This was originally posted on the now-defunct Random Fury! videogame blog.
Caution, there are spoilers ahead.
It’s rare for me to devote time to a videogame near it’s actual release date. Halo is about the only game I play as soon as it appears in my hands – most other videogames are added to a pile of shame (either physical or digital), marked as “pending” and forgotten about for around twelve to twenty-four months. I would say that the only exceptions are games that Jane and I are looking forward to playing together, and the Arkham series of Batman games. Which explains why my thoughts on the latest Batman game, Arkham Origins, is reasonably timely.
I get around to these games quickly because I enjoy them. Batman is as over-powered as ever – as long as you stick to the shadows and make full use of your inventory, that is. And he still packs one hell of a punch – those slow-motion final hits in combat scenarios are one of the defining moments of the series for me. Combat is an area in which this series excels, and it feels a lot tighter than the second game – countering and utilising quickfire gadgets in particular. Another of my favourite bits which no other game seems to do is the little crime scene investigations – Which is really quite ironic as I can’t stand those TV series where they investigate crime scenes. Those programs remind me of the photo enhancement sketch from Red Dwarf. Anyway, I digress. Solving these mysteries is massively improved in this third game simply by making them more believable and interesting. And you can even rewind and fast forward the timeline in the crime reconstruction to find evidence that flies off, for example. A lot of people have mentioned that this game was buggy, but to be honest I only ever encountered one potential “hit that reset button” bug – somehow landing behind a chemical vat and being stuck, but it was quickly solved by the trusty “waggle the sticks and hit the buttons until you are free” technique.
In the previous game I had pretty much levelled up my core skills before starting the main storyline by clearing out the entire map of thugs and goons. I couldn’t do that in this game as clearing the map is impossible – the goons just keep respawning, especially those larger groups which made up the “Crimes In Progress”. These semi-random set-pieces were a genius addition, and could feature anything from a small group of hoods robbing an ATM, to full on street warfare between the SWAT and the various gangs that are trying to claim Gotham for their own. The other reason my usual strategy was not possible was that I was not entirely sure what the main storyline was early on. The ever-respawning enemies is not a bad thing in my eyes, I welcomed it, but for half the game I felt like I was playing side-quests, and that the main storyline proper would begin soon. Then I realised that it must be the main storyline, so stopped following it altogether and cracked on with some side-quests.
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I stayed away from information about this game for a long time – I can’t remember exactly why, maybe it was because Ninja Theory were developing it, I’m not sure. I really hope it wasn’t just because Dante had black hair that I wasn’t that interested! My first hands-on with the game was via the demo that was released late last year. I was not impressed. The lack of a lock-on button annoyed me more than the new Dante. It annoyed me so much that I never actually finished the demo, I’d always get halfway through, try to hold a trigger and do a Stinger or a launcher and fail, and turn it off in disgust. The games release date rolled around, which was so near payday that I felt it’d be rude not to give it a whirl. Maybe they had snuck a lock-on feature into the full version without telling anyone?
The first thing that struck me was the art direction. The funfair setting was striking to say the least, with neon flairs clamouring against demonic reds, then everything losing contrast when Dante came out of Limbo… The visuals continued to impress me throughout the game. The mansion level really set the visual tone for the rest of the game, and established the environment as an antagonist, with corridors lengthening and whole sections of the building tearing themselves off in an effort to prevent Dante from continuing. The city of Limbo extended upon this, with the houses lining the streets crushing themselves together, and floors falling out from under our hero. The levels themselves go to crazy lengths later on, both visually and structurally. The gauntlet-style level set in the club was a highlight. So colourful compared to the previous games, and the way the demon world just didn’t obey the laws of physics was mind-blowingly delightful. While the game did eventually fall back to gothic underworld stylings, with rocky caves and arcane mechanical contraptions, it was only for a couple of levels very late on in the game, and quickly reverted to the poisoned real-world aesthetic once you were out of the Furnace of Souls. Overall I was very taken with the visual aspect, and extend my respect to the creators for bringing such a distinct and vibrant world to life.
The story and characterisation was pretty good – not at all cheesy or overblown like the Japanese games – but gritty, with a heavy dose of humanity. That the characters were rendered so well helped – DmC is second only to Halo 4 in that respect. And it was great to see that certain characters remained true to form, even in a reboot.
