Batman: Arkham Origins - Part Two

Missed Part One? Click Here.

I began writing this review almost as soon as the first credits began to roll at the end of the story mode. I chose to do this so that it was fresh in my mind and so I could give it an honest and fair review, but also to save myself needing to go back and play again. Yep folks, sadly on this occasion, it seems that the bulb of the bat signal has blown a fuse.  As you could probably tell from Part One I've been a big fan of Batman for a long time, not just of this award winning game series, but also the comics and cartoons, so I was expecting to right now be writing a fantastic review raving about how wonderful the new game has been. However, after playing almost two hours every night for the last week, that has sadly not been the case.

The combat system eventually became rather boring; the phase “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” comes to mind a lot with this. Yes I’ll agree it was nice to be able to know exactly what buttons do what - which combination of hammering the triggers will provide you with the hang glide take down or the multi-Batclaw wipe out, for example. However, this also meant there was little “new” to learn or explore, and it became repetitive rather quickly. As soon as your armour is upgraded, which is quite early on in the game depending on which route you take for upgrading items, coming up against a pack of 20+ criminals there’s very little difficulty. Even just going for the ‘hammer and hope’ approach which became my method of choice towards the end, was far too effective. I did enjoy the ability to swoop down on the unsuspecting, though, as I glided over Gotham City, and the stage two of the Bane fight, where you had to use your brain or become toast (with Alfred kindly reminding you of this every two seconds) was also very fun. It was a refreshing change to the typical brawl methods experienced in the earlier boss encounters.

Once I’d played further into the story, the plot became mediocre at best; and very quickly. Though I applaud Warner Bros. for their emotional and psychological approach, the plot failed to surprise despite attempted twists and turns, and the early introduction of a previously unannounced, unexpected antagonist.

The eight assassins had rather short screen time, although I did enjoy the Shiva and Anarky challenges; the need to use brains as well as brawn means potential failure at times, especially if you don’t plan your route for Anarky’s bombs. Bird, Black Mask and Copperhead were disappointing, due to the sheer lack of challenge to these “elite” assassins fights, and Electrocutioner shouldn't have even been cast: what an appalling enemy – I was glad to see him come to such a ‘shocking’ end (I’ll see myself out). The only one that proved a real challenge, and I was glad to see it wasn't just me experiencing this was that utter, utter bastard Deathstroke. I almost lost my controller to him and it was the first time since my battle with Phantom in Devil May Cry as a young child that I could feel the nerd rage building; it was like all my Christmases came early when that cutscene came to finish him off. I can’t even imagine what he must be like on the hardest difficulty, something that one day, if I do conquer, will see me being led into a padded cell in a straitjacket.

Though the combat and story didn't meet the high expectations I’d set, as always the Enigma trophies hit the spot; some were difficult, others led to mental face-palming upon realisation of how easy they were to discover once you saw the puzzle from a different angle. Sadly however, even these can’t bring Batman: Arkham Origins to meet the high level of enjoyment and re replayability its older brothers have. A number of game freezes and bugs, which Warner Bros. have acknowledged and are now starting to patch out, have marred the experience. This aside, the uninspired storyline and poor overall combat experienced has led to the Dark Knight being more of a chiselled-chin flop in a cape.