Batman: Arkham Origins review update two

Over the course of the last month, WB Games Montreal has released multiple patches on each platform to address the major problems Batman: Arkham Origins players were encountering post-launch. Though some issues remain, cases have become more isolated and our biggest concerns have been addressed.

In my most recent tests, I’ve been able to once more spend hours in the game without crashes or hard system lock-ups. On the Batman: Arkham Origins support forums, WB has a list of issues they’re still working on, but the game has reached a point of stability where we feel comfortable restoring our original scores...on PlayStation 3 and PC, at least.

The Xbox 360 version of Arkham Origins is still suffering from a damning corrupted save bug that has some players losing all of their progress. According to their latest update, WB Montreal has identified the problem, but promises only that an upcoming patch will “reduce the occurrence of corrupt files” rather than stopping them altogether. And if your save has already been corrupted, they have no way of fixing it. Avoiding the Xbox 360 version of Origins appears to be your safest bet if you want to guarantee the ability to complete the game.

Batman: Arkham Origins presents a version of the popular superhero who is still learning and doesn’t seem to totally understand why he does what he does. I just wish the game didn’t share those vulnerabilities. Where Arkham Asylum and Arkham City surprised me with their ambition, Origins is comfortable taking the best from what has come before without contributing much of its own — or even fully understanding what worked about those systems. It’s built on a solid foundation but it doesn’t take the world’s greatest detective to see that something significant is missing.Batman: Arkham Origins was reviewed using a retail Xbox 360 copy of the game provided by Warner Bros. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

Over the course of the last month, WB Games Montreal has released multiple patches on each platform to address the major problems Batman: Arkham Origins players were encountering post-launch. Though some issues remain, cases have become more isolated and our biggest concerns have been addressed.

In my most recent tests, I’ve been able to once more spend hours in the game without crashes or hard system lock-ups. On the Batman: Arkham Origins support forums, WB has a list of issues they’re still working on, but the game has reached a point of stability where we feel comfortable restoring our original scores...on PlayStation 3 and PC, at least.

The Xbox 360 version of Arkham Origins is still suffering from a damning corrupted save bug that has some players losing all of their progress. According to their latest update, WB Montreal has identified the problem, but promises only that an upcoming patch will “reduce the occurrence of corrupt files” rather than stopping them altogether. And if your save has already been corrupted, they have no way of fixing it. Avoiding the Xbox 360 version of Origins appears to be your safest bet if you want to guarantee the ability to complete the game.

In the five or so hours I’ve put into the game since that patch, I’ve had around half a dozen crashes, including some cases where the game would not even load to the main menu following a crash. In addition to my own problems with Arkham Origins, a cursory look at WB’s support forums makes it clear that I’m not alone in these issues. Some players have avoided major problems, but others have run into constant crashes, corrupted save data, and a major bug that prevents use of one of the game’s fast travel points. Most distressingly, these issues appear to exist across all platforms, save one. We have not been able to find word of any major problems with Arkham Origins on the Wii U.

WB Montreal says it’s hard at work on updates to take care of many of these issues, but until that patch is out and until we’re able to test it, this solid game has taken some serious knocks — and it’s difficult to recommend until we’re confident players can complete the game.