Batman: Arkham Origins

"Don't add me to the weight you carry..."

I know I'm not the only one when it goes to saying that Arkham Asylum shocked gamers back in 2009, presenting a dark malevolent atmosphere superhero game like no other. What nobody ever expected was Arkham Asylum, a sequel that pushed the boundaries to both video game storytelling and game engineering. So when they announced that a new prequel game was coming out, I was looking forward to it, but questioned it's success as soon as I heard that Warner Bros Montreal was making it and not the almighty Rocksteady. I feared that Origins would suffer the same fate all superhero video games do: mass advertising yet no game creativity and effort.

When I finally played the game, I was relieved that the game managed to exceed my expectations. No, this is no Arkham City or Asylum if you're wondering, consider it more of a Arkham City 5-6 hour DLC package.

I'll start off by saying that the story is by far the best of the franchise, it feels the most batman like of all three games. We are presented with a darker and deeper storyline, expressing a more humane and vulnerable Batman. In fact the character development is so well done in this game, you can actually feel Bruce Wayne's pain and anger and fears. The interaction between him and Alred is very well done, you can feel the emotion and tension of their parent child relationship throughout the game.

As for the gameplay, I think it was a notch down from the predecessors. While I commend WB for trying to be original and not blindly copying Rocksteady, I think it was a backfire. The combat system and boss fights have been dumbed down to simple and formulaic approaches. It's really just an over kill and bosses can be defeated using the 3 same buttons time and time again. The combat flow has disappeared and now you will experience abrupt glitches and loss in frame rate when combatting large groups of enemies. It's a real shame because the game has so much replay value, but is obstructed by game freezes and massive bugs.

The voice acting in this game is just as good as the previous games. I was a little nervous about Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill being replaced, but Roger Craig Smith (Batman) and Troy Baker (Joker) were great replacements. Smith did a great job of bringing Batman to life, and even seemed to bring more character and emotion to the character.

At the end of the day, if you loved the first 2 games then you'll love this one. As a Batman fan in general, you'll really love this game, just don't expect it to extend the limits of the batman universe we've loved since 2009. For these reasons Batman Arkham Origins gets an 8.5/10.

This title is a prequel which is sometimes hard to develop in the case of games. Game play wise this is stunning,continuing the great combat system and gadgets present in the previous arkham games along with some new ones,This without doubt is good enough to keep the feel of the game intact .visually arkham origins does a pretty good job, having the open world expanded up to twice as much as last time. adding Gotham city into the game is something worth taking a look at or roaming around as batman. One of the greatest things about the Arkham series was that it always gave the player an experiences as to how it feels to be batman. This time around they managed to keep the feeling just as great as the previous titles. Batman himself looks quite stunning in the game. The story for this game by far was one of the best written story in the series and can at least attain a title of top 10 best story games ever. The story gives of impressive character relation development between Batman, joker and a few other characters including Alfred(Bruce waynes butler). There are small flaws in the game like, frame lags at certain points. Its rarely seen in the game. Those who are here to get the game for its story, gameplay or being general fans of arkham games will be in for a blast. Especially the story. It is understandable why the new studios did not want to add too many things and change the games combat system or add major changes that can change the feel of the game. After all the combat and predator game play etc are what makes this series great.The boss fights are some of the most impressive stuffs in the game, boss fights seem more head on with the villain then making it look cinematic. The overall game was a great ride and only gets me hyped for the rumored sequel to arkham city under rocksteady.

gameplay : 9/10 Story: 10/10 visuals: 9/10 Feel of the game : 9.5/10 ovrall: 9.0/10

Dark,Thrilling and a Brilliant story

This is a great story. The story keeps the same feel as the BTAS episode of Heart of Ice with a few new elements added in to solidify the hate relationship between Mr. Freeze and the Penguin shown in Arkham City. Although I am a Joker and Harley Quinn fan this DLC is far more interesting than the Harley's Revenge DLC and I love the new cold suit Batman wears in this adventure. The only thing that kept me from giving this story a 9 was its length. I would also liked to have seen Victor's transformation as a surveillance video after the crime scene investigation rather than just a fuzzy playback in detective mode. Mr. Freeze in my opinion has the most tragic back story.

Batman Arkham Asylum surpassed both video-game players and reviewers expectations tremendously back in 2009. The sequel, with even greater graphics and game-play did so even more two years later. Therefore a third Arkham game was inevitable.

Due to the events at the end of Arkham City, Arkham Origins is a prequel so some of Batman's old foes are resurrected. The game begins with the villain Black Mask placing a bounty on Batman's head on Christmas Eve. This attracts the attention of 8 super-assassins including Deathstroke, Bane, Lady Shiva, Deadshot. To top that all off Batman also comes across several side-super-villains like Edward Nygma, Penguin, Mad Hatter and The Joker.

Whilst the graphics are not as detailed as Arkham City, the game play is amazing. Its fast, slick and Batman is brutal. Sure there are glitches here and there but hopefully a patch will be released soon. The city is massive (although perhaps not as big as previews said but still). You can explore the industrial side of Gotham and the side that would eventually become 'Arkham City'. Plot-wise, a lot (and I mean A LOT) of it has been taken and expanded from Batman Begins. I have no problem with that though.

The game would get a 10 from me if it weren't for those bloody glitches though. Excellent game otherwise.

i just don't get all the hates against this game... what the hell ? this game is totally bat- game. i mean look at it... Christmas, snow, giant statues... its even better then most of the batman movies and cartoons too... nolan should watch and learn with open mouth, how does the real gotham city look like... and when joker makes a Christmas party, it always rocks... except of batman world, this is a great way to celebrate the Christmas after all