Chalk it up to this being another example of a game that is just so much a part of who I am that it would be fraudulent to not rate it this highly. This is undeniably one of my favorite games of all time. I still have such a blast revisiting it today to experience its incredibly immersive and captivating narrative, with a wonderfully written cast of memorable characters, raw, acerbic dialogue, a beautiful yet grounded world that’s rich in both atmosphere and vibrant attention to detail, complimented by timeless gameplay mechanics and the eclectic, awesome soundtrack. It’s more than evident that the devs at 2k czech (even through the game’s rather notorious fraught development cycle) poured genuine passion into this game and it effortlessly coalesces into a gripping final product that holds up brilliantly even 13 years later. I love the hell out of Mafia 2 and I seriously doubt that my fervent enthusiasm for it is going to waver anytime soon. What a flawed but immensely special gem this game is.

You know? It had been a very long time since I last played this game so I’d kind of forgotten just how much I loved it. It absolutely still holds up for me as one of my favorite games. It so wonderfully thrives as a tautly paced, breathlessly fun, and downright swashbuckling action adventure experience. The game boasts butter smooth and engaging platforming gameplay that only becomes more complex and challenging as it goes on, level design that is well wrought despite being highly linear, mechanically simple but still immensely satisfying combat, as well as a very charming story with endearing and affably likable characters that you come to really root for and get behind by the end. The soundtrack and atmosphere are aces as well. Every ounce of passion that was poured into this game by the developers is more than evident throughout and it coalesces effortlessly into a remarkable final product that (no pun intended) has more than stood the test of time. Oh how I wish that ubisoft still made games that go this fucking hard.

I’ve had this almost completely wiped off my memory since playing it for the first time years ago and it still holds up as a damn fun superhero game. Although it’s certainly not without its obvious but still unfortunate limitations. The story (if you can even call it that) is very superfluous with some rather bizarrely structured and paced flashback segments that always seem to interject at the most awkward times. The writing itself is also decidedly not the best (a residual byproduct of the utterly atrocious licensed material that the game is based on) as certain plot beats seemingly feel either too rushed or needlessly drawn out. However these quibbles really just allow those qualities that this game truly excels at to shine that much more. The animations are butter smooth and impactful, the level design is highly linear but it helps retain the game’s intended high octane pacing, and the hack and slash combat feels both immensely visceral and immediately satisfying, the game always providing you with a solid amount of unique enemy types and new abilities which keeps the moment to moment gameplay experience consistently fresh, thrilling, and addicting. The boss fights are quite fun too despite feeling very repetitive at points and not containing a great deal of mechanical depth or even requiring all that much skill to fight. The scripted action set pieces conversely are also very well utilized and they help add a ton of memorable flavor and variety to individual chapters. The occasional puzzles (while being rudimentarily simple to solve and mostly bereft of challenge) also get the job done pretty effectively. I certainly get why this game didn’t exactly set the world on fire when it released but i had an awesome time revisiting it nonetheless. If nothing else it has only galvanized my excitement for insomniac games upcoming Wolverine game.

There was once a stretch of time in my life where Uncharted 2 was my favorite game of all time and replaying it after so long was certainly a strong vindication of why that was the case. This game is nothing less than a shining exemplar of what narrative lead adventure games are capable of and it excels in pretty much every single way imaginable. It’s also proof positive that highly linear game design can still be hugely compelling. From its relentlessly entertaining and action packed story, its colorful cast of likeable and incredibly memorable characters, the practically flawless pacing, the fun and polished gameplay, to the fully playable set pieces that are at once palpably intense and positively exhilarating. The day I stop loving this game is the same day that I become a joyless asshole.

This game is just as awesome as i remembered it being. Pretty much everything about it just works across the board. The art direction is atmospheric and moody, the traversal has a somewhat steep learning curve but it’s still incredibly fluid and functional, the combat is energetic and engaging, and the story offers just enough twists to keep you wrapped up in it from start to finish. The progression is very rewarding too. The game always gives you cool new mechanics and unique abilities to experiment with and it in turn keeps the overall experience from becoming overly stale or repetitive. If the game does have any singular weaknesses it’s that the actual open world elements are somewhat lacking by modern standards and the world itself doesn’t offer a great deal in the way of in depth, substantial side content, opting to mostly uninspired collectibles and superfluous activities that aren’t entirely interesting. I’m also decidedly not the biggest fan of the morality system. It’s rather half baked and the player choices rarely affect the overarching narrative in any intrinsic or particularly meaningful way. Warts and all though? The core gameplay loop is so immensely satisfying that i can easily look past some of this game’s more glaringly apparent shortcomings. Infamous most certainly holds up as a very fun superhero game and it’s one of the playstation 3’s best exclusives.

Outer Wilds is a game that’s best played going into it as blind as possible. So much of what makes this game so magical is defined by way of non linear discovery, problem solving, and player ingenuity so I’ll try to keep this brief and get down to brass tacks. All I want to say for now is that this is one of the most unique gaming experiences that i’ve had throughout the year. From the way that it rewards and incentivizes exploration and curiosity, to how it so brilliantly conveys its story through subtle world building and organic discoveries, to its engaging and deeply satisfying gameplay loop, its fun and challenging puzzles, to the absolutely beautiful art style and the wistfully atmospheric soundtrack that adds so much to this game. All of this culminates into an unforgettable, profoundly emotionally affecting, and wonderfully paced adventure that’s full of creative surprises and blistering excitement in equal measure. This game is undeniably a masterpiece and i’m frankly ecstatic that it managed to live up to the hype so thoroughly.

This replay of Arkham Knight was something of a revelation. I had always liked this game but I also got so caught up in the issues that you could easily single out to nitpick to death, with that namely being the overabundance of repetitive batmobile sections, the lack of memorable boss battles, the blatantly predictable story twist, etc. In the grand scheme of things though allowing these hiccups to torpedo a game which excels so comprehensively on so many other levels is effectively missing the forest for the trees. Because on this replay I've garnered a deeper appreciation for Arkham Knight and I’m finally ready to see it as an unassailable masterpiece on the same level as Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. This game holds up amazingly well nearly a decade after its initial release. On a sheer sensory and technical level it’s positively sumptuous, boasting absolutely stunning visuals and graphics, a gorgeously atmospheric open world that’s rich in both depth and content, and top notch moment to moment gameplay. The traversal is fast paced and very efficient, the stealth sections are about as blisteringly intense and tightly designed as ever, and the combat remains more or less the same fluid freeflow system from the other games but polished up to a mirror sheen, with just the right mix of mechanical complexity and varied enemy types to keep it consistently challenging and fun. I’ve also come to really love this game’s story. It takes a while to really cook and the writing itself is far from spotless (as it definitely lacks the same butter smooth pacing of the prior games and certain beats aren’t entirely fleshed out or built up) but the story which does emerge is ultimately still incredibly compelling. It offers very emotionally effective character drama and plenty to talk about and think about thematically. It also contains some absolutely fantastic moments throughout which rank among some of the best in the series. The side missions additionally contribute very meaningfully to the overarching narrative alongside just being incredibly unique and engaging gameplay content in their own right. All of these reasons as well as many others more are why i absolutely love Arkham Knight in spite of it all. It's messy and imperfect but it's also just so much fun. It tells a highly ambitious story which conclusively rounds off a saga of fantastic games near flawlessly while also paying due tribute to its characters. The Arkham games are such a huge part of why i love video games so much in the first place and revisiting them was certainly a fruitful experience.

Arkham Origins is something of a black sheep within the Arkham franchise. It was the only game in the series to not be developed by rocksteady and it’s nowhere near as fervorously beloved or critically acclaimed as Arkham Asylum or Arkham City. It’s also not as venomously criticized as Arkham Knight either. Instead it was a game largely met with passionless indifference on its release and in some ways i do understand why. The open world is devoid of the high quality and engaging pieces of side content of Arkham City, the setting lacks the same unique and immersive atmosphere of Arkham Asylum, and the gameplay is effectively a carbon copy of the prior games with little changed or added substantially or mechanically. Honestly though? I’ve always loved this game despite its shortcomings and i feel as though it has only become easier to appreciate its merits with the benefit of retrospect. The strength of Arkham Origins definitely lies in its writing, its story and character building, and in how it handles and fleshes out those characters. Particularly the latter. Batman, Gordon, Alfred, The Joker, The Assassins, all of these characters are written near flawlessly and they are woven into Batman’s character development throughout the course of the story incredibly well. Batman’s initial domineering attitude shifts throughout the game as he becomes more trusting of allies after nearly losing Alfred. He begins the game as a younger, angrier, less experienced, more vulnerable version of himself and by the end he shares a far closer resemblance to the more tempered Batman we see in the other games. It’s rather brilliant character writing and a genuinely meaningful character arc rather than a meager predetermined means to an end. So this game may not do a great deal to expand the gameplay of the series as a sequel, it may not do much to differentiate itself from the other games, and it may lack in deep side content but it certainly does plenty to expand the story and characters of the Arkham series. This is still a rock solid Batman game at the end of the day. The gameplay is smooth and polished, the boss battles are varied and engaging, and it tells a very well paced story with interesting and richly developed characters. Arkham Origins is a more than fitting addition to the stellar Arkham series and it might even be better than you remember.

This game sure does hold up. It’s such a fantastic sequel to Arkham Asylum despite lacking some of the unique atmosphere and environmental storytelling that made that game so special. This is a game that has no pretensions about itself and it excels in every way that an action game of this caliber should. The combat system is fluid and satisfying, the boss fights are incredibly varied (a considerable improvement over the repetitive bosses from Arkham Asylum) as well as very enjoyable, the open world level design is consistently strong and the visual style is gorgeously captivating, the side missions are quality pieces of content that are given just as much care as the main missions, the tonal consistency remains intact just as the characterization remains flawless. The story here is great too and the way in which it’s told is still remarkable to this day. The way every villain has time to shine, the way they all contribute to the game in some meaningful way or another, the way they all allow the overall plot to move forward while never once feeling incoherent or messy, never once dragging, never once bringing the pacing of the game to a screeching halt. It’s absolutely masterful writing. Experiencing this story unfold across a gurthy 15 hour campaign (30 hours depending on how much side content you participate in) where we really get a deep sense of this world, as well as these characters within it is incredibly engrossing, while the beautifully understated ending is perfectly put together and it hasn’t lost an ounce of its power or emotional resonance. Arkham City is a game that I’ve loved for so many years and replaying it after so long has only enriched my love for it. It’s one of the fastest selling games of all time for a damn good reason and it remains an unassailable masterpiece within the gaming industry.

I love this game. While Arkham City certainly has a more ambitious scope and more daring narrative strides, Arkham Origins has more mechanically varied and engaging boss battles, and Arkham Knight has a far more expansive and richly detailed open world than any other game in the series. However as time goes on Arkham Asylum has slowly become my potential favorite in the series. This is the Arkham game i have the most fun revisiting for the simple fact that i feel it very acutely captures what it truly means to be Batman, what is a Batman game in its purest, most distilled form. From its efficiently told story that’s laser focused and paced incredibly well, the flawless characterization that’s completely faithful to the core values of Batman stories, the innovative and fluid combat system that feels consistently engaging and fun, the hauntingly atmospheric setting, to the tight and brilliant intrinsically connected level design. Every single aspect of Arkham Asylum is so masterfully put together. It’s a game filled with such a clear, evident love of the source material, making it one of the best superhero games ever made and a true staple of the action genre.