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This review contains spoilers
Batman: The TellTale Series Review
Batman: The Enemy Within takes a slightly different approach to its core gameplay compared to its predecessor as well as the other previously released adventure titles developed by TellTale Games. These titles have always sold themselves on the idea of having a narrative that evolves and changes based on timed decisions the games frequently prompt you with. However, the biggest problem with these titles is that your choices ultimately didn’t really have as drastic of an effect on the plots of these stories as the games would have you believe.
In what I feel must be an attempt to mitigate this issue, The Enemy Within places greater emphasis on the relationships between Bruce Wayne, Batman and the characters you encounter over the course of the game. It even goes so far as to review the status of your relationships with certain characters at the end of every episode. Most major story beats still aren’t really affected by your choices, but your relationships with the people close to Bruce and Batman are. This actually gives weight to the decisions you make over the course of the game, and I think this is a decent way of addressing the “TellTale Problem” that’s plagued so many games developed by the studio. The focus on relationships allows the game to place even more stressful decision-making onto the player. It asks how far Bruce Wayne and Batman are willing to go in order to fulfill their mission to protect Gotham City, and it's up to the players to answer that question. This game really made me mull over certain decisions far more than its predecessor, and possibly any other TellTale game I’ve ever played. The approach isn’t totally perfect, as there were some characters who I cared about maintaining my good standing with far more than others, but I think it’s absolutely a step in the right direction at mitigating this long standing issue.
As opposed to the previous game, where you spent the majority of your time as Bruce Wayne taking care of his company and managing his public image, here you’ll be going undercover in a manner extremely reminiscent of Batman’s Matches Malone guise from the comics, infiltrating a gathering of common Batman foes known as “The Pact”. This is really where your dedication to Batman’s cause and code is called into question, as you’re forced to make extremely difficult decisions in order to maintain your cover. I feel like you were also meant to get closer to Batman’s foes while you were in this position. The game briefly hints at this by giving you brief opportunities to get to know the Pact members a bit better, but you don’t get especially close to anyone outside of John Doe, aka Joker.
This emphasis on relationships is especially on display with this game’s primary focus on the new interpretation of the dynamic between Batman and Joker, one that I absolutely love. Joker was introduced in the previous game as “John Doe”, an impressionable man who had no idea who he was or where he came from, and he continues to play that role for much of Enemy Within. He constantly shows brief glimpses of behavior that’s commonly associated with the Joker in so many interpretations, but he doesn’t really know the kind of person he wants to be yet. You have the opportunity as both Bruce Wayne and Batman to shape how he turns out, although in typical TellTale fashion, the end is still met with a tragedy that your choices can’t really avoid. No matter what, whether you go out of your way to be friends with John or if you’re dismissive of him, he’ll turn out as a great threat and a danger to those around him. Still, I think that John’s transformation into Joker felt a lot more personal and emotional than Harvey’s transformation into Two-Face in the previous game, mostly because of the influential dynamic of the relationship between him and Bruce. John/Joker’s relationship with Batman now extends to Bruce Wayne as well, and even though you have the opportunity to genuinely become friends with him, because you’re forced to use him in order to get close to The Pact, the friendship ultimately crumbles no matter what you do. Much like Harvey/Two-Face in the previous game, this would be a lot more impactful if it weren’t for the fact that futile choices leading to tragic outcomes hadn’t already been done for several TellTale titles already.
I loved the new take on Harley Quinn, in fact, I think this is my favorite take on Harley Quinn ever. Her dynamic with Joker is actually reversed now. He’s more subservient to her and vying for her attention while she’s far more commanding and dominating. She’s a bad influence on John and her hobby of toying with John’s feelings plays a big role in how he turns out. I really like how rebellious and independent she is. She’s so far removed from her traditional role, and she’s so much better off for it. Harley Quinn was never a character that I’ve been a huge fan of, nor is she one that I’ve ever really had much attachment to despite her popularity. I don’t even have especially strong feelings for her character in The Animated Series, so I’m impressed that TellTale finally made a version of Harley Quinn I actually give a damn about.
As for the other villains, I thought that Riddler was great and it’s a shame that he was killed off so early in the game’s narrative. I especially loved Robin Atkin Downs’ performance as the character. Riddler felt appropriately threatening while retaining the over-the-top comic book-y elements that really define his character. His backstory was handled in a new and interesting fashion, and his ultimate fate ended up being satisfyingly tragic, despite only primarily appearing for a single episode. On the other hand, Bane and Mr. Freeze are pretty much exactly the same as they’ve always been depicted, so they aren’t as interesting characters here. I feel like this was a big missed opportunity. Freeze in particular is barely present in the game at all, and doesn’t really play much of a role in the story. It’s a shame because I think that Mr. Freeze is a perfect character for difficult moral decision making, since his motivations are probably the most sympathetic out of all of Batman’s villains.
On paper, I like how the game pits Commissioner Gordon against Amanda Waller, but my extensive knowledge regarding both characters' history in the comic books as well as other adaptations lead to me pretty much never ever siding with Waller under any circumstances and always siding with Gordon no matter what. Considering how everything turns out, I feel like that was definitely the right decision. There’s a lot of heart to heart moments between Batman and Gordon in this game, and it actually tugs at the heartstrings a bit. I really appreciated the parallel between Batman and Amanda Waller both doing whatever they feel is necessary to protect the public and achieve what they feel is their ideal of justice, but Batman and myself could never agree with Waller’s methods, and by the end of my playthrough, Batman and Waller both despised each other (as they should).
Killing off Lucius Fox was shocking. I absolutely did not see that coming. I also did not see all of the plot twists regarding his daughter Tiffany as well. Making her a potential new sidekick for Batman is a neat idea, but I was hesitant to let her get involved with anything because she doesn’t have any formal combat training. I believed she could eventually be an excellent successor to Lucius but actually taking her out to fight the Agency and the Pact was never in the cards for me. The reveal that she was the one who murdered Riddler felt obvious in hindsight, but in the moment, the reveal still really shocked me.
I also loved what they did with Alfred, mostly. I was a bit confused because the final results screen made it seem like I was really rude and neglectful of Alfred when I wasn’t trying to be at all. The final decision you have to make regarding whether or not you should give up Batman or give up Alfred was painfully difficult, but ultimately I felt like letting Alfred go was the best for everyone involved. Alfred doesn’t have to watch or participate as Bruce continues to wage his war, and Batman can continue to keep the city of Gotham safe.
In light of TellTale Games kinda-sorta coming back after going out of business, I really hope that the team that worked on Enemy Within as well as the first game get a chance to come back and work on this universe again. I feel like there’s still a lot of potential with it, and I really want to see more stories with this interpretation of these characters. I love these stories a lot despite the issues they might have, and I’d like to see this universe come to an end on more satisfying terms. The Enemy Within is thrilling, surprising, and emotional. It has some slight missteps here and there but I think that it’s still an excellent companion to The TellTale Series. Both games are unique and captivating Batman adventures that have left me itching to see more.
Batman: The Enemy Within takes a slightly different approach to its core gameplay compared to its predecessor as well as the other previously released adventure titles developed by TellTale Games. These titles have always sold themselves on the idea of having a narrative that evolves and changes based on timed decisions the games frequently prompt you with. However, the biggest problem with these titles is that your choices ultimately didn’t really have as drastic of an effect on the plots of these stories as the games would have you believe.
In what I feel must be an attempt to mitigate this issue, The Enemy Within places greater emphasis on the relationships between Bruce Wayne, Batman and the characters you encounter over the course of the game. It even goes so far as to review the status of your relationships with certain characters at the end of every episode. Most major story beats still aren’t really affected by your choices, but your relationships with the people close to Bruce and Batman are. This actually gives weight to the decisions you make over the course of the game, and I think this is a decent way of addressing the “TellTale Problem” that’s plagued so many games developed by the studio. The focus on relationships allows the game to place even more stressful decision-making onto the player. It asks how far Bruce Wayne and Batman are willing to go in order to fulfill their mission to protect Gotham City, and it's up to the players to answer that question. This game really made me mull over certain decisions far more than its predecessor, and possibly any other TellTale game I’ve ever played. The approach isn’t totally perfect, as there were some characters who I cared about maintaining my good standing with far more than others, but I think it’s absolutely a step in the right direction at mitigating this long standing issue.
As opposed to the previous game, where you spent the majority of your time as Bruce Wayne taking care of his company and managing his public image, here you’ll be going undercover in a manner extremely reminiscent of Batman’s Matches Malone guise from the comics, infiltrating a gathering of common Batman foes known as “The Pact”. This is really where your dedication to Batman’s cause and code is called into question, as you’re forced to make extremely difficult decisions in order to maintain your cover. I feel like you were also meant to get closer to Batman’s foes while you were in this position. The game briefly hints at this by giving you brief opportunities to get to know the Pact members a bit better, but you don’t get especially close to anyone outside of John Doe, aka Joker.
This emphasis on relationships is especially on display with this game’s primary focus on the new interpretation of the dynamic between Batman and Joker, one that I absolutely love. Joker was introduced in the previous game as “John Doe”, an impressionable man who had no idea who he was or where he came from, and he continues to play that role for much of Enemy Within. He constantly shows brief glimpses of behavior that’s commonly associated with the Joker in so many interpretations, but he doesn’t really know the kind of person he wants to be yet. You have the opportunity as both Bruce Wayne and Batman to shape how he turns out, although in typical TellTale fashion, the end is still met with a tragedy that your choices can’t really avoid. No matter what, whether you go out of your way to be friends with John or if you’re dismissive of him, he’ll turn out as a great threat and a danger to those around him. Still, I think that John’s transformation into Joker felt a lot more personal and emotional than Harvey’s transformation into Two-Face in the previous game, mostly because of the influential dynamic of the relationship between him and Bruce. John/Joker’s relationship with Batman now extends to Bruce Wayne as well, and even though you have the opportunity to genuinely become friends with him, because you’re forced to use him in order to get close to The Pact, the friendship ultimately crumbles no matter what you do. Much like Harvey/Two-Face in the previous game, this would be a lot more impactful if it weren’t for the fact that futile choices leading to tragic outcomes hadn’t already been done for several TellTale titles already.
I loved the new take on Harley Quinn, in fact, I think this is my favorite take on Harley Quinn ever. Her dynamic with Joker is actually reversed now. He’s more subservient to her and vying for her attention while she’s far more commanding and dominating. She’s a bad influence on John and her hobby of toying with John’s feelings plays a big role in how he turns out. I really like how rebellious and independent she is. She’s so far removed from her traditional role, and she’s so much better off for it. Harley Quinn was never a character that I’ve been a huge fan of, nor is she one that I’ve ever really had much attachment to despite her popularity. I don’t even have especially strong feelings for her character in The Animated Series, so I’m impressed that TellTale finally made a version of Harley Quinn I actually give a damn about.
As for the other villains, I thought that Riddler was great and it’s a shame that he was killed off so early in the game’s narrative. I especially loved Robin Atkin Downs’ performance as the character. Riddler felt appropriately threatening while retaining the over-the-top comic book-y elements that really define his character. His backstory was handled in a new and interesting fashion, and his ultimate fate ended up being satisfyingly tragic, despite only primarily appearing for a single episode. On the other hand, Bane and Mr. Freeze are pretty much exactly the same as they’ve always been depicted, so they aren’t as interesting characters here. I feel like this was a big missed opportunity. Freeze in particular is barely present in the game at all, and doesn’t really play much of a role in the story. It’s a shame because I think that Mr. Freeze is a perfect character for difficult moral decision making, since his motivations are probably the most sympathetic out of all of Batman’s villains.
On paper, I like how the game pits Commissioner Gordon against Amanda Waller, but my extensive knowledge regarding both characters' history in the comic books as well as other adaptations lead to me pretty much never ever siding with Waller under any circumstances and always siding with Gordon no matter what. Considering how everything turns out, I feel like that was definitely the right decision. There’s a lot of heart to heart moments between Batman and Gordon in this game, and it actually tugs at the heartstrings a bit. I really appreciated the parallel between Batman and Amanda Waller both doing whatever they feel is necessary to protect the public and achieve what they feel is their ideal of justice, but Batman and myself could never agree with Waller’s methods, and by the end of my playthrough, Batman and Waller both despised each other (as they should).
Killing off Lucius Fox was shocking. I absolutely did not see that coming. I also did not see all of the plot twists regarding his daughter Tiffany as well. Making her a potential new sidekick for Batman is a neat idea, but I was hesitant to let her get involved with anything because she doesn’t have any formal combat training. I believed she could eventually be an excellent successor to Lucius but actually taking her out to fight the Agency and the Pact was never in the cards for me. The reveal that she was the one who murdered Riddler felt obvious in hindsight, but in the moment, the reveal still really shocked me.
I also loved what they did with Alfred, mostly. I was a bit confused because the final results screen made it seem like I was really rude and neglectful of Alfred when I wasn’t trying to be at all. The final decision you have to make regarding whether or not you should give up Batman or give up Alfred was painfully difficult, but ultimately I felt like letting Alfred go was the best for everyone involved. Alfred doesn’t have to watch or participate as Bruce continues to wage his war, and Batman can continue to keep the city of Gotham safe.
In light of TellTale Games kinda-sorta coming back after going out of business, I really hope that the team that worked on Enemy Within as well as the first game get a chance to come back and work on this universe again. I feel like there’s still a lot of potential with it, and I really want to see more stories with this interpretation of these characters. I love these stories a lot despite the issues they might have, and I’d like to see this universe come to an end on more satisfying terms. The Enemy Within is thrilling, surprising, and emotional. It has some slight missteps here and there but I think that it’s still an excellent companion to The TellTale Series. Both games are unique and captivating Batman adventures that have left me itching to see more.
Club Penguin Online
2018
Die pedo
In 2021, Rockstar announced a group of remasters for the three games that put them on the map. Those remasters being the "definitive editions." Shortly after the announcement, they were released and they got absolutely destroyed by critics and fans of these games for being lazy, buggy cash-grabs. Over time, they did release updates that ultimately improved their performance making them a lot more playable than they were on release. Having played both the originals and more recently these "definitive editions," it seems they have fixed these remasters quite a bit, but they are still far from perfect.
Despite its imperfections, there is surprisingly a lot of good that this collection does. In fact, they are the reason I gave this collection the score I did. The first thing I can think of right off the bat is the addition of checkpoints. My biggest complaint when I was playing through the original versions were the lack of checkpoints. I couldn't count how many times I had to rebuy weapons and drive back to the missions across all 3 games. Just having checkpoints alone made playing these games MUCH more enjoyable than my inital playthrough of the originals on Ps4 (which they sadly took down). They also added a marker that tells you where you need to drive during missions. This feature is another major QoL improvement that greatly increased my enjoyment as I got lost quite a bit and would fail missions because of that. There is also the weapon wheel from GTA V, but personally, I just stuck with the old-fashioned way of going through my weapons. Regardless, it's still a nice feature to have.
Even with these positive changes, there are still reasons to dislike it. The graphics lack the charm the originals have, the games still have some glitches and aren't as polished as they should be, and the inclusion of checkpoints are misleading. While I didn't encounter anything gamebreaking, one thing I noticed is that enemies sometimes stand still for no reason at all and their behavior seems off. It didn't happen every time but it was frequent enough to catch my attention. There was also a weird jumping bug I encountered in San Andreas, but luckily it only happened once. While San Andreas has checkpoints, III & Vice City's "checkpoints" aren't really what they claim to be and more like a retry button. I didn't mind this too much as most of the missions in those games are pretty short, but it is highly misleading and comes across as incredibly half-assed & lazy. As for the graphics, they have made an attempt to alieviate that by adding a classic option in the Netflix version. It isn't perfect but its a step in the right direction. I just hope they port it and add more patches to the console versions too.
Compared to its inital release, its clear that Rockstar has fixed these versions to a significant degree, but ultimately they still deserved more love & care than what they got. Do I think this collection is worth $60? Absolutely not! It might have added a lot of positive QoL changes but the lack of polish alone is enough to avoid this at full price. I would recommend getting it on sale, especially since it does quite often. For new players and less skilled ones such as myself, its a good way to expirence these games. As for those who've played the originals, they might want to stick to them.
Despite its imperfections, there is surprisingly a lot of good that this collection does. In fact, they are the reason I gave this collection the score I did. The first thing I can think of right off the bat is the addition of checkpoints. My biggest complaint when I was playing through the original versions were the lack of checkpoints. I couldn't count how many times I had to rebuy weapons and drive back to the missions across all 3 games. Just having checkpoints alone made playing these games MUCH more enjoyable than my inital playthrough of the originals on Ps4 (which they sadly took down). They also added a marker that tells you where you need to drive during missions. This feature is another major QoL improvement that greatly increased my enjoyment as I got lost quite a bit and would fail missions because of that. There is also the weapon wheel from GTA V, but personally, I just stuck with the old-fashioned way of going through my weapons. Regardless, it's still a nice feature to have.
Even with these positive changes, there are still reasons to dislike it. The graphics lack the charm the originals have, the games still have some glitches and aren't as polished as they should be, and the inclusion of checkpoints are misleading. While I didn't encounter anything gamebreaking, one thing I noticed is that enemies sometimes stand still for no reason at all and their behavior seems off. It didn't happen every time but it was frequent enough to catch my attention. There was also a weird jumping bug I encountered in San Andreas, but luckily it only happened once. While San Andreas has checkpoints, III & Vice City's "checkpoints" aren't really what they claim to be and more like a retry button. I didn't mind this too much as most of the missions in those games are pretty short, but it is highly misleading and comes across as incredibly half-assed & lazy. As for the graphics, they have made an attempt to alieviate that by adding a classic option in the Netflix version. It isn't perfect but its a step in the right direction. I just hope they port it and add more patches to the console versions too.
Compared to its inital release, its clear that Rockstar has fixed these versions to a significant degree, but ultimately they still deserved more love & care than what they got. Do I think this collection is worth $60? Absolutely not! It might have added a lot of positive QoL changes but the lack of polish alone is enough to avoid this at full price. I would recommend getting it on sale, especially since it does quite often. For new players and less skilled ones such as myself, its a good way to expirence these games. As for those who've played the originals, they might want to stick to them.
Fuck you Rockstar
Pokémon Scarlet
2022
I don't care what glitches and bugs are still in the game at the time of writing. This was everything I hoped it would be and more. The open world and playing with your friends is everything I wished SwSh would do with the Wild Area. Obviously the game points you in the intended directions, but otherwise you can explore to your discretion. The Tera Raids feel more fun and fast-paced than in SwSh as well, always enjoyable. If you can look past the obvious flaws, you'll find something amazing. Super cliché to word it this way, but this game is a treasure.
Fantastic game. Every time I play, there's always a little something new that I learn or discover. Loads of hours of roaming a vast land and completing side goals and side quests, but the entire time it still felt so fun and enjoyable. The DLC felt fun, and even though I'm trash at Master Mode Trial of the Sword, maybe I'll beat that one day. All in all, an extremely fun game and I can't wait for Tears of the Kingdom!
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Super Mario Odyssey
2017
Homer is rolling his grave because of this pale imitation of his work
Super Mario Odyssey
2017
Such an amazing game with an uncompromising primary mechanic and fast, fluid movement. Looks great, sounds great. Has overt nostalgia-baiting that's actually fun and interesting. The mandatory motion controls are insane but who cares, this coming out after years of corporate mario slop felt like Jesus had risen
I GIVE MY LIFEEE, NOT FOR HONOR BUT FOR YOUUUUUUU
