GamerPost #04 Assassins Creed 2 Review

Well, I’ve done it, I’ve finally fully completed a game. We’re talking 100% in game completion. We’re talking 1000/1000 gamer points. We’re talking EVERYTHING. As such, I feel I can offer my best possible review, breaking it down into what I loved and what I loathed.

LOVED IT

Some of the Old – This game took everything that was great about assassins creed and brought it back. The free running, the stealthy assassinations, they sick sense of pleasure you can get from using a throwing knife to send a guard toppling off a building. It was all there.

Something New – And it takes all these old classics and expands upon and adds to them. You now have access to poison blades which can be used to ‘indirectly’ kill guards. You can use the grab function in close combat to throw people off buildings. There’s a much wider selection of weapons, allowing you to choose between sword, spear or axe. The game adds so much to the experience it is simply fun to think up creative ways to off random guards.

Less Repetition – One thing Assassins Creed suffered from was being repetitive. AC2 does away with this. Each mission and side quest feels unique. I never once found myself thinking “Oh no, not this again” It was all fresh as a daisy.

Now He’s Got Character – The entire cast was well written and engaging, with a nice touch of dry, adult humour. You actually watch Ezio, the character you play as, grow and mature, from a rowdy teenager into a man, into an assassin.

Not Shying Away – The story doesn’t cut corners with plot. Ezio drinks, he has sex, he seeks revenge. It doesn’t gloss over anything. The best bit was a quick time event to take a girls top off (not that you actually saw anything).

LOATHED IT

Story? – I often at times found myself wondering ‘why?’ Why did I have to kill this man? Why was I listening to this person? There wasn’t a compelling story, which was a shame considering the wonderful characters that populated it.

Hmm, wonder what I can use that for? – The game also had a handful of items that just seemed tacked on. This includes two Da Vinci inventions, the wrist pistol and the flying machine. Apart from when you’re forced to use them, I found them inconvenient compared to the more ‘traditional’ hardware

Crystal Skull Syndrome – Spoiler Warning Right Here! The ending left something to be desired if I’m being honest. I think they gave away too much too quickly and have dimmed my interest in the third in the series. The alien/time travellers just leaves a bad taste in my mouth like at the end of the last Indiana Jones movie. I like my mysterious organisations surrounded in more, well, mystery.

Well, that’s convenient -  Some of the Puzzles just seemed a bit too conveniently set up. For example, you’d be expected to navigate a jumping puzzle that was supposedly set up when the building you’re in was first constructed, yet the puzzle would require  jumping to and from objects placed there during the renovation of the building. It just breaks the suspension of disbelief a little.

THE FINAL SCORE

Graphics – 8/10 – Nothing ground breaking, but still impressive and breath taking in places

Gameplay -  9/10 – A wonderful free running experience

Audio – 8/10 – I didn’t really notice the music much, although at times it did pick up quite nicely

Story – 6/10 – Like I said, I felt a little lost by the story at times and felt that I was just being dragged along for the ride.

OVERALL – 8/10

Left 4 Dead 2? More Like Left 4 Dead WOOOOO, amirite?

For my secular gift giving annual occurrence day, I was lucky enough to be given a shiny new copy of Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to, surprise surprise, Left 4 Dead. There wasn’t a lot of love for this game seeing as Valve managed to release it approximately a year after the original, very quick turn around for a game. As such, people presumed that the new content could simple have been released as a patch or DLC, rather than a whole game. Even once people started playing it, they claimed that the changes made to the game weren’t deserving of a whole new disc, that it felt like a rushed expansion, not a whole game. To those people, I cry from the hills “BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!” and this is why.

• The New Special Infected: In addition to the existing rosters of the hunter, smoker, boomer, tank and witch, three new special infected join the line up. There’s the incredible fast and very disruptive charger. As his name implies, he charges through the survivors, knocking them aside and grabbing one of them in the process, who he’ll proceed to to smash into the ground. Then you have the jockey, a rather infuriating spec-infec who jumps onto a survivor, then rides them about like a cheap whore on speed. This can often lead to you being corralled into either a hoard of infected or even worse, into a boomer or spitter. The spitter is either the sister, or worse, girlfriend, of the boomer. As her name implies, she spits (she defo doesn’t swallow). And her spit happens to be rather corrosive persistent acid that can be used as a denial of ground attack. In addition to these three newcomers, the witch now wanders around during the day (oh joy) and some of the classic spec-infec now have new skins more suitable of the deep south.
• Speaking of deep south, that brings me to the new levels and the new story, which you can actually call a story! Unlike L4D where each campaign was styled like a zombie B-movie, with only the vaguest of plot threads connecting them, L4D2 has an actual story with connection between campaigns and reoccurring characters. The levels are also very beautiful, featuring day and night cycles, weather and dynamic routes controlled by the improved AI.
• The biggest improvement is the portfolio of weapons. In the first game, there was a very limited selection of armaments, 9 in total (staring shotgun, machine gun and pistol, upgrade shotgun, machine gun, hunting rifle, second pistol, moltov and pipe bomb). In L4D2 I have actually not been able to count the weapons. There are multiple types of each class plus a new throw able, boomer bile, which makes infected turn on each other. There’s also the adrenaline (increases speed and ability to shake off infected), incendiary and explosive ammo (which you deploy so other survivors can upgrade their weapons with new ammo) a grenade launcher, and best of all, MELEE WEAPONS!!!!
• Melee weapons are the best new feature of the game! I cannot convey how much fun they are! I was cackling with joy as I decapitated zombies with a katana and making chainsaw noises as I sliced and diced (vading ding ding ding [chainsaw noise]) There are eight melee weapons in total; cricket bat, machete, guitar, chainsaw, katana, crowbar, fire axe and police baton. If you’re lucky enough to get the code from Game (in the UK) you’ll also have the limited edition baseball bat (but this doesn’t count to the use all melee weapon achievement). I love the fact each weapon has its own charm, The katana and machete both slice and dice, separating undead from undead body. The cricket bat is a nice little tip of the hat to Shaun of the Dead and the chainsaw is just too much fun to explain.
• Then you have the new survivors, new game mode and loads of immersive little features and ways of playing through the campaign. Gone is the method of run and gun, run and gun, stand and gun. You now have to collect items, turn off alarms, run gauntlets and basically play a much more realistic zombie apocalypse.

Well, that’s the end of my love for Left 4 Dead 2, all you people who trash talk it, you fucking phail! Peace! Lulz

GamerPost #03 Uncomfortable Choices

As I look at those often mean little numbers in the bottom right of my left display, sitting happily at the end of my task bar, they tell me that it is now 10:42 am. Now, to me, that’s pretty offensive as it stands, because I am normally not up before 11 on a day off university (I prefer to start late, work late). But this morning it’s almost a little worse, for I have been up since 7:20am! Why, you may ask, well it’s a bizarre little story.

I, as a man who enjoys the little things, like a warm duvet, a soft pillow, and the feel of being asleep, do not have the time for midnight launches. The same can be said for supermarket chain Sainsbury's, who not having 24 hour store opening, decided on another, more appealing way to drawing in the customers to purchase the latest Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 2 (Technically Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2, think Final Fantasy X 2). They would be selling the game, RRP £55, for cheap. How cheap you ask? Not for £45, not for £35 but for £26! Let me put that into perspective, you can still buy Modern Warfare 1 for £30 new, or £27 pre-owned (Play.com, GAME.co.uk). That’s right, you can buy the most anticipated game of the year for CHEAPER than it’s 2 year old predecessor.

So, last night as I was going to sleep, I was debating whether to make the purchase. I decided to leave it to fate; I would wake up whenever I wake up, call the nearest store and see if they had any left. If they didn’t, no harm, no foul and I save £26. If they did, well I’d get a copy and make a huge saving. Best laid plans of men and mice.

I wake up this morning at 7:20am, feeling disturbingly refreshed (I got an early night last night, before midnight that is) and thought ‘fuck it!’. I through on some clothes (I don’t think they would serve me naked), jumped on the next train, and literally within 20 minutes I was standing out side Sainsbury's at 7:40 in the morning. And even better, I was at the front of a 20 something meters long queue! Win! 20 minutes later the shutters start to rise and I am not kidding, grown men and even a few grown women were scooting under the shutter before it was even 2 meters off the ground. Sainsbury’s was organised, well prepared and well stocked and within 10 minutes, I had my copy.

Now I must comment that something funny did occur as I was queuing. A number of my senior members of the community, whom I will refer to as ‘old codgers’, or something of similar effect, from now on, made some rather disparaging comments about the folly of queuing for a ‘silly game’ that early in the morning. I thought this was rather hypocritical, seeing as they were there equally early to do their shopping. Now I have worked in a supermarket, and these ‘early rises’ are a bizarre bunch. They will be outside a supermarket, up to ten minutes before opening, every week, or in the more extreme circumstances, every DAY, like clockwork to get their paper, fruit and meat etc. It’s as if they’re worried that the stuff we have in stock everyday like clockwork will sell out if they’re not there at 8am sharp. And they called us stupid? Some people.

But yes, back on topic. I’m not going to spoil anything for the game for those who have yet to play it, but I do offer one word of warning, if you are easily offended, disturbed or upset, you may want to enable the option to skip the disturbing content, if only as a fail-safe. This is for one reason; at a point early on in the game, you kill civilians, and a lot of them. I’m not talking insurgents dressed as civilians, or even civilian law enforcement. You kill unarmed, non-combatant civilians who run screaming for their lives. This was a particularly upsetting moment for me, if only because the realisation came after I had started pulling the trigger.
As many of my fellow first person shooter fans out there will agree, if you’re playing a game and the AI starts shooting, you automatically start shooting the same targets. This is because the AI is supposed to know what it’s doing. It’s programmed to advance the plot, or keep the heat off you so you can do so. Now in the above situation, I wouldn’t be lying if I said I simply started shooting because the AI was doing so. A few seconds later I realised who I was shooting at, and it hit me. At one point I actually fell back to the rear of the group, shooting those who were already shot and dying, if only to put them out of their misery. I even felt the slightest bit nauseous. But it did make me think. Not to ruin the plot, but this scene revolved around one government doing (or allowing) something terrible for a greater good (in theory). And for a few seconds afterwards, I sat and thought “you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar hasn’t happened before”. And it’s at that moment, when you have those thoughts, that you lose another little piece of your faith in humanity. I don’t begrudge Infinity Ward for inserting the scene. They could’ve made it a cut scene and everyone who watched it would be all “oooh, those evil terrorists, lets go get them, Hoo Haa!”. But no, IW made us play it, and they made us think, and feel, and (I really hope) feel shit about it. Because the world is full of people, people in power, who make the hard choices, that have terrible consequences, for that fantastic ideal of 'the greater good’.

That’s all I really wanted to say. Thank you for reading this little post. Thank you Infinity Ward for making me think. And thank you Activision (the games publishers) for doing this.

GamerPost #02 The Demo Edition

Okay, this week I finally got Xbox live gold back on for my gamertag (Davedamon for those who want to know) and can you guess one of the first things I did? (No, it wasn’t insult some 12 year old American kids sexuality and/or mother). I went demo downloading! Three demos in fact. And here they are!

Ghostbusters: The Game
This just isn’t a game, it’s an interactive sequel to the film series! Yes, this is the blessed Ghostbusters 3, featuring all the voices including Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson. It’s all their, the humour, the familiar ghost busting technology (and you can cross the stream, or not!). Graphically it’s engaging and realistic, but with a subtle undertone of stylizing. I do now want the full game, and as such it has gone on my Christmas wish list ^_^

Brütal Legend
Brütal Legend (umlauts compulsory) is basically Jack Black – The Game. And that’s not a bad thing. I couldn’t get a good bead on the gameplay from the demo, seeing as it’s supposedly an action RTS, but all I got from the demo is action.
The important part is the humour. Even the demo was packed to the brim with metal references, witty one liners and quotes a plenty (“DECAPITATION!!!! Now to teach of the thing we call ‘French kissing’). Again, this deservedly earns a place on my wish list, and I hope I get to metal it up with Eddy Riggs this festive period.

Left4Dead 2
Now anyone who has read my previous post on zombies will understand why I’m so excited about this game. Take the original Left4Dead (which is AMAZING) and add the following

• New special infected such as the Spitter and Jockey
• Melee weapons (chainsaw doesn’t do it for you? How about an axe, or a katana, or a FREAKING ELECTRIC GUITAR!)
• Uncommon common infected, including fire proof hazmat and bullet proof SWAT zombies and clown zombies
• A new plot and 4 new survivors

This game basically has everything that made the original great and then some. I can see me and Viv sinking many an hour into this baby and it’s the only demo to stay on my system until I get the full title.

So, that’s really all for now.

Wait, LOOK OUT!

BOOMER!

GamerPost #01 A Few of My Favourite Things

The one problem I have with reviewing games is that I never feel I complete them enough for my opinion to be reflective of the game. I rarely hit that fabled 100% (with the exception of Burnout Paradise, for which I have 101%, fuck yeah). But here I will instead talk about what I like in the games that I like, and look at upcoming games that fill me with glee.

First up, we have Rock Band 1/2, the series possibly being my favourite of any game IP. I don't need to explain to you what rock band is, but I may need to explain why it is so awesome to me. You see, it's all about that core tenant of play, imagination. Playing rock band is all about pretending you're a rock star, well it is at least for me. It's not about high scores and gold stars, it's about belting out tunes at the top of your voice, power sliding on your knees while you nail metal chords or wailing on the drums like an animal, or even like Animal. It's just so much damn pure fun that I can't stop playing it. Factor in the broad range of music that KEEPS ON GROWING! (I calculate I've spent, in 1 year, over £100 on downloadable songs) and you don't have a game, you have an entrainment

Next up, Left4Dead, which is easily one of the best zombie games released (better than Resident Evil imho). Although it lacks deep plot and you can easily play through all four original levels in as many hours, it's the replay value that keeps you from trading it in. I've lost count the number of times I've played left4dead late at night with Viv. It's that awesome. Factor in some great one liners in the voice acting along with some of the best zombie mechanics, you have a great horror game.

And finally, I am offering up some love to a shamefully underrated game by the name of Dead Space. This game was a victim of over hyping which meant that it couldn't live up to it in the end as everyone was expecting the perfect gaming experience. But it was a damn awesome game, truly scary and actually quite thrilling. I normal abhor games where you must conserve ammo and use fixed save points, but this was different. Factor in the clever tactical dismemberment system. Head shots are not fatal for the 'necromorphs', instead you must rend them limb from limb to turn them into pathetic lumps of flesh. Add the atmospheric space ship that not only is incredibly reminiscent of Event Horizon, and actually feels like the layout is plausible and well thought out.