Oh yeah I forgot to mention the video card, etc. so I apologize and yes I do agree that it is dependent on the system. I don't think that it doesn't have any bearing on the discussion though since that was one of my concerns ever since they showed the video that had choppy frame rate. Given though that it was a demo done on the 360 so it probably wouldn't be a concern on the PC, it's still was a bit worrying when you see something like that. For example, The Bureau also had performance issues on the PC version when it came out so I thought that sharing information like that does add to the discussion though on my part I just forgot to post my specs.

According to Sessler's review, the boss fights are a lot better.. but I can't speak to that personally.

surprise surprise.

I want to like it but I have such a hard time losing myself in a game when the story is delivered in such a matter of fact way.

The levels are like exploring a hallway with one door over and over.

Not sure who thought batman should look like a GofW tank but he's pretty silly looking.

Just feeling more of the same for me and with other games to play and next gen systems around the corner i can wait for a price drop on it.

Looks like it turned out how I expected it, a solid Batman game that doesn't do anything really that new to improve on the formula.

With that said, I'm a huge fan of the Arkham games so it's a day one buy for me.

I will probably wait for this game to go down to 20 dollars before I pick it up.

Shit suCKS

The only reason I can gin up to purchase this now is to try out the multiplayer while everyone is still trying to wrap their minds around it. Otherwise it's a no-brainer bargain-binner for me.

It looks fun. I pick it up eventually. Maybe during Black Friday.

I much preferred Asylum over City, and was feeling pretty burned out on the series after I finished City, so I probably wont play this one. I am interested in the Blackgate handheld game, but I'll wait for a sale to pick it up on Vita.

Mostly I'd like to see what Rocksteady is working on...

@nadafinga: At this point with the whole Batman x superman film i would not be surprised if it was a batman x superman game.

Yeah seems alright so far.. Feels kinda dated but it's still good worth a rent!

about what i expected, still will play it though, looks like a quality product, and no one has exactly been making batman games every year except WB, so its still fresh to a degree.

to much dumb fighting and in dead city... i'm super boring and only 2 hours in..

I'll wait till it's in the bargain bin.

Strangely enough, most of what people are experiencing with this game I had already felt in Arkham City. Big, dead world, filled with mindless baddies. An open world for the sake of having an open world. Too much of everything crammed together.

The boss encounters still look fairly interesting here but I don't feel like flying around the city again. Ironically if they had scaled down rather than up, and set this in another Asylum styled enclosed location I'd be a lot more interested in playing.

I'm real bummed that this game seems to be getting a lot of unwarranted hate. It's perfectly fine, and rather fun. Seeing comments like "BARGAIN BIN QUALITY" and "UGH BUT THE FIRST TWO WERE SO GOOD" is ridiculous.

I like it so far. I've had a lot of freezes though. It plays just like the other ones and the story is fun so far.

I like it as well but is the combat not as polished or something? I'm playing on hard but I played City on hard as well and didn't have this where literally all I do during a fight is counter. A guy runs up to hit you, counter, next guy runs up to hit you, counter, and so on. If I try to do a normal punch in between the counters I'll just get hit. And part of it is the fact that every time you encounter enemies there are at least 10 or more guys.

I remember in City, and Asylum for that matter, being able to jump around everywhere and counter and punch and do whatever I want. Seems like all I can do in this game is counter because the timing on the AI to attack you is so tight. Sucks the fun out of it and makes fights last so long. Maybe I just don't remember how to play it and the game didn't tutorial it as well as previous games.

Given, I haven't unlocked all the fighting gadgets but still...

Combat not as polished yes. (like almost everything is in this game compared to City)

You can clearly see enemies clip into one another, sometimes several at a time, which creates a tightly packed mess during fights. The enemies also slide at you to force counters much more frequently. I usually counter 2-3 times on a standard dude beat down, and once had to do 10+ counters during a heavy beatdown. Other times Batman will clip into the environment and crouch making him go into FPS mode.

There are other times where I clearly have a red combo counter going and a combat takedown will fail even if the enemy is right there. Or ground pounds will fail to trigger on enemies right at my feet who are writhing on the ground (also true in predator encounters).

I agree it's still a totally fine game and comments like the ones you mentioned are indeed ridiculous.

However there are definitely a lot of criticizms that can be valid in regards to this game. I think you are seeing such a negative reaction because it's A. more of the same B. more of the same except not quite as good. Now if this was more for the same with improvements and just a slightly better game people would have been probably totally cool with it. As it stands just making the same game again, but with a decrease in overall quality too, is kind of a solid reason for people to be displeased and I can't exactly fault them for it.

i'm about 10 hours in and still enjoying it. my main issue with it is frequent hard locks, mostly when loading the fast travel screen or entering a new area. is this a common issue, or is my 360 dying? i haven't seen it mentioned in any of the reviews i've skimmed through.

@sissylion: yea seriously

I honestly think that whether or not you're really into Batman, like myself, will go a long way into how much you enjoy the game. I decided to rent the game, and from what I've played it really seems like a competent action adventure. Of course, if you've fantasized as a kid about being the batman while watching The Animated series, it takes that average appreciation to another level of fun. I won't lie, I think we couldv'e waited another year or so for a new Batman game, but it doesn't suffer from egregious mediocrity like some other yearly franchises do.( Not that this series is yearly though. Each game has a good two years between them.)

If you really aren't sure still, then I recommend waiting till Black Friday next month, or for foreigners some kind of good sale, and then picking it up, because it really is a good game and we should support those if we want to keep seeing them made. I'll definitely be buying the game at a later point in time just to have it for my library. I'll also say that whatever bugs or glitches people seem to be experiencing are non existent for me so far, as there was a patch when I booted up the game for the first time.

Jim Sterling gave it a 3.5/10

http://www.destructoid.com/review-batman-arkham-origins-264357.phtml

This game is popcorn. I like it more the more I play it. I think the story is solid and has some great beats, the action is a little less tight than the previous games but still uses the best combat system ever imo, the stealth room layouts aren't as good as the other games but they're also easier to get through quickly.

It's a lot of fun if you like the Arkham games. Undeniably a rehash though.

Jesus that's a lot of big images used to break up what would be a fairly average-length review.

@sissylion: GTFOutta town.. City was a BAD game? Are you serious? Clearly you have no concept of what makes a video game "good" then.

It's good game, I like it. Done. Review's dont matter a whole lot to me.

@menkhor: The writing and pacing were terrible, the open world aspect of the game didn't do it any justice, and most of the challenge rooms were uninspired. The combat was markedly improved and may be the most fun I've ever had with an action-adventure game's fighting system, sure, but that's not good enough to cover its glaring faults.

Polygon dropped their review in the PC, PS3, and 360 versions (not Wii U) due to bugs. From 7 to 4.

First time I've heard of such rampant bugs that the reviewer found it in 3 versions of the game. I've played maybe 5 hours with no bug in sight.

My favorite reviewer strikes again... Philip Kollar.

This game is really hard on hard mode. It's the first hard mode game where I am frequently dying in most combat areas.

I'm not sure if I'm bad or the game isn't balanced well.

I am waiting for a price drop to get it.

Depends what you mean by "solid".

Considering it's a more mediocre version of the same, and is getting ratings in the 70s vs the 90s that the first two got, it's clearly showing it's inferiority, as expected having been made by a far less experienced dev team.

It's acceptable I guess if you're a huge Batman gamer that has to have every installment, but I'm sure even some of the most adoring fans had issues with this one not keeping up to Rocksteady's high standards.

It will be interesting to see if this one is still nominated at VGA, despite it's lower ratings.