Random Guesswork: Batman: Arkham Origins Is Probably Going to Suck Balls (But I Hope Not)

I rarely join in with fandoms having gut reactions to changes in their beloved franchises, especially negative ones. One of my prouder fan moments must have been reserving judgement about Daniel Craig back when he was first announced as being the next James Bond. The tabloids shit themselves inside-out with glee stirring up the common notion that he would be crap “because he’s blonde” or because “he’s not good looking enough”. Meanwhile, I held out because there was the chance that it would be awesome.

I was right, and vindicated.

It takes a lot to make me jump to conclusions and grab my torch and pitchfork to join in with the twittering mob, but when Warner Bros. decides that it wants to take back the reigns of a fantastic game franchise they had been outsourcing, I get a little bit twitchy.

I get a bit twitchier when it turns out that the game, although featuring “Arkham” in the title, is actually a prequel to the series that will have nothing to do with Arkham Asylum.

I start scratching my chin nervously when they keep mentioning that they’ve got the game engine that the previous third party developer made, as if that’s really what matters – that the game uses the same skeleton as the previous two. You don’t need to worry about the quality of the meat on the bones, right?

What’s that? Online multiplayer? Sure! Why not! The series has so far prided itself on being single player but tack on a pointless online mode, why not? That’s what all triple-A gaming titles need!

The last thing the dev team developed was…oh, oh dear. I can’t seem to find what they last developed. I can find what they’ve published after having it outsourced, but I can’t find anything on the list specifically by WB Games Montréal. It’s like it’s a brand new team of people or something.

Still, I’m sure this can be salvaged. All they need is a good writer to replace the massive void that Paul Dini left (you know, the guy who wrote the original animated series) and…say, this article knows who’s writing it!

…

Genuine first reaction from me, as conveyed via Batman and Joker images from Google image search.

You know what? Bugger it. The game might turn out to be the next Uncharted.

Which is a shame, because I was looking forward to the next Batman game, myself.

Postscript (01/12/2013)

For the record, the game didn’t entirely suck balls, but it’s not nearly as memorable as its predecessors. Here’s hoping Rocksteady is back for the third instalment…

Post by Sean Patrick Payne+ | April 25, 2013 at 6:24 pm | Batman, Random Guesswork, Video Games | 2 comments

Tags: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Batman, bitching about video games