The Dark Knight Crashes
I still stand by it today: Batman: Arkham Asylum was hands-down the greatest superhero game ever made, and even slightly trumps the impressive Arkham City. The overall experience was perfect, and everything was delivered with just the right amount of spit-shine polish from Rocksteady Studios.
However, WB Interactive felt it was necessary to make another game in the universe without Rocksteady. They insisted they were going to keep the familiar gameplay and detective work intact, as well as bringing in as many villains as possible for us to go up against. The public outcry wasn't exactly in their favor, though... especially since Animated Series veteran Kevin Conroy wasn't hired back to voice the Bat.
So the original writers, development team, and cast were all completely different from the last two games, it's no wonder that there was a lot of skepticism for Origins. However, if they were able to simply copy-paste what made Arkham City so captivating, there was still a chance fans may have something to be excited for.
Pros: Good story that makes effective use of its characters; Great soundtrack and superb voice acting; Free-flowing combat is still fun to control; Lots of extra side missions to take on; Some fun and challenging boss fights
Cons: Screen-tearing, clipping, and awful hiccups in the framerate mar the game's overall look and feel; The sound often drops out of sync; Civilian/thug models are copy-pasted and terribly rendered; Inconsistent grapple and climb points that make little to no sense, as well as random invisible walls above buildings; Combat is fun, but way too repetitive; Some boss fights are just pattern-filled mash-fests; Gadgets mysteriously don't work for some obstacles they're built for
Graphics & Presentation: 4
You know you have a rushed product in your hands when the game's opening menu screen is full of screen tearing and jagged animation. While the art design and overall detail of the city looks impressive, being that it's the third iteration of a franchise, this is surprisingly the most dated. I loved how everything is decorated with Christmas cheer, and the wintry effects are definitely gorgeous. Batman and his rivals all look terrific, but when it comes to various thugs and civilians, a lot of them look like they were products of a cloning experiment gone awry.
Now I know that's usually normal in games like this, but when I'm rescuing and having two separate conversations with twin hotel employees in the same mission, I'm sorry... but that's just fucking lazy. The rendering features are also sloppier, for shading effects often look blocky and flicker across their faces. This is 2013... Arkham Asylum looked better than this four years ago.
Not only that, but this game suffers tremendous amounts of choppy frame rate at the most random times. Even after it finishes loading a new area, the animation will often freeze for a second and then jolt around after it tries to keep up. It also chugs and struggles at the most critical moments, often forcing me to grapple away from the action in order to avoid dying. Clipping objects are more obvious than usual, there were so many times where bad guys would partially move into vehicles, I had one crime event I couldn't stop because a dude was stuck inside a truck with his feet poking out of the bottom.
I'd be more forgiving if the previous two games hadn't been so splendidly polished. This is embarrassing.
Sound Effects & Music: 7
Regardless of your opinions of the team for replacing the cast with different voice actors, I will stand by their defense and say that the performances are excellently pulled off. Even the Joker sounded great! Mark Hamill fans shouldn't worry, for I know we all loved him every time he voiced our favorite psychotic clown... While our ears won't be fooled, Troy Baker still delivers a fantastic performance. I can totally cut the guy a break.
The music is also solid, with plenty of orchestrated tracks to suit the atmosphere. There are also lots of little Christmas jingles playing throughout the city, even in elevators. It effectively sets the tone and mood, since the whole adventure takes place during Christmas Eve.
General sound effects are mostly lifted straight from Arkham City, so there's little to gripe about there. However, the game often suffers a bit of lag when things slow down and stutter. Lip-syncing occasionally falls out of rhythm, and there are even some action sequences that often lose sound altogether. I noticed this especially whenever I'd use Batman's fast travel, and the animation in between locations fell silent... a lot. Or the sound of him grappling his jet will play WAY BEFORE the short cinematic takes place.
While these glitches aren't nearly as bad as the visuals, it was enough to hurt what already sounded fantastic to begin with.
Story: 7
One thing that's for certain... whether you hate this game or not, it's hard to argue against the writing. Origins starts off strong and ends with a firestorm.
No, it's not above the plots of the previous games, but for a prequel that's set out to tell us a story of how Batman met many of these iconic villains in the beginning of his crime fighting career, it gets the job done without resorting to pointless filler or too much backstory. In fact, I was kinda surprised to find out that the game drops you in as Batman, without any sort of flashbacks or Bruce Wayne segments. So fans expecting a sort of Batman Begins kind of origins story will be a bit disappointed. The game starts out with him already fully armored and equipped.
However, there are some continuity flaws, considering that this is a story set in his earlier years. Some of the gadgets and weapons he has here he was learning to use in Arkham City. It would have been a more interesting take had his gadgets been set to a more primitive level, being that he's learning the ins and outs of Gotham's streets. Take his grapnel gun for example. It's an item he had to earn and UPGRADE to in the last game. But here, it's already a part of his arsenal from the get-go.
The story also doesn't take advantage of its villains the way I hoped it would, as there's a hallucinated sequence with the Mad Hatter that closely resembles what the Scarecrow tortured him with in Arkham Asylum. It recycles the Riddler yet again (though he's known as Enigma here) as you're set out to comb the city for hundreds of scattered data devices.
But where the writing shines is when it plays out its detective story. Batman's missions are definitely captivating as he uses his skills to track down mysterious psychopaths, all while avoiding the police and trying to convince Commissioner Gordon that he's not their enemy. It's well-written regardless of the plot's inconsistencies and redundant themes with its predecessors.
Controls & Gameplay: 5
Well, one thing's for certain. They weren't kidding when they promised to keep the action and controls intact from the predecessors. If you've played the other two games, there's no need to worry. Diving in is a cinch, and for the most part, not much needed to be changed. The combat system was already great to begin with. Pummeling mass mobs of bad guys is as exhilarating as ever, and the stealth mechanics are just as fun as before.
But why such a painfully average score? Isn't it a GOOD thing that the gameplay remains unchanged? I mean, why fix what isn't broken, right?
Well, that's about as far as they went. This is literally a carbon-copy of Arkham City almost inside and out, the element of risk-taking from WB Games is pretty much nonexistent. How's that for a public display of self-confidence in your studio? If it wasn't for the city being decorated with Christmas lights, it'd be hard to tell the difference.
Kinda like how Saints Row IV used the exact same map as The Third. There are a few minor changes to the layout, but City fans will notice a lot of familiar spots.
But I'm not giving it low marks because they didn't add anything new, and just kept everything working. The problem arises with its complete lack of doing anything remotely as exciting with it. Yeah, you have your scattered mobs all over the city, you have patrolling officers, and you have your predictable "giant room full of stealthy stuff" sections in just about every single mission, but does it even try to deviate from any of that? No... it doesn't. And the pacing suffers because of it. Even the side-missions are significantly less meatier than before.
Hell, I finished most of the case files and criminal profiles with little to no effort. The story sets things out to where there's a city-wide curfew, so wandering traffic and civilian activity is out of the picture yet again. While the past couple games didn't need civilians at all, I often find myself wondering if we'll ever get out of this rut.
Traveling the city is no different than before, since Batman continues to use his grapnel cable to travel from rooftop to rooftop... Oh wait. Scratch that. SOME rooftops. Where the last game gave you a tremendous sense of freedom, the grapple points here are severely inconsistent. Why the hell can't I grapple onto one roof that's barely 15 feet above me when the one across the street is 100+ feet further away and allows me to latch on without a hassle? Hell, some only allow you to latch onto one side, as if there's an invisible structure blocking your shot.
And there are plenty of other grapple points I know I can latch onto because I've done it before, but somehow, they're invalid because I'm not at a specific angle, or ... shit, I have no idea why the hell it blocked me! There are many areas you can stand where not a single grapple point in your view is valid, even though you're surrounded by countless ledges and railings. Very nice.
I also love how some buildings had invisible barriers above them, prohibiting me from gliding over, even though I could clearly land on other rooftops that were much higher. Because of this, there are some spots on top of buildings that you're technically not supposed to reach, since I found myself having to reload my last checkpoint because I got stuck... even though you can clearly drop onto these points from above.
Now, the game forces you to glide upward to higher platforms, which in itself is frustrating. These platforms have no obstacles or structures in the way, yet somehow I'm able to grapple fences and statues? Real cute.
Batman is also incredibly picky on what he can climb or jump over. He can scale a chain-link fence, but flat out WILL NOT jump over a simple chain. He can climb over vehicles and stacks of boxes, but refuses to hurl himself over a pool table. He can latch onto a thin wire, but will not bother latching onto a much thicker and sturdier beam of metal. He can punch through some wooden barricades and glass windows, but needs to use explosive gel on others? Look, if you're going to restrict Batman's abilities, do it with some fucking consistency!
Another thing they sorta failed on is the detective mode, where Batman has to scan and study a crime scene in order to gather evidence. This SHOULD have been a fun and challenging diversion (play Condemned 2: Bloodshot or LA Noire if you want an example of it being done right), but all it consists of is searching for the next little red triangle to scan. It holds your hand every step of the way, leaving little to no room to try and figure it out yourself.
A quick-exit feature would have been nice for indoor areas you revisit in order to search for hidden items, like Enigma's data packs. Having to completely back-track out of long, drawn-out areas got old really fast, especially the Royal Hotel.
And the data pack thing... Ya know, the Riddler trophy side activities worked fine in the last two games, but this is getting old. Once again, instead of little question marks, you're finding over a hundred little data packs that are accessed by switches, or hidden in small places. They're also surprisingly easier this time around when compared to City, so the temptation to collect them all is even greater. I dunno, I kinda want to see the Riddler do something new, like have booby traps set to kill civilians if Batman doesn't solve a puzzle, or traps that can only be broken out of if he solves riddles.
He has an awful lot of time on his hands. I mean, seriously! How long would it fucking take to strategically scatter all that shit throughout an entire city?!
It may be a nitpick, but hear me out on this. Who pulls the glue off the vents I keep having to re-seal? Who keeps resetting the traps I've set off inside the hotel and police station? Who's putting new wood planks on all the older ones I blew up with my explosives or fists? I ask this because when I revisit areas and there's no bad guys inside anymore to patrol, I still have to redo all of that. Event he wires I shoot off in vents. I just set them up a few minutes ago, where did they disappear to? Who's the mysterious phantom who keeps following me and fixing all this shit?!
How about steam vents that flat-out will not seal, even though my glue grenade seals other ones? They're the same size, but because I'm apparently not supposed to go that direction, or because they're on a timer and I HAVE to dodge them instead, they're magically ineffective.
Or to go back to the grappling gripe, how about that fucking bridge?! Especially when it's blown to bits in the latter finale of the story. There's a SHIT-TON of safe points to latch onto. Nope! The only thing you're allowed to grapple to are the beams underneath the bridge supports. Even if there are closer points, like the hanging crates or even the outer edges of the bridge itself. If you fall, you HAVE to grapple onto the exact same points to get back up. There is no alternate route.
I honestly do not remember Arkham City being this bad, and I seriously doubt it was.
Combat, while similar to City's mechanics, doesn't try to offer many new tricks. Aside from the shock gloves you get later on, taking on various foes with combos and block-counters hasn't changed. However, the game's continuous issues with lag keeps hindering the action. Or sometimes it will be completely unresponsive, even if you're hammering the counter button.
This is especially irritating when you're trying to block and suddenly you have to pull back and dodge a knife. If you're familiar with the combat, you know it can get extremely busy, especially near the end of the game where you're taking on all enemy types at once.
However, who thought it was a good idea to have assault-rifle-wielding bad guys aiming their guns right at Batman's face upon exiting a building, like the police station? No, I'm serious. The very second the outside city loaded, I was immediately getting shot at, and lost almost all my armor in the process of getting away. Is that really necessary?! I can understand a simple respawned batch of foes, but no warning and no chance of escaping unscathed?
How about the bad guys you need to interrogate after a battle, so you can get info on Enigma's scattered data packs? I lost count at the number of times where I had to reload the last checkpoint because the "interrogate" prompt never appeared, and the guy would just sit there, cowering...
Then you have the boss fights. While there are a few good ones that offer a lot of variety and excitement (the one against Firefly and the final fight with Bane for example), most are unfortunately pattern-triggered button mash fests, with the occasional QTE shoved in. Even the final battle with the Joker was extremely disappointing, for all you did was hammer the punch button and watched his skull get hammered a hundred times with your fists.
I might be a little unfair comparing this, but I had just returned to this game after finishing Assassin's Creed IV, and I found just about every major encounter to be a by-the-numbers routine with Origins. No strategy was encouraged. Hell, no penalty for hitting the counter button too early either, I just hammered at it whenever I got surrounded.
After finishing the main story, a side-mission is unlocked to where you have to apprehend 20 Blackgate prisoners. While an entertaining diversion, more than half the time I'd arrive at their locations on the map, and they're nowhere to be seen. I had to completely leave the section of the city and come back multiple times, hoping that they'd eventually respawn.
And don't get me started on the sniper thugs. Many times, I swear to fucking god, I would get shot THROUGH walls and cover points. Not only that, but you can be sneaky as hell with your escape, they still mysteriously lock onto you within milliseconds of popping out of whatever cover you were ducked behind.
Overall Grade: C
Batman: Arkham Origins is by no means a terrible game. It has its high points, and it does manage to deliver a good story to keep fans of the Dark Knight happy. However, after two fantastic outings, this one treads on line of "painfully average". Nothing new is offered, no risks are taken, and the glitches are beyond intolerable levels. Add in sloppy design mechanics like the inconsistent grapple points and you have an experience that's definitely below our expectations.
You could argue that the predecessors raised the bar too high, but I find that to be a cheap excuse. The earlier games were nowhere nearly this buggy or sloppily put together. If you're a fan, I can't say it's not worth playing. It is entertaining, but I'd strongly suggest waiting for a price-drop before picking this up.
However, WB Interactive felt it was necessary to make another game in the universe without Rocksteady. They insisted they were going to keep the familiar gameplay and detective work intact, as well as bringing in as many villains as possible for us to go up against. The public outcry wasn't exactly in their favor, though... especially since Animated Series veteran Kevin Conroy wasn't hired back to voice the Bat.
So the original writers, development team, and cast were all completely different from the last two games, it's no wonder that there was a lot of skepticism for Origins. However, if they were able to simply copy-paste what made Arkham City so captivating, there was still a chance fans may have something to be excited for.
Pros: Good story that makes effective use of its characters; Great soundtrack and superb voice acting; Free-flowing combat is still fun to control; Lots of extra side missions to take on; Some fun and challenging boss fights
Cons: Screen-tearing, clipping, and awful hiccups in the framerate mar the game's overall look and feel; The sound often drops out of sync; Civilian/thug models are copy-pasted and terribly rendered; Inconsistent grapple and climb points that make little to no sense, as well as random invisible walls above buildings; Combat is fun, but way too repetitive; Some boss fights are just pattern-filled mash-fests; Gadgets mysteriously don't work for some obstacles they're built for
Graphics & Presentation: 4
You know you have a rushed product in your hands when the game's opening menu screen is full of screen tearing and jagged animation. While the art design and overall detail of the city looks impressive, being that it's the third iteration of a franchise, this is surprisingly the most dated. I loved how everything is decorated with Christmas cheer, and the wintry effects are definitely gorgeous. Batman and his rivals all look terrific, but when it comes to various thugs and civilians, a lot of them look like they were products of a cloning experiment gone awry.
Now I know that's usually normal in games like this, but when I'm rescuing and having two separate conversations with twin hotel employees in the same mission, I'm sorry... but that's just fucking lazy. The rendering features are also sloppier, for shading effects often look blocky and flicker across their faces. This is 2013... Arkham Asylum looked better than this four years ago.
Not only that, but this game suffers tremendous amounts of choppy frame rate at the most random times. Even after it finishes loading a new area, the animation will often freeze for a second and then jolt around after it tries to keep up. It also chugs and struggles at the most critical moments, often forcing me to grapple away from the action in order to avoid dying. Clipping objects are more obvious than usual, there were so many times where bad guys would partially move into vehicles, I had one crime event I couldn't stop because a dude was stuck inside a truck with his feet poking out of the bottom.
I'd be more forgiving if the previous two games hadn't been so splendidly polished. This is embarrassing.
Sound Effects & Music: 7
Regardless of your opinions of the team for replacing the cast with different voice actors, I will stand by their defense and say that the performances are excellently pulled off. Even the Joker sounded great! Mark Hamill fans shouldn't worry, for I know we all loved him every time he voiced our favorite psychotic clown... While our ears won't be fooled, Troy Baker still delivers a fantastic performance. I can totally cut the guy a break.
The music is also solid, with plenty of orchestrated tracks to suit the atmosphere. There are also lots of little Christmas jingles playing throughout the city, even in elevators. It effectively sets the tone and mood, since the whole adventure takes place during Christmas Eve.
General sound effects are mostly lifted straight from Arkham City, so there's little to gripe about there. However, the game often suffers a bit of lag when things slow down and stutter. Lip-syncing occasionally falls out of rhythm, and there are even some action sequences that often lose sound altogether. I noticed this especially whenever I'd use Batman's fast travel, and the animation in between locations fell silent... a lot. Or the sound of him grappling his jet will play WAY BEFORE the short cinematic takes place.
While these glitches aren't nearly as bad as the visuals, it was enough to hurt what already sounded fantastic to begin with.
Story: 7
One thing that's for certain... whether you hate this game or not, it's hard to argue against the writing. Origins starts off strong and ends with a firestorm.
No, it's not above the plots of the previous games, but for a prequel that's set out to tell us a story of how Batman met many of these iconic villains in the beginning of his crime fighting career, it gets the job done without resorting to pointless filler or too much backstory. In fact, I was kinda surprised to find out that the game drops you in as Batman, without any sort of flashbacks or Bruce Wayne segments. So fans expecting a sort of Batman Begins kind of origins story will be a bit disappointed. The game starts out with him already fully armored and equipped.
However, there are some continuity flaws, considering that this is a story set in his earlier years. Some of the gadgets and weapons he has here he was learning to use in Arkham City. It would have been a more interesting take had his gadgets been set to a more primitive level, being that he's learning the ins and outs of Gotham's streets. Take his grapnel gun for example. It's an item he had to earn and UPGRADE to in the last game. But here, it's already a part of his arsenal from the get-go.
The story also doesn't take advantage of its villains the way I hoped it would, as there's a hallucinated sequence with the Mad Hatter that closely resembles what the Scarecrow tortured him with in Arkham Asylum. It recycles the Riddler yet again (though he's known as Enigma here) as you're set out to comb the city for hundreds of scattered data devices.
But where the writing shines is when it plays out its detective story. Batman's missions are definitely captivating as he uses his skills to track down mysterious psychopaths, all while avoiding the police and trying to convince Commissioner Gordon that he's not their enemy. It's well-written regardless of the plot's inconsistencies and redundant themes with its predecessors.
Controls & Gameplay: 5
Well, one thing's for certain. They weren't kidding when they promised to keep the action and controls intact from the predecessors. If you've played the other two games, there's no need to worry. Diving in is a cinch, and for the most part, not much needed to be changed. The combat system was already great to begin with. Pummeling mass mobs of bad guys is as exhilarating as ever, and the stealth mechanics are just as fun as before.
But why such a painfully average score? Isn't it a GOOD thing that the gameplay remains unchanged? I mean, why fix what isn't broken, right?
Well, that's about as far as they went. This is literally a carbon-copy of Arkham City almost inside and out, the element of risk-taking from WB Games is pretty much nonexistent. How's that for a public display of self-confidence in your studio? If it wasn't for the city being decorated with Christmas lights, it'd be hard to tell the difference.
Kinda like how Saints Row IV used the exact same map as The Third. There are a few minor changes to the layout, but City fans will notice a lot of familiar spots.
But I'm not giving it low marks because they didn't add anything new, and just kept everything working. The problem arises with its complete lack of doing anything remotely as exciting with it. Yeah, you have your scattered mobs all over the city, you have patrolling officers, and you have your predictable "giant room full of stealthy stuff" sections in just about every single mission, but does it even try to deviate from any of that? No... it doesn't. And the pacing suffers because of it. Even the side-missions are significantly less meatier than before.
Hell, I finished most of the case files and criminal profiles with little to no effort. The story sets things out to where there's a city-wide curfew, so wandering traffic and civilian activity is out of the picture yet again. While the past couple games didn't need civilians at all, I often find myself wondering if we'll ever get out of this rut.
Traveling the city is no different than before, since Batman continues to use his grapnel cable to travel from rooftop to rooftop... Oh wait. Scratch that. SOME rooftops. Where the last game gave you a tremendous sense of freedom, the grapple points here are severely inconsistent. Why the hell can't I grapple onto one roof that's barely 15 feet above me when the one across the street is 100+ feet further away and allows me to latch on without a hassle? Hell, some only allow you to latch onto one side, as if there's an invisible structure blocking your shot.
And there are plenty of other grapple points I know I can latch onto because I've done it before, but somehow, they're invalid because I'm not at a specific angle, or ... shit, I have no idea why the hell it blocked me! There are many areas you can stand where not a single grapple point in your view is valid, even though you're surrounded by countless ledges and railings. Very nice.
I also love how some buildings had invisible barriers above them, prohibiting me from gliding over, even though I could clearly land on other rooftops that were much higher. Because of this, there are some spots on top of buildings that you're technically not supposed to reach, since I found myself having to reload my last checkpoint because I got stuck... even though you can clearly drop onto these points from above.
Now, the game forces you to glide upward to higher platforms, which in itself is frustrating. These platforms have no obstacles or structures in the way, yet somehow I'm able to grapple fences and statues? Real cute.
Batman is also incredibly picky on what he can climb or jump over. He can scale a chain-link fence, but flat out WILL NOT jump over a simple chain. He can climb over vehicles and stacks of boxes, but refuses to hurl himself over a pool table. He can latch onto a thin wire, but will not bother latching onto a much thicker and sturdier beam of metal. He can punch through some wooden barricades and glass windows, but needs to use explosive gel on others? Look, if you're going to restrict Batman's abilities, do it with some fucking consistency!
Another thing they sorta failed on is the detective mode, where Batman has to scan and study a crime scene in order to gather evidence. This SHOULD have been a fun and challenging diversion (play Condemned 2: Bloodshot or LA Noire if you want an example of it being done right), but all it consists of is searching for the next little red triangle to scan. It holds your hand every step of the way, leaving little to no room to try and figure it out yourself.
A quick-exit feature would have been nice for indoor areas you revisit in order to search for hidden items, like Enigma's data packs. Having to completely back-track out of long, drawn-out areas got old really fast, especially the Royal Hotel.
And the data pack thing... Ya know, the Riddler trophy side activities worked fine in the last two games, but this is getting old. Once again, instead of little question marks, you're finding over a hundred little data packs that are accessed by switches, or hidden in small places. They're also surprisingly easier this time around when compared to City, so the temptation to collect them all is even greater. I dunno, I kinda want to see the Riddler do something new, like have booby traps set to kill civilians if Batman doesn't solve a puzzle, or traps that can only be broken out of if he solves riddles.
He has an awful lot of time on his hands. I mean, seriously! How long would it fucking take to strategically scatter all that shit throughout an entire city?!
It may be a nitpick, but hear me out on this. Who pulls the glue off the vents I keep having to re-seal? Who keeps resetting the traps I've set off inside the hotel and police station? Who's putting new wood planks on all the older ones I blew up with my explosives or fists? I ask this because when I revisit areas and there's no bad guys inside anymore to patrol, I still have to redo all of that. Event he wires I shoot off in vents. I just set them up a few minutes ago, where did they disappear to? Who's the mysterious phantom who keeps following me and fixing all this shit?!
How about steam vents that flat-out will not seal, even though my glue grenade seals other ones? They're the same size, but because I'm apparently not supposed to go that direction, or because they're on a timer and I HAVE to dodge them instead, they're magically ineffective.
Or to go back to the grappling gripe, how about that fucking bridge?! Especially when it's blown to bits in the latter finale of the story. There's a SHIT-TON of safe points to latch onto. Nope! The only thing you're allowed to grapple to are the beams underneath the bridge supports. Even if there are closer points, like the hanging crates or even the outer edges of the bridge itself. If you fall, you HAVE to grapple onto the exact same points to get back up. There is no alternate route.
I honestly do not remember Arkham City being this bad, and I seriously doubt it was.
Combat, while similar to City's mechanics, doesn't try to offer many new tricks. Aside from the shock gloves you get later on, taking on various foes with combos and block-counters hasn't changed. However, the game's continuous issues with lag keeps hindering the action. Or sometimes it will be completely unresponsive, even if you're hammering the counter button.
This is especially irritating when you're trying to block and suddenly you have to pull back and dodge a knife. If you're familiar with the combat, you know it can get extremely busy, especially near the end of the game where you're taking on all enemy types at once.
However, who thought it was a good idea to have assault-rifle-wielding bad guys aiming their guns right at Batman's face upon exiting a building, like the police station? No, I'm serious. The very second the outside city loaded, I was immediately getting shot at, and lost almost all my armor in the process of getting away. Is that really necessary?! I can understand a simple respawned batch of foes, but no warning and no chance of escaping unscathed?
How about the bad guys you need to interrogate after a battle, so you can get info on Enigma's scattered data packs? I lost count at the number of times where I had to reload the last checkpoint because the "interrogate" prompt never appeared, and the guy would just sit there, cowering...
Then you have the boss fights. While there are a few good ones that offer a lot of variety and excitement (the one against Firefly and the final fight with Bane for example), most are unfortunately pattern-triggered button mash fests, with the occasional QTE shoved in. Even the final battle with the Joker was extremely disappointing, for all you did was hammer the punch button and watched his skull get hammered a hundred times with your fists.
I might be a little unfair comparing this, but I had just returned to this game after finishing Assassin's Creed IV, and I found just about every major encounter to be a by-the-numbers routine with Origins. No strategy was encouraged. Hell, no penalty for hitting the counter button too early either, I just hammered at it whenever I got surrounded.
After finishing the main story, a side-mission is unlocked to where you have to apprehend 20 Blackgate prisoners. While an entertaining diversion, more than half the time I'd arrive at their locations on the map, and they're nowhere to be seen. I had to completely leave the section of the city and come back multiple times, hoping that they'd eventually respawn.
And don't get me started on the sniper thugs. Many times, I swear to fucking god, I would get shot THROUGH walls and cover points. Not only that, but you can be sneaky as hell with your escape, they still mysteriously lock onto you within milliseconds of popping out of whatever cover you were ducked behind.
Overall Grade: C
Batman: Arkham Origins is by no means a terrible game. It has its high points, and it does manage to deliver a good story to keep fans of the Dark Knight happy. However, after two fantastic outings, this one treads on line of "painfully average". Nothing new is offered, no risks are taken, and the glitches are beyond intolerable levels. Add in sloppy design mechanics like the inconsistent grapple points and you have an experience that's definitely below our expectations.
You could argue that the predecessors raised the bar too high, but I find that to be a cheap excuse. The earlier games were nowhere nearly this buggy or sloppily put together. If you're a fan, I can't say it's not worth playing. It is entertaining, but I'd strongly suggest waiting for a price-drop before picking this up.