
However, while exploration has a part to play in the game, the real body of the action lies in specific story locations and criminal HQs, where you’ll battle squads of tougher and tougher goons. After the initial prologue sequence you’re pretty much free to scour the streets and rooftops of Gotham, tackling groups of thugs, searching for collectibles and intervening in criminal activities as they happen. Gameplay follows the open world pattern set by Arkham City. And while we’ve heard some reports of bugs in the PC and Xbox 360 versions, we’ve yet to encounter worse than the odd jerky moment on the PS3. Some opinions differ, but to our minds it’s a sharp-looking game, where stronger lighting and some good art direction make everything look crisper and more detailed than it did in Arkham City.

Set on Christmas Eve in an often snowy Gotham City, it offers a twist on the town we saw in Arkham City, along with different looks for Batman and many of his foes. Arkham Origins is a prequel to Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, and while it doesn’t quite venture into Batman: Year One territory, it has a story arc featuring a young and still relatively unknown Batman, a mysterious gangster known as Black Mask and a crew of villains who haven’t yet developed prior history with the dark knight. Games Montreal were so intent on not messing up the series that they were terrified to try anything new.


In fact, the game’s biggest problem is that it looks, plays and feels a little too much like the games that came before it, as if the new development team at Warner Bros. It looks like an Arkham game, plays like an Arkham game and has the style and feel of an Arkham game.
#Batman arkham origins code#
Available on Xbox 360, PS3 (reviewed), PC and Wii U out Nov 8thĪll the warning signs were there – the rushed schedule, a different developer, review code only sent to sections of the press after launch – so it’s good to be able to say that Batman: Arkham Origins is no batastrophe.
