It’s not at all a shock to me that this is easily one of my favorite games of all time, I was expecting nothing less (which is a stupid and risky mindset to go into a game with I recognize) but despite having the highest expectations possible, this game absolutely demolished them.

Everything here is an improvement on the last, gameplay especially is something I figured would be about as good but holy shit they blew the other 2 games out of the water. Combat feels as smooth as ever but new attack types from enemies, and all new abilities and a parry for the Spider-Men lead to a vast improvement over one of my favorite combat systems in a game already. It never got tiring to nail a parry to lay on damage, the new abilities were incredibly satisfying on their own but also were clearly designed with the idea of comboing them together in mind because that worked exceptionally well! Nowhere did it work better than with the bosses, which oh my GOD are such a vast improvement over the original. I wouldn’t say the bosses in the first game were terrible by any means but they were all pretty damn easy and didn’t stand out too much. The bosses here, especially in the later half of the game are insanely satisfying to play. Fun environmental gimmicks to let you lay on some extra damage, comboing your main abilities to take huge chunks of health, and learning patterns to nail parry chains was all so insanely fun. The main sets of enemies had some upgrades too, not as substantial but there’s a lot more diversity between the varying groups. It feels less like the same 3 enemy types in different outfits but each different clan of enemy feels like it has a different approach or take which is really refreshing. The stealth didn’t have much to improve but web lines add a fun layer of depth to stealth and mitigate that frustrating feeling of an enemy being just out of perch takedown range. Each Spider-Man feels unique as well, obviously a lot of the smaller moves are shared but their unique abilities are a ton of fun! I was a bit worried Peter would feel a bit lesser than Miles going in since I felt Miles was so much more fun in his solo game. They did a great job at making Peter compare though, and by the end with all the Symbiote powers and what not I even ended up having a bit more fun with him, but they’re about as close as possible. The one complaint I do have is the gadgets being as limited as they are. I wish there were a few more, but to be fair the abilities do entirely overshadow them so I get it.

Graphically it’s obviously fucking beautiful. Not only is the standard New York prettier than ever, they also take a lot more chances with what they can do visually. It’s still largely New York but the added islands do a lot for visuals and even just swinging across bridges was a very welcome visual change. They also get crazier with the lasting effects enemies have on the city. I won’t go into too many specifics for spoiler reasons but the way New York looked in the last 3/4 missions of the game was so insanely cool and breathtaking. The new animations for all the abilities and whatnot are beautiful, there’s so many team up takedowns now that look insanely cool, and even smaller things like stopping a car for a small level crime has so much more style and visual flair to it. It’s all an absolute treat to watch.

The story was another improvement to me! I loved everything that was happening, I think i’m very much a hype person so I could see someone not feeling like it reaches the emotional heights of the first and preferring the story there somewhat but either way I think it’d be hard to argue that Insomniac isn’t consistently delivering some of the best Spider-Man stories out there. Miles arc was a huge highlight, there was a period in the middle of the game where I felt like he was being a bit neglected (almost like it was happening in the actual story itself and it was an intentional parallel whaaaat) but by the end of the game he just had such a perfect arc and I can’t wait to see where he goes in future games. I always love seeing Peter become an asshole with the symbiote, I realize the symbiote doesn’t always have to do that but it’s how I prefer it because it’s a funny side of Peter we don’t get to see a ton and it worked really well here. Harry’s relationship with Peter and MJ was a lot of fun to watch, I was enjoying the smaller character moments a ton here. Harry and Peter riding bikes reminiscing about the time they snuck into their old high school, or all three of them at the Coney Island fair having a blast doing all the rides. It was all a lot of fun to watch! The only changes I’d make to the story would be giving more time to things like Kraven and a deeper dive into his mindset. It made a ton of sense, but I feel like we could have gotten deeper into that and his family. I also wouldn’t have minded a bit more of Peter being a dick to Harry, but both of these things IMO aren’t super required, and part of my desire for them is just wanting more video game to be completely honest. The side content I’ve done so far is pretty solid as well, if you’re like me and liked how it was done in the original and love it just being more ways to continue playing the game you’ll have a good time, but I know some wanted an overhaul of the open world content and side stuff which you didn’t really get. Like I said, I love the way it’s done but just figured I’d mention it.

I played Zelda Tears of the Kingdom this year and essentially told myself “yea, it sucks so many games I know i’ll love will come out and won’t compare to this!” Spider-Man 2 being the main game I thought of when I was thinking that. The more I continued Spider-Man though, the more I kept thinking “well, surely this doesn’t keep topping itself? is this really this much better than the first 2?” and it was! It really was! Not that GOTYs matter or anything, especially some random dude on a video game logging sites GOTY, but the brawl between TOTK and Spider-Man 2 is a lot closer than I thought it’d be and if you understand how much I loved TOTK I can’t really believe I’m saying that. There’s a lot of aspects of this game that just feel so perfectly crafted for me and my personal tastes that it leads to a series of games I’ve wanted to be perfected as hard as they have here for a long time and I’m extremely grateful they did. I hope Insomniac makes Spider-Man games forever man they’re just so fucking good.

an incredible time! pretty far and away my favorite 2D mario at this point. i still have a bit of a ceiling for 2D mario, especially compared to stuff like DKC2/Tropical Freeze but this game was so absurdly creative and fun to play. controls the best mario has ever felt in 2d, the wonder flower was a ton of fun to see what exciting thing they had in store for a level, the best looking 2d mario, badges are sick and a lot of fun to experiment with. the only big downside here is the bosses, which to be fair is the case for all 2D marios they're always pretty bad but it felt like such a big chance for them to finally knock bosses out of the park and they're just as boring and standard as ever. final boss was neat but still not anything amazing.

this game really has nothing to dislike, i think if you like 2d mario even a little you're gonna have a solid time. there's so much love in every single aspect of this game. it's very hard to not just have a big smile on your face the entire time. i've never been the biggest 2d mario guy in the world but they finally made one i truly fell in love with here.

What can I say about this game that hasn't already be said. It truly is just the pinnacle of Superhero games. With the amount of love and care put into this title when it comes to doing right by the fans of the previous games and by the fans of the Spiderman mythos as a whole. There is truly so much I can gush about this game but I'll keep it spoiler free.

When it comes to the story I feel it is Insomniac flexing how they can juggle multiple storylines at once. While I do think there is more I would've wanted with certain storylines, they did the most that was possible with the length they kept the game at. A big highlight for me is the relationship between Peter and Miles. Where they start to gain more trust between each other and grow together as people when it comes to how they tackle their respective personal lives. A big highlight aswell is the relationship they build between Peter and Harry. Seeing this relationship reconnect between two old best friends felt very natural and well delivered. I also loved the remixing of multiple characters in this (especially one I did not expect seeing) that showed that Insomniac truly wants to make their spiderman games to be in their own universe. While the emotional highs I'd argue weren't as strong as the original Spiderman game. I'd argue they still hit the nail on the head with it.

Man does this game really remind me that I wish a lot of fucking games had the equivalent of a devil may cry blood palace. The gameplay additions they made here truly just added so much to the fun factor and depth you can achieve. One of my complaints about the original Spiderman title was that despite how satisfying it was to play it felt a lil barebones. This game added a few mechanics and while its not dmc deep it is extremely satisfactory and adds more shit to do in your combos. The parry mechanic is very friendly but also extremely satisfying, the addition of giving you quick actions with the gadgets keeps combat going without pulling up a menu. I truly do wish there was just a bit more enemy variety but I think it was okay enough. Biggest issue gameplay wise is once you get insanely juiced when it comes to hitting max level and fully upgrading Peter and Miles there is no content to really explore the whole net of your kit. You can swing around and fight a few crimes you run into but those don't really spawn in a lot of enemies + aren't the most challenging. I know new game plus will come eventually (sony loves doing this shit for some reason with their games where they delay release new game plus as a free update a bit later) but I kind of am tired of new game plus being the answer to post game content. I would love like I said earlier a devil may cry bloody palace type mode or even something that resembles arkham challenge maps! If I want to play a certain boss fight I love I don't wanna sit there and play through the whole damn game again.

A big thing of this game is just general presentation and art. With technology that Insomniac is just using on full display here. With the amount of times in this game where you go "you can fucking do that?" when it comes to how fast the game is to load things. The game is just gorgeous across the board when it comes to the characters and the world as a whole. The amount of love that the art team has for this interpretation of new york is seen with how they show off the different parts of it. To the beautiful skyscrapers in downtown (shoutout for adding the fantastic four baxter building!!!) to the suburbs of queens. With the sprinkles of new york life in between like the intricate and beautiful murals you'll find across the city. Also the sidequests add to the presentation with a lot of them being just helping normal people with normal everyday issues in the city. My personal favorites were the grandpa one and the Howard one (with honorable mention to the monster in my backyard quest). The look of this game and the performance it achieves is truly the tippy top of the industry.

That is really all I can gush about this game without spoiling anything. This now makes my third platinum on ps5 (with the other two being both spiderman games). The platinum trophy hunt was very simple and felt satisfying this time! This game is a definite system seller and I will not be shocked to see a bunch of kids begging their parents for a ps5 this holiday to get spiderman 2. I am extremely excited for the future of Spiderman and especially for Wolverine! Funnily enough same day this game got announced they showed off Wolverine and I was genuinely more excited for Wolverine but that's because the X-men are very special to me and that also includes the character Logan himself. So I was shocked when that game was announced to be happening. I am so fucking excited and can't gush anymore about this game! Go get a fucking ps5!!!

the game admittedly took me longer than it should have to finish but it was mostly because when i did get to play i just fucked around and did tricks and tried to do cool shit and i got a lot of my fun outta that. there were a couple parts that were sorta lame like the whole police system kinda bummed me out sometimes and something else towards the very end of the game that i wont say here, but this game just has so much character and style and just so good oozing out of it in the amazing soundtrack and fun characters and tricks and the graffiti having guest artists and god this game is really good give it a shot if you can i can see myself getting back to it and just messing around for hours on end

This game feels like such a genuine love letter to everything it's referencing. To the way a friend described as almost feeling like a JSR fan game. It just oozes with such personality and charm.

I think a big thing and pull about this game is the soundtrack and the game has an absolute superb soundtrack. While Hideki does his thing and it's great I want to specifically shout out a few songs I love off of this soundtrack because there is such an amazing roster of artists here. SKALP's Bounce Upon A Time has such an amazing feeling and makes me do a stank face just from the bassline. Operator by GRRL is such an infectious ear worm that has me going "operate operate op op operate" in my free time away from this game. Scraped On The Way Out by Kilowatts has such a grimey feel to it that it really stuck out. Swami Sound absolutely does his thing on Refuse. I think if I pointed out more songs that stuck with me I would be here for the half the review talking about the soundtrack. Please listen to the whole thing when you can.

The gameplay of this game is like butter. With the absolute snappy response of your tricks and the feeling of grinding. With the boost jump allowing more variety of movement in the air compared to just a traditional double jump. While I am a bit saddened by how simple the trick system is it still allows for depth and display of skill when it comes to how you navigate the map as a whole. Just like the original JSR. I love the addition of other characters which while they don't play differently from the main character they add customization to the player by letting them choose who's the coolest to them. Shoutout Red but also I love to play as Bel and Rise, Jay is great aswell but she's 5$ dlc (Yes I bought the lethal league dlc I think it's worth it for Jet "Jay" and Switch "Base").

One big thing aswell in this game is the goregous art. With the absolute beautiful graphics work being done by the devs at Team Reptile and the art throughout the game by guest artists. It is a general joy to just look at this game. The grafitti work is especially a big high point of this game because of the creativity from diverse set of artists they pick. They all bring their own style and interpretation to how they would make graffiti.

If you haven't guessed it by now, I kind of fucking love this game! And the only thing I'm really thinking after beating it is how to get an even better combo and how to chain multiple grafitti spots in one combo. I want to make it a personal challenge to somehow hit every grafitti spot in one combo. Buy this game! This team made a phenomenal job of making the game they wanted to make from a pure creative standpoint. Team Reptile has cemented themselves as a dev team to look forward to any new projects, whether Lethal League or BRC related. I'm excited for the future :3

yea it's exactly what you thought/wanted it to be and it fucking rocks! it is unapologetically jet set radio, borderline fan game level similar at points. it is so clearly a love letter to jet set radio and jet set future in every aspect! art style, music style, general gameplay, even some level design and animations are almost 1 to 1 from those games! i can see this being an issue for some one and wanting a bit more of its own identity, and if they do make another one i think i'd like it to get a bit more of its own voice but i think as a love letter to games that haven't been around for so long makes it just really fun and sweet to experience as a fan of those games.

the game looks AMAZING, absolutely nails the style and is just a joy to look at. the shots of the map whenever you got to a new area was always exciting and looked so good. the animations are smooth, the graffiti is beautiful (i'd say personally i liked it more than jet set radio's graffiti) and the overall package is almost entirely perfect. the only presentation aspect i'd say is a bit of a let down is the cutscenes. no voice acting and the faces having 1 emotion that doesn't change whatsoever is pretty silly. i realize that's how it was in jet set radio for the most part but i feel like that was an evolution that no one would have minded and similar to the new lego star wars game, could just be a toggle in the options.

the soundtrack is something everyone was looking forward to and hyping up immensly and it absolutely delivers! so many hits and every track fits the vibe so perfectly. i think the obvious excitment came from hideki naganuma being apart of this game, and those songs do rock but man the entire soundtrack is just so great! i was gonna list off a few of my favorite tracks but genuinely i just loved way too much of it to do that LOL.

gameplay is really great! a clear improvement controls wise to jet set radio and future, everything feels so smooth and great and the boost pack was a wonderful idea. the level design was phenomenal and each area was a joy to explore. genuinely no low points, but just the whole aesthetic and vibe of millenium mall was my favorite probably. i wish the crew battles had a bit more challenge to them, but they were still fun utilizing the level design to get as high a score as possible but i was winning by 100s of thousands of points with ease on my first try on every battle. honestly the biggest excitement from finishing each area was the really sick linear dream sequences after each crew battle. those were always visually a blast and really fun to run through! my only complaint is that i did wish the various forms of traversal felt a bit different. the animations are unique for the skateboard, bmx bike, and rollerblades but generally they all feel borderline identical at a base level which was a bit of a bummer. i realize they can't be TOO different so each item could do every task but i still feel there could be a bit more variance. i also wish you could just insta swap to them with some sort of vehicle wheel or something but that's not as big a deal. overall it felt amazing, was super smooth, and it was exhilirating to keep a combo running.

all in all this is game has no real surprises, if you had been following it for as long as most people here i assume have you know what you're getting into and it'll deliver that with ease. i hope they make more of these cause they're a blast! i'd hope there was a bit more evolution in a theoretical sequel but for what this game set out to do it nails it 100%.

Look a woman can admit when she was wrong and I'll say it. I was wrong about this game. When this game first cameout I kind of immediately put it down. I was lost and after 3 hours I gave up and went "man this game is fucking boring". Now after 6 fucking years I decided to give it another shot and man. What a video game. I think also what hindered my enjoyment really was me kind of hardcore comparing it to older zelda games which while some things are zelda staples this game is a MASSIVE departure from the usual. I will say after 6 years it is a shock how little I knew of what was in this game. I guess that's what you get when the most you saw is the occasional clip of somebody sprinting to ganon off game start or them bomb launching themselves across the map. So it felt like how everybody else felt day one where everything was new. I was shocked to how well some of the shrines were because of how many there are. Plus the divine beasts felt like true dungeons that were fun to figure out. The big like "oh!" moment I'd get a lot from this game when I figured out a solution and it was very creative was a treat. I enjoyed how this game expands on the story as a whole of hyrule. The supporting cast being very memorable characters that helped add to the world of Hyrule. This game truly was a treat of a video game. I will say now I get it and I am 100% on board for Tears of the Kingdom

i don't think any wrestling game truly breaks the mold of being a great game on its own, you kinda have to have a vague interest in wrestling and this game isn't any different. that's to say, this is one of the best wrestling games i've played.

i don't think there's much here that's significantly better than any other wrestling game, my enjoyment is entirely based on circumstance. i'm the most into wrestling i've ever been and john cena my favorite wrestler of all time gets a ton of love being the showcase for this game. otherwise it's a pretty standard affair! that's not to say they don't nail it, 2K22 was a solid return to form and this game just improves on it in every way.

the gameplay system is really fun! reversals are done well without being able to be abused too hard, the stun system rewards you for playing well and making sure you can hit a match winning finisher, i like the various mini games (kick out/submission/royal rumble eliminations) they're all very simple but work super well in the context of the game. the pin system especially leads to some super exciting last second kick outs that get your blood pumping!

the john cena showcase was a highlight for me, but i'm not gonna lie and say there weren't some slight letdowns. personally i would have loved a mix wins and losses, i think the concept of playing as people who have beaten cena in big matches is a fun one, but i also wanna play some of the iconic victories! i also think, compared to 2k22s showcase john cena didn't provide as much voice over as rey mysterio did, and it leaves some of the cutscenes feeling a bit awkward. it's not a huge deal but i wish they'd at least get commentary or something playing instead of awkward background music. the transitions between gameplay and real footage is still really fun though, and the matches were all pretty fun to run through. the end of the showcase was by far the highlight and where all the creativity came from though. super cena was a hilarious and sick reward for completing it!

i played myrise and had a really solid time! i've only done the lock story so far but it was well done! i saw a lot of complaints that it was too short but that was pretty baffling to me. maybe it's because i did most side content available, or maybe it's because i played it on the hardest difficulty the entire time, but it was like a solid 13/14 hour experience. the story was alright and it felt satisfying to run through. i'm not a big creative type so i wasn't too invested in my character but a lot of the beats were unique and fun and (spoilers!) forming your own faction at the end was a really cool concept and i had a lot of fun with it. the final match being at summerslam was cool too! it's obvious most of these end at wrestlemania, and i wouldn't have been mad at that obviously but i appreciate the change up. nothing mind blowing here but was fun to run through regardless.

the other modes are good, i haven't dived too deep into MyGM, Universe, or MyFACTION cause i've been focused on the "stories" and just doing random matches i thought would be fun lol. MyGM is a solid addition though, MyFACTION is whatever. realistically it's just playing the game but i'm just never a fan of these microtransaction filled card games the 2K games do so i don't really see myself grinding it too much. i can't speak on the online cause that never particularly interests me in these games unless it's with friends. i've heard mixed things about the servers but the community creations are extremely well made and cool to see!

graphically the game is pretty impressive, most of these models have never looked better. it's shocking how good some of them, namely the big names like john cena, cody rhodes, and especially the bloodline as a whole look. the game still struggles a big with long hair , namely with the women and characters like dolph ziggler. i'm not sure if they'll ever solve that but it still takes you out a bit. otherwise they all look great, the arenas look great too!

i don't really have a lot negative to say here. there's a few bugs, but that's always the case and honestly they're hilarious so i really don't mind LOL they usually end up fixing themselves anyways. the commentators are probably the best they've ever been, some moves they really put some heart into it and it's cool to hear but it is the same repeated lines for most moves/moments and it's especially exhausting in something like myrise where you're using the same character 80% of the time.

i had a great time with this, i'm very glad i purchased this. it's been a while since i've owned a wrestling game, mostly just borrowing/renting them but this a game i see myself returning to very frequently to do a few matches and hit some big spots. if you're at all a wrestling fan, namely a WWE fan i highly recommend this one!

i have nothing bad to say here, everything about this game fucking rocks. visually it's super goofy and fun to look at, the animations are so exaggerated and beautiful and there's a lot of really cute touches. like when you're falling mid run animation for a while peppino will look down and be a little scared. shit like that is so insanely charming and most people can easily miss them. it shows how much love went into the art of this game, obviously the entire thing is brimming with love and polish but the art is a standout for sure.
the soundtrack is amazing and gets your blood pumping as well! every song is great, but especially the songs speeding up on the escape sequences gets you super nervous but super excited. it's a very cool feeling and the music sells it incredibly well.
most importantly it feels phenomenal to play. the controls for sure take a bit of getting used to, and i wouldn't call them perfect. i get caught in the movement a little bit here and there and it can be a bit awkward but when you get into the flow state where everything starts making sense and you're going at insanely fast speeds racking up a massive combo it is an unbeatable experience. it feels like there's an endless amount of tech and small things to optimize the movement that i'll never experience all of but is so incredibly satisfying to learn when you do.
each level is designed super well, there are a few parts in some levels that are kinda awkward in the context of going for P ranks, and some enemies clearly designed to own you on your perfect run but otherwise it's phenomenal. there's also a ton of fun abilities in the levels on top of really fun and creative level gimmicks. i don't wanna spoil them but there's new gimmicks/ideas so frequently but i do wish they expanding on some of them a bit more. there's a few that are truly just one and dones that could have been super fun to expand on.
the bosses were a huge standout for me, not only were they incredibly fun to look at because the art is so crazy but the patterns were so fun to learn and get good at. i had the drive to P rank them immediately after beating them because they're so satisfying to learn and defeat. none of the patterns felt unfair and they were one of the biggest highlights for me easily. i feel like i say this all the time so it's barely the case anymore, but 2D platformers sometimes the bosses feel like an afterthought and are way too easy or just simply unfun but every boss here was incredibly satisfying and fun to defeat and a very good amount of challenge.

it's a very great feeling for a game you follow to come out and meet your expectations, but that feeling is expanded 10 fold when it's an indie game you've been following on twitter for years and it absolutely demolishes those expectations. it's super common for something like this to just never release, let alone be such a phenomenal experience. if you're a platformer fan at all i highly recommend this game, it is so clear how much love and passion was poured into this game and it deserves to be rewarded. i fucking love video games and this game and what it represents is a massive reminder of that.

i had oddly negative memories of this game going into it. not straight up “this sucked” but moreso, i played so many mario sports games and this one always stuck out to me because i just never really had much of a memory of it and i couldn’t really remember it much at all. it had that special feeling behind it, you know when you see a game a couple times as a kid but it always eluded you so it feels extra bizarre to finally get around to playing it. i had just always assumed this was a boring classic nintendo way too safe sports game with not much going on, and i can see the argument for that being true even but i personally had a great time!

each game feels pretty solid here! basketball and dodgeball being stand outs. volleyball was pretty solid too, hockey was pretty lame though. it’s the main one i wouldn’t wanna return to. the star cup tournament for each game was pretty fun but man the computers are absolutely brainless in the mushroom and flower cup LOL. i understand it’s a kids game but god damn they are a slog to get through sometimes. obviously the most fun you’re gonna get is with friends but if you’re trying to unlock stuff and complete the single player “campaign” the early cups are a bit slow. it is worth it though, because instead of a final boss of just throwing bowser on a team, you literally fight a massive enemy named “behemoth” once you beat the star cup in all 4 sports. this boss was really surprising and pretty fuckin cool! you use moved from all 4 sports (although the hockey stick attack seemed like it was just for your AI friends?) to take it down and truly beat the game. it was a very welcome surprise that really bumped this game up for me tbh. not a lot of mario sports games take that extra step!

speaking of that extra step, there was so much more charm and fun in this than i was anticipating, a lot of variety between stadiums most of them with tons of mario charm and gimmicks. bowser jr’s boulevard was a stand out in any game type. i loved the aesthetic and the way scoring works always led to a really fun time. the supers each character got we’re unique and very reminiscent of gamecube era super moves in those sports games.

i guess i had always just lumped this game in with the wii u/3ds era of soulless terrible mario sports games but this game was a very nice surprise! happy to have given it another shot, i see myself returning to this one here and there especially with friends!

i can't speak for the multiplayer, i only did the campaign here but man am i disappointed! i started it and was like "woah, this is surprisingly solid" and i went in with pretty low expectations. it starts off promising, it looks amazing for the console and is very impressive overall. there's some small performance hiccups but not enough for me to say it performs bad. the entire first planet you start on is pretty cool, the controls take a bit of getting used to but especially on a 3ds with the circle pad it works surprisingly well! the boss you fight is solid as well. the more you progress in the game though, the more the cracks start shining through.

let me outline how 80% of this game is: go to planet, find 3 artifacts, use those artifacts to open a teleporter to a boss arena, do escape sequence after boss. this already sounds relatively tedious, but what really ruins it is there are only 2 bosses that you fight 4 times each (with slight variations to be fair) in the boss arenas. on top of that they throw these "guardian" enemies around constantly once you start the escape sequences or revisit planets. it all comes together to make everything feel so samey and uninteresting. the planets themselves are mostly fine... overall pretty linear but fun to explore with some interesting little ideas/platforming challenges. the big kicker though is doors. almost every single door leads into a short hallway with another door at the end of it. this would be a little annoying and samey if they opened instantly, but the problem is these hallways are used for loading new areas. i understand that, but it is exhausting standing in a hallway for 10-15 seconds every single time you want to go through a door. it's especially frustrating when you accidentally go through a door and you wanna turn around. partly because the loading is seemingly longer when this happen, but it also respawns all of those guardians who also start to block doors from opening until you defeat them. not only that, but the time continues while you're in these hallways! the timers for the escape sequences are generous enough that it's not often gonna kill you, but regardless it just feels terrible to watch that timer tick down while you can do absolutely nothing. the entire formula is so tedious and repetitive. i'm really bummed how much i soured on this game by the end because i was so hopeful after the first hourish.

i will say the bosses that are there are alright, i liked them less by the end because of how identical they all are but on their own they're okay. the final boss especially stood out as really good! utilizes all of your sub weapons in a fun way. i do wish it had more attacks though.

i wanted to like this game a lot more than i did, metroid prime remastered absolutely blew me away and while i knew this game wouldn't give me that experience i was hopeful it would be a fun time and it unfortunately just wasn't. there also just isn't any real story significance if that's your thing so there really is no reason to play this one unless you're starving for new metroid content, or you're a freak like me and need to play every game in a series when you start it.

Played through this with a friend of mine. Was a very enjoyable time! I am kind of a shill for anything bat family related that expands more on their relationships and this game did that for me. While everything in this game can be boiled down to a very "okay" feeling I still enjoyed it. With some of the bosses having interesting gimmicks and the different set pieces looking really cool when interacting with some of the rogue's gallery. Overall really solid time and recommend buying it on sale (28$ rn on ps5 if you have ps plus ends on the 1st of march though)

i kinda figured most whining about this game online was a bit overblown, and some of the stuff people complain about is fair but i had a really solid time here! i think too many people were expecting an arkham game but multiplayer and that just isn't really what this game was ever supposed to be.

i played only as nightwing the whole game for context.

the combat isn't the greatest thing in the world but i found it pretty satisfying overall and unlocking new momentum abilities and testing them out was always a good time! the worst bit of the gameplay to me was the little detective sequences. none of the puzzles were satisfying enough to really stand out as great. if they were removed from the game i think nothing would be lost but i don't think they drag the experience down too much either there isn't many of them. on the flip side, the highlight of the combat was when you did a big mission and there were big stealth sequences. it was incredibly fun and satisfying to work with a friend and pick off enemies 1 by 1 without being detected. it always felt super good and was the highlight of combat for sure. the missions themselves were generally a good time too, the villain case files and main story all have a genuine amount of care put into them that makes them fun to run through. some satisfying boss fights throughout and great character interactions. that's a highlight throughout for sure, all 4 characters are pretty well done and i was consistently really enjoying whenever they'd talk or joke around with each other. the main story isn't the most engaging thing in the world but it didn't stand out as bad either. part of this is because i played in a public discord with my friend and there were a lot of point joining talking over moments or just trying to get a laugh out of making fun of it which obviously i signed up for but it's gonna take you out of the story a bit. it's absolutely carried by the characters and their interactions though like i mentioned it was always a highlight. i was genuinely excited to go do one of the story missions on the map when they popped up.

the game overall looks solid too, although there are some pretty glaring performance problems in the hub world of gotham. it's smooth any other time but because the hub is entirely disconnected for each player when you're exploring it in co-op it can chug. this didn't bother me too much, the hub is massive and i understand why it happened and i prefer it over the alternative of not exploring the hub freely with a friend. i'm also not the biggest fps snob in the world though so i can live with it but i can see it being something a lot harder to look past for someone else.

speaking of the hub though it's pretty fun to explore! crimes are everywhere so you always have something to do, and there's a lot of time trials either with your movement abilities or your batcycle that feel pretty fun to run through! there's not too many organic side missions and i would have liked to see a bit more of those but otherwise i was pretty content exploring gotham.

i'll be honest, i didn't fucking care about the UI. i understand why people get upset about but i just have no fucking investment in it lmfao. if the game is fun i can look past it i don't fucking care. i could use it and i never felt confused or overwhelmed. you can for sure get a lot deeper into the modchips and various suits and weapons but i just crafted the newest best thing and put on the highest level shit and it did not hinder my experience in any way. again, i understand why this stuff bothers people, but i just can't really be bothered to care about that shit at this point LOL.

all in all i had a solid time! i find it hard to quantify when a game is "worth" a launch price. I could have bought this on launch and played through it and felt pretty satisfied but i can for sure see this being a sale game for most people, if you're on the fence and have any vague interest i'd recommend it on sale for sure. assuming you have a friend that is, i vaguely mentioned i played with a friend but i will say having a friend greatly improves the experience. i think i'd still have an okay time alone but i'm a freak! idk if most people would. either way, i'm glad i played this game! i had a solid time and see myself going back to do some side content/grind achievements.