Forewarning, I'm not overly far in the game (like 7-10%) so I'm working off of what I've played.
Brother None said:
Gameplay wise City doesn't add much to Asylum, and the combat is still pretty repetitive, but man what a game.
I finished up 75% (according to Arkham Asylum) of AA before embarking on Arkham City and I disagree. I think that double pressing the hotkeys for gadgets is more annoying (I haven't tried the my 360 controller as both games seem to work well with keyboard and mouse) but the combat is much more fluid in AC than it's predecessor. Multiple enemies can attack you at once is nice, as is enemies homing less far with attacks. I feel like combat has been tweaked in a number of "small" ways that are noticeable and for the best.
Verd1234 said:
Yeah, I noticed the police blimp in the sky which reminded me of The Animated Series...
Heh, a very memorable WB logo for me, though TAS was a part of my childhood. That said, since seeing the first episode (beautifully animated) of TAS more recently, it's an even stronger association.
So far my opinion is that Arkham Asylum is better designed due to it's lineriarity, as the challenges were better structured in AA (didn't waste much time, even if you spent most/all of the game in Detective Move) than in AC. It shows off the advantages of more linear gameplay versus more "sandbox" gameplay. The truth in AC is that while you can roam most of the city at any time, you are still heavily restricted by gadgets and the plot by how much you can explore and exploit, which can, depending on gameplay style/preference, add more tedium/wasted time. This is especially true depending on how much you roam before discovering Riddler's traitors, which isn't far but can still be notable.
I'm happy to see where the game goes from here on out but the illusion of freedom I feel may be a major early downfall for the game.
AC seems to offer the perfect example of why sandbox design doesn't work in a linear game. If you truly do venture out in the early game (as soon as you become Batman) and explore the world then you lack to the tools to map and truly use the world at that time. I appreciate that shortly after you do finally gain the ability to mark the challenges on your map but one could have very well found most of them before that point. Personally, I know that I found a number of them before that point. Sure, there is a bit of play style involved but the Riddler triators seem to undermine that completely.
Ultimately it comes down to not liking the feeling like my time was wasted, as AC did with early trophy exploration. It's even worse seeing as the tool that is used to avoid this problem, the scanning tool, is available in AA. Granted it couldn't perform that function in AA but it should have been introduced before being exposed to the sandbox in AC.
