Knight's Path: The Tournament is a free vertical slice of an upcoming open world action-RPG meant to give people a taste of the different systems it will be built up on. It largely focuses on selling the combat mechanics and skill progression but you do get a hint of the other mechanics as well. There's a tiny bit of exploration, tiny bit of questing, tiny bit of dialogue, etc.

Now as a standalone project there are clear shortcomings here: unfinished menus, placeholder voice acting (i hope), overall rough feel BUT somehow I was still engrossed for a good 6 hours and I do think that it succeeded in its primary goal which was to get me excited about that future project. Most of this hinges upon the combat feeling fun and satisfying and I think that if they can successfully expand everything around this core then the team has something quite fun in their hands.

Hot Pursuit is a very welcome entry in the series. It is still a little barebones and there are a lot of annoyances, but there is plenty to like about it. Much like the previous entry the tracks are stellar, but the big improvement comes in the driving - cars actually behave in a predictable manner making the core experience of driving fun which makes all the difference. I am less keen on the AI, but let's say they are passable.

There is still very little progression and I feel like the game only hits it's full potential with a really fast car which eliminates a lot of the variety vehicle wise, but once you do pick a good one going around the tracks feels great.

The tracks feel incredibly fast, and yet retain a very dynamic feel of twists and turns. The themes are visually fun and even though the tracklist isn't huge they are suprisingly customizable. Changing the time of day, adding rain and mirroring / reversing the track can create a large amount of combinations that manage to feel rather distinct. This pairs nicely with the new Expert Knockout mode which is basically just a better version of my favourite gamemode from the last game. The key difference here is that the tracks and conditions are randomized so you have a lot of different scenarios thrown at you.

A key addition is also the Hot Pursuit mode which was the first time the series truly focused on police chases. Dodging the police was quite fun on the racer side, although the big tradeoff is that the game wasn't likely able to render a lot of cars at once so police chases are only possible in a 1v1 race making the race part of it a little redundant. The police side is...considerably less fun because I don't really think the engine is suited well for ramming cars off road and you don't have that many gadgets.

Overall I would say I still had an enjoyable time though and I would even say that this is the first good Need for Speed game because as much as there is to complain about I can't deny that I had fun driving.

An improvement over the first game although still a rather lacklustre entry to the series. The stars of the show are the tracks that boast very nice theming and layouts. If only the driving itself was up to par. It ranges from fine if you choose a really good car to poor with a bad one. The physics engine seems to actively try to sabotage everyone at all times with it going wild every time two objects touch. It can be mildly amusing when it happens to the AI and you see big pileups, but most of the time it's just frustrating. I do think that this would lead to a very fun multiplayer experience though. Especially the Knockout mode which was rather fun.

I quite liked this at first, but the lack of content just got to me after some time. There's an endless amount of game modes and a lot of focus has been put into making each one a viable alternative to the traditional 6v6 gameplay, but I think they went a bit too far with it to the point where the actual core multiplayer experience doesn't have enough meat on it.

I will check back in some time to see if anything has changed on that front and I did have a fun time - it's just not going to be all that memorable.

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.