Batman: Arkham Origins Review

Batman Arkham Origins is the third installment to the Batman Arkham series. The game delivers hours worth of fighting criminals, solving mysteries, and a city to explore. It has an enriching story with greatly interactive gameplay. Although, there are some frustrations in the game such as  indirect waypoints in some areas, bad respawns, or bad checkpoints.

The story is a prequel to the past two games. Batman is just a myth to the city. The game opens on Christmas Eve with news describing a prison break led by a infamous criminal known as Black Mask. Batman, of course, goes out to save the day. Black Mask hired 8 assassins to take out Batman. Each of them have their own special abilities and fighting styles. Killer Croc, Deathstroke, Bane, Copperhead, Deadshot, Shiva, Firefly, and Electrocutioner all compete for a bounty of $50,000,000 to kill off Batman, luring him by causing mayhem throughout the city. Batman decides to find Black Mask to end it all, but on his mission he meets many new challenges, mysteries, and enemies to face.

The gameplay is another button masher with occasional quick time events. Although this seems dull, the fighting is really fluent, the counters are precise, and the fighting just looks and feels realistic. The boss battle against Deathstroke was an example of amazing game animations. Both the player and Deathstroke can attack, block, and counter with different moves each time. It closely similar compared to an action movie. The fight became harder as it goes on bringing new surprises to the battle causing the player to react differently every moment.

As stated before, there are a few imperfections with the game. At some moments, players may find themselves dying and being respawned across the city from the current objective. This can be frustrating after a couple attempts to complete the mission. Also, the level design can make players look around for something as simple as a door that was hidden around a corner they couldn't see and will cause the player to search for hours to find out the exit was just in a spot they passed multiple times. There are also some missions that can will be activated when you enter a certain area that are literally impossible to complete at the location you start at. Fortunately if you fail, the game will respawn the player closer and it will be easier to start again.

The game is very interactive with the player. There are many puzzles that can be solved in many different ways. It can range from hacking a radio signal, to throwing a Batarang at a button. Enigma is one of the main sources of these puzzles and adds much more enjoyable game mechanics. There are also interactive crime scenes that the player must locate and analyze each part of the scene to figure out what had happened. Batman gives off some commentary to explain to the players what events took place to leave the scene the way it is, so there isn't much thinking needed to be done from the player. It is rather an interactive cut scene.

Players can upgrade their equipment or learn new abilities with points they gain from leveling up. There aren't many choices of upgrades at the beginning of the game but they can alter your gameplay slightly. You gain levels from completing mission and defeating enemies in combat. You gain more experience from defeating an enemy stealthily or with a high combo.

Batman Arkham Origins is a fun, interactive game that make players think logically, strategically, and creatively, whether it is to take down targets or complete a puzzle. With very few weak points, this game has a strong design that plays great and looks beautiful. It is a game that all gamers should play and all Batman fans should appreciate.