Batman Arkham Origins: First Hour Gameplay & Impressions!

Hello Techfans! This week marks the beginning of holiday game releases, as this coming Tuesday will see the release of Assassin’s Creed IV and Battlefield 4, and while most big releases come out Tuesdays, yesterday saw the release of one of the most awaited action games of this year: Batman Arkham Origins.

Now some people were a bit worried about this one, seeing as how it was developed by WB Games Montreal as opposed to Rock Steady, the developer responsible for the first two Arkham games, as well as the fact that some returning popular voice actors were not returning in this one, specifically not using Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman. Well after playing the start of the single player campaign for a few hours, I have to say that for the most part these worries in me at least have been dismissed.

WB Games Montreal clearly did their best to try and continue the same base style started by Rock Steady, while still adding enough new things to justify Origins on it’s own. Gameplay for the most part is the same, featuring a combat system focused on momentum gained by not only comboing enemies, but also by properly timing counters, and knowing how to deal with special situations like shielded foes or knife users. To mix this up, the game has also added some new enemies, some of which I’ve encountered so far include a gigantic grappler bodyguard, and martial arts trained henchmen, which each change up the flow of combat.

Exploration is for the most part the same as it was in Arkham City, though the game now gives you the option to unlock and use a couple of fast travel points, so players aren’t forced to grappling hook across the entire city when new missions call for it. The cityscape is large, and with the exception of a few oddly placed invisible walls, really helps to contribute to the open feeling of traveling through Gotham City. On that note though it’s also a bit odd that while you’re in the actual city this time, it’s almost completely empty on the streets with the exception of random thugs, which doesn’t entirely break the immersion, but is really weird once you notice it.

So far the game has made excellent use of Batman’s Villains Gallery, while several have been introduced in only a 3 hour timespan, it’s done just often enough for each villain to have their time to shine. The game has already introduced a few optional villains to track down during the main campaign, and times their implementation well to give players the choice to charge through the main story, or consistently take breaks to explore more parts of Gotham City. What Boss fights I’ve had so far have featured solid design, and are a good balance of difficulty, length, and cinematic style. While the strategies for them have been fairly basic, that’s somewhat of a given when they’re just the first few, and hopefully we’ll see more complexity as I get farther.

While the game’s base design has been solid so far, there have been a few issues I’ve run into so far, including odd bugs that have required me to restart from my last checkpoint, and a few poorly designed tutorial segments that leave out important information, such as using the crouch button (ctrl) to disengage using certain gadgets, which has left some players stuck in some early parts in the game. These issues aren’t drastic enough to ruin the experience though, and can and will hopefully be patched soon after release. Overall the single player has gotten off to a fantastic start, and Origins looks to continue the strong trend that Arkham City started. I still have a lot more to play before I give you a proper full review, and there’s the fact that Origins is the first in the series to also add a multiplayer mode, so once I’m done sinking a ton of time into both, I’ll let you guys know my final thoughts. Make sure to check out our First Impressions video which covers these same points and more, but with actual gameplay to show it off, and those of you that have already gotten the game, let us know what you think in the comments. As always thank you so much for reading Tech of Tomorrow!