My Arkham Origins Wishlist

  Arkham Origins is nearly upon us and there still are a lot of details being left out. Which is great, I really do enjoy surprises. I do have a lot of hopes for this upcoming title however, and a lot of these hopes go beyond a wish-list of villains (even if that is part of it.) There are a lot of rumours from a lot of sites discussing the possible villains. I'm going to try and avoid speaking specifically about that. Or at least try to avoid talking about who I think the other assassin's will be. Any villains here would be more of a side-mission/cameo style desire. Regardless my wishlist for Arkham Orgins begins with;

1. The Riddler - More Riddles, Less Platforming.

  Now to be fair. I instantly mentioned a villain, yet this one is less about the villain and more about the set up. The Riddler gameplay is probably my favourite in both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Yet I must admit that replaying Arkham City there was one thing that did bother me (just a little) and that was how many of the Riddler trophies were actually physical puzzles. Now I know you could argue that we as the player were only using our minds, but in the context of the story it feels a little strange that so many of the Riddler Trophies became skill based. That's why I would like it if the majority of the Riddler gameplay in Arkham Origins were actually the riddles. Solving those and tracking down the right answer was a lot of fun. I'm not suggesting we scrap the skillful gliding puzzles completely. I would just like more riddles comparatively. Of course The Riddler hasn't even been announced for Origins yet. There is the possibility that we won't see him at all. I will be a little sad if we don't but I'm sure there will be a something to keep us occupied none the less.

2. Arkham Asylum and Blackgate.

  This one might seem a little confusing at first. I would love. Absolutely love. Being able to go to Arkham Asylum or Blackgate at any point during the game. Then as and when you defeat the villains, they fill up the cells in the appropriate facility. Giving us the opportunity to still see the villains after they have been defeated in the same way we still get to see Bane, Freeze, Penguin and Riddler in Arkham City.

  Of course this could be a tricky one as in Origins it's been revealed that Batman is not a friend to the GCPD yet. So if this were to be implemented, perhaps it would be a stealth section? A difficult one to set up for sure, but something I think would be appreciated. 

3. Foreshadowing.

  I feel like this one is already a near-certainty. I mean having seen the designs on Joker and Penguin, I personally can see them growing older into the versions from Asylum/City. 

  I don't think we need to necessarily have all the villains or characters that have been in the Arkham games already. Not in actual roles anyway. Perhaps we can have some pre-origin villains. Jervis Tetch before his trip into Wonderland, or Dr. Thomas Elliot before he goes all Wayne. This foreshadowing doesn't just have to be cameo roles of course. It could be anything. Perhaps name dropping Quincy Sharp before Arkham Asylum. This could tie into the Riddler point, but essentially there is a lot of room here to set things up and reference the other games, even if chronologically they haven't happened yet. In Arkham City, the thugs regularly refer to the areas past. Why not make use of that?

4. Randomly Generated Crime.

  I think I may of heard Eric Holmes (@ericholmeslive on Twitter) reference this in the E3 Gameplay Footage. I still want to expand on my own thoughts for this though. In Arkham City, the "random" Political Prisoners being attacked, were really just another side mission. Which was still fun. The thing is once you complete everything there, there isn't much more to do in the City. Just beating on thugs really doesn't mean much after a while.

  I think that Origins, especially with it's large Gotham map, could seriously benefit from having some randomly generated crime. Have lot's of different options like car chases, robberies, muggings, etc. Lot's of things going on and that means even when the main story line is over and all the side missions are done. Players will still feel like they are doing something rather than just beating on people pointlessly.

5. Intimidation.

  In the previous titles, there was an intimidation bonus after you completed a room. To this day I'm not entirely sure how it was measured, but it definitely makes sense. One of Batman's greatest tools is how scary he is. Yet a big part of that is going to be that the criminal community know him, he has a reputation. A reputation that he would not have yet completely earned in Origins yet.

  So let him earn it in this game. There as nothing quite as satisfying as completing a room without being spotted and then interrogating one of Riddler's undercover guys. So why not tie something similar into Batman's overall intimidation levels. Why not make that part of his levelling, or perhaps a completely separate progression? You could be a level 20 Batman who runs around in broad day light and not all too scary, or you could play for keeps and level that intimidation well. 

  The main reason I think this could be fun though, is giving us the option to randomly interrogate anyone can lead to two things. The first being just having fun with random thugs, holding them upside down over the edge of buildings after silently taking down their gang. The second being that we can have some easter egg dialog recorded that theres a chance we'll get to hear when we interrogate them randomly. Either way I feel like it could be one of the most fun things.

6. Costumes and Characters.

  One of my favourite part of superhero games in general are the various costumes. The Arkham games are no different, and the variety given to us in City was awesome. Eric Holmes has already mentioned two (although one was a PS3 exclusive, let's hope he means a timed one) Azrael Batman and 1960s Batman. I would like to see even more. Granted I would also like to see the Arkham City costumes be ported over, but new ones would be even better. Let us see the New 52 suit, let's see the Thermal Suit from the City of Owls. There are several variants we could use just from the Return of Bruce Wayne alone!

  Another factor I would like to see though is, if characters are released as DLC (like Robin and Nightwing) I would like to see us be allowed to use them in the main game as well. They don't need their own story lines and missions. Although some minor side missions would be appreciated, running around as Robin, Nightwing or another character for a bit in Gotham would just increase the games longevity in the end.

  So that's my short wishlist for Arkham Origins, which I am pretty sure will be a great game. Essentially I just want it bigger than the previous titles as it's going to be very hard to make them any better! What do you guys thinks? Is there anything glaringly obvious you think should be in the game that I have missed? Feel free to comment here or sent me a message on Twitter @david_haddon!

Why Arkham Origins Will Be My Only Pre-order This Year.

  There are not many people I know who can honestly say they dislike Batman. Whether they are comic fans or not, it's safe to say the majority of people like Batman for one reason or another. It could be from films like The Dark Knight, it could be from television shows like the Animated Series or even Batman starring Adam West. Some people may simply like the branding. Regardless of why, Batman is ridiculously popular.

  Although I am a comic fan in general, with a reasonably good background across the companies, I will always be more of a DC fan than any others. Pretty much all of my favourite characters are DC characters or from their imprints. Even with parts of the New 52 seriously disappointing me I find myself coming back. Especially to Batman.

  Batman has been on a pretty steep rise the last couple of years, which is definitely saying something as I don't think he has ever truly been unpopular. I would say that 2011 is when he has truly started to shine once again, a new renaissance of Batman.

  2011 was a big year for Batman. We saw the re-release of Arkham Asylum for Mac OS X. The game nearly everyone claims is the first super-hero/comic book game to actually be good. I'm one of those people making that claim. It saw the release of Arkham City, the sequel, which was even better. Then there's the New 52 Batman, written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Greg Capullo.

  Snyder and Capullo made Batman truly compelling once again, if you haven't read Court of Owls yet then I highly recommend that you do. I will be reviewing the title in full at a later date. I will try to avoid spoilers though. Snyder and Capullo together have created truly amazing in their version of Batman. Forgetting no element of the character. We have a Batman who is the detective, the martial artist and brooding. Yet he is also sincere and it's clear that he is truly white knight hiding in the shadow. Unlike Frank "God Damn Batman" Miller who writes him as a violent psychopath, Snyder has created what is probably the quintessential Batman.

  2012 had Batman still battling with the Court of Owls and their Talons. It gave us the Dark Knight Rises, the third highest grossing film that year, and one of the highest grossing films of all time. Towards the end of 2012 and into 2013 we had the return of the Joker in "Death of the Family." One of the scariest and darkest Batman stories in quite some time. And this year Snyder has starting his Zero Year story, which gives us the origins of Batman for the New 52. Batman is still on a meteoric rise right now, and all of this is why I am going to be pre-ordering Arkham Origins, and it is the only game I will be this year.

  To be fair I do not pre-order games often. I am a PC gamer only, and rely heavily on Steam. I don't even often buy games on their release unless they are budget titles. There is no fear about stock shortages via Steam and the pre-order incentives are rarely that interesting to me.

  Arkham Origins however, has me genuinely excited. For starters it will be on PC straight away, I am not sure if it will be on Steam straight away yet (I can find no confirmation yet). I am definitely going to pre-order but I am going to hold off until I am sure about it's Steam release.

  Of course Deathstroke is a pretty awesome incentive, and despite what Amazon says, PC and Wii U players do get him. Which Eric Holmes (Creative Director) does confirm for us;

  Now there is no denying I was cynical when I first heard that Rocksteady were not at the helm. In fact the cynic in me was kicking and screaming when I heard that it was WB Games, that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill aren't in it (ok so Hamill "quit" but he has been the Joker since Arkham City), and even more concerned when I found out that Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker had been cast.

  The cynic in me has been completely trampled to death at this point though. The E3 footage alone was enough to make me consider pre-ordering the game. Roger Craig Smith (of Resident Evil fame) does a pretty good job of a "Conroy Batman" yet sounds younger. Troy Baker flat out astounds me. Although he played Robin in Arkham City, he is probably best known for playing Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite. Yet here he sounds amazingly like Mark Hamill.

  No, we are not talking a John "I Am Going To Butcher This Voice" DiMaggio impression of Hamill. We're talking an impression that in the initial teaser trailer had so many people convinced that Hamill was reprising his role! Although neither voice is exactly like the original cast member, they are both accurate for the context. The game is a prequel, and both of these actors sound younger. Even the physical appearance of Baker's Joker could believable grow up into the Hamill Joker of Arkham Asylum.

  The confirmed characters have me excited as well. Besides the Joker, we know we are getting the likes of Black Mask, Deathstroke, Deadshot and Bane. Even Anarky is in there some where. Yet the one thing we know for sure is that's not the entire cast list. The more Bat-History the better in my honest opinion.

  The footage from E3 simply looked near perfect. Many people have complained that it looks very similar to Arkham City. Yet I feel that WB have taken the clever "if it isn't broken" approach. The gameplay worked amazingly well for Arkham Asylum and City, so why try changing that. It is like Eric Holmes has said in interviews, they aren't looking to tear down what already works so well. They are simply trying to add even more to it. The gameplay footage seems to be doing just that. A larger map to play with, both in square kilometres and height, more gadgets, a more extensive detective mode. It is not the gameplay footage that put me over the edge though and has convinced me to pre-order.

  It is the people involved. Sega proved not so long ago that what a developer shows you isn't always what you are going to get. People have been cynics because it is not Rocksteady making the game this time around. Yet when you see people like Eric talking about the game, you see the genuine amount of care they have for the game. How interested they are in the mythos surrounding it, and how determined they are not to disappoint themselves or their audience. The fact that Eric was willing to look into my queries surrounding the PC release and the pre-order incentives, and other questions. The fact that they are clearly aware of what it is they have to live up to. That is what pushed me over the edge for the pre-order.

  It has been a long time since I have been truly excited for a new game release and that is why it is the only game I will be pre-ordering this year. That's remarkably rare, and I hope the death of my cynicism is well rewarded and that Batman's current phoenix style rise has not already peaked.

  I'm excited to return to the Arkhamverse. Are you?