Batman: Arkham Origins

A somewhat flawed albeit ultimately fantastic entry to the Bat-series. Storyline really delivers, too. We can't wait to see what Warners Montreal does next. [December 2013, p76]

Existing fans will relish the chance to explore Gotham and drink in the detail while going toe-to-toe with some marque villains plucked from DC Comics’ rich history. It’s just a shame that while Warner Bros Montreal proved it was a student capable of copying Rocksteady’s formula, it didn’t have the confidence to add any real ambition of its own.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Batman: Arkham Origins. There is a ton of replay value here, and with a New Game Plus mode to explore, I’m ready to polish up my batarangs, throw on my classic Batman costume, and get to kicking supervillain ass, 60s style.

It continues to develop what we've seen in the previous episodes. It's a very solid game with a very solid story, that offers another great adventure for The Dark Knight fans.

Arkham Origins is essentially just more of the Batman you already know without a lot of new offerings. But despite some small problems the core gameplay, especially the Free Flow-system, is still a lot of fun.

More of an expansion than a brand new game. Newcomers will enjoy a city filled with missions to complete and enemies to pacify. Veterans expected more. [Issue#236]

There are no major flaws to point to Batman Arkham Origins, which is explained by strictly following the formula created by Rocksteady. If you liked Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, this is a safe bet.

Feels like a long DLC at times but fun enough to be The Batman.

This entry into the series is the weakest of them all, but that is like comparing Disney Pixar films to each other. The worst Batman game is still better than most games that see the light of day, but the setting and storyline of Origins just feels like a bit of a misstep.

Yes, most of the game seems like a copy of Arkham City, but that doesn't take away the overall high quality that comes from the lush world, the superb fighting system and the great characters WB Montreal created.

This new installment in the Batman franchise will be thoroughly enjoyed by the fans of the dark knight, although it is somewhat lacking in originality and some of the villains are not particularly charismatic. Warner Montreal did a good job, but it does not reach the same level as the previous installments by Rocksteady.

There’s some great stuff to see here, but it doesn’t really push the franchise off in a new direction. For a new studio’s first attempt in the franchise, I think that’s really what it needed to be, so they can build their own legacy in the future.

Another solid entry in the “Batman Arkham” saga, despite some minor technical issues and the lack of new gameplay features.

Batman: Arkham Origins is more of the same, for all the good and bad that implies. It is effectively more of the same gameplay, in the same locations and against many of the same villains.

Although it does not add any new features to the series, Batman: Arkham Origins provides an amazing story and a big cast of villains from the Batman Universe. It also maintains every single aspect from Asylum and City, like the predator mode and free flow combat in a larger city with lots of secondary activities. The multiplayer experience — the first one in the franchise — is disappointing, but overall, Warner Bros. Montreal lived up to the standards established by Rocksteady.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a good game, but unfortunately nothing more. You have a lot to do until the end of this crazy night, but everything seems already done and seen. If you loved Arkham City you definitely should play Origins too, but you will experience a strong déjà vu feeling all throughout your game.

It's always touchy when a license changes hands, but Warner Bros Montreal succeeds with Batman: Arkham Origins, the third and penultimate episode of the Batman: Arkham series started by Rocksteady. The risks were minimal, given how the Quebecois studio perfectly replicates Batman: Arkham City, one of the best games of this generation. But if reproducing perfection requires skills to propose a story, sense of rhythm and narration on the par with Arkham City was a challenge, they overcame it. Furthermore, with a nice multi-player mode and a gigantic length there's no doubt this Batman is a winner. A must have for fans and non-fans alike.

While the core mechanics hardly make any progress, in terms of storytelling Origins is definitely worthy of concluding the Arkham trilogy in thrilling fashion.

There are some familiar elements – Arkham City’s ice grenades reappear as the mechanically identical glue grenades for example – and most of the gains are in scale and size rather than substance, but this is still a satisfying adventure with only a few minor faults that’ll keep all but the hardest to please happy.

In many ways, Arkham Origins is a lot like the Gotham that it's set in; weirdly empty, but so much fun that you're going to be able to overlook most of the flaws.

While it may not be the best of the three Arkham games, Origins is still a title that is definitely worth at least a few hours of time for both comic fans and gamers alike.

For all its faults, Arkham Origins lives up to the prestige associated with its name. It’s easy to be negative about it, simply because everything it does well the previous games also pulled off splendidly, but the fact is that if the other Arkham games didn’t exist this would be the best Batman game ever by a mile.

Next to Arkham City, Arkham Origins is a bit of a disappointment in its lack of new ideas and use of win buttons, making it the least interesting of the trilogy.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a bit of a letdown for me. That’s mostly because the previous two titles from Rocksteady Studios weren’t merely great games, they were legitimate Game of the Year contenders. Although Origins has a lot going for it, most of that was expected and in truth, I anticipated much more. And this really feels more like a hybrid open-world/linear game, which is a little disconcerting.

While I quite enjoyed the story in Batman: Arkham Origins the stale gameplay left me cold. They've stripped away some of my favorite trimmings (Riddler puzzles) and the fights all start to feel the same.

Batman: Arkham Origins is definitely flawed, but most of all it is an awesome game. It just does not bring anything new to the table.

Batman: Arkham Origins has refinements the series deserves, but core elements are missing the imagination they need right now.

I actually enjoyed the story in Origins more than the wildly implausible (even by comic book standards) Arkham City, but my fun was constantly interrupted by bugs and questionable design decisions. While this is arguably still the third-best Batman game ever made, WB Games Montréal unfortunately dropped the high bar set by Rocksteady down a few notches.