When news of Warner Brothers Montreal’s sophomore effort Batman Arkham Origins first broke, it came in the form of a series of domain names which WB Games had registered for the current-generation prequel outing. Titles such as Arkham Legends, Arkham Universe and Arkham Begins leaked in January, but even with the variation that adorns the finished product, this reviewer has to question its accuracy.
The brutal irony of the matter is that while the word ‘Origins’ derives from ‘original’, there’s no genuinely original content to be discovered in the third Arkham instalment—if anything, Arkham Greatest Hits would have been more appropriate.
Origins’ narrative picks up nine years before the events of Rocksteady’s Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Fans will experience the Caped Crusader’s first meetings with allies such as Jim Gordon and Oracle, as well as notorious adversaries including the Riddler, the Penguin and of course the Joker. The latter antagonist, here played by Troy Baker, has become such a mainstay of the larger franchise that his return here was all but inevitable, although this is perhaps a detrimental naturalisation for WB Montreal.
The vast majority of players will justifiably question the validity of a major plot twist that occurs at the narrative’s halfway point on the basis of Mark Hamill’s previous portrayal of the Joker, and moreso why we have moved backwards in time so as to assert the age-old concept of ‘can’t live with him, can’t live without him’ rather than exploring the implications of the character’s demise in 2011’s City. Baker attempts admirably to create a unique take on the Clown Prince, yet that the character is so prominent in films, video games and the comics means that Baker’s portrayal comes off as a mimicry of the greats.
The art of the mimic seems to pervade the development team’s strategy with their first full retail product. Origins’ gameplay engine is ripped straight from its predecessor, and while a few additions to the combat framework and the Invisible Predator stealth sequences are noteworthy, they’re not substantial enough to distinguish from what’s come before.
Numerous mechanical bugs and frame-rate glitches contribute to the sense of a more disjointed play experience this time around, Montreal’s work lacking the smooth finesse of Rocksteady’s universally acclaimed instalments. No longer is the grappling system of traversal so flexible and adaptive, nor the explanation for the notably sparse open-world Gotham City as satisfying as the prison and isolated settings of the first two games. These backward steps aren’t impossible to overlook by any means, and the core fundamental strengths of the engine remain intact, albeit less capable of impressing thanks to déjà vu and technical hitches along the way.
Thankfully, the immense replay value of Asylum and City has been transferred over to this latest entry without fail. Nine layered Most Wanted mini-campaigns are available outside of the main narrative, and in spite of the decision to relegate some of Black Mask’s hired assassins to these extra adventures being met with infuriation by a small proportion of fans, these quests at least add a substantial reason to return to Gotham, even if the open-world itself fails to do so. What’s unfortunate here, then, is that the resolutions to many of these secondary plot threads are underwhelming at best, failing to match the dramatic gravitas which each character within the dense open-world of City received from the script.
We can’t be certain as to whether WB Montreal’s writers simply struggled to find a place for these supporting constructs in the core narrative, and thus they were given less consideration overall in their mission arcs, but to see a lack of the care and detail which Rocksteady constantly instilled in the franchise will be disheartening for series veterans.
It must be emphasised that Batman Arkham Origins is not a worthless new chapter in its esteemed franchise by any stretch. Though undoubtedly weaker than past instalments, this prequel does benefit from its retaining of the core combat engine which makes the franchise a success, and its main campaign packs a narrative which remains far more engaging than the majority of recent licensed superhero titles.
Gotham City may pale in comparison to Los Santos or Skyrim, but there’s enough content housed within its skyscrapers to justify a visit to the world of Batman for a third time. Whereas trips to this rich universe were essential in the case of Rocksteady’s Arkham games, this time only hardened fans need invest their cash in Warner Brothers Montreal’s first attempt, with a rental advisable for other players.
As beloved as Batman and his recent video game efforts are with fans, to paraphrase the Dark Knight himself, it’s not what a franchise is underneath, but what its latest chapter does that will define its successes or, indeed, its failures.
Tom Buxton
exeposedev 