Recent reviews by RoadiePC

I wept when Kharak burned.
I wept when Karan S'jet took her first steps on Hiigara.
I wept when the Bentusi realized they were being monsters, and admitted fear.
I wept when the cores were united, knowing how many had sacrificed for them.

Now I weep for the stories NOT told. The Kiith unnamed. The people ignored. Their stories replaced by what amounts to an angsty teenager, and a couple shoddy bad acid-trips. I bear a large tattoo of the Kiith Paktu crest on my arm. In harder times, when I wanted to "turn back into the desert", I looked at that and thought "I can smell the sea." This game series kept me on MY journey.

But this is not Homeworld.
This is a travesty. Blame it on DEI/Woke culture, blame it on bad writing, blame it on laziness, or just losing the vision.

Blame it on anything you like, but this plays like a bad fan-fiction, not the moving epic tale of a people trying to survive in an unforgiving universe. I ended up not caring about the villain; the two other characters were hollow. By trying to force me to care about these individuals, instead of these _people_, I cared about none of them at all.

I purchased this game TWICE. Once on Fig in 2019, and once on Amazone(Collector's edition pre-order) in 2021.
I am supremely disappointed.

"Taiidan" this game or just watch the YT videos of the cinematics, but don't vote for this.

Review written like a classic Simpsons scene:

First there was a fun, over-the-top game, with hilarity, absurdity, cheeky team-killing, and MASSIVELY over-powered weapons(Ooh, that's good!).

Then there was Sony forcing all players into an unnecessary cross-platform account sign-in(That's bad...).

THEN the players worldwide rallied, petitioned, and even review-bombed to make it clear that Sony needed to back down. They DID(that's good!).

.....But Sony still has the game de-listed(can't buy) in 177 countries(that's bad),
Even though the game devs are working on changing that, and releasing a commemorative cosmetic(cape) when it's resolved(that's GOOD!)

THEN.....Arrowhead(the devs) lost sight of what made the game fun. The weapons kept getting smacked with the Nerf Bat until only a couple weapons were viable, then THOSE weapons, like champions in a losing war, were struck down, too.
....That's bad.

BUT NOW WE ARE HERE, SEPTEMBER OF 2024.
The developers have seen the problems they've created, and have worked tirelessly to rectify them. The weapons feel, ahem.....*meaty* again, and, even though we're squishier too, the FUN seems to be returning.
I don't think I need to say it, but:
"That's good!"

I only hope this trend continues. The game has adjustable difficulty, feels fun to play, and IS AN ABSOLUTE RIOT with friends. There's more balancing adjustments, and even more content coming down the pipe.

THE DEVS CARE.
They're just as capable as anybody else to make mistakes.
At least they're willing to resolve them.

The game is a labor of love, and the soundtrack is, too.
I was feeling frazzled(real-world work stress) today, so I put this soundtrack on. It helped.
Music should be judged by the effect it has on us.
By that criteria, I rate this very highly.

-EDIT-
If I could make a request, I'd ask for an alternate version of "Labour of Love" with the voiceover of the Cutter's Prayer. I cannot hear that track without thinking "Each day, he steps in to the yard..."

Play this game, or play Russian Roulette?


REVIEW DISCLAIMER: I am human, a gamer, a loyal fan of anything Batman, and severely jilted by my experiences with this game. This review can't be completely objective, but I'll try. I DO intend to write from a first-person/casual narrative, so if you are bothered by that, look elsewhere.

Anyway, you can probably guess that this won't be a positive review. Sadly, my level of Batman fanboyism, which is pretty severe, makes it all the more bitter to write.


First, the positive points:

-New story
It's always nice to see a new story, but a pretty major bait-and-switch early on makes it tough to swallow. Also, the game's writers, Corey May and Dooma Wendschuh, aren't exactly Batman veterans. Despite that, the story DOES deserve positive marks--if only because we get more adventures of the Caped Crusader.

-New Arch-Vilains
Fighting Deathstroke was a highpoint for me; unfortunately I can't claim to have finished the game(more later), so there may be more noteworthy battles in the second half. The way the game engineers the boss battles is interesting, pitting Batman against his foes where they are at their strongest. Situations include a fight while poisoned, the aforementioned bare-knuckle brawl with Deathstroke, and the like. One boss battle is engineered for stealth(the enemy has a hostage), as well. It does seem to truly test all of the pillars that the previous games built.


...With the few Highs out of the way, let's look at where Arkham: Origins falters. Sadly, this will be the real meat of this review. Your mileage may vary, obviously, but mine, personally, was abysmal. From here on in, I'll only touch on each point briefly, as they are numerous.


Again, understand that this is subjective, I am only trying to lay out my own experiences.
My major gripes, organized into subgroups with details:

-Glitchy
---For me, the first boss fight had graphics issues/BOSS DISAPPEARED(try fighting invisi-Killer Croc, WTF)
---Enemy AI and pathfinding are broken. In ONE stealth sequence FOUR GUARDS got stuck walking into walls/corners. Stealth, meet stupid.
---Combat timing is broken. You're supposed to combo smoothly between one technique and the next, but, SURPRISE! When you begin an animation, you get decked by a guy who was ACROSS THE ROOM A MOMENT AGO.
---Again, combat is BROKEN(worth repeating). timing for counters is inconsistent and erratic, leading me to nearly punch my monitor before ragequitting. BTW, I'm good, when the game works as advertised. I had no problems free-flowing through Arkham Asylum & City.

-Repetitive
---NEW ENEMIES(except, not really, they're mini-Banes, thugs on Venom, since, y'know, those fights were such fun, right?)
---Gameplay was frequently extended using contrived methods. For example: Was that ten-minute fight over too soon? ...Not really, we're gonna throw in 15 more goons, AT ONCE. AND REPEAT TWICE MORE. This might have been less of an issue if, again, the free-flow timing worked properly.
---The leveling system is a rewardless grind with TWO SEPARATE TREES OF ARMOR UPGRADES BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE, and a whole lotta "not much" after. Obviously, it's hard to follow Rocksteady Studios' well-rounded arsenal, but the gadgets here feel tacked-on and poorly thought-out. It almost feels as if one of the developers said "Well, that's as good as it gets, so let's give them armor upgrades." Since this is a prequel, certain constraints had to be observed to respect canon/timeline, but even THAT feels like a thin excuse.

-Nothing new
---Exact same hunt/fetch/collect side missions(some of which are nearly impossible FOR NO REASON(here, go find a bomb allllllll the way across the map. You have Three minutes. Oh, and your grapple is busted/glitchy. Good luck, have fun.
---Mostly recycled map from Arkham City(Except, y'know, this game doesn't take place in Arkham City, so seeing NO civilians is jarring and immersion-breaking.

And finally:
-high probability of encountering game-breaking bugs
---My game had innumerable issues, some of which noted above, but the Pièce de résistance was when, after fighting Bane atop a hotel(minor spoiler: you fight bane, major spoilers averted), my game froze, and crashed to the desktop. This had happened several times before, and each time, I simply restarted the game, kept calm, and carried on beating thugs.
Not this time.
This particular bug, which apparently has something to do with the Wwise audio engine, was consistent. Beat Bane, Crash to desktop. I attempted the usual methods of repair, Cache verify/driver check(all up-to-date)/uninstall & reinstall, I even installed the game on a separate computer, always with the same aggravating result.
Sadly, because there's no manual save function, my whole savefile is stuck there, and I can't even return to the city without a full restart.

It should be clear by now that I feel this game is broken, and my trust in the entire franchise is now decimated. I got the game with the purchase of a new GPU, so I can't even ask for a refund. As of now, it sits in my library, un-beaten and uninstalled.

The promise of a new successor to the Arkham series was delivered as a string of thin excuses; the gadgets and skill tree had to be preserved, it's a prequel. Okay, fine. The city is RECYCLED, with no civilians, but it's a record winter storm, so they're all gone. Sigh, okay, fine. Batman can't fight, but it's because he's still getting used to his black suit. Hold up. Do you see a pattern?

To make it worse, all these excuses are laid atop a game that is physically, shamefully, broken.

I feel that WB Montreal should issue a public apology, and be shuttered over this. It makes me sad that they're still active and making excuses, while better studios like Psygnosis Studios(and later, SCE Liverpool) were shut down, and they were making incomparably high-quality product. For shame.


TL; DR:
Stay away. I don't even recommend pirating it.