Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, may be a mouthful of a title but it looks like it’s going to be a handful of a game. I was able to snag a hands-on 15 minute demo on PS Vita as well as 3DS where I tracked Catwoman through the Gotham city skyline and walked away liking what I saw.
Developed by Aramature Studio, a team comprising of former members of Retro Studios, Blackgate is an adventure that is it’s own entity. Not simply a gimped version of its console cousins, Blackgate is more of, in the words of one developer a “Bat-troid Vania” title. This only makes sense since Armature is made up of members of the Metroid Prime team, so taking that formula and adapting it to the world of the Dark Knight seems like the next logical step. He went on to explain how “We didn’t want to put a cheap version of the Arkham experience onto handhelds, also we wanted to have a handheld appropriate version, much like we had Metroid Prime 3 on Wii and Zero Mission on GBA.”
In the demo I was able to try out the touchscreen controls which are used to utilize Arkham’s popular Detective mode. A simple tap was all it took to see the familiar red skeletons of past games and better hunt my prey. Controls during combat were fluid and familiar, feeling right at home with the Vita’s button scheme. Having played both the Vita and 3DS versions, I’d have to say that the former is definitely the winner in the control department from what I played in this early build.
Another place where the Vita wins out is in the visuals department. Blackgate looks down right pretty on the Vita’s high end OLED screen with fine detail to be found. It’s a split down the middle with respect to the 3DS however since that version featured an always present world map on the lower screen, which some players might find quite useful during their playthrough.
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate releases on October 25th, so be on the lookout for our review.
