Batman: Arkham Origins Review (Synik)
TLDR: Decent, but fails to innovate as much as the previous two games. The constant bugs and cut multiplayer content delivers an ultimately worse experience.
PROS:
➕Fighting system
➕Good narrative backstories
NEUTRALS:
🔹Random and unstoppable controller vibrations?
CONS:
➖Voice actor quality decrease from AA/AC
➖Graphical downgrade from AC
➖Physics can be wonky - punching an enemy sky high in the air
➖Various traversal bugs
➖Achievements/content tied to multiplayer, which doesn’t exist anymore
Arkham Asylum (AA) review: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/35140?snr=1_5_9__402
Arkham City (AC) review: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/200260?snr=1_5_9__402
Content (Game world/Narrative) –
The game world consists of the sprawling Gotham City on Christmas Eve. I really love the snowy holiday vibe. There are tons of reused assets and locations from AC though.
The narrative focuses on a younger Batman than the previous two Arkham games, a la the Origin distinction. Since the events in Origins take place before Asylum or City, Batman is meeting many of the villains for the first time, like the Joker. Also, the police/city as a whole are cautious of this new masked vigilante calling himself Batman. I didn’t care for the narrative at the start, but near the very end, I started to come around. I liked the Batman/Joker dynamic as it reminded me kind of like The Dark Knight movie with Heath Ledger. There’s some definite raw anger in Batman that mirrors Christian Bale’s depiction. Otherwise, for the remaining ~3/4ths of the story, I felt it to be a step down from AA/AC.
There also seems to be some decent amount of cut content now that multiplayer is over. A lot of the achievements for the game reference multiplayer that shut down back in 2016. Wouldn’t have minded to try it out as the achievements hint at some sort of faction system.
Gameplay (Mechanics/Difficulty) –
The gameplay remains largely unchanged from previous Arkham entries. I would say the only significant addition would be the shock gloves, which greatly overpower Batman in combat and add some new puzzles. Otherwise, it's the same gadgets and collectable style that you’re familiar with from AA/AC.
Difficulty is also largely unchanged. Same as AA/AC. There were a couple challenging fights, like with Bane where there are constant unblockable attacks, but I also recall some difficult fights in the previous games as well.
Graphics (Quality/Technical) –
Actually felt like this was a step down graphically from AC, which is odd since Origins came out after. Perhaps it was the art style that wasn’t as good. Whichever it was, City just looked better to me.
As for the technical side, I experienced many small bugs. Things like the physics being wonky where I would punch an enemy and they would fly 50 feet up in the air. Or constantly getting stuck on small objects, like pipes, on the ground. Or clipping through ledges while grappling. Or times when the entire group of enemy AI would bug out and just walk into walls. There were a ton of bugs, but nothing game breaking.
i9-13900KF | RTX 4090 | 64GB RAM | 1440p @ 240hz | Windows 11 installed on SSD
Audio –
In this version, the series staples, Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy are both absent. It's very noticeable for Batman’s voice, which I think is a downgrade, but Troy Baker as Joker does a good job. Despite the voice acting changes, I didn’t feel the music hit as good as AC.
Replay Factor (Longevity) –
Considering a huge amount of the game has cut content and therefore impossible to get achievements, the replay value suffers. Otherwise, the systems remain the same from AA/AC - NG+ and tons of collectables that carry over.
Final Verdict –
Arkham Origins (AO) is the prequel to Arkham Asylum (AA) and Arkham City (AC). It’s pretty obvious right from the start that this is a different feeling game, as it's a different dev team. The best way I can describe the difference is that Origins feels a bit like Dark Souls 2, in that it's still a part of the series, but there are some clear fundamental changes and different feeling between the games. Though admittedly, the difference between DS1/3 and DS2 is much larger than AA/AC and AO.
To start with my biggest negative, I’d have to call out the bugs as well as the cut content.
The bugs are plentiful and annoying. It really seems like WB just wanted to push this out to capitalize on the success of the Arkham games while the real devs, Rocksteady, were cooking with Arkham Knight.
I do also want to make note of the cut content. Yes, this happened almost 10 years ago as of this review, but this multiplayer aspect could have been the only big thing to differentiate Origins from AA/AC. And now it’s dead.
For my biggest positives, I’d have to say it's the narrative dynamic between Batman and Joker. I really liked their interaction as Batman was simply confused on how to even approach someone as psychopathic as Joker. It really emphasizes the quote, “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” It’s just a shame that this really only starts occurring in the last few hours of the story.
Overall, I think that Origins is a decent game. It’s a step down from Asylum and City, but I would still recommend playing it. The improvements from AA to AC were numerous and vast, the change from linear to open world was marvelous and furthermore, the city was great to explore. In Origins, not only is the city copy/pasted to great extent, but there is next to no innovations to bring the series forward.
Recommend?
Yes
You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR