Having beaten all the Rocksteady Arkham batman games, this Arkham game done by a different studio is the only one I have a divided opinion towards...
LONG STORY SHORT:
The plot is amazing and really is the best hook this game has. However, the story suffers from generic dialogue by the Gotham Thugs and the plot is agonizingly slow to progress. When the story does progress, the game moments are OUTSTANDING. But until then the game is a bore...
Besides the story, I find the gameplay struggles because the hand to hand combat is unfairly glitching when it comes to countering and the AI during predator sequences are stupid. Enough so that it ruins the gameplay moments of the game.
Why the game struggles but also succeeds:
1. The timeframe to counter attacks has been shortened. This forces you to be fully vigilant of the battlefield and fast to counter.
The issue with this is you cannot grapple attack enemies because you will be attacked before you can finish the move. Worse over, with massive grunts, I find when you are stun and combo attacking them, some enemies attacks will not get countered even though you press the button. Not only that, sometimes enemies attacks will randomly cancel, ending your freeflow counter unfairly. Other than these issues, the counter timeframe finally challenges the player to be cautious with their strikes and carefully time counters and attacks.
2. The AI are very stupid during predator sequences always insisting on moving around solo. Their depth of vision is abysmal letting you take down enemies right in front of them.
3. The Story and Bossfights
I have only just gotten to the hotel in the game, having gone through 2 different boss fights. Up to those boss fights the game is brutally slow to progress the plot. It took me multiple hours before I was able to have any interesting fights or listen to any good dialogue.(Gotham Thugs in this game are dry and boring...)The first boss fight is just a button masher and countering attacks. No clever use of gadgets or strategy needed.
The second boss fight was incredible, having actually being one of the most creative and challenging boss fights within in the entire arkham series. This boss fight was the only moment in the game that actually won me over in my review as the rest of the game had just been a boring slog up until that moment.
While there are some incredible stylistic differences in this batman game having it be made by a different studio and covering batman's origins, you can strongly feel the lack of quality in the gameplay with this one compared to all the other batman games.
The AI in predator sequences are utterly stupid. You can wipe out the enemies one by one and they still insist on going around solo. Entering grates by contoller is RT + A for whatever reason instead of B. You have to walk directly up to enemies in order to take them down silently.
As for combat, the timeframe you have to counter is shorter than batman arkham knight. In a manner, this is amazing because it forces you to carefully find the right moment to punch, making the combat for once difficult. On the other hand, I find this at many times annoying.
