Evidently...I am batmaaaaaaaan.
But I'll sell the copy I have when the PC version comes out so I could play that instead. I just can't take these jaggies and slow analog stick movement, but that's another subject.
The controls are good but sometimes they are sloppy and inaccurate. For instance just like in the first game, there are preset points where your grappling hook works - you can't pick your spots. The biggest minus is the fact that there is no analog stick sensitivity adjustment ! (please hurry up PC version). Occasionally you will see such screen items as "Press and hold X to jump off" or that annyong "R1" button indicating that you can graple there and there and stuff like that. And there's no way to turn that off! Even if you turn off the hints, those tips are in your face all the time. The game itself doesn't have that much hud especially in-doors which is a good thing in my opinion because it helps the immersion.
The city map is small. REALLY small by today's standards at least. It's at best 30 square blocks. But the good thing is that eventually you get access to restricted areas such as houses, mansions, sewers, etc. So you will be doing a lot of backtracking just like in the first game, only this time, you have an open map and not a series of large closed off areas to navigate in. Plus there is always something happening in the city and you will see the city change as you play. Barely anything is static.
The gameplay (battle-wise). I feel like it changed for the worst somewhat and here's why. The first game would literally force you to watch your enemies and anticipate their movies so you could counter-attack. This time it's different. This time you will see several lightening bolts flash above enemies that are about to attack you. This warning throws me off because it decreases the challenge and realism.
More so, what's tedious is that this time you will be battling sometimes about a dozen of enemies at a time. So if you play on hard and you keep pressing square (for attack) and triangle (for counter-attack) your thumb WILL Get tired and numb FAST because the enemies have lots of health and there is little opportunity to finish them off while they are on the floor simply because there is a TON of enemies. So then you die and die and die. (I remember using the mouse with the first game and it required simple clicks, no tiring button mashing involved, but that's just me). Sure, you can use the evade, or the confuse-with-the cape option, but in the end what ended up happening was that I started avoiding the fights (something you couldn't do in the first game) because I knew my thumb would get tired easily, even though you need that XP from the fights.
Also, this time if you want to counter-attack CONSTANTLY and never get hit (Except for when they try to throw a trash can at you) is to simply tap triangle (NO TIMING REQUIRED this time). In the first game if you pressed the counter-attack button a lot earlier before the preceding attack, then you would get hit, even IF you pressed the same button right after. The first game really forced you to monitor your enemies closely and work out the algorithm of the fight you were in. But at least now you can counter-attack two enemies attacking you at the same time.
But eventually you get introduced to bigger and badder high-tech enemies that force you to employ different tactics (reminiscent of the last splinter cell game).
Another minus is that there is no blood in the game, again. (but yes I know that this is Batman Universe, the villains never die, they simply escape over and over and over again....)
Also, those annoying unrealistic bats that fly around you are still there.
The story is engaging and ties itself well with the first game somewhat. Some villains as well as their demise gets mentioned so it's kind of cool to wonder what happened. In fact the story is so well down, I doubt they will have any room left for part 3. But let's see how the sales go.
Also, barely ANY dialogue gets repeated, ever, except for sometimes. I'm surprised how much effort went into dialogue here, it's like watching a movie, a good Batman movie that is, ahem ahem.
The loading screen sometimes takes 11 seconds.
I also appreciate the remix of the Hans Zimmer soundtracks from the last two Batman movies. Nice touch. There's some inception there too.
The bosses and the characters are all so versatile and flamboyant. You get fully immersed in their personalities and you don't really want the villains dead you may want them hurt but you don't want them GONE because then you know that the fun is over. So the game makes you care even about the villains because aside from Batman that's what the Batman Universe if famous for.
The amount of the Riddler riddles and tricks is insane. I'm not sure if that many were needed. I mean, they are supposed to be concealed better; they are supposed to take time to find and unlock like in the first game. Here you get a large portion of them practically for free.
The game is extremely well refined. Ever step and area is thought out, every engagement can still be approached differently so the gameplay will never get you bored. The artistic value of this game cannot be understated. The gangs and the bandits all have different allegiances to different villains, so it is a nice touch to see that not all villains team up with each other, they all have different missions and ideologies.
The amount of upgrades here is about 3-4 times than the amount in the first game...yeah I know.
One of the downsides of this game being an open-worlded game is that quite often you will lose your sense of direction. You might weight out your priorities as to where it is you want to go. There's main mission and there are side missions and there are Riddler missions and there are miscellaneous missions. You might go into one direction only to realize that it's best if you went another direction. The first game didn't have that problem if you can call it that.
Another downside is the occasional slow texture loading when you enter a new area.
Lastly, it's the same unreal engine from the last game; the water looks horrible.
Solid 9.0