If i played this when it came out the score would undoubtedly be much higher but unfortunately the gameplay hasnt really aged well. This is the game that created the combat systems we know and love so it should receive credit for that but compared to any other arkham game ofc in the gameplay department it doesn't look very good. All that aside the story is still my second favourite in the series behind arkham city and the voice cast are all fantastic. This game more so than the others just feels like a continuation of the classic batman animated series. Theres one or two good bosses. The scarecrow and killer croc “encounters” are both amazing. The finale kinda sucks and everyone knows that but you should definitely still play this game.

Really enjoyed this one. Not quite as good as the OG overall but the gameplay has been refined and enhanced really nicely. I really like miles as the protagonist and he separates himself from being too smilar too peter with his own personality and interests. The villains are kind of meh, troy baker’s character is just like pure evil and its kind of funny, the tinkerer is a decent villian but theres alot of things she does that annoy me or are hypocritical. She’s relatively unlikeable which isnt what they were going for. Prowlers role is alright too and rhino is just rhino. There are some really impressive set pieces and Seamless cutscene to gameplay transitions. The overall structure and pacing of the game is relatively well done, its certainly not bloated but i think the middle section of the game kind of drags, its like 3-4 hour stretch with no bosses for the entirety of the middle section. but the opening few hours are perfectly done and the final act is pretty great too. Peter parker is hilarious in this game even tho hes not in it a whole lot and the tease after the credits for the inveitable spider man 2 is really exciting. The bosses themselves are good i would say, none of them are bad, i enjoy the rhino boss fights and the final boss is excellent, the prowler boss fight is kind of whatever tho. The score is actually fantastic, it perfectly fits the atmosphere and miles gets his own memorable motif. The gameplay is alot of fun, the swining feels so natural, so seamless and the animations are beautiful, its been refined to a T and the combat has seen some really nice improvements too. Miles special powers are super satisfying to use and his abundance of new AOE attacks lets there be even more enemies on screen and this leads to the combat being alot more challenging than it was in the original, theres more of an emphasis on stealth too because there are so many enemies, you have to pick off atleast a-few of them before going loud. They have gotten rid off the boring MJ sections from the last game and replaced them with puzzles which are better but still not great. I can see puzzles working really well as a way to break up the great combat, traversal and cutscenes, they just need to improve them to create that perfect video game formula for the next game. The game obviously looks great even on a ps4 but i did have a few frame rate issues during moments where there was just too much going on for the ps4 to handle, get it on ps5 if you can.

The game is kind of an unfinished mess. The story sucks, the characters are inconsistent, Big Boss is barely a character, shit tons of filler missions, the story especially in chapter 2 is just made up of moments, there is no cohesive plot however im not gonna lie i still thoroughly enjoy this game cos for the first time in a metal gear game none of this shit actually matters cos the gameplay is where its at, phantom pain offers up these massive sandboxes with every imaginable tool at your disposal, you are given so many ways to approach missions. You can impersonate a woman, you can shoot your hand off, you can rescue animals and make a zoo, you can plant C4 on a dudes ass, wait for him to get in a chopper and then blow him up, Theres simply no end to the freedom you are given. A true masterpiece of gameplay design.

Part 1 is basically just more of Doom eternal but pushed further and harder, it may have been just me but I think part 1 is harder than part 2.
The three levels are all unique, large and well constructed with the 2nd level in the blood swamps being my personal favourite.
There are afew new enemy types that shake up gameplay a bit and the spirit enemies are especially challenging to deal with in a large brawl and the final boss was decent, nothing amazing but it was interesting.
The visuals and landscapes are just as breathtaking as they were in the main game but overall part 1 suffers from just being very similar to the base game which is definitely not a huge problem if you love it and I do.

Part 2 of ancient gods is amazing.
Part 2 introduces new abilities, new enemies, new traversal mechanics and some really badass spectacle.
While part 1 felt very similar to the main game, part 2 separates itself nicely with some excellent additions like the new hammer weapon which at first I was quite underwhelmed by but as i began to use it in encounters, it became a very useful tool and something that should honestly become a permanent part of the slayers kit. Its very satisfying to use and adds a whole new layer to doom eternals combo system.
There are also 6 new enemy types that force you too play in different ways and utilise more of the slayers tool set. The best example is a the new cursed prowler, if one of these guys hits you, you’re cursed, you can no longer dash and you’re vision is blurred and you can get rid of it if you hit the dude back with a blood punch. It really makes you reconsider and changes how you approach combat situations. Very cool
Also you can now use the super shotguns meat hook as a grapple gun to traverse, excellent addition.
The three levels are all fantastic, loved all 3, technically 4. Excellent visuals and sum hella badass moments.
The final boss fight is long and hard, it’s not the best doom eternal has to offer in terms of bosses but it serves its purpose well.
This dlc is an amazing send off for the slayer and it seems like this might just be the last doom thing from ID? Atleast for a while.

Dope ass game, way ahead of its time in terms of the squad command system, you really feel like a team, you all fight as one, you can’t just run and gun by yourself like in halo or cod, you must move up with ur squad, issuing commands and covering ur fellow pod brothers as you work together against impossible odds. Delta themselves are also a really fun bunch of characters, their banter feels authentic and they are ACTUALLY funny.
The music and Star Wars atmosphere is awesome too, if this wasn’t Star Wars it would probably go down a whole star for me but it’s just a really solid franchise fps that still holds up, the controls are still really strong and easy to learn. The feel and look of each weapon is also really cool too, the shotgun u get in the second area is amazing and the DC-17 with all the different attachments u can switch out on it is also a really mfing cool idea.
The main “commando” theme track is like fucking great too, very Star Wars, very epic.
Solid ass game that I’ve been wanting to play for years, like literally used to watch trailers for this game when I was like 9.

Played this on the PS4 and boy this games so good. The gameplay and the gunplay is so restricting and annoying and yet somehow soooo addictive and fun, idk what it is but the combat in the game is simply excellent.
The general tone and the characters are excellent, they are goofy but in a good way I think. The opening of the game is very suspenseful, tense and scary. One of the best openings to any game ever I think. It’s brilliant in the way it builds intrigue, tension and sets the tone. As the game goes on I found it getting goofier and more explosive and less focused on the scares which I didn’t mind at all cos there are some seriously sweaty sections of the game with some of the best and most varied enemy design in any game Ive played.
The bosses are well done for the most part, I can’t think of one that I hated, some of them get quite creative too.
Leon is way more confident in this than he is in re2 I feel. To match with the kind of action hero archetype that he is in this game, but he sells it well and he’s like comically badass at points, like someone will die in front of his eyes and he‘l make a sarcastic comment which I found extremely entertaining.
I think my one issue with game is when you play on higher difficulties, Ashley can be sooooo fucking annoying to deal with. But other than that, 10/10 it basically spawned a whole new genre of games too so...

Thought it was about time to talk about sekiro. After completing it 13 times i can safely say that this was one of fromsoftwares best and in my view the best game that came out in 2019.
-WORLD AND STORY
The world of Ashina contains all the intrigue and depth you would expect from a fromsoftware game. Hidden secrets and clues lie in excellent environmental storytelling. A good example of this is in the senpou temple area. Through one mini boss, the armoured warrior, we are able to learn so much about the area. You can tell that the warrior is clearly not Japanese through just the look of his armour. Its quite similar to how a European warrior may have looked at the time so straight away fromsoft have created a mystery for the player to solve. Throughout the boss fight you can trigger dialogue where he speaks of defending his son so that he may be healed and if you previously noticed the piles of dead children that seem to be scattered around senpou then you can infer just like that, that the warrior had come to senpou hoping for his son to be healed by the monks rejuvinating abilities. What he didnt know is that the monks were using the children to try and discover the secret of immortality, experimenting and dissecting the kids for their life force. The armoured warriors son would have been a victim to this and the warrior himself dies thinking he failed his son and screaming his name. There are various examples if this in many of fromsofts games and its a really organic and satisfying way of creating a piece of lore which makes it all the more interesting and tragic. The main story here is basic but again they leave it down to how interested the player is in the world. There are some exceptional characters and the villain genichiro becomes very easy to understand and sympathise with. Sekiro himself shows growth over the game but he doesn’t have too much of a character to be fair. The voice acting performances, english and Japanese are both very well done.
-COMBAT
The reason you should pick this game up is the combat. Dark souls famously tests the players timing and patience, sekiro tests your reflexes and your confidence essentially, hence isshins line “hesitate and you die.” In short the combat system is really one of the best in games ever. The sword combat is absolutely exceptional but brutal. You must be close to perfect in your timing of deflections and blocks else you will be thoroughly punished. The boss fights are really where everything shines perfectly, clashing swords, going back and forth from deflecting and countering to striking at your enemy to try and break their posture is honesty one of the most satisfying things in a video game. The focus on posture rather than the health bar in some of these fights is really an interesting choice and more so than any other game ive played they actually feel like real sword fights because your actually crossing blades and it give the bosses these beautiful rhythms which compare most to something like a guitar hero, it’s basically a rhythm game and it feels so good to play because of that. The best bosses in the game are the ones that have this rhythmic feel, Genichiro, isshin (both versions), emma, corrupted monk and the owl. Then we have the guardian ape who flips pretty much all of that on its head which surely means it sucks? Nah lol. This for me was easily the hardest boss in my first playthrough because he is so different to the others which is why his placement is so well done. It forces you to learn another way of play pretty much throws everything you know out the window. Its truly a great fight. Easily the worst boss is the folding screen monkeys tho, they become a bit of a pain on repeat playthroughs. The mini bosses are also quite noteworthy. There are some really fun ones like O’rinn of the water and seven spears. The game also gives you the option to go stealthy wich lets you thin the heard a little or delete one of a bosses health bars before going all swords sparking. Stealth is no where near as fun as the sword to sword combat but the addition is appreciated.
-BONUS STUFF
The score is very well composed and amplifys the sweat that your balls produce when on the final phase of the final boss. The level design is alot more vertical than the souls games but there isnt really any of that interconnectivity that you would expect from a souls game which is a little disappointing but not a deal breaker. The bonus combat equipment like the prosthetics and the skills can sometimes feel very situational, firecrackers are far and away the most useful tool. The hidden quests and secret bosses are very interesting and many can effecf the ending of the game which is cool.

Overall its another banger from Fromsoft. Highly recommend.