So the full trailer for Arkham Origins hit yesterday, following up on the teaser featuring Bats and Deathstroke dukin' it out and leaving people wantin' for more.
In case you haven't seen it yet, here's a link. Go watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWorwYmCuX4
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Done? Good. Then I needn't be worried about spoiling anything in the following.
What we have seen of the trailer thus far doesn't really reveal anything particularly new to us. It had already been revealed that the premise of the game featured Batman, Christmas, and a shitload of assassins out to get him due to a bounty on his head courtesy of Black Mask. stylistically, the game really seems to hold the tone from earlier Arkham games; it's gritty shit, and everyone who's played the other Arkham games are probably as excited about that as I am.
So anyway, let's talk about the visuals. As mentioned, it's very gritty in design, besides being very beautiful in detail, of course. If we're comparing to earlier games, the first thing one notices is of course the different design in Batman's armor, but that's not a problem. Au contraire; with the setting around 7 years prior to AA, isn't it only natural that Bats would learn from experiences and adjust his gear accordingly? Exactly.
Deadpool looks even more radically different in comparison to his AC appearance, and he somehow manages to look both less and more advanced: the gear looks more professional here, but his more standardized and less stylized kit better conveys someone who's new in the business. All in all, decent interpretations of the two characters - there's nothing that make you doubt the premise of the game, and they both look kick-ass. What more can you ask?
Deathstroke makes his first Arkham appearance in the trailer, and he, too, has been Arkham'd up well. His appearance here is more armored than his usual comic book appearance, more in style with his recent appearance in Injustice - and he looks fucking rad.
Black Mask and his white suit is stylish, but I'd have liked to see a somewhat darker design - like the permanent bottle monocle that Penguin has in AC, for example. It's not a bad design, but I could've hoped for more. Nevertheless, we haven't seen him under the mask yet. Who knows what he's like underneath?
As mentioned,we were met in the trailer by two assassins that are no surprise at all: Deathstroke the Terminator and Deadshot. But that's still a bit to go to the eight supposed assassins that are out to show Batman the true spirit of christmas in his very own, super grim, Christmas Carol. Who else might we see in such a connection?
Lady Shiva
Seems like a legit guess on my part. She is a hardcore assassin lady, arguably the most hardcore in the DC-verse. Amongst her accomplishments are training Batman and Tim Drake, helping Bats get back on his feet after Bane snapped his back, and bearing the child of another badass, David Cain - a child that, at least in pre-New 52 continuity, served as Batgirl for a time: Cassandra Cain. Other than that, Lady Shiva is also affiliated with Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins, aggressively recruited into it by David Cain who murdered Shiva's sister.
Lady Shiva is generally considered to be one of the few people who can compare to or even best Batman in combat, and for that reason alone, she strikes me as a worthy candidate to one of the assassins.
David Cain
Shares many characteristics with Lady Shiva. League of Assassin, parent of Cassandra Cain whose life he majorly fucked up, and also trained Batman. Definitely not at all a good guy, and would probably cherish the chance of testing his skills against the Caped Crusader.
Merlyn
The nemesis of Green Arrow and one of the kickassest archers in DC, Merlyn is also one of the assassins that might have the skill and/or arrogance to take on Bats. Besides the fact that Merlyn is, you know, an assassin, there is also the fact that the bomb-containing box in the trailer is apparently from Queen Industries, which is at least a recognition of the fact that Oliver Queen, and by extension his friends and enemies, all live in the Arkhamverse. This list seems to be littered with tutors, by the way, as this gentleman tutored Cassandra Cain (The Batgirl from before) and also seems to have taught bow skills to Damian Wayne at one point (see Grant Morrison's Batman run, even if you don't care about whether this is true or not. It's fucking amazing.)
There is of course also the fact that the Arrow TV series has been enjoying considerable success this TV season, and without spoiling too much, Merlyn is a name that features pretty heavily in the show, and it could seem a good springboard to give him some screentime in Origins. Merlyn even underwent a name change in the New 52, becoming Tommy Merlyn like in the Arrow show, as opposed to his original identity of Arthur King - which I personally found to be a quite charming name, being an Arthurian nut, but if it's a step in giving other characters a shot at the spotlight in an AAA title, I'll go along with it.
The Black Glove
Is probably more a hope on my part than it's likely to happen, but a boy can dream, can't he?
The Black Glove became famous under Grant Morrison's run, and is essentially a group of mercenaries, super villains and assassins from all over the world, gathered together by villain Doctor Hurt. They're all in on a bet together: can Batman actually lose? Some of the members are more likely to appear than others, obviously. Sadly, it'll probably be a cold day in Hell before Doc Hurt makes his appearance outside of comic books (and probably the same with the rest, sadly), but 'least a guy like Mexican trap master El Sombrero would fit in with the assassin setting.
All the restBut then again, need the game only focus on the assassins and Black Mask? Some promotional artwork revealed sketches of what seemed to be Joker, Scarecrow, Bane and Killer Croc, and while Joker wouldn't really give two squirts about the money he might make from killing Bats - if he even wants to kill him, that is - Killer Croc isn't exactly a criminal mastermind and might very well be up for hire, and Bane too has some past connections in comic books with the League of Assassins (And in TDKR too, obviously), so he might be ready to take money from Black Mask. Venom doesn't come cheap, you know. Seeing as this is a AAA Batman title, it's pretty much guaranteed that Joker will be in the game somewhere, but AC introduced a bunch of side missions with appearances by different villains. It could be a way to introduce him into this game. Same goes for the rumored appearances by Falcone and Penguin, and Scarecrow could very well have an appearance like that, as well.
Those are my thoughts for now, 'least. I'm really glad to see Deathstroke and Black Mask get more screen time: they're awesome villains, and especially Deathstroke looks to be frickin' badass in this stuff. The guy's essentially a Batman who's in it for the money, and if you read something like Identity Crisis, you know how badass he is, where the guy takes out like 6 or 7 JLA members by himself like it was nothing. If they can just NOT mess with the fighting system, and the trailer delivers on the promises, then we're in for a great game, guys - even if it's not developed by Rocksteady.
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