"Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate" There's A Reason It's Not Included in the Steam Bundle

     I have not played a game as begrudgingly and as frustratingly as this one in a while. Plain and simple, this game stinks. I don't even know where to start, should it be the fact that it's a mobile port titled "deluxe edition" yet I can't actually tell what's deluxe about this game? Graphically, it looks terrible, performance wise, if you cannot run this game then you need to get a new computer. Gameplay wise, it feels terrible, technically the "flow-state" combat from the previous games are there but it feels just so much worse. And while on paper, having the game be 2.5D, more of a side-scroller does sound interesting, in practice what you do end up getting is a game that has you contemplate whether or not you should even finish it at every single step. If you were like me, and wanted to play all of the Arkham games, know this. This game is a Batman Arkham game only in name, in every other sense it could just be any other shitty Batman game, and frankly it's a blemish to the legacy of an otherwise consistent game series.

    Where do I even start. Yes, the 2.5D format is interesting, I'll be the first to say that it's novelty was kind of interesting to me. It reminded me a bit of a metroidvania, but Batman. Now on paper this sounds great, side-scrolling Batman, with all of your favourite elements from the previous games in it. It's as if they demade it for mobile devices. The main issue is though, they don't implement it very well. There were so many times I was turning a corner, just to be wildly waving my joystick around, figuring out which direction I was supposed to push it in so I could get out of a measly grate. It's ridiculous, none of the controls feel fluid. Tell me why in combat enemies are allowed to layer up, so that they're at different depth levels, but you as the player cannot do any of that. While this sounds like an easy way to avoid clipping, in practice it means that you kind of just have to pray that you're actually aiming for the enemy you want to. And this wouldn't be such a problem, if there was an enemy you could only hit from behind, meaning that even though ideally you'd like to get rid of them first, as they are the stronger enemy, you can't because you'll just end up hitting the weaker ones.

    There are combo's in this game for combat, but they do absolutely nothing, frankly I don't know why they're in there, the only benefit of them is to track your flow state, other than that they provide absolutely nothing other than achievements. Don't even get me started on the boss fights, which are arguably just as gimmicky and stupid as the entire game. I just finished the Catwoman boss battle, who is meant to be the final one, and the difficulty from each stage of her battle ranges wildly. The first stage is practically just the tutorial all over again, and then the next stage requires so much precision in timing that some players reported that it was easier to use a keyboard rather than a controller due to latency. Did anyone even test this game? Every other boss fight should have been more interesting, but most of the time it was mostly just some use of the gadgets, or something in which you literally have to hide in the shadows or else you're instantly seen. Speaking of which, stealth in this game is literally broken, they can see you in vents, they can see you on ledges, and they'll just automatically shred you with guns, no matter what you do.

    I don't remember a time where I've been this incensed with a game this bad. As I write this review I can just feel it's rating drop. I struggle to find any reason for this game to exist, because frankly it shouldn't. If it was some terrible mobile game left to rot, I think I would be happier, because the fact that it's on Steam for PC players to try is just sad. Also why does it have the same name as another game also titled Arkham Origins. Just about everything regarding this game is poorly executed. I have exactly two redeeming qualities for it. 1. They let you use the other batsuits before you finish the main story, and I think the fact that I got to use the cool "Beware the Batman suit" was the only thing keeping me going. It made me feel like I was playing some old PS2 game, which frankly it looks and acts like anyways, so I suppose it was immersive. 2. I suppose the comic cutscenes were kind of nice, in these games the most they'll do to reference comic events is just have the lore stuffed in the riddles, which is a bit disappointing but understandable. If only they were higher quality so they wouldn't look so shit.

Final Score: 5/100

    Do not, and I repeat do not buy this game. If you are planning to play through all of the Batman Arkham games on Steam, buy the trilogy of Asylum, City and Knight, then buy Arkham Origins, which I thought was solid enough and provided decent variety. Stay away from this game at all costs, it is a waste of money and I feel sorry for the poor bastards who didn't buy this game when it wasn't on sale. I have 14.8 hours on this game, and I can guarantee you that about 10 of those hours were spent simply alt-tabbed because this game sucks so much that I ended up doing other things. Look some video games aren't meant to be your cup of tea, and that's ok, but in my opinion Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is like a cup of steaming liquid feces, I can safely say that this game is that bad.