Not counting the Nocturnal Missions (which I will eventually also play), I beat this one in a couple hours. Early on I was a little less than impressed, perhaps going from Doom and Doomclones to a predecessor was destined to initially disappoint, at least in technicality, but by the end i'd come away liking this one. The levels feel cramped and the enemies hit a bit too hard, but honestly those felt like positives the more I played. As much as playing this sort of game can be fun as a mindless powering through several hundred enemies, there's something just as satisfying about being more careful, and beating a level with minimal damage taken after sneaking your way around. It just fit the atmosphere of the game. Graphically it's obviously very primitive compared to a lot of the later retro FPS styles that i'd prefer aesthetically, but it was fine enough and I can't say I look to these kinds of games for stunning visual experiences. This did exactly what I needed it to do, and that was let me shoot my way through roughly thirty entertaining maps of enemies with boss fights that are mostly underwhelming. That's the Retro FPS way.

More of the same of the main game, which is a good thing, but there are a few things that bring it down somewhat. Obviously the two episodes here don't end with boss fights in the way the main game's three episodes do, instead you end with a fight against multiple prior bosses instead. That, to be fair, is an issue i've had in a lot of games of this type (looking at Doom 64 in particular) but while I get it it's still a bit disappointing. I think the second episode here is the only proper trouble I had finding my way around levels in the whole game too, which is definitely more a thing of my inability than the game being at fault, but it did diminish my experience a tiny bit. Either way, it's a Doom style retro shooter and I like those a lot, and it took about a few hours to beat in total so it wasn't anything I regret. Worth the play if you like Heretic's first three episodes or just like Doom in general.

I would have played this for the first time in either 2009 or 2010, which makes it the first PC game I ever played. Pretty happy with that fact as returning to it here some 15 years later, it still rules. It's a very satisfying strategy game to actually have a successful strategy in, in pretty much every level where it's up to you to pick your system and run with it, and with a final boss that is quite tough but similarly rewarding (as the only one of the last levels in each "world" that wasn't just plant everything to win). Both the art style and sense of humour are really charming, things like having a little almanac to give silly personalities to each plant and zombie you encounter is a really great touch that just adds to that charm so much. It's just such a comfortable game, I think I could put it on at any time and play a few levels or some survival waves and be utterly at zen with it. Really great stuff.

So first of all the Steam version sucks and crashes every time you tab out, but that's by the by. As a game there's a lot to love here, but there's also some significant stuff (mostly one big thing) holding it back somewhat. Obviously the main big points here are the look and gameplay. Lookwise, it's absolutely gorgeous. I'm not really a believer in good graphics being a necessity, but when a game looks this great its hard to deny, both graphically and stylistically very strong stuff. In terms of the gameplay, specifically the freerunning, it's really easy to get to grips with and very fun to get right. When things go well it just flows in a very satisfying way, which is definitely one of the best parts of the game. However, there is an element of gameplay that definitely holds things back, that being the combat. Anytime there's a section with people with guns where you can't just run away it really stunts the game's momentum. I much prefer the freerunner enemies (especially in their initial introduction where you are chased by them through basically a training ground to escape) than just being suddenly ambushed by a bunch of big gun henchmen and forced to fight back. The story is pretty basic, it wasn't really one I invested in at all but it didn't take away from things for me. In fact I think I remembered most of the story beats from watching videos of it about 10 years ago, so none of it came as a big surprise unfortunately. Overall a good, sometimes great game. Disappointing thinking about what happened with this later on, then again, better to just not think about.

Love FPS games and have especially been enjoying modern ones that add their own little twists on the retro format (Cruelty Squad, Dusk) recently, so this being "the most innovative shooter in years" naturally made me want to play it. I remember when this one came out, and the really unique look and feel definitely made it extremely interesting but I never got round to it, so it's nice to finally get round to it. Shame the story is so short because i'd love to have had more levels to play with the really interesting mechanics of this game, obviously the whole time moving when you do aspect is the main draw and it's extremely fun to get to grips with and very satisfying to get right. Having the normal speed replay once you've beaten the level is a really great touch. Entering spoiler territory (not that the story is that deep), the body switching thing was a little less of a draw than figuring out the time stuff, but a lot of fun to incorporate into a run of a level. Love the weapons, especially love the general items you can use to disarm or stumble an enemy, such as the snooker balls in one level or whenever you get to throw glass bottles around. May have to give the endless mode a few goes because I can see it being the sort of thing that's very addictive when you get on a roll with it. Overall a great game, just wish there was a bit more.

Maybe the best Arkham DLC ever? That will be a debate for another time, but i think for what it is these are four genuinely compelling additional side quests that work really well alongside the rest of the game, feeling more like an addition to the main game than a separate piece. Mad Hatter is always fun because they tend to do very well with him stylistically, and this is no different as his level is short but very visually entertaining. Ra's al Ghul's side quest presents the player with an interesting choice that I think is more complex than right or wrong, especially considering Batman's no killing rule. Killer Croc is done quite well though I felt considering how they teased him in City, and how genuinely nerve-wracking his level is in Asylum, it could have been a bit more personal. Mr. Freeze's level is fantastic, mostly for the great story that continues the interesting sympathetic route that the other games portrayed him in, and tied his thread up in a very satisfying way. Sometimes nice endings are just nice. That said, this isn't essential or anything, none of these side quests reach Zsasz or Pyg levels of great, but they're a lot of fun to do and all entertaining looks into the Arkham world.

This is a great game, but after the level of its predecessors (not counting Origins) i'm a little conflicted on some choices. In terms of the actual gameplay, that being the stealth and combat, this is probably the best the series ever got. Many of the additions to combat such as the environmental takedowns and satisfyingly taking down charging enemies with a batarang were great touches, and even though there are a few annoying combo breaker enemies and fights it never reaches Origins levels. By that I mean it's never the aim of the combat to intentionally break your combos, more make them more difficult to earn but all the more satisfying when you do. This is a point for both combat and stealth, but the Fear takedowns are awesome. Perhaps the most welcome addition to a Batman game is that sudden ability to pick off up to five guys at once in rapid succession, a very entertaining ability that I fully utilised at every given opportunity. Stealth also has more enemies designed to mess with you, such as the drone pilots, those who can detect your stealth mode, medics who will revive anyone you pick off and "reflective armour" enemies who you can't see with stealth mode on It can be sometimes aggravating if you jump headfirst in but if you're taking your time to plan out your attack, it's satisfying to have these extra challenges to plan ahead for. It's all geared towards you thinking smart, being patient and planning as well as you can and it's very very satisfying to do a stealth section perfectly. While we're on gameplay it would be hard to talk about this one without mentioning the elephant in the room; The Batmobile. While I don't hate it as much as others i've seen, I understand why there is considerable distaste for it. We'll come onto it a little later but side missions based around fighting endless waves of tank drones and doing annoying races get tedious after a while, the former being a very large part of the side quests if you are looking to do them all. I didn't despise it but I would often take the opportunity to get there via conventional means, especially since the upgraded grapnel boost meant you could jet across the cities three islands with relative ease even without the need for a huge car. The story is a little weaker than before (again not counting Origins) but definitely has its high points, Scarecrow is genuinely quite menacing throughout and totally different to his memorable Asylum appearance. The Arkham Knight I must say they didn't handle in the best way, this kind of reveal is best with prior foreshadowing and to my knowledge this is the first time Jason Todd is ever mentioned in the series, and the way they approach it is so on the nose that his reveal becomes very obvious. I'm also not huge on the fact that the Joker is essentially the main villain once again, as despite your interactions with the Knight and Scarecrow, he's the final fight of the game and spends the whole thing as your main point of conflict. That said, any excuse to have Mark Hamill's interpretation of the Joker at his very best, tearing into Batman (and every other character)'s entire ethos throughout in memorable ways. Many of the side missions stick to the whole Militia takeover of Gotham and are centred around the Batmobile, but some of the ones that aren't are amazing. I'm particularly thinking of Pyg, who has maybe the best side quest in the entire series save for Zsasz. I think that probably says more about my interest in very sinister characters than anything else but it's a fantastic mission, truly creepy and with a great finish. Then again, there are also ones like Deathstroke which is a total disappointment after how great he is in Origins, and the Riddler who I once again neglected to complete. City was just so much of a hassle that it put me off trying this time round, despite the Riddler being a decent insecurely written character it didn't spur me on to finish things.
I think I rambled a bit too much like the review of Origins but point being, this is decidedly below City, and personally I think I prefer Asylum too, but this is a great game that reaches into fantastic area now and then. A good end to a legendary series.

This was the last Arkham game I played of the four, because i'd got into the series with City and I was alive and arguably sentient enough to remember what I recall being pretty heavy distaste for this game around its release. Now things have cooled off since then and i see a good amount of praise for this one, particularly I see a sizeable portion of fans say this has the best story of the whole series. And when I first played this game, while it was still my least favourite of the series, I enjoyed it a good amount. This time around, that was not the case. That being said there are things I enjoyed here. The combat is roughly the same as before and so is the stealth, two generally agreed upon strong points throughout the franchise. However, it seems like past a certain point they do just throw enemies at you repeatedly as a roadblock, and each time these groups of enemies are at least half made up of the really tricky buggers who will fuck with your combo significantly if you aren't lightning fast. I've never been the best at games and I will be the first to admit that, so it does definitely come down to a get good scenario, but I never had this much trouble in City or Asylum and I played those on normal just like I did this one. I have no complaints with the stealth really, that has always been the very peak of the series to me and I am totally onboard with every new trick they throw your way to force you to get creative with taking out guys. I love the jammers, mined gargoyles and everything. While we're on the gameplay aspect, I think the boss fights can be mixed but there are definitely some really good ones. Deadshot is better than his City battle (though that wouldn't have taken much), Deathstroke's fight is awesome and feels like a genuine battle against an equal footed opponent, and Copperhead's fight is very entertaining visually with all the Copperheads showing up and her contortionist fighting style. That said, I got sick of Bane after the first time, I don't really enjoy that running attack at the best of times, much less when they put a bunch of the ridiculous tricky enemies on top of it, and though the final Bane fight is super creative, i've never been able to reach it without being extremely frustrated so i've never been able to enjoy it. As mentioned I love the stealth so if it was in a better game or after something less annoying than how I find the Blackgate section towards the end i'd probably be able to find it fun, unfortunately i've just not had that experience. Now onto the story. I love Batman as a character, have since I was a child and since grown to really appreciate much of his wide cast of rogues and the stories surrounding them. Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy this story. That said there is a lot to enjoy here, and a hell of a lot of potential in it, but I feel a fair amount of that is missed. The corrupt police stuff is great, and the natural thread of Batman learning to co-operate with Gordon who is the only non-corrupt cop on the force is very fun. There's great potential in characters like Black Mask who had not been explored at all in this series to this point, and great potential in the first contact with the Joker. Unfortunately, the potential in Black Mask is not explored here either as he is barely in the game, instead being the Joker in disguise for much of the story and his appearances are limited to being a little bitch who Joker is easily portrayed as above. Joker beats him easily in a fight, makes him kill his girlfriend, steals his gang and kills everyone who refuses to join him, probably also walked into his office and wiped his arse on the curtains. I like Joker a lot and i'm fine with him being presented as a threat, but it's a shame it came at the expense of a potentially interesting main villain just so he could be the big bad of yet another game in a row. Considering the only other time we see Black Mask after this is Red Hood literally killing him, so long Black Mask you will be forgotten. Back to the Joker, i'm not a huge fan of his portrayal here. That's less about how he is presented because I understand he isn't going to be the Joker of City yet, but more in the fact that I find it hard to see this series' Joker and then hear not Mark Hamill. Hamill is synonymous with many voice-overed Joker adaptations for a reason; he's incredible as the Joker, and Troy Baker (no offence to the guy who is a great voice actor) doesn't work for me. His voice sounds all off, and I don't find his writing as strong as it were for Hamill either.
I've realised i've rambled a lot here so i'm going to cut it short here. At the end of the day I have a lot of opinions about this game because I love this series, so naturally I want to love this game. There are definitely things I do still love about this game too. Unfortunately, there's a lot I dislike, and a certain portion I really can't stand, that drives me away from this game unlike the two prior that I would happily play over and over. I'm disappointed that I can't like this one as much, but overall it's not a bad game. It just isn't entirely for me, and not what I love about this series.