That Awkward Moment in Arkham Origins When... (Spoilerish?)

...you discover that there is literally ONE actually new gadget in the ENTIRE GAME. The batclaw (which is really not so different from the grapnel gun). And everything else is just a returned gadget from Arkham City, a game that is years in Batman's FUTURE (which makes no damn sense... what, did he just forget how to make the gadgets? Did someone steal them all sometime before Asylum?)
 
I got excited to finally see something new in the Electric Gauntlets. Then I found out they're just taken FROM THE WII VERSION.
 
Warner Bros., grow a pair and be creative for crying out loud. You couldn't even make Gotham City without copy/pasting the snow.

It's pretty sad how much they recycled, despite that I really enjoyed the story and the Joker was fantastic.

I have to admit, I was at first like "Oh, COME ON, the Joker AGAIN? For Pete's sake, way to rehash..." but they did use him very well and revealed his relationship with Batman in a very interesting way, so I'm satisfied there. And of course Troy Baker did a great job with his Hamill-inspired take on the character.

But the one who really blew me away was Bane. What a badass! He was my favorite character in the game, and all of his fights were really intense. They really handled him like true fans of the character. Rocksteady basically designed him to be mentally retarded in the previous two games. Especially in City.

I feel like the reason Rocksteady used Bane the ways they did was because he's on the downswing of his life. I feel like they had more than a little input on what caused Bane to be the way he is by the time Asylum rolls around. It makes sense for him to be not so smart after using the Titan prototype.

As for the complaints about gadgets, just get over it. This is essentially the Dead Rising 2: Off the Record of the Arkham series. They didn't want to sacrifice gameplay to make sense and I applaud them for that. It was a pretty good game. It would be my favorite in the series if it wasn't so broken.

I mean, I've beaten the game already now and I put up with it, so it's not like the gadgets were enough to make me throw it out the window or something. But personally, I would absolutely not consider it my favorite game in the series. As much as they emulated City's gameplay, they definitely didn't master it. 80% of the game is fights with (IMO) overly-aggressive thugs, and the predator sections are few and far between, and aren't even done particularly well all the time. Obviously to each their own, though, so I'm glad you liked it the best of all; I'm just offering my two cents there.

But I also have Origins: Blackgate, and in that game they really did a great job with the gadgets. You still have the standard batclaw, batarang, explosive gel, etc., but they actually do what City did to Asylum and expand them. The batarang has a different use on top of the standard throw it and hit people function, the gel can be used completely differently, the batclaw has new mobility functions... the devs behind Blackgate took what was working and built on it. I'd love to see more of the handheld spinoff franchise.