Being a big Batman fan and the first 2 Arkham games played through several times already on Xbox 360 and now going through on PS3, I have to say I got my pre-order in for Batman: Arkham Origins in asap although it is coming from Santa so have to wait for that to turn up.

I was lucky to get into a GAME Lock-in when they had one recently for Batman Arkham Origins. After a little chat with a few people there a console was free.

On I jumped. First off the first thing I noticed was how much the game continued to feel the same as the previous games from Rocksteady. Warner Bros. Games Montréal have done an amazing job with this. So on with the thoughts. Picking up the game and playing a very small section of the Demo (turns out it was what was out at E3 this year) I got into several fights with general thugs, a bit of detective work and from what I could tell tiniest bit of story (which I made sure not to pay attention too has didn't want to spoil it).

First of the fighting mechanics in this while still being the same seem more fluid. Also found the actual combo system much better and easier. While adding in the gadgets into the fighting to build up the combos and mixing them up they have also made batman a lot faster than in previous games.

The detective work in Arkham Asylum which was carried on in Arkham City is carried on even further in Batman Arkham Origins by piecing several parts of the incident backwards. In the Demo I played you had to locate the pilot of a downed helicopter then trace it backwards up in the air via the roof, to find out what caused the crash.

In all I really enjoyed the experience that I had with Batman Arkham Origins. I know it is set in the past  before the previous games, which had Joker voiced by Mark Hamill and Batman by Kevin Conroy, but you can barely tell. Yes I agree Conroy is and has been the Best voice of Batman for well over a decade now and the same can be said for Mark Hamill as the Joker.  Roger Craig Smith in my opinion has captured Kevin Conroy's Batman voice very well while making it his own. As for Troy Baker my jaw actually hit the floor at his version of the Joker. I picks all over Mark Hamill's intensity and quirks on the Joker then added some to it. Batman Arkham Origins is one of the earlier times that Batman meets many of the villains including the Joker. The monologue that Troy Baker did at the New York Comic Con 2013 was outstanding (video can be seen here).

After playing the PlayStation 3 Demo as you've just read I thought I'd give a quick go on the PS Vita since I have one.

I was amazed by how much the controls felt in the handheld version that and the fact it has the feeling of an old school beat'em up. The fighting is pretty much the same as the console version. I don't know what the sound was like has this was turned down but graphically it looked liked it used the same models from the console.

Final Thoughts:

In all I have to say that Batman Arkham Origins both on Playstation 3 and PlayStation Vita are amazing. The developers continue to make an amazing game but also the slight improvements/deviations from the previous versions just make the gamem to be well ... Awesome. I've now got the PS Vita version pre-ordered too :D I'll be a happy Bat-fan this year!