Gaming News: Batman: Arkham Origins

Recently, Warner Bros. has reported that on October 25, 2013, they will release a new Batman game, a prequel to the highly acclaimed Arkham series. Although developer Rocksteady is not on the project, they helped out new developer WB Montreal with the production. At first, the idea of a prequel to Arkham City and Arkham Asylum sounded stupid, especially with so much being set up at the end of the last game, and when people began leaking it would be a Silver Age prequel featuring the Justice League, I was not pleased. But after this newest game was officially announced, and GameInformer magazine did a big article on it in their most recent issue, I was intrigued. Meanwhile, Rocksteady has their own project under wraps, so is this prequel just holding us over for a conclusion to the trilogy? We'll find out soon, but let's focus on the game at hand. The plot follows Batman earlier in his career, possibly, as the game developers have stated, his second year in crime fighting. He is not trusted by the cops, and he hasn't met Joker yet. On Christmas Eve, gangster Black Mask hires seven deadly assassins, including Teen Titans' nemesis Deathstroke (aka Slade Wilson or "The Terminator"), to kill Batman. Meanwhile, Penguin and the Falcone family are having a feud over arms dealings. Batman must take down the assassins, find out why Black Mask wants him dead, and take care of the mobsters of Gotham City, as well as convincing Captain Gordon (not yet Commissioner) and his fellow cops he is a friend, not foe. The gameplay is said to be similar to the previous games, with the stealth and fighting stages in tact. One major difference is it is set within Gotham City, rather than a prison, so you have a much larger area to explore. The "Old Gotham" area is where the future Arkham City will be, but it is not walled off or ravaged by floods, and will contain areas such as slums, a shopping mall, small buildings, and a dock where the Penguin's ship and base of operations "The Final Offer" is docked. This version of Batman, due to being more inexperienced, may carry interrogations too far, and also may be somewhat weaker than we've seen him before, as he has not yet dealt with supervillains or assassins, only petty criminals and thugs. The developers said he will be an "experienced crimefighter"(Wikipedia), but not quite as experienced as we saw him in the other gams. Batman will also be able to explore "New Gotham", the area in which large businesses and skyscrapers are located, an area only seen from a distance in the two previous games. The game also allows you to use the Batwing as a "fast travel" transport system, although you cannot directly control it. Although there are enemy towers which prevent Batman from flying over them, and he must disable them to be able to fly over certain areas. The developers also said a new gadget, the Remote Claw, is to be introduced along with gadgets similar to previous games. The Claw will allow Batman to target and grab two objects or people to slam them together from a distance. The game will also feature several side missions. "Crime in Progress" allows Batman to assist the cops by rescuing hostages, which earn you the trust of the GCPD and gadget upgrades. "Most Wanted" functions like Arkham City side missions, which allows the Caped Crusader to take on villains outside the main story mode. (The Joker? Two-Face? Scarecrow?) "The Dark Knight System" allows Batman to complete tasks of escalating difficulty that give upgrades to stealth and combat. Completing these give you upgrades and experience points. The game will also give more emphasis to detective work: Batman can use Detective Mode to scan crime scenes and also use holograms to provide a theory of how the crime played out. These crimes (some big, some minor) are spread throughout the vast metropolis. Crimes can be reviewed in the Batcomputer in the Batcave, and can be thoroughly analyzed using the computer to solve them. The developers have cited Legends of the Dark Knight and Batman: Year One as inspiration for the game, and no voice actors have been confirmed, but I assume Kevin Conroy will return as Batman, and maybe Mark Hamill will make a cameo as the Joker.  Confirmed characters are: Batman (obviously), Black Mask, Penguin, Deathstroke, Alberto Falcone, Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon (I think), and corrupt cop Branden. A live demo was recently released. Batman: Arkham Origins looks promising, and maybe Rocksteady is also working on another Batman game at the same time. That's all the information we have now. Thanks for reading.





(Images: Wikipedia, Google, GameInformer)