Batman: Arkham Origins surpasses its predecessors but not for the elements you'd expect.
Note: There will be slight spoilers in this review. You have been warned.
First of all, I believe you can make good arguments as to whether Asylum or City is the best Arkham game. I don't buy the arguments for Origins.
If we're talking impact, it's got nothing. A couple of new enemy types and a flashier "detective" system don't count as innovation.
The level design is lazy compared to Asylum and City, with a lot of C&P'd environments that they also managed to make duller. The Arkham games seem to have been influenced by the Burton films with their twisted gothic carnival aesthetics, and Origins decides to go grey and darker grey for most of its palette. It doesn't exude any character in any of its locations, failing to exude the painstaking attention to detail Rocksteady put in crafting their vision of Arkham and Gotham.
This also translates to mediocre encounter design, as the game repeatedly just throws you in rooms with crowds of thugs with very little setup, and what paltry predator sections it has, don't present ANY difficulty because of how almost every predator room is just a wide open space with grates and vents and gargoyles everywhere.
The game relies way too much on the combat sections, and its attempt to make them more challenging by increasing enemy aggression is aggravated by a somehow less responsive button inputs, and then nullified by the instant win Shock Gloves upgrade.
...which leads me to the restrictive upgrade system that doesn't really serve any purpose since the game doesn't pose much of a challenge apart from one or two boss fights. The freedom in being able to develop Batman the way you want to in Asylum and City is sorely missed.
The same restrictive design philosophy is also confoundingly applied to what could have been a really neat "achievement" system. You can easily be locked out of completing the achievements and getting their upgrades if you don't accomplish a couple that can only be done in one or two areas. Again, it ties back to the lacking level and encounter designs.
The unimaginative level design affects the puzzles, too, if you can even call most of them that. Some people can complain about the number of riddles in City, but having 100% completed that gane twice, I can at least say that more than half of the collectibles were gated in clever puzzles that challenged your platforming skills, your gadget proficiency and imagination, your perspectives on the architecture, and your knowledge of Batman lore. I don't remember a single puzzle in Origins that challenged my skill or mental capacity.
The way they even wrapped up the Riddler sidequest was super disappointing, too. Even though the conclusion to that quest in Asylum also fell flat, at least the puzzles were better!
And despite all the post-release maintenance, it's hard for many loyal players to ignore the save-corrupting and game-breaking bugs that were in the initial versions of the game. Even with the latest patches, you can still encounter a number of annoying glitches, especially in the extremely promising multiplayer.
Now with all that said and done, I can still say that I enjoyed my time with the game, mainly because of the consistently good boss fights and the best writing in all of the Arkham games.
Although most of the bosses were actually just more focused versions of the different elements of the Ra's, Bane, Two-Face and Mr. Freeze fights in the previous games, they felt unique in their dedication and thrilling in the doubling down of the one aspect to their fights. The cinematic tricks helped a lot, too! No one boss fight reached the height of the Mr. Freeze encounter, but overall, the bosses were consistently better than in the first two games.
Batman in Asylum and City is already at his peak development-wise, so he's not so much interesting as a "human" character, although he was the perfect power fantasy model that aligned with those games' tone and structure. Helps that Kevin Conroy did the VA, and that he was the natural badass that he was.But it was definitely more compelling to see the Batman in Origins still growing into the character we'd all love, his brash ruthlessness, and his interactions with the Joker.
Troy Baker was a goddamn revelation in his role as well, as he fit the delightfully evil, charming, manipulative, and insane malevolent force that is the Joker to a tee. Both Batman and Joker realizing how they're the exact opposite of the each other for the very first time was portrayed perfectly.
The entire Red Hood sequence stands as one of the best moments in the Arkham series as well.
And oh my god, they finally got the character of Bane right in a video game! Dude was a straight-up cunning cold-blooded mob boss gangstah killah that ultimately lost because of his pride and beginning addiction to Venom.
The interactions with Alfred were also a high point. I guess the only thing I can really fault the writing for was its treatment of Black Mask.
Kinda crazy how the spin-off prequel of a beloved franchise had the best narrative and ending!
And one last thing. That multiplayer is a diamond in the rough.
The core mechanics are great. If only it wasn't so goddamn buggy, and if it had more maps and modes, it would've been something special. I like the leveling system for the thugs, most of the gadgets were fun and effective without being unbalanced, and it was always awesome to play as either Bane or Joker. Some of the guns could've been nerfed to make more of the others feel more viable. It's a damn shame the online was such a mess in the beginning, as I feel that sabotaged any chance of that multiplayer experience being further refined in future installments. When I got to play it months after launch, I got pretty addicted to it, and had little trouble finding matches. Still froze too many times, but f*** it I had fun!
TL;DR: 3 out 5 stars for being mired in highly questionable design choices and bugs, but still having a great gameplay foundation, inspired boss fights, surprisingly fresh multiplayer (when it works), and the best writing.