'Batman: Arkham Origins' - The Saviour Of Comic Book Games?

Batman: Arkham Origins will launch across all platforms this Friday (25 Oct.) and if you thought we've already had a great year for gaming then think again, because Warner Bros. have produced the most ambitious Batman project yet. In fact, the developers of the game felt throughout the early stages of the game that they'd bitten off more than they could chew, prompting 'hesitation' from their ranks, and 'skepticism' from fans. Fortunately, it looks as though things have been handled just right.

The game serves as a prequel to the last two

"Obviously resistance and reluctance exists at every level," senior producer Ben Mattes told Eurogamer. "There were fans who said: 'They're not Rocksteady, they can't make an Arkham game.' And there were concerns within the organisation that we weren't going to be able to deliver the special sauce of a Rocksteady game [...] And there were concerns within our team, like - 'Maybe we've bitten off more than we can chew? Are we sure we're able to dance with these guys? Do we deserve to be in this same hallowed ground?' - but we wouldn't have continued through the years if we didn't feel we had a shot."

This hesitation has now vanished, Mattes insists, and he is "really proud" of what the developers in Montreal have come up with. What's more, it looks as though the fans are beginning to repay this reassurance, and pre-release feedback has been wholly positive for the WB crew. With the release date for the game now only one sleep away, the skepticism may have been replaced with outright anticipation.

The maps have been criticised for being too similar to 'Arkham City,' but developers have promised originality

"I think every subsequent piece of code we've shown has won over more and more of the public, to the point where it now stands out as an exception if we see someone who's still towing that line of: 'It's not Rocksteady, it's not going to be good.' There's only, like, one in a 1000 it seems now still playing that card," Mattes continued.

And in the end, Mattes insists that he and the whole crew involved in the game are thoroughly pleased with how it has worked out and despite the pressure of living up to Rocksteady's near-perfect Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, he is convinced that the team behind the game have lived up to these expectations thrown their way. The game promises originality, putting to rest thoughts that Origins may be largely similar to Arkham City, and the Arkham series looks as though it runs no threat of bleeding dry any time soon.

This clown makes an appearance.

Mattes finished his discussion saying, "this game we've created is the game we set out to create. It is exactly the story we wanted to tell with exactly the areas of focus we aimed to do," which sounds promising enough to us. But with reviews being banded until opening day, all we can do is wait to play the game to see how well it lives up to its predecessors. We reckon (well, we hope) that it will live up to the legacy admirably, if not bettering the last two. No tall order, but it can be done.

The game is out tomorrow.