There's Room For Improvement in Future Batman Titles

With Batman: Arkham Origins already set into motion and details are coming out of the woodwork, Rocksteady has passed on development of the game to WB Montreal entirely. While the new studio is leaning on Rocksteady for support and guidance, I still have my personal concerns and ideas that should be implemented and addressed to ensure the success of future Arkham themed games.

I. Freeflow Combat Changes/Improvements

• Bring back the Ultra-Batclaw in Freeflow. Hands down my favorite combo starter in Arkham Asylum. The basic Batclaw in Arkham City is a mediocre replacement (starts up FAR too slow and the long recovery), despite on how cool the Batclaw Slam is.

• Add in the ability to cancel attacks using the Evasion button in Freeflow Combat. The worst thing that could happen when you are garnering a massive amount of points in combat is stringing a series of Critical Strikes in succession, only to make the mistake of directing your next attack towards an armored or stun rod-wielding foe. What I'm asking for is a last second evasion to cancel that action, much like the Webzip cancel in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows - a counter prompt pops up when your incoming attack is about to intercepted so this grants you the option or redirecting it towards another unlucky adversary. This spares players the embarrassment of losing all of those points for that one simple mistake that is bound to happen when the screen is littered with multiple opponents. This change would improve Catwoman's gameplay in Freeflow considerably alone.

• There should be multiple ways to take down Armored Thugs, Titans, Shielded Thugs, and Knife-Wielders. The same canned methods are getting rather stale. The Ultra Stun to Beatdown is cool, but very time-consuming in mobs of opponents. Using Lieutenants to damage Titans is very hard to garner into Freeflow combos and I think players would benefit from still having the ability to disorient Titans again with the Batarang like in Arkham Asylum. Maybe add in a special x30 or x50 special takedown that works on Titans and Lieutenants only. With a multitude of options to take down these individual opponents, Batman doesn't have to rely so heavily on the Disarm & Destroy takedown like in Arkham City. If Catwoman is going to continue being playable in future sequels, she should have more options at her disposal to take care of these opponents as well. If it was up to me, I would allow the Batclaw quick gadget to snatch away enemy shields too in Freeflow. 

• The Bat Swarm takedown is a fan-favorite in this game, but I would prefer to have the Throw takedown back from Arkham Asylum. While I agree that Bat Swarm has a multitude of uses, that include easy setups for Ground Takedowns, but at the same time, it doesn't last as long as one would expect. Either extend the stun effect and radius, or give me back the Throw for dealing with mobs. Currently, Robin is the only character who still have this takedown from Arkham Asylum. 

• Disable single Ground Takedowns in Freeflow. While we have access to the Multi-Ground Takedown it really kills the point of having a solo version. I would be perfectly content with that move being limited to just Predator actions while freeing up that input for a new gadget or takedown. Most players (save for perfectionists) don't go for it regularly because it's so unsafe to do in the heat of battle.

• Remove Remote Mines/Explosive Gel from Freeflow. They have little to no effectiveness in combat and it's more of an annoyance to plant one and wait for enough foes are around it to detonate it without losing your combo string. What's even more pathetic is that this gadget does little to no damage to Titans. My suggestion to improve this move would be to enable an ability that allows you to slap a mine/spray the explosive gel on the Titan to weaken him. 

• More attention to the other playable characters. Rocksteady made a huge selling point with Catwoman, Nightwing, and Robin being playable in Arkham City but all three were mediocre at best compared to The Dark Knight himself. All three of these characters are missing the precious Disarm & Destroy takedown that is vital to survival on the Extreme challenge rooms, where these rooms are armed to the teeth with Batman's hardest foes from the single player campaign. Someone explain to me why is Catwoman's Critical Strikes and overall movement just as the same, if not slower at times, than Batman's? Don't even get me started on her piss poor hit detection on her Whip attacks for Stun... Why does Robin have the slowest Beatdown animation out of all of the playable characters and Nightwing lacks glide attacks because he doesn't have a cape? Hello, Nightwing's "wings" are underneath his arms if we're going by both the comics and the animated series. All I'm asking is that Rocksteady stops taking the cheap way out when giving us additional characters. Either give them the same options and variety as Batman (or even more variety in some cases) or don't bother with them at all. 

II. Predator Mode Changes/Improvements

• Incorporate Smoke Bombs into Predator gameplay, especially in rooms where all guards are armed. For the past two games in the series, this gadget has been limited to just for escaping or hiding from armed foes. I would love to be able to use this traditionally like Batman is known for, dropping a few of these into a crowd and taking out everyone before the smoke clears.

• There should be a bonus for the players who are more comfortable with the stealth-oriented sections than combat. By now it's a given that most players who enjoy this series fall into two categories: those who excel at the combat but not the stealth sections, or those who excel at the stealth sections but struggle with the combat. There's few players like myself who enjoy and excel at both. Perhaps the game could give more EXP for players who are more creative with their gadget use in these sections - setting traps and multiple gadgets being used than just simply taking out everyone with silent takedowns. More of the bonus objectives like in the Riddler's Revenge Predator Challenges would be a plus.

• If Catwoman is going to continue being a playable character, she is going to require some more options to make her truly unique and set her apart from Batman. Arkham City gave her a decent foundation to start with but she requires a lot of work to be effective when Batman can do everything she can but better and with minimal effort. I suggest a good start would be to assign her an Isis (her pet feline) helper that can be controlled much like the Remote Batarang. She can let Isis go into vents and small openings to help her get into inaccessible areas (much like those where Batman has to hack the doors open) while using Isis to distract foes much like the Sonic Batarang.