Face-Off: Batman: Arkham Origins | Eurogamer.net
Taking over the reins of the Batman franchise from Rocksteady for this latest instalment, Warner Bros. Games Montreal delivers an entertaining romp set back in the open world-rendition of Gotham first realised in Arkham City. While the game spends most of its time revisiting old ground, the established mix of free-flowing combat, stealth and exploration continues to work well.
Instead of redefining the series, Arkham Origins expands upon the open version of Gotham present in the previous Batman title, adding in new locations to the existing hub world while also tweaking other areas of the game — the animation of Batman has been improved, resulting in combat that flows a touch more fluidly than before, with the developers promising a more brutal «year two» Batman who has yet to refine his combat skills. In terms of the game engine itself, we see small changes to the lighting model that add more depth to scenes while reducing the harsh glare present from some of the neon signs and spotlights dotted about the environments.
The changes are largely beneficial and extend across the majority of platforms, with PC owners getting some tasty PhysX-enhanced extras that further improve upon the game’s already solid aesthetic. That said, the situation surrounding the Wii U version is somewhat less pleasing: there are a few more graphical compromises compared to 360 and PS3, while performance lags behind the other formats — not something we’d expect to see at this point in the console’s life.
Kicking off with a 360 and Wii U head-to-head video and a quad-format comparison gallery, Batman: Arkham Origins comfortably delivers a sharp native 720p presentation across all three consoles, with the dark, low-contrast nature of the environments reducing the appearance of jaggies and other edge-based artefacts.
Wii U takes on Xbox 360 in this Arkham Origins comparison — and it’s not the most flattering picture for the more modern Nintendo console.
Alternative comparisons:
- Batman: Arkham Origins — Xbox 360 vs.
PC - Batman: Arkham Origins — PS3 vs. PC
- Batman: Arkham Origins — PS3 vs. Wii U
- Batman: Arkham Origins — Xbox 360 vs. PS3
Edge smoothing makes a comeback on the 360 and PS3, with both versions getting different forms of post-process anti-aliasing. Previously, in Arkham City the use of multi-sampling anti-aliasing was jettisoned altogether, so it’s a welcome sight to see an alternative in play here. On a pixel level things appear a tad smoother on the PS3, but in truth we struggled to find any noticeable advantage with both games in motion. In terms of the Wii U game, anti-aliasing is nowhere to be found but outside of some sub-pixel shimmering on distant objects this does little to harm the overall look of the game, so it isn’t a big deal and the overall presentation appears comparable to the other consoles.
Meanwhile, PC owners get a multitude of anti-aliasing options, consisting of FXAA and TXAA (both high and low variants), along with traditional multi sampling (MSAA), allowing you to the set the bar for image quality while making allowances for performance when running the game on lower-spec hardware.
We opted for 8x MSAA, but the improvement in sharpness is not worth the extra performance hit over the use of less demanding solutions. Due to the way sampling is done early on in the rendering pipeline in UE3, many edges actually lack coverage after lighting and other passes have been made by the engine. Using FXAA works almost as well, bar slightly more sub-pixel shimmering in motion, while TXAA impressively eliminates practically all jaggies, but sadly smooths over the artwork a bit too much for our tastes in the process.
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PCStreaming issues cause lower-resolution artwork to stay on screen longer on the PS3 and the Wii U. Nintendo’s system fares the worst in this regard, while on PC, full detail textures are visible as soon as the level initially loads up.
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PCIn some places we see a reduction in texture and normal map resolution on PS3 and Wii U compared to the 360, perhaps as a result of the streaming system failing to resolve higher-quality assets.
Meanwhile, PC gamers get a boost in artwork quality.
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PCVariances in texture filtering are found between consoles. Here we find that the 360 features a subtle advantage, followed by the PS3 and then more obviously on the Wii U.
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PCPC owners enjoy the inclusion of soft shadows, which appear smoother and more refined than those on consoles. Meanwhile, shadow resolution is a little lower on the Wii U compared to the 360 and PS3.
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PCAmbient occlusion makes a welcome return to the series here in Arkham Origins. Standard SSAO is present on consoles, while the PC gets a DirectX 11 variant that appears to be a horizon-based alternative. The effect is fairly inconspicuous on all formats, adding depth without obvious haloing.
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Between all four platforms, the main point of difference comes down to the way the artwork is handled on each system, particularly where streaming is concerned.
A look at our captures reveal that assets are loaded in more quickly on the 360, followed by the PS3 and then the Wii U, with lower-quality artwork left on screen for longer on Nintendo’s system. There are also a few cases where lower-resolution art is deployed on the PS3 and Wii U on a permanent basis, but thankfully this is only appears to be apparent on some minor background objects and thus doesn’t stick out too noticeably when playing the game.
The appearance of reduced levels of texture filtering is a little surprising on Wii U — something which also afflicts the PS3 game but to a lesser extent — as are the inclusion of lower-resolution shadows. Perhaps the developer struggled with overall bandwidth consumption on the platform with regards to texture reads from DDR3 memory (bandwidth-heavy tasks are mostly likely done using the system’s 32MB ESRAM), or that they simply didn’t have the texture units available. This would certainly help to explain why the appearance of particle effects and heavy alpha have a greater impact on performance than on other formats in many Wii U games — not just in Arkham Origins.
Once the bulk of the artwork has finished loading and gameplay is under way, streaming is largely identical across all platforms — including PC — with the previous issues of textures popping up a few seconds later on the PS3 in Arkham City completely reduced to the initial loading at the start of a new area. The appearance of visible pop-up on PC is a bit of a let-down, given how well hidden level-of-detail transitions were in Arkham City, but higher-quality assets are used for lower-level LOD models, which makes the switch a little less jarring.
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PCSmoke and particle effects are of the flat alpha-blended variety on console, but on PC these elements add a volumetric component to them giving them considerable depth and three dimensionality.
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PCTessellation is used sparingly throughout the PC version of Arkham Origins. Here we can see how the effect is used to add undulating surfaces in the snow.
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PCSome of the character models are highly detailed in Arkham Origins.
Surprisingly, tessellation isn’t used here to add more detail on PC because the base model already features a high level of geometry complexity.
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PCHigher-resolution depth-of-field is present on the PC. Notice how the effect creates jagged edges around the character and other objects within its radius on the consoles.
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PCOn the PC version, Arkham Origins benefits from featuring extra debris and objects scattered across the environment compared to the consoles.
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Naturally, PC owners get visibly higher-resolution textures and normal maps, although the artwork on Batman’s suit and skin doesn’t appear quite as detailed compared to Arkham City. The use of higher-resolution depth-of-field and object blur effects are also present over the console versions, along with the inclusion of soft shadows and the addition of extra debris, objects, and alpha-based effects scattered across the environment.
The level of ambient occlusion is stronger than the console versions too, with the PC’s DirectX 11 enhanced HBAO implementation featuring a wider radius of coverage than the cheaper SSAO variant used on the 360, PS3, and Wii U.
On top of that we have a string of DirectX 11 enhancements on PC designed to add a few next-generation style features to boost the overall presentation beyond higher-quality art and larger pixel counts. The first of these meaty extras is the use of tessellation to create more detailed footprints as Batman moves through the snow, and to make a few select parts of the environment appear a little smoother than the current-gen machines.
The most prominent upgrade when moving to the PC version is the inclusion of volumetric smoke effects and particle physics, enhanced by the PhysX middleware exclusive to Nvidia cards. Here we find thick layers of smoke and mist flowing through broken pipes and cracks in the environment which react realistically to Batman and other characters when they collide with these elements, along with snowflakes that dance around in the air according to the direction and velocity of the wind.
Real-time cloth simulation provided by PhysX is also applied to Batman’s cape and the various hanging banners dotted around Gotham, which sway and crease up as they blow in the wind.
«Arkham Origins sees the introduction of a range of Nvidia-exclusive PC technologies, including TXAA and some very nice PhysX work.»
A promotional video, demonstrating some of the PC-exclusive features found in Batman: Arkham Origins.
The only downside to enabling these features is a hefty performance hit when playing in 1080p. In this respect we’d highly recommend use of a second GPU to drive the PhysX-based effects for 1080p60 gameplay if you’re planning to use MSAA. Of course disabling PhysX — or simply selecting high-quality FXAA — means that a near-locked 60fps is easily achieved without needing anywhere near that level of raw grunt — our trusty Core i5 3570 and GTX 680 had no problems doing this outside of a few minor dips when faced with more detailed locations in the central hub world.
UE3 titles are generally easy to run, and nothing has really changed in this regard with Arkham Origins, as long as you don’t go overboard with some of the more exotic features.
Arkham Origins: performance analysis
On console, Arkham Origins sticks with the series’ standard 30fps. In terms of the Microsoft and Sony platforms, compared to Arkham City the amount of screen tearing is visibly reduced when the engine isn’t being pushed to its limits, although a noticeable gap in frame-rate is evident in certain situations, with the game’s streaming system causing a few hiccups when traversing the environment.
For the most part the experience sticks very closely to 30fps on the 360, although the game isn’t immune to the mild bouts of tearing and drops in smoothness when exploring the open hub world. The PS3 is often very close, but combat-heavy scenes set in more detailed environments sees the engine falter on Sony’s system, dropping frames and producing screen-tear. In comparison, smaller battles come across as rather smooth and comparable to the Xbox 360 experience.
Wii U takes on Xbox 360 in this Arkham Origins comparison — and it’s not the most flattering picture for the more modern Nintendo console.
The situation is considerably worse on the Wii U. On the plus side, screen-tearing is completely eliminated due to the inclusion of a locked v-synced presentation, but disappointingly the result of this is a frame-rate that fluctuates somewhere in the mid-twenties on a regular basis, producing constant judder and a serious reduction in the responsiveness of the controls. The number of enemies and the inclusion of a weaker CPU seems to be the cause for this on Nintendo’s system — perhaps the console simply can’t keep up with handling all of the AI and physics routines under load. The result is that gameplay is heavily compromised to the point where we found the experience far less enjoyable as a result. At times the PS3 version suffers to a similar degree, but this happens far less frequently compared to the Nintendo platform.
Issues also arise when traversing the environment.
While the 360 manages to mostly stick closely to the desired 30fps target, both the PS3 and Wii U drop significantly when exploring detailed locations with extensive draw distances. Most notably we encountered pauses of several seconds a handful of times on the Wii U game throughout our playthrough, contained amongst the heavy frame-rate drops. At these points, we heard the console’s disc drive frantically chugging away — as if it was trying to keep up with streaming in the large amounts of data required to generate the moderately large environments. The problem of steaming data fast enough from a Blu-Ray disc also appears to cause performance issues on the PS3 — albeit to a much lesser degree than on Wii U — and that’s despite the mandatory 4603MB installation.
Overall, the end result is that Arkham Origins is smoother and more consistent on the 360, with the PS3 game delivering a similar experience to Microsoft’s console, bar the more inconsistent frame-rate drops during heavy combat and traversal.
Both manage to achieve far more stable performance than Nintendo’s console, which comes across as erratic, and even occasionally broken when random freezes occur as the engine struggles to stream assets out for display.
«Despite its more modern GPU, it’s clearly the Wii U version that suffers most in terms of performance — v-sync dragging the frame-rate down.»
Cut-scene comparisons allow us to view game engine performance in like-for-like scenarios and we see a clear three-tier frame-rate divide — 360 is smoothest, followed by PS3, then Wii U.
Batman: Arkham Origins — the Digital Foundry verdict
There are few surprises left when it comes to multi-platform releases on the current-generation consoles — especially where Unreal Engine 3 is concerned. Rocksteady’s absence might have resulted in a experience that doesn’t push the bar forward for the Arkham series, but the team at Warner Bros. Games Montreal has still done a great job at creating another strong Batman game that is well worth consideration.
The engine enhancements also work well in producing a cleaner, more refined image, with the return of anti-aliasing and ambient occlusion in the 360 and PS3 versions standing as welcome additions to the solid range of graphical features on offer throughout the game.
The conversion work is generally solid too where the 360 and PS3 are concerned, although some of the frame-rate and stuttering issues on Sony’s system do distract from the action when the engine is put under stress, and some of the srteaming issues across all formats are perhaps indicative of the UE3 technology being pushed to its limits. Unfortunately, the Wii U once again disappoints with considerably worse performance than the other formats. This is a shame, as the use of lower-resolution shadows and greater texture streaming problems could all be overlooked if the game ran far more smoothly. The pared-back GamePad features and the lack of multiplayer also comes across as a disappointment, making this version hard to recommend if you own multiple platforms.
On the whole Arkham Origins is a fitting finale to the series on the older consoles, before Rocksteady returns with a Batman title designed for next-gen. While it’s less innovative than the first two instalments, the solid combat and familiar mix of stealth and action-based gameplay is well worth investigating. While Xbox 360 arguably offers up the smoothest gameplay experience on console, PS3 owners get exclusive DLC that includes the Nightfall challenge maps and extra Batman costumes based on the 1960s TV series and the classic comics’ Knightfall story arc. Given the major frame-rate issues it’s hard to recommend the Wii U game at all unless you have no other option. Meanwhile, as expected, the PC version stands alone in terms of performance and quality features, making it the default choice for enthusiast gamers.
Test de Batman Arkham Origins sur PS3 par jeuxvideo.com
Batman Arkham City… Plus qu’un nom, un exemple de perfection vidéoludique en matière de super-héros.
Difficile, du coup, pour Warner Montreal de passer après une telle leçon de maîtrise orchestrée par les Anglais de Rocksteady. Ainsi, pouvait-on seulement attendre autant de Batman Arkham Origins bien que le temps de développement ait été aussi long ? On serait tenté de répondre par l’affirmative. Maintenant, dans les faits, est-ce vraiment le cas ? Décryptage…
Autant commencer par la fin en précisant tout de go que Batman Arkham Origins est un jeu que j’adore et déteste à la fois. Aussi paradoxal que cela puisse paraître, telle est pourtant la conclusion de cet article, ceci me poussant dès lors à vous décrire précisément le pourquoi du comment. Revenons tout d’abord sur les origines du jeu qui est antérieur à Asylum et City. On y découvre un Bruce Wayne plus jeune mais pas nécessairement inexpérimenté, celui-ci ayant d’ailleurs les mêmes aptitudes et gadgets que dans les précédents opus. De fait, on aborde ici le premier point faible du jeu, synonyme de scénario plutôt faiblard essentiellement basé sur la personnalité écrasante du Joker.
On y retrouve bien un lot conséquent de bad guys mais ces derniers ne servent finalement qu’à installer tout au long de l’aventure des combats de boss dont nous reparlerons plus loin. En soi, ce n’est pas vraiment une surprise, les précédents segments n’ayant jamais brillé par leur scénario, mais Origins a également contre lui une mise en scène moins inventive, moins percutante, malgré de superbes cinématiques jalonnant l’aventure. Pire, les quelques bonnes idées scénaristiques font toutes écho à d’autres scènes de Asylum et City tout en demeurant moins réussies. Néanmoins, cette chasse à l’homme commanditée par Black Mask nous obligera une fois encore, pour notre plus grand plaisir, à crapahuter à travers Gotham cette fois plongée sous une neige abondante, pour sauver notre peau et mettre en sûreté les personnes qui nous sont chères, à commencer par Alfred.
Home sweet home
L’aspect «scoring» lié à l’EXP ne sied pas nécessairement à l’ambiance.
Habile transition pour évoquer la Batcave où nous attendra notre second père, ce dernier étant bien entendu toujours en relation directe avec nous afin de distiller de précieux conseils sur le terrain. Toutefois, on aura l’occasion de le rencontrer en chair et en pixels dans ladite Batcave qui sera accessible à tout moment par le biais du Batwing. Pour se faire, il suffira simplement d’ouvrir la map et de choisir un point de déplacement rapide pour y accéder, ceci étant également valable pour d’autres endroits de Gotham, disponibles après s’être occupé de tours de communication brouillant le signal de notre véhicule. Bien pratique pour ne pas avoir à se retaper de longues traversées en planant, bien que celles-ci restent délectables. Outre le fait de papoter avec notre majordome et de récupérer quelques gadgets, la Batcave sera l’occasion de s’essayer à divers défis (Prédateurs, Combats), par ailleurs également accessibles depuis le menu principal, afin de gagner les innombrables médailles de bronze, d’argent et d’or mais aussi de l’EXP, utile pour acheter diverses améliorations.
A ce sujet, notez que pour acquérir certains upgrades auxiliaires, on devra automatiquement réussir certains défis nous demandant de varier notre style de jeu. Plutôt intelligent. Bref, si l’idée d’intégrer cet endroit mythique à l’histoire n’est donc pas bête, on aurait aimé que le tout ait un plus grand intérêt ou que Warner Montreal soit allé encore plus loin en rajoutant le manoir Wayne, ne serait-ce qu’à la manière d’un repaire d’Assassin’s Creed, où l’on aurait pu reluquer tous les costumes à débloquer, lire les fiches de personnages, etc. Pour un prochain épisode, sait-on jamais, d’autant que l’un comme l’autre lieu étaient déjà présents sous forme de DLC dans Arkham City.
Un gameplay entre excellence et stagnation
Les combats de boss sont plutôt décevants.
Si le gameplay de Asylum proposait déjà un bon équilibre entre action et infiltration, City avait perfectionné l’ensemble, ne serait-ce qu’en termes de vitesse d’animation et de peaufinage afin de rendre l’expérience inoubliable.
Origins profite donc de tout ce travail, qui lui offre dès le départ un matériau d’exception mais qui aurait tout de même mérité d’être saupoudré de nouveautés dignes de ce nom. Sur ce point, peine perdue, rien ou presque d’original n’est à signaler. Ainsi, outre les déplacements rapides mentionnés plus haut, on signalera l’ajout des gants électriques, pratiques pour se défaire de la vingtaine d’adversaires qu’il ne sera pas rare de croiser. Sur ce point, on aura d’ailleurs tendance à dire que les développeurs en ont un peu abusé, surtout durant la dernière ligne droite où les combats pullulent. A ce sujet, précisons que quelques adversaires inédits seront présents, à l’instar des experts en arts martiaux qui se montreront plus résistants et agiles, ceci nous obligeant à varier notre façon de faire avec les contres et les finish moves. Hormis cet aspect, Batman se montrera toujours aussi gracile en passant d’un adversaire à l’autre et en enchaînant raclées et autres gadgets. Même son de cloche pour les phases d’infiltration où il conviendra de bien repérer les déplacements des gardes pour les éliminer en silence. Maintenant, difficile d’être aussi enthousiaste que par le passé puisque ici aussi, la progression est un calque de celle de City. Les environnements changent mais l’architecture des niveaux est identique. On se retrouve alors dans des endroits cloisonnés, avec moult grilles d’aération et de gargouilles où se nicher, celles-ci étant également piégées vers la fin de l’aventure. Finalement, le seul véritable ajout tient aux phases de recherche un peu plus évoluées puisque vous pourrez, sur une scène de crime, avancer ou reculer dans le temps pour voir ce qui s’est passé et ainsi découvrir de nouveaux indices. Sympathique même si on aurait pu s’attendre à beaucoup plus. Bref, on prend encore son pied dans son ensemble, bien qu’on imagine ce que le tout aurait pu donner si Warner Montreal avait moins cherché la facilité.
Vilains pas boss
Les scènes de crimes sont un peu plus évoluées que par le passé.
D’ailleurs, cette réflexion nous étreint face aux nombreux boss qui essaieront d’empocher les 50 millions de dollars promis pour la capture du Dark Knight. Centré autour de cet élément, on était donc en droit d’attendre d’Origins des combats au moins aussi intéressants que ceux contre Freeze et Ra’s Al Ghul de City ou le fantastique affrontement contre l’Epouvantail dans Asylum. Malheureusement, c’est une véritable douche froide puisque si on apprécie de rencontrer autant de super-vilains, les rixes contre ces derniers témoignent d’un vrai manque d’inspiration. De fait, entre des combats basiques de chez basique contre Killer Croc ou Bane, un affrontement avec Copperhead basé sur la multiplication, une rixe contre Deathstroke maladroitement pensée en termes de QTE, on a du mal à vibrer lors des fights. Même celui contre Firefly peine à convaincre alors qu’il y avait matière à présenter quelque chose d’excitant. On devra alors se satisfaire de ce qu’on a, et ce jusqu’à la fin débouchant sur un face-à-face un peu plus subtil mais renvoyant une énième fois à quelque chose qu’on connaît dans la série. Notons tout de même qu’en bouclant l’histoire, vous n’affronterez pas tous les vilains, Deadshot, Lady Shiva ou Le Chapelier Fou étant associés à des quêtes annexes. On croisera donc les doigts pour que ces derniers sortent du lot.
Du multijoueur dans Batman Arkham ?
Le multijoueur peine à convaincre.
A ce sujet, mentionnons la durée de vie exceptionnelle du bébé de Warner Montreal qui n’a nullement à rougir face à Batman Arkham City sur ce point. De fait, outre une aventure solo nous demandant entre 15 et 20 heures, on retrouve pléthore d’objectifs bonus, liés ou non à d’autres vilains, qui doublent la longévité d’Origins. On se frottera donc les mains tout en grinçant les dents devant le multijoueur, lui aussi destiné à faire grimper en flèche cette longévité mais au final terriblement médiocre. Ici, il est impossible de ne pas être critique tant le résultat laisse dubitatif. Déjà, on ne nous propose qu’un seul mode et quatre maps au level design limité. Ensuite, outre de gros soucis techniques au niveau des textures, le feeling des personnages jouables est très fluctuant. En somme, lorsqu’on incarnera Batman ou Robin (ceci se faisant entre deux sessions de manière aléatoire parmi les 8 joueurs qui s’affrontent), on retrouvera les mêmes sensations qu’en solo. Un bon point contrebalancé par le feeling catastrophique lorsqu’on incarne un membre du gang de Bane ou du Joker qui devront se disputer des points de contrôle pendant que les deux héros chercheront à en venir à bout. Dans ce cas de figure, on devra se coltiner des personnages évoluant très lentement et effectuant des roulades en bullet time. Si on ajoute à ceci un manque de sensations flagrant, on se retrouve devant un élément des plus dispensables qui doit sa présence, on l’imagine, à l’air du temps voulant que n’importe quel jeu solo ait une composante multi. Malheureusement, hormis Assassin’s Creed, peu de titres ont réussi le pari de proposer quelque chose d’aussi intéressant en multi qu’en solo et ce ne sont certainement pas Dead Space ou Tomb Raider qui me feront mentir.
Le début de la fin
La Batcave tient plus du fan service.
En définitive, j’adore Batman Arkham Origins puisqu’il me permet de replonger dans cet univers que j’aime tant et dans lequel j’évoluerai à nouveau des heures durant. A contrario, je le déteste car «objectivement», il est difficile de l’encenser au même titre qu’Arkham City, ne serait-ce qu’à cause de son énorme manque d’originalité d’où découlent plusieurs problèmes, sans parler des ajouts anecdotiques ou tout simplement inutiles. S’il est vain de nier qu’Arkham Origins reste un très bon jeu, on ne peut s’empêcher de se demander ce qu’il aurait donné sans tout le travail effectué en amont par Rocksteady. Et c’est là que le bât blesse car si Asylum et City transpiraient une passion sans bornes pour le Dark Knight, Origins ressemble davantage à un travail de commande, fort bien réalisé par des artisans de talent, mais auréolé d’un aspect business, synonyme de compte Warner à créer pour obtenir un costume inédit ou de Succès / Trophées nous obligeant à rester sur le multi malgré sa médiocrité. Bien sûr, vous aurez compris que ceci ne suffit pas à refuser les avances de ce Batman Arkham Origins qui, bien qu’un peu bancal, n’en reste pas moins un excellent open world manquant simplement de personnalité. Prions tout de même pour que la saga sache prendre en compte ce détail pour l’avenir…
Batman Arkham Origins Gaming Live
Points forts
- Les scènes de crime un peu plus évoluées…
- Artistiquement superbe
- Gameplay excellent
- Les déplacements rapides
- Taille de la map
- Très bonne durée de vie (entre 13 et 15 heures en ligne droite, beaucoup plus avec les quêtes annexes)
Points faibles
- … même si on pouvait espérer quelque chose de plus recherché
- Aucune originalité
- Mise en scène moins inspirée que celle d’Arkham City
- Scénario décevant malgré quelques clins d’oeil
- Trop d’action dans la dernière ligne droite
- Combats de boss décevants
- Multi inutile et à la ramasse
En ayant la lourde tâche de succéder à Arkham City, Arkham Origins se devait de proposer une aventure aussi bonne que son modèle. L’un dans l’autre, c’est le cas, du moins en termes de technique et de gameplay, mais on lui reprochera malgré tout une absence totale de prise de risques, des nouveautés minimalistes et un multijoueur médiocre. Ainsi, en s’étant beaucoup trop reposé sur le travail de Rocksteady, Warner Montreal est sans doute passé à côté de cette évolution, nécessaire à une saga, qui aurait pu être synonyme d’ajouts intéressants dans le fond comme dans la forme. Néanmoins, cette dernière étant toujours aussi maîtrisée, il serait criminel de laisser de côté ce jeu qui nous propose de retrouver une fois encore un magnifique prolongement de pixels aux comics et animes de DC. On aura alors tendance à minimiser les errances et autres problèmes de charisme de cet Origins pour savourer ce qu’il nous offre, à même de rassasier les adeptes du Dark Knight.
Note de la rédaction
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Batman: Arkham Origins Review (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC) PS3
In 2011, the newly minted Warner Bros. Montreal dropped out
it is a great honor and a difficult mission to make a new part about
adventures of the Dark Knight in Gotham City and don’t hit your face in
dirt in front of fans of the previous parts of the already popular series from
Rocksteady Studios. With the first task, they undoubtedly coped,
and here, with the second there were some complications. « Batman: Arkham Origins » (Batman: Arkham
Origins) is not terrible or bad, no, the game turned out to be good, but it has
there are two big flaws: the first — the developers did not come up with anything
new, but tried to leave only on the ideas of their predecessors, and then
far from always successful; the second — throughout the passage
you will not leave the feeling that in front of you is not a full-fledged new
part, but a very large addition to « Batman: Arkham City «.
Christmas Eve is a great time to give gifts to loved ones, cook
Christmas dinner and just walk along the festive streets
cities. But, alas, the ordinary people of Gotham do not have such a chance. In prison
Blackgate there was another riot of prisoners, and the most dangerous
The perpetrators managed to break free. Because of this, the department
police and local authorities decided to impose a curfew in the city and
to prevent bloodshed among civilians. The city is essentially
became for some time a ghost prison: no one on the streets except
the recidivists themselves and the police, at least somehow trying to cope
with rampant crime. Now, of course, you ask, where
What about Commissioner Gordon with his indispensable searchlight? Where is the famous
the sign of the bat proudly glowing in the night sky of Gotham and Bruce
Wayne as Batman flying in to help the guards as usual
law enforcement? There are none, the whole catch is that the action of the game
takes place a few years before the events of Arkham Asylum , and also young and inexperienced Bruce
only took the path of the defender of the city. But don’t expect the writers
project will tell you about experiences, fears and, of course, about
the very formation of Wayne from a small naive boy,
who lost his parents in childhood, into a real brave hero.
For some reason, from the very first frames, he is self-confident, inflexible
a fighter for justice, not giving in to any doubts. How
He was in the original, so he remained, not a bit changed. And
this is the first mistake of the scriptwriters of the game, who failed to really reveal it
character, behavior, motives and why he takes this or that
decision in difficult situations. nine0007
The rest of the plot is generally banal and inherent
original comic book series: one villain, mobster Roman Sionis, he
the Black Mask terrorizes the whole city, and at the same time causes
eight assassins by offering them a bounty on Batman’s head
50 million dollars (and everyone else at the same time). Seems to be excellent
storyline and such a huge selection of colorful characters, among
of which: Bane, Copperhead, Deathstroke, Taser and others, but also
This is where the writers let us all down. The hunters themselves are given quite
some game time: someone appears for a couple of minutes on
screen, and then immediately disappears and does not come back, with
someone will have to fight by pressing the same combination of buttons in
for three times to eventually win. Boss fights are easy and
a bit boring: it even got to the point that one of them after
his grand entrance to the fore falls at the first
hit by Batman. It looks a little strange, as if the developers
they didn’t know what to do with it. Let’s say thank you that at least not
forgot about the Joker, Gordon and Barbara, they are now, at least somehow revealed in
our eyes. The Joker is young, few people know, but even then
crazy and very dangerous. Jim Gordon thinks Batman is notorious
a criminal, and Barbara is only fifteen years old — she is naive, but
is ready to help Bruce in this difficult moment of his life. Pro
I don’t want to remember the faithful butler Alfred, because
the producers promised tense conversations and very difficult
relationship between them, in fact, he exists in this game
just to pronounce the always pre-memorized
cues about an unprepared Christmas dinner. nine0007
Separately, you can praise the writers and developers of «Batman:
Arkham Origins» for some amazing moments related to
the past and present of individual characters, including Mad
The Hatter and our well-known madman with green hair and
wry smile. After one of them, you perceive in a new way
Joker: not like a madman, ready to kill on a whim,
but as a tragic figure who met Batman in the wrong place and
not at that time.
The gameplay in the game is completely recreated from the previous parts and
licked to an unpleasant shine. The basic formula has not changed: our
the hero flies around the city, completes missions and is constantly with someone
fights. To get from one point in Gotham to another, you
you will need all the same cloak and hook. Flights never cease to please
the very end of the game, although sometimes Batman for some reason cannot
cling to a building. If you get tired of running around
your two, then at any time you can call a private plane and
fly to certain drop points (open only after
destroying the Riddler’s locators). The combat scheme has not changed either:
press two buttons in a certain order and fight off everything
more and more huge waves of enemies. Missed a few
counterattacks, if you please, go through it all over again. To new types of opponents
only two fighters can be attributed: ninjas and thugs similar to Bane
from Batman & Robin by Joel Schumacher. Everything else is left without
changes: all tricks, abilities and gadgets migrated from
previous parts. Some gadgets were simply renamed and
changed the appearance itself, but the characteristics left the same.
Only one new thing has been added: electrically connected gloves,
and then you will get them closer to the middle of the game. nine0007
The city itself is a copy from Batman: Arkham City, except that
there is now a snowstorm on the streets, the first snowdrifts, snowmen,
garlands and big Santa Clauses. The level structure is still the same: either
large rooms with gargoyles and ventilation shafts, or
small spacious rooms in which the next
battle with numerous enemies. The developers don’t give you a choice in
passing and forced to perform only two basic actions:
either hide or fight and die a hero. And from this
It’s a shame, everyone is hoping for some kind of variety, but there is none. But
they improved Batman’s «Detective Vision» and learning locations
crimes, finally, became much more interesting. Now Bruce
able to restore the events of the past, recreating them with the help of
his new gadget and based on the evidence he found.
Scroll through the resulting video and look for new clues for
solving the crime. In addition to the main story missions, you can
complete additional tasks related to riddles and secrets
Riddler, searching for and disarming containers with weapons
on behalf of Barbara or the search for one of the assassins — Shiva
(partially this task copies what you saw during the search
Talia al Ghul in Batman: Arkham City) and much, much more. More often
of everything, it all comes down to another mass brawl or mission,
based on silent walking and jumping over gargoyles. nine0007
There are no particular complaints about the voice acting: yes, the main characters in Batman:
Arkham Origins «voiced by not the best Batman and Joker of all time
and peoples Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, as two young actors, Roger
Craig Smith and Troy Baker. But they both played their roles well.
at some moments, indeed, it is difficult to distinguish the intonations of the same
Smith from Conroy. Troy Baker, on the other hand, tried his best to at least
to somehow reach Hamill’s brilliant game, everything turned out, except
laughter, in this regard, he will never surpass the master. FROM
from a graphical point of view, the Unreal engine used in the game does not
has not changed from the previous part. Only added
footprints in the snow and some minor effects which, if
If you don’t look closely, you may not notice at all. nine0007
For some reason, the developers added to «Batman: Arkham Origins»
multiplayer mode, which is useless there, considering
single player campaign mechanics. Splash studio was responsible for the development
Damage and she could only come up with one special mode
games for eight people «Invisible Predator Online»: six are divided
into two teams (on the one hand, supporters of the Joker, on the other, Bane)
and fight each other like in a regular third-person action movie —
each has its own weapon and safe cover. the remaining two
will have to put on a Batman and Robin costume, and start hunting for
criminals. Everything would be fine, but only crooked management spoiled
most of the gameplay, add to that: slow
movement of the sight of the weapon and a terrible imbalance of the sides —
superheroes are much stronger than ordinary guys in clown masks.
The latter die quickly, not having time to understand where the big one came from.
bad bat. You can also view your statistics in
leaderboard, but it, like the mode itself, is more for show. You
spend, well, a maximum of one day on it, then just
get bored. nine0007
Batman: Arkham Origins has a huge variety of trophies,
divided into several main categories: plot,
multiplayer related rating per completion
additional tasks and various tests. If with storylines
you should not have any problems (we warn you right away,
some can be overlooked by inattention, such as
trophy associated with Alfred’s talkativeness), then with everyone
others may experience minor difficulties, especially with
those that are tied to the network game. You hardly want
pump your network character to the maximum level, because
you will just get tired of it in the next hour (especially since you will need to
pump both from the side of the Joker and from the side of Bane). And this
only flowers, even if you manage to knock out most of
trophies, still one, you will definitely miss — a full-fledged
replaying the entire game in New Game Plus mode. As
just get him too, the platinum is yours. Good game! nine0007
Batman: Arkham Origins
presented us her vision for the development of a popular hero
comics, the only problem is that the very formation of both
there was none. At one time, past games in the Arkham series
shocked and presented various surprises with each new stage
in the passage, the new one, on the contrary, took all the best from them,
without offering anything new in return. The game is pulled only by three things:
intriguing plot, gaining momentum, about the middle
action, beautiful level design and atmosphere. Warner Bros.
Montreal has built its project on a good solid foundation,
laid down long before them, but failed to bring innovation,
which the series needed so much. If you are not familiar with the previous
parts, we strongly recommend that you first go through this game, and
then move on to the masterpiece dilogy. nine0007
Batman: Arkham Origins First DLC PS3 Released Today
Batman: Arkham Origins
Batman: Arkham Origins DLC
Batman Arkham Origins First DLC Released Today
OldGamer0 — 03.2031 at 03.2031 56
Today, December 3rd, Warner Bros. interactive
Entertainment to Release First DLC for Batman: Arkham Origins — Initiation
Challenge Map Add-On on PlayStation Network, Xbox digital stores
Live, Steam and Nintendo eShop for 5.49pounds. Together with
with the new main campaign, you will also receive two original skins
for Bruce Wayne — Initiation and Vigilante.
The action of the add-on itself will unfold high in the mountains of Northern
Korea, where young Bruce is being trained in martial arts and
ninja skill. He will have a very hard time, because at hand is not
will turn out to be the cherished abilities and cloak of his future alter ego —
the Dark Knight, and the enemies themselves will be very different from the bandits from
original game. Their leader and part-time chief
the expansion boss will be the famous ninja assassin and teacher
Wayne, Kirgi, who will have to be defeated in an unequal battle for
in order to pass the final test of the cunning master. Players will be able
visit various exotic locations, including
bamboo forest and mountain monastery. All those who have already purchased
season pass for the game, will receive this add-on absolutely
for free. nine0007
Good, Voldemar, good.
I just sold the game. It’s a shame.
Message from evgenij
I just sold the game. It’s a shame.
this dlc was known before the release of the game
———- Post added at 04:14 ———-
The original message was sent at 04:14 ———-
I hope the dlc is not short. because according to the atmosphere to me
love it
Message from Voland
I hope the DLC will not be short. because according to
I really like the atmosphere
it’s just a set of challenge cards
Posted by UnreaL300
it’s just a set of challenge cards
Pain. Yearning. Sadness.
Past(
Posted by UnreaL300
it’s just a set of challenge cards
with cut scenes, i.e. plot. and how does this contradict my hopes?
although it ended up being short. total 5 challenges
cards
———- Message added at 00:39 ———-
Original message sent at 00:35 ———-
Message from x_S
Yes. Already found information. Two trophies for
passing half of the challenges and all, at max. respectively. As
and in the last part in principle. Well at least there is at all.
there is infa, but there are no achievements. interesting.
by the way, in addition to 5 change cards, a new «story» campaign, is added
new character — Bruce)
nine0002
Message from Voland
there is infa but there are no achievements. interesting.
There are achievements, but there are no trophies.
Weighs 100 kb
With this, perhaps it was worth starting the game itself, it would have turned out very
well. Batman without a mask, and at the end of the game he made a costume.
Trophies will be interesting. If not, I’m pretty sure it will.
weigh 100kb.
Posted by x_S
Trophies will be interesting. If not, almost
I’m sure it will weigh 100kb. nine0007
If I’m not mistaken, then trophies / achievements for this set of challenge cards
will be in the style of «earn all the medals on the map …»
Message from CheckOne
If I’m not mistaken, then trophies / achievements for this
set of challenge cards will be in the style of «earn all the medals on the card
.
