Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - PlayStation Vita

When I bought my Wii U last December, the very first game I purchased (not counting Nintendo Land) was Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition. I was incredibly impressed with all of the unique features added to the game via the Gamepad, including the radio chatter being played through the Gamepad's speaker (which made the game more immersive), the map being placed on that screen (which eliminated the need to pause every time I lost my bearings), the placement of character bios, challenges, upgrade menus, and gadget access on the lower screen (making it much easier to read text, especially), and the use of the touchscreen for most of those functions (whether playing on the TV or on the Gamepad itself). Hacking felt more like hacking with having to use the touchscreen to find and activate hidden nodes. Aiming certain gadgets was made butter-smooth by using the built in gyroscope. Blowing up individual explosive gel placements (one at a time) was made possible (and easier) with the touchscreen. And of course playing the entire game on the Gamepad screen with extreme ease was probably the best feature of all. All of these things made the Armored Edition of Arkham City the DEFINITIVE version of an already amazing game. When I heard that Arkham Origins would be coming out for Wii U, I was expecting the same features. While the game definitely kept the best features like off-TV play, radio chatter through the Gamepad speaker, and the map being displayed on the touchscreen, the majority of other features that made the Armored Edition so much better than other console versions have been taken away (in fact, all of the Gamepad features I had listed as positives for the Armored Edition of Arkham City with the exception of the few I mentioned as actually being in Origins are in fact gone). If you've played the Armored Edition of Arkham City, you won't realize how much you miss those features until they're gone. I do realize, however, that none of the extra features are available in ANY of the other versions of the game (and unlike with Arkham City, they weren't adding new features to a completed game but doing certain things with a game as it was being developed), so this doesn't really affect the score. I should be clear though. I gave this game 5 stars because I still think it's great. It's basically what you'd expect from an Arkham game. Fun and fluid combat, pretty much all of the usual gadgets (you start off with the batarang, remote controlled batarang, grappling gun, explosive gel, cryptographic sequencer, and another gadget or two I can't remember) and it doesn't take long to get back into the swing of things. Once you get out into Gotham City, there is a TON of stuff to find and huge environments to explore. There aren't a lot of people out (apart from thugs), but considering the storm warning at the beginning of the game and the fact that it's night time (early on in Batman's career when crime is still rampant everywhere)...on Christmas Eve, it isn't really all that shocking. While there aren't Riddler trophies/riddles to find, there are still collectibles and other Enigma puzzles to find throughout the city. You also get crimes in progress in which you can intervene and plenty of other side quests that I personally have yet to discover (as I've only played a couple of hours so far). My review is based more on the first couple of hours, but I can already tell that this game is going to be great. If you enjoyed either of the other two Arkham games, you'll enjoy this one. While the Wii U version doesn't use the Gamepad in as many unique ways as the Armored Edition of Arkham City, the features it does have (as well as the improved frame rate and the removal of the completely unnecessary and mediocre multiplayer) still make it the best version to own. Update 11/4/13: I wanted to update my review to point out a couple of things for those who may be wondering (after having made a lot more progress in-game). First off, please be aware that this game is very, very similar to Arkham City when it comes to environment, mechanics, and overall gameplay. Where Arkham City was quite different from Arkham Asylum, Arkham Origins is not nearly as different. Much of what you do is very similar and it doesn't feel nearly as unique as the first two games did from one another. But I still think it's a fantastic game. It may not be as great as Arkham City, but it's still well worth playing. You just have to go into the game recognizing that apart from differences in what Batman is like as a character and the fact that the city is about double the size, it's not dramatically different. Finally, I want to point out that while the framerate is consistently smooth, there are occasions where the game will stop for a few seconds to load while gliding. In about 10 hours of play time so far (give or take), the game has frozen completely on me only once. Overall, I would make my rating 4.5 out of 5 rather than 5, but that's only because it isn't as unique.

The first two Batman games were nothing short of amazing. I was definitely buying Arkham Origins, regardless of the things I was hearing and reading about it. I'll admit that my expectations were lowered due to the fact that a different group made the game. However, might I be so bold as to say this is the best Batman game I've ever played? Lets find out. Combat - It's pretty much the same combat system as before, which will always be a good thing in my book. Some have argued the combat feels a bit 'stiff', but I didn't notice that. The only difference that kind of stood out is the difficulty of some of the fights. I really looked forward to fighting huge groups of enemies in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City because it became easy once I got the hang of things. Arkham Origins' fights are lengthy and difficult, and at times feel like a total button masher. I'll explain what I mean: I've played more than my fair share of action games on the PS3. There's only been two games that caused me to experience forearm fatigue because of the button mashing fighting. Those games are Heavenly Sword (demo version) and now Arkham Origins. This is a prequel, so perhaps the fighting is difficult because they're wanting to emphasize that Batman is early on in his career, I don't know. At any rate, it gets a little easier when you acquire a certain gadget that I'll discuss in the next paragraph. Weaponry - If you've played any of the previous Batman games, you'll know he mainly uses gadgets as opposed to weapons, and that trend continues. The usual gadgets are present, so I'll focus on the new additions. We all know about the remote controlled batarangs; well now there's a remote controlled batclaw! Awesome, right? It doesn't really directly affect combat, I mainly used it to connect to far away grapple points. The concussion detonator actually does affect combat. It'll cause enemies to be momentarily dazed, giving you the chance to move in and put in work! The glue grenade is used to shut off those ever so annoying steam valves (or you can use the grenades on enemies too). Now to my favorite addition - The shock gloves!!! Here's how they work: You build up the battery by pounding on bad guys. Once fully charged, each melee strike will be accompanied by an electric shock. This made the tougher combat more enjoyable and a little easier :-) Enemies - I noticed a few new enemy types sprinkled here and there. The ones that stood out were the ninjas, the dudes with the venom filled canisters on their backs, and the brutes. The ninjas were different because you'll have to plan your strikes against them, as opposed to straight button mashing. I've been hearing a lot of negative things about the boss battles, and I don't understand why. In my opinion, each one was a little different and required some technique. Ok, the first one was a button mashing affair, but the others really weren't. You probably recall me saying I've played several PS3 action type games. Well, the final boss battle is the most terrifying boss battle I've ever encountered! I'm tempted to explain why, but I can't do so without giving spoilers. Some people are smart enough to give details without spoiling the game, but I'm sure in the hell not... Miscellaneous - Don't worry guys and gals, there's plenty of sidemissons with some pretty cool enemy encounters. You will not see the usual Riddler puzzles (thank God), but there are still collectables around town. Also, you'll get an opportunity to solve crimes, similar to how it's done in LA Noir, if you're familiar with that game. If you're into multiplayer, that feature is available in a Batman game for the first time. Arkham Origins didn't feel quite as long as the others, but it took me about 28 hours to complete (that includes the sidemissions and me screwing around in the city). The only negative thing about the game is very minor, but I still thought I'd mention it. The graphics are not as good as the previous two games, but that's not a big deal to me. After finishing Arkham Origins, I felt it was the best Batman game I've ever played. I had tons of fun, and was constantly looking forward to what might happen next. I'll be honest, if you play this game and you don't think it's at least 4 stars, I'll be shocked. Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus, you're up next!

"Arkham Asylum" and "Arkham City" are two of my very favorite games of last gen, from the way they amazingly encapsulate the iconic comic book hero, to the top-notch writing and voice-acting, to the terrifically fun predator and combat gameplay. Developed this time not by Rocksteady but by Warner Bros. Games Montreal, "Arkham Origins" isn't quite as good as the first two, but is in the same league, and delivers a meaningful, well-crafted storyline about Batman's (Roger Craig Smith) first run-in with the Joker (Troy Baker). The game takes place in the open-world environment of wintery Gotham City on Christmas Eve, where it's perpetual night and always snowing. Throughout you'll run into such villains as Black Mask, the Penguin, the Mad Hatter, Deathstroke, Bane and Shiva. Some of them I was unfamiliar with. Once the Joker is introduced, he steals the show. The city you get to glide around in and explore is just big enough and packed with tremendous detail, including numerous landmarks, Riddler challenges and side-quests. Story missions have you investigating the interiors of different locations around Gotham, like the Police Department and the GC Bank, and have hidden secrets to uncover once you've unlocked all your abilities. Predator and combat gameplay work about as well as it always has, though for some reason I found myself getting more frustrated here with the hand-to-hand combat than I did previously. (Maybe due to new enemy types?) "Origins" is not as polished as the previous games. It's also not the leap forward for the series that moving from the smaller, more intimate world of "Asylum" to the gigantic openness of "City" was. New is a kind of online multiplayer that combines third-person shooting with predator gameplay, but it comes off to me as arbitrary and unnecessary. I couldn't get into it. Multiplayer aside, this is a very good game that suffers only by comparison to two better games. --- 4.5 STARS ---

Well I haven't beaten the game yet. I am only about 5 hours in, but I have seen so many mixed reviews on the big name review sites I just wanted to let people who enjoyed the first two Arkhams know that this one is just as great in my opinion. Not better, but just as great. First of all this is the Wii U version obviously and everyone was throwing it under the bus because of no multiplayer. I play Arkham games for the single player experience so I don't care that it is missing, but it is something to consider for those of you that do. I got it for ten bucks cheaper though so there's that. Now the PC version is also ten bucks cheaper and as far as I know includes multiplayer. It was a choice between PC and Wii U and I am glad I chose the Wii U, here is why: *Graphics and Performance:The graphics look outstanding on the Wii U(looks better than AC Armored Edition) and the performance is also much better than the Armored Edition. It has a solid frame rate with the very occasional one second slow down. It looks incredibly crisp on my TV and has excellent textures. The only improvements PC has over it that I have seen from videos are the Physx and Tesselation effects. I have only encountered one minor bug which was a baddie after kicking his butt, he fell through the floor and only his head appeared. *Gamepad.I guess my only complaint so far is hacking is not as fun as it was in Armored Edition(not a big deal though) and it doesn't have all the same gamepad features, but it still has some of them. The map is there and works just like AE. It doesn't have the remote control batarang on the gamepad and you can't pick gadgets from it either(those are selected with the D-pad). It does have the wonderful off-tv play. The detective mode is there and in this game it is unbelievable cooler. For example in AE one of the first things you do with detective mode is finding out were the bullet came from, you scan the evidence and it shows you the trajectory of the bullet. In this game a guy gets blasted through a wall and not only can you see what happened, but you can walk around to get different perspectives and forward and rewind it at whatever speed you like. I just thought that was so cool. The controls overall feel great and I prefer the gamepad now over the other controllers I own. *The Sound: Sounds great to me! I have 5.1 Surround. *The City: This city is tricky to review because I'm still not sure how I feel about. It is the biggest one yet and while there is a ton of stuff in it and it looks fantastic, it can still feel a bit empty at times. It reminds me of Arkham City with the look of it. If you hate Christmas though this game takes place on Christmas eve and has some Christmasy themes. Let's not be a scrooge about it. Starting out it's mostly go from one part of the map to the other and do a task. and it has quick travel by batwing(still wish I could fly it or use a batmobile). A lot of time will be spent in different buildings just like in AC of course. It also fills up with a lot of extra stuff to do as you progress through the game. So far I like it just as much as Arkham City. *The Gameplay: Combat feels just as good if not maybe a tiny bit better. I like that as you progress you get a better diversity of baddies to whoop and a few new moves too. Stealth feels the same(it works but still has its flaws). Flying around has not changed at all. You start off with a lot of familar gadgets and this one has some cool new ones as well although I don't know what they all are yet. You still traverse through plenty of vents which I am convinced now that Batman just loves vents. He must have all kinds of vents in his mansion. No more are the question marks, now they are called relay data, but they are still acquired by solving a puzzle or they hiding out in a vent. *The Vents: I am starting to like the vents myself. Some of the vents look much better than in the previous games and some give you that classic feel. *Story: This is one of the most important things to me in a game and I loved the story of the last two games. I am not sure how it will turn out and so far it is pretty good and it has all the classic villains and some new ones I have never seen before. They all look different than the previous titles. Some of them sound the same like the Penguin. It takes place before the other batman games. It's about christmas eve and Black Mask has offered 50 grand to whoever can kill the bat. It informed me of 8 assassins and gave a little quick background to each. My favorite one is Deathstroke of course. He is just so similar to my favorite Marvel character Deadpool. The boss battles are awesome and the battle with Deathstroke is nothing short of brutal and insanely difficult. He earns his baddassery in that fight with Batman. I hope I see him again. Like I said I am not very far so I can't really tell you more. *The Batman: Yes this is a new batman and not only is this my favorite look so far, but I like the voice actor better too. He is a far more violent and brutal Batman than what he becomes later on. He mostly feels like he doesn't hold back from his brutality until the last second. Overall it has a few differences from the previous games and while it feels like they tried to play it safe and plays mostly the same, for the most part it still delivers one heck of a fun game and when I play video games that is really what it is all about. If you liked the first two then this one is a must. If you haven't played the other two you don't really need to play the first two before starting this one, but I would still recommend them. as they are both outstanding games. Last but not least nanananananananana BATMAN!

This would be a 5 star game except for the major glitches that you will encounter. Let me first discuss the good. This is a much more complete game than either Asylum or City. In Asylum, I felt boxed in, forced to work my way through one building or section of the asylum, and the fights all felt very similar. Arkham City allowed you to really be Batman, allowing you fly over the city and explore anywhere you wanted to. The problem with City for me was the plot. (Spoilers) - you spend half your time trying to find a cure for the Joker's blood, and oh, conveniently, Ra's and Dr. Strange are about to take over - that's simplifying it, I know, but the plot wasn't really thought out. in Origins, I really felt like the plot drove the game much more than in City. You also had the dynamic with Alfred, who is actually in the game and not just a voice. Same with Gordon and some of the other characters. Aside from the plot, other improvements include the massive size of the map - one reviewer said they basically recycled the map from Arkham City - that's not true. The map is about 3 times larger than the one in City. Yeah, you'll revisit some of the locations, but it felt like an entirely new city to me. You can also take advantage of the fast travel system, which allows Batman to call the Batwing and be transported to other districts in the city. The graphics felt stronger as well. What's more, this game ran smoother on my computer than either of the previous two games, which is odd. The boss levels were much more memorable to me. The detective aspect is improved from City. You actually investigate crime scenes, which is what made Batman the world's greatest detective. Batman's arsenal of gadgets was about the same for City. A few differences - the freeze grenades/mines were replaced by glue grenades/mines, and the addition of the shock gloves really makes you an unstoppable force in street brawls. Makes you wonder why Batman decided to discard them for his later missions :-) The one thing I hated from Asylum and City is here too - the Riddler. I hate going around the place figuring how to get his data packets. Now, for the bad - and keep in mind, these very well could have forced me to give the game a 1 star review. The glitches...wow Spoilers included: The biggest and most catastrophic glitch comes at the very end of the game when you are facing the Joker. He's talking to you, draws a gun, and you are given the indicator to knock the gun away. You do and then you throw the Joker against a wall in the chapel. He gets up and sometimes he talks, other times he doesn't. You go over, beat him up some more, throw him again against a stained glass window. When you approach him, he picks up broken glass...and proceeds to cut you apart, giving you no option to fight back. You only get the "counter" indicator at the very end when Batman is falling back, dead. You will play through it countless times, thinking you weren't fast enough or something...nope, it's a glitch. Turns out, you have to do the following to get the game to give you the "counter" prompt that will allow you to finish the game: You must set your resolution to the lowest possible level. You must then let the Joker complete his dialogue at every step of the confrontation. That means, you let him point the gun at you until he finishes talking, then you can kick it away. Then you have to ensure he gets to talk some more before you beat him up. Otherwise, you won't get the prompt. How maddening! Can you imagine playing this game all the way through, only to not get to see how it ends? Ugh!! Other glitches exist, such as the ability of Batman to stand on an elevator, activate it, and then fall through the floor if he dares move while the elevator goes up. You'll end up in Limbo, unable to return to the real world. The only solution is to start from your last checkpoint. The same goes for when you need to interrogate the last guy after a brawl. Sometimes you won't even get the prompt for some reason. Other times, instead of interrogating him, you'll choke him out - like Batman forget to let him talk. These are fixed usually fixed by starting from the last checkpoint or activating the fast travel system and returning to the place on the map. Overall, glitches aside, this was the best of the Arkham games. I know that runs contrary to what most of the reviews say, but I found the plot-driven action, the music, the challenges, and the inclusion of so many villains really fun. It was cool to see the early relationship between Batman and so many of famous people - Alfred, Jim Gordon, Barbara Gordon, The Penguin, the joker, Blackmask, etc.

If you have played the other two Batman games, dont expect anything too different, the basic gadgets are the same, but you get to meet the remote claw which is really fun, same detective mode and evidence scanner, no problem there, we all love that. I felt this Batman was better to play because the most wanted missions and casefiles reports gave me more alternatives to choose from while trying to do missions, plus you can squeeze the thugs out and ask them where Enigma's (The riddler) packages are which makes that a little simpler (a little because that will never be easy). Still there are some new things, like a training room inside that batcave, pretty fun, challenges are not terribly hard and i say that knowing that i suck at them, because i lack the ability to plan my movements. The story is pretty interesting too, Gordon is just a police captain trying to clean the force, so you will have several encounters with him and with other policemen that you can beat, which is a pretty fun, not only the guys with clown faces and black masks deserve a punch to the nose. And that brings me to the last point, you also get to meet black mask, the Falcones mobsters, a girl from the league of assasins, and a more nagging version of Alfred who treats Batman like a two year old, which he is (game takes place two years after he decides to be batman). PD. IF you watch arrow or something, maybe it will be fun to you to see two of your great friends, Deadshot and Deathstroke, they add more variety to the game and you feel like visiting old friends. If you can call them that

I contemplated giving this review 4 stars just to lower expectations a little bit, but the truth is I played this game probably 6 hours this weekend after opening it when I got home on Friday. This is a MUST-OWN for any Vita owner. If you liked the Scarecrow levels in Arkham Asylum then this game is for you, because it works in a very similar way except that you guide your experience much more than you could in the Scarecrow levels. What impresses me the most about this game is the way Armature transformed the side-scroller and gave it so much depth. There are a lot of "Wow, I can do this too??" moments throughout the game as the gameplay gets deeper and deeper. The combat is great as you would expect from the Arkham series. Maybe not as silky smooth as the PS3 version but not far off. The story is good so far (like I said, I'm just 6 hours in) and the motion comic cutscenes are really charming. The only gripe I could possibly throw out is that this game was obviously made to run on both the 3DS and the Vita, which can only hurt the Vita version. You hardly ever use the right stick (because the 3DS doesn't have one) and the touchscreen implementation is sometimes not used when you would expect it like on the map (because the 3DS uses capacitive touch and pinching to zoom in and out on that would be problematic). So outside of the Vita being a far superior system than the only other one that this game was released on, I love this game. I really think the Vita has the chops to run a game like Arkham Asylum but I'm grateful this game exists and I've had a lot of fun playing it.

I was hoping this game wouldn't have changed much from Akham City, and I'm extremely happy to report that is the case. Although, like everyone has mentioned, it does lack the overall polished and smoothly operating feel that Rocksteady was able to bring to the last game, that isn't enough to give Arkham Origins an excellent rating. My biggest initial gripe was the sound effects of combat which have been dialed down significantly; if you played Arkham City you knew how satisfying and crushing it sounded when Batman took out an enemy. In this game, the sound effects of a knockout sound like a large slap in the face. It was annoying in the beginning but I got over it. WB Montreal has done an excellent job of adding some awesome new features to the game with an overall amazing story. I love the addition of the Batcave and Batwing; although you can't actually fly the Batwing it does make for awesome cinematic loading scenes when traveling from place to place in Gotham. And the story was incredible. As a Batman fan I was entranced by it and couldn't stop playing. There are plenty of side missions which will keep you busy for hours if you like completing games to near 100% like me. And I also love that you can choose different batsuits, once you've beat the initial normal gameplay. All in all, an excellent follow up to one of the greatest games ever. It's impossible to do better than Arkham City, but they came very close with Arkham Origins.

Dato il prezzo mi aspettavo il gioco usato e in lingua inglese... invece audio e sottotitoli sono in italiano, il gioco è arrivato prima del previsto e sigillato... la confezione è in giapponese e inglese, ci sono dei codici da riscattare in inglese, sinceramente non li ho usati. il gioco è sullo stile degli altri batman, ha una durata abbastanza ragionevole, grazie alle missioni secondarie dato che la principale è piuttosto breve. resta comunque molto coinvolgente e vale la pena acquistarlo!

Estaba rayado y no funcionaba.

Also ich finde das ist ein super Spiel für den DS. Klar 2,5 Sicht aber soweit ganz cool. Ich lese sooft alles sähe gleich aus und das man sich deswegen verläuft...aber die Leute tun mir Leid wer hier findet das alles gleich aussieht, verlief sich warhscheinlich auch in dem allerersten Super Mario für den Gameboy. Also mehr Kopf und weniger Mimimi

Para quienes les gustan la serie Arkham de RockSteady, este tambien les gustara a pesar de no ser la misma desarrolladora. El juego es largo si se completa la historia principal junto con las misiones secundarias, en la caja menciona que tiene contenido exclusivo "KnightFall" y se entiende que viene un codigo dentro de la caja para descargarlo pero no (o al menos asi lo entendi yo), ese contenido se encuetra en la Store y es gratuito para todos, lo que si contiene es un codigo para descargar el "Legend skins pack" y son cuatro trajes alternativos, bastante atractivos para usarlos en el modo historia y ver como incluso en las cinematicas aparece el traje que se selecciono.

those who won a Nintendo 2ds or 3DS should definitely go for this game graphics and everything a very good and for all the Batman fans this game is super Amazing