With the engine from the last game this return to WW2 looks and feels amazing to play. I loved the brutal approach and it is probably one of the darkest Call of Duty games in my opinion. Sadly it starts falling short soon after. The first misstep came after you realized that instead of a proper narrative we once again get a mish-mash of different battles which immediately feels like a regression in terms of story. Now this was fine for about half the game because some of the missions were definitely cool but after a while this lack of narrative made other negatives pop up way more. Namely I felt like this game was even more unfair towards the player than CoD 4 leading to a lot of frustration during gameplay. The worst offender is likely the crazy granade spam every time you are stationary for more than 5 seconds. Other than that I think the multiplayer was still fun although again a tiny downgrade from the previous game.

Ended up liking the Campaign side of things a bit less than I was expecting to from my childhood. Nice story, great gunplay. Sadly somehow the visuals look like a downgrade compared to MW2 (not strictly talking about fidelity) and Treyarch continues to be poor at creating a game that is difficult but not unfair. I feel like Infinity Ward cracked that code with MW2 but sadly it did not make it to this game.

Now all that being said - the multiplayer is/was glorious and Treyarch deserves a big pat on the back for that. Great job on that front and enough for me to raise the score by a point. Also this is where most of my Zombie mode memories come from which is another +.

Such a fun game to play. It has a brilliant comic book vibe and lurking around as Batman was really fun. I really liked the combat mechanics. There have been many "Arkham Style" games out there but this still holds up - it feels solid, the controller vibrations are on point and it's just fun. I loved finding all the tapes and character information. Overall there was so much detail and love put into small things which made the experience extremely enjoyable.

There aren't many things I felt were weaker and even those aren't really huge issues but I think the backtracking was one. The game does do its best to keep things interesting as you retread similar locations but some of them start feeling a bit dull with some time (esp the outdoor sections that do not change that much). In addition I felt like the game could have used a "mark enemies" mechanic or a general detective mode overhaul. The detective mode was useful but it took away from the atmosphere because it changes the environment so much.

Max Payne 2 is a good time, although I do feel like it doesn't really stand up to it's predecessor which will always be a classic.

The biggest shortcoming is probably that Max Payne 2 doesn't take you to as many interesting places. The first game had Max in dirty slums, intercepting an ongoing bank robbery, going to seedy hotels, secret underground laboratories, demonic cult controlled night clubs. Max Payne 2 just lacks that variety and while there is stuff that is nicely done I just don't find the locations overall to be as memorable. It's a good deal shorter as well which makes the problem stand out even more. The levels aren't even badly designed or anything - it's just the variety and where they are set rather than the layout.

The story is not as crazy as the first game for sure, but it's rather interesting from a thematic and character standpoint. Max as this detective who doesn't really fit in anymore at the force after everything he has been through is great. He feels more at home being in massive firefights now rather than being tied to a desk.

On an even more positive note, the gameplay is glorious. Remedy understood the power of Bullet Time and there have been a lot of changes to make it more accessible and useful. Combat is made more fast-paced in general. Everything feels very snappy and satisfying. I feel like a badass in an action movie every step of the way. The only slightly negative aspect is perhaps that the arsenal of weapons becomes available to you very quickly and there is never really a lack of ammo to force the player to switch up tactics.

This all causes a bit of a dilemma in me because technically it succeeds at what an action game is supposed to be most competent at - the action. It's just that having a varied experience and a satisfying journey ended up being really important to me and I feel like this aspect could have been improved on while keeping the gameplay and grounded nature of the story intact.

So yeah - it's a good game, but it could have been amazing.

I've always had a rocky relationship with American Nightmare, and even though I am able to appreciate the work put into what is essentially a low budget Xbox Live Arcade game it still doesn't feel like something I am looking for.

On the positive side they have tightened up the gameplay. We have weapon variety now, Wake doesn't run out of breath after 2 minutes, manuscript pages unlock new and more powerful weapons incentivizing exploration, movement feels more solid, and there is more enemy variety.

Interestingly enough all of the gameplay changes I did like were actually planned for the eventual sequel, but Microsoft didn't pick it up which led to all this being used in the downloadable title.

At the end of the day though - while it is nice that the combat feels crisp, I find it very difficult to get invested in a smaller, combat focused Alan Wake game. I understand why it had to be this way, but something is missing and American Nightmare just doesn't play to the strengths of the series.