Batman - Arkham Origins

Unlike its older siblings, Batman Arkham Origins wasn't made by Rocksteady.
The "brainchild" of Warner Bros Games Montreal, this game is inferior to its predecessors.

The game feels more like a pricey expansion pack for Arkham City than a full, stand-alone game.
Most of the gadgets return (which is kind of a paradox), with slight re-skins or tiny adjustments, to make them seem new.
The doublehook, or the ice grenade, for example.

They did try to expand the city, but for more than obvious reasons; to prolong the game.
But, because they were aware that most of the gamers out there would find it tedious, they implemented fast-travel via the Batwing, which then completely removes the point of a much larger city.

The inexperience of the crew that made the game shows so easily ingame.

One of the biggest design flaws that I noticed while playing was a simple pathing issue.
I'm kind of loose when it comes to said issues, I try not to hold it against the games I like,
and I WAS RATHER EXCITED for this game. You know, high hopes and all.
Why wouldn't I be, Asylum and City were way more than decent games.
But I just couldn't hide the disappointment with this game.

The problem manifests itself at about half the game in, where you enter a hotel in Gotham.

Spoiler alert.

You go through an amusement park-like contraption that our beloved Joker left for us,
you pick up some things, you make progress.
Now, the issue I was referring to concerns a balcony you end up on when you go through the whole ordeal.
There's a story-related trigger involved after this point that takes you out of the hotel entirely, and you never have to go back on foot, but when pathing back through this room (if you're a completionist, and you're chasing trophies and whatnot),
you can clearly see the doorway that you need to take in order to leave the room.
The doorway is unobstructed and the only logical thing you'd have to do is use your cape and simply glide to the door, and leave the room.
I guess that was too simple for WBG Montreal, and they decided "NOPE, YOU BETTER GO THROUGH THE WHOLE ROOM ON FOOT, BECAUSE WE CANT HAVE YOU TAKE A 2 MINUTE SHORTCUT, NO SIR".
When trying to glide to said door, the game triggers a pitfall event and puts you back on the balcony.

Sloppy game design. Very very sloppy game design.

Upon launch there were many, MANY bugs. Game crashing for no apparent reason,
unresponsive commands, game-breaking glitches (one of the broadcast towers simply locks you inside, and you cant progress unless you load a check point, leaving that one place unresolved), and so on.

Also WBG Montreal clearly decided to make the ratio of Combat-to-Stealth much higher, since there's so many goddamn fights involved, and not enough stealth sections.
It was so fun playing with thugs and hoodlums in Arkham City or Asylum, hanging them from gargoyles, tackling them from ventilation shafts and whatnot.
Here, nnnnnot so much.

I'm not sure if this was a game problem, but this is my own experience.
The fighting doesn't feel the same. It feels more sluggish, slower, unresponsive.
Some fighting animations could not be interrupted unlike in Arkham City,
and you'd just get hit by common thugs over and over.
I've had many gameovers by thug-beatdown because of unresponsive controls.

Like weapons, everything else in the game is recycled in some way, shape or form.
The Riddler trophies are back, and I'm fine with that. It was a nice little puzzle sidequest,
for when you felt like taking a break from bashing skulls in.
But there's stuff to scan again, there's the same find-all-signs-solve-all-things-to-make-a-mysterious-character-appear, and I personally have a problem with that.

To anyone who has played the other two Arkham games, its more than clear that WBG Montreal simply didnt bother with their game.
They sat down around a table, decided they'll just cash-in on an existing franchise,
recycle EVERYTHING from the previous game,
and use the rest of the budget they had to hire someone to write a decent story at least.

Half-assed villains with completely forgettable faces and personalities (I seem to recall there was some kind of a snake-girl or something, but meh), 
too much bloody fighting, not enough stealth scenes, bugs, and multiplayer.

Yes, you've read that right. A Batman Arkham game has MULTIPLAYER. 

Now, I have to admit, I did NOT finish this game. I got to about 70%, and then I just outright stopped playing.
The game didn't hold any interest for me, there was nothing pulling me back to play it,
no "leash-tugging", no promise of excitement, nothing.

For all of this, BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS gets a

~WARNER BROS GAMES MONTEREAL / 10~

*Phew*
There, I'm done with this review. Fuckin' just, put it to rest, and let it die peacefully.
Now where's my 3DS and my Zelda games... *rummages*

~~~~ UPDATE ~~~~

FANART !!! BIT-RANT HAS FANART O_______O

Here's a Cali-Batman, making sure Gotham is safe, and all the criminals and thugs piss their pants before going to bed~
Also, the Moon is either derpy or lonely. Or whistling at the sight of Calibutt.

This awesome chibi-masterpiece was done by majortom, thank you so much !!!