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The underlying fiction of the Assassin's Creed series is one of my favorites in the realm of video games. <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/ubisoft-montreal-studios/65-1559/">Ubisoft Montreal</a> has crafted an insanely ridiculous universe in which their own sci-fi spin on hot topics like religion and doomsday prophecies is spread throughout the annals of human history. This is one of the main reasons I play the Assassin's Creed games, but also why I almost initially passed on Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Before its release, very little was revealed about the single-player campaign, nearly all preview focus instead being placed on the new multiplayer component of the game. However, upon playing through Brotherhood, I found the campaign to be a critical chapter in the ongoing saga of <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/desmond-miles/94-305/">Desmond Miles</a>. Combine this with its predecessor's great visceral gameplay, itself enhanced by the inclusion of assassin recruits and faster melee combat, and a separate multiplayer mode unique enough to provide a new and completely different experience to the multiplayer crowd, and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a winner on all fronts.
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I can count the number of games set in the Wild West I can remember ever playing on one hand. <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/gun/61-8873/">Gun</a>... <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/sunset-riders/61-5690/">Sunset Riders</a>... I played that <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/wild-west-cow-boys-of-moo-mesa/61-22875/">Cowboys of Moo Mesa</a> arcade game at an Izzy's Pizza one time... Needless to say, the Wild West has been sorely underrepresented throughout my lifelong experience with video games. That is completely fine, though, because Red Dead Redemption is a game that makes me feel like nobody ever needs to make another game set in the Wild West ever again. The world in which this game is set is so carefully crafted, putting you in a dirty yet beautiful landscape where danger and death is found anywhere and everywhere. Even in the calmest of areas is there the lingering fear of being stealthily mauled by a wild beast, making the world all that more exciting and enjoyable in which to constantly mash the "run" button.
<br><br>What really surprised me, though, is how much the story and characters defied the route that is usually taken in Rockstar games. I never played any of the GTA games, for I was never really enthralled by their morally-questionable criminal anti-heroes. I know I'm likely short-changing that entire series, but I guess I am just a bit of a goody-goody. In Red Dead Redemption, however, even in a world where morality is blurred and sense of right and wrong is often hard to find, <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/john-marston/94-9449/">John Marston</a> is still clearly a good man driven by the love of his family. And though sometimes it might seem like Martson might be a bit of a patsy, his journey through the Wild West left me completely satisfied once the final bullet was fired.
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Yes, I am serious. I am not going to make any excuses for Deadly Premonition when viewed strictly as a game because, honestly, it is not very good at all as a game. The gameplay is superfluous, antiquated, and often broken in many ways. However, despite its many shortcomings, Deadly Premonition managed to stay with me longer than most of the games I played this year. As I guided <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/francis-york-morgan/94-14246/">FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan</a> and his faithful companion Zach further and further through their journey, I felt that <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/hidetaka-suehiro/72-97866/">Swery</a> put as much effort and ambition as possible into his work in order to breathe life into the town of Greenvale and its inhabitants. What resulted were a disturbingly twisted and compelling story and a cadre of delightfully quirky characters that absolutely hooked me more than enough to excuse the game's myriad faults.
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