[citation][nom]hixbot[/nom]I absolutely loved the first game. My only complaint was the over simplified combat controls. I hope the combat gameplay is a little more deep this time around.[/citation]
I disagree entirely, I'm absolutely sick of the combat games requiring you to memorize 100 different obscure 40-key combinations in order to punch somebody for 10% more damage than a normal punch (I'm looking at you DOA). And, generally all that happens in games with more complex combat controls is they still devolve into 'mash button x fast' because the combinations just get ridiculous and tedious. The finesse in the combat of timing and spreading your attacks out of batman:aa (and keeping a mental image where all the baddies are, who's getting up next and who has a weapon to maximize said timing) was far more rewarding to me than memorizing up, down, up, down, forward half-moon, CCW 360°, x, y, y, y, a, b, b, a, LT, RB, start+RT to hit somebody in a fancy way. The crazy stuff you could get batman to do in that game with just the x, y and occasional a or b button as long as your timing was good I thought was phenomenal.
My biggest gripe with the game was detective mode. There was hardly ever any reason to turn it off other than, "Hmm, I wonder with this room looks like." The artwork was really well done in the game but you rarely saw any of it because detective mode was too useful and there was never any penalty to keeping it on (other than not seeing the artwork). My other small gripe was having to do the 'Bane' fight over and over with minor permutations but those fights were far enough apart so they didn't get too irritatingly repetitive.
Other than those two gripes I thought the game was absolutely phenomenal, heck even Yahtzee liked it.