After Mr. Freeze's battle in Arkham City, and all the great boss battles in Origins, I was at least hoping for . . . something. Anything really.
But hey, they didn't even use the 'villains working together' plotline at all, they literally had to introduce a character just to foreshadow the major reveal, and all the awesome Gotham gangs were replaced by a series of repetitive tank battles and boring militia missions. The milita of course possessing all the Gotham City feel and personality of white paint drying.
The side missions in Origins are still the ideal. For the most part they weren't repetitive, and when they were like with Penguin and Black Mask, they didn't go on forever. They were incorporated into the main story or had fun little gimmicks, and most of all they were fun. None of this 'destroy all the mines' or 'take down the militia towers' junk.
Oh, and what was with the lack of any really trippy Scarecrow visions? Seriously, that's the main draw of the character. After Asylum we were all salivating for him, and with AK's announcement we were all excited to see what crazy stuff they would do with the new console visuals. Instead we get Joker, a little more Joker, and some more Joker after that, but no real variation, and nothing like the 'Joker taking Batman to the Asylum.' Well, we got Oracle shooting herself, which was pretty damned good, but there was nothing playwise in terms of nightmare scapes or anything. That's a step down from 6 years ago.