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[Seven Force]

I've been getting pretty hyped for Arkham Knight recently, and considered going back to re-play Asylum and City (I own the GoTY editions of both) in anticipation of Knight. However, a co-worker had reminded me about Arkham Origins, and gave me his copy since he was planning on selling it soon anyway. I figured I'd give it a try despite hearing conflicting things about it in comparison to Rocksteady's Arkham duo. Just beat it a couple of minutes ago, and I've gotta say, it was a lot better than I expected it to be. I'll just touch upon a few of the things that stood out the most.

I always heard that Origins had the best plot of the Arkham games, but given the stories for AA and AC, I never found that to be a particularly high bar (Nothing against Paul Dini at all, but his other works are far better in my opinion). That said, it's actually a genuinely enjoyable, focused plot, which is a breath of fresh air after City, which kinda got a little bloated later on in the game. It's story beats (particularly

Spoiler

Bats finding out that Bane found out his identity, and subsequently finding the Batcave and Alfred trashed

) had a lot more impact than I expected them to, and though I recall it getting a lot of ire around release, the Joker -> Black Mask swerve was pretty great. The

Spoiler

Red Hood

segment was a really, really neat touch, as well. Speaking of which, the voice acting in the game was a lot damn better than I expected. I like Conroy as Batman, but I always felt his delivery in the Arkham games was a bit flat compared to his animated roles, though that makes sense given the nature of VA recording for television series compared to a video game. Roger Craig Smith did a pretty damn good job, and Troy Baker knocked it out of the damn park as Joker. (Hamill's still the GOAT, though)

The Arkham games have been pretty iffy when it comes to boss fights. Asylum doesn't really have any traditonal boss fights I'd call good (Poison Ivy is pretty much the closest thing to a proper, traditional boss encounter, and even that is kinda meh at best), and aside from Mr. Freeze (which is a legitimately great boss fight) and maybe Clayface, City's bosses are pretty unremarkable. Origins on the other hand, has some pretty neat bosses. Deathstroke is more or less one long QTE, but it's at least a bit more involved than I imagined it to be at first. Bane's boss encounters were pretty decent, if not a bit similar to the encounters in Asylum, and my favorite was probably the Firefly boss fight. I think Origins definitely has AA and AC beat out in the boss department.

Origins' combat feels a bit more refined than in City, despite it not adding much in the way of new combat gadgets. Being able to Grapnel Boost right off the bat (heh) is how it should have been in AC as opposed to unlocking the upgrade, as it made traversal that much less of a chore. I ran into some bugs here and there, but a quick restart ended up fixing those issues. I hear the bugs were a lot worse at launch, though (I played through this on PS3).

There's a lot of other stuff I could probably mention too, but long story short, it's a pretty great game for something that's more or less a quick B-Team stopgap. I still have some of the side missions to do, and I still have to do the Cold, Cold Heart DLC scenario, but that aside, I enjoyed myself.

 

[the black pearl]

I don't think the combat felt as good as the previous games. I liked the detective stuff, though.

 

[kodecraft]

Origins is the best one. I'm looking for Knight to take that position though

 

[Harmen]

Good game and in some ways better than the Rocksteady ones, but I felt the open world design harmed this one a bit much for me. For City, I feel it suited the concept and I loved the vibes (the plot revovled around the location), but for a "normal" Gotham before a storm it just felt really off. And that bridge in between was truly annoying. I feel like having to pick locations from a (batcave) hub and having the sidequests more streamlined within these levels would work better (offcourse whilst retaining the freedom in order of locations, with alternate routes and backtracking with new items etc.)

Overall, I like City the best and I thought the story was good/epic in an over the top comic book hall of fame way. But Origins does indeed have the best overall bossfight quality and plot, I agree. Aslyum was great, but a bit too anticlimactic at times. I do like the pacing of that one the most, however. Overall, they are all great.

 

[KnockOneOff]

I bought origins yesterday actually for Wii U £6!!

Heading away till next weekend now and will only have access to my Xbox one till next weekend, but looking forward to trying it out

 

[BouncyFrag]

I really liked it but a glitch making me completely start over soured the experience and prompted me to back up my saves on the 360 which ended up being needed as my save file got corrupted near the end of the game.

 

[Soltype]

Not as good as Asylum, but I liked it better than city.For some reason people didn't like the combat, but I enjoyed it more than the previous titles.

 

[SuperInuit]

The combat felt a little bit off to me and the world was a little dry, but the narrative was gripping as hell. The Black Mask/

Spoiler

Joker

character reveal was brilliantly done.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

I still have some of the side missions to do, and I still have to do the Cold, Cold Heart DLC scenario, but that aside, I enjoyed myself.

That DLC is as good as the main game, imo. Really hoping its level of quality is the standard for Knight's DLC stories.

Everything in the OP is spot on except for the bit about combat. It added some cool stuff, most certainly. It threw off some of the balance achieved in City though. The game overall is less solid than City, but I could see an argument for Origins being the best in some ways. They're both better than Asylum though.

 

[Xaero Gravity]

I know I'm in the minority, but it's my favorite of the 3. It didn't reinvent the wheel, but it had my favorite story of the Arkham games, one that kept me captivated the whole way through, so because of that it's my favorite.

 

[WX3]

Saw Origins on Steam last night for $4.99 so I am hoping it is still for sale later today when I can add some bucks to the wallet and grab it. Its the only one I do not own on PC. I am not even at all interested in super hero type games or movies at all, but these games are special in that they invite everyone interested in great game play to join in the fun! Now, as time has passed, I have multiple play throughs on both Asylum and City.

Again, HEADS UP, this game (ORIGINS) was $4.99 last night on STEAM and it might still be. Give it a look!

 

[Booker Dewitt]

Had a lot of fun with it, it was a super solid, and super safe, entry in the franchise. Embarrassingly glitchy though and the multiplayer was pretty misguided.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

best game, best batman

 

[doniewhalberg]

Really enjoyed the game, think the story and particularly the delivery of the story with the VA etc is by far the best of the three games. I find the combat rhythm and AI totally off though, and it really compromises the way the combat works in the arkham games. Those are the main high and low for me about the game, everything else is basically the same as the other games.

That DLC is as good as the main game, imo. Really hoping its level of quality is the standard for Knight's DLC stories.

Can't say I enjoyed the DLC much though, never have done for the Arkham games. I'm always on the look out for the next Minvera's Den or whatever, but I felt both Harley's Revenge from city, and the Mr Freeze stuff in this game missed the mark on what makes the games good.

 

[Brandon F]

Keep meaning to play this. Afraid I'll get fatigued if I do so before Arkham Knight.

 

[BouncyFrag]

The VA was exceptional.

 

[ChristianSpicer]

It launched with some bugs, which hurt it, but I think the core-game in Origins is pretty fantastic. The story is great too. I think it was mostly hurt by "franchise fatigue" and then people looking for a reason to not like it b/c it was made by a "B team" developer. But yeah, find for cheap on PC if possible and turn the setting up. Solid game.

 

[DodgyTaZombie]

I've recently played origins mostly because of the praise for the story from multiple places and personaly I found it massively underwhelming. So many characters are poorly written and the game seems to worship a completely psychotic batman.

The game seems to want to ring out a great deal of tension out of the fact that batman and Gordon don't get along, but the writers can't seem to find a geniue reason why someone wouldn't like batman, and he spends the whole game being a whiney idiot who actions and words don't make any goddamn sense

"Batman's the worst kind of criminal, who thinks his actions are above the law"
Really, the worst ? After another criminal just launched a violent assault and breakout in a jail, although with murdering at least one person , batman is "the worst" ?

Or when he claims the GPD has "gained" gothams trust despite knowing full well how corrupt they are
Or when he seriously recommends batman hand himself over in a kidnapping situation
Or when he condemns batman for "killing" someone about 5 minutes after he himself just shot 2 people

He never feels like a geniue or real character, instead he just spends the entire game complaining about batman without ever producing anything resembling a decent argument.

Then there's the joker who spends the entire run time having seemingly no motive for any action he takes throughout the entire game, why does he take over black masks gang, why does he hire a hit on batman ? He's the joker is about all the explanation where given.

The tension between Alfred and Bats starts off pretty promising, with Alfred showing geniue concern for Bruce and the costs of his actions, whilst batman largely ignores the ramifications of his actions both on his own and Alfred mental well being.
When Alfred confronts him on this it results in probably the best plot beat in the entire franchise.(which I'll try and link to)

However the conclusion of this arc where Alfred finally "understands" why Bruce goes round batmaning is a complete cop out, considering he reaches that point after being nearly beaten to death by one of batmans villains because his war on crime has clearly escalated completely out of control

and to make matters worse batman knew about this but wouldn't let Alfred go to the police. (Seriously it's kinda messed up the game never address that Batman nearly gets Alfred killed) It felt like both characters needed to reach a comprise in there ideals where batman eases off on the self destructive path he's sent himself on and Alfred understands there personal cost is for the greater good
Instead it's just more "batman sure is awesome" wanking.

It's also kinda funny that batmans character arc is basically the same as lego batman 2, where batman is a brooding idiot who has to learn to trust people and make friends, except lego batman is prepared to show that batmans kind of an ass.


Gameplay wise I thought the game was pretty decent, the game manages to squeeze some decent boss fights out of arkhams combat system and the detective stuff was a neat idea, it's a shame it boils down to find the red triangle put I appearicated the effort and hope arkham knight expands upon it.

If you actually read all this I apologise for my terrible grammar, I'm tired, and I have terrible grammar at the best of times

 

[Pooya]

the game is alright, it just that the reused map from Arkham City really sucked here, they somehow managed to make it look worse and even more empty. new stuff was pretty good though, it was pretty good game that was obviously made on a budget.

 

[ubersticky]

I don't know. Took me forever to finish this. But when I did I was glad I did but something felt really off with this game compared to Arkham City. It felt so... deflated after such a huge game with a big roster and so much to do? Combat wasn't as fun and challenges alike. Also the multiplayer trophies are the reason I didn't attempt to platinum this. Fuck that.

 

[emrober5]

Best story of all the games, really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately it got a bad rep for being a buggy mess, but I never had any issues when I played on ps3.

 

[Ephemeris]

For me it definitely was a mess bug-wise as someone jumping in day one. Also, as someone who put in a ton of hours in Arkham City , the combat changes/ tweaks were immediate and threw me off for a long while.

That said I loved the story, the fights and for me... Angry batman is best batman.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Troy Baker is so good as The Joker.

 

[Morgenstern]

I agree that the boss fights were some of the best in the series so far, but found that the goon combat was fatiguing. That they tended not to be difficult, but so many of them would be thrown at Batman in each battle that it became a chore. The sheer amount of "destroy or collect these things" challenges were excessive too. There just isn't enough time in the day(not to mention a gaming backlog) to aim for a 100% completion.

 

[Alienous]

The VA was exceptional.

Yes, Californian angst Batman was fantastic.

 

[GringoSuave89]

Shock gloves were the worst addition to any Batman game, but otherwise Origins was a pretty great game. And I'm in the minority, but I loved the multiplayer.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

I've recently played origins mostly because of the praise for the story from multiple places and personaly I found it massively underwhelming. So many characters are poorly written and the game seems to worship a completely psychotic batman. ...

You make some fair points, but most of them can be construed as character faults (Gordon saying "[The police] have earned Gotham's trust" is him lying to himself because putting faith in a vigilante is crazy) or purposefully uncomfortable choices (Alfred accepting what Batman's doing after confronting him, not because he thinks it's the best course of action, but because there's no better way at the moment).

And beyond all that ... you can't even make such criticisms of the previous games' stories because there's nothing to them. That's why you heard praise for Origins' plot/cutscene direction/voice direction/performances/etc. — what came before in the Arkham games in those categories was so bad or nonexistent this decent story is great by comparison. You mention poorly-written characters in Origins when Asylum and City have the main character as one of the worst offenders, let alone questionable character motivations, dropped/squandered plot lines and lame performances pull from the actors.

I do believe Origins' story-related stuff is good, but I understand its shortcomings and why people wouldn't consider it good or great. That said, context is needed to understand why it receives and merits praise.

Shock gloves were the worst addition to any Batman game, but otherwise Origins was a pretty great game. And I'm in the minority, but I loved the multiplayer.

Shock gloves are awesome, but they're overpowered and not properly balanced in relation to the rest of the player's and enemies' movesets, much like all the other additions. I would love for those to make a return as the idea to include them is novel.

Can't say I enjoyed the DLC much though, never have done for the Arkham games. I'm always on the look out for the next Minvera's Den or whatever, but I felt Harley's Revenge and the Mr Freeze stuff in this game missed the mark on what makes the games good.

Mr. Freeze was Origins' only DLC storyline. Harley was City's. The Cold, Cold Heart DLC had the same gameplay as the main game with some actually decently balanced additions, new locations and an interesting contained storyline, something that hearkens back to the animated series, both in format and tone.

 

[HardRojo]

I agree with the combat feeling off. For some reason, sometimes it wouldn't feel as smooth as Asylum and City, especially the counters. I didn't like the game as much as the other entries during my first playthrough but it grew on me during my second playthrough. They should include it in the rumored remastered collection.

 

[mcbradle]

I feel like Origins was actually a crafted narrative, much more so than Asylum and City. Asylum was them needing to put a story together with this good idea for a Batman game, so they just said "Ah! Arkham Asylum is going crazy!". You'd never see a movie take on that plot because it is a paper thin plot just for the sake of existence for the game. City was reactionary to the main criticism of Asylum, in that it needed to take on a more open world environment that still had the same explorative feel of Asylum.

With Origins, they chose to leave the combat and detective concepts alone and improve on the story itself, which shows. I was really interested in getting away from the Joker plot lines. However,

Spoiler

when you realize Black Mask is actually the Joker

, it actually felt like it was something fresh. It wasn't the typical "Joker's doing evil Joker things!" that so many Batman works focus on. Rather, you got this in depth look at the budding relationship between two of Batman's most central enemies, Bane and Joker, and it gave credence to The Dark Knight films, Arkham Asylum, and Arkham City in a much needed way. It should have been how the trilogy began, rather than with Asylum. I'd honestly take Origins, Asylum, and Knight as the trilogy and leave City all alone. It fits better. You get to see Batman's relationship to the Joker, Joker takes over the Asylum and tries to take over Gotham and kill Batman, and then you could see what happens with Batman after the Joker's death. Honestly, City adds literally nothing meaningful to the Rocksteady trilogy's overall arc.

Origins does have some flaws, especially how they fly past some villains and belittle others to mere QTE status. Asylum and City had plenty of issues, too, so I'm comfortable saying I think Origins is the most interesting narrative of all the modern Batman games, and in my mind, just as good as Asylum.

 

[Seven Force]

I just put in Arkham City for the first time in over a year or two and yeah, I actually take back what I said about Origins' combat feeling more refined. It feels a lot more balanced in City. It also feels a bit snappier; Not sure if it's a placebo effect or just me, though. Countering in particular feels a lot smoother in City.

I stand by pretty much everything else I said, though.

 

[MightyKAC]

Worst Arkham game (which still puts it above 90% of it's competition) due to numerous bugs, slightly clunkier gameplay and IMO the weakest story of the three (again still better than most).

Good game still though, and I had fun playing it, but the other Arkams are just WAAAY more awesome in comparison.

 

[jaundicejuice]

I just love how they handle some of the villains in Origins.

Spoiler

The Electrocutioner having this epic build-up when he appears early in the game and then ends up being a joke boss battle that you one shot. Then later how he goes out like a chump later when the Joker kicks him out of the window of a high story building...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYH7K_IRTfw

Mark Hamill is and always will be The Animated Series Joker but I really liked Troy Baker's work in Origin and that scene in the second half of the video is one of my favourites in the game, if not the Arkham series.

 

[DodgyTaZombie]

I just put in Arkham City for the first time in over a year or two and yeah, I actually take back what I said about Origins' combat feeling more refined. It feels a lot more balanced in City. It also feels a bit snappier; Not sure if it's a placebo effect or just me, though. Countering in particular feels a lot smoother in City.

I stand by pretty much everything else I said, though.

The changes to the counter system is one of orgins most baffling changes, for whatever reason Batman can't cancel animations into a counter anymore (or at the very least the number of frames that can be canceled has been greatly reduced). The game never address this change despite it fundamentally changing how you play.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Wish they got the guy from Origins to play Batman in Arkham Knight. Considering this is Batman at the end of his rope, everything's fucked, and he's backed into a corner, I want the snarling, vicious, angry Batman from Origins to return in Arkham Knight. Conroy has never done 'snarling, vicious, angry' that well.

 

[stn]

It was the first Batman game I wanted to 100% but got hit with a save-deleting bug after I beat it. Haven't played it since.

 

[kurahador]

Second best Arkham game period. The way it handle villains, an actual varied boss fights(!!), better story, best Batman, etc...

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Technically isn't the best but damn I enjoyed parts of it way more than the others.

 

[WillyFive]

It's a completely unnecessary game. It does things inferior to both previous Batman games, and feels like an expansion pack to Arkham City. Story is boring, the gameplay is going through the motions and regurgitating the same stuff from City in remarkably less fun ways, and the combat felt a lot more dull.

The two previous Batman's were legendary games of the generation, but Origins isn't worth mentioning. If there's one thing I can complement about it, it's that they fixed the DX11 bug that City had on PC for this game.

 

[iddqd]

I wish I could buy it over Xbox Live on the 360.
All the stores do not have it used around here.

 

[Sojgat]

Best Arkham game.

Even though they seem to like to pretend this game doesn't exist, I hope Rocksteady took some notes on how the boss fights were handled. Knight is going to be a big disappointment, if they can't match the great boss encounters from Origins.

 

[Zekes!]

Anyone play the WiiU version? I was contemplating it at Best Buy today

 

[Lights and Waves]

Anyone play the WiiU version? I was contemplating it at Best Buy today

I did! Plays great, the gamepad shows a map and I think it plays a part in the detective scenes...

 

[doniewhalberg]

Mr. Freeze was Origins' only DLC storyline. Harley was City's. The Cold, Cold Heart DLC had the same gameplay as the main game with some actually decently balanced additions, new locations and an interesting contained storyline, something that hearkens back to the animated series, both in format and tone.

I was acknowledging that in the post haha. I've played both, I know which games they were released with. My point in mentioning Harley as well, is that while I didin't agree with what you were saying, neither DLC storylines for the arkham games have really pressed my buttons, it isn't a specific origins team judgement. I really don't like how they seclude you to a smaller part of the map oppose to just implementing new missions into the existing world. Big fan of the animated series, and batman in general as my shelves would dictate if you could see em (Black Mirror in my veins man), but like I said, it just didn't do much for me. I just didn't think the story brought anything to the table of the level of the main game.

Anyway, shouldn't digress too much into the dlc since OP really made the thread about the main game, and I thought that itself was pretty great, a highlight of the winter for me at the time.

 

[shanafan]

Went back to Arkham Origins last night to get ready for Arkham Knight. Actually had a really time, and wow these games really do deliver well.

Question about my progression in the story..

Spoiler

I just defeated Copperhead. My story synopsis is at 49%. Should I expect that means I am halfway through the main story? I know that could go without saying, but there are many side missions in the game (Anarchy, etc) so just want to check!

 

[Shake Appeal]

Origins is my favorite of the trilogy. It's the one that looks and feels and sounds the most like Batman. Rocksteady have yet to find a consistent tone, and the shifts are jarring for me throughout their games.

Also, it contains a beautiful retcon as to why

Spoiler

Rocksteady's Bane is so horribly dumb.

 

[jimi_dini]

Origins is the best one.

Except for that terri-bad Mark Hamill impersonator.

Anyone play the WiiU version? I was contemplating it at Best Buy today

Imo best version out there. Less bugs than the other versions and most important: no flipping tearing

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Went back to Arkham Origins last night to get ready for Arkham Knight. Actually had a really time, and wow these games really do deliver well.

Question about my progression in the story..

Spoiler

I just defeated Copperhead. My story synopsis is at 49%. Should I expect that means I am halfway through the main story? I know that could go without saying, but there are many side missions in the game (Anarchy, etc) so just want to check!

Yeah, that's a little more than halfway through the main game.

 

[keltickennedy]

Origins was good. It can't top City though in my opinion. Deathstroke fight was cool, but i think the Mr. Freeze fight in City was better. Also, all the gadgets in City are useful in a fight. Origins had some throwaways...like the glue grenade was just a visual change of the ice grenade. Concussion grenade was useless. The shock gloves broke the fighting with the ability to one hit everything. Also the tether gun upgrade made it so in predator rooms you could instantly have 3 easy takedowns by tethering enemies to perch points.

Don't get me wrong. I like them all and hope that WB Montreal make another. I liked the tone. It was like having the main line Batman comics and then also having Legends of The Dark Knight run of comics that had some darker stories and features lower tier villains.

 

[kodecraft]

Wish they got the guy from Origins to play Batman in Arkham Knight. Considering this is Batman at the end of his rope, everything's fucked, and he's backed into a corner, I want the snarling, vicious, angry Batman from Origins to return in Arkham Knight. Conroy has never done 'snarling, vicious, angry' that well.

This. Are you me?

Also, Roger Craig Smith's Batman is more varied, definitely would LOVE his Batman to be in the Arkham Knight

 

[LiamR]

I liked it, but Rocksteady certainly didn't, which is why it won't be in their remastered collection.