6. Batman: Arkham Origins
In 2009, the Arkham series came out of no where to surprise a lot of people. Licensed properties, let alone just Batman games didn't exactly have the best pedigree. Fast forward to 2013, and it is now totally different. The Arkham series is one of the biggest franchises around. All realised by the good work of the London based Rocksteady Studios. The development team transformed what a licensed game could be and spawned an incredibly popular franchise that made you fell like you were in Batman. However, Rocksteady are taking a bit of a break after the game's sequel Arkham City. This has a lot of people worried. Rocksteady are synonymous with the the franchise, and as you would expect, there were doubts if an Arkham game could really succeed without the magic touch of its caring creator. Warner Brothers Montreal were the crew tasked with temporary guardianship over the Bat, and the real question is, have they delievered? The answer is obviously, no one knows, we are still previewing the thing. However, I did get some hands on time with the game and while there are changes in tone, what I saw felt like Arkham with a few fun innovations. The combat is as robust as ever, having more or less the same mechanics that were popular in the previous games. The fighting did seem to go into slowmo more often, but this is a result of new classes that fight back in new ways. Now martial artists will counter your attacks and you need to respond with a counter of your own. This makes for a more "back and forth" feel to fighting and while it is only a minor adjustment, it just adds a tiny bit more flow to the fighting dynamic. The game also boasted a new detective mechanic allowing Bruce to scan a crime scene for clues and then use his network to reconstruct crime scenes. These can be forwarded and rewound to help you reverse engineer the actions of an event and allows you to get to the bottom of what happened at a crime scene. It is a neat little mechanic that further expands the detective work that you could do previously in the series. However, there are changes and they mostly center around Batman and the world he inhabits. While the previous Arkham games focused on a more mature Batman, who was considered and levelheaded. It was a hark back to the animated series, even using the same voice actor in Kevin Conroy. However, this version of Batman has more in common with Bale's version. He is angrier, more brutal and while he still won't kill he has no problem beating thugs up to within an inch of their life. As you might have guessed, Arkham Origins is a prequel to the last two games, so these changes have contextual reasons. Being more niave and having less control of himself are traits of a younger Batman, still hung up on his grief and pain. However, it does lead to a much less likable Batman and it will be interesting to see how fans react to him. The universe definitely feels less vibrant than before, so that will be up to you whether that is a welcome change or not. Arkham Origins doesn't do too much to reinvent the wheel, and that is a good thing. While you may question the transformation in emotional inflection, the game is certainly built on the principles that Rocksteady laid down. The story of a young Batman getting continually beaten up and getting overborne with so many rogues all trying to cash in on his bounty is an interesting hook for a game. While it is nothing too new, it is definitely shaping up to be a title you will want to check out. Oh yeah, and if you had any worries about Mark Hamill not returning as the Joker, don't. Troy Baker is a wonderful voice actor and his take on Batman's most iconic adversary is spot on.