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Alien Isolation is one of those games that are made to be interactive movies and it excels in that realm, arguably more than any other movie licensed game because it does not take creative liberties that hinders the franchise. The appeal of horror and the Alien franchise, especially in games, is the atmosphere and sense of clausterphobia. The films themselves are akin to "Metroidvania's" on a cinematic level and in regards to expertly utilizing limited set pieces mixed with meaningful action. Tension done right can create the content and only the best horror films and games understand that.

Alien Isolation is the perfect example of that. You are the prey being hunted by "the" Xenomorph and you quite literally cannot make any noise, otherwise you will not survive. The game utilized a feature that is admitedly niche but all the same - surprisingly not utilized in many other games. In the settings you can enable voice detection which will enable your mic to be detected in the game and the Xenomorph will hear any and all of your real-world sounds.

Going back to my point about utilizing atmosphere and suspense to create content - horror is the ideal genre for this and over the years, games have surpassed films as the go-to immersive media, especially in horror. Alien Isolation still stands as the best example of this and rightfully has been used as a template for other horror games since in terms of confined gameplay, and proper use of the notion that games are interactive films, unlike other blockbuster gaming franchises that focus on cinematic quality that takes control away from the player.

Arma 3 introduced myself to the tactical/military/squad-oriented gameplay and its innovative custom content creation tools sparked my interest for modding. Since playing Arma 3 for the first time years ago, I have had a consistent itch for physics-oriented gameplay that seamlessly blends realistic animations, and tactical gameplay.

Other titles such as Rainbow Six Siege and now even Fortnite offer similar and, in ways, expertly evolved gameplay in those areas and integrated community driven content creation, through modding and other means such as UEFN, has continued to sky rocket since. Arma 3 in its current state has been overshadowed by other tactical and squad based games that have released over the years, but its Pubg-esque tactical gameplay combined with Crysis-esque graphics make it stand out as a unique, somewhat stylized tactical shooter.

Batman Arkham Asylum revolutionized the superhero action genre, bringing superhero and licensed games into a completely new, modern, and fresh era - spearheading and fast tracking the game industry as we know it due to its innovative physics, combat, visuals, and storytelling. To this day, no other game has been able to perfectly capture and balance the stylized nature of comic books and graphic novels while maintaining realism that doesn't conflict with a darker and more "illustrated" style.

Franchise reboots are often and movie sequels and spinoffs created as games are often regarded as a slippery slope, and most of the time that has been proven to be true due to a lack of enthusiasm, and resources within a company environment. Arkham Asylum was and still is the Batman 1989 and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man of gaming. It revived not only the Batman franchise in gaming, but felt like a spiritual successor and even soft reboot of the Bruce Timm Batman universe due to much of the original cast returning to reprise their iconic roles.

Although several games spawned after Asylum, no other entry in the series or superhero game have been able to capture the unique and groundbreaking blend of action adventure horror that Asylum brought to the table, in addition to having completely reshaped the gaming industry from a technical standpoint, and cementing games as the ideal multimedia storytelling format. Arkham Asylum's gameplay is clunky in comparison to its sequels, but in terms of atmosphere - no other title has quite been able to make you "feel" like Batman.

Ah, Batman Arkham Knight. What a beautiful perfect oddity. Looking Batman on Arkham Knight feels almost like a dream, because it's one those games that feels like it shouldn't exist. Aside from Red Dead Redemption 2, no other game since Knight's release in 2015 has pushed the visuals to the same insane level of quality, but this quality did not come without performance issues as Knight's release - specifically on PC - was a disaster for many. But since then, the issues have been resolved, at least for the most part, and the title continues to stand the test of time both visually and gameplay-wise.

Running on Unreal Engine 3, it pushed the engine to its absolute limits, and it is one of the very few games that cannot be remastered, because it is not only gorgeous, but looks better than practically all games that have followed its release. Straying away from the more stylized comic-esque style, Knight brings players into the first open world Gotham in its entirety since Lego DC Superheroes, and although it is not as vast, it makes up for that by offering unique, and easily differentiable sections of Gotham, each with a plethora of details and easter eggs that even after 10 years players are still discovering new details honoring the source material, and expanding on the universe.

Knight's story on the other hand was very bloated and although not the worst narrative from the persepctive of a casual fan, it was very generic and disappointing for those who could see the twist coming before the game even launched. But setting the direct writing aside, Knight excels in visual storytelling. Each area, structure, and creepy side quest bridges the gaps between all the history we did not get to witness and the present while honoring Batman's entire legacy by offering the largest amount of playable costumes, and for the first time, the Batmobile, the franchise has ever seen.

Knight perfected its free flow combat and yet again broke ground within the action adventure, and superhero gaming genres. Knight had an abrupt cut off of new content, aside from recently being released on the Switch where it very much struggles to run but is still fun to play nonetheless, and was accompanied by a surprise release of The Batman 2022 costume, but unfortunately without the new batmobile. Though, modders doing gods work as always, have added it and so much more content which has been giving Knight the extended lifespan it deserved. Overall, from a gameplay and graphical perspective, Knight was the perfect finale to the mainline Arkhamverse games, and it still contains an infinite amount of replayability after completing, and replaying the primary, and season pass content.

This game is an ADHD Transformers/racing/arcade gamers dream.

I'm someone who loves variety but also simple experiences (roguelites, metroidvanias, arcade shooters, racers), and as someone who grew up playing basically only those types of games, and especially combative racers like shrek racing, Mario Kart, Cars, and being a psychopath in EA Nascar by always intentionally driving in the opposite direction to destroy the other racers - galactic trials simultaneously satisfies my desire for a new Transformers game + arcadey/combative racer.

These types of games give me a nerdgasmic dopamine rush I just can't explain. Over the years I went from playing practically only RPG's and open world games to being bored or empty open worlds and racers with a singular core loop built on sports simulation. Galactic Trials doesn't have a ton of content but let's look at the facts - racing games and arcade shooters don't need much. These are games to pick up and play when you need a break and the almost constant switching between racing and combat satisfies my impulse to have a blend of both.

The Cybertron games deserve to be on steam (although emulation exists for a reason so, just saying) but for now this feels like a nice in between for those of us that grew up on those games and racers, and want something that feels like a spinoff, which this does. Transformers One made me want a transformers racer with the same combat and intensity so this is a good start. Yes the gameplay can slow down but it's mostly on the easiest difficulty. On higher difficulties, this stuff gets intense especially if you're trying to take down the other autobots or decepticons and avoiding being shot by them.So give it a shot and definitely get it when its on sale. 20 is honestly still a bit too much for this but it's better than the honestly agregious 50 dollars.

I'm mixed on this but overall have fun. I'm a massive rangers fan and love simple fighting games and unlike how sick I am of there being a multiverse film released every half a second, power rangers is one of the very few multiverse stories that I love because it's just pure fun.

I only have two negatives: as many others have noted, if you stay too close to the enemy for too long, you will be stun locked and gang banged until half or more of your health is gone and there is NOTHING you can do to get out of it or counter, even on the lowest difficulty. The other negative is the massive lack of rangers and locking the few that there are behind paywalls.

I don't understand why modern rangers games (albeit there being very few of them) ignore the majority of the expanded roster. the Mystic Force Rangers are my favorite and although mighty morphin are my second favorite, it's annoying seeing how they are the only ones being worshipped and adapted into games, series, and comics.

I love that they added Udonna and the forest from Mystic Force but it feels like such a painful tease to include 1-2 versions of each other type of ranger while the morphers are basically all there. Seeing the mystic force rangers illustrated then disappear was like nerdgasm denial for me.Overall it's fun and the iconic spark effects after hitting enemies makes the combat more satisfying.

Lego Batman 3 is an odd experience, but not because of anything to do with the game - for the most part. Coming off of the excellent and ground breaking Lego Batman 2, or as it's better known as; Lego DC Superheroes - TT Games' reinvention of their formula toward open worlds simultaneously saved and hurt their releases that followed because on one hand, gamers were thrilled to take a breather from the original, repetitive Lego gaming format, while on the other hand, TT have drastically lost sign of what made their pre-Lego Batman 2 titles so unique and memorable and that was the focus on puzzles and building. Exactly what Lego is known for.

Lego Batman 3 was a return to that formula and although severely littered with bugs that freeze gameplay, break objectives, and sometimes crash the game, it felt both refreshing and out of place to return to the fully linear, puzzle-focused formula. Overall Lego Batman 3 isn't a bad experience. It is just okay.

It has a variety of levels, characters, and pretty worlds that honor DC's lore more than any other game, especially out of TT's library, but I wonder had this game been released prior to Lego Batman 2, would it have been received with more interest and praise? This is a very large game when comparing it to older TT titles, but after the open world formula took over, it's a difficult game to want to revisit.

A one-of-a-kind experience not only in the superhero genre, but in doing what Telltale Games is known for, which is providing the most ideal, seamless, and non-intrusive balance between watching a film or tv series and playing a game. Where the Arkham Games make you 'feel' like you're Batman through brute force, and having an endless stream of R&D cash, Telltale's Batman makes you truly 'feel' like you are the caped crusader *and* world's greatest detective, because you truly mold who and what this version of the character is. The focus on narrative development while giving players breathing room is exactly what makes Telltale's games remain

as some of - if not *the* most immersive interactive media, because you get to shape the story in more ways than you may believe. You can be as heartless, kind, brutal, or manipulative as you desire, as if the core progression and character development of Knights of The Old Republic were expertly recreated, and improved on and pasted into Gotham. The amount of replayability just from wanting to see where the other dialogue options lead is outstanding. You will re-experience the same plot lines yet an almost entirely different story. For those not familiar with Telltale's gameplay design may immediately put off playing, but that is a massive loss.

Telltale's games - especially Batman, are not just interactive movies; they are consistently engaging and varied genre blends where you will follow a narrative and QTE-driven design 99% of the time while the other 1% is an enjoyable point-and-click adventure with enough clues, and easter eggs within the confined areas to make you feel like you're playing a different type of game in almost every scene/level. The music and voice acting are also top notch, with the music sounding ever so familiar as if it's from a 2000's Batman series, mixed with subtle cues from the Arkham series, and many grandeurose trumpet or trombone cues invoking the eerie yet triumphant crescendos from the Batman Begins tie-in game.

Lego Batman Legacy of The Dark Knight is both the unexpected and expected next definitive entry in TT Games' lineup of Batman titles, beautifully blending eras and timelines, honoring the entire history [ or 'legacy'] of the dark knight while even dabbling into genre blending by ultimately giving fans the definitive, indirect sequel to the Arkham series we have been clamoring for since 2015. Lego Batman 4 - as you can call it in a literal manner - always felt as if it were an inevitability looming over our minds, just like Batman himself.

After Lego Batman 3, and TT's other games that followed, there was one question on many of ours minds: "What's next? Where else can they go? How much further can they innovate?" After the Lego Skywalker Saga most of us were, or, at least I was thinking the next logical entry has to be a Skywalker Saga-inspired over-the-shoulder AAA Lego Batman game. How incredible would that be? The innovative gameplay of Lego DC Supervillains with the Third-Person gameplay, and massive exploration of Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga, and potentially with Arkham-inspired combat. Well - here we are. The most logical/expected and unexpected, absolutely impossible game.

But it is of course not without its flaws, though compared to the disappointing lack of Lego's signature build-oriented creative level design in the Lego Skywalker Saga, the flaws are very miniscule. Where the Skywalker Saga gave Star Wars the definitive hub-open [somewhat Metroidvania style] world, the understandable lack of time to implement and polish mission structure and puzzle design game from conceiving the gorgeous massive galaxy lead to the overall replayability feeling hollow, with the large grind of hunting Kyber Crystals encapsulating the majority of the endgame experience. That being said, it did its job by respecting the franchise, and bringing it to a new generation, while also bringing non-gamer Star Wars fans to the gaming scene.

Lego Batman on the other 'claw' thankfully did not take the route DC Supervillains did by covering two large cities and an additional planet, plus level DLC, which on that note - the Skywalker Saga was unfortunately lacking. DC Supervillains is a fantastic and unique in-between experience that felt exactly like Lego Batman 1 and 2 while bringing a modern formula to the series. The exploration felt massive but was fairly condensed which makes it feel like a classic Lego game and a game the developers could enjoy creating throughout. Legacy of The Dark Knight provides the ideal blend between the two while only focusing on Gotham City, thus allowing it to be both massive and full of the classic Lego puzzles, creativity, and charm.

There is far too much in the game to cover in a single written review, but the gist is; it's fantastic and, again, feels like an impossibility because it is quite literally an Arkham game as it is as gorgeous as Arkham Knight, has a fully polished and easy to navigate closeup over-the-shoulder perspective, and - get this - Rocksteady co-developed it so it is in fact a spiritual successor and entry to the iconic series. The visuals and size of the city feel like the ideal blend of Arkham Knight and Gotham Knights, feeling both like the definitive version of Arkham Knight and what Gotham Knights should have been, proving that just because a game is within the same franchise as another game developer by a separate developer, that doesn't mean a studio needs to sacrifice existing fun gameplay already designed for the same character(s) in an attempt to be unique. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The music is a creative homage to every era of Batman, primarily Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, and even certain musical cues reminiscent of Zack Snyder's universe, though the developers opted to have the story focus on the Burton, Schumacher, and Nolan films with unfortunately no levels taking place in the Adam West or Snyder universes - despite having even created an entire chapter dedicated to Batman The Animated Series. Granted, those eras do not feel left out and 'Batfleck' was cleverly incorporated into the story near the end. Hopefully TT will release levels covering those eras and will return to their roots of releasing many levels to accompany a current title.

The most important factor is that this version of Gotham finally gets Gotham right. It feels alive and the civilians - although not very reactive to your destructive actions, but will engage with you exactly as civilians in NY from Insomniac's Spider-Man games do - feel like they have their own lives. Gotham Knights deserves credit for its beautiful comic/Schumacher-inspired visuals and its attempt at creating a lively city, which I'd personally say it succeeded in for the most part. You could even attack civilians, which is still a funny inclusion but suits the experience of being a vigilante. Legacy of The Dark Knight grabbed all the best and to-be-improved areas from so many recent games and perfected them in ways that are completely engaging for adults and easy for kids to adapt to, although, there are several puzzles that will make you ask "this was designed for kids?" because there are some that will stump adults due to their somewhat extreme specificity that at least 99% of kids will not figure out. But at the same time, that is great, because that gives something for both a kid and adult to do together.

I hope TT continues the current formula and creates the definitive Spider-Man game. I wouldn't be surprised if we will see them do the same for Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and maybe even Star Wars, one last time. I have personally been waiting for a Clone Wars-centric game covering the entire series, with Rebels DLC. Overall, if you are a Batman fan, a Lego fan, a gaming fan, a cozy home base builder enthusiast, or most or some of those, you will enjoy the game. It has some bugs - most notably the grapple detection sending you zipping in a different direction due to the speed of the reticle changing or just getting you stuck under a ledge - or even on occasion, getting the ai stuck, and some bugs that temporarily cause an objective to not update, but none of these are extreme nor happen often.

The performance is also strong and there is plenty to do in the endgame, though despite all the easter eggs, and collectibles, you may find yourself feeling empty as you will mostly be left will gliding or driving around and looking for any other unique sights or just replaying missions. But Arkham and previous Lego games have thrived with less so if you are not turned off by the Lego aesthetic, then you will most likely be playing this game for years to come. Lastly, the most beautiful aspect throughout the hype toward the game was seeing so many choose to buy the physical edition, even if they do not own an Xbox, PS5, or a Switch 2. That just shows the power and importance of physical media, collecting, and nostalgia. Besides, these days digital games cost the same as physical releases until sales happen so it's best to buy physical when available and as retail or less.