Ok WB - you lost the bet. You have proven you CANNOT make games as good as Rocksteady. Your attempt at trying to prove to us or Rocksteady that you could make a game as good as them has proven to just make you look pathetic. Arkham and Batman needs Rocksteady and you need to move back and let the real pros have it.
Gameplay: Gawd, where to begin? Lets see - fighting; targeting - Off (who am I hitting? Lets roll the dice!) An enemy is to the left, you push the stick left and try to hit him. What does the Bat do? Attacks to THE RIGHT. Sometimes there isn't even an enemy there... fun, huh?
How about the guy that hits you in the butt when you are attacking someone else? What cruel programmer / designer came up with that AI decision? How about the guy that attacks you just as you are finishing a take-down? There are two thugs, split across the room and both knocked down - yet one of them always seem to be right there as you are taking out the other... terrible, cheap tactics.
There's the knife guy and the shield guy - cheap enemies. I don't like the knife guys - the mechanic just slows down the pace of battle. Its the same in the other Batman game so I can't bash Origins for it, though I'd like to.
Movement during battles is frustrating at best. You flip and pop all over the place - mostly places you are not trying to go. You get stuck in divots and corners..Try to flip out and you just roll in place... special. Pressing the "defend" button is an exercise in hope - I hope he actually defends. Related is escape - trying to escape and suddenly your flipping and rolling in unpredictable directions... until someone shoots you or kills you off.
Dead aim snipers - wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that they PROLIFERATE LIKE RABBITS ON FERTILITY PILLS at only 30% game! The snipers work in 3's, see through smoke, never lose aim. They are just NPC enemies, not story-based. They are everywhere making it a chore to move across the map.
How about not being able to use gadgets while on a railing, fence or other "perched" position? Not being able to target armored enemies with drop / glide kick? You can run across an entire district and find no place to attach your claw unless you look up (not easy or natural when your running around),,,What a mess.
World: Invisible walls; uninspired layout, no thought to strategy in world design. North of the bridge there is a massive structure that breaks the flow of movement across the map in the game. You have to squeeze around it - you cannot batclaw to it or get over it. There are far too many areas in the world that you cannot find an attach point to - imagine a Spiderman game with no where to stick your web... yeah, there you go.
The subway area was a real disappointment after the much better designed one in Arkham City - I was looking for holes in the glass and found NONE.And why is the highway in Amusement Mile broken if this is BEFORE Arkham City??? So every time you want to go through this area you have to work it from end to end? Ergh!
There is glitch galore in the world and WB says it isn't concerned about fixing it. I went down a sewer once and ended up with a black-screen. There are holes around (bad clipping). Overal this world doesn't look or play as good as the Arkham City one does.
Story: Well its the same old thing - mostly the same lg arch-enemies trying to do something bad that Batman has to stop. Joker's story progresses way too fast - one of the main things that mess up the game early (its HIS thugs with sniper rifles).Pacing is bad in his installment, game can outstrip your abilities. Major enemies feel more like guest appearances rather than contributing any way to the plot in a meaningful manner. All and all the story feels fragmented and it is really easy to forget or ignore any story for long stretches of time. I also do not feel these people know Batman - for example why is he so mean to Alfred? He owes his life to that man, does not follow that this HERO would repay him wth that nasty attitude.
Summary: This is the most contrived, derivative, boring of all of the games in the series.I played Arkham City twice. I stopped playing this for a while to play Arkham Asylum. I'm struggling to get through this and my enthusiasm is waning.The absence of Rocksteady is all too noticeable, they need a real game company. I hear that Arkham Knight has Rocksteady back on board - but I wish they could fix this (major patch!) before they move on to the next one.