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"Holy rogue's gallery of glitches, Batman!" Arkham Origins certainly isn't enjoying the smoothest of starts to its crime-fighting career. Following a string of favorable, if not exactly glowing critical appraisals, the caped crusader must now turn his attentions to a whole new kind of foe.

For all of his pyromancy shenanigans, Firefly isn't the only bug trying to break the bat this holiday season, as reports of widespread infestation continue to pile in at Gotham P.D. Sensing a disturbance in the city, (and across multiple message boards) Warner Bros. HQ has snapped into action, issuing a new bug-busting patch and an apology to gamers affected by Batman: Arkham Origins' following issues.

  • Infinite falling [Fixed — players revert back to previous checkpoint] — A reasonably common encumbrance in the world of gaming, usually triggered by a wayward texture tile. Batman falls, falls and keeps on falling through the level, without a scarecrow-induced hallucination in sight.
  • Progress stalled in Story mode [Fixed — Continue button is back] — Main menu story selection is limited to 'new game' only, no matter the player's progress or save files.
  • Unobtainable 'FreeFlow Focus' Mode [Fixed by an earlier patch] — A PC only-issue, players who reached the rank of Shadow Vigilante 3 were unable to receive their reward
  • Burnley Tower vent blockage [Fixed by an earlier patch] — Another PC problem, access to Burnley Tower via the building's ventilation system was cut off
  • Assorted Xbox 360 glitches [Not Fixed, Issue still under investigation] — Not the kind of exclusivity Microsoft had in mind - this Xbox-only glitch causes crashes, screen freezes and most annoyingly of all — outright save file corruptions. Warner Bros. suggests taking the game offline in order to prevent some of these problems from appearing, with a more permanent solution currently being developed
Batman Arkham Origins Villains Explained

It's ironic that a Batman title detailing the Dark Knight's own growing pains should be the first in the franchise to suffer some serious early setbacks. Ironic, but not entirely unexpected, as Origins received the shortest development time of any of the Arkham games to date, clocking in at just over 21 months of total work. To put that figure into perspective, the series' stellar breakout - Batman: Arkham Asylum took Rocksteady around 27 months to complete, with its sequel Arkham City taking a further 32, (including pre-production). With little more than a new multiplayer contingent to implement, alongside a glorified (albeit gloriously enjoyable) re-skin of Arkham City, Origins may not seem like the type of sequel to warrant equal lead time as its predecessors, though these missing months could certainly have come in handy where extra testing is concerned.

Are the issues plaguing Batman: Arkham Origins the result of a rushed development, or are they indicative of the industry's lax attitude towards pre-release testing (in favor of post-release patching?). Have your say in the comments below, and be sure to keep up with all of the latest Batman gaming news, right here on Game Rant.

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Batman: Arkham Origins is out now, for PC, PS3, Xbox 360 & Wii U platforms.

An additional handheld adventure - Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is also available, on PlayStation Vita & Nintendo 3DS formats.

Follow Sam on Twitter @GamingGoo.

Source: WBGames, Gamespot