Batman: Arkham Origins (PC)

Developer:

WB Games Montréal

|

Release Date:

2013

|

Systems:

Win, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U

---

This week on Super Adventures, a game about punching people at Christmas!

It's been ages since I've played a Batman game, in fact I think the last one on the site was probably Return of the Joker for the NES, back in April 2015. Though it still seems too soon to play Batman: Arkham Origins, because of how similar it is to the other two. In my Batman: Arkham City article I joked that I'd be able to copy/paste parts of my Arkham Asylum post and save myself some work, and here that's doubly true! But it's a Christmas game and I feel like playing it again, so I am.

I love these beautiful tableaux of frozen Batviolence behind the menu by the way. Batman's so gritty in this one with his tactical Bat-armour and his permanent bad mood, that I keep expecting the camera to pan across blood and displaced teeth flying through the air.

This used to be the black sheep of the franchise, due to it not being developed by Rocksteady, and the bugs, and the fact that they prioritised releasing paid DLC instead of fixing them all, but I think Arkham Knight's claimed that position now (at least on PC). There's still a bit of an issue with the multiplayer, seeing as it was switched off forever earlier this month, but I didn't even know it had multiplayer, so that shows how much I care about that.

(Click on the images to view my original full size screenshots. DX11 mode, all settings on full... resolution at 1280x720).

Batman: Arkham City (PC)

Today on Super Adventures I'm taking a quick look at Batman: Arkham City, the second game in the universally beloved Arkham trilogy. Can't promise it'll be a quick read though.

Okay maybe the series isn't universally beloved, as a few people seem less than enamoured with the latest game, Arkham Origins. But this one's by the original team at Rocksteady, so I fully expect it'll turn out to be basically the same thing as 2009's Arkham Asylum, which I already played just a few months ago. In fact with any luck I'll be able to copy/paste most of the text over from that post and save myself some work.

I actually bought this a while back, way before the pay what you want Humble Bundle deal going on this fortnight, but I'm only just getting around to it now. Because I'm an idiot. The moral of the story: always always always wait for a sale. Or, you know, play your games when you buy the things.

(Click the screenshots to expand them to immense proportions. Well, they'll be twice the size anyway. Plus I'm running it in DirectX 9 mode with no tessellation or PhysX enhancements so it's not really going to be looking its best I'm afraid.)

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC)

Today I'm taking a look at Batman: Arkham Asylum, a third person action game about an eccentric billionaire who habitually dresses up each evening as a bat to violently assault people in the street, and how this inevitably results in him being locked up in a mental hospital.

Except he doesn't really dress as a bat though does he? Unless there's a species of flying mammal out there known for wearing a cape, spiky metal gauntlets and underwear over their pants. That gear he's wearing is basically a custom Solid Snake style sneaking suit with a really hot and uncomfortable looking armoured cowl in the place of Snake's stylish bandana. Sure it has thin pointy ears sticking out the top of it, but bats don't even have thin pointy ears so...

And as far as the whole 'violent vigilante' thing goes, well if I was skilled enough to effortlessly take out a whole room full of evil ninjas with both my arms tied behind my back while simultaneously disarming a nuke using only my mouth and a half a toothpick, I'd probably go fight crime too. If only because I didn't want to get drowned/poisoned/frozen etc. every week by a supervillain's nefarious scheme while Gotham's finest were busy tripping over each other.

(Click the pics to expand them into semi-glorious 1280x800 res images.)

The Adventures of Batman & Robin (SNES)

Today I'm taking a look at the SNES version of The Adventures of Batman & Robin, because someone asked me nicely.

It's got the correct logo from the animated series, and it's playing the theme tune. So far so good. It's nice to see a password option too, though 'load game' would have been better.

Batman Begins (GBA)

That's kind of a bland title screen, but it does get the job done I suppose. It's got the correct logo and the title, plus some helpful copyright info. It doesn't need 'Press Start' because it goes straight to the game by itself.

Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (GBA)

As title screens go it's not bad and the music's alright. Though it sounds more like it was meant for a Batman Beyond game.

I just hope this turns out better than Batman: Vengeance, the last GBA Batman game I played.

Batman: Vengeance (GBA)

Nice shiny logo. Seems good so far.

Superman Returns: Fortress of Solitude (GBA)

I never liked the Superman Returns logo much. Sure the S shield looks nice with some depth to it, but I don't get how he can hide that under a shirt. It ruins my suspension of disbelief!

Superman: Countdown to Apokolips (GBA)

It's Sooperman versus the minions of Darkseid in Kowntdown tu Apokolips!

It's hard to take a villain seriously when he deliberately misspells names to sound cool. Maybe if he had an album out he could get away with it.

Teen Titans 2 (GBA)

I've already played the first Teen Titans GBA game, and it didn't really win me over, so I'm hoping this isn't just a new set of levels with the same old gameplay.

They've changed the title music a bit from the first game and added more singing. I think they're singing the ending theme though.

Teen Titans (GBA)

"Teen Titans!" I suppose if you're they're only going to include one clip of vocals from the theme tune, it might as well be them yelling the title.

The Flash (GB)

You know, I think this is the actual theme to the TV series playing right now. It's no 'Batman theme' but it's all right.

The Flash (Master System)

I think this actually might be based on the Flash tv series. Though that's definitely not the Danny Elfman theme tune playing.

Justice League Heroes: The Flash (GBA)

Finally it's The Flash's turn to get a game. I hope he has more luck than Superman.

Catwoman (GBC)

Selina Kyle finally gets a game of her own. It's the comic book version of Catwoman too, not any of the movie or cartoon versions.

The Halle Berry Catwoman game came a few years later and is apparently bad enough to 'make you want to drown kittens'. So I've got something to look forward to I guess.

Justice League: Chronicles (GBA)

I'm just hoping it's better than Justice League: Injustice for All.

Superman (Genesis/Mega Drive)

This sounds about as close to the Superman movie theme as you can get without being sued.

Justice League Task Force (SNES vs Genesis/Mega Drive)

VS.

The Justice League faces their greatest challenge yet, the Justice League... on another console!

Justice League: Injustice for All (GBA)

It's a nice title screen, but I think they went a bit too overboard with the sharpen filter. The characters are glowing.

Superman: The Man of Steel (Atari ST)

It's playing the Superman movie theme! Could it be that I've actually stumbled upon a half-decent Superman game?