If you were into third person action adventure games back inn 2009, you were really eating with the likes of Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2 and Infamous. Arkham Asylum was a game that kind of came out of nowhere as superhero games had a poor reputation at that point and Rocksteady were fairly unknown. Then they came and knocked it out of the park with this one.

Set in the titular asylum which gives plenty of excuse to interact with Batman's fantastic array of villains, the game tells a fun story. They make great use of the setting with a unique atmosphere mixing the modern aesthetics of a hospital/prison with the old gothic manor that it was built upon. I do think the Metroidvania aspects of the setting are a little overblown by people who don't like the more expansive sequels but it is quite enjoyable to unlock more gadgets that allow you to delve deeper into the Asylum. Even if I don't agree, I do get why people don't like the city setting of the sequels and prequel because the Asylum does have a lot of character and it's an interesting setting to explore.

The gameplay loop may have lost some lustre after being repeated a few times but I still think it is pretty fun. It bounces back between hand-to-hand combat with unarmed foes and stealth takedowns with gun-toting goons. It may not be deep but I still find the combat to be really fun. I do enjoy combat based on contextual commands rather than learning a string of combos based upon light and heavy attacks. It truly set a trend for combat in video games and I don't think any of the copycats have been as good. Batman just has the right mix of style and gadgets that no other game with this type of combat has matched. It is a bit simpler in Asylum compared to the later games but still very enjoyable. It's a shame they couldn't make any real decent boss fights with it here. The stealth gameplay, while again being a bit simpler than later games, is pretty fun. You do have a decent number of options and it satisfying to get creative with it. The game does try to encourage you to mix up your strategies by blowing up gargoyles and attracting attention to enemies who have been taken down but I don't think they're that successful in preventing you from using the same tactics that work over and over again. The challenge rooms end up being the best showcase for the gameplay. Still, I never get tired of wittling down rooms of men and watching them get more and more terrified. In between these segments, you get some light puzzle solving. A lot of which comes in the form of Riddler trophies. These have to be my favourite collectables in all of gaming. The Riddler is the perfect excuse for why someone would be scattering random crap for someone else to collect and I really like hunting them all down. The riddles could be a bit more challenging but it's difficult to translate something like that gameplay.

All in all, this is still an excellent game. As far as remasters go, this one is not anything special. It looks a bit better in some cases although would 60fps have been so hard moving to a new generation? Whatever version you have, this is still worth playing today.

R.I.P Kevin Conroy

Virginia is a game where you play as a detective that has zero dialogue and minimal text which is certainly a choice. It isn't about figuring out the case in order to progress as the game pulls you along for the ride in its short run time. You move and look around a bit and press X every now and then. I found the music did the heavy lifting in terms of keeping up the energy throughout the game. I was somewhat enjoying the story for the first while but it began to lose me in the imagery laden last third. I respect that the game has a vision and is trying to achieve something different from other games but I just didn't appreciate what it was going for.

Last Day of June tells a story of regretfully reliving old memories, going over what you could have changed to divert a tragedy. The time loop gameplay with some light puzzle solving serves the story well even if the ultimate point is the futility of it all. They fortunately use some shortcuts to cut down some tedium of replaying certain segments. The artstyle is interesting even if I didn't really like the empty eyeless holes but there definitely seemed like there was budget constraints there and the little voice acting. It's a decent story and it's worth playing through.

Red Faction: Guerilla was a type of game that littered the PS3 generation and also into the PS4 generation. It takes place in a drab open world with a ho-hum story that involves Troy Baker with dull main missions and a slew of collectibles and meaningless side content. It does have a USP though, that being, the destruction. Almost everything is destructible and it sure is fun blowing it all up. You really can make your own fun messing with the destruction physics to make some of the missions a bit more interesting to play. I actually did like the timed destruction side missions as it introduces a puzzle solving element. There is also a bare bones DLC episode that I didn't really enjoy. I didn't play the original game so I don't know how different this re-Mars-ter (points for the dumb name) is but it seems to look and play fine despite a couple of crashes. Ultimately, I think the game is solid due to one factor and I suppose that can be enough.

This is a game I never would have bought so I'm glad it launched on PS+ because I really enjoyed my time with it. Doing raids is really fun and learning the various tricks that makers put into their outposts is very satisfying. Building outposts is relaxing and fairly intuitive. It's not perfect but as far as building levels with a controller, I think they did a good job with it. Having to make a clear path for the harvester can feel limiting but I like that you don't have to beat your own outposts to activate them since it allows you to make small edits consistently without the repitition of beating it again and again.

There's a good synergy between raiding and building. You get some ideas for your own outposts while raiding while also seeing menas of dealing with traps and enemies by watching other players' replays of your own outposts. You get resources from raiding as well as from players dying in your outposts which can give you upgrades which are useful for both facets of the game. You also need a certain resource to keep your outposts up. It's perhaps a little grindy with all the resources and level bars but I enjoyed the game enough that I didn't mind playing it so much. The aesthetics of the outposts could use a bit more variety but hopefully that will come with further updates if the developers keep up support. A game like this that is heavily dependent user content lives and dies on its userbase which I think is already beginning to dwindle which is not good. Launching on PS+ and the outposts being cross-platform was a good start but who knows how long the game will be active. That said, I really had a good time with the game in its first month so I'm very positive about the game.

Relicta isn't particularly novel but it's a solid puzzle game that's fun to figure out. The puzzles are mainly focused of magnetism and gravity but they do a good job of layering in new mechanics and complexity gradually that gives you a nice learning curve. The new mechanics they introduce in every new segment aren't that mind boggling. It's mostly stuff like switches you can press or robots that can carry boxes but it's enough to make you have to think how to tackle a new obstacle. I shouldn't hold this against Relicta specifically but I did find myself noting just how many puzzle games are about moving boxes around. I do understand that you need an easy visual means of communicating your puzzles especially if you want any sort of difficulty to it but damn, putting boxes onto switches is something we just can't get away from in video games. I didn't find myself interested in the story this game was telling on its terraformed moon but there is clearly some effort put into the environmetal story-telling and voice acting. This game comes with two free DLCs and the second one, Ice Queen, was probably my favourite stuff in the game adding a couple new mechanics and a more entertaining protagonist.

As revolutionary as this game clearly was and is still fun today; games from this generation haven't aged the best. Mostly in the way of camera control before we figured out dual sticks. It feels like the camera is actively trying obscure where you want to jump at every turn. Perhaps there is some mod that could introduce modern camera control if I was using less official means of emulation but I was just using the official emulator on the Switch. I also found Mario could be quite awkward to control at times. His movement could be quite slippy at times and he often did a big dramatic turn when I just wanted to turn right around with a micro movement. Also getting caught hanging onto ledges. I can admit this may be a skill issue as I've watched enough Games Done Quick to know how fluid the movement can be. Still, my problems aside, it still is fun to play and tracking down stars is very satisfying. I did enjoy it more once I swallowed my pride and embraced using save states in the emulator to make my own checkpoints. Video games owes a lot to Super Mario 64 even if my patience for it these days doesn't stretch too far.

It's a damn shame this game can't seem to find any success. It sold poorly on the Wii U even by that console's dismal standards and the wider release on a number of systems that people actually own and it again feeling like a bit of a dud. Granted, I'm probably part of the problem since I didn't buy it a second time and only played this remaster on PS+ Extra. All this is to say that this game is incredible and deserves more love. The Wonderful 101 is a very unique game and offers all the things people usually love about Platinum games.

It's a character-action game where you control a team rather than a character. The main combat technique is the unite formation which gather your team together to take the form of a weapon. The main unite formations are fist, sword, gun, whip, hammer, claws and bomb. Rather than learning a long list of combos, it's more about picking the right formation for the particular scenario. The more teammates you shove into a unite formation, the bigger and more powerful it is. You can combo the different unites in interesting ways and it's fun to figure out which weapons are best to counter certain enemies. You also have a dodge into slow motion from Bayonetta and an attack counter from Metal Gear Rising which are fun to use.

The boss fights are fantastic which isn't surprising considering the developer. There's a lot to discover with these fights as some weapons are more effective against some bosses or are used to counter certain moves. The game generally leaves you to figure this out. The finishers on these boss fights are all really satisfying and the quick time events work really well in this game. A lot of the QTEs are using a unite formation at the designated time which wonderfully utilises the main game mechanic in the cinematics rather than just tapping a random button. There are some regular button tapping QTEs but this game has the singular best one in all of video games. The set pieces are really great and keep you surprised about what's coming next. Whether it be a boss fight turning into Punch-Out or a bullet hell.

It nails the Satuday morning cartoon vibe it's going for which kept me smiling and it has deep and interesting gameplay which kept me replaying in quick succession. It only comes second to Metal Gear Rising in my favourite Platinum game. Clearly not enough people have played it. We're never going to get The Wonderful 102 so I'll just have to appreciate this for the unique gem that it is.

On the surface, Untitled Goose Game comes off like a dumb meme game. There is a bit more to it than just that. It's a puzzle adventure where you have to figure out how to ruin everyone's day as a goose which I feel it executes on very well. The solutions to the puzzles aren't particularly challenging but I did really enjoy working out the various tasks which elegantly organised in a to-do list. There are extra tasks in the list which I also really liked working through. There are also speedruns which challenge you to do the main tasks in each of the four main areas within six minutes and there is definitely some fun in coming up with an effecient route. The game is short and sweet and totally worth a playthrough.

It's somewhat disappointing that this series escaped me back when it was coming out because I likely would have really enjoyed when I was younger. Like a lot of PS1 games, it hasn't aged the best but I still had a decent time with it and it certainly has a lot of charm to it. I wasn't aware there were actually Dualshock exclusive games for the PS1 and Ape Escape uses analog controls quite extensively. In some ways, it can be frustrating where you would just rather press a button but it does give the game its own personality. The levels are decent and there's a number of ways to interact with them with the various gadgets you gradually unlock. Admittedly, I wasn't that enthused on my first run through the levels but once I went back with all the gadgets and focused on getting all the apes and spectre coins, I was more into it. That is pretty typical of me since I'm into the collectathon nature of these games. I'll have to give the sequels a go.

I didn't play this game back in the Game Boy days and it is pretty rough to play today on the Switch's emulator. It's no wonder we've gotten both a great official and unofficial remake for it. I shouldn't be too hard on it though. It was doing some cool stuff for the Game Boy. It feels pretty atmospheric with some interesting music and you do feel like you're descending into this scary alien planet. Unfortunately, the lack of map and all the environments looking very similar (especially when it never got a colour version for the GBC) make it incredibly difficult to navigate. I know getting lost can sometimes be the point of these games but when you can't discern one area from another, it just becomes a frustrating experience. I did still get some enjoyment from hunting down all the metroids despite the repetition. I'm glad to have played through it but any revisit will be through either of the remakes.

A number of time loop games have come out the last few years and it's an appealing mechanic. Doing things over till you get things right is very much baked into concept of video games. The Forgotten City does it really well. It avoids repetition by allowing you to keep any item you pick up between loops and at the start of the loop, you're able to tell the NPC that greets you to do some of the tasks for you. It's a fun puzzle game and it's satisfying to work out how to solve everyone's problem. I really did enjoy the story; it felt very Star Trek. I'm always down for a Roman aesthethic and I liked the thematic link between the player builing up knowledge based on past loops and how civilizations like the Romans were built upon past civilizations. I do want to say good for the guy who made a popular Skyrim mod and found success building it into its own game. Those are always nice stories to hear.

This made me realise I should probably start checking out more games I haven't heard of on PS+ Extra because this game only caught my eye when it was leaving the service and the description had me intrigued. Ghost of a Tale is a pretty interesting game that is trying to do a lot with what seems like a low budget. It's refreshing to play an RPG that takes place in a small world and has very little to no combat. You'll be mostly sneaking by enemies although I wouldn't say the stealth mechanics are particularly developed. The focus is more on finding parts of costumes through exploration or quests which allow you to blend in, or cause less noise or run faster. I was quite surprised to find myself quite invested in the characters too. With the main character being a bard, I wish they did something a bit more substantial with the songs other than picking one from a list and listening to an instrumental version. The zero voice acting was an obvious problem there. It's a cool little game that I would like to see what the developers do next, especially with a bit more budget.

I wonder why I waited so long to play this game. Greece during the Peloponnesian War was a dream setting for an Assassin's Creed game that I had been asking for back when I was a big fan of the series. I probably don't have to think too hard as to why it took me so long since I had heard a lot of negative things about the game, which I now realise was from a lot of AC fans feeling spurned by the new direction. Despite enjoying Origins, I wasn't chomping at the bit to play an iterative sequel. So yes, that's why I waited so long but I'm glad I've played it now since I adore it. Origins was mostly an action adventure game with some RPG mechanics which incidentally describes most games these days. Ultimately, the RPG side of the game wasn't particularly substantial while it watered down the fun stealth action and parkour from earlier entries in the series.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey is absolutely an RPG though. It very wholeheartedly embraces the genre.

The most enjoyable aspect of the game as an RPG is the build diversity. There is a lot you can do with the skill tree and the gear that can lead to some fun builds. I'm usually not that into loot vomit but if you're focused on something in particular, you don't really need to switch out your gear that often. There are a lot of abilities in the skill tree that have multiple levels that encourages specialization. You're not just going to get everything there by the end of the game and you have a limited number of slots in your ability wheel so you couldn't use them all anyway. At level 50, you're able to put points into stat boosts, of which there is a massive list of options to choose from. I know basic stat boosts can be boring but it further encourages specialization and can really enhance a build. The three general playstyles in the game are hunter (ranged combat), warrior (melee combat) and assassin (stealthy stabbing). Origins' gameplay was also divided up this way but you could easily just do a bit of everything. You can make very powerful builds just focusing on one part in Odyssey but it is also very possible to make interesting hybrid builds.

The gear may be more significant for making a really powerful character. The actual DPS or armour value of the gear isn't actually the important part so you don't need to replace gear constantly. The engravings on the gear is what you want to pay attention do. These offer some damage boosts to the three main playstyles but also have a whole assortment of different buffs. I was playing a glass assassin build so I was very focused on crit chance and crit damage. I had basically no defense which encouraged me to stay stealthy but I could one-shot pretty much anything the game could throw at me by the end. I've seen people lament the lack of guaranteed assassinations in this game but they are possible. Just not at level 1 and you have to work for it but working towards things is what makes RPGs fun. There are some unique engravings in the game that are almost transformative to your playstyle and you're able to add an angraving to your gear. The vast amount of loot drops and different rarity levels can be confusing but it isn't too overwhelming once you know what you want to look for. You mainly want purple epic gear because it has four engraving slots. Engravings are only improved every 10 levels so you don't need to switch it out every time you get something of a higher level nor will you need to constantly be grinding for upgrade materials for every level. There is some gear locked behind microtransanctions which is a bummer but most of the best stuff is accessible without it even if some RNG is involved.This is the first game where I began to appreciate level scaling. I still think leveling everything down to your level which this game doesn't do is lame. Leveling everything up to your level works really well here. Every ability point you spend along with a smart selection of gear makes you feel like you're constantly getting stronger even if the enemies are pacing alongside you.

Odyssey's Greece is incredibly vast and gorgeous. Sure, there is some procedural generation and copy and paste in there but it really does feel massive and has almost every area in Greece that you would expect to see. Although not everything is realistic, you really do feel transported to Classical Greece with the richly detailed buildings, statues and clothing. There's a lot of city states to explore and although they are not as intricate and lively as some of the city focused games earlier in the series, they are decent. They can feel a bit too similar but they all have a different layout. They do at least capture a unique character of Athens and Sparta. Traversal is very fluid which is good but they may have made it a little too easy to move around the world. I'm mainly refering to the fact that you can climb walls like Spider-Man. I understand the desire to be able to more freely navigate the rocky landscape of Greece but it more often than not just makes me not consider the the environment around me and just run in a direct line to the next waypoint. This is particularly annoying when infiltrating forts. Although there's a lot of copy and paste with the smaller outposts and camps, the bigger forts, which every area has at least one, have a unique design with different entry points. It would be nice to consider which entrance to use for where you want to go in the fort but you don't need to when you can climb every sheer wall. A lot of people think that open world stealth where you can approach an area from every angle is a positive but to me, it makes it all so much less interesting. You also have the Aegean Sea to explore with your trireme which is fairly similar to some of the boat traversal and combat of the past games.

Most of the regions in the game have their own story which is told through a series of side quests, of which there are a ton of. From now until the end of time, every game that has side quests like this is going to be compared to The Witcher 3 and that comparison is mostly going to be unfavourable. Yes, the side quests are not as interesting or well written as those in The Witcher 3 but they are decent. They give each region their own character and make them feel ore memorable. Some are definitely better than others. I particular liked the storyline on The Silver Islands dealing with a rebellion. Whereas I disliked most the quests related to The Olympics in Elis (which is connected to the main story). There's a lot to do outside of these quests. I very much suffered from the "just one more thing" syndrome when I was going to turn the game off for the night. Whether that be trying to get a higher tier in my mercenary ranking, or hunting down another cultist or clearing out another fort or take part in another conquest battle. I can see why people think Ubisoft games have gotten too long or bloated but I was happy to find any reason to stay in Greece.

The main story is nothing special but it is good. They do a decent job of giving motivation to the main character. You can pick to play as Kassandra or Alexios at the start and most people say pick Kassandra which I did. She is a fun protagonist and has some entertaining interactions throughout the games. The game giving you dialogue options and story choices does somewhat muddle her personality to a degree. Maybe that's on me for not staying consistent but there's very little reason to care. Most of the choices are related to romances which I found pretty uninpired in this game. You'll meet a lot of characters throughout this long game, a number of which you will probably completely forget right after meeting them and be confused when they show back up. There are definitely some fun characters. As typical of the series, you bump into historical people of the era and it's great dealing with Alkibiades' insatiateness or Socrates' never ending questions. The story definitely takes a more fantastical turn than the series has had before. There were always sci-fi elements to the games but Odyssey definitely pushes it further. I think this works fine with how far back in history it is though as I feel there's more room to play with the mythology of the era.

I really do love this game mostly for the character builds and the setting. I've seen a lot of people questioning whether it should be considered a good Assassin's Creed game and if it is a good game in its own right. Personally, I don't care much about that distinction. As a game titled Assassin's Creed, it's my favourite since the Ezio days. It definitely is a strong shift in genre which I think it did very successfully but there are plenty of the older style of AC games. Perhaps there were too many which is way it needed a change. With that said, I do think there are plenty of elements to make it feel like an AC game. It takes place in lavishly detailed period setting that games rarely do, you hand out with historical figures, you synchronize at high points, you clear out forts and camps, you can stealthily stab lots of dudes (even if you don't specifically have a hidden blade), there's a modern story that distracts you from the actually interesting history stuff and the cultist system which has you gathering info and luring out targets is reminiscent of the old assassination missions. So yes, I do think it it belongs to the AC series and is a damn good game too.

It's always nice to get the wonderful second Naughty Dog game where they enhance the things that worked in the first game and wrap it together in a more polished package (although some Jak fans will probably disagree with that one). Even with that said, I still might prefer the first game but you can really see how the developed the gameplay to be something greater and they were very willing to take some big swings with the story.

When stealth games or games with stealth mechanics put you in an alert state, there's often a very unsatisfying way of dealing with it. One way is the game has enough combat options that you just fight everything anyway which makes you wonder why you were trying to be stealthy in the first place. Another way is you are too weak to fight so you either reload your save or hide somewhere till everyone forgets that you exist. Where The Last of Us shines is in between these two extremes. When enemies are aware of your presence but not entirely sure where you are. The first game did this really well and it's even better here. It is incredibly thrilling trying to decide what ammo and resources to spend as the enemies are desperately searching for you. This improvisation feels even better on higher difficulties. I didn't like the infected gameplay that much in the first game but it is a bit better here since you have a few more options in terms of movement and weapons and there's a bit more variety in the encounters. The highlight is still the human enemies. Every encounter feels significant which is emphasized by every NPC having a name and them calling out to one another in combat. Killing dogs in games already feels horrible enough but you'll rack up even more guilt when you hear their owner crying out for them.

Naughty Dog has yet to follow the the current trend of every big developer making their games open world but they have been pushing more into the wide linear direction with their games. There actually is one fairly open area that I would have liked a couple more of because I really enjoyed exploring it. Exploration is pretty well rewarded with there being upgrades to your weapons and skill trees and well as ammo and resources always being useful to find. There's some useless collectibles too. I do like the light puzzles and platforming needed to move around the environments. I love a good gamey puzzle but I enjoy how the make more natural puzzles. For example, having to attach a wire to a generator that has a limited length. And those sure are the best wire physics in video games. They try not to repeat these types of puzzles too often after how tired everyone got of moving pallets in the first game.

A whole lot can be said about the story and I'm not going to say too much here but it sure makes you feel something. It mostly makes you feel bad. Perhaps it's overbearing in its grimness to the point that I need to take frequent breaks but there is still pockets of love and joy there which feel powerful when they crop up. It would have been easy for Naughty Dog to just make another Ellie and Joel adventure for the sequel after the popularity of the first game but they absolutely did not rest on their laurels. They really go for it in a lot of ways and it kept me guessing in where it was going for what is a pretty damn long game. The HBO adaptation of the first game which is very faithful is very popular and getting rave reviews so the world and characters that Naughty Dog have created clearly speaks to a lot of people regardless of the medium.

I feel like this is the best looking and sounding game I've ever played on a technical level. Perhaps I should be more impressed by something like Red Dead Redemption 2 which looks amazing while also having a giant open world but by estimation, Naughty Dog are on another level. I could spend hours just looking at the incredibly detailed animations. They look realistic while still feeling very responsive. The high interactivity with the environments makes you just want to poke and prod at everything. The sound design is impeccable. Maybe some sounds don't need to sound as realistic as they do. Do we need to hear someone drown in their own blood? Probably not but it sure is impressive. The performance capture and the acting is astounding which is to be expected at this point.

Almost everything I said about the game is glowing and it significantly improves upon its predecessor yet there is something holding me back from completely loving it.The tone may just be too much to take in over the course of the 20-30 hours it takes to complete. I do know I'll find myself returning to this game a number of times in the future. Ultimately, if you like cinematic games, it's a must-play.