Batman: The Enemy Within (2017) Review

After finishing Batman: The Telltale Series, I decided that I had to play the sequel Batman: The Enemy Within. It has taken me a while to get it done but I have now played through all 5 episodes including the final episode twice in order to get the different endings, here is my review for the game. The premise of the game sees after the aftermath of Lady Arkham's attack, a group of new villains attack Gotham with Bruce Wayne & Batman being pushed to his limit. 

Characters

Troy Baker once again reprises his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman and I really like his performance. We see even more of Bruce this season and the way the game forces Bruce into certain situations allows Baker to show more to his character. I don't think this is a really memorable portrayal but it definitely does the job here and he is effective in the role. 

Anthony Ingruber reprises his role as John Doe and he is given way more to do here. His cameo in the first season was a bit jarring but his development this season is fantastic, we all know where the character is heading but the game does a great job of making us question it throughout with two incredibly dynamic endings for the character. 

Iconic Batman Villains such as Harley Quinn, Bane & Mr Freeze are introduced here and I liked there portrayal, especially Harley as it adds layers to her character. It is just a shame that they have very few interactions with Batman and their relationships are with Bruce instead. 

Characters like Gordon, Selina and Alfred have smaller roles this season and to be honest they just didn't offer as much and they definitely fall foul of how many characters and plot points there are in this game. 

Story

The story is okay. It definitely is more of a Bruce Wayne story then Batman's but I think it is effective in showing Bruce's story and how he tries to balance everything going on in his life including being Batman. Also John Doe's story is superb and culminates incredibly well no matter what ending you choose to go with. But there is way too many characters and plot points here, they cram all these important characters into this game and they just fizzle out with no real definitive endings for them. 

Side Content

This game is no where near as Linear as the first game. There are actual branching paths here and different ways to play the game. There is less of a focus on world building because this is a sequel but it does add variety to the gameplay. However, there still isn't much you actually do except for the main narrative which I think is a bit of a missed opportunity here. 

Gameplay

The gameplay from the first game has been enhanced and made better. You do way more in this game and sometimes it can be a bit tiresome but I am happy to actually be using the controller more here. But there is no getting around the fact that it is just quick time events and is clearly not the focus here. 

Style

Probably the biggest improvement in the game is that it runs and looks a lot better. This game has way less bugs and glitches in it and has fantastic character designs. It just looks better then the first game and I am glad there was some improvement here. 

Overall

Overall, Batman: The Enemy Within is an Above Average Game that doesn't show too many improvements on the first game. It would have been interesting to see a third game in the franchise but we have to settle for this okay point and click adventure. 

Rating - 6/10

Batman: The Telltale Series (2016) Review

I am a huge Batman fan and that includes video games with The Arkham games being some of my favourite games over the last decade. I am not as familiar with The Telltale franchise but I know of the reputation they have. I was curious and a few years ago I played this game for the first time, I have decided to re-play Batman: The Telltale Series and here is my review for it. The premise of the game sees Batman attempting to take down the criminal element in Gotham, while Bruce Wayne attempts to clear his families name when shaking allegations are made. 

Characters

The busiest voice actor in the business Troy Baker voices Batman/Bruce Wayne. Which is interesting as he has now voiced Batman and The Joker in different video games and to nobody's shock he is really good in the role. Especially, when being Bruce Wayne as this game spends a lot of time with Bruce instead of Batman. He doesn't do anything revolutionary but he does all the things that would be expected with the character. 

Laura Bailey plays Catwoman/Selina Kyle and I really liked her dynamic with Bruce and how her moral compass is really questioned. Again, the game doesn't do anything really special with her character but she does well enough with the material given. 

Travis Willingham plays Harvey Dent and he is probably the best character other then Batman here. I really like the friendship and dynamic between Bruce & Harvey and the way the pressures of running for mayor really affect him. 

Other characters such as Gordon, Alfred & Oswald Cobblepot are really well voiced acted and fit the characters really well, which aided in the world building that goes on here. 

Story 

I will say that the story on show here is pretty unique for the most part and looks at elements of The Batman lore that haven't really ever been looked at. The game focuses on Bruce a lot and the relationships that he has with people and how his personal life is really affected by his role as Batman and things out of his control. However, I will say that this game tries to cram in way too much. It introduces so many iconic Batman characters and rushes through all of their comic book story arcs that it kind of feels like they don't really work together. 

Side Content

This game does a good job of world building and by using things like codex and different dialogue choices we get to learn about Gotham and some more about the characters. However, even though this game has different choices it feels incredibly linear and in the end becomes quite repetitive. 

Gameplay

This game doesn't really have gameplay. All it has is some quick time events and detective objectives that work as well as expected and I did have some enjoyment with them. But if we're honest games like this don't really care too much about the gameplay and focuses on the story and characters so it is definitely lacking here. 

Style

The game has a pretty authentic comic book look to it which is pretty cool to see compared to the more realistic looks we get in Film & TV. It also really doesn't hold back with the violence, I would say this is the most gritty and violent portrayal of a Batman property ever and it adds more to the game. However, this game does really struggle with some graphical glitches that really took me out of the game and the immersion that this game tries to create. 

Overall

Overall, Batman: The Telltale Series is an above average Point and Click adventure game. I enjoyed a lot about this game but it unfortunately falls a bit short of being the immersive Batman game that they really wanted. 

Rating - 6/10

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2017) Review

Ahead of the upcoming Star Wars: Outlaws, I thought I would go back and play some other Star Wars games, especially those that have come out on the next gen consoles PS4 & PS5. Over the last few days I have been playing my way through the 2nd incarnation of Star Wars Battlefront 2 that was released in 2017 and here is my review for the game. The premise of the story sees an elite Imperial squad attempt to fulfil the will of The Emperor after the destruction of The Death Star. 

Characters

The main character of the game that you play as is Iden Versio played Janina Gavankar and unfortunately, she is a pretty boring lead character. There just isn't anything particularly interesting about Iden and her character development doesn't really make much sense and feels incredibly rushed which fits the theme of this game. I think Gavankar really cares about the role and really wanted to make it work but the writing truly lets her down. 

A slight issue is that her partner Del Meeko played by T.J. Ramini has a better story arc then she does. It still feels rushed but there is an event that happens to him at the beginning of the game's story where he is on his own that at least makes it make sense and he does a decent enough job with that. 

Shriv played by Dan Donohue is a Rebel soldier and the comic relief of the game. He is really funny and has the best one liners of the game, its a shame the rest of the characters didn't have the charisma that he had throughout. 

The Awesome Paul Blackthore plays Gideon Hask and even though his character is a pretty generic Imperial, he revels in it and owns the majority of his scenes with how over the top villainy he possesses. He knows the role he is given and plays it really well. 

Throughout the story mode you get the chance to play as heroes such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo and these are fun detours from the journey of Inferno Squad. Though not the film actors, these voice actors all do stellar jobs and it does feel like the characters you are playing as. 

Story

Quite controversially, the reboot of Star Wars: Battlefront had no campaign which was a terrible decision. This game has both a campaign and a DLC Campaign so that is a step in the right direction, however, the campaign isn't that great. The parts I enjoyed were the fact that you get to play as these heroes in fun missions and that you get to play at the Battle of Jakku and see how the DLC campaign links to the events of The Force Awakens & The Last Jedi. However, the story is really frustrating, we were promised that we would get an Empire story where we would see their point of view but that is just a lie and doesn't happen and you are frustratingly a good guy after like an hour in. The story is also too short, I finished the main campaign and Resurrection (The DLC Campaign) in around 5 hours and it rushed by without much substance. 

Side Content

So the single player campaign isn't great but the multiplayer is fantastic. It is so much fun playing on these iconic locations in huge battles both on the ground and in Space. The Starfighter Assault mode is really fun and Supremacy feels like this epic battles between two factions. Heroes vs Villains is here and it is always fun playing as these iconic Star Wars characters and even though some are better then others there is no denying that it is fun. 

There is other single player content with Arcade missions where you have to complete tasks as certain characters to earn rewards. These are satisfying enough and I like that the game bothered to include them but they won't be overly remembered. 

Gameplay

The actual gameplay is really good, using these iconic weapons from Star Wars and playing in these iconic locations is a lot of fun. Alongside the different abilities and classes it makes everybody's experience feel a little bit different and unique which is really fun to see. The battles feel really large in scale and that the game does a great job of showing that. 

However, in the campaign the AI is some of the worst I have seen. The partner AI are useless and they just don't help you at all and they might as well not be there. But the enemy AI is even worse, either they just run at you with no tactics or care for their lives or they spawn out of nowhere. The only reason  I ever died was due to the sheer amount of enemies that you face and not due to the AI actually being smart or well programmed. 

Graphics

The game looks fantastic, seeing such planets as Endor, Takodana & Naboo in all its glory is a sight to behold and that is continued with the brilliant visuals of the Starfighter missions which all feel slightly different and unique. The character models all look really great too with plenty of customisation alongside less but still worthwhile vehicle and Ship Design. 

But during the campaign I suffered from a lot of graphical glitches mainly involving the enemies moving through walls and magically floating in mid air after I killed them. It just took me out of the game and made the entire thing feel a bit cheap and weak. 

Overall

Overall, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is an above average game. If you only play games for the single player then give this one a miss as it doesn't offer enough. But if you are a Star Wars fan who loves multiplayer then this is a must play, it is so much fun playing these huge battles in multiplayer. If they make a Battlefront 3 I hope they focus a bit more on the campaign and keep the great multiplayer. 

Rating - 6/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) Review

The end of the rebooted Modern Warfare franchise is coming out later this year so I decided to replay the beginning of the rebooted franchise Modern Warfare and here is my review for the game. The premise of the game is set in 2019 and sees terrorists try and take down the world, this is until a group of elite soldiers attempt to stop them. 

Characters

Unlike the previous Modern Warfare games, you see yourself playing as actual talking characters in Kyle Garrick and Alex. These are pretty decent characters and it is just nice to play as these characters with them having real interactions with other characters both heroic and villainous. 

This game was heavily marketed by the return of Captain Price, this time played by Barry Sloane and he is great in the role. He is pretty similar to the previous version but is really rugged and tough, he also does some questionable things but always with the best intentions for his team and the mission. He is great in the cutscenes and has a good relationship with the other characters. 

Farah & Hadir are two characters newly introduced to the franchise here. They are the leaders of the uprising of Urzikstan. They are great new additions to this franchise, the game does a fantastic job of developing their characters and showing their motivations. 

The only issue with the characters is that of the villains. There are quite a few villains here and none of them are particularly interesting, General Barkov is the main villain but he is barely in the game and it feels like they all took screen time away from each other. 

Story

The story is okay, as I mentioned above it was really cool to play as characters that would communicate with others while the game was going on. The game also does a fantastic job of setting up Farah & Hadir's story. I also appreciate that this game doesn't use much from the previous rendition of Modern Warfare, really apart from Price being here none of it is the same. But as I mentioned above, the villains aren't that great which does bring the story down. Also, I just felt there were a few too many stealth missions here that got quite repetitive. 

Side Content

Really the only side content here is the multiplayer. Now the multiplayer is really fun, you have all of your traditional COD game modes and the customisation is detailed, probably a little too detailed but you can tell that lots of love and spirit was put into this multiplayer. But I had a problem with Spec Ops, this was to have a multiplayer that linked to the main story, that is a great idea but the missions are dull and they have weird modifiers on them which feel unnecessary. Also the lack of single player content other then the campaign is a big let down. 

Gameplay

The gameplay is the best part of the game. The gunplay is fantastic and overall action flows really nicely. You can Mount walls and cover to aid with aim and that is a big help to somebody like me. This gameplay is tough and you will die a lot, but it is really fun and never really slows down. 

Graphics

The game looks fantastic, the in game graphics are really good and the action feels realistic and brutal. The cutscenes look really great with the acting being top notch from everybody. The problem is that at least for me the cutscenes kept glitching out, I am not sure if it just my disk or whether it was a big issue but for me it was. 

Overall

Overall, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is an above average game. It has some really fun gameplay and decent attempt at rebooting the franchise. But this game falls a bit flat overall, it doesn't hit the highest of notes. Now that it is pretty cheap it is probably worth a pick up but don't expect the quality of the original Modern Warfare Trilogy. 

Rating - 6/10