While still in need of many, many tweaks and balances - this is the most exciting new online shooter I've played in years. The environmental destruction is visually thrilling but also gives each match a sense of dynamism and unpredictability. The different strategic options mean matches rarely feel the same, despite the limited number of maps.

The different weapons and classes are in desperate need of some fine-tuning and balancing, and the cosmetic options when you don't want to spend money are extremely limited - but the core game here is excellent.

A satisfying Souls-like, with a cool setting and a more accessible but still deep combat system.

I'm a little over half-way through, but I'm not quite feeling the draw to keep going - so I'm shelving for now. But I'll keep it installed on the Xbox should I get the itch in the future.

My main gripe is the world building and characters, which are the areas this game feels the most like 'we have From Soft at home.'

Fired this back up after the Furiosa trailer got me back in the Mad Max Mood™.

It remains a very cool but less-than-the-sum-of-its-parts open world game. The look and overall vibe of the Mad Max world is awesome, and will scratch that itch. The hand to hand combat is meaty, and satisfying - with the vehicles combat also delivering.

But this is the most 2015 open world ass open world game ever, and the repetition and boredom starts to set in basically instantly once you're let loose on the map. You're instantly grinding and clearing things off a list to make any progress and it just takes the fun out of the very solid mechanics.

But still; it's cool. And I wish we had more ambitious licenced games like this.

This current season is a blast - not as many huge, game changing things as recent years, but a fun map, set of quests, and rewards.

The new modes, or I guess games, are very much a work in progress. The fake Rock Band and the non-football Rocket League feel very bare bones, and Lego seems... Cool but just another one of those.

Battle Royale remains one of the best way to have fun with your pals.

A super cool Battlefield-like. Big maps, vehicles, 100s of players, destructible environments, and tonnes and tonnes of player choice.

Even accepting that the visuals are de-emphasized in favour of performance, I do really dislike the way the game looks. I respect their dedication to spectacle and scale though.

Steam Deck notes: this game is BEGGING to be played with a keyboard and mouse, so I wouldn't recommend it on a Deck or even on a standard desktop with a controller. There are some good community layouts on Steam but it's a dense game with a lot of commands. Performance wise however, it was pretty dang good on the Deck. Frame rate got a little choppy when literal 100s of players descended on one objective point, but only in rare cases.

I'm definitely of the belief that these games lost a little bit of magic as their open world settings expanded; Arkham Asylum is a wonderfully designed, intricate setting for a Metroidvaniya. It's loaded with atmosphere and Easter eggs and the main campaign is wonderfully paced.

But it's also hard to ignore the way the sequels improved on this game, and it does feel quite old in some ways (I mean... It is literally 15 years old now). While the combat would become a little over stuffed in future entries, they definitely improved on it, and Asylum's feels somewhat basic. Enemies take turns attacking you, animations are fairly limited and the free flow combat just doesn't flow as freely as it would later on. But nonetheless it's still tight and satisfying.

The other big issue is the story, which is mostly fun and wonderfully performed (RIP the GOAT, Mr Conroy) -- but TITAN just isn't a compelling angle, and the big Joker finale is so lame, along with most of the other boss fights.

I was going to 100% this, because I've been meaning to for a decade -- but I remembered just how tedious that is, even in this - the smallest game.

Steam Deck notes: despite an unsupported rating from Valve, this is an excellent Deck game.

I've kind of hit a wall with this, progress wise, and as much as I loved it initially - I can't say it's really hooking me in to break through that wall.

It makes a tremendous first impression. It looks and sounds incredible; a super satisfying top down shooter that looks to expand on some of the groundwork laid down by Hotline Miami. Lofty goals! But I think it does an admirable job, with its own innovations and sense of style that makes it feel more unique. But as the difficulty spikes and I don't really feel that I'm 'learning' per se - I think I'll just take a breather from it right now.

Hard to stick a rating on it, so I won't just yet.

Man, being half way through a series replay when the great James McCaffrey passed away made for more than a few sombre moments here. Rest in peace to a true video game icon.

I can see why this would be some people's favourite in the franchise, especially if they dislike the third game (I really like it, but I guess we'll talk about that in a few weeks). It's improved over the original game in just about every way. Most notably, like a lot of games of this era, it REALLY wants you to appreciate its ragdoll physics. And appreciate them I do! One of the greatest innovations in gaming, and beautifully deployed here. Combined with sharper visuals and much better, more complex enemy AI and the core shooting experience in Max Payne 2 is significantly enhanced over the first game.

Where it falls down, to me, is the story. I just never really cared about the Max/Mona dynamic, and it feels like so much of this game hinges on you caring a LOT about it. Max, in the best way, is kind of one dimensional - which makes for hammy, noir-y fun in the first game with its tale of revenge, gangland betrayals, and conspiracies. But when things try and get somewhat earnest in the sequel I just don't think it works. It still has its kooky though.

Steam Deck note: use a community layout with gyro aiming. It's actually really fun.

Frustratingly buggy but nonetheless cool. While the homages it is making are quite obvious, El Paso actually managed to stand on its own two feet fairly well - with a great central character and performance, and a tremendous visual style.

I felt like things were dragging a bit, and then I encountered a progress blocking bug I didn't feel inclined to try and get around, so I'm tapping out about an hour before things wrap up, which is a shame. May come back to this in a few patches time, as it's pretty cool.

One of the most stylish games of all time. A phenomenal audio visual package that melds bleeding edge tech, wonderful art direction, and tremendously campy FMV to make something truly memorable and unique. Whatever you do or don't get out of the rest of the game, there is no denying the presentation of this game.

And to me, the rest is truly excellent; takes the lessons of Control and every other game since Remedy made the first Alan Wake -- to deliver something that isn't just a worthy sequel, but really something that makes good on the promising but deeply flawed original game.

There are some growing pains, as Remedy ventures into new territory with a real-ass survival horror game - unlike any of the action heavy stuff they've previously done. And in some ways it feels like a horror from the PS1 golden era, warts and all. The shooting feels good mostly, but your characters are definitely not nimble and it is certainly evoking a classic Resident Evil mindset where you aren't supposed to feel like Rambo; combat should be intense, and unsure. But coupled with the very spotty checkpointing, there was some frustrations for me.

As for the story; I loved it. I love Remedy's worlds (or world, I guess. Singular) - and Saga is easily their best ever protagonist. Yes, even over Max Payne - who I love but is obviously a 2D pastiche of movie cliches. My only concern is the ending, which I won't get into here. I really hope it isn't expanded upon in a DLC chapter, because that would feel cheap and lame. I hope they leave it as is. I won't say any more because it's impossible without spoiling anything.

God bless the ambition and the heart of this thing - I can see why it has a following -- but it is just not very good.

The tone and the fear/trust mechanic had me hooked early on, but the latter is not fleshed out nearly enough, and feels a bit like window dressing. Then the game descends into a quite terrible action adventure/third person shooter in the second half, with awful boss design and checkpointing, squandering any good will earned earlier on.

Just watch the movie.