In what areas does Asylum's level design showcase deliberateness, and in what ways are those segments fun?
I think of when the player has to takeout a sniper and use the line-launcher to get to a new area as being a good example of that, but I can't think of any more off-hand that weren't (or wouldn't be possible) in AC. AC still has interior areas that require some thought/gadget use to get through (without having the "unstable structure" areas in AA that were serires of auto-platforming a la Uncharted).
I can't understand people saying traversal is a chore in AC, while it's fun in AA. It takes a long time to get from one side of AA to the other, and the scripted backtracking moments (or even worse, any unscripted backtracking) are wrought with loading screens, empty hallways and just running (since you can't grapnel to everything). In AC, you can get from one end to the other in a couple of minutes even without the grapnel boost. The player can choose to run around if they so choose, or zip/glide around, and/or beat up enemies along the way. I don't see how a game being extremely restrictive in comparison to its sequel makes it more fun to move around in. Even if you don't like gliding/running around... it takes, at most, three minutes to get from one end of the "horseshoe" in AC to the other. With teh grapnel boost, it takes less. I don't even want to think about how long it takes to get from one of AA to the other. I just remember going for the Riddler trophies in tha tgame being exceptionally dull as the Aslyum was completely empty.