Batman: Arkham Origins (PS3)

I must say that when the arkham series traded makers from rockstar to WD montreal, I was a bit worried because Rockstar had set the bar too high for a batman game and the task for any other company to take on the task of Rockstar would be unachievable. However with early screen shots, gameplay footage and the origins video promo that showcased deathstroke going toe to toe with the dark knight, my worries about arkham origins started to fade away (though not completely). I must say that I have just completed the game and I must say...wow! Origins does deliver like it's predecessors. well...sort of. The story has it that joker (disguised as the black mask)has placed a heavy bounty on the dark knight so many of gotham's criminals (eight to be exact-excluding the regular street thugs) have emerged to take on the bounty quest. Now story-line wise, it is here that origins really shines. The story is really captivating and PERSONALLY I did find the story of origins to be a lot better than Arkham city and asylum combined! the way the 8 assassins out for the bounty are introduced, you can't just help but be instantly drawn to each character illustration. The story also digs deep and uncovers the jokers fascination with the batman, Harley quinn's obsession with...Mr J and Bane's addiction to the venom substance that causes him to mutate into hulking appearance you see in asylum and city. The confrontation between batman, bane and joker is really enthralling. Voice-over acting is great though it took me a while to get used to Roger Craig Smith as a younger batman but don't let that discourage you. a few of the voice-over actors from previous batman games appear here. Nolan North returns as the penguin, Tara strong reprises her role as Harley Quinn, Wally wingert still lends his voice as the riddler and Martin Jarvis returns as Alfred. Mark Hamil does not appear as the joker but his replacement, Troy Baker does an excellent job! quote me! Gameplay wise, it plays exactly like the previous batman games so players will feel right at home. Another aspect of the gameplay is the end of the level boss fights. They are really, really exciting. My favourite boss fight's are Bane's and Firefly's but be warned, the deathstroke boss fight is really frustrating!! My only gripe with this game is that it is... riddled (no pun intended) with a few freezes. Other than that, Arkham origins is a great game. Although it does not offer anything majorly new that sets it apart from the previous arkham games, origins is still an enjoyable game. My advise, wait for a price drop. I'm out!!

I pre-ordered Batman: Arkham Origins and got it on the day of release. Initially the game was plagued with glitches, poor frame rate and slowdown. I could barely traverse through Gotham City, so I put the game down. At the time I was disappointed to say the least, especially after playing through Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. However subsequent patches and bugfixes made the game playable again, and I spent most of November 2013 playing through this game, and my verdict at the my first playthrough was that I really enjoyed the experience. Upon returning to this game a few years later, with all the extra DLC now avaliable to us, my opinion has scarcely changed: Arkham Origins is still a great game in my opinion. Despite not expanding much at all on what Arkham City brought to the franchise - and in my opinion this game is inferior to Arkham City - I still believe that Arkham Origins is a very fun game and a welcome edition to the lineup of Batman: Arkham games. Even though now Batman: Arkham Knight is avaliable to us, I say that if you can, don't skip over this game. It is arguably the worst game in the Arkham series (notwithstanding the handheld games which I have no experience with), but that doesn't negate and reason to play it. I mean the story itself has little connection to the other games, so you don't need to play this game in order to understand the other three. So if you can't afford, or don't have time, to play every Arkham Game, I;d suggest you skip this one and stick to the others. Gameplay and Content: Despite the game is very similar to Arkham City, it's not a complete carbon copy, as there are some unique features in gameplay, such as the Remote Claw and the Shock Gloves. There are also some new locations to explore, so you will be able to tell when you're playing Arkham City or Arkham Origins. There is also some great DLC including extra skins for Batman, campaign modes like the Initiation Pack, and even an extra story add on 'Cold Cold Heart', which I absolutely love and in my opinion is much better than Harley Quinn's Revenge in the previous game. Story (no spoilers): I think it's more action packed and dymanic than the previous games, and I also think that the characters are portrayed very well. Some of the newly introduced, lesser known villains are brought into the spotlight - such as Firefly - and ones that were present in the previous games arguably have a far more fleshed out portrayal: especially Bane. Even Batman has some genuinely good character development. He's much more brash, short tempered and inconsiderate of those around him, but he slowly adapts and becomes more like how he is the future games in the timeline. I guess the only problem I have with the story though is that the Assassins aren't used to their greatest potential, despite the fact that there was a major emphasis on them and Black Mask when this game was being advertised. There isn't as much of a focus on them as I expected. Virtually all the assassins themselves are well written and memorable, but they're just kinda shoehorned into the story. I also think that this game has very little actual connection to the next games in the timeline. I mean it there is an establishment of some of the villains for future games, as well as Batman's relationship with his allies, but the story hardly ties in to Arkham Asylum, which was what I expected from a game thats name is 'Arkham Origins'. As I stated above, you could easily skip over this game whilst still being able to follow the story in the followup games, because there weren't really any holes in the story that are filled in by Origins. Overall though, I would definitely recommend playing Batman: Arkham Origins. It may be very similar to Arkham City and the story might seem quite irrelevant, but it's a great game nonetheless.

While this the third installment of the Arkham Batman series is weaker than Arkham City (the previous game) but better than Arkham Asylum (the first) it is still great fun to play. If you liked Arkham City, you'll like this, although there isn't really a great deal that is new other than the storyline and the characters in the game. The new crime-scene reconstruction segments are entertaining and satisfying to complete, and the new gadgets which have been added don't seem gratuitous or game-breakingly powerful. The free-flow combat system is back and as smoothly brilliant as ever, bar the odd annoying occasions where a button press has unexpected results and this can be a combo-breaker but not a game-breaker. Predator (stealth) mode allows you to take down enemies from the shadows in true Batman style and the strategy (and occasional patience) required for the most slick room-clearings makes predator mode a highlight of the game. The open-world environment is larger than in previous installments, though isn't massive. There are plenty of side-quests to encounter as you fly and sneak around Gotham City. The system of Dark Knight challenges (e.g. glide 150m without touching the ground) is a nice touch to give the player more things to do and unlock upgrades, although some of the tasks seem infeasibly hard. Furthermore, glitches can occasionally cause these tasks to become completed for you despite never actually completing them which can be a relief if there is one you are stuck on but makes unlocking all the upgrades a slightly more hollow achievement. The soundtrack is wonderful and the voice acting from certain characters (no spoilers) is stellar. On this note, the plot is arguably better than that of Arkham City, and the boss fights that the plot necessitates are for the most part fun and not annoying, although my personal favourite is so early in the game that the rest seem slightly lame in comparison, but this is just my preference. The DLC is worth getting if you want more challenge maps (combat and predator challenges based on but outside the confines of the storyline). Summary: really enjoyable game marred by the occasional bug/glitch. Highlights are the storyline (including voice-acting), the playtime value (i.e. plenty to do) and predator mode; lowlights are said bugs (which are not gamebreakers) and not much else. 4 Amazon-scale stars does not do this game justice but it is more an 8/10 than a 9/10.

Great game, and good prequel to the arkham universe. While some people disagree and say this game is awful, they are wrong. True i don't believe this is better than arkham city in terms of story, or even to an extent in combat. But i thought this game was at maximum a 9 out of 10 game. Mainly because how it differs from the other two games. Pros- Alot of charterer development between Batman and his villains. Especially joker, and Bruce's relationship with Alfred. Huge Map, with many side missions. Bosses have their own strategy to beat them. .I.E deathstroke- counter, Bane- doge Beatdown- Firefly- quick gadgets Lots of Batman skins and additional stuff on the way. New story DLC. Online- Which was surprising to me as i thought it was going to be awful, and was just to try and make the game sell. But ended up making be an addict on it lol. Detective Mode- Loved the new version of this, you actually feel like the worlds greatest detective THE BATCAVE!!! A variety of different thugs to beat up, titan thugs, armeored thugs, assasins, kung fu guys. CONS- Deathstroke DLC- not really impressed with this, thought it just felt like a robin 2.0 from arkham city. So not pleased with that. I thought the game itself was superb, i had no high expectations for this game, and i think a lot of people should of felt the same way. And that's no negative comment towards the game at all.But i knew this was never supposed to beat arkham city as far as story wise, and that's the point people seem to miss. It was just a filler for us BATMAN fans to have ,and a deeper insight into the begining of Batman and the joker, until rocksteady release the new arkham game. It was never meant to surpass Arkham city, just to make a superb game. And in my eyes it did. :D P.S the voices of Batman and joker were great in my opinion. Troy baker sounds almost the same as Mark Hamill with his own little twist. Batman's voice,roger craig smith, did take some time to adjust to after growing up with kevin conroy, but i ended up liking it and would be happy for him to be a replacement if kevin were to step down. Roger or Bruce greenwood IMO.

Out of the three Arkham games for the PS3 - Arkham Origins has to rank my absolute favorite. The put downs this game received when released, monstrously undeserved. I honestly haven't enjoyed a playstation game quite this much since Metal Gear Solid for the PS1 - in fact, it actually reminds me very strongly of MGS1. The snowbound setting, the range of outlandish bosses, plot twists. It's a Batman game undoubtedly but coming fresh off finishing it - I can honestly say it reminded me of the fun I had playing MGS. Everything about it's lovely. The boss battles are varied - the fight with Fire Fly on the bridge, enormously good fun. Copperhead, Bane - they all play really, really well. The younger Joker - refreshing after Mark Hamills stately portrayal. Batmans great. The story's great, nice twists - it's all good stuff. The revamped Crime Scene investigation gizmo that allows you to scrub through a reconstructed crime scene - it's no where near the passive experience games critics made out, if anything it's considerably more involving. You genuinely have to scrub through in order to find the hidden clues where as in the original two games all you did was press X. I don't know why people had such a downer on this, I really don't. The only sticking point - Death Stroke. That is a grim and relatively early on experience which ends up with Batman dead UNTIL you figure - you actually don't need to hit Death Stroke so much as counter correctly. Let Death Stroke wear himself out attacking you, through in the occasional cloheline attack with the bat-claw - and you win. The battle's designed so as you can make it as dynamic or as easy as you want, just depending on how you play it - kind of like the boss fights in Metal Gear Solid 4. If you're good out countering and get that part right, by all means attack away. If you find it difficult attacking and countering - just, as I say, let death Stroke wear himself out attacking you and throw in the odd attack when you get the chance. The battles slower but certain. Playing that technique even works on hard mode. If you've put off picking this one up due to the tepid reviews it received - ignore the useless people - this is a GREAT game. Really, really enjoyed it. 10/10

Well, we had Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and now Arkham Origins. The title of the review more or less says it all, but let me go into a bit more detail. From the get-go it's clear Arkham Origins was meant to fill the gap between Arkham City and Arkham Knight. The developing studio is different, it was made in the shortest amount of time among all existing Arkham Games, and it looks more or less like a re-skin of Arkham City. Of course, I think we can all agree that Arkham City was a great game, so this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The major problem with Origins is that it doesn't break any new ground. The map looks the same, the combat system is the same, the gadgets are, for the most part, the same. It really does feel that Warner Bros took the Arkham City formula and simply followed it. They followed it well, but didn't really build much on it. Of course it's a new story, looking at a younger Batman in the early years of his crime fighting. It shows a spotlight on how the Joker initially develops his obsession with the Batman and vice versa, and to be fair the scenes with the Joker are all well done and worth a watch. The voice acting is good, and while it's not Mark Hamil I dare say the new guy is a worthy successor. You actually get a brief chance to see the world through Joker's eyes, which was also a bizzare, interesting sequence. The rest of the plot, well... I know it's a comic-book-based game, and suspension of disbelief is a must for any of the series (like in Arkham City, walling off an entire part of Gotham just to house its criminals. I mean, really?), but I found myself nit-picking Origins more than the other games. I'll avoid blatant spoilers, but just somehow a lot of things that happen seem too outlandish and outrageous even for a Batman game. For example, one scene has Batman go through a hotel that's basically been turned into a lethal amusement park by the Joker, which is fine. The Joker's been known to do such things. But the premise is, Joker's only been in town for a few days, and this is a major hotel. How the heck did he manage to do all the construction without anyone noticing? I mean, the game makes a bit deal about the cops being corrupt and all, but there are limits. This isn't Arkham City where the setting is basically No-man's Land, this is supposedly normal Gotham on Christmas Eve, with normal citizens living normal lives. You do hear announcements about a state of emergency being declared and a mandatory curfew and whatnot but still. And why is it that every street corner and roof is crawling with heavily armed goons? There's a prison break early on in the game, but did EVERYONE escape? Speaking of goons, that brings me to the combat. The overall mechanic is the tried and true Arkham style, with quick-fire gadgets and combos and special takedowns, and it's as bone-crunchingly satisfying as ever. The only gripe I have here is about the enemy types. It seems all too often the game throws at you normal enemies, enemies with knives, enemies with guns, enemies with shields, enemies with armor, big enemies, big enemies with armor ALL AT ONCE. It's true that in previous games too there'd be big dudes/armored dudes along with normal thugs, but they way over-do it in Origins.It seems like every third enemy is either shooting at you or doing some un-blockable attack that you have to dodge, and of course you lose your combo if you get hit. The tough enemies also require a beat-down to take out, which takes time to finish and can be interrupted if another enemy attacks you. This makes large enemies and armored enemies very frustrating to deal with, and not in a good way. It does get a lot easier once you have your full array of gadgets (and master the quick-fire controls), but that only happens near the end of the story. So, OK, I've complained a lot, but keep in mind most of my complaints come from comparing Origins to City. City was a tighter, more polished, more interesting game, whereas Origins was designed from the beginning to fill space. Does that make it a bad game? Hardly. It's still good old Batman action, and the story, with its flaws and all, is still entertaining enough if you don't take it too seriously. They COULD have put a bit more effort into debugging the thing though, seems like every time I start up the game I find some sort of bug. Usually nothing serious, minor audio glitches and whatnot, but I did run into one or two crashes. Fortunately, as far as I could tell, there were no progression-halting bugs on the PS3 version. So, final verdict? Arkham City is a better Batman game and a better game in general, but Origins has its merits, and it's still fun to play. If you're hankering for a bit of Dark Knight action but have played through Arkham City too many times, this might add a bit of fresh air.

So a Batman arkham game not made by Rocksteady? To me that sounded about as scary as Ben Affleck replacing Christian Bale. However as skeptical as I was I decided to get it anyway since the other two (especially City) have given me hours, no years of enjoyment! And I am so glad to be able to say that this game has kept the Arkham series' charm and tinkered with it, not changing the fantastic Rocksteady formula too much so to ruin it, but not taking the COD approach of not changing anything either. They've took a near perfect series and played with it, it feels different, of course it does. It's a different game to the other two,similar but noticeably different. Whether that means better or not it's hard to say,I feel that it's better than Asylum because of its size and depth like with City. However City was such an incredible game I can't honestly say that Origin is better without further gameplay. One thing I do like though is the online aspect which is new. Now it isn't perfect believe me but it isn't a bad little addition and although the camera turning is too slow when you're looking out for Batman it is still a welcome feature which could excel with some tinkering. In conclusion this is a 10/10 game so far, it's big, (No GTA V but not bad)detailed and very, very fun! I am looking forward to the rest of the game and really it would take an ending like Mass Effect 3 to make me dislike this game, it's so good so far I doubt very much my opinion will be changing!

I am a Batman fan, i loved the first two Arkham games.But this game is just a big let down and full price! The game just copies from Arkham City, the gameplay to the map. I know this is set before the First Arkham game, so i thought yeah we get to see more of the city, play in the big tower areas....nope just same map as Arkham City we a little bit more!!! And even worst its the same game as Arkham city. I was hoping something would be different, but nothing was. Already give up on it, going to trade it in and buy it when its £10, because that is the price this game is worth!