Sometimes when I get sick I feel the need to head into the bathroom to dump out my illness. My mom come looking for me if I take too long. Just leave me alone, I tell her, this is my time with the toilet.
I feel Batman: Arkham Origins has its heart in the right place. Meaning, the ideas for a great game are there. But what keeps the game down like the wing of a butterfly under a bag of cow dung just happens to be the most common problem infecting the modern day gaming industry. I'm going to talk about it until my pants fall off. It's the case of doing far too much. There are so many cool ideas happening in Arhman Orgons that none of them come close to reaching their full potential. Look at it as: Stunning on paper, not so great in reality.
The game world is interesting yet dull. Graphics are looking good with a nice Christmas winter coating. However not a soul roam the streets, not even cops to make sure civilians stay off the streets. The design is too obviously contrived. Instead of resembling a once functioning city, it more resembles a place that was designed specifically for a plot and to function as a place for Batman to hop around in. This takes the excitement out of life.
Controls are sound but combat is a strange little puppy. First of all, what I like most about it is the fact that enemies will attack you in groups. They won't just sit around and wait their turn. They'll interrupt you while you're fighting bosses and while you put the controller down to scratch your most chafing areas. What isn't so great is how easy everything is. Granted, I did just get finished playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1 and 2 so I kind of expected Ackmy Oragami to be not as difficult. I wasn't expecting a walk in the park, though. Occasionally you'll get gang banged by a few thugs but its nothing anyone can't handle. You might die at a couple boss fights. You might die at a couple other spots. You won't die more than that.
What's death got to do with it? The bigger concern is, are we feeling like Batman? I guess Batman can easily dominate a thug or two with his massive punches. I guess these thugs shouldn't be posing much of a challenge. You would think some thugs might take off after watching their buddies get mashed in the face first, instead of battling the huge hero head on but whatever that's a topic for a different day. Does Batman have his other traits, like stealth, planning and hamburger sauce? Sort of.
Since the level design is quite linear and you have some U.I. interfaces which nurse you in your attack (the L1 button highlights objectives and things on the map which are worth a second glance), doing stealth things is extremely straight forward. The game shows you places to grapple and advantageous ledges to float down to. So when you execute a stealthy kill it doesn't feel very satisfying. It feels like someone else did it for you. These developers should know there are plenty of things I want other people to do for me. When it comes to beating a video game, not so much.
Another cool idea which is wedged into Batman: Spank my Origins is the whole detective aspect. Batman has done a bit of detecting in his day so why not toss it in there. So you gather some clues and send them off to Alfred and he thinks about them over a nice high-fiber dinner. But don't think you yourself is going to be figuring anything out. The game will do that. You just collect the pieces and stand in the right places. Like if you were at a bar. You need to be in the right place guys. Ladies ain't walkin ova' to your nerdy butt.
I wish there was more mystery, Especially in an origin game. Instead of trying to make a game which does everything (open-world, RPG elements, stealth, crime-solving, multi-faceted combat, yadda yadda), why not focus on what would actually make an origins game good? A world that is absolutely terrifying to an aspiring hero. Batman should be stumbling, being challenged, not grappling things perfectly, figuring out what works and what doesn't... not dominating everything that comes near him. Get rid of this RPG nonsense and either have some tutorial at the beginning in which he trains or just have the techniques listed in the start menu somewhere. Honestly, RPG elements in batman game makes no sense at all.
In fact, this game makes no sense at all.