Batman: Arkham origins acts as a prequel to the previous two Arkham games, set two years after Bruce Wayne becomes Batman. On Christmas Eve, Black Mask puts a bounty on Batman's head for one night which effectively set up the reason for the eight assassins that arrive to kill Batman. The game takes place over only one night, making it a very long night for Batman. The story of how Batman fights off the assassins involves characters such as Bane, Shiva, Deadshot, Deathstroke and Firefly, uncovering Black Mask and of course, defeating his ultimate nemesis which made for a decent plot. The plot does end up being quite straightforward without many twists, but as Batman is meeting a lot of characters, both enemies and allies alike, for the first time, the interactions between these characters keeps the player engaged. There are enough references to future events that Origins does feel like a proper prequel. Towards the end of the story, the plot touches on some elements emphasizing Batman's character and core values which add an extra layer of complexity to the character.
Origins was hampered by many glitches during its release, and the latest patch will eliminate most of these glitches. However, you will still encounter frequent framerate drops when exploring the city but the most annoying glitch is enemies stuck in objects, preventing Batman from hurting them and thus, you cannot continue past the combat section to continue the story. It's disappointing and seriously dampens the enjoyment. The Free Flow Combat is easy to understand but takes a bit of skill and timing to perform it properly in order to not break your combo against a wave of enemies. It is satisfying when you pull off a good combo and you can use your gadgets during combat. Unfortunately, the game emphasizes combat heavily and towards the end of the game, Origins will throw room after room of enemies against you. No matter how fun the combat is, it does not mean you want to fight 20 different enemies at once (making a continuous combo harder) time after time so soon after each encounter. Basically, the combat system requires one button to hit and one to evade. Each hit against an enemy will increase your combo count and as your combo gets higher, you get to activate additional abilities.
To keep the combat interesting, there are different types of enemies which require different moves to deal with them effectively. Origins needs a better tutorial as it does not properly explain the many options Batman has. Right from the beginning, Batman already has a decent amount of gadgets at his disposal and if you haven't play the previous games before, there is a high difficulty learning curve to get into the swing of things and knowing what to do. Unfortunately, there are limited new gadgets, the exploding gel, batclaw and batarangs return. The only new gadgets are either exact replicas of previous ones (e.g. glue grenade which mimic ice grenades from Arkham City) or are incremental improvements over existing gadgets like the remote batclaw. The boss sections are fiarly good and each boss plays differently. However, boss battles tend to feel like you're watching a cutscene instead of actively fighting as Batman because you'll often lose control of Batman as he does something to pummel the boss. The other focus is stealth or predator sections where Batman is in a room with a bunch of enemies. Batman will then prowl around and pick them off one by one.
During the predator sections then, Batman will use his gadgets to distract enemies and sneak around to take them out when they're unaware or even set up traps. Enemies have decent AI as even when you take out an enemy stealthily, others will soon find their unconscious body and will be on high alert. During the game's sections when you're going through the levels, occasionally, but more frequently than you would like, it is not obvious what you are supposed to do in order to proceed. The level designs are uninspired and when you end up being stuck and swinging the camera around to try and find what you are supposed to do, it unfavorably breaks up the flow of the game. Batman's detective nature takes on the forefront with Detective Mode which will highlight objects that can be interacted. Batman will even have cases to solve, which allows him to reconstruct and replay what happened. Origins still takes place over a portion of Gotham City but it has expanded with a long bridge connecting two islands. The inclusion of fast travel means you can get to places quickly.
The city though feels lifeless, as well as being dark and damp as if no one will ever live here. It made sense in Arkham City but no so much here since it is supposed to be Christmas Eve but there is no one on the streets except for bunches of criminals. There is a lack of meaty sidequests. You still have the ridiculous amount of collectables and a few sidequests with story elements but they are too short and far between which makes them shallow. Returning to the series are challenge maps to which you can test out your skills as a player, and also a multiplayer mode, in that you play a third-person shooter, but two players can control Batman and Robin as the third team to pick off other players. Overall, Batman: Arkham Origins is a neat and solid game. The biggest downside is that it doesn't offer anything new that's meaningful from Arkham City. As it is, the combat and stealth is solid, the story is engaging and Batman is still a great character. Origins is worth playing, just do not expect it to be as fantastic a game as the previous two Arkham games.
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