Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Deluxe Edition for PlayStation 3 Reviews
PlayStation 3
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Publisher:
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
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Release Date:
Apr 1, 2014 -
Also On:
PC, Wii U, Xbox 360
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Summary
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Critic Reviews
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User Reviews
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Details & Credits
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Trailers & Videos
Metascore
60
Mixed or average reviews
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based on
11
Critic Reviews
What’s this?
User Score
6. 5
Mixed or average reviews- based on 31 Ratings
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Summary:
Blackgate Prison Is Under New Management
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Deluxe Edition amplifies the 2. 5-D game with new maps, enemy encounters, difficulty levels, batsuits, and enhanced visuals. A companion game to Batman: Arkham Origins, players can continue the storyline of theBlackgate Prison Is Under New Management
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Deluxe Edition amplifies the 2.5-D game with new maps, enemy encounters, difficulty levels, batsuits, and enhanced visuals. A companion game to Batman: Arkham Origins, players can continue the storyline of the console version and discover more details of the Dark Knights past. Featuring stealth gameplay, free-flow combat, and Batmans famed arsenal of gadgets, the genuine Arkham experience is reproduced in a deep, action packed side-scrolling adventure.… Expand
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Developer:
Armature Studio
- Genre(s): Action, Action Adventure, General, Platformer, Fantasy,
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# of players:
No Online Multiplayer -
Cheats:
On GameFAQs -
Rating:
T - More Details and Credits »
Trailer
Play Sound
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Under New Management Trailer
Score distribution:
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Positive:
0
out of 11 -
Mixed:
10
out of 11 -
Negative:
1
out of 11
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A great release for those who enjoy the Arkham games but haven’t played Blackgate for whatever reason.
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It feels quite far from the main episodes, but if you looking for a metroidvania game, with good exploring sections and puzzles, this is an interesting choice.
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Batman glides from PS Vita to PS3 with a successful attempt to adapt it, but doesn’t make you forget that originally it is a handheld game. An interesting game that widens the Arkham universe, although, due to obvious reasons it may disappoint fans of the latest installments of the bat.
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Batman Arkham Origins: Blackgate is an interesting action adventure in 2’5D, but it does not do justice to the great saga of videogames.
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Though it was dubbed the Deluxe Edition, its inclusions of extra costumes, a small graphical upgrade from the Vita version, and an increase in enemy encounters, can’t help distinguish Blackgate from its handheld roots. Blackgate is an entertaining title that links well with where the overarching Arkham Origins story was going — it’s just a shame that the titles handheld origins weren’t improved upon.
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If Batman: Arkham City effectively made you feel like the dark knight, then Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate turns you into an overweight cosplayer with a batsuit that was made by your mum.
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Whichever release in the series you compare it to, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition will always come off worst.
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See all 11 Critic Reviews
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Score distribution:
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Positive:
0
out of 3 -
Mixed:
2
out of 3 -
Negative:
1
out of 3
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Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is a 2. 5-D game developed by Armature Studio. A companion game to Batman: Arkham Origins, the game allowsBatman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is a 2.5-D game developed by Armature Studio. A companion game to Batman: Arkham Origins, the game allows players to continue the storyline of the Arkham Origins and discover more details of the Dark Knight’s past. Originally released for the Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita in 2013, this is the HD version of the game was released in 2014.
+ Good Presentation
+ Cutscenes Look Like Hand-Drawn Comics
— Confusing Map System
— Too Much Backtracking
— Repetitive Missions
— Combat Still Fun but don’t Respond that Well LIke Others Arkham GamesMy Score: 6/10… Expand
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pros:
good graphics
combat
cons:
audio sucks
bad boss fights
really bad map layout
very linear gameplay
verdict:
this game willpros:
good graphics
combatcons:
audio sucks
bad boss fights
really bad map layout
very linear gameplayverdict:
this game will most probably disappoint you as it did for me. but its not a bad game. it just didn’t make it to its expectations. so i finally give it a 5/10.… Expand -
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it’s unbelievably bad game compare to all Batman’s previous games. One of the worst game so far this year. It ruins Batman games and I suggestit’s unbelievably bad game compare to all Batman’s previous games. One of the worst game so far this year. It ruins Batman games and I suggest not buy it if you are a true dedicated fan of Batman games.… Expand
Trailers
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Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Under New Management Trailer
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Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Combat Video
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Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Industrial Gameplay
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Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Choose Your World Gameplay
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Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Deluxe Edition Trailer
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Awards & Rankings
55 |
#55 Best PS3 Game of 2014 |
63 |
#63 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2014 |
65 |
#65 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2014 |
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Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate Review
Armature Studios was more than willing to admit that it wanted to go with the Metroidvania theme when developing Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, the handheld tie-in to the console game Batman: Arkham Origins.
Unfortunately, it might have been better off thinking about ways to make the Batman: Arkham series’ hand-to-hand combat system and gadget-based exploration mechanics work better within a “2.5D” side-scrolling perspective.
I was pretty thrilled about Blackgate leading up to its release. The idea of a Metroid-style Batman video game sounded like it could never go wrong. His gadgets could easily fill in for Samus’ various suit abilities, and his combat abilities could make up for his lack of firearms.
Unfortunately, this is exactly where the game snags its cape. Blackgate is definitely similar to the Metroidvania game design, but some of the ways it puts a spin on the concept fall completely flat. The traditional Metroid and Castlevania games encouraged diligent exploration, curious interaction with the environment, and careful scanning of your surroundings. They were rewarding not just because of the hidden collectibles and secret areas but also because the effort required and the process of finding them was engaging and entertaining. Due to numerous design flaws, this simply isn’t the case with Blackgate.
Before I dive into all of the things that make Blackgate such a subpar Batman experience, I would like to say that the game at least looks decent from the standard perspective. The environments are large and full of detail, with many areas based on large set pieces that are interactive. The 3DS version was clearly a port of the PlayStation Vita game, and this is especially apparent when the camera zooms in a little closer. This is where Blackgate’s visuals look their worst. Textures are blurry and look like they came from the PS2/GameCube era.
The smoothness of Batman’s hand-to-hand combat animations are totally lost, not to mention the attacks of his opponents are very difficult to see, resulting in a choppy and jarring mess on the small screen. Batman can still perform some of his evasive/counter/stun moves from the console games, but the fact that the enemies are so difficult to distinguish from the murky backgrounds (in addition to the tricky timing of some of these moves) results in a fighting system that simply doesn’t work as well on the handheld.
Unfortunately, it’s not the graphics or cheesy voice acting that tear massive holes in Blackgate’s cape. As I mentioned before, it’s the dedication to making the game feel like a Metroid or Castlevania game that ultimately makes it so boring and tiresome to play.
You see, Blackgate Prison is broken up into three smaller areas, with each being controlled by a different villain: Black Mask, Penguin, and the Joker. The game advertises that players can tackle these three areas at their own pace, choosing which to enter first and which villain to pursue last. Unfortunately, this simply isn’t the way the game works, partially due to the huge amount of backtracking that is required to track down additional pieces of equipment, gear, and access to higher-level security locks. This all should sound familiar to Metroidvania fans, but the way it works in Blackgate is ultimately a mess.
This can be blamed on several things. First, the game has an aimless sense of progression, resulting in a lot of confusion related to where you should be going or who you should pursue next. Second, the map on the bottom screen – an essential part of exploring and finding hidden goodies in any Metroidvania game – is a total mess. Rather than projecting the areas from a side-scrolling viewpoint, the map projects each area from a top-down perspective. As you can probably imagine, this leads to a lot of confusion in areas with multiple floors. More often than not, you end up going the wrong direction without even realizing it.
Lastly, the Detective Mode from previous Arkham games returns in Blackgate, but its use is so excessive and forced that it takes away from the playing experience rather than nudging players to be curious and explore the game. There are points where Batman must use one of his gadgets to interact with the environment in order to proceed. Unfortunately, even if you already know that you have to throw a Batarang or use the Gel Launcher to blow up a wall, you can’t actually do this without “scanning” with the Detective Mode on the touch screen. This “activates” the object in the environment and allows Batman to lock onto it. This little design flaw really irked me several times throughout the game, where I didn’t realize I had to scan something before I could move forward, often resulting in more aimless wandering.
Perhaps the worst offense Blackgate commits is its forced stealth sections. Like any of the Arkham games, this one has a few moments where Batman is forced to sneak around his foes, using the grappling hook to spy from above and avoid enemy sightlines. The problem with this is it simply doesn’t work on the small screen or with the side-scrolling perspective. The levels are rarely designed to be large enough to ensure that Batman can avoid the sightlines of his foes, never mind the fact that his movement and controls are so damn clunky that it is difficult to make precise actions.
Although Blackgate offers a few different Batman gadgets to play around with, their use in the game becomes pretty repetitive: blow up walls with the gel launcher, take out lights with the Batarang, and so on. These things have been done before in the Arkham franchise, and Armature Studios does little to innovate with these ideas. You would think that it could be fun to go back to previous areas with new gadgets, but even when you find new hidden areas or collectibles, the process of tracking them all down becomes tedious and even lonely. The enemies that you’ve taken out in previous trips do not respawn, so you can trek through the same areas multiple times without encountering any resistance. It may sound like less of a hassle, but ultimately it leaves you wanting a way to get around faster without the need to navigate the same sections of the environment.
Blackgate ends up being one of the biggest personal disappointments of the year. I was looking forward to it for quite some time, and perhaps this is why I ended up quitting the game before I finished it. I normally try to trudge through every game before writing my final review, even if I don’t particularly like them, but this one left a particularly bad taste in my mouth. Honestly, I felt like I was completely wasting my time every time that I sat down to play. Any progress I made felt inconsequential. Finding secrets and collectibles didn’t have the sense of reward that can typically be found in Metroidvania games.
Although I feel like Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate might have a bit more to offer for diehard fans of the Caped Crusader, I also feel that its failure to capture the “Metroidvania” style that it so desperately tries to imitate ultimately serves as its biggest flaw.
Perhaps Armature Studios should have spent more time thinking about smart ways to make a Batman game from a side-scrolling perspective and less about the things that make Metroid and Castlevania so successful. Unfortunately, Blackgate swings and misses at both points. Playing as Batman should never feel so sluggish, so choppy, so limiting; these are exactly the factors that make Blackgate fall flat on its face.
Quite like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, another 3DS game I was constantly reminded of while playing Blackgate, this Batman title was an ambitious third-party project that simply didn’t work out as well as it should have. Sadly, Mirror of Fate fared far better than Blackgate, which I will remember as one of my biggest let-downs on the 3DS.
This review has been updated and proofread with the help of Proofreading Monkey. If you are an author, blogger, or professional writer and need error-free content, check out Proofreading Monkey for their affordable proofreading services.
Batman: Arkham Origins — Blackgate
PS3 Trophies
PS Vita Trophies
Hide secret
31 trophy 2 12 14 34
Platinum
The Dark Knight / Dark Knight
Put all other prizes
The Collector / Collector
have all pickups and upgrades
Gold
Cat Scratch Fever
Won a woman-hick
gold
Bad Case of the Mondays / Grandmother (Secret)
Win Grandy and Water
Gold
9000 Grave Digger / Mogir
Operm O. Open the costume
Gold
World’s Greatest Detective
Complete all investigations
Gold
World’s Snazziest Dresser
Collect all Batman costumes
Silver
Party Pooper / Tear off a party (secret)
Grand all the Joker Gifts
Flew The Coop / Escape from the Chickennitop (Secret)
Save all Plagwin
Silver
Circuit Breaker (secret)
Unload all Black Mask’s junction boxes
Silver
Unnecessary Roughness
Complex of 50 shots
Silver
League of Shadows / Shadows League
Combo of 100 beats
Silver
Oral Hygiene / Tooth on the shelf
Find and destroy all the dentum 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000
Bird on a Wire
Find and destroy all Penguin cages
Bronze
Last Laugh
Bronze
The Man Who SoMetimes Misses / Man, who sometimes misses (secret)
defeat Deadshot
Domestic Disturbance / Miles of Tramp
9000 CSI: Blackgate / Junior Investigator
Complete your first investigation
Bronze
Now You’re Getting It / You can if you want
Complex of 12 shots
Bronze
in the Flow / pleasure from the process
Perform combo from 25 shots
Bronze
Fresh Beats / Steasy Bit
Remove 10 bandits by finishing
9000 Bronze Bronze Bronze
He’s Sleeping
Perform 20 Silent Moves
Bronze
Breathless
Die by inhaling gas
Bronze
Unmasked / Masks dropped
Find and destroy all black masks
Armored Edition / armored edition
Find all improvements for armor
9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 Onslaught
Bronze
Talk to the Hand
Find all of the Glove Upgrades
Batman: Arkham Origins — Batman: Arkham Origins News
Here are all the news about the game Batman: Arkham Origins for PS4
Release trailer Batman: Arkham Origins: Blackgate — Exclusive Edition
Stich04/01/2014
News Video
Comments (1)
+10
Warner Bros. Interactive has shared the release trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins: Blackgate — Deluxe Edition. As a reminder, Batman: Arkham Origins: Blackgate — Deluxe Edition is a remastered edition of the PS3 game coming to PS Vita with updated graphics,…
Batman: Arkham Origins
Stich02.12.2013
News Video
Comments (0)
+6
Developers from Warner Brothers Montreal have published a release trailer for the Initiation plot add-on for Batman: Arkham Origins. This expansion follows a young Bruce Wayne’s journey through the mountainous regions of North Korea in search of a legendary monastery where he will pass…
PS Vita news
Comments (0)
+12
Game Director of Batman Arkham Blackgate Origins for PS Vita from Armature Studios shared tips, videos and tricks for the game. Blackgate — 2.5D Metroidvania of the famous Batman series. Game development begins three months after the events of Batman:…
Bundle Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate PS Vta
Stich09. 11.2013
PS Vita news
Comments (0)
Warner Bros has announced that a special Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate themed PS Vita bundle will go on sale soon. For the Christmas season, WB has prepared a bundle that includes the console itself (with 3G support…
Gameplay video Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
Stich34.10.2013
News PS Vita Videos
Comments (0)
Developers from Armature Studio have published a gameplay video of Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate. The game will release on October 25 on PlayStation Vita worldwide. Mark Pacini (head of Armature Studio) demonstrates the levels of the Blackgate prison, talks about the elements…
News Video
Comments (0)
Warner Bros have shared the release trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins, which is being developed by Warner Bros. Studios. GamesMontreal. The game will be released on October 25 on PS3.
New screenshots of Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
Stich33.10.2013
PS Vita news
Comments (0)
Developers from Armature Studio have shared new screenshots of Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, which is being developed for PS Vita and will be released on October 25th.