Put some time in last night and this morning, and sad to report so far its a great disappointment.

Warning! The following contains mild/moderate ranting:

This isn't so much more of the same, but a pale, shallow imitation.

Gotham is bland, weirdly empty and full of invisible walls. Areas we've been trained to instinctively grapple to, it won't let you. Try and walk somewhere the game doesn't want you to and you get laughable windy animations that stops Bats in his tracks. 

Remember how awesome the opening to AC was? There's not even an attempt at a decent opening here. You're basically just plopped into an environment and you're off. 

Why am I beating people up for just hanging around on the streets? They're not doing anything particularly wrong that I can tell. Why are cops patrolling their  own offices with machine guns? Oh yeah, because its a forced predator sequence. Arkham 1 and 2 did a great job of selling the world and the context for what everyone was doing. This one doesn't. 

I've done 2 'dungeons' so far. Neither anything more than a series of corridors connecting obvious square fighting arenas. Nothing like the distinctive set-peices of AA or AC.

Looking for positives, the new guys voice isn't as off putting as I'd thought. Combat hasn't been messed with too much and so far seems fine, but frankly there's nothing here you couldn't get from loading up AC. I like the idea of the story, at least. Although so far I'm not really following what going on and moment to moment i'm just following waypoints and beating people (mostly cops) up as I go. The new crime-scene bits seems to be the only major addition. They're fine for the most part, although go on for far too long and are essentially non-interactive.

Here's an example that sort of sums it all up for me. There's a fight and a bunch run at me. One of them is clearly a Titan from AC. Mechanically they're exactly the same, but since in AO there is no Titan, they've just re-skinned them as really big normal people. It's just stupid and lazy.

It's got 'rush job' written all over it. I'll get to the end, but while I know I'l play through the other two many times in the future, at this stage I very much doubt I'll play through AO again.

Rocksteady must be fuming. 

edit: haven't tried MP yet. Different studio, so fingers crossed.

Anyone having problems with this lagging, freezing and crashing?

I'm going to avoid this. Seems like a cash in on tried and tested mechanics and formulae.

Spock wrote:

I'm going to avoid this. Seems like a cash in on tried and tested mechanics and formulae.

That's exactly what it is.

Played a couple more hours, still plenty annoyances but I've acclimatised a bit now and able to at least enjoy the good stuff in there.

Current peeve: constant cryographic thingys on pretty much every door and to open any box. It artificially stretches everything out and gives the impression you're doing more than just going from room to room getting into fights.

On the plus side, just had a pretty decent boss fight  (although again it's just a re-hash of whats come before) and some of the side missions are kicking in so I've a little choice in what I'm doing.

Onward!

So I love a bit of Batman and can see a 25% off on Greenmangaming. Is there digital download cheaper than £30 anywhere?

Someone [Mod?] used to have a link to cheap games search but I can't see it.

3.5/10 at Destructoid. Damn I got to read this.

I came away with this snippet

If Batman: Arkham Origins does one thing well, it's epitomize the kind of exploitative garbage that has steadily eroded so much faith in the so-called "AAA" gaming scene. When publishers whine and moan about piracy or used sales, this is the kind of game you can point to when you ask if it's any surprise that so few customers are unwilling to gamble $60 on a brand new game. This is the kind of game that, when publishers panic over flagging sales, you can hold up and say, "You did it to yourselves."

In that regard, Batman: Arkham Origins is not the game this industry needs. It's the game it deserves.

Hate reviews like that. Review the game not the industry.

Plan_XIII wrote:

Each release seems to be getting worse then, shame. I ADORED Arkham Asylum.  Arkham City was ok.

This is pretty much how I feel. I'm about 4 hours or so in and that Sterling review sums it up for me. Maybe it's a bit harsh in some folks eyes but Asylum is probably my favourite game of this generation and playing this horrible glitchy mess just makes me angry and sad. If Asylum is fresh squeezed orange juice and City is from concentrate, then this is some shop brand cordial. It looks orange, it smells a bit similar but it's world's apart from the real taste. The only vaguely positive bits are the remnants of Rocksteady's game engine which are still at work underneath all the mediocre dressings. Utter disappointment.

Liveinadive wrote:

Hate reviews like that. Review the game not the industry.

He did, thing is the review sounds like it came from someone who really likes the whole Batman mythos and wanted to buy into the world but because of how it felt to him he saw fit to relate it to what he thinks of the industry as it currently is.
Thing with Jim Sterling is that he possibly loves Videogames too much.

I reckon the devs would have put a decent game together if they had been allowed an extra month or so. From announcement to release it's been less than a year right? Seems to me that Warner are the ones to blame here.

Sasukekun wrote:

I reckon the devs would have put a decent game together if they had been allowed an extra month or so. From announcement to release it's been less than a year right? Seems to me that Warner are the ones to blame here.

Yeah, can't really blame the devs too much. They were most likely just working to a brief on a probably limited time frame.

A bit more time may have helped iron out the kinks (of which there are many and which impact on the basic mechanics severely) but the game itself is just so totally lacking in any ambition and understanding I don't think any amount of polishing could have helped.

Can't say I'm surprised though. I was almost tempted by this when I saw it in the shop over the weekend. Thank fuck I didn't bite.

Well that went bad quickly. From being more Batman to everything that's wrong with the industry in one page.

Hmmm. THink I'll wait for this to be a PS Plus freebie.