That’s a potentially-too-personal way
of saying Origins isn’t as bad as you
probably think, even if it never lives
up to the promise of an enriching
prequel. In practice, the showcase of
Bats as a rawer, more savage version
of his later Rocksteady
incarnations feels
hollow. The Batman of
Arkham Knight wasn’t
exactly gentle. There
are only so many ways
you can explode a knee
or rupture an eardrum,
and few of them say
‘I’m better at dealing
with things now’. It’s a missed
opportunity. The title refers to the
origin of the broader Arkham
mythology, rather than of Batman
himself, but it would have been great
to see a more fragile side of Bruce
Wayne. Instead, Origins makes you
appear disproportionately capable as
you glide through Gotham as a fully
equipped, upgraded Dark Knight, and
T
here’s a sense of trepidation firing up Arkham Origins for the
first time. It has a reputation. This is the estranged, drunk
uncle of the series – one who starts celebrating Christmas in
September and might not actually be a blood relative. His
timing is terrible. He’s slightly unreliable. But he’s not the
urine-soaked catastrophe you expect and, in fact, some people like him
more than the other uncle with the flashy car.
that takes much of the threat out of
the ‘kill Batman’ subplot. Instead of
the parade of supervillain assassins
being the thing that moulds Bruce
Wayne into a gushing justice spigot,
they’re snails crossing a busy road.
They’re going to get
crushed eventually.
Other things about
Origins feel off. There’s
a vague lack of finesse
that a game designer
could pinpoint and
articulate far better
than me. The timing of
the fights is sluggish,
like controls in a rhythm action game
that need recalibrating. And the
camera is more unruly than in other
games in the series.
Technically speaking, it’s more
stable than it was at launch – I had
one slightly catastrophic crash, but
generally it runs well and looks
gorgeous, even if it can’t compare to
the rain-drenched lustre of ArkhamKnight. These slightly worn edges
don’t sound like much, but they
diminish an experience we’re used
to being immaculate.
Despite this, I do like Origins. And
in fact, the contrarian in me might
like it more than Knight. There’s a
lack of urgency to the story which,
instead of making things flat, gives
me space to pretend to be Batman. I
can go back to the Batcave and bicker
with Alfred and it doesn’t feel like
I’m putting innocent lives at risk
when I spend an hour getting
distracted by petty crimes. The
villains are enjoyable, too. This has
the best version of Bane in the series,
and actually getting to fistfight
Deathstroke is a valuable narrative
moment in Batman’s history. And the
period and setting are fantastic, even
if Gotham looks a bit drab and
industrial in places. The snow and
tinny Christmas songs make Gotham
feel like a real place, with Bats acting
like a Kevlar-coated Santa delivering
fists of coal to naughty boys.NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
Festive Batprequel
made by WB Montreal,
not Rocksteady
EXPECT TO PAY
£15
DEVELOPER
WB Games Montreal,
Splash Damage
PUBLISHER
Warner Bros.
Interactive
Entertainment
REVIEWED ON
Intel Core i7-7700 CUP
@ 3.60GHz, 16 GB RAM,
NVIDIA GeForce GTX
1070, Windows 10
MULTIPLAYER
No
LINK
bit.ly/34X9kNM74
A fussier, frayed prequel
that sporadically delivers
on its premise. The
experience of being
Batman is still sublime.VERDICTCHRISTMAS KNIGHT
Separating the naughty from the nice in BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS
The title refers
to the origin of
the broader
Arkham
mythologyOLD GAMES REVISITED by Matthew Elliott
THEY’RE BACK
Croc is actually escaping from Batman’s
presumptuous cranial massage.