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" Batman: Arkham Origins is the third title in the acclaimed Arkham franchise, and as the name implies, it is a prequel story, taking place years before Asylum and City. Although it&amp;#039;s not Rocksteady handling the game, Arkham Origins appears to be in safe hands with Warner Bros Games Montreal, who previously worked on the Wii U port of Arkham City. The third-person, open-world action feels very familiar and just as tight as in previous instalments, although the developer is also putting their own stamp on the series. An &amp;quot;empowering&amp;quot; Year Two Batman Chronologically, Arkham Origins happens during Batman&amp;#039;s Year Two. At this point in Bruce Wayne&amp;#039;s history, Batman is still seen as a dangerous vigilante. Jim Gordon isn&amp;#039;t a trusted ally - in fact, he&amp;#039;s demanding for the Bat to be captured. This is a very different Batman to what we&amp;#039;ve seen in past Arkham titles, reflected in the change of voice actor (Kevin Conroy was replaced by Roger Craig Smith).  &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s young, he&amp;#039;s raw, he&amp;#039;s quite aggressive,&amp;quot; WB Games Montreal senior producer Ben Mattes told Digital Spy. &amp;quot;He hasn&amp;#039;t fully learned to master the rage and the emotions inside him, which he gets better at controlling later on in his career.&amp;quot; The idea of evolving the character of Batman into the Dark Knight seen in Arkham Asylum was very appealing to the developer. In Arkham Origins, Black Mask puts a bounty on Batman&amp;#039;s head, leading eight top assassins to target the feared vigilante on the night of Christmas Eve. Mattes explained: &amp;quot;We believe having a character run the gamut like he&amp;#039;s having to do in our game and evolve as a result of that is important in creating a great story. &amp;quot;The storytelling combined with the fear that Batman induces in people and the wonderful sort of mystery and aura around him before he became so familiar - as well as that raw, uncontrolled anger and aggression in his early career - we felt pretty confident we could make a great game with that.&amp;quot;  WB Games Montreal briefly considered setting the game during Year One, but they decided against it so they could craft an &amp;quot;empowering&amp;quot; Arkham experience. &amp;quot;Having Batman learn how to throw his Batarang and missing is not fun,&amp;quot; Mattes said. &amp;quot;Having Batman stopping a pimp but getting stabbed in the leg and tripping over his cape is not empowering. &amp;quot;We wanted a point in time where, rather than starting from ground zero and working his way up to level 5, he was already at level 5 and needed to evolve to level 12. &amp;quot;We wanted to start him from a position of ability and mastery that maps well to an empowering gameplay experience. We don&amp;#039;t want the player to feel like, &amp;#039;god, being Batman in this game is lame&amp;#039;.&amp;quot;  Black Mask and his assassins While the Joker was the main antagonist in the first two Arkham games, the role in Arkham Origins falls to Black Mask, and he&amp;#039;s a very different kind of nemesis. &amp;quot;He has wonderful positional authority,&amp;quot; Mattes stated. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s got a tonne of money. He&amp;#039;s got the means to do whatever he wants. &amp;quot;He also has a really sadistic personality in the comics. If you do some research, you&amp;#039;ll see that Black Mask loves to torture. He loves to inflict ridiculous amounts of pain on people himself. He&amp;#039;s a pretty horrible person, which makes him a wonderful antagonist.&amp;quot; The eight assassins after Batman were selected to provide a great variety of boss fights. No two bosses are the same, and it challenges players to be competent at a particular skill. For example, an encounter with Deathstroke requires the player to be strong at countering.  &amp;quot;That idea definitely was the cornerstone to the selection process,&amp;quot; added Mattes. &amp;quot;Selecting the final eight was done in a day or something - it went really quickly.&amp;quot; It also allowed the developer to select some lesser-known villains - such as Copperhead and pyromaniac Firefly - and give them their moment in the spotlight on top of more familiar foes like Bane and Deadshot. The Batcave As usual, Batman will be armed with numerous gadgets, some returning - such as the Remote Claw and explosive gel - and some new. Returning to the Batcave, we saw Alfred give Batman the concussion detonator, a non-lethal weapon that blinds and stuns enemies within a set radius for a brief moment of time, perfect for crowded encounters. Although an extension of the Batcave appeared in Arkham Asylum, Batman&amp;#039;s iconic headquarters makes a full appearance in Arkham Origins.  It&amp;#039;s here where Bruce can talk to Alfred, who provides insightful dialogue on the events happening in the game, and use the training console to take on challenge maps and gain experience and new abilities. The developer is attempting to incentivise players to make the most out of the Batcave while they&amp;#039;re playing through the story. If you&amp;#039;re struggling against enemies, retreating to the Batcave provides opportunities to level up and master mechanics you may need practise on. Mattes said: &amp;quot;We earnestly and honestly believe that spending time in the Batcave and in training is a really key way to advance your skills. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re feeling a level of mastery and capability which we think will enhance your enjoyment of the game.&amp;quot; Arkham Origins looks like a great proposition for avid followers of the franchise, providing more of the same award-winning gameplay but with enough twists to keep the experience of playing Batman fresh and appealing. Batman: Arkham Origins will be available on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC on October 25. Batman: Arkham Origins gallery:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/previews/news/a518848/batman-arkham-origins-preview-year-two-black-mask-and-the-batcave/>