Batman: Arkham Origins Review (Konrad Bobrowitz)
This is chronologically the first Batman Arkham game while also at the same time the only one of the quadrology that was developed by other studio than Rocksteady. And I think everyone could tell that something was off after finishing this game.
The game is not as detailed and polished mainly when it comes the world and the activities in it. I'd say that it's actually the least interesting game in terms of what the world has to offer. It for sure is big, bigger than the one in Arkham city, but completely dead and uninteresting. And they knew it because it is the only Arkham game which has a fast travel feature. The only thing that I'd give to Origins in regards to the world is the fact that the festive theme is pretty cool. It was deffinitely the weakest world in the series tho.
The story was honestly nothing special in my opinion but I'm fine with that. It esentially only wanted to explore the beginning of the Batman legend and it did that pretty well. Bruce is much more angry, brutal, less cautious and also slips up during the story a few times. This build up of his character works very well since it helps the player see that batman isn't perfect and that his start was rough. Otherwise it's really basic stuff.
The best thing about origins in my opinion are the bossfights. Sure the other games have some absolute bangers but also miss the mark sometimes. I don't think Origins has a single bad bossfight. It also has one very funny moment during one bossfight which I am not going to spoil, but let me tell you that the fact that they decided to do what they did in that one specific bossfight shows that they knew they already had an amazing roster and could have afforded it. And guess what? It was pretty good. And also quite funny. And unexpected.
Origins also has a multiplayer option. It's not very good from what I've seen but it doesn't really matter anymore because it was shut down in 2016. What matters is that the achivements are no longer optainable (for those who care) so watch out for that.
There were quite a few DLCs released but honestly only the Cold Cold Heart DLC is worth your time and money.
Overall I see Batman Arkham Origins as the weakest entry in the Arkham series, but still think that it is a really good game. It is worthy of your time even though it doesn't reach such great heights as the main trilogy. To be frank it's quite hard to compare Origins to the rest. It's a black sheep of the series. But one thing is certain, the Batman Arkham series has no bad entries so you can buy any of them and still have a great time.