Everyone knows Batman, but not everyone knows about its video game series. The third installment in the “Batman: Arkham” series of games, “Batman: Arkham Origins” is a game that went well beyond my expectations. It had many classic Batman features like solving puzzles and fighting, but the game’s intricate plot helped it rise above the ranks of its predecessors.

The game is set as a prequel, taking place five years before the events in the first game, “Arkham Asylum.” During the timeline of the game, we see Batman’s classic enemies, including Riddler, Harley Quinn and the Joker, become the villains we all know and despise, while Bruce Wayne fine tunes exactly what it means to be The Batman. New characters come into Batman’s world one by one, all bringing their own brand of havoc with them. The storylines are beautiful, and they are sure to get Batman fans excited and drawn into the game.

There are new gadgets thrown into the mixture of the classic batclaw and batarangs, such as the shock gloves, and they are fun and easy to use. The game mechanics have a few changes, smoothing out gameplay, but the fighting style is almost identical, featuring the same takedowns and movements. This caused some of the fights to become repetitive of the last two games. However, there were fights that had new moves and proved a challenge to beat. Overall, the story and characters made up for any monotonous fights and glitches, and it was wonderful to play another game as the Caped Crusader.

There are new gadgets thrown into the mixture of the classic batclaw and batarangs, such as the shock gloves, and they are fun and easy to use. The game mechanics have a few changes, smoothing out gameplay, but the fighting style is almost identical, featuring the same takedowns and movements. This caused some of the fights to become repetitive of the last two games. However, there were fights that had new moves and proved a challenge to beat. Overall, the story and characters made up for any monotonous fights and glitches, and it was wonderful to play another game as the Caped Crusader.

rslind@mavs.coloradomesa.edu