Having released Batman: Arkham Asylum, the British from Rocksteady revived the genre of games about superheroes and set it such a standard of quality that so far only they have managed to conquer it (and not without difficulty) in Arkham City. Their Batman duology collected prizes, top scores and millions of dollars, and many elements (for example, the ingenious combat system and detective vision mode) were successfully transferred to other games. But now this series threatens to become an example of a different, not better order: how greedy publishers can ruin the whole experience by putting the production of joy on stream.
Announcement Batman: Arkham Origins no longer evoked the same enthusiasm. And yet we hoped for the best. After all, two years have passed since the release of Arkham City, and the developer has changed – it became the Canadian Warner Bros. GamesMontreal. Maybe they’ll look at the series with fresh eyes and offer something truly new?
Vain dreams. The very first minutes of the game, almost verbatim repeating the introduction of Arkham City, make you want to delete Arkham Origins with a silent question: why play the same game for the third time in a row?? Our horror, flying on the wings of the night, beats up enemies in a familiar pattern, climbs through ventilation shafts, demolishes fragile ceilings with bare hands, hooks or using explosive gel, turns off or turns on the current with a controlled batarang, scans evidence in detective vision mode, identifies radio signals and cracks codes using a special gadget..
And when he encounters a group of armed bandits, he immediately throws a smoke grenade and soars on a hook to the heads of the gargoyles, so that later, flying from one to another, gliding, sneaking up or hanging from the statue head down, one by one he can remove the frightened enemies who are firing in all directions. Multiply all this by one hundred and repeat until the end of the game. Moreover, add here the interface, role-playing system, map, which migrated from Arkham City practically unchanged, gradually expanding dossiers on everyone and everything, obligatory fights with “bosses” and the familiar test mode, which can be passed not only for Batman, but also for other heroes and villains.
And again the Joker
Despite the fact that the reason https://nonukonlinecasinos.uk/review/seven-casino/ for all this walking in circles is new. Although it would be more correct to call it old. Arkham Origins is a prequel to the events of Arkham Asylum. Billionaire Bruce Wayne is just beginning his career as a superhero, ordinary residents of Gotham and ordinary gangsters consider Batman a fiction, an urban legend and an anecdote at the same time, and more knowledgeable villains want to nip the threat in the bud. So, the famous scoundrel nicknamed Black Mask announces a fabulous reward for Wayne’s head, inviting the most famous killers to deal with him during one long Christmas night.
The plot is quite in the spirit of the original comics, but, unlike previous games, here it is completely devoid of intrigue. Almost immediately we recognize our enemies by sight and receive direct instructions on what, how and why to do for the rest of the game. And then the permanent joker, nicknamed (which is logical) Joker, appears on the stage. God, what a surprise!
The developers were still honored with some innovations, but most of them in decent houses are usually added with patches. A couple of original gadgets and new opponents have appeared who can fend off counterattacks, and Batman himself can now reconstruct events in detective mode, rewinding time forward or backward. The last feature could be turned into a really important element of the gameplay, taking it to the level of manipulations with the past, which, for example, is carried out by the heroine of Remember Me. But no, everything remained at the level of a regular mini-game, which allows, for example, to track where the required access card flew after the explosion.
Batman + GTA? Minus!
In fact, even in such conditions, the authors could do something truly new, combining the time-tested mechanics of the series with the concept of an open world. And they had every opportunity for this. The action of the game has finally moved to the streets of Gotham. The size of the world has increased significantly; Now we can freely flutter across the rooftops from one area to another, using for this, among other things, the fast travel function on our Batwing (for this, however, we must first turn off the jamming radio towers). And Batman’s base seems to play a more tangible role: we regularly visit Wayne’s Cave and communicate there with the butler Alfred.
However, the creators did not work this part out properly. There are no ordinary citizens on the streets of Gotham, only bandits wandering around and fighting with the police. The authors came up with an excuse for this – they say that everything happens at night, when a strong snowstorm is raging on the streets. But in doing so, they deprived us of the reason to engage in research and study of this world. It’s simply boring here: we are only offered to prevent monotonous crimes, demolish some important electrical panels with a batarang and turn off radio towers, which was enough for us back in Far Cry 3. And Batman’s base, by and large, remains just a decoration.
Really important innovation Arkham Origins – this is the appearance (for the first time in the series) of multiplayer. Here players are divided into three teams: the Joker’s bandits, Bane’s mercenaries and the duo of Batman and Robin. This is where a familiar game offers at least something new. Mercenaries and bandits fight each other and the heroic couple in style Gears of War, using a varied arsenal of firearms and cover. Superheroes get the opportunity to use their signature gadgets and techniques against live players (and this is much more fun!). And some also have the joy of playing as the Joker or Bane, using unusual devices, such as guided missiles and portable drones. But multiplayer alone, which also gets boring quite quickly, is not an excuse for the appearance of an outright clone.
The familiar role-playing system rewards experience for every sneeze and allows us to make our superhero stronger, faster, tougher and more attentive.
As you know, a joke repeated twice loses its relevance. The same thing happens with games, songs, films, books. And this case is no exception. If Arkham City could still be perceived as a full-fledged sequel, where the game moved out of the narrow hospital corridors into a more or less open space, then Arkham Origins looks at most like a story and network addition with minor innovations. Of course, for some (especially comic book fans) this will be a good reason to meet their favorite heroes and villains again and learn something new about them. Fortunately, the familiar mechanics still work without glitches, and in general the game can be captivating. But everyone else was clearly waiting for Arkham Origins more.
Pros: nice graphics; verified style; adequate gameplay.
Cons: total secondary nature of everything.