it doesn’t quite live up to the greatness of Arkham City, but is nevertheless still a superb Open-World game well worth a look by fans of the genre and Batman fans alike.

Grade: A-

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