The point about Arkham Asylum combat is getting a high combo multiplier by varying moves, use batarang, etc. because otherwise it can be indeed very boring, right up to Assassin's Creed levels.
You can win every fight against unarmed mobs by just standing around and countering by pressing a button. Enemies are courteous enough to attack one after the other.
Similarly with stealth, it will become very boring if you rely solely on hiding on a gargoyle. In fact, one of the rarely interesting stealth sections is when the goons finally have the bright idea of putting explosives on the gargoyles near the end of the game.