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Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – Review

Published By: Ubisoft, Developed By: Ubisoft Montreal, Genre: Action/Adventure, Release Date: Nov 15/29 2011, Rating: M, Systems: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360.

Presentation: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations makes an attempt at what every good fourth game in a series should do. It added new gameplay elements, combat elements and spiced up its action with more  set pieces. Don’t worry the open world platforming of Assassin’s Creed is still intact and still the best gameplay this game has to offer. When examing the entire presentation of Assassin’s Creed: Revelation a couple of things stood out from previous games. The flow and structure of main missions regarding locating the Masyaf keys was actually fun. Its not your typical dungeon crawling exploration like in past games. There are more action set pieces and diversity when locating the keys.  Whether they are puzzle based or tracking down a group of Templars on a boat the action was ramped up.

The settings are different, no more Italy hello 15th century Constantinople. Constantinople made a very nice change of pace from previous Assassin’s Creed games. Its as if i was transported back in time running around the legendary The Grand Bazaar market while tracking down would be Templars. Not all is good with Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. I seen quite a few NPC glitches in-game coming from groups of patrolling Templar soldiers mostly. Most of the time they either walk into walls uncontrollably or stutter/vibrate so fast you wonder if they are going to blow up. Combat and platforming has been diversified with the addition of the hookblade weapon Ezio carries.

Story: Considering this is the fourth Assassin’s Creed game i was pleasantly surprised at how good the story was. The character development of Altair and Ezio as they bid farwell to the series was handled very well. You almost even feel alittle sad to see them go. As far as the main plot of Revelations goes its mostly a story of Ezio finding secret keys left behind by Altair. The keys are called Masyaf keys and with the help of Ezio’s new love interest Sophia, he is able to track all six down. The Masyaf keys opens a secret library that Altair wanted to keep hidden from world, more importantly the Apple of Eden.

Ezio near the end of the game realizes he was a conduit to relay a message to Miles Desmond. Desmond soon gets a vision of a future-like utopian world being destroyed by forces unknown. Desmond Wakes up to his father and the other assassins after being in a coma the entire game. He says, “I know what we need to do”. He shows his arm and the Apple of Eden has activated something in his DNA. It makes a better cliffhanger story-wise compared to Brotherhood. Most of the characters in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations were fleshed out due to great voice acting and writing. You even see a different side of Ezio as he dresses up as a performer singing at a party to distract crowd goers. Wether it was Sophia, Altair or Yusef they were all believable characters.

This is Assassin’s Creed: Revelations right? So where is the whole “Revelations” tied into this game? Everytime Ezio finds and decripts a Masyaf key you are transported back in time to a gameplay sequence telling Altair’s story. Altair’s story takes place over his entire life which was really cool to see. You relive Altair when he was in his 20′s, 62, 82 and then 92 years old. Altair spent his entire life protecting the assassin’s creed and held the Apple of Eden from the world for many years. Altair’s journey is another reason why i enjoyed Assassin’s Creed: Revelation’s story so much. It added a deep layer to Ezio’s journey of enlightment.

Visuals: The engine is showed its age alote during my playthrough. However the settings of Constantinople and Cappadocia brought new flavor to the art department and delivered. The texture work was ok for stone structures and rocks. The lighting was decent as well. There where a few wow moments pertaining to action set pieces. The in-game cutscenes featuring some of the character’s faces was clearly subpar from a visual standpoint. I must admit i never got tired of exploring the vast city of Constaninople, it was gorgeous and open featuring many great views. So all in all i would say great art but average textures.

Sound: The orchestra did a great job. Then again all Assassin Creed games feature great music and this one was no different. Voice acting and writing was superb throughout as well. I enjoyed how the music would ramp up and slow down in-game accordingly.

Gameplay: You can platform, use Eagle Sense, train and recruit assassins. You can buy real estate and earn money. You can send assassins on missions and rank them up. What Assassin’s Creed has been good at gameplay wise returned in Revelations. Since this is the fourth game there were quite a few big additions to gameplay. You can  join assassins on missions which was fun at times. Missions vary from finding traiters to snatch and grab missions. Finding and rescuing political prisoners etc. Most of the classic random missions are also available. Another new feature is that Ezio can be attacked from anybody out of the blue. You can also reverse your secret attacker’s attack and kill him.

Bomb making while new and seemingly wanting to appear important from all of the various ingredients and combos isn’t really a “must” gameplay factor. There are times when you will need to use bombs but they are few and far away. Bombs come in three types of pouches Lethal, Tactical and Diversion. You can pick various shells, gunpowder and special ingrediants to create practically a hundred different bombs. Some bombs kill, some explode blood on enemies causing panic and confusion and some are just smoke bombs. You can contruct bombs practially all over the game even in restricted mission areas where bomb making stations are present. You can always buy ingredients from black market venders for bomb making parts. Like i said, for a deep system for making bombs its just not that important in the grand scheme of gameplay.

The hookblade is the new main weapon of Ezio in Revelations. Not only can you traverse higher and slide across zip-lines but also use it in combat. You can throw enemies with the hookblade which is a nice combat mechanic. It takes a little getting used to but once i did i welcomed the hookblade entirely. New collectibles came in the form of Animus Data Fragments that unlocks a gameplay sequence for Desmond on Animus Island called “Desmond’s Journey”. Desmond’s Journey is a first-person Portal-type game where you have to listen to voice narration of Desmond’s past as you change and place blocks to navigate a matrix like room. I didin’t like it, it seemed pigeonholed in and just wasn’t fun in my opinion.

And last but not least we have Den Defense. Whenever you kill a Templar Captain you gain a Assassin’s Den in its place by lighting the fire tower. Most times the Templars will attack your Assassin’s Den in retaliation and Den Defense ensues. To make a long story short Den Defense is a tower defense game inside Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. Although wonky i actually thought they were fun and a good change up from the normal gameplay. In Den Defense you are on rooftops overlooking streets where mindless templars will run in trying to knock down the Assassin Den’s door. Your job is to assign units and stop the attack by any means neccesary.

Pressing R2 (on DS3) you can bring up the unit wheel and pick units like Crossbow Man or Assassin Leader and put them on rooftops. Assassin Leader (units) raise morale of soldiers near them. As you gain more money you can unlock more rooftops and more ground level and place more units accordingly. Placing Barricades on the street slows down the attackers. What i did was placed mostly Riflemen on rooftops and Cannons and Barricades on the street. I always had plenty of Assassin Leaders around my units on rooftops. If you manage to stop the attack your scored after on such stats as Assassins Called, Assassins Lost, Duration etc.

Replayability: The single player story campaign lasted me just over 14 hours. There are plenty of collectibles to collect for the achievement/trophy hunters. Multiplayer is back with some new gamemodes and a tie-in story featuring Templar training at Abstergo. The multiplayer does have a light story to it as told through voiced cutscenes. As you level up you will see more cutscenes detailing more of the Templar’s secrets. You can customize your character in a bunch  looks and abilities.

Some perks and abilities for more adnvanced players kinda take the steam out of newer gamers sails. I personally like Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. They do have a capture the treasure type gamemode as well. More so than anything the multiplayer is niche and fun at times. Its about stealth and blending in using knives, no guns. And as far as replay value goes with the map packs and DLC being pushed out i say Assassin’s Creed: Revelations has solid replay value.

Final Verdict: Hey its the fourth agme in the series so some things seemed worn out. I must say the additions of the hookblade, Bomb crafting and Den Defense really spiced up the gameplay. I didn’t like Desmond’s Journy side missions but enjoyed the Masyaf key missions. The story was the most surprising aspect and just might be the best in the series. Farewell Enzio and Altair, it was fun while it lasted.

8/10

Oil Rush – Gameplay Video

Oil Rush puts the gamer in a Water World type setting with its unique tower defense strategy gameplay. The precious commodity appears to be oil (nothing new right?). Judging from the factories in the trailer below you have to capture them to get the oil in order to build up units. From what i understand you can spawn jets, helicopters and various types of sea vehicles which seems cool.

Some of the reviews i read and seen seems to cast the game as mediocre at best. Even so its not too boring to look at in video form. Oil Rush is a tower defense strategy game developed by Unigen Corp Russia and published by _No Company for the PC, MAC and UNIX systems. The game released January 25, 2012. Thanks Gamespot.

Dead Island: Ryder White DLC – Review

Published By: Deep Silver, Developed By: Techland, Genre: Adventure, Release Date: Feb 1, 2012, Rating: M, Systems: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Price: $9.99

Presentation: Ryder White DLC is a single player story campaign that takes place just before the events of Dead Island. I was extremely excited to play this for the fact its Dead Island and its a story driven DLC campaign where you can explore Banoi once again. What i didn’t expect from its presentation was bad pacing issues, over-powered zombies, bottleneck zombie gangbang insta kills and no achievements or trophies to speak of. What just might be my biggest gripe with Ryder White’s presentation has to be the over-powered zombies. Keep in mind i beaten Dead Island and not once did i feel that game’s difficulty was cheap or unfair. For Ryder White Techland must of fed the zombies steroids because i died alote in this DLC.

If a small group of zombies gets you in one of the many bottleneck alleys or sewer areas your dead no matter what gun or weapon you have. The latter never happened to me in the full game. Pacing issues were odd. Lets say your running from an infinate spawn of zombies and reach a small shack with an NPC, magically all of the zombies that were chasing you dissapeared. I understand the shacks with turrets are safe zones in Ryder White. However it was still weird seeing that. You start off at level 15 and stay there the entire campaign. One thing about Dead Island i loved was the fact that you could implement RPG leveling up characteristics to your protagonist.

You do start the campaign with a good arsenal. The campaign always kept plenty of weapons and items scattered about. I did not see one store where you could sell your junk at which i didn’t get. The game has so much looting and nowhere to sell the stuff. You start the game with a Shocking Crowbar mod and a crowbar. I ended up finishing the campaign with that same weapon in my inventory. So lets recap the Ryder White’s presentation shall we. The game’s difficulty is ramped up too far which creates a bunch of useless deaths and breaks gameplay continuity and flow. You can’t level up Ryder at all. Bottle-necking zombie gangbangs in small areas gets you insta killed. Weird pacing issues and no stores to sell goods.

Story: Ryder White fought in Iraq and was a member of the Australian Defense Force. He was also the final bossfight in Dead Island. Ryder White DLC’s story is mainly about how White blew up the  bridge in Moresby. You remember that bridge from the main game? Much of the first half you have Ryder fighting zombies and Rascal gang members on his way to blowing up that bridge. The second part of the story has Ryder making his way to the prison as he tries to save his wife Emily who has been bitten by an infected prisoner. Charan (Kevin) the prisoner from Dead Island plays a bigger role and shows his manipulating skills through cutscenes with  Dr West and Ryder White. Protocol 66 is the order to bomb the entire island of Banoi but first White wants Emily safe. When i look back at the story its nothing special but does tie up a few loose ends from the main game. Then again you probably don’t even need the DLC to figure out the main game’s loose ends.

Visuals: The city of Moresby looked good. I liked how the sky was dark in the beginning of the game and later the sun was out. Dead Island is a goodlooking game. However i can’t say that Ryder White looked any better than the main game. There were some weird graphical glitches with NPC zombies. Regardless, the game does look nice. The settings included Moresby, sewer sections and the prison.

Sound: If you played Dead Island you know the voice acting is laughable at times. While not horrible Ryder White is decent. The sound design is solid and atmospheric. I hate hearing Suiciders say “help meeee”. I couldn’t tell if the orchestra tunes were in the original game or not but i did enjoy them.

Gameplay: If you played Dead Island you basically do the same thing in Ryder White. There isn’t any new gameplay tweaks that i noticed. However there were some new weapons. Incendiary Grenades came in big handy. There were plenty of guns including a new One Shot Rifle. RAGE Mode is back. White uses a pistol and focuses as he causes massive damage to humans and zombies during Rage mode. There were more turrets set up throughout the campaign then normal. Workbenches were plentifully scattered about the various locations of Moresby and the prison. You don’t take any missions from NPCs until the end when you do two or three missions for Charan.

Ryder White in alote of ways feels like a different game than Dead Island. No RPG elements/ leveling up, no co-op, no stores to sell stuff and store items. You rarely take missions from anybody as your alone most of the time. The missions as a whole weren’t very good. There are only a few main missions like taking over the Police Station from the Rascals. You need explosives from the Police Station to blow up the bridge. Another mission in the prison you had to get knock-out gas from a group of bad prisoners. You use the gas on the four main stars from Dead Island. In the elevator, you remember now? But as a whole the missions were meh mostly due to the over-powered zombies.

Replayability: Dead Island: Ryder White DLC campaign lasted four hours (for me). Four hours is  decent in my opinion. Keep in mind i didn’t do alote of searching either. Collectibles came in the form of Emily White and Andrew Meishes’s audiologs. No achievements or trophies does cause an obvious problem for replayability. However cumulative achievements and trophies continue on from your main Dead Island quest to/through Ryder White.

Final Verdict: Dead Island: Ryder White is a mediocre single player campaign you can buy for about $10.00. I would pay $2.00 for it (after completing it). The reason why i say that is throughout the campaign i felt i was killed more due to cheapness of level design and overpowered zombies than lack of skill. The latter took all of whats good from Ryder White and flushed it down the toilet.

6/10

Syndicate – Co-op Demo Impressions

Syndicate is a cyber-punk first-person shooter thats been reimagined from the classic 1993 game of the same name. For the record i played through the co-op demo of Syndicate via my Xbox 360. This cyberpunk fps was developed by Starbreeze and published by Electronic Arts for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It releases February 21, 2012. The co-up demo for Syndicate was a mix-bag overall. The demo did some things right and some wrong regarding gameplay. To find out what exactly keep reading.

The main menu screen sported Campaign (unplayable), Co-op, Options and Quit. The button layout: LT-zoom, LB-breach, LS-move, LS (down) – sprint, Back-journal,, D-pad-Up-breach 2, Down-switch fire mode, Left-breach 1, Right-breach 3, RT-fire, RB-DART overlay, Y-switch weapons, X-reload, B-crouch/sprint/slide, A-jump, Start-pause, RS-look and RS Down-melee. The button layout was fine i really had no problems with that. Despite that the controls seem sluggish. Maybe it was the choppy connection while i played online i don’t know. It just seemed like my Offense class character was slow and had some lag. And yes i know he is the tank class of Syndicate but still laggy.

Although much of the content was locked in the demo you could still navigate around and check out what the full game will have content wise. The demo itself from a co-op standpoint actually has alote of content regarding your character. But first i want tell you about the Maps. You can only play on one map in the Syndicate co-op demo that being Western Europe. On that map your pitted against a opposing Syndicate team called Cayman Global led by Captain Gabron who is the boss of the level and resembles a mech to boot. Some of the other maps which takes place all over the world gives insight into the single player locations (possibility). These are the maps i saw on the demo but unplayable Mozambique, Atlantic Accelerator, Colorado, China, Scandinavia, Northern Territories, Argentina and New England.

The Lobby section broke down into Play Quick Match, Map Selection, Difficulty and Private Game. You can set different criteria for private games. I didn’t play any private games. I stuck 100% to online 4-player co-op matches for this article. The Agent menu has sub-menus of Loadouts and Chip Upgrades. Loadouts are split between three different classes that you can customize. The classes include Offense, Defense and Support. Each class comes with two weapons (main and secondary) and App1 and App2 (perks). In the Chip Upgrades menu you can choose special abilities like Heal, Reboot and Breach. There is a tree associated with chip upgrades that remind me of the augmentation tree from Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Backtracking back to the perks (App) you can choose between Backfire, Shielding and Damage Link. The Agent menus under the Co-op section of Syndicate has you all covered from a content and information standpoint. There are sections that keep track of your rank, experience and unlocks. Not only that but also your Research, Challenges and Stars (all collectibles). Lastly the Agent section keeps tracks of squad stats, challenges and leaderboards. As you can see Syndicate does have you covered from a co-op content standpoint. But what about the gameplay?

The gameplay regarding Syndicate’s online co-op multiplayer was a mix bag. First off it does have a high difficulty like many online co-up fps games. That wasn’t a problem as my team beat the full 20 minute level on normal difficulty. The problems arise mostly from technical issues. The game just isn’t smooth from a gameplay perspective. Shooting, running and doing mini parkoor style moves are not fluid. Not much is fluid regarding gameplay overall. The games i played were all pretty choppy and had framerate issues. Don’t get me wrong yes i could shoot and heal my fallen comrades decently. I even came in first place in a group of four players one match. But the technical issues did at times get annoying.

The gameplay level took place at what looked like a factory headed by Syndicate soldiers. The level design was designed around breaching sections of the map. You fight your way through groups of armored soldiers with the occasional Lieutenant who has heavy armor and is agile. At the end of the level you fight a boss “Captain” who is extremely armored and built like a tank. The bright spot as it should be is the co-op. You have to help each other and you will learn on the fly how to (LB Heal). If you do not heal other members as they take damage or revive them your team will lose eventually. As far as enemies go there are all types of snipers high up on perches and shotgun guys down below taking it directly to you.

The guns all have a futuristic design as they should since the game takes place in 2069. I came in contact with assault rifles, rocket launchers (that enemies dropped), SMGs, sniper rifles shotguns and an assortment of handguns and pistols. Ammo crates are scattered about with weapons near them. Enemies do drop guns that you can swap if you don’t like what you loaded out with. One other thing regarding guns, they look huge on the screen. They reminded me of Crysis 2′s huge guns that seem to take up half of the screen.

As far as the presentation and atmosphere go Syndicate was pretty good. I love cyberpunk themed games ala Deus Ex and this one seems to deliver. The visuals are ok. The texture work could be better as i spotted blurry textures during my matches. I’m nit picking so take it for what its worth. Overall i really do like the art direction of Syndicate. The sound design and music was good. The voice acting is kinda cheesy however. Like everything else regarding Syndicate’s presentation it gives you that sci-fi cyberpunk vibe during cutscenes and gameplay.

All in all i did like Syndicate’s co-op demo. Its not perfect by a long shot with its performance issues but did give me some fun with its online co-op action. I would say its a rough around the edges demo but a good demo. Thanks for reading.

Inversion – Team Deathmatch Video

Inversion is a co-op third person sci-fi action game where using gravity against your opponents is its core gameplay. The video below is of a team deathmatch game. You can see players lassoing objects and throwing them at other players for points. Of course you have guns but thats kinda boring in Inversion’s eyes. You can use a item that you wear on your left arm to cause a gravity bubble around players in making them float uncontrollably.

The multiplayer sorta reminds me of Red Faction: Guerrilla without the earth morphing gameplay. Inversion’s multiplayer looks niche and sorta fun. I guess it all depends how imaginative the unlocks and level progression will be and how balanced the gameplay is for it to be good. Inversion was developed by Saber Interactive and published by Namco Bandai Games America. It releases on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 June 30, 2012. Thanks MachinimaTrailer.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – Intro Trailer (Xbox 360)

If you never heard of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings its was hailed by many as one of the best RPGs that have released over the past few years. It was primarily a PC exclusive game but that has all changed. On April 17, 2012 gamers who own an Xbox 360 will now be able to experience the rich  world of the The Witcher 2. As for the trailer below its pretty good. It is all CGI so don’t expect any gameplay however i was still impressed with it.

It shows an assassin methodically taking out every guard, person and performer on a ship with a King who eventually the assassin cuts his head off. I am currently playing the first Witcher game and never gotten around to buying the second game on Steam. Maybe i’ll buy it for me 360 who knows. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a Role-Playing developed by CD Projekt Red Studio and published by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment for the Xbox 360. Thanks Gamespot.

Mass Effect 3 – Multiplayer Trailer

Here is a trailer for Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer. Battle the Reapers online as a Human (Soldier), Quarian (Engineer), Drell (Vanguard), Turian (Sentinel), Asari (Vanguard), Salarian (Infiltrator) or Krogan (Soldier). There are plenty of  enemies you will be fighting as evidenced in the trailer below. Matches where hacking computers to win looks like a interesting gamemode. I do like the fact that their are different races and classes. But most importantly each class has his or her’s own unique powers to balance out gameplay. The Vanguard looks pretty good.

I beaten Mass Effect 2 on the hardest difficulty my first playthrough as a Vanguard so i might go with that class in multiplayer. I know gamers are a fickle a bunch and get scared of change. Stop worrying about the single player people it will be fine. The multiplayer looks like fun in my opinion. Mass Effect 3 is a sci-fi RPG developed by Bioware and published by Electronic Arts. You can pick up this finally to Mass Effect’s space opera for your PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 March 6, 2012. Thanks Machinima.

Street Fighter X Tekken – Mega Man & Pac-Man Trailer

It looks like the Playstation 3 and VITA versions of Street Fighter X Tekken are getting Mega Man and Pac-Man as playable characters. Not only are Pac-Man and Mega Man going to make an appearance but also the electrifying Cole Mcgrath from Infamous fame. I’m a big fan of Infamous personally so i’m glad Cole made the cut. Toro and Kuro rounds out the all star cast for the Playstation 3 and VITA versions of Street Fighter X Tekken.

Some things of note: What happened to Mega Man? Boy did he let himself go. I wonder which characters (if it happens) the Xbox 360 version will be getting. Give me Marcus Fenix and Master Cheif and i’ll call it a day. Street Fighter X Tekken is developed and published by Capcom. Expect to play this crossover fighting game on your PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and VITA March 6, 2012. Thanks RajmanGamingHD.

Rising Storm Iwo Jima – Trailer

Rising Storm is the forthcoming expansion pack for Red Orchestra 2. The trailer below shows you some of Iwo Jima’s brutal settings it was famous for during WW II. The beginning starts off with a American soldier’s thoughts (voiced dialog) just before landing on the shores of Iwo Jima. I thought the snippet was pretty good.

Red Orchestra 2 was known as a simulation first-person shooter which always piqued my interest. I personally still have yet to buy Red Orchestra 2. I passed on it two times during Steam’s big sales and now feel guilty. Rising Storm Iwo Jima is brought to you by Tripwire Interactive and the Rising Storm team. It will release exclusively for the PC. There is no concrete release date as of yet TBA. Thanks MachinimaTrailer.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 – Gameplay Video

After watching the video below of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 it doesn’t seem like such a bad game. Sure the animations look wonky after the slow-mo death sequences. What i like is the pacing in the video. The game isn’t like normal first-person shooters where you run and gun. You just have a sniper rifle witch has multiple scope settings and a silencer. You do get a knife for melee stealth kills. It seems more stealth and sitting back style of gameplay.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 reminds me of that older movie called Sniper i saw years ago. The gameplay in the video shows somebody taking out a pilot in a chopper thats shooting at yo. It also shows the player taking out two ground soldiers at once. The visuals don’t look too bad but everything elese i seen before pretty much. Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 was developed and published by City Interactive. It will be available on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 sometime Q2 of this year. Thanks ign.