Assassin's Creed 2
The first time I played through AC2 was after being offered the chance to borrow my brother's copy of the game along with his 360 console to play it on. That was around the time the game was released and I was on somewhat of a tight schedule to finish it and return the game & console to my brother. But having now played through it for a second time on my PS3 and more importantly at my own pace the general flaws and finer points of the game stand out a little more to me now. I still maintain the opinion AC2 is all round a greater improvement over the first game in almost every aspect. But those same little annoyances with the platforming and the way the controls handle that aspect of the game are still noticeable.
However the finer points of AC2 are also things I enjoyed in the first game, primarily the level design and sheer attention to detail and the depth each location has when viewed from up high on one of the many towers or cathedral spires you'll inevitably have to climb up. Ubisoft really managed to capture a strong sense of place and feel for Renaissance era Italy. Something I can really appreciate and respect them for achieving. And not to mention one of the more memorable endings to a game as well. Say what you will about the 'cop out' some people felt it was, I for one found it to be really great and fitting to the fiction that makes the Assassin's Creed games so unique.
They didn't try to make out that the various pantheons of deities and gods worshipped throughout history were fake but simply gave a bit of a more scientific approach to who these all powerful beings were and how mankind came into existence. Instead of relying on the mystical, dare I say magical, explanation that we have when it comes to religion or things unknown. I whole heartedly enjoyed it and enjoyed reading through the various letters, codex pages and glyph puzzles that help set up and expand the fiction that Ubisoft have obviously tried hard to create.
While still on the topic of religious fiction in video games I also feel like sharing some opinions on an earlier 2010 release.....
Darksiders
Even though I managed to somewhat spoil the ending of the game for myself due to my own biblical knowledge and understanding of events and characters that appear in the game which Vigil takes some artistic license with after the first hour or so of starting it. I still found Darksiders to be a great amount of fun and joy to play.The artistic design and work from Joe Madureira was a great touch and arguably one of the stronger assets of the game. His work on the design of the game's locations and environments as well as the characters and monster within them really made the game stand out visually to me. Even though War himself is the main protagonist of the game and arguably should be considered the star, I found myself far more impressed with the look, feel and design of the demon Samael. His visual appearance is both unique and fitting while his facial animations were strikingly good at portraying the characters emotions during the brief interactions you have with him. By far one of the more memorable characters you meet in the game.
As for how the game itself played, well a lot of reviews mentioned Darksiders unapologetically borrows game mechanics and elements from various other titles. And I was a little dubious as to how that would play out but to my surprise the blending of various gameplay mechanics from various games works tremendously well in Darksiders favour. The mix of puzzle solving and combat felt evenly paced and never did it feel like you were doing too much of one or the other for too long. The puzzles themselves never felt tremendously difficult but neither did they feel too easy.
While the combat mechanic requires you to learn various combination attacks for each weapon which brings a bit more of a varied feel in what works best against which type of enemy you'll engage in a fight with. The block / counter mechanic in the game leaves a lot to be desired when a large majority of enemies you face have unblockable attacks and countering the few attacks you can requires some genuine split second timing. I feel it just didn't lend itself well to the game's combat as time went on.
Still it was a great amount of fun to play and set itself up well for a sequel which I'm glad to hear will come sometime in 2012, assuming of course you are a disbeliever in the 2012 conspiracy theories.
Prototype
After investing 7 hours playing the game I called it quits. I couldn't bring myself to play it any further, not because it was an outright bad game, but simply because I felt after my 7 hours I had seen all there really was to see and experience. The first 7 hours were all the same, I couldn't see the next however many more hours invested being any different. Disappointing considering it seemed to have potential, but not entirely unexpected.Demos
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Aliens Vs. Predator
Heavy Rain
Here is a game that doesn't fill your screen with a mass of HUD information but rather keeps the screen as free from those traditional elements as possible so you can enjoy the very high visual quality of the game itself on your big TV screen. Arguably though there still are some HUD elements to the game as seen when playing through th investigation portion of the demo as FBI Agent Norman Jayden. The prompts to remove or use his Sci-Fi style glasses and glove are always there.
However the main reason I'm so happy to have gotten my hands on the demo for was to see how the game controls. We've all heard the accusations that this game is nothing more than quick time events and while that may be true from a certain point of view, I for one disagree. Yes there are certain moments where you're prompted to press buttons but it isn't simply a case of hammering on the circle and watching Kratos rip a guy in half. It has a bit more depth to it than that. In fact I get the impression the controls could provide an adequate level of challenge to the gameplay more than anything else. Overall the demo left me with a solid and very positive impression for the final product.
Well folks we've come to the end of yet another blog by yours truly. As usual feel free to comment and critique where you see fit and be sure to follow me on Twitter and/or add me to your PSN friends list :)
Love Hamz, XOXO
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