While I like a lot of what this game does different from its predecessors, it's just way too buggy and unpolished which makes the game far worse than it should've been.

A lot of the new ideas here don't get full implemented and it's a big shame. You now have a bunch of new options to sneak around with, but the level design rarely allows you to make good use of these improvements. The frontier is cool, but it just is too big for an area most players will do little to nothing in. I think this could've been alleviated with more fast travel points to make traversing it less of a pain. The fast travel points in the cities are unlocked in an obnoxious way by slowly traversing the underground and I couldn't be bothered to unlock more than one of these points. I also thought the way you discover portions of the map wasn't very good this time around, the viewpoints seem arbitrary in this game with no really tall buildings that you could find just by looking up and finding the tallest building nearby. You can now discover the map by traversing it yourself, which isn't nearly as fun and gets annoying when you have to do because there aren't any viewpoints to uncover the map in certain areas.

I liked the modern day sections where you played as Desmond, that was easily my favourite part of the game. I think that part of the game makes the game worth playing to anyone interested in the overarching story of the previous games, even though it takes up a small section of the game's overall playtime.

Overall, this is a messy game, but I did have a lot of fun with it in spite of that, and I can only recommend it to fans of the prior games in the franchise.

I used to think I hated this game, but I was just completely indifferent to it.

The original trilogy was very flawed, but also very inspired. So, when you follow up a unique, mature, and well-written trilogy of games with one of the most generic, neutered, and un-original children's platformers I've ever played, the backlash is understandable.

I have so many complaints about Thieves in Time: from the childish writing which clashed hard with that of the previous games, to the gimmicky gameplay lacking depth or ambition, to the weak story loaded with missed potential, to the flaccid cast of characters featuring easily the worst rough's gallery of any Sly Cooper game (El Jefe is the only one I can take seriously and Le Paradox is one of the worst villains I've every seen in a game). I have so many complaints to make, but none of them feel worth making (Except the one about Le Paradox, f*ck Le Paradox).

I'm so dispassionate about Sly 4 that it took me nearly a decade to re-play it and several days to crank out this review. The game is competent enough that I can't be angry about it, but if it were shockingly bad, I'd at least have more to say. As is, this game will leave my memory very soon, and I'll have made room for new games.

For all my problems with the first three games, I respect their maturity and ambition enough that I'll still revisit them in the future, but, for me, Thieves in Time is staying in the past.

Still the best.

As a guy who thinks the first R&C doesn't hold up very well, I think this one holds up spectacularly. Going Commando fixed every single problem I had with the first game and installed so many of the franchise hallmarks that are still present in the series today. I'll give the first game credit for creating the formula. But, if you ask me, this game deserves credit for perfecting it and putting these games on the map.

The controls are much better: I can finally strafe! The banal weapon selection from the first game was overhauled into an amazing selection of creative weapons that became more addicting to use due to the weapon upgrade system which would be featured in every game in the series henceforth. There is great gameplay variety as well: I can play the racing, arena, and crystal collection sections for hours(and I do): It is very impressive how this game adds so much variety without shattering the core gameplay loop in an obtrusive way. The fact that they are optional is objectively good, but I'd play them all anyway. After all, with 100% completion as excellent as this it is no trouble to get every clever skill point or devilishly-hidden platinum bolt leading up to the excellent hidden museum reward.

To be fair, the writing hasn't much improved unless you count all of it. Going Commando has a really fun, unique story that doesn't remind me of any other video game narrative, and it is the only game in the series not to use the exact same structure of, 'lengthy, contrived series of events to hunt down an obvious bad guy in an inefficient way.' The game is filled with quirky humor and memorable characters. The charm in this game is palpable, Ratchet is no-longer the worst main character ever, and the game features Ratchet's first, and easily best, love interest. Seriously, I never got over the series writing her out after this installment. I'm not too hopeful, but I'd love to see her again.

My problems with the game are very minor: I really like most of the optional content, but I wasn't crazy about the dogfights or the giant Clank sections; Most boss fights are very easy and basic; And the fact that the development became rushed near the end does show. The final few levels are weaker and the conclusion is rushed. But, honestly, who cares? This game is amazing.

In fact, much of this adulation may sound familiar to another Insomniac Game I bent over backwards to praise. The wonderful side-characters, the excellent 100% completion, the fantastic level design with the captivating worlds and quirky charm? To me, this game is the closest Insomniac has ever gotten to recapturing the original Spyro 2. I see so much of that game in this one. And, while I don't like Going Commando quite as much, it is another game I wouldn't have wanted to grow up without.

I don't know if this series will ever reach these same heights again. But, as long as I have this game to come back to, that's fine with me.

But seriously. Bring Angela back! #SaveAngela

If Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty were done better.

Into the Nexus takes its main plot and most of its plot elements and gameplay mechanics from Tools of destruction, but it also refines them, creating a game with strong level design, intimidating and well-established villains, a strong gameplay loop with no major low points, and a story that is well told; well paced; and free from major plot holes.

Quest for Booty's short length held it back because it had too many recycled elements from the previous game and too underwhelming a story for it to be memorable. Into the Nexus has a distinct story with distinct characters and meaningful plot events that stand on their own. Nexus can be described as a compact and polished chapter in the R&C saga, where Quest for Booty felt more like a redundant side-note.

Unfortunately, Nexus didn't deliver any major refinements to the R&C formula: The story is functional but nothing special, the gameplay is fun but not drastically better than any game before, and while the short length isn't a major problem, this is the only game in the series I do wish was longer as many of the ideas and characters could have been fleshed out more. It is better to want more than less, but Nexus still ends before a truly great impression has been made.

I still recommend into Nexus. It may only be five hours, but it is five hours well-spent.

While this game does take a lot of the right steps to take Assassins Creed back to what it used to be, there are still a lot of outlying factors that Ubisoft need to ditch for their upcoming entries and a lot of issues that have plagued this franchise long before its recent gameplay shift.

To start off the story is nothing special. Basim is a pretty good protagonist and he is probably the best part of the story, specifically his battle with the Jinni that haunts him in his dreams. The overall narrative lacks a "villain" and instead has 5 faceless people to hunt down which isn't a huge problem but a proper antagonist is something i think the game is missing. Most of the side characters are forgettable because they don't really do anything. Mission wise the game lacks any real set pieces as most of it follows a similar format of find a person in a large fortress. I never saw the "twist" at the end coming but I feel so much better could of been done.

Next up the gameplay. I really didn't enjoy the parkour in this game as it just felt so slow. The combat was also just boring, it got to the point where if there wasn't any enemies that you couldn't parry and insta kill I just didn't bother fighting them. I did however enjoy the stealth as its what I normally went for because I wasn't a fan of the open combat. Technically the game looks really nice playing on the 60 fps mode, and the map was pretty good but all felt a bit similar.

A lot of my issues come down to remnants of the RPG style still in this game, the characters feel like an after thought because none are involved in missions, the inclusion of a stamina bar I think really doesn't work especially when you have enemies that you cant parry and have to dodge. The RPG style on its own is alright but it doesn't work in a game like this where they were trying to make the game like the old ones.

Overall I enjoyed my time with Mirage but I doubt I would ever come back to it. This is a good step in the right direction for the franchise but still it can be improved upon

I'm a longtime fan of this series, but I had absolutely begun to miss the tighter scope of the original games. Valhalla was far too big and longwinded, and I could never bring myself to complete it.

So going into Mirage I was excited for a return to basics, and a reduced scope. I was also really amped to explore Abbasid Caliphate era Baghdad. On each of these points I think AC Mirage really succeeds, and (overall) I did really enjoy my time with it.

There are however a couple of things that reduce my personal score a little.

The realism of the parkour means you often feel really slow. I'm of the opinion that even if it's unrealistic, they could serve to increase the speed of some of the parkour animations and the blends between them so I really feel as acrobatic as possible. Travelling around the city and across rooftops should be a major draw of these games, and it needs to be fast. They need to do for AC parkour what the Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 did for Spidey web-swinging.

Secondly, the combat has gone back to a simpler style and whilst I appreciate that it now has some difficulty if you're not playing it well - it's a pretty boring system and I do kinda wish there were a little more to it.

Thirdly, and this is perhaps the more important one. Basim's personal journey is something that anyone who finished Valhalla (or read about the ending like I did) will know the key aspects for. But anyone playing Mirage as their first AC is going to be extremely lost by a lot of what happens in the last section of the game. I feel like they could have done more with presenting this game as a potential first AC for someone, and onboarded some of the weird lore a lot better.

Anyway, it's pretty good. If you liked old AC and didn't like the rpg ACs, you'll probably be in for a good time.

It is so refreshing to play a new AC game that purely focuses on stabbing & stealth through enemies instead of adding unnecessary fluff that started to annoy me with this series starting with Revelations & especially AC3. It only worked out well in AC4: Black Flag & that's unfortunately the exception.

I find the setting of Baghdad so intriguing due to 2 key reasons which that the environments are beautiful to look at & the level design is surprisingly well made in terms of moving around or ticking off objectives. Due to that, the stealth is so satisfying to pull off & traversal movement does its job even if I wish that it had more depth to it.

I do have a decent amount of stuff to complain though. The story is just okay, but nothing that remarkable. The combat is just terrible or very janky, and the character models are just ugly to look at. The default controls I find to be bad and had to customize them to make the experience much smoother.

In conclusion, AC: Mirage doesn’t innovate the series at all and if you are looking for that, you will be severely disappointed. However, if you are already happy with the old AC formula, but has gotten way too much fluff over the years. I think Mirage will finally consistently satisfy you as it did for me without overstaying its welcome with the length. I’m overall happy with this game, but definitely can see why many others aren’t happy with it.