Batman: Arkham Origins Is Underrated

It’s now been 10 (!!) years since the release of Batman: Arkham Origins. This is the installment of the Arkham franchise that tends to be looked at as the black sheep of the series and the forgotten step child of the group. On the surface, it’s easy to see why. This is the only one of the main four Arkham games to NOT be developed by Rocksteady, it doesn’t have the legendary Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill in their roles as Batman and Joker respectively, and was basically the one that acted the most as a “filler” game that was basically made to buy time between the releases of Arkham City and Arkham Knight. There were also multiple reports of bugs and glitches that plagued the game for most people, which I was NOT one of them. However, when looking at the game itself, Arkham Origins actually a really damn good game in it’s own right and is highly underrated.

With the way that fans and especially Rocksteady like to disregard this game as being just a worthless prequel, you would think that Arkham Origins is to the Arkham series what X-Men: Origins Wolverine was to the X-Men film franchise. The kind of prequel that makes everything that comes after it look even worse. Not only if NONE of that the case whatsoever, but I truly believe Arkham Origins does enough good things in it’s own right and some even better than the Rocksteady games that it’s more than worthy of being an entry to the Arkham franchise. To prove it, I’m gonna name seven features of the game that make it greatly standout as it’s own unique thing!

The Shock Gloves

As Arkham Origins became the third game in this series, everyone had basically become aware and accustomed to the way these games play out in terms of combat. You can add as many different moves and combo sets as you would like but at the end of the day, there really wasn’t much room left to grow with it’s overall combat. So how does Arkham Origins follow the combat style that Arkham Asylum and Arkham City started, by having more fun and throwing shock gloves in the mix!

Not only are these shock gloves the main highlight of the combat but it just makes fighting the bad guys all the more fun. It’s so satisfying to be able to use this new ability to take down enemies that are really pissing off! What better way to take down a big new baddie that’s kicking your ass the whole time by being able to shock them with your gloves to near death. It also fits really perfectly for a Batman that is still in his early stages of being the Caped Crusader, where he’s more brutal and reckless, something which will be discussed later.

As much as the game was criticized at the time for being more of the same, I believe that the shock gloves were a nice change of pace and a great way to advance the already established combat system. This was also a feature that was included in the Wii U port of Arkham City a year before this game came out, a nice way to gives us a glimpse of things to come.

Our First Look At Gotham City In The ArkhamVerse

It’s interesting how it took until the third game of the main four-game series to actually let players roam around Gotham City itself. Arkham Asylum was only set in the Asylum itself and Arkham City was only set in the Arkham City itself. However, Arkham Origins is the first time in the series to let us give a glimpse of Gotham City itself, the city that Batman has sworn to protect at all cost.

I don’t think there could have been a better scenario for the first look at Gotham City in the Arkhamverse than having it takes place on Christmas on a dark, cold, and snowy night in Gotham. It’s a perfect showcase on how even on a holiday that’s suppose to be about joy and giving, Gotham City is still a toxic wasteland full of crime and scum. I definitely enjoyed seeing how the city itself basically still operates like any other day where criminals undergrounds and gangs leaders are at it’s worst and will do anything to get their business done.

While it’s definitely not as wide and expansive as the Gotham City in Arkham Knight, it definitely made for a good first look at one of the most infamous settings in any superhero universe. In this case, WB Games Montreal was able to beat Rocksteady to the push!

Bane Is Just…..Awesome

One of the minor complaints I had with Arkham Asylum and Arkham City was with the way that Bane was portrayed. Despite his overall design being spot on and fitting for the character, he was mostly treated as a joke and not as much of a threat as he is suppose to be. With him pulling the exact same tricks repeatedly and mounting the same form of dialogue, I just find it hard to believe that Bane was the one to break Batman’s back.

This Bane on the other hand……oh man! THIS is the Bane I could buy breaking Batman’s back! Bane in this game feels like every bit of a threat as the character should feel! He’s scary, intimating, and poses perfectly as Batman’s match. No matter if he’s in his titan form or “normal” form, Bane feels like a complete menace from beginning to end here. So much so that I honestly thought Bane was going to break Batman in this game despite it being a prequel.

While some might argue he was in the game a bit too much and felt more like a “side” villain, Bane is at his absolute best in the series in this game. Batman really has to have balls of steel to want to fight thing thing every chance he is able to. I know if I was Batman, I would be running from my lives whenever I see him!

Batman Is At His More Interesting And Human

As awesome and badass as Batman was in the Rocksteady games, I can’t help but feel like they made him too awesome and badass. It’s like Rocksteady was caught up in the hype of Batman that they felt the need to make him as flawless and OP as possible in the games. So much so, it often at times robbed the character of his humanity, a key defining trait of Bruce Wayne. The sense of humanity was still there every now and then with moments such as the flashbacks sequences with Scarecrow but for the most part, Batman basically stayed as the straight and stoic material artist, gadget-filled badass from beginning to end with not much change or growth.

Arkham Origins definitely changes that as it’s the one game in the series that really shows off the cracks in the armor that is Batman. This Batman feels the most human and interesting out of all the games. Because this takes place in his sophomore year as the Caped Crusader, we see Batman in his much younger phase where he’s angrier, bitter, and more reckless. Although he has mastered the material arts and gadgets up to this point, we still see Bruce making countless mistakes with the decisions that he makes that nearly gets himself and the ones he cares about killed. It makes for an incredibly compelling story of Bruce learning to not take ALL matters into his own hands and that he must form allies in his duty as the Batman. Not only does it make for a perfect way to introduce the likes of Commissioner Jim Gordon and his daughter but it also makes room for some incredible dramatic scenes between Bruce and Alfred. The scenes between those two are easily some of the very best moments in the entire Arkham series, showing how Batman himself is more than just a man in a cape, he’s something else entirely.

While Batman being as skilled and kick ass as he was in the Rocksteady games did feel warranted because the games took place in the middle of Bruce’s prime as the dark knight, it did feel nice to at least have a game where it’s not afraid to showcase Batman as being perfect and flawless. He also felt quite reminiscence of the way that Robert Pattinson’s version of the character was handled in The Batman. That makes me wonder if Matt Reeves and even Pattinson himself are fans of Arkham Origins. That would make the pair even more awesome than they already are!

The Batman and Joker Rivalry Is Born

Perhaps the biggest controversy of Arkham Origins is the misleading marketing of it. It made it seems liked it was gonna shift the focus away from the Joker and put the spotlight solely on Black Mask. However, there’s a twist about halfway through the game that reveals that the man who has been impersonating Black Mask the whole time was no other than the Joker himself. This pretty much confirmed the meaning of the title of the game involves the origins of when Batman and Joker first meet.

While I can definitely understand being underwhelmed by this reveal as it was during a time where the Joker had become greatly overexposed, the story of the rivalry being born with the Batman and Joker is still very compelling stuff. Every dialogue exchange between the two is so masterfully done, showing two polar opposite sides of now they handle the criminal underworld. The two might be one of the same but that doesn’t mean they have to turn into each other to get their point across.

Even if folks are getting sick and tired of the Joker, Arkham Origins does greatly set up the internal conflict with Joker that he would have throughout the rest of the series. That no matter what he does or where he is, the Joker will always be there for Batman whether he likes it or not. Batman can dread it and run from it but destiny will still arrive all the same!

Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker Are Great Here

Another big controversy with Arkham Origins was that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill did not reprise their roles as Batman and Joker respectively. This time around, we have Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker taking over as the younger versions of the Caped Crusader and the Clown Prince of Crime. I love Conroy’s Batman and Hamill’s Joker as much as the next person but that shouldn’t discredited the great work that Roger and Troy do here.

Roger Craig Smith’s performance as Batman feels like a good mix of Kevin Conroy and Christian Bale. He’s able to play a Batman that feels more unhinged and isn’t afraid to let his emotions loose, brilliantly showcasing the humanity that is within Bruce Wayne as Batman. Troy Baker does feel like a younger version of Mark Hamill but he’s able to sell it so well that it’s really hard to care. With a game that took place in the early days of Batman and Joker, having younger voice actors felt appropriate and both Smith and Baker are able to make the best use of it.

No one is ever gonna replicated what Conroy and Hamill brought to their characters but I still feel like Smith and Baker deserve all the credit in the world for what they are able to bring to their roles here. As a matter of fact, I could easily see them being worthy successors for Batman and Joker as a whole now that Kevin Conroy as died (May he RIP!) and Mark Hamill is likely never gonna voice the character again. If that’s the case, then I completely open to it.

The Boss Fights Are The Best In The Series

If there’s any point mentioned here that the majority HAS to agree with, it’s this one right here! Arkham Origins easily has the best and most enjoyable boss fights in the entire series. The ones in Arkham Asylum were rather weak, the ones in Arkham City were decent but nothing special, and the ones in Arkham Knight were practically non-existent other than Batmobile chases and tank battles. Arkham Origins, on the other hand, have the best boss fights by a country mile.

From the opening duel with Killer Croc to the multiple encounters with Bane along with the AWESOME confrontation with Deathstroke (better than the one in Arkham Knight in EVERY way), nearly every single boss fight in Arkham Origins is a winner. None of them are repetitive, none of them feel like fighting any other bad guy, and none of them feel like a waste of time. These boss fights have a great amount of enjoyment and challenge without being too easy or too unfair. These are honestly the only bosses in the entire series that felt like I was fighting one of Batman’s true equals and sequences that would fit perfectly in any one of the Batman movies.

Even if you are someone that really hates Arkham Origins for whatever reason, you can’t deny how much better the boss fights are in this game compared to the rest of the series. I will certainly take this over the constant tank battles in Arkham Knight or whatever the hell that Killer Croc section was suppose to be in Arkham Asylum. These just felt like proper boss fights for not only a Batman game but any video game in general.

In Conclusion

Arkham Origins easily remains the most underappreciated game in the Arkhamverse. To this day, I don’t understand the scorn that fans have with this game or even why both Rocksteady and WB Games Montreal feels so obligated to pretend this game never happened. I understand being critical of this game when looking at it from a business and commercial standpoint but looking at it’s own thing and the amount of time that WB Games Montreal was given, Arkham Origins is a really solid game with gameplay features and story elements that are among the very best of the Arkham games. I remember playing the hell out of this game when I got in on Christmas Day back in 2013 and enjoying it all the same.

If you hate the game, then there’s not much I can do to change your mind but I hope this piece at least convinced you why this game is worth regarding as part of the Arkham canon. I really hope one day that WB Games Montreal is able to make a remaster version of this game because I would definitely buy it on day one! I’ll certainly take more of Arkham Origins than say more of Gotham Knights.

Looks like I now have a new idea for a future piece!