Firstly, many thanks to Sheylara and New Era, for it is through their graciousness that I had a chance to play Assassin’s Creed II on the Xbox 360.
Dear Sheylara also honoured me to write a short commentary on it. But, but.. there’s so much to talk about in this game!
For players who have played the first game, Assassin’s Creed, here’s a piece of good news: Assassin’s Creed II has come back improved. While some of the old moves are intact, many more new ones have been added. There are also new weapons and loads of new content.
The game does start out a bit slow but get through it and you’re in for a treat.
One notable improvement is the lack of repetitiveness that had frustrated players in the first game. Back then, players were made to repeat these steps for each assassination target: Eagle View (to synchronize map), followed by Intelligence Gathering, followed by the assassination.
That was tedious and boring, but it’s history. Eagle View is now optional, so the repetitiveness is gone. Every assassination target now has a different mission leading to it, making the gameplay much more interesting.
The Story
Not to provide a spoiler, here’s the short version: Playing as Ezio, your family has been wrongfully accused and executed before your very own eyes. In anger, you become an assassin to exact vengeance upon those responsible.
The Graphics
Ubisoft has done a great job on the graphics, from the scenic city views on rooftops to close-up architectural details on castles, chapels and fortresses. These words come to mind: Splendid, spectacular, and breathtaking.
The game takes players back to the old days of Italy in Florence, Tuscany, and Venice, for which good virtual impressions have been made.
Movements such as running, jumping, and climbing are extremely smooth and do not have the slightest blocky feel. One particularly amusing graphic effect is the “wet look” your character gets after taking a swim. It lasts 10 seconds or so before you dry up.
The Moves
The double-kill-air-assassinate technique is by far the coolest and my personal favorite. It involves first picking out two targets, both close to each other. From a high ledge, Ezio will leap into the air and land on both targets simultaneously, plunging one blade into each. Awesome and truly elite.
The Controls
The controls are simple yet sophisticated. By the middle of the game, you would have access to an arsenal of at least five weapons, plus access to another five or six assassination techniques. Most of the moves can be performed easily with the Xbox controller, so I forsee a short learning curve for new players.
The Gameplay
The gameplay is fantastic, with each mission being different, as well as optional quests, secret missions and bonuses to cater to hardcore fans. The best part about this game is that every mission is like a puzzle with numerous ways to solve it.
Conclusion
Did I mention you could hire mercenaries or poison a target? What about the exciting carriage-chase mission with Leonardo da Vinci? There are so many fun elements in this game that I could never do it justice with such a concise review.
I thought this week I’d talk about upcoming games because New Era Games Day on Tuesday got me excited over many titles.
New Era, as we all know, is a large distributer of games (and other software) in the region. Very large.
There are babes also. Navigate to them through the table of contents, which I’m sure nobody ever uses because you all love GGF and read every word from top to bottom.
Every once in a while, a game comes along and redefines the way we play videogames. I think Scribblenauts is one such.
The gist of it is that you have obstacles between you and your goal, so you type out any number of items you think could help you, and the game gives the items to you. As the tagline says, you can “Write Anything. Solve Everything”.
If you don’t watch any more videos for the rest of the year, you must watch this demo.
A shotgun-wielding, skateboard-riding God! Anything is possible, apparently.
It wonder what the game will do if you can’t spell.
Platform: PS3, PSP, Wii Developer: Sumo Digital Publisher: Codemasters Genre: Racing Release Date: Sep 25, 2009
I’m not really into racing games but since Singapore is hosting F1, the game becomes kinda special, I guess. You’ll get to see the Singapore skyline in the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Other than that, I don’t really have anything else to say about it.
Platform: Xbox 360, PC Developer: Piranha Bytes Publisher: Deep Silver Genre: Action RPG Release Date: Oct 2, 2009
I’m interested in this game because there’s mystery, ancient temples and tough choices. You’re shipwrecked on a mysterious medieval island which you realise you can’t escape from because the ruling Inquisition forbids anyone from leaving. Spooky.
Risen has been in the news for quite a bit. For one, some famous names have been roped in to provide voiceovers, the most notable being Andy Serkis (Gollum in Lord of the Rings) and John Rhys Davies (Indiana Jones).
For another, the game has been banned in Australia for “sexual activity and drug use related to incentives or rewards”.
Platform: Xbox 360, PC, Wii, DS Developer: Telltale Games Publisher: Ubisoft Genre: Adventure Release Date: Oct 13, 2009 (Xbox 360, PC) Oct 20 (Wii, DS)
I’ve never played any CSI games, nor have I watched a single episode of CSI. But I’m very interested in them. I just never had the time to watch or play them.
This installment of the game features the cast of CSI Season 9 and allows you to play detective, finding and analysing evidence.
The DS version (titled CSI: Deadly Intent – The Hidden Cases), will include additional cases that makes interesting use of the touch capabilities of the handheld.
Platform: Xbox 360, PC Developer: Haemimont Games Publisher: Kalypso Media Genre: Simulation Release Date: Sep 24 (PC) Oct 16 (Xbox 360)
I was bored to death watching the teaser video for this game because it just featured an endless montage of cartoon people enjoying idyllic holiday destinations.
But I think I might still give the game a chance because, after all, Tropico 1 and 2 were pretty successful and the gameplay is really more interesting than simply watching families play ball at the beach.
It’s basically a simulation game where you play a dictator of a sunshine island, building the city for your people’s enjoyment. There is also humour in the game, which is always nice!
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii Developer: FreeStyleGames Publisher: Activision Genre: Music Release Date: Oct 27
I was really, really, really excited about DJ Hero. And then I saw the video and I became really, really, really fearful.
It’s look really hard! I suppose, with practice, anyone could get into it (Easy Mode, at the very least), but it still looks a lot harder than any other music games I’ve seen (and I play a lot of them).
Here’s the video. The producer of DJ Hero (Will Townsend) demos the game on Easy, Medium and Hard modes.
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, iPhone Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Genre: Action Adventure Release Date: Nov 17
Following the wild success of the first Assassin’s Creed based on Knights Templar legends, this sequel has as its central character another ancestor of the captured bartender, Desmond Miles. The new character is Ezio, who is a descendant of the previous character, Altair.
Of course, this won’t make sense to you unless you’ve played the first game, which I recommend you start with because it’s a great game with a great storyline.
AC2 features an open world with nonlinear gameplay, as well as the added ability to drive small boats and drown city guards. Your character will even meet Leonardo da Vinci and get the chance to ride in his flying machine.
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii Developer: Robomodo / Buzz Monkey Publisher: Activision Genre: Extreme Sports Release Date: Nov 17
I don’t play sports games but I thought I’d mention this one because it comes with an interesting controller — an actual skateboard!
Okay, it’s not a real skateboard. It’s just a thing that looks like a skateboard with has infrared sensors that detect your movement on it. You can apparently turn, leap and hop on it.
With the way things are developing in the gaming world, we’re all going to find ourselves listing the top priority in house shopping as “having a very large living room”.
Once every quarter, the media is invited to New Era Games Day to check out upcoming game titles. Invariably, there will be four cosplayers, each dressed in a costume representative of one game.
It’s kinda cool!
(Left to right) Cosplayer: Michael, Jasmin, Chloe, Kit
Can you guess what upcoming game each player represents? That’s kinda part of the fun, isn’t it?
Okay, here are a bunch of photos. I’ll tell you the answer at the end.
Michael has a dagger hidden on the underside of his forearm. I like!
Okay, that’s all!
And the answer…
(Left to right)
Assassin’s Creed II, Modern Warfare 2, Football Manager 2010, Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes
How many did you get right?
Oh, here’s one last photo with one additional cosplayer…
This RTS-FPS hybrid has received really bad reviews on multiple gaming websites. In fact, it’s really hard to find a good review, so I’m going to give you one, here.
Seriously.
I made the Goonfather review this game for me because it’s his kind of game and, surprisingly, he loved it. So, here’s what he said:
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My first impression of the game was good because the screenshots reminded me of one of my favorite games, Frontlines: Fuel of War. Then, I read that it was a combination of FPS and RTS and my enthusiasm dropped. I have never liked RTS.
By the way, It took me some time to understand how to work the controls because I skipped the tutorial. Tip: Don’t skip the tutorial mission.
Raven Squad allows you to switch between FPS and RTS modes at any time. Understandably, I played through the missions in FPS mode more than 70% of the time. I didn’t enjoy RTS mode until I realised at later missions that it’s useful in getting your squads strategically positioned, especially when you’re controlling more than one squad.
Also, you get a bird’s-eye view of your objective and enemy positions, which makes you start to appreciate the mode.
Achievements (on Xbox 360) are easily attained in this game. Every mission completed gives you one achievement, at least. Helps to keep achievement whores motivated.
I was enjoying Wolfenstein before playing this and was always disappointed at how completing missions didn’t give me any achievements.
Ok, no more time for stupid reviews. Go get a copy and try the game.
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*groan*
I think he likes the game primarily for the ease of earning achievement points.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
For me, when I tried the game, I actually played through most of it in RTS mode because I really don’t like FPS. I find it a bore sneaking behind conveniently-placed barrels and aiming the stupid crosshair at enemies while at the same time trying to avoid getting shot at.
RTS is so simple. Just click on the enemy and your people will do the boring stuff of aiming and firing.
In any case, I did find Raven Squad pretty fun in the few missions I played of it.
Firstly, many thanks to Sheylara and New Era, for it is through their graciousness that I had a chance to play Assassin’s Creed II on the Xbox 360. 
