Shown earlier was the gameplay demo for another hotly anticipated game, Batman: Arkham Origins. A younger Bruce Wayne is about two years into his new career as masked vigilante of the night. One of the first things you may easily notice as the demo starts is Batman’s new look which, to me, looks rather similar to that of his look in the Injustice game. The demo begins with a cut scene of Batman dangling one a thug from atop a large bank. He’s looking for Black Mask and interrogating/intimidating the thug on his whereabouts when he gets his answer from the thug’s cell. “Too late”, says Batman and releases the thug where he hits a large Christmas tree below.
Right away, the Dark Knight definitely comes across as “raw” in this new installment. He then proceeds to lock in the location of Mask’s meeting with Penguin and glides through the city in the same manner as seen in Arkham City. He makes a pit stop to help a citizen from being mobbed by more thugs and it’s here we see the same fluid combat we’ve come to know and love from the previous games as the Bat smoothly lands hit after hit from one goon to another, countering whenever he needs to. When the fight is finished, you notice you a level up system has been introduced where you gain experience points based on how well you tackle the bad guys, which should definitely encourage for some style and variety in fights in order even more EXP for upgrades and gain a new levels.
Other new cool features include a new thug baddie called the “Martial Artist” who can “counter Batman and Batman can counter his counters”. Watching these fights was very interesting and should make for some challenging combat. Another new and really awesome-looking feature is the enhancement of Batman’s Detective Mode. When Batman scans evidence of a crime, the entire scene is reconstructed in real time, rewound and fast-forwarded and back while he tries to deduce what happened and finds more evidence. And then there’s the gadget claw that doubles as a weapon and way of transportation which, in turn, can also allow for a “tightrope takedown”.
All of these new additions to the Akrham series look fantastic and should make for a new enhanced experience combined with everything else we’ve come to love about the Batman Arkham games thus far. See the epic full demo below followed by the interview with creative director Eric Holmes.
Batman: Arkham Origins releases this fall on October 25 for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
