October 25th marks the release of Batman: Arkham Origins, the third in the exemplary Arkham series, and the breath of anticipation I've been holding for the last two years since Arkham City came out. There's already a whole rogues gallery of annoying things working against the title, seeing as Rocksteady, the game studio who shepherded Arkham Asylum into being the first superhero game that wasn't bunk, aren't the ones crafting the game (they are merely laying the framework and taking a much more ancillary role/ breaking our hearts). Origins also marks the departure of the two lead voice actors from the previous games: Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill's all-time great performance as The Joker that makes you forget that he ever used to talk about The Force. The cards are really stacked against Origins, so they're going to have to nail everything else if they're going to prove to the gaming public that their beloved franchise isn't on the way down a Tomb Raider-style tomb of mediocrity. Here are six ways to assuage those fears and dry our tears.
6. Just Give Us The Same Thing... Mostly
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That advice applies equally to sink repair and video game creation. Arkham Asylum came out of nowhere and surprised everyone with how much it didn't suck. The mechanics themselves have been stellar from the get-go, from gadget control to Batman's keen ability to dispatch of low-level thugs who probably aren't evil and are just trying to get by in this harsh Gotham economy. Each game has showcased one hell of an impossibly long night in the life of Gotham's favorite orphan, and Origins seems to be in-keeping with that by setting this one on a night 'round Christmastime, leaving it potential for both irony and some great fruitcake-based action set pieces. According to my sources inside the industry (Game Informer), it seems like the skeleton for this beast will be mostly the same, combat and all, which is phenomenal. Now hopefully that skeleton gets some decent flesh on it. . .