I was having a great time with Blackgate until I had to fight the Penguin. A single false move had my Batman shredded within seconds, skipping me back to the previous checkpoint so I could try and sneak up on him again. I’m not completely sure what Armature had in mind for me other than to try and get Penguin isolated, but it seemed his thugs were quite adept at catching up or spotting me as I was dropping below to pummel their boss from above.

In hindsight, Penguin’s fight was actually pretty simple. In fact, they all were. Penguin, Joker, Black Mask, each of them posed little actual threat once you figured out the pattern. The problem is that figuring said pattern out is a matter of trial and error. Trials that lead to getting hurt, and errors that lead to reloading from a previous checkpoint. It becomes quite frustrating, and happens even in regular brawls in latter parts of the story.

Armature Studios, founded by ex-Retro developers (the studio responsible for Metroid Prime), reveal that they are, indeed, masters of the Metroidvania style. In fact, they outdo themselves, as you have a bit more freedom in deciding where to go and what objectives to accomplish. While the game will certainly lead you into performing certain objectives in a particular order, it feels much more open here than in any Metroid game I’ve played. Yet you’re never quite left feeling lost. There’s always a general path for you to follow, and you quickly learn which ones are locked away for another upgrade or two.

The studio also knows how to frequently keep the player rewarded for exploration and clever puzzle solving, dropping a variety of power-ups and narrative clues and files about each corner of the level. The Detective Mode behaves more like the scanning function in Metroid Prime, where the player will examine the environment and analyze objects or clues that appear to determine function or obtain data.

These are the elements where the game works best and is most enjoyable. The problem is that Armature was left to take a combat system that involves a plethora of options and button combinations and simpify it down to fewer buttons and limited physical space. By being “two-and-a-half dimensions”, where it’s a 3D environment explored with 2D controls and interaction, the player cannot pull off nearly as much in stealth segments as they can in console counterparts. There are fewer options from escaping foes when being spotted, and fewer areas to hide easily. If you’re seen, you’re just about screwed. Yet the tools available to take foes down in a stealthy manner are greatly limited. It feels as if the opponent has all the advantages and Batman has none, which is the exact opposite of how these missions made the player feel in Arkham Asylum, City, and Origins.

Brawler fighting and combat has been similarly simplified. The player can only quickfire whichever item is currently selected rather than having a swath of button combinations available. Enemies don’t stay down long enough to effectively perform a takedown, and even if you try you’ll have another goon swinging at the back of your head.

Perhaps the greatest miscalculation on the designer’s part was how they handle foes with a knife. Use the cape to stun them if you can, but if you miss or time it wrong, you’ll have to get struck by three swings of the blade. Yes, three swings, just as in the console version that allows the player to avoid attacks using alternate strategies and to simply hold back and counter to dodge the knife. They made it even harder and punishment is greater due to limited options.

When Arkham Origins: Blackgate is being a Metroid game, it is fantastic and deeply engaging. Early on combat functions fine and allows the player to perform familiar abilities on a handheld with ease. But as the difficulty ramps up, and more importantly as the player must face the different bosses, things become difficult, death becomes frequent, and the player becomes frustrated.

Were it not for unlocking all the pieces to a suit that grants invulnerability, I might have never finished the game. If I had to figure out the final boss’ pattern of attack without invincibility, by trial and error and death and reloading, then I would certainly have quit.

Batman: Arkham Origins: Blackgate may be the Metroid game the 3DS needs, but it is certainly not the one that we deserve. Armature Studios was able to make a fine Metroidvania, but they screwed up making a truly satisfying Batman.

My interest in Arkham Origins: Blackgate was built upon two simple facts. It was going to be a Metroid style of game, and it was going to be developed by Armature Studio, founded by former Retro Studios employees. Yes, the same folk responsible for reviving Samus Aran in all of her Metroid: Prime glory were going to be making a Metroid style of Batman game.

For a while I was convinced it was the better of the two Arkham Origins games released, with more to offer me than the console counterpart. Time proves to be a harsh master, however, and the truth was revealed.

Yes, Armature Studio can develop a good Metroid game. Unfortunately, they failed to develop a good Batman game.

Now I already learned that you can’t just stick any property onto the Metroid style design and expect it to function. Part of the golden Metroid goose is the presence of upgrades and expansions to strengthen your character and provide a sense of progression. This happens to be where Armature does a good job. Upgrades to your gloves, your armor, and your gear are scattered across Blackgate Prison for you to find, as well as pieces of other costumes and suits.

The game is also surprisingly open-ended, allowing the player to choose a variety of paths without providing a sense of direction. Three paths may lay before you, but they will never stray from a single direction. Any potential diversions are locked away, requiring some key item to be found in the story or another form of upgrade. It allows the player a greater sense of freedom than usual in this sort of game, yet still manages to keep them led well enough that they are never lost. There is always an objective, a sense of purpose, and even when you stray from the path you know you’ll find your way back.

Armature excelled at building yet another Metroid game, and every moment I was obtaining a new upgrade or backtracking to open a previously locked pathway I was filled with glee. Yes, what lies behind this door? I must know, and I must find any treasures deep within!

Then the goons showed up, and my face sagged.

Arkham Origins, and the Arkham games before it, have some pretty complicated combat systems. They may seem simple at first, but once you realize just how many buttons and button combinations are used it becomes awfully staggering. Baffling at times, even. Compressing that sort of combat into a handheld game these days should be easier, but it does not play that way. It instead plays like the GameBoy games of yore, imitating big brother’s mechanics with a lower budget and less finesse.

Early on pummeling thugs is easier than ever. Mash buttons, mash buttons, counter, counter, counter, it is all no problem. But then they introduce foes with weapons, and suddenly the game isn’t so responsive. Double-tapping the B button to dodge results in nothing, just a lazy Batman walking towards a thug with a stun rod. Trying to stun the knife wielding lunatic with the cape is futile as the blade is more swift. Try to stun again and you’ll simply be slashed again and again. Armature changed how the game operates, forcing Batman to use a slow move on a quick foe, and then providing no respite from the follow-up attacks. For a studio that so closely followed and understood what made a game like Super Metroid succeed, they failed at comprehending how Arkham City’s combat excelled. They merely simplified your abilities while leaving your enemies the same, and as a result fighting is harder than ever.

Most tragic is the amputee that is the Predator mode, the mission segments where the player is expected to be stealthy. The mode is limited due to the perspective change, and at first it seems as if the game has taken this into account. Goons and guards don’t see nearly so far as in the game. However, there’s also a lot less room to maneuver. A criminal may seem isolated for a glide kick, but his pals will be gunning you down before you even have a chance to recover from the initial impact. Planning on using a grapple point to hide? Again, the environments are too small. The enemies will easily follow the trail.

What you end up having is the worst Batman ever, easy to spot, easily pummeled, and unable to successfully escape into the darkness.

I would love to say that’s all, but the key boss fights, the battles with the head honchos like Penguin and The Joker, are actually the worst moments of the game. They try to vary things up, but provide no real hint as to what to do. It’s a matter of trial and error, die and reload, over and over until you understand the perfect pattern the game is expecting of you.

See, the regular combat in this game, from pummeling thugs to sneaking around guards, is problematic. The boss fights are simply a problem, and the greatest problem is communication. You will die, and you will die often, all while trying to figure out what you need to do in phase two or three now that you’ve finally got phase one down. It is bad enough that the best way to fight the final boss is by using the invincibility bat suit you can unlock, assuming you managed to explore enough and find all the pieces.

There’s a lot to love in Batman: Arkham Origins: Blackgate, a lot to explore and a lot to discover. When it is being a Metroid game, it excels. It is just the game such fans have been yearning for on their 3DS or Vita. As a Batman game, on the other hand, it fails. There is no satisfaction in busting the skulls of street scum here, or in sneakily taking them out. You feel a lot more like Beeman, performing some fancy acrobatics in a goofy suit.

Then your lifeless husk rolls across the floor, and next thing you know the grim reaper is asking if you might like to try that again. Only this time, try the batclaw. Maybe that’ll work.