Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate

« Apart from those overwrought boss battles, Blackgate is a welcome evolution for the Arkham series. The fresh perspective, deliberate pace and focus on exploration prove that Batman works just as well in a smaller package. »

« It’s a bit of a shame that the Arkham-inspired side of this game doesn’t quite live up to what came before, but the Metroidvania aspect certainly does. And this is something for which a lot of genre fans will be grateful. »

« An excellent choice for gamers wanting a new Metroidvania on their Vita, this adventure with the Caped Crusader comes close to being a classic. »

« It's great when side games take their own direction with design but still maintain the core concepts that define a series. That's just what you'll get with Blackgate. A solid exploration/combat game that is forced to overcome a few flaws. »

« Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is a good and original attempt at bringing the formula to a handheld. The interesting use of depth in this side-scroller and the implementation of the well known freeflow combat, make Blackgate a joy to play at times. Backtracking loses its appeal after a while though, as do the lack of enemies and the unintuitive map. »

« Batman: Arkham Origins - Blackgate is a good extension of the Arkham franchise to handhelds, but it lacks the specialness or inspiration that would make it stand out as a great Metroidvania-style game - or a great Batman game, for that matter. Without any real surprises, engaging settings, or interesting story, Blackgate feels more like a retread of bullet points than the handheld Batman we truly deserve. »

« Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate performs at its best when not feeling obligated to recreate the Arkham games before it. »

« Blackgate falls shy of greatness due to a few gameplay design flaws, but it's still an overall solid experience that Vita owners should investigate further. »

« very bad game i havent played it but it doesnt have killer moth so dont buy it »

« The worst game in the Arkham franchise and one of the best games for PS Vita. The advantage of the Deluxe Edition is only the 3D map, but the gameplay is much more fluid on the handheld console. Even if the graphics are bad and the trophy images are the same, it is a good game. »

« Batman Arkham Origins es un buen juego de acción, tiene buenos gráficos y una historia que esta bien pero no es sobresaliente. Al combate y al sigilo le falta pulirse ya que sus "hermanos mayores" en este aspecto están muy por encima y eso le hace perder bastante en el apartado jugable, sintiéndose como ajeno a lo que nos tienen acostumbrados los últimos juegos de Batman. Aun así es un buen juego al cual si le dan la oportunidad la pasaran bien. »

« Wow surprisingly good game and great graphics! Took a while to get into it and some parts were quite challenging. However the fact that I spent a long time trying to collect as much trophies as possible is a testament to how addictive the game was. Patience and perseverance. »

« Un juego bastante repetitivo en tanto el gameplay como en la variación que pueda tener en los objetivos del juego y enemigos, un juego que deja mucho que desear de este hombre murciélago. »

« Just because it's cheap and has Batman doesn't make it a good game. This game tortures you with awesome gameplay and comic book story telling for a few seconds only to follow it with hours of blah walk around looking for a switch or door crap. I would just skip this game and wait for the next real batman to come out because this is just a glorified movie licensed money grab. »

« You know your batman game is bad when it's both bad as a game and bad as a Batman game. 2.5D just doesn't work with batman, by taking away your third axis not only does it complicate navigation (the horrible map not helping things either), but it takes away the entire stealth aspect of the game, despite still giving enemies weapons that, in a normal (or good) batman game you'd use stealth to avoid or take down. Stealth is not just a big part of the combat in Batman games, but It's a big part of who batman is, and taking it away makes being Batman useless. You might as well be some random guy off the street, you'd be able to combat enemies just as well. Now, back to navigation. This is an issue so big it needs extra coverage. This game is hell to navigate. The map is useless, because despite being able to move up and down in some areas (with branching paths that go off in different directions) the map is two-dimensional, and gives you no idea of where you are and how to reach your objectives. If anything it makes the game more difficult, making you think you're going in the right direction only to reach a dead end that, according to the map, still goes on. Now, if it weren't for the confusing map you might be able to navigate normally, but then there's another issue: Progressing. Yes, just trying to progress is a problem. You'll spend hours scanning every room you've been to for something to interact with because for whatever reason, Batman can't figure out how to pull a lever or open a grate or do just about anything until he takes a good long look in detective mode at what he needs to interact with. This makes getting anywhere more of a chore than it already was with the convoluted and confusing prison layout and (more often than not) incorrect map, and now you have to constantly scan your surroundings just to make any progress. Now for the combat. For whatever reason, the enemies (and Batman) still attack and move in three-dimensional space, though you never really control it. Normally I'd be fine with the combat, which is just like on consoles, but in this case it really bugs me. You'd think they could have done something at least a little new and innovative here, but no. For whatever reason this boring and bland formula for combat stands out much more in this game than in the others. I guess it's because for every other 2D (or 2.5D, in this case) game I've played has actual good and interesting combat. Now for the two issues that may break this game for many: The story and the boss battles. Boring and uninteresting storyline with absolutely no effort put into it, done in really bland, monochrome comic style cutscenes that just look plain lazy (that the developers put on the box as a feature), with voice acting that perfectly reflects the quality of this game: Terrible. All of the voice actors, including the one for Batman himself, sound bored by their job, and so the already bad story stands out even more. It sounds like they all wish they were somewhere else. Now, the bosses. There's two different kinds of bosses in this game: Combat bosses, where you have to fight them normally, but usually with a special rule or tactic you have to take to defeat them, and Interactive bosses, where you have to be constantly scanning the environment in detective mode, using gadgets on things, and interacting with things to do damage to the boss. The Interactive bosses are boring and generally follow a pattern that you can just repeat over and over and over again for an easy win, but the Combat bosses can actually be really fun and interesting. If they had shown us more of this I might be giving this game a higher score, but no luck. So, for 15+ hours of boring, monotonous button-mashing and screen swiping (the majority of which will be spent in detective mode looking for where to go next) you can go ahead and buy this game, but I wouldn't recommend it. I've been a Batman fan all my life, and to get this on my Vita was pure and utter disappointment. »

« Considering the Vita's hardware capabilities was this really the best they could do? The graphics are OK but the clunky controls and poor story really bring this title down. The puzzle sequences are boring consisting of swiping your fingers with the touch pad looking for a prompt from the game to see if you've found anything. Batman's gadget controls and combat actions are more prompts that require you to be in just the right place for them to activate. This isn't doesn't hurt the game too much when you're fighting opponents hand-to-hand because they move just as ponderously as you do but during stealth actions that require avoiding armed gunmen it's annoying to try to find the game's "sweet spot" so you can activate the grapple gun to escape to the next ledge. Equally disappointing are the boss fights which are either quick time events or attack and escape which means you're at the mercy of the game's wonky control mechanics. I wanted to like this game, especially since I bought it for a discounted rate while on sale but even at the current markdown it's just not very much fun. »