Rant and Rave: ‘Batman—Arkham Origins’

The long awaited prequel to the Batman: Arkham franchise has finally arrived exactly two years after Arkham City was released. With the cult following of the Batman: Arkham series and the immensely successful Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, how does Arkham Origins stack up?

Arkham Origins follows Batman in his early days of crime fighting where we find the dark knight to be experienced but has not mastered the field. Origins is set in the fictional Gotham City on Christmas Eve with its citizens unsure about both the existence and intentions of Batman – is he a hero? A vigilante? Or is he even real? Because of this, Batman poses as a threat to not only the villains of Gotham City but also the Gotham City Police Department. Things start to get ugly when Batman finds himself as the target of a $50,000,000 bounty arranged by one of Gotham’s infamous crime lords, Black Mask. It takes a turn for the worse when Batman finds out that eight hired assassins are out to get a piece of him.

A series of doubts answered

Prior to the release of Arkham Origins, there were many speculations circulating online about how the game would turn out to be a flop because it did not follow in the footsteps of its smash-hit predecessors. For starters, Origins was not created by Rocksteady Studios, the game developer that was in charge of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. This lead many fans to believe that letting Warner Brothers Games Montreal, a new game development company, control a successful game franchise such as Batman would be a recipe for disaster.

There was also the change in voice cast that caused quite a stir for the gaming community. The voice of key characters such as Batman and Joker originally played by veteran voice actors, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil respectively did not take part in the prequel.

Despite Origins taking different routes in the development process, WB Games Montreal did a splendid job on taking over from what Rocksteady Studios left them with. Graphics did not disappoint and in fact improved from the previous titles and the stunning display on the main menu is just a small preview of what is to be expected of the game.

The change in the voice actors also did not hinder the experience of the story. The voice actor for Batman in Arkham Origins, did a good job portraying the dark knight and the difference was barely noticeable. The same cannot be said for Joker’s voice actor, though Troy Baker was able to capture the psychotic evil that is the Joker, with keen observation, players can probably notice the difference of Arkham Origins’ Joker versus the previous titles.

The same Batman feel with new additions

Arkham Origins gives players with the same gameplay as it was in the first two installments of the game. Provided that the setting of the game is Christmas Eve, Batman gets some gifts from Santa Claus in the form of new gadgets. With valuable gadgets like the remote batclaw and the disruptor, getting around Gotham City surely got a lot more convenient. Not to mention, players have the option to use the coveted Batwing – Batman’s own jet to get around key points in the map. But don’t get too excited; actual control of the Batwing has not yet been made available for Arkham Origins. Players can only summon the Batwing for fast travelling around the city, not drive it.

A roster of lesser known villains with the likes of the Electrocutioner, Copperhead, Firefly and Shiva. For players who are not acquainted with these characters, it makes the gameplay so much more interesting because of the element of surprise. On the other hand, Origins still has the old reliable villains like the Joker and Bane which makes the game a lot more familiar.

The plot of this prequel is reminiscent of Arkham City, where many of Gotham’s villains were released to wreak havoc into the city. With a slightly bigger map and a similar set of characters, Arkham Origins may just be an upgraded version of Arkham City.

Finally, multiplayer

One of the biggest features of Arkham Origins is its online multiplayer game mode which allows players to either be on the hero or villain team reminiscent of Call of Duty. Being the first of the Batman: Arkham series to have a multiplayer option, it was a refreshing change from the usual challenge and story mode that the previous installments had. Despite its interesting concept of incorporating a randomly selected hero and villain on both teams, the multiplayer mode was unnecessary. It was better to leave the game with the story mode because it’s what made the impact of Batman speak for itself.

Arkham Origins may not be as jaw dropping as its previous titles but it is definitely a game that fans should not pass up. With the Batman franchise having solidified its status as the benchmark in superhero videogames, Arkham Origins being the prequel to Arkham Asylum and Arkham City should be reason enough to play the game.

Rating: 3.5/4.0