Although by date of release this is the third game of the series, chronologically this took places before the events of both Arkham City and Asylum. This is how The Batman begun his crusade against the everlasting evil in Gotham.
But lets face it. Going back in time seemed a right idea for the new developers of this game in the series, but keeping the same mechanics from the last two games made it cross the boundaries of awe and tolerance. Doing the same things the same way from the first two games becomes boring and tried. The new crime scene solving technology might just ad a few sparks here and there, but maybe just not enough to breathe new life into the old system. And even more so, the city here is dead by every means too. Not nearly as many interesting side quests and never as many collectibles, navigating through the city feels drab. Perhaps it goes with the whole theme of Origins but as a gamer, especially if you have played the two game before this, it’s a letdown.
But lets not take away what the game does throw at us. The characters shown are lively and interesting, and the Bat has also rightfully been made the angrier, grittier young crime fighter, who makes mistakes along the way of becoming the finest. Blackgate prison shown here is full of the evil that inhabits it, and the levels there show how it was inadequate to contain all the felons of the city, hence the need for Arkham Asylum.
The boss fights here are fabulous, specially with Deathstroke. Filled with gorgeous animation and dynamics, the fights are worth the long and tedious cleanup levels prior to it.
The fight mechanisms remaining the same (sadly), the game does throw new combos which make the typical group fights more visually entertaining. Visually detailed, the levels look complete and the character details with their voice acting makes for a fantastic Gotham atmosphere. Again, going by the timeline this game was set in, there are no unlockable characters in the training mission, so fans of City will feel betrayed, but Deathstroke alone proves to be quite a handful. The story itself is quite memorable as it traces the origins of a few of Batmans worthy foes, especially … not telling.
Expect Arkham Origins to throw at you a plethora of characters from the Batman mythos, and plenty of puzzles, but this time perhaps a little less worthy of your time.