Batman Arkham Origins

Batman: Arkham Origins is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by WB Games Montréal and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the follow-up to the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City and is the third main installment in the Batman: Arkham series. Written by Dooma Wendschuh, Corey May, and Ryan Galletta, the game’s main storyline is set eight years before 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum and follows a younger, less-refined Batman.

Description

Batman Arkham Origins is an open world action-adventure game incorporating stealth game tactics. Batman can use his cape to glide around Gotham City and the grapnel gun’s retracting rope to attach to hard-to-reach ledges and extend his flight. Some gadgets from previous Arkham games are present at the start of Arkham Origins, while others become available during play. Returning gadgets include the Cryptographic Sequencer, used to hack security consoles; the Batclaw, used for hooking onto surfaces; the Batarang, a throwing weapon,

The Remote Batarang, its remote-controlled counterpart; Explosive Gel, used to destroy weak surfaces and knock down enemies; Smoke Pellets, used for stealthy exits and entrances; the Disruptor, which can remotely disable guns and explosive mines, and the Grapnel Accelerator, an earlier version of the Grapnel Boost. New equipment in Batman’s arsenal include the Remote Claw; this allows Batman to target two objects and pull them together, allowing him to throw enemies into each other or hit them with objects (tethering two walled points creates a tightrope for Batman to cross)

Shock Gloves, which allow Batman to block electric attacks, disable some enemies and stun shielded ones, and short-circuit objects, and the Concussion Detonator, capable of stunning large enemy groups. The game introduces a fast travel system, allowing Batman to remotely summon his plane (the Batwing) to transport him to other areas of the game world quicker than gliding or grappling could. Enemy tower installations prevent Batman from summoning the craft in some areas and must be disabled to make the Batwing (not player-controlled) available. Some towers may be disabled only when the player has the necessary equipment. Players can traverse enemy-controlled areas by stealth or combat. 

Using an enhanced version of the series’ Freeflow combat system, combat introduces a tracking system assessing the players’ efficiency and highlighting battle achievements (such as avoiding damage and using gadgets). Chaining attacks to maintain momentum, performance is rewarded with experience points. These points can be used in a branching upgrade system to enhance Batman’s abilities and gadgets, allowing players to upgrade several paths or specialize in one. Enemy attacks are prompted with a warning icon, indicating that the attack can be countered. Enemies are armed with weapons such as knives, lead pipes, and shields. 

The game introduces new enemy types: the Martial-Artist (capable of blocking, evading, and countering Batman’s attacks), the Armored Enforcer (invulnerable until he is dazed and de-armored) and Venom-infused henchmen (who possess superhuman strength, allowing them to grapple Batman and launch attacks which cannot be countered).  Some enemies are armed with guns, which can damage Batman, and a player can use stealth predatory tactics to tilt the odds in their favor. Many areas feature stone gargoyles or high outcrops, helping Batman remain concealed while setting traps and knocking out enemies. On Christmas Eve, Batman intervenes in a jailbreak at Blackgate Penitentiary led by Black Mask, who executes Police Commissioner Loeb before escaping.

Left to battle the assassin Killer Croc, Batman prevails but learns Croc is only the first of eight killers drawn to Gotham by a $50 million bounty Black Mask has placed on him. Seeking Black Mask’s whereabouts, Batman tracks the Penguin to his ship, where he defeats Deathstroke and Electrocutioner. Penguin reveals that Black Mask has allegedly been murdered at an apartment complex. Investigating, Batman discovers the victim was an impostor and that the crime involved a criminal known as the Joker. To learn more, Batman infiltrates the GCPD to access its criminal database. While escaping, he encounters Captain James Gordon—who is distrustful of Batman—and a corrupt SWAT team eager to collect the bounty.

With advice from Gordon’s daughter Barbara, Batman accesses the sewers beneath the precinct to establish permanent database access, where he finds Black Mask’s men planting explosives. Using the database, he deduces that Black Mask has been kidnapped by Joker, who is targeting the Gotham Merchants Bank. At the bank, Black Mask unmasks himself as the Joker, revealing he had assumed Sionis’s identity days earlier to seize his empire and impose the bounty. Batman pursues him to the Sionis Steel Mill, where he frees the real Black Mask and defeats Copperhead.