Finished the first ending of this game and decided while i'm definitely sticking with it to probably full completion levels, I think I am ready to rate and review it personally. At first I wasn't getting it at all, mostly because I didn't bother to look at the controls, but eventually I died enough times to be afforded the luxury of eating corpses and managed to use a slightly less shit gun and I was pretty much sucked in from then on. There were still moments that were somewhat annoying in difficulty (i'm thinking of the bog level) but much of the difficulty felt rewarding to overcome, like getting round the giant mech monsters in Mall Madness or finally beating the boss in Archon Grid. I love games that make me actively want to go back into places and explore them again, and this game seems all about that as you are able to go back to any level with any different equipment, there's all sorts of hidden items to be found and hidden levels too. It almost feels like the perfect cocktail of elements that get me addicted to a game, and i'm really nowhere near finished with it but I definitely already love it.
I have now beaten pretty much all of the things, including the purchasable level's three evil tendrils, the headquarters' secret level hp sponge boss and also running across a dark plain away from hundreds of golems towards a giant orb in the sky. That's what kind of game this is honestly. It's definitely fair to say that pretty much everything about the game has stuck to me, from the incredible aesthetics to every feature that you wouldn't find in other shooters of the style right down to just kicking a damn door open which should be in every single shooter game because it is a god-tier addition. I don't know if i've got to the point of completion yet as there are a few implants and weapons I haven't got a hold of yet but all in all this game has stuck with me strongly, basically embedded itself in my head which is essentially exactly what I think the game hopes for, and it is one that will probably influence everything I ever do. So yeah i'm probably gonna kill some people 10/10

I love the original Tony Hawk's Underground, it was one of my favourite games as a child that holds some of my fondest memories of games in general and is one that even returning to many years later I love pretty much everything about. More than anything I love how it controls and I was pleased to find that pretty much any change to the actual skating here is for the better, including the fantastic focused mode in which you slow down time during a combo and it really helps you to nail them better. I also loved the carefully-crafted maps of the original game and those are mostly to be found here as well, so you'd imagine that this would just be the original but better right?
Unfortunately, there is something big that holds this game back significantly and that is the story. Now, story was never exactly hugely important to the Tony Hawk's franchise. The Pro Skater games that I've played have pretty much zero story elements and are just levels in which to accomplish missions, but Underground had a very simple yet grounded story that kept me invested. I love stupid cheesy melodrama and that game was perfect with it. This game is not perfect with it. This game traded in the attempt at making a half-gritty half-satirical angsty teen skater movie style story (which is absolutely stupid in premise but I loved it) for what cannot be described any other way than "insane". Although batshit may also fit. Pretty much every cutscene was annoying, it was almost funny in the sense of being so unfunny that it wrapped around again but I get the feeling from a 2004 skating game that there aren't many levels of irony to the humour. That means we are left with a game that thinks a big fat naked man existing is funny, and while arguably maybe that very concept in isolation becomes funny due to absurdity, it is not really funny in this game. Nor is most of the anything, from the edgiest of 2004 skateboard video game fan jokes to Bam Margera apparently being a psychotic arsonist who yearns to find feeling in his life again by burning down an entire skatepark village and attempting to kill everybody inside. That last bit is actually quite funny in isolation again. Anyway TL;DR the game plays really well but suffers from its surroundings. Not quite the game I grew up with, and I'd probably have to thank my father for that (he would not have approved of this game).

Only beat the singleplayer, not the multiplayer. There really isn't much to say about such a well-known oft-discussed beloved game like this that hasn't been said a million times already, but i'll go ahead and make a few points that are already overdone anyway. This game's characters have so much personality, much more than its predecessor in which Glados was already an extremely funny and well-done character. In this one she has a whole arc, and we also have more fantastic characters however important (Wheatley) or tertiary (Cave Johnson (I think he was called)) they were to the story, they all felt extremely well written. Also total sidenote, as a big fan of British comedy it's still weird to hear Stephen Merchant trying to be evil, but he's great in this. The puzzles are great stuff too, a lot of very creative additions to how the test chambers worked, loved all the gel stuff as it was both creatively challenging and extremely fun to fuck about with. It's just a really great game, as you'd expect. Portal 3 when

A great start to a strong series, that series featuring maybe the best superhero game of all time (at least so far). The story isn't too complex but that isn't a problem at all, as the main thread of the game in Batman vs. Joker is easy to do well and with the writing for Joker and the fact it's Mark Hamill you're set up for greatness. None of the other villains really match up to Hamill's Joker performance but there are definitely entertaining characters to be found. Any time the Scarecrow shows up is a particular highlight, as the first time through the game it catches you off guard and any subsequent times through his appearances are a joy to relive. The hallway fake game crash scene is pretty much iconic for a reason. The combat and stealth systems are fantastic, as each fight moves very smoothly, and each stealth situation is incredibly rewarding if you can take it carefully and patiently, surveying the room and taking everyone out one by one. This time round I also went after the Arkham Chronicles and Riddler challenges, and unlike later installments where i've never had the drive to finish them it was a lot more enjoyable. Perhaps the smaller scale of the map helps with that but I never found myself frustrated or bored with them. I've always found the riddles to be particularly entertaining but this time the trophies were much more fun too. If I had to find a fault with the game, I think that the boss fights are a little uninspired. None of them are particularly fantastic because they tend to just be "fight the goons then the boss' weakpoint" repeatedly, but that's fine because the combat and stealth make up for that. Overall i'd say this isn't the peak of the series, but a fantastic start point and storywise sets up well for its incredible successor.

Arkham Asylum was a great game and despite having since loved Spider-Man since first engaging with the Arkham series, this is for my money the best superhero game ever. Where Asylum had a simple but effective story, City's story is fantastic. This time it's (from what I know) a mostly unique Batman story, with great twists and turns without straying too much from the source material, but always having its own strong identity. City's world is also fantastic, it feels like a real living criminal underworld with incredibly well done personalities for the more prominent characters. Joker is once again a particular stand-out, but most of the villains more important to the story such as Strange, Penguin, Freeze and Two-Face are very well done too. The side missions are a lot more prominent than the predecessor, where instead of just a pair of collect-a-thons, we have some genuine thoughtful side-quests that give prominent features to some of Batman's less lauded rogues. Zsasz is far better here than he was in Asylum for my money, he is sinister and downright evil as all hell compared to Asylum's portrayal of him as mostly just an obstacle. The Hush missions are phenomenal and only serve to annoy me more that Knight missed the boat so badly with him. Deadshot is done well, Mad Hatter's brief appearance is really strong, and Azrael is interesting if a little underdeveloped. That said there is also the Riddler. I love the Riddler as a character and I think that side of him is done justice here, but i'll be damned if I ever do his side-quest again when I inevitably pick this game back up for another run through. The rescue missions are fun and the final mission is good too, but after the 50th "go here, break a panel and the trophy is behind it" I was really to pull my hair out. I always love the actual riddles in all these games but the trophies have never been something I went after, and unlike my surprise enjoyment of them in Asylum this time I think i'd made the right call previously. It didn't hurt my enjoyment of the playthrough though, because this game and world in general are so damn strong. I'm looking forward to the new Spider-Man 2 game coming out, if only because I desperately crave more games like this one, as I think this is the very peak of a superhero game and one of my favourite games of all time.

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.

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.

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.