Batman: Arkham Origins is the widening gyre of Batman games

I think this is absolutely right. There is an undercurrent (occasionally, it is explicit) in reviews that Warner Bros is being punished simply for not being Rocksteady. Oh well.

I appreciate your attempt to offer constructive criticism, but it's not my goal to make Brandon's writing more like my writing. Brandon has a very distinctive voice and it's part of why I value him as a writer. He has a breadth of experience with games, and he's a rare critic who dives very deeply into any given game rather than spreading himself thin over several titles. Furthermore, he writes like he talks, which is nothing like "a high school newspaper". I wouldn't change that one jot or tittle. In fact, he's probably the best podcaster of any of us here at Qt3 and I'd invite you to give him a listen when he joins us, or over at the podcast for nohighscores.com.

I have no personal experience, but it seems a common refrain among players that the combat in Arkham Origins is different from the combat in Arkham City. Whether it's literally or figuratively "copy-paste" is beside the point. They're not the same game, they're different developers, they're providing different toolsets for different challenges. To dismiss criticism of Origins' combat because it's "copy-paste" misses the point of the criticism.

Besides, I'd rather take the word of someone who's played the game over someone who's sniping in a comments section who hasn't played the game. I'm not sure why you're even taking that guy seriously. He doesn't even know what "literally" means!

Well, it's not like there's any shortage of stuff to play these days.

But based on everything I've heard from folks I trust (mostly Brandon), this seems like a Batman game to skip. If I plunk down money for a new licensed superhero game, it'll be the Marvel Lego Heroes thing. Sorry DC!

Ha, I never thought of it like that! But, yes, that lines up perfectly in terms of quality. Batman Begins is Arkham Asylum; Dark Knight is Arkham City, both absolute masterpieces; and that goofy Bane movie is Arkham Origins!

How much does WB Games pay you to comment on these reviews?

He was talking about a plot in a tv show called "The Wire" which is highly regarded.

I think in this case we should take the Islamic approach and ban all visual representation of this particular godhead.

Whoa! So Tom on Honestgamers gives it a 10/10 while Brandon on Tom's webpage gives it a 1/5!

Geez, there are bound to be some tense moments around the watercooler! :)

Except that Honestgamers review was for Arkham CITY, not Arkham ORIGINS.

Right. I just pasted that link in because the guy I was responding to was trying to assert that Arkham City sucked, or something. I just wanted to make it clear that I didn't agree.

I thought that was a shot taken at Kevin Smith's Batman comics

I'm taking his word because I've played AC & AO and can't see any substantive difference in the combat either.

Whoa!

I totally did not read that and made an ass of myself! Its going to be tense around the watercooler for me!

I'm so on board w/ this review. I was totally willing to suffer through a below-average plot in a cash-in game just to play Arkham City again (basically), but this game just does everything clumsily, worse than AC, and w/ a veneer of cheapness. I understand that they had Rocksteady's engine to work w/, but that is incredibly hard to believe considering how loose the combat system, the grappeling, the bread-and-butter of the game feel.

Bad bad bad

and I just learned why the "load more comments" was there. Carry on.

it wont be called Gotham City Origins because it is the ARKHAM series. That is the name of the series. Do people not get this.
"Oh but it has nothing to do with Arkham."
Do the Elder Scrolls have anything major to do with Skyrim?

1/5 is a terrible score. This game is not terrible. It is a 3.5-4. I bet this guy has worse games that he gives higher reviews. Yes a review is one persons opinion, but is a game that copies an acclaimed game really a 1/5?

Good to know that I made the right choice on this game. I'll pick it up once it's about 15 bucks used.

I reckon people do not, in fact get this, to answer your statement. Arkham Asylum makes sense. Arkham City extends the Asylum to, you know, the City. So, I would argue that Arkham Origins as a title would suggest how we got to Arkham as the proper noun location associated with Gotham City, The Dark Knight, et al. Now, for your Elder Scrolls comparison, I think the location of the ":" is very important. i.e. (The Elder Scroll Series: Skyrim).

I could definitely see your point if the name of the game was Batman Arkham: Asylum, Batman Arkham: City, etc...

But it's not. So I do not. I am not expecting correct punctuation to slow someone like you down. But for me, this shows laziness in story-telling, and a cheap attempt to trick people into buying a game that has superior brand-name recognition, but inferior parts once you open the box.