Comparing the two games

SPOILERS!!!

pokemongames posted...

- The story and atmosphere of AA were way better than AC's, and it felt much more like Batman than AC did. Add in the fact that AA was structured much better than AC was, and you got yourself a much better Batman experience.

As far as story quality I have to say they were about even. They both kept you interested, but were things that didn't make sense in both games. In AA, how Penny Young intended to use Titan to cure inmates was never explained, so there wasn't any reason for it to exist in the first place. In AC, why Strange didn't use his knowledge of Batman's identity as leverage later in the story is also a mystery.

- In AC, Batman didn't even seem like Batman personality wise, seriously he was acting like a jerk to everyone throughout the entire game.

Batman's not much on tender Hallmark moments in either game. His curtness is a part of his personality. There is that part in City in which he tells Cash that the events of Arkham Asylum weren't his fault, so he's not a total anus.

- Too much time was put into AC's riddler trophies, that the storyline was shortened to the extreme. Seriously it could've been 3 times as long.

Yeah, I would have liked to have seen Strange put up more of a fight. Having him defeated in a cutscene denied the player the chance to earn any real victory over him. There should have been some sort of boss encounter involving him other than just wiping his guards out on the Top of the World Map.

- The boss battles and police were handled much better in AA. Everybody had a place in AA, where as in AC the Mr. Freeze fight seemed to be added just to be added, and Penguin had nothing to do with either part of the story. The police in AA, actually seemed to be fighting with Batman, where as in AC they really don't do much at all.

There I just have to flat-out disagree with you. Freeze was hands-down the best boss encounter in either game, Scarecrow was the worst. I love Scarecrow but those awful rotating Crane sequences just didn't do him justice. He sees you and you're dead? Batman's mind just isn't that fragile, and it's the only time during either of those games in which I felt more like a damn Mario Brother rather than Batman. As far as the police, they didn't help you very much in AA either; their role was to get their asses kicked and provide victims for Batman to rescue. I can't recall a single instance in which they actively help you other than to give you your next objective. At least in AC they give you a cool upgrade.

- The stealth sections in AC seemed less fun then they were in AA. I can't say exactly why that is, but it definitely feels like something is missing.

I'm not sure why you didn't like them, but they improved the stealth in AC in so many ways. You can double takedown, takedown through grates and weak walls, employ smoke, and the enemy counter measures were a welcome plus because enemies no longer needed pre-rigged explosives to destroy vantage points. Plus they plant mines, use goggles to spot you up high, have armor thugs who can't be silently KO'd, employ signal jammers to negate Detective Mode, etc. I love how both Batman and his enemies have upped their game to better deal with each other.


Overall, I'd give AA a 10/10, and I'd give AC an 8.5 - 9/10.

Well, that's cool, that's your opinion after all. But the majority of your review seems to be about cosmetic details such as story and characters. Those are important but you didn't give any specifics about the gameplay, such as citing examples of why boss battles were better, what you found more satisfying about AA's Predator, or how you felt about the freeflow, the other major gameplay element of both games.

Well, the two you claim don't make sense can be explained. Penguin had Mr. Freeze held captive because of his obsession with collecting the key figures of Gotham, a really interesting take on the character, so Batman had to access Freeze by freeing him from Penguin. Cobblepot was a direct obstacle to Batman being able to consult Freeze about a cure.

As far as Mr. Freeze, he and Batman did not get along. Batman had to coerce Freeze into helping him by ripping out his portable cryogenic life support device, pretty much threatening him with death, after which Victor declares "We are NOT friends." When the time comes for the actual fight, Freeze is concerned that Batman will continue to follow up on the cure angle instead of looking for Nora, so Freeze returns the favor by denying him the cure and threatening HIM with death instead. It's a power play on Freeze's part, though it doesn't pan out it makes sense that Freeze would hold the cure over Batman's head so he'll save his wife from the killers out there.

Sol4688 posted...
Oracle gets snarky, and Batman gets a little snarky back. Again, nothing terrible.


Do you mean during the Identity Theft sidequest? There she outright accuses him of murder, and you're right, I don't blame him for being indignant when she said that. Hell, I was almost ready to give her a Bat-slap.