Dark Knight Dethroned: Where Did Arkham Origins Go Wrong?

Batman: Arkham Origins was one of the more low-key dissapointments of 2013, but is all hope for the game truly lost?

[Pandamobile]

It was an 18 month development cycle by a brand new team of people at a brand new studio.

If I would have known that when I first saw the game, I might have lowered my expectations a bit.

[NewMonday]

I usually hate prequels but I thought it was good, yes more of the same but the writing in this game went deeper into the characters and kept me interested, in that aspect it was better than AC.

[NewMonday]

as far as game play the next game needs the Batmbiel in a bigger city

[decrypt]

I think the formula has gotten old, just more of the same been there done that. The new team brought nothing creative to the table.

[SilentNegotiator]

I'm one of the few that didn't care a whole lot for AC, but absolutely loved AA. The open world in AC felt like a distraction in a game that was very linear in story/activity and there wasn't a whole lot more to do with the moves and gadgets that Batman had - personally I felt that the formula felt old only half way through AC.

Batman:AA was fairly unique. But 5 years and 3 games later, it already feels played out with its fairly simple premise. It would be like if they released Spiderman 2 year one, then Spiderman 2 part 2 year three, and finally spiderman 2 part 3 year five.

[CrossingEden]

Great games have been developed in 18 months, case and point, Majora's mask was made in 18 months.

[Pandamobile]

I'm not saying it's not possible to make a good game in 18 months, it's just really clear that this was a rushed production for an inexperienced team.

[SilentNegotiator]

Development time was a LOT shorter in the 5th gen.

[CrossingEden]

Makes sense. Shame that they didn't try harder like 343 did with Halo 4. :(

[Pandamobile]

I'm sure Microsoft threw an virtually unlimited pile of money at 343. Arkham Origins was not allotted that high of a budget.

[JsonHenry]

I got bored of the way too easy combat in the last game. Didn't even bother to pick this one up because it was more of the same.

[Scrivlar]

It just didn't feel right when I played it, I wasn't enjoying it like the first 2. I also felt it was just the same as Arkham City but rather than improved it was worse like they took a step backwards with the series. Maybe it was too soon after Arkham City.

[HeavenlySnipes]

It wasn't made by Rocksteady

[MidnytRain]

Pretty much this. WB games might be falling into that dairy farm pretty soon.

[Fringe_Agent13]

This pretty much sums up what went wrong nicely.

[GSKerns]

I loved how they marketed the game as an origin story of a very young batman vs black mask... then we get the same batman vs joker game we've already played.

[Truehellfire]

Agreed. As awesome as the Joker is, he does not have to be the main bad guy in every game.

[XboxFun]

It was all just more of the same. Everything felt like it was just another trip down AC road.

It all had a bad been there done that feel to it and even though I like the first two games this one just felt like added content and not a separate game.

Prequels are starting to feel like the "Outer Space" movies of the game industry. You know when a horror movie has exhausted it's plot, story and everything else so then they decide to move that character into space. Jason, Hellraiser, Critters, Leprechaun, etc, etc.

[BLAKHOODe]

It didn't go wrong. Arkham Origins is an awesome addition to the Batman: Arkham series. I was on the fence about it myself until I actually played it.. and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Haters gonna hate, though.

[cjflora]

Same here. I knew it wasn't made by Rocksteady before playing it and expected it wouldn't quite be what Arkham City was, but I'm still enjoying it a lot. I have my occasional gripes, but I would in no way call this a bad game. They just didn't raise the bar like City did.

[TheEnigma313]

Am I the only one who loves this game? There are a few hiccups with this game, but the story is actually solid. I just hate the frame rate drops.

[BLAKHOODe]

I dunno about gamers sometimes. It's like, give us a new Batman: Arkham game, but then they get one and then complain because it's similar to other Batman: Arkham games and isn't something completely new, completely different. That's like saying, I'm not going to go see the new Hobbit movie, because it looks just like the previous Hobbit movie. I wanted it to be a cartoon or a musical.

[Are_The_MaDNess]

a good step backwards IMO.
broken combat with enemies jumping around just like batman, broken counter timing at launch. story was meh but interesting tho.
no difference in meshes and textures in the older parts of Gotham. boring and not really epic batcave.
lowres videos as cutscenes that low like crap.

Martial artists breaking combos in a fight and stands still for like 2-3 sec that breaks my combo.

not a game i will have the pleasure of playing a second time or even collections everything.
even tho i played Batman AC like 4 times already and AA 6 times and i have collected everything more than once of both games aswell.

this game really isnt the same for me at all.

[andron]

It's good fun when it works, but not nearly as good or interesting as the two first games.

And despite all the patches I still get the choppy framerate after fast travel...

[jay2]

Nev dev team.

[blackblades]

When they added multiplayer to a singleplayer game.

[InTheLab]

Pretty much everything that everyone said already but what killed was the combat.

The screwed with the timing for counters and enemies don't properly reset after evading or cape stuns.

And then there's the fact that those gloves just ruined the flow of combat just like the martial artists that have you play a mini game while countering.

And then there's the kicker. The boss fights were horrendous. The top 3 fighters in the DCU are Shiva, Batman, and Slade. The Shiva fight was outright embarrassing and the fight with Slade was a repetitive mess.

How do you reduce Lady Shiva to what amounts to the common female ninjas that protect Talia? The most badass hand to hand fighter in all of DC fights like a basic ninja? WTF?

I did at least enjoy the voice acting so that's something...

[Are_The_MaDNess]

yup the counter timing was way off for some reason..... time and time again i know i push the button in time yet i get hit.
can even hear the button on the Razer Onza controller clicking and giving away feedback.
was among the top 350 on more than a few of the challenge maps on the older games when they used GFWL leaderboards.
had literately hundreds of hours in arkham city. dont even want to play Origins after seeing how broken it is.

[InTheLab]

Same here dude. At one point I hit the top 10 on the Jokers DlC map and I've spent something like 30 hours playing that one map over and over trying to crack 6 million so skill isn't the issue.

Both AA and AC do have that random dude gliding over and hitting you when they shouldn't and countering usually leads to a dropped combo but this game is on another level and I genuinely feel cheated in most fights and it makes me not want to play Origins.

Here's something funny. I've platinum'd and 1K'd both AC and AA on Xbox(I think) and PS3, and have about half the trophies in for the pC versions.

I can't be bothered to play any more Origins with more than half the trophies remaining.

[Are_The_MaDNess]

really feel you......
finnished both of the older games in one seating with everything collected, and it didnt stop with that either.
dont feel the same anymore.
most of the times i fight some Martial artists in origins he can start up a combo then reset his animation and freeze for a second and by that time i have already pushed the button. stuff like that just breaks the game IMO.

and dont get me started on the super vision these guys have, may it be with sniper rifles or not.
at times a guy with a sniper can just see you even tho you are on his side. and that is when he is scoping down in another direction.....

and whats up with the bad grapple spots?
most of the time you glide so high you cant grapple onto other buildings, even tho there is higher buildings right infront of you..... they where lazy with that one by blocking us access to those roofs.

really love the game. but its a broken piece of shit comparing to the older games IMO.

[bitboi]

I felt the Story in here was better than the previous games

[re2_apocalypse]

The game is good; this coming from a person who finished New Game Plus last night; however, it is the weaker of the three games and I was a little disappointed with the Joker being the Main Bad Guy again; however, Troy Baker did awesome and Joker is still clearly the Star of the Show. My only major grips for the game though...

1) Not enough new content, more of same... Not ness. a super bad thing though
2) Frame-rate - Clearly Rocksteady did a much better job regarding this department and gliding in Gotham has its problems in Origins compared to City.
3) Combat isn't as fluid, and enemies are worse in this game. Not dumb, but more aggressive - if you count that as a negative because countering is not as accurate as the previous games.

Overall, I give the game a 7.5/10 Decent game, and doesn't deserve all the hate, but it was the weakest Batman game to date.

[MightyNoX]

1) Bugs

2) Re-using the Joker (Love the character but Black Mask should have taken the spotlight)

3) Optional Assassins (seriously, after making such a big deal out of them in the trailers, half of them get side-tracked for the Joker who hi-jacks the plot)

4) Bugs (Yes, again. Making me re-start the game over and over was unforgivable)

[My_Outer_Heaven]

I actually enjoy this game... about 70% complete now but so far it's been, character development is better because your seeing the build up to the batman we see in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. I loved the Joker parts seeing him meet Harley for the first time was pretty epic, but Joker was used a bit too much.. I really like Black Mask, reminds me of a gangster version of Two Face.

[mrdeli]

People I will say this again - Arkham Origins is
A strong 8 or 8.5 game, feels triple AAA and is fine
third game in the series.

Why do people keep this "Where did it go wrong Rocksteady didn't do it" narrative. We
bought the game, played the game, and the game delivers.

[Crossbones]

There was nothing wrong with it.

[Grimhammer00]

I enjoyed origins. Writing was indeed better. And gameplay is tried and true.

Creatively? They added mp! Which when it was working was fun! But I couldn't keep the game hoping they'd ever patch the matchmaking.

[pr0t0typeknuckles]

i dont know why everybody was so hyped for it,i wasnt hyped for it at all,i knew it wouldnt be better or add much to the franchise,it is made by a completely new team and it was a prequel people,and surprisingly i liked it,its not the best arkham game,but it wasnt bad,it could be alot worse,the only bad thing about this game imo was the glitches,and forcing the joker into it.

[qzp]

i'll wait for Rocksteady.

[Zancruz]

Just like the Dark Knight movies the third one sucks... Well actually I didn't like the second game either, Just the first one was good to me. Lol

[Sadist3]

It was a great game. Don't believe the reviews, play it and come up with your own conclusion. Too many mindless followers just believe everything a reviewer says. I played the game, it was excellent.

[overrated44]

It went wrong when it wasn't made by Rocksteady.

[ziggurcat]

Where did it go wrong? It's not developed by Rocksteady.