It’s dark, dreary and in all honestly, a little unpleasant. Normally, noise surrounds every inch of free space

around us, but we’ve managed to find brief reprieve for just for a moment. It’s quiet now, but such silence makes us more nervous than before. Something’s coming, we’re sure of it. Something... mad.

No, we’re not talking about the E3 demo room we’ve been ushered into. This is where we find the Dark Knight himself during our private demo with Batman: Arkham Origins. Surely you’ve heard of it by now? It’s only the latest action epic to focus on the Bat, chronicling the early years of his career and being handled by the new kids on the Gotham block, Warner Bros. Montreal.

While most showgoers were presented with brief examples of the shenanigans you can achieve within Arkham Origins’ open world, we got the chance to delve into some brand new content instead: a Most Wanted mission focused solely on the infamous Mad Hatter. These content snacks will help comprise a solid chunk of your major side quests within Gotham City, allowing you to take down the “Most Wanted” DC villains while you continue your quest to foil Black Masks’ attempts at becoming a modern day Grinch and ruining Christmas.

As Origins’ Senior Producer, Ben Mattes, introduces the level, he explains that all of the Most Wanted missions will feature a teaser; a carrot that is usually dangled within Bats’

main campaign path. Due to the early nature of our demo, we were unable to see such vegetables in action, so we scored a verbal description instead.

According to Mattes, Batman climbs up out of a location, to find three guys wearing rabbit masks standing in front of him. They’re all hypnotised into doing a dance routine and performing in synchronisation, singing a little melody to Batman. At this point the developer surprises us and breaks out into quiet song in order to give us a real representation of how it all goes down... “You are hearby cordially, cordially, cordially... You are hearby cordially invited to a... Party!”

Laughing off the musical interlude, he continues. “They’re going on and

BY ADAM GUETTI

September 2013 47

“ We wanted this experience to be really sort of neurotic and

[reflect] the psychosis of a crazy mind ”

EVERYTHING’S NOT OKAY

Our demo concluded with poor old Alice uttering the words “everything’s not okay.” Was it foreshadowing things to come? Would we see her again? The official response: “not necessarily.” That’s just part of the story of that particular Most Wanted; it’s not necessarily part of the larger narrative. “That is a woman who has just undergone a lot of trauma,” Mattes tells us. “Obviously she needs some counselling after whats just happened to her, but Batman’s not the guy to do it, right? He’s not gonna sit there and pat her back and say ‘shhh it’s okay my little muffin, everything’s gonna be alright’. He’s gonna bring someone else in to do that while he goes out and does what he does best.” It’s a good answer, but we’re not completely convinced. That’s a lot of not necessarilys...

on and Batman’s like what is this, then BAM, knocks them out and immediately receives a recorded invitation from the Mad Hatter himself saying ‘oh goody goody I’m so glad you have accepted my invitation. Please come join Alice and me for a cup of tea.’” Did we mention that whole bit was in Matte’s best Mad Hatter impersonation? Well it was, but as if already apologising, we did receive the disclaimer that “I cant do the voice nearly as well as our voice actor.”

Auditions aside, that type of scenario is an open world teaser designed to suck you straight into the Origins experience. But just because you’ve witnessed an introductory cutscene doesn’t mean you have to continue that thread right away. In fact, you can save a whole bunch of the side missions for a rainy day and complete them all in one fell swoop at the end of the game. Warner Bros. Montreal believes this type of optional content should be optional, but not gated. “One of the things that frustrates me in some videogames is when you find an optional mission, a side mission – whatever you want to call

it,” says Mattes. “You start along that side mission and then you hit a wall where it’s like ‘okay I’m pretty sure theres a thing I’m supposed to do. I don’t know why that thing isn’t there. I don’t know why it’s not happening.’ So then you go back to the main mission and two or three chapters later something that happens in the main mission unlocks that door you needed to unlock and THEN you can go back to that Most Wanted mission. We prefer the model whereby once you start it you can see it through all the way to completion.”

As our demo opens, our hero has just found himself inside the Mad Hatter’s shop. Dimly lit and completely empty, there’s definitely something awry. Right on cue, a convenient vent opens up and, our curiosity getting the better of us, we climb into it. It’s a bad life decision, though, leading us smack-bang into a hallway brawl with a number of baddies wearing rabbit masks – an unsavoury accessory that takes over the wearers senses as soon as it’s worn.

Speaking of combat, Origins will introduce a few new brutes into the fray.

desk a few weeks later, however, they were absolutely blown away. “Everything was sort of upside down and wonky and you walked in one door and came out of somewhere else and it was like wow, this is a really interesting experience, and if Mad Hatter was really about fear in psychosis, we wanted this experience to be really sort of neurotic and [reflect] the psychosis of a crazy mind rather than a fear induced mind. And as we started talking through it, the idea of Mad Hatter and the story arc of Mad Hatter [emerged].” Needless to say the decision was made to put a budget and team on the idea and treat the entire venture like a level.

With our battle over, Mad Hatter draws out attention to a clock. “Tick tock, watch the clock,” he taunts. It’s another bad move, transporting us to what can only be described as Wonderland almost instantly. In front of us: a bridge littered with electrical traps that can

be disabled by destroying a few key lanterns with some well-placed batarangs. Eventually we’re able to cross it and cautiously enter a castle... except as we do we fall out of a painting, smack bang into a room of doors. Attempting to walk through one door simply leads us out of the one next to us. It’s all got a very psychedelic, drug-induced vibe going on, but after a while we’re able to solve the riddle and maintain our dignity.

“Ok so he’s got this obsession with Alice in Wonderland,” Mattes tells us after we mention the intriguing aesthetics. “So we started playing with this idea of how can we play with this Alice in Wonderland obsession on top of this psychotropic vision of this world and this created this exotic sequence which is also a Most Wanted mission.”

Now we find ourselves in yet another large room, this time adorned

with incredible stained

glass windows. It’s deceptively beautiful,

but also presents us with no real exit in sight. Before we start to panic, a more destructive alternative springs to mind. A few seconds later and the explosive gel we excitedly placed on the far wall blows up, providing us with a creative way forward. Classic Batman.

Strangely, the makeshift door leads us into yet another swamp, but this one’s a little different. Poking out of this devilishly disgusting water is cutlery. And right at the edge of the water – a saucer. Being the smart folk we are, we hop onto the saucer, get our grappling hook to attach to the cutlery and pull ourselves across the water to safer ground. It’s a blatantly obvious nod to Lewis Caroll’s bizarre world, but begged the question of how many character-specific nods would be interactive puzzles like that one.

“I would say this is the one that, pardon the pun, goes deepest down

the rabbit hole in that respect. The Most Wanted missions, whenever logical, whenever possible, are

WHAT’S A GREY BOX?

Have no idea what this Grey Box business is all about? We asked Mattes to clarify. “It was that level without the cameras, without the art, without the lighting. It’s fully playable but it’s just cubes. It’s just grey boxes literally, but you could already get the sense of ‘ok theres gonna be this cool sequence here with the puzzles with the door. Thats gonna be kinda neat, and Eric [Foster] could describe to us ‘I’m thinking this area could be all like clockwork and really feel like the whole clock could play with the whole time piece aesthetic and that idea’. So just playing that Grey Box and kind imaging what this could look like with a full Alice in Wonderland wrapper on it was very inspirational.” See, you learn something new every day.

Armoured enforcers, for example, need to be dazed and de-armoured by a special attack before they can be hurt, while Martial Arts Experts can block, evade and counter attack, forcing a range of new strategies to ensure your combo meter remains high. Such ideas will continue to flow through to Predator maps as well, thanks to the creation of the Remote Claw – capable of stirring up all sorts of mischief. Connect two thugs together to knock them out, slam fire extinguishers into undesirables or even deploy it on two fixed points (like a gargoyle) to create a tightrope, making an easy to reach death perch.

As we beat down the handful of goons with an impressive flurry of attacks, we’re told that this entire Mad Hatter sequence was never really intended to be it’s own separate adventure. In fact, level designer Eric Foster’s mandate was not just to build something in the world of Mad Hater, but to keep it all within the open world. There was to be no bespoke content for it. When Mattes and Creative Producer, Eric Holmes were eventually brought over to Foster’s

48 September 2013

These Donnie Darko sequels just get weirder and weirder

Don’t worry, kids: they’re just choking around

Gee, whose hideout do you think this is? (Maybe the Joker’s?)

Batman: Arkham Origins

CREATIVE LICENCE

With a new team taking control of beloved DC characters, how much freedom are they planing on taking? “We’re certainly not violating any element of any of the characters personalities. We’re not saying ‘oh mad hatter is actually a rambling gambling hustler and he’s a marksman. We’re not attempting to completely rewrite these characters, but of course it’s our take on them, our version of them.”

as a scary magic trick, another bout of fisty cuffs ensues, enemies mysteriously capable of walking through the mirrors, despite us only being able to see the reflections of our enclosed space. We start to feel as though Warner Bros. Montreal spiked the water they so eagerly provided us with right before our demo started.

Moments later we’re ziplining towards a giant house of cards, watching as Alice is chased by the Hatter. At the top of this surprisingly stable card tower is a clock room, yet as we walk through the entrance, we’re transported to an enormous playground. Clock gears hang effortlessly in the air, chugging away as we try to determine how to progress. The solution: using the grappling hook on specific clock hands and gears to raise ourselves up.

We’re right on time when we reach our final destination. Entering one last room, we find Alice held captive by the Hatter who is ready to end it in front of our eyes. It’s now or never for the poor lass. We quickly whip out a reverse batarang and launch it towards the couple. It passes by both of them, and for a moment the villain think’s he’s home free. Outside his vision, though, the gadget swings around and takes him out with little effort. Alice is safe and sound, leaving us mighty chuffed at the victory.

And with that, the Most Wanted mission is over. Despite not being able to see it for ourselves, according to the Senior Producer there is actually a little narrative tool in the UI held up in a menu screen that will help explain how the last

“ Though every Most Wanted mission wraps up in a slightly different way,

the premise always remains the same: I’m Batman. You’re not. I beat you ”

couple of pieces of the whole encounter got tied up. Regardless, Bats is now free to return once more to the open world and continue his main arc.

It was a fairly simple conclusion, all things considered, which had us wondering if it was a trait consistent with many of the Most Wanted villains. Warner Bros. Montreal assures us that’s not the case – most instances actually resulting in a fight. Because Mad Hatter is not the most physically robust enemy in the roster,

this particular encounter didn’t call for such measures. Deadshot on the other hand will definitely require some physical prowess. The main Batman Origins demo showcased off how exactly the sniping superstar will play into the Most Wanted system, but that’s merely setting the stage. Expect a few more steps to be taken in order to track him down before a proper showdown with Deadshot doing what he does: shooting at you and playing with the idea of ricocheting bullets to your disadvantage.

Should you successfully complete the fight, you’ll be met with a similar scene that plays out where it is established that the almighty Batman has done what he needs to do.

REVENGE OF THE NERDS

Whenever somebody new is tasked with taking on a massive franchise like Batman, it’s inevitable that they will inject their own interpretation and stylings into the final product. But what about the legions of fans, ready to revolt at any moment. “There’s not really anything anyone can say that worries about the narrative or the chronology within the Arkhamverse,” Mattes assures us. “We are being absolutely true to the canon of the Arkhamverse. We know where those characters are, we know where we’re starting those characters – either we’re doing the transition that gets the characters to where they need to be or we’re starting them along that path.” Having five years between the end of Origins’ story and the opening moments of Arkham Asylum means there is plenty of opportunity to complete the narrative cycle. And as for anybody who does say that that’s not exactly the way the character appears in the comics “I would say this is the Arkhamverse. This is our take on that series... and everything that we do is done with the blessing of DC.”

The caped crusader has wrapped up this assassin or member of the rogues gallery and they are now neutralised. Whether the cops clean up the mess or the villain has been defeated and flees, they are no longer a threat to Gotham. The way Mattes describes it, though every Most Wanted mission wraps up in a slightly different way, the basic premise always remains the same:

“I’m Batman. You’re not. I beat you.” Sounds like some pretty solid logic to us.

definitely associated with the character who is the carrot at the end, as it were. So whatever it is you’re doing makes sense towards that particular character. Not all of them are these large sort of psychotropic exotic sequences.”

Instead, many of the sequences will take place within Origins’ open world, in an attempt to drive further gameplay, whether it be via exploration, collectibles, combat or navigation. It’ll all be some kind of core element of the Batman fantasy that will then often end in up in an interior location where a final confrontation is all but inevitable.

Speaking of confrontation, our Batman keeps on keeping on. We find ourselves in a brand new room, mirrors covering every corner. In what can only be described

September 2013 51

Batman: Arkham Origins

Origins’ take on Wonderland clearly owes a lot to Tim Burton’s version

Sorry, freakshow: it’s gonna take more than a plastic mask and party sparkler to best the Batman

“There are four of us and one of you.” “You’re right. I’ll let you get a few more guys so it’s a fair fight.”

OPS: How much have you borrowed from Rocksteady’s iterations of Batman?

BM: When we first started development on Batman: Arkham Origins, we started with a complete code and asset drop from Rocksteady. We inherited one of the deepest, richest and most critically acclaimed action games of all time and so obviously were not looking to reinvent the wheel. Players will recognize the foundations of the Free Flow Combat system, navigation and Invisible Predator systems on top of which we created new enemies, gadgets, combat moves, strategies, etc.

OPS: Will there be any interplay between Origins and Blackgate?

BM: Anyone who plays both Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate will benefit from a continuation of the Origins story and themes, with additional key relationships being formed in the handheld version.

OPS: You can use your XP to create “the Batman you want to make” but what are some of the upgrade opportunities available. How many different variations of Batman are there?

BM: They are not ‘classes’ of Batman as in a typical RPG, and we aren’t creating a game whereby different players will have fundamentally different Batman loadouts by the end of our story. Instead, our modified progression system makes it easier to understand the implications and benefits behind your choices – which gadget do you prefer using? Do you want to focus on Free Flow Combat upgrades or Invisible Predator upgrades? It is absolutely possible to unlock all gadgets and upgrades by the end of the game and so any player who wants to can experience a fully upgraded Batman.

OPS: Can these upgrades lead to major changes in the way you play the game?

BM: Certainly gameplay changes based off of whether or not you’ve chosen to unlock a specific upgrade. Using the Remote Claw as an example: in our E3 demo we showed a fully upgraded Remote Claw that could create new paths, string up enemies to gargoyles, pull enemies together, as well as pull enemies into exploding barrels. Some of these abilities are upgrades the player has to invest in and if they haven’t, a challenging predator room is that much more difficult because they don’t have the full arsenal at their disposal.

committed a horrendous crime and bringing them to justice.

OPS: Aside from the case files, are you inserting any other elements to emphasise the whole detective element of Batman?

BM: The case file system is certainly our core feature focusing on Batman’s detective skills but there are many elements of mystery and deduction in our main narrative. As we mentioned during our E3 demo, our story has many surprises left that we can’t wait for players to see for themselves.

OPS: Why make the setting Christmas Eve?

BM: We wanted a setting that had a rich emotional connection to it. Most people associate happy thoughts and feelings with Christmas. Family, friends, presents, decorations, songs, etc. Juxtaposing this ‘most wonderful time of the year’ against the grimness that is Gotham gives us a lot of creative opportunities to play with people’s expectations. A quiet Christmas song playing in the background while Batman investigates a horrible crime helps reinforce just how dark Gotham really is and just how much it needs a hero like Batman.

OPS: The case file we saw didn’t really make the player work in order to determine what happened. Will there be more interactive case files that will actually force you to make deductions?

BM: Our case file system was created to help reinforce the fantasy of being The World’s Greatest Detective, but it was never our intention to create a slow, analytical experience that truly taxes the player’s deductive abilities. We want players to piece together the crime at the same pace as Batman does so their ‘Eureka’ moments happen at the same time. We believe the system we’ve created gives exactly that, but wraps it all up in a compelling and innovative visual style that fits within the Arkham universe and Batman fantasy.

OPS: Could these deductions ever rear their head in other story threads – much like building evidence in something like LA Noir?

BM: Many of our crime scenes are optional, but a couple are very much connected to the core narrative. Some are connected to the assassins trying to kill you, others to the thugs and criminals infesting the streets. We hope players will enjoy exploring the open world, tracking down the culprit they’ve learned

THE MAD HATTER

Need to brush up a bit on your DC

lore? Well Jervis Tetch – A.KA. the

Mad Hatter – might be the size of a

toddler, but don’t think he won’t try

and take you down the first chance he

gets. A master hypnotist, the Hatter

is able to use chemical concoctions

or electronic technology concealed

within his hat to enthral his victims. That

means this baddie would much rather

have his minions do his fighting for him.

Oh, and the name? That’s because

Jervis is insanely inspired by Lewis

Caroll’s classic children’s book, Alice

in Wonderland, so much so that he

convinced himself he was the writer’s

chapeau-crazed Mad Hatter. Look, at

least it’s not Johnny Depp.

“ We want players to piece together the crime at the same

pace as Batman ”

“ It is absolutely possible to unlock all gadgets

and upgrades ”

KAPOW!

BLAMMO!

Buy Arkham Origins on PS3 and you’ll get access to the tasty Knightfall DLC pack, which includes a selection of Challenge maps and two new skins for Batman – one of which happens to be the classic Batsuit from the 60s TV show. Awesome. Here’s hoping it includes a can of shark repellent spray – just for authenticity’s sake.

GOING INTO BATWe’d already been granted some romantic one-on-one time with Senior Producer Ben Mattes, but we simply needed more. We wanted to ask more questions about the intricacies of Arkham Origins. Here are his answers...

September 2013 53

Batman: Arkham Origins

Batman won’t use guns, but razor sharp projectiles are A-OK

There’s only one word to describe a punch like that, and that word is “Oof”