Batman: Arkham Origins

Warner Montréal proved to be fully capable of following in Rocksteady's footsteps, delivering a very entertaining game. If you were expecting a revolution in gameplay or setting you'll probably be disappointed, but despite that Batman: Arkham Origins is great fun and deserves to be played by any fan of the series.

Yes, it’s frustrating at times, but it sure as hell got our blood pumping. Plus, the animations look unbelievably organic — especially contextual finishers that incorporate the surrounding environment —and the sound effects give every hit a satisfying sense of bone-crunching devastation.

Arkham Origins has a lot to live up to. I think it gets close but sadly not close enough. You still feel like Batman, but it’s missing... something. Perhaps Batman isn’t just a man with a bunch of extraordinary gadgets, maybe he needs that creepy weirdness as well.

The quality of the combat, the diversity of the dialogue from lead characters to two-bit crooks, and the sheer amount of things to do make this stretch of Gotham an enjoyable place to visit. Origins proves the Arkham formula is strong enough for another team to tamper with, but if the series wants to really break free of its restraints in the next generation, they’re going to have to teach this old bat even more new tricks.

Arkham Origins is a fantastic game, and one that is worthy of the Arkham legacy, but that being said, one can’t help but feel that WB Games Montreal played this one safe. They relied on the strength of Rocksteady’s rock-solid foundation, and simply applied new coats of paint and some extra decorations that weren’t there before.

Batman: Arkham Origins delivers more of what made Rocksteady's games great, but doesn't break new ground. Like a youthful Bruce Wayne, it isn’t as crafty, and it takes its dings during combat, but still puts on a hell of a show when it needs to. Once Joker steps into the spotlight, it becomes a hard game to put down.

Arkham Origins is very fun to play and very easy to forget as soon as you're done. Kicking butt as Batman is still a joy and the Invisible Predator scenes are as excellent as ever, but the game's almost complete lack of surprises weighs the experience severely down. [Nov 2013]

Another strong Batman outing, but one left bruised by the Arkhams Asylum and City. [Christmas 2013, p.72]

That it's so thoroughly entertaining despite being mostly identical to its predecessors speaks volumes about the quality of Rocksteady's original design, and of Warner Montreal's understanding of same. [Jan 2014, p.68]

It's a case of more of the same, but with such good source material this isn't a bad thing. [Issue#105, p.87]

Arkham Origins is not a bad game, in fact, it is really well made. The problem is that it feels like a lateral move for the series.

It's not necessarily Batman's finest hour and doesn't move the series forward in any significant way, but it's likely to attract fans the same way that crime attracts Batman.

Arkham Origins is a very good game that stands on its own and delivers the same excellent adventure, exceptionally timed fights, clever puzzle-solving, hauntingly beautiful graphics and characters as memorable its predecessors...However, there are a few areas where it doesn’t quite match Rocksteady’s lofty achievements, writing being the most noticeable shortfall.

A good homage to Arkham Asylum and Arkham city. Forcefully derivative, but Warner Montreal can feel proud of releasing such a competent, focused and well-made sequel that captures the elements of the two previous games.

Can Batman: Arkham Origins be considered a failure? Definitely not, but it certainly is a game without a spark of genius. The developers have used previously constructed assets and prepared a well-crafted ending to the trilogy. It's not as good as Asylum or City, but fans shouldn't be disappointed. Origins is still a very good Batman game - not original, but extremely effective.

It’s really good. Just not, ironically enough, all that original...What ultimately keeps Arkham Origins from being as exceptional as its predecessor is the weight of the franchise itself. Origins has the disadvantage of being a prequel to a game that’s nearly impossible to top, by a new studio that understandably doesn’t want to drop the ball.

It may not be the best or most innovative game within the series, but it definitely feels like it fits with the two games made by Rocksteady Studios.

It doesn't bring many new tricks to the table, but Origins is still thoroughly entertaining.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a wonderful version of somebody else's game. While a return to the Arkham series is welcome – and if you take only one thing away from this review, it should be that Origins is a worthy entry – there's no denying that Warner Bros. Montreal has taken Rocksteady's tremendous template and crafted a similar experience.

We were happy to see so many delightfully crafted boss fights, even though the actual clashes and brawls weren’t as challenging as we hoped. They are still very entertaining and were excellently incorporated into the main tale.

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 does its best to continue what two of the generation’s best games started, but falls far short of either game.

However, in the midst of solving crimes while exploring Gotham, it's impossible to ignore some annoying issues. Firstly, there are bugs.

I had a lot of fun with Arkham Origins, I thought the multiplayer mode was interesting, and I definitely think it’s worth checking out, once some of the more serious bugs are addressed.

Arkham Origins only surprises with its story, but otherwise it´s a predictable and in many ways roughly polished prequel. If Batman isn´t boring you yet, or if you´ve always wanted to try an Arkham game, then Origins doesn´t do much wrong, but we´ve come to expect better by now.

In its desire to to be stewards worthy of the prestigious Arkham series, Warner Bros Montreal has played it too close. Arkham Origins is well executed and sure to keep fans satisfied, but it doesn't dare to bring enough new ideas to warrant higher praise.

A good but underwhelming entry in the Arkham series that often feels more like an update than a true sequel.

Arkham Origins isn't the next great Batman game but rather a competent rehash of Rocksteady's two entries. While it's filled with more flaws and familiarity than I'd like, it's still the third best Batman game the medium's ever seen.

A different studio, the same product. Arkham Origins is basically the Arkham City title, re-painted not to a pink colour but into the mood of Batman's advent. The fun is there, however and unfortunately, its drawbacks should really be solved.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a flawed, but enjoyable game that fails to improve on a winning formula. This is still great core gameplay, solid graphics, great voice acting, and a plot that's a good ride while it lasts. Just don't expect anything new.

It is a well done, if familiar game. In all its homogeneity with respect to its predecessors, though, Arkham Origins lacks surprise and spark. You'll constantly feel one step ahead of the game.

A poor man’s version of Arkham City, although that still leaves a fairly rich gameplay experience – even if it is the franchise equivalent of treading water.

Batman: Arkham Origins doesn’t seem to realize its true potential, and because of it, falls short.

Even though it's worse than the predecessors in almost every possible way, Batman: Arkham Origins is still highly enjoyable. Which says a lot about how good the Arkham series has been so far.

This reads as a harsh review, but the basic building blocks are still in place. And it's a good game compared to others. However it pales when stacked against the previous two masterpieces. The Batman in Origins is seemingly a metaphor for his creators: less experienced, and making the odd mistake.

Where Arkham Asylum and Arkham City surprised me with their ambition, Origins is comfortable taking the best from what has come before without contributing much of its own — or even fully understanding what worked about those systems. It's built on a solid foundation but it doesn't take the world's greatest detective to see that something significant is missing.

Origins is the least impressive game the series has to offer. Warner Bros. Games Montréal eagerly uses the fundamentals that original developer Rocksteady created and perfected with the two other Batman-games, but forgets to build upon it and really make it their own. The combat system is the best it has to offer and can make Batman: Arkham Origins quite entertaining. Aside from that, there’s nothing here that its predecessors don’t do better.

Batman: Arkham Origins could have been so much more. I’m not sure if a rushed development cycle, a new developer, or shoehorned multiplayer is to blame (maybe a combination of all three), but unfortunately, Origins falls short of the high bars the previous games have created.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a massive step back from Rocksteady’s Arkham efforts due to countless technical problems, poor gadget balancing, and a needless addition of versus multiplayer.

Games appeal in different ways to different people but they should never be tedious, and Warner Montreal have been unable to recapture the spark and essence which made the previous titles such a delight to play. As a consequence, Arkham Origins suffers from monotony - one crime which even The World’s Greatest Detective would find impossible to solve.

The real shame of Batman: Arkham Origins is that those attempts at innovation are so clearly visible. The studios have obviously made an attempt to freshen up the series, and some changes like the boss battles are actually very successful. But those changes are fairly minor in the grander scope of the game as a whole, leaving Arkham Origins unable to escape from under its predecessors' shadows.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a deeply predictable game. It gives you exactly what you'd expect in another Arkham game, without doing anything to push the series forward.

Bugs, glitches, game freezes, and other technical issues mar what would have otherwise been a passable, if unsurprising and uninspired Batman game.

It's contemptuously pissed all over what Rocksteady accomplished with the previous Arkham games and shat out a soulless wreckage of a game. The only good in Origins comes from work already accomplished in previous games, with a whole lot of bad added in.