What May Have Been...

Assassin's Creed will forever be a game that divides the people who play it: on one hand you have a game that is truly unique and will stand out for many to be one of the only original games of this generation. On the other side will be those who denounce the title because of its' repetition and its' inability to follow through with many of the concepts introduced in the beginning of the game. It is a game that YOU must play for yourself in order to decide which side of the fence you are on; you cannot just read reviews or listen to others who have played the game and form an opinion YOU must experience Assassin's Creed firsthand to make up your mind. With that said this review will offer insight into what you can expect from this odd beast of a game.

Assassin's Creed is a spectacular game to play, not just graphically (though it is arguably one of the best looking games of this generation) or in terms of the amazing audio but in the way Altair moves, the way the crowds behave as if they were real people, the way that the cities all feel alive; this is as close to a trip to the Holy Land as you'll get without being in the Holy Land (and having a time machine if you want the full 12th century experience). The controls are also fantastic, though they are a little unorthodox they are simple to grasp and intuitive to use - it makes guiding Altair a blast and grants the player a real connection to the lead as EVERYTHING he does is a direct result of what you've input into the controller. Where the game will divide though, is in the mission structure and its repetition will ultimately make-or-break your enjoyment with the title.

Each assassination has you completing the same tasks: you receive a target, make your way to the local Assassin's hub in the city of the target and then are sent out to follow leads (eavesdropping on certain citizens; pickpocketing others; learning guard's shifts from fellow assassins - who also require you to complete tasks for them before they give you the information, and its mainly collecting flags, even if you LOVE the game, you can't deny these are stupid diversions...). These are all optional however and simply increase the odds of success when going in for a kill; you can just find the target and kill them which would decrease the repetitive nature of the game (though, it does increase the difficulty as there are more guards stopping your escape). This structure may not seem all that bad, and during the first two (maybe three) assassinations its barely noticeable, but this is the set up for EVERY mission and the difficulty (and frustration) only increases as time goes on as beggars, drunks, and the mentally handicapped are introduced and become EXTREMELY aggressive and target only the player when the enter the NPCs' vicinity which in turn alerts the guards who then seek you out. This can potentially ruin 20-30 minutes of careful stalking or a set up of a perfect get away and this is where the game falls apart for many; it tends to feel like the game is actively working against you and not simply ramping up the difficulty. Gathering information and assassinations don't get particularly more difficult as the game goes on (the location of the targets however does become pretty unique in some locations reminding you of why the game can be so special) it merely becomes more frustrating, which, depending on your tolerance, or ability to overlook these shortcomings may ruin the game for you.

Occasionally there are moments of true greatness: climbing the cathedral in Acre; chasing an escaping (and very loud) target through the streets of Jerusalem. These moments have the potential to make you forget about the repetition and missteps that the developers took. For some however, these moments will only serve to highlight the weaknesses and faults of a game that stands out amongst a crowd of sci-fi shooters and plastic instruments - It is truly a game that will be hailed by some and condemned by others.

A Gun Made of Lightning!

I'll admit, after a few levels of Killzone 2 I was pretty bored - not the first couple of levels, those are great, but the level after the fight on the bridge, where the bomb is stolen by the Helgast; the level that has you go to a desert in search of an electrical mineral source I believe. Its drab, and brown and has no real climax or remotely exciting moment, worst of all its the longest of all the games segment. When it finally ends you are thrown onto a moving train that isn't not as exciting as it sounds as the background is the same tunnel, crane, tunnel, crane, tunnel, etc. This is where I gave up and stopped playing for four months, it was just so boring - but the other day I decided to give it another go and it was a good decision. Right after you get off the train you enter what maybe the best level in the game: its a simple factory but you get what is quiet possibly the best gun in any game, ever - the lightning gun.

It has an official name, like arc canon or arc gun, but it really is a lightning gun; it fires lightning and has unlimited ammo (though a long reload time as it must recharge by, what appears to be, absorbing the electricity out of the air) it fries you're enemies and makes you pretty much invincible. This is also the level where the story picks back up after getting bogged down in the previous level and has some genuinely engaging scenes. After this the game moves quickly towards its somewhat disappointing ending (its just a set up for a third title so depending on your feelings on set ups you may really enjoy the finale). The journey to the ending though, it great with a mech segment that is a great amount of fun and a final level that is everything an action fan could hope for in a final battle (not the final boss fight, but the courtyard section, though the fight was fun).

The first few levels are also good but are plagued by some terrible dialog from your teammates, who are just obnoxious - again, after the desert and train levels this seems to just disappear. Its the reason why I put "annoying audio" in the cons and "awesome audio" in the pros, its somewhat contradictory I know, but the audio in the level and from the gun fire, and just the overall sound effects are fantastic but the voices from your squad are so distracting that it detracts from the overall feel of the game. Visually, obviously, KZ2 is stunning, great lighting and effects, but in game cutscenes aren't so good, the characters (except for Garza and Sev - the player) are all really, really, REALLY ugly and poorly animated resulting in some cringe worthy moments when they just look like total sh*t. It leads me to wonder why they chose to do it in-game and not alter it a little (a la RE5) in order to make it look more real, especially when in other scenes these things look perfect. Its a minor nitpick though, and arguably more personal than a real criticism, I'm sure many wouldn't even notice.

Finally the multiplayer, it was something I couldn't get into (more because of my ear destroying Sony Blue Tooth headset and lack of friends playing than anything else), what I did play however was solid and really entertaining. The on the fly mission structure and tactical but fast paced feel was something I really enjoyed but without any communication (seriously that headset that comes with Socom, and is the official Sony headset feels like its sodomizing my ear, sorry for the vulgarity) I felt lost and couldn't get backup when I was going to complete an objective or coordinate a proper defense during an assassination so I stopped playing. What I did play though was great, awesome level design and a real feeling of war, good stuff.

Overall a great FPS that slips up a little in the middle but picks back up for just a fantastic final act (though its ending feels like more of a tease than a real conclusion...) and has great multiplayer and a gun made of lighting! What more could you want?

Great 3rd Person Shooter, Disappointing Resident Evil

I consider Resident Evil 4 to be the greatest game ever made and though I'm somewhat biased its hard to argue that it doesn't at least deserve a place in the top 10 games of all time. With such a fantastic predecessor how do you create a game that is worthy of being a direct sequel without disappointing the fans? The answer is surprisingly close to what Resident Evil 5 is: it has the fantastic genre defining gameplay that RE4 created and delivers a fun experience for the player and a friend. What holds it back from being a truly worthy successor however it that it misses a lot of what made RE4's atmosphere and story so engaging.

Resident Evil 5 assumes that what the player really wants is a heavy-handed script with poor writing, poor delivery and arguably the two stupidest lead characters in recent memory. In RE4 Leon figured out the whole plot by the middle of the second chapter, a mere 4 hours into a 20-30 hour long journey and it allowed the story to grow because you weren't waiting for the next trickle of useless information. In RE5, even at the end the characters don't seem to have a real grip on what happened during the course of the game. Another issue is that the game isn't even remotely frightening or tense. The game makes no attempt at any point to even try to be scary and it misses some obvious places where it could be creepy or horrifying.

The co-op is really the saving grace of this game and a reason that any action fan should pick this game up. When things blow up, they blow up BIG, and nothing is more fun than seeing it with a friend. The co-op is nearly perfect and just a joy to play, covering one another, laughing when you screw up, yelling when you REALLY screw up, its a blast and possibly even more fun than Gears. The single player is good, but it makes the terrible storytelling all the more prevalent. Another issue is the item management; its not that it's in real time as others have complained, its that its bad: guns take up as much space as an egg, and your vests (which you are wearing) also take up a space in the inventory, severely limiting you to what you can carry. This is especially noticeable on veteran and professional where wearing a vest (either bulletproof or a melee vest) is a must. You also can immediately use items, like herbs, if you are in need of one just by picking it up, it just says: FULL, so you can't see a First Aid Spray and just use it, you need to have a space available even if you intend on using it right away, very disappointing. These issues aren't big in co-op, as you have a friend protecting you while you think about what you drop and what to keep or mapping something new to the D-Pad but in single player its a pain, as Sheva can ignore your safety right up until you are killed (including the "Dying" phase).

Overall Resident Evil 5 is great, its story is lacking and does nothing for Resident Evil fans, it is also short on scares (as in, non-existent), but the level design and just high level of entertainment and fun make this a triple-A title deserving of you're time and money. Throw in the Mercenaries Bonus game (which, again, is better in co-op) and unlockables and you have a game high on replay value. Just one final oddity - the boss fights it this game, while still some of the best of this generation, are significantly worse and less interactive than in RE4, no real thought is required of the player (all the bosses have "shoot me here" spots) and for one fight, you are stuck in a vehicle that is stationary and are forced to fight a mobile and very strong boss. They aren't bad, just a step down; and in a game where everything feels like an (misguided) attempt to step up from RE4 its odd. Resident Evil 5 is a great 3rd person shooter that is also disappointing Resident Evil game, weird thing to say I know, but if you can look past its shortcomings in terms of the RE legacy you will find one of the top co-op games of all time.

It feels like just that, a prototype...

Prototype is a game that feels like it released before it should have, its unpolished, it has terrible voice acting and during certain points is just a chore to play; it feels like a prototype to a bigger and better game. Now normally I don't put a major emphasis on graphics but in Prototype's case I feel I need to make an exception: its not that the visuals are bad (when the action gets going and there are perhaps hundreds of different NPCs on screen, including civilians, foot soldiers, tanks, APCs, helicopters and the infected you will be impressed with the fluidity of it all as the frame rate rarely dips and the camera keep up with everything that you are doing) its that they are bland and boring and basic.
Buildings repeat over and over all with the same windows and rooftops, in fact, aside from a few obvious landmarks (the Empire State Building, Time's Square) I'd be hard pressed to tell you it looked anything like Manhattan it is ridiculously generic...but hey, at least its big (well actually its' size works against it; because everything looks the same its not that fun to travel the city just to enjoy the scenery, like most open-world games.) On the plus side Alex is quiet well animated and some of the powers look absolutely devastating.
The voice acting in the game is just horrendous and the main reason the story in cut scenes in nearly unbearable (which is disappointing, because the Web of Intrigue is quiet interesting) . Its annoying to watch a cinematic where the actors sound like they are just reading straight off the script in a rehearsal: no emotion and no pausing for proper dramatic effect or even punctuation, in one scene no one stops at the end of a sentence they just keep going...and its a long cut scene. Its also hard to care for any of the characters when the voice acting is this bad, not to mention contradictory; for what ever reason at random points during the game the characters (Alex especially) would say things that were completely out of character, like Alex, suddenly questioning his murderous actions...AS HE'S RUNNING OVER PEOPLE WITH A TANK!
Finally, at odd times the challenge just skyrockets, and its not that it becomes more difficult, just frustrating. You suddenly will have your powers taken away (for really stupid reasons too, the first time comes right after a boss fight where you seemingly win the fight only to discover, "no sorry, but Alex was the one who got beat and the boss is fine"; you'll know when it happens, and its headshakingly stupid) and after losing you're powers the army and the infected send seemingly EVERYTHING after you with no good way to escape as they can apparently see through walls.
I've been harsh on Prototype so far but ultamitely its not a terrible game, it just isn't all that great either. There will be people who enjoy the voilence and the little else that the game gives you and if you are that kind of "pass the controller around" player who normally has others watching while you play than this is a good game to get (or rent, I'd say rent first) as it may be ugly and have terrible storytelling (though an intriguing back story) but it is chaotic and violent and it just never stops.

But wait, there's more...

Resistance 2 is the game that just keeps on giving; from a meaty single player (though the storytelling is hit and miss), to a great competitive mode, to the most brilliant co-op mode ever conceived Resistance to just never stops giving you a reason to keep playing.

The single player is the weakest link, though the boss fights are epic in scale and the shooting itself is solid the story is poorly told. It gives you a narrow view of the full picture and relies a little TOO much on the "intel packages" and in-game chatter, which means you'll often miss something important (especially when a lot of it happens in the middle of a fire fight). The AI will target you, and ONLY you, even if you aren't shooting them and are behind cover, they will ignore the friendly AI and just wait for you to peak out. The graphics can also be uneven, ranging from amazing to PS1 horrible, and sometimes levels that have been under complete assault from the Chimera will be surprisingly clean - the Chicago level is the perfect example.

Luckily the versus and co-op are great and make up for all of the short comings of the single player. In fact, had the game launched with just the co-op it really would have been enough. Both modes are expertly balanced and have things called Berserker's that, when your meter is full, release a unique special power, be it more damaging rounds to being able to turn invisible. Versus unique Skirmish mode forces teams to work together to achieve an ever changing goal (defend this point, get here first, etc.) though these objectives aren't very varied its hard to notice when you're running up a hill to a point only to see the enemy team coming up the opposite side and know that if you don't make it there first you will be slaughtered.

Now the co-op, and arguably, the best part of the game. You work with seven other players to complete a series of objectives on maps based (for the most part) on the single player campaign. And these aren't cookie-cutter copies opened up wider for multiplayer, these are fully realized original maps that make the co-op a delight to play. You have three classes to choose from (solider - damage sponge, spec-ops - glass cannon, and medic - medic) and each must work in harmony to survive the challenges ahead. It truly is gaming nirvana; each map is full of enemies, weak to uber powerful and the objectives are constantly being mixed up - so you may do something one way one playthrough and do it completely differently the next. Each class is incredibly fun to play and you will want to constantly switch what class you're playing just because the others are so fun.

If you liked the first, you'll love this game. If you just like playing against others, you'll love this game. If you like co-op, you'll want to marry this game. Reistance 2 is a fantastic game with so much value it could cost $100; I highly recommened it to any PS3 shooter fan.