Batman Arkham Origins - Why I loved it!

So with Arkham Knight being the last of the Batman Arkham video games, I've decided to show my appreciation of the all the previous games to come before Batman Arkham Knight. Each of these topics (covering Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Origins) will explain things that I liked about the game. These can include story, characters, voice actors, combat, game play, maps, and more. So here is the second list of things that I loved about the 2013 release, Batman Arkham Origins.

#1. The Story:

Arkham Origins served two purposes. The first was to provide fans with an Arkham Game whilst Rocksteady works on Arkham Knight (Arkham Origins was made by WB Montreal and not Rocksteady who made Arkham Asylum and Arkham City). The second was to provide an original story that set up Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight. The story while having a twist that surprised even me, is simple but effective. Black Mask has put a $50,000,000 bounty on Batman's head and has hired 8 of the worlds greatest assassins and gives them Christmas Eve only to kill the Bat. As I said, this story had a twist that I didn't even see because when I first saw the trailer for this game, I figured that this would be the first game without Joker as the main villain. The story is awesome, and while it does have continuity flaws it's still fun to play. Oh it also helps that Batman is only two years into his career thus having players fight police as well as henchmen.

#2. The Map:

Arkham Asylum took place on Arkham Island. While Arkham City was 5 times bigger than Arkham Asylum, it took place in a closed off section of Gotham. Arkham Origins takes place in Gotham City and the map has two big places. North Gotham (which would eventually become Arkham City) and South Gotham. This map is two times bigger than Arkham City and because of this there are more enemies, more buildings, and locations.

#3. Voice Actors:

While Arkham Asylum and Arkham City had Kevin Conroy and Mark Hammill as Batman and Joker respectively, Arkham Origins used Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker. While I will always prefer Conroy and Hamill, Roger Craig Smtih does a good job as Batman. So much so that when he voiced the main villain in Dinsey's Planes, I heard Batman! Troy Baker as Joker is also very good and the laugh that he does actually sounds like Mark Hamill's at some points.

#4. Gameplay:

While Rocksteady Studios was pretty hands-off in the production of Arkham Origins, they did have a hand in one thing. Rocksteady gave WB Montreal the coding that was used in the Arkham City game. As a result, Batman's movement and combat moves are similar to that of Arkham City. The enemy types are pretty decent (except the Martial Artists which I HATE!), and the bosses are pretty well rounded and do have decent boss fights.

#5. The Glithces:

For some reason, Arkham Origins is one glitchy game. While Arkham Asylum and Arkham City had maybe one or two glithces, I've already counted 5 in Arkham Origins. This includes a police officer's body spazzing out when I did a grount takedown on top of a henchmen, Batman doing a ledge takedown on two henchmen and throwing them into a building, punching a henchmen when he's behind me, and a grate not opening resulting in me dying during a predator section. While some are annoying, some are actually quite funny. The one that cracked me up the most was the police officer spazzing out! Another funny glitch. I was doing a predator section during the Cold Cold Heart DLC and a henchmen was glitched into a wall. So I put some explosive gel on the wall where he was standing. When I detonated it, the guy actually fell straight down through the floor and it was funny seeing this orange spec slowly grow smaller and smaller (armed henchmen are orange when in Dective Mode

Anyway guys those are my favorite things regarding Arkham Origins. I've currently beat the game once and doing the Game Plus mode for it! I would say look out for Arkham Knight next, but we'll have to wait until at least June of 2015 for that to happen.