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I'm undecided. To prep for this game I began playing through Arkham City on Hard, and having not played any batman for a while, that was a very steep learning curve.
I began playing this new game on Hard right out of the gate, which is unusual for me, as I typically complete games on normal first. It's a decent challenge, which is welcome. The addition of powers that can only be unlocked by performing certain feats is also a very welcome feature, as that scratches my particular brand of OCD gaming itch (I am not an egg-hunter, so riddler stuff does nothing for me). Unlocking them on the harder difficulty is definitely a challenge. I'm on the one where you have to get an A-grade rating on a fight with a threat rating of "high" or higher. It's... slow going with a dash of (good) frustration.
I am saddened by the removal of critical hits, unless they exist and I haven't progressed far enough. Getting 60+ point combos in fights (while dishing out twice as much damage) was awesome in the last two games. Critical counter-attacks just aren't the same, especially since I go more on the offensive than defensive.
I don't mind the new voice actors. It doesn't ruin the immersion for me at all. Batman transcends mortal actors, and will still be 29 years old long after our grandkids have grandkids. I also like this batman's outfit and build. Batman in the last two games was just a tad too hilariously over-proportioned. It's been toned down to a far better level in this game.
The combat... while I am glad the "feel" of it hasn't changed, WB Montreal definitely did not polish the animations as nicely as Rocksteady. In some areas, they did a great job (batman actually using his environment based on where you're fighting, like slamming a head into the side of a building). Finishing knockout blows sometimes are underwhelming (I just kicked you in the shin! Knockout!).
I can live with that.
What I can't live with are the bugs. I've encountered no less than three game-breaking bugs so far, one of which was repeatable, and therefore repeatedly frustrating. That bug forced me to reload my last checkpoint multiple times. The other two separate bugs were hard lock-ups which required a forced shutdown of my console via the "press and hold the button" technique. I never once experienced anything like this in the other Arkham games, which definitely tells me this game was either rushed harder, or the team cares far less than Rocksteady.
Also some finishing moves don't seem to work as well as they did in the last two games. More than once I have attempted to perform a special finishing move only to have batman grab the air and ruin my combo point generation.
But, in all honesty, I am digging this game's story moreso than Arkham City. My biggest beef with Arkham City was it felt too forced when it came to the villains. AC felt like they crammed as many villains as they possibly could into that game, and then afterward the resulting "boss fights" were major let-downs. There was also little-to-no build up for each villain. Arkham Asylum had a perfect blend of the right amount of villains, and a very nice build-up to the resulting boss fights.
Arkham Origins feels more like Arkham Asylum in that regard, with the right amount of pacing and build up. So, in that regard, I definitely like it.
Outside of the bugs and combat animations, I like the game. Definitely worth a play.
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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!
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