In 2010 Ubisoft gave us Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, the second part of the Ezio Trilogy. Brotherhood opens up where Assassin’s Creed II left off; with Ezio at the bottom of the vault in the Vatican. After making his way home to a familial homecoming and meeting the Borgias strike again starting Ezio’s odyssey to permanently remove the Borgias from power in Rome.
Over the course of the game, Ezio shatters Borgia control and works to restore the Assassin Brotherhood, ultimately ending in a showdown with Cesare “I’m the King of Italy” Borgia. It is a lofty storyline for a very loft game and it is executed damn near perfectly. Along the path to his final vengeance for his family and home, you’ll experience the growth of the Brotherhood, the shattering of a dynasty, and some of Ezio’s most personal memories. There is no better way to describe this game other than: HUGE. Yes, this game is huge. And yes, I know I described AC:II that way but Brotherhood blows that out of the water. Multiple threaded stories interact with Ezio’s liberation of Rome, an expansion of a previous mini-game, and the introduction of another that is absolutely entertaining.
Brotherhood reigns in the time advancement that made AC:II a little jarring (12 years pass between discovery of the vault’s location and entering it).
In addition to the story quests and side story quests, there are more skill challenges that made the exploration of Rome come to life though once again, the free-run quests remained annoying as hell. Ubisoft expanded on the property restoration aspect of AC:II allowing you to rebuild not only several dozen shops but also famous landmarks of Rome. In the end, if you complete this mini-game, you will own almost all of Rome after shattering Borgia influence throughout the districts. The new mini-game is completed by rescuing citizens in danger from Borgia’s army and training them to be assassins by either calling them to aid you in battle or sending them on valuable strategic missions in cities throughout Europe and Asia. If done fully to completion Ezio has a private army of assassins that are just as deadly as he is.
The graphics for Brotherhood were similar to their predecessor, though now at least Ezio seems to age beyond his 20s finally. The landmarks, which is a hallmark of the series, were rendered to accurately look like their real world counterparts. I’m unfamiliar with Rome’s geography, but I believe this was Ubisofts first run at making the geography somewhere close to accurate.
Likewise, the sound for Brotherhood is on par with previous entries and the voice acting was consistent and entertaining.
The controls are continually being refined at this point and the combat system is likely at its peak in this game. The chain “executions” work fantastically for crowd control and the guards frequently panic and surrender when you’ve just killed five of their friends in front of them in under 10 seconds. Unfortunately, the age of the separate button for tools is still a ways down the road.
Summing Up:
Story: 5/5: As per the last run, this is a history buffs wildest dream. So much European history is delivered through this game including the decline of one of the most notorious families to have ever lived. The meta ending for Desmond this game is even more shocking than the last. Ezio is perhaps one of the most likeable video game protagonists ever and though we still know little about Desmond his place in the story to come is finally becoming clearer.
Graphics: 5/5: The upgrades were welcome and we finally are seeing some age progression. There’s even a joke about it early in the game when Ezio is referred to as a “man of your age.”
Sound: 5/5: Top-notch.
Control: 5/5: For my second run through it was a lot like sitting behind the wheel of an favorite car. The controls just work. Sometimes the accidental wall grabs when you run into one can be frustrating but it is the nature of the beast. Unfortunately, in a later entry, this gets A LOT worse.
Playability: 5/5: Yup. Perfect score. Ezio and his world remain fun and relatable. Not only relatable, but it is damn near believable. I mean sure, nobody ever parachuted off the Vatican in the 1500s but the basis of the story remains grounded in historical fact. ACII, Brotherhood, and Revelations, collectively known as the Ezio trilogy, remain very popular in the Assassin’s Creed series for these reasons.
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Ghosts revolves around Logan, (The PC), his brother Hesh, and their combat trained canine, Riley as they work with a group of special force soldiers known as Ghosts, due to their incredible stealth hit, hit, hit again, and walk away tactics. The South American nations have formed a Federation and take control of an American defense satellite causing mass destruction. The Ghosts are given the task to stop the Federation from making more of the weapon satellites and laying waste to the US at will. Most of Ghosts takes place on the west coast and in the jungles of South America. There are a few scenes involving more exotic locations.
Graphically Ghosts, which was released in 2015, is infinitely superior to the previous COD games The graphics are much more photo realistic and the action is smoother and more refined. Modern and some sci-fi weaponry round out the models.
Sound-wise, Ghosts lives up to its predecessors. Full voice Acting and realistic sounds permeate the game. A few big-name actors grace the cast as usual and, along with the graphics, give the illusion of a dystopic war movie.
The Control of Ghosts continues the COD nightmare. Sure, the character is easy to control, and the vehicles are a huge improvement from previous entries, but it remains the same, "Where the fuck am I being shot from?!?" and now adds a healthy dose of, "I can't tell the difference between my guys and the enemies" and "Where the fuck am I supposed to GO??!" The multi-player element of Ghosts remains the shit-show of mismatching that CoD is famous for. Whoever thought putting beginner players and matching them with kids who do nothing but play these games is a dick of the highest order.
Summing Up:
Story: 5/5: It's a really good war story. It has a damn good plot and there are moments of genuine fun.
Graphics: 4/5: I'm knocking a point because you can't tell who the bad guys are a good chunk of the time, but outside of that top-notch.
Sound: 5/5: If a game has actors who actually you know--act--that can make the whole experience. As long as something else doesn't dick it up.
Control: 2/5: I'd give it a 1/5 if not for the novelty of playing as the dog and how goddamn fun the tanks were. Fuck the shark level. And really, consider a colonoscopy over the Multi-player. It'll be a more pleasant experience.
Playability: 3/5: A surprisingly high rating. The actual average is 4/5 but I'm docking a point for the MULTITUDE of control/interface issues just out of general principal. The story is great fun. I would watch it as a movie. I'd read it as a book.
I'd play it again as a better game. You get the idea. The game play is frustrating as all hell. Inability to see targets, inability to see goals, and suckiness of the Multi-Player hurt it (and most of the CoD games) irreversibly) In many ways it is better than previous entries, (I died a lot less this time so that was less frustrating) but in the battles even the simplest of stealth techniques fail you and in a game that's supposed to be about stealthy special force soldiers that's unforgivable.
And finally, we take a full look at the newest entry in the Mass Effect universe: Mass Effect Andromeda
Andromeda opens with the races of the Milky Way sending chosen members of their species to Andromeda in an effort to explore, colonize, and conquer (if that's your thing). Beginning shortly after the events of ME:2, we pick up with the human ark some 600 years later as the ark crashes into an anomaly of dark energy that later becomes known as The Scourge. The members of the Andromeda Initiative soon find out that none of the other species' arks have arrived and the "golden worlds" they were promised are wastelands. The player Character, Ryder, takes on the role of Pathfinder and must find a way to create colony outposts, save the planets of the Heleus Cluster, make alliances with the native Angaram, stop the evil Kett, and reunite the disparate factions from the Initiative all while looking for the other arks. Whew...
Andromeda's graphics are top notch, next generation for ME games. Environments are beautiful and even bring to mind a great many Star Wars locales. UNFORTUNATELY the games was released with goofy animations and they haven't all been fixed. It is not uncommon for another character's lips to move during someone else speaking. Some cut scenes are buggy and crash the game. I thought that was my own low-end computer than I found out it was happening to other people. Regardless, the game is beautiful and captivating.
Mood appropriate music accompanies Ryder on his mission and a fully voiced cast (a BioWare staple) complete the immersive environment. Listen for a few old friends during cut scene flashbacks. Clancy Brown figures prominently in the prologue and remains an important force throughout.
The game's controls are in line with the previous games. Simple, easy movement with a much improved combat, cover, and inventory systems. The Nomad exploration vehicle (the spiritual successor to the Mako) is just plain fun to drive and bounce from dune to dune, drift to drift, and crater to crater. The exploration harkens back to ME:1 with the Nomad but keeps the simplicity introduced in ME: 3. The quest journal system is vastly improved and allows for easy tracking and changing goals.
See my previous post on Andromeda's multi-player aspect. i stand by it either being more refined that ME:3's or me simply not completely sucking. Probably a bit of both.
Summing Up:
Story: 5/5: Absolutely engrossing story and characters that are genuinely likable. At the end make sure you talk to everyone for a really cool surprise!
Graphics: 3/5: While absolutely gorgeous, the animation issues cause this score to suffer a couple of points. Important to note: This game is NOT for kids. Holy alien T&A!
Sound: 5/5 I've come to expect NOTHING less from BioWare.
Control: 5/5: Great improvements incorporating what was great about the original trilogy and innovation at the same time!
Playability: 4.5/5: Even with its bugs the game is damn near a masterpiece. Get this game. Play this game. (Get it on PC and play with my friends and I!). Sure, you'll get a laugh out of the cross synched speech but I promise you, unless you are a complete sphincter, you won't care.
Continuing with the celebration of all things Mass Effect we take a look at Mass Effect 3, released in March of 2012. Mass Effect 3 is the culmination of the original trilogy and the climax of Commander Shepard’s campaign against the Reapers. It was touted as being driven by the decisions you made before and boasted a four player multi-player mode that tied directly into your success in the single player campaign.
The multi-player aspect took a lot of criticism because the game more or less forced you to play multi whether you wanted to or not in order to succeed properly against the Reapers. You literally could not “win” the game without playing several hours of multi-player either during or right before you started the final mission of the game. While not a huge fan of multi-player shooter games (honestly because I suck at them) I found it enjoyable enough to play and didn’t feel obligated at all.
The story of ME3 begins on Earth where Shepard is detained by Alliance command while they investigate his ties to Cerberus (from ME2). In short order everything goes to hell when the Reapers attack and Shepard is reinstated to lead the resistance and gather the multiple Citadel species to fight back. Early on, Shepard reunites with Dr. Liara T’Soni who has found a weapon that can stop the Reapers but it has to be built. Military readiness and the completion of this weapon becomes the focus of the game as Shepard struggles to unite the Milky Way by of course, doing everyone huge favors and saving them before anyone will agree to help save Earth.
The ending of the Mass Effect trilogy is the constant subject of scorn. Many people feel that the decisions and actions made in the previous games had no bearing on the third. Which they do; especially as to how you treat your crew effects who survives what disaster. How the Geth and the Quarians are treated in ME2 DIRECTLY influences events in ME3, for instance. The very outcome of the game depends on your diplomacy or aggression in the first two games.
Another criticism is the ending. A lot of folks don’t believe that Shepard would have made any of those choices. I would like to point out again what I said in the review for the original game. If you didn’t know this wasn’t going to have a Hollywood Happy Ending in the first five minutes of Mass Effect you weren’t paying proper attention. There was never going to be a happily ever after and I applaud the game and the developers for sticking to that. Sure, everyone wants to see Shepard run of with his/her mate and get rewarded, but that just isn’t in the cards and it wouldn’t have been appropriate to the tone of the story. Go read Shakespeare and some Homer and you’ll see the tradition that the Mass Effect Trilogy universe is based on.
The ME3 story is a natural progression for Shepard into becoming more than just a soldier, more than just a hero for hire, more than that lone voice calling for sanity. He becomes a true leader and brings out those qualities in his companions as well either for good or bad. The free DLC wrapping the story up in a bow is nice, but in my mind was unnecessary. Yes, I realize I’m in the minority.
The graphics for ME3 have undergone a few upgrades. It is overall brighter feeling (even with the dark tone of the story). The sound maintains BioWare’s commitment to fully voiced games. Everyone returns to their roles one last time. It feels more than a bit like homecoming.
The control aspect of ME3 has a couple of improvements; most notably that the cover function seems to have finally gotten a good streamlining. The remainder of the basic controls stays on par. The exploration system took the biggest change here. The flight and general star system exploration remains the same as ME2 but the annoying scan for minerals is now gone. The only difficulty in the exploration system is alerting Reapers to your presence and having a limited amount of time to search for hidden items before getting jumped and auto-losing the game. I can deal with the getting jumped, but auto-losing if engaged by a Reaper is a bit much.
Summing Up:
Story: 5/5: I am very proud of BioWare sticking to their guns and not caving into pressure to Hollywoodize the ending of the Mass Effect Trilogy. It isn’t a happy ending, but it is a fitting one.
Graphics: 5/5: Subtle improvements over ME2 make the game continue to be superior. Honestly, the graphics in ME3 are better than ME Andromeda in my opinion.
Sound: 5/5: Staying on top in this category seems to be BioWare’s thing.
Control: 4/5: It is a very smooth and polished game to play. The multi-player and single player fighting isn’t frustrating nor is it a frag-fest for twitch players like the CoD games. As far as shooters go, the ME series is one of the best. Does suffer from a mildly lackluster exploration system with a frustrating penalty.
Playability: 4.75/5: To give you a idea of what I think of this game, I was in the middle of playing it for the third time through when Andromeda came out.
I had been hoping to get my hands on Batman A Telltale Series for some time but I wanted the full season rather than just episode by episode. I was very pleased to get my hands on it this past weekend.
Batman A Telltale Series is a re imagining of the early years of Batman done by the creators of the popular Walking Dead Telltale games. It introduces several of the Bat’s rogues gallery including Penguin, Joker, Two Face, and a new villain, Lady Arkham. Their stories, all interwoven, are well thought and well-crafted giving them a very believable depth. The main story, surrounding Bat/Bruce, Catwoman, and the crime syndicates in Gotham are far from canon and take a novel approach to Bruce’s parents. I can’t say I 100% like the approach to Thomas Wayne, but it allowed for some splendid character building moments throughout the game. I can’t say too much without risking a spoilers for the people who haven’t played it but I will say if you like your Batman stories to be on canon 100% and the Wayne’s be saints who walked among us, this game is not for you. If you’re okay with the Wayne’s as deeply flawed individuals, by all means, keep going. Be ready, though, for you are Bruce Wayne as much as you are Batman in this game. There’s even a few situations where you have to decide who can handle the story best, Bruce or Bats.
The graphics and art for the game invoke a mixture between the animations in Batman the Animated Series and comic panels. Likewise, the sound and voices do invoke The Animated Series to a degree (I would swear for Harvey they actually got Richard Moll to do the Two-Face voice while using a different actor for Harvey, but IMDB says differently). The music lacks the iconic oomph that Danny Elfman gave us but it becomes a living part of the story, anyway. The voice acting was very well done; the now traditional dual Bruce/Batman voice was kept up. Personally, I would have liked it better if Kevin Conroy did the voice but the man can’t be Batman all the time, right?
The controls for the game were a little awkward. Most of the control was button mashing at the right time and aiming and firing. The aiming and firing was on occasion a little too fast but it is more an interactive comic than it is an action game so quirky controls can be forgivable. The investigation mechanic is damn near genius. As you spot clues you can link them together to form the narrative of the crime scene. At least one scene seems to have more than one solution leading you on a different branch of the story. The bad bit here is this: The game is buggy as hell. Sometimes reading clues will shut other clues off and they just happen to be the clue you actually need to look at. You wind up having to restart from a save because there’s no way out of the frozen investigation. You can’t back out and you can’t read the final clue. Also, for the first three episodes, the game would hang during the credits/choices screen forcing me to have to home button out and go back in and reload the whole game. Thankfully that never hurt my progress.
Summing up:
Story: 4/5: Great story but a little loose with the Wayne canon. I didn’t like the changes at first but got into the spirit of it, remembering that DC Comics is bigger on alternate realities than JJ Abrahms. And DC does it right.
Graphics: 4/5: Well drawn mix of video game and comic feel. Imagine a “motion comic” with actual motion and some contrast and definition.
Sound: 5/5: Well done. And I’m not even knocking off a point for not having my generation’s Batman as the voice.
Control: 3/5: Getting past the quirky controls the bugginess of the interface takes away from some of the enjoyment. QC is more than just a cute, corporate buzzword.
Playability: 4/5: I enjoyed the game. I enjoyed how after each episode they ranked your choices with other players. I plan on going back and replaying some of the episodes to see how it turns out with different choices. (Hm…I think there’s one you can pick where Bruce goes corrupt…)
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Where to start? Black Ops is a 2010 first person shooter revolving around Alex Mason, a government operative, his handler, Jason Hudson, and a Russian defector named Viktor Reznov. The main story of the game stretches from the Bay of Pigs Invasion through The Cuban Missile crisis with a few flash backs to WWII as Mason relives his missions so that a mysterious interrogator can discover the source of an impending Soviet attack.
The story behind the campaign of Black Ops is rather well done and intriguing. Mason is likable and his friendship with Reznov is actually fairly relevant in today's political climate. The blend of fiction and non-fiction history is well done and engaging.
Graphically Black Ops has some superior aspects. The animation is very lifelike and the backgrounds and characters are realistic, and crisp. Where it does suffer is it forgets that it is a game and not actually a war. The multitude of weapons are well researched and accurate looking.
Realistic sounds and excellent voice acting guide you through Black Ops. The background music is often the music of the time with a generous splattering of The Rolling Stones.
The controls of the game is where it falls short. It is a standard FPS control scheme as long as you're on foot. On the couple of instances where you're controlling a vehicle is gets a little clumsy but I won't lie, the helicopters are fun. Now where the game's controls fall hard is that THIS is where it forgets its a game. It is often completely impossible to tell where you are being shot from, and more often than not the "grenade warning" indicator simply does not work. It becomes very frustrating, very fast.
The multi-player component of the game is a complete fuck-show. It has what has got to be the worst matching I've ever seen. It throws first level new players in with max level players and the people who play this to max level are not patient, they are not well mannered, and frankly, they're mostly dicks. Nothing but a bunch of foul-mouthed 12 year olds who for the sake of the genome should never reproduce.
Summing up:
Story: 3/5: Well done and integrates history and fiction. I am knocking two points off for the fuck-show that is multi-player.
Graphics: 5/5: Very well done.
Sound: 5/5: Anytime you are piloting a river boat to the tune of Fade it Black you know you're in for a good ride.
Controls: 2/5 I don't care if it is a war game. Give me a goddamn radar. It is a game, not war.
Playability: 3.75/5: I remember reading shortly after the COD games began that it was inducing flashbacks in some veterans. I never verified that, but I could believe it. it is very realistic and very frustrating. It certainly elevated my blood pressure.
Assassin’s Creed II picks up where the first left off, with Desmond Miles a prisoner of Abstergo. After his liberation by the Assassins he is put back into an Animus to discover the mystery of the location of another Piece of Eden found by his Renaissance ancestor, Ezio Auditore, a minor nobleman from Florence who is thrust into the life an assassin after a personal tragedy. Spanning from 1476, when Ezio was only 17 and continuing to 1499 it covers Ezio’s quest for revenge and justice throughout Renaissance Italy. For a history buff this game is a dream come true. So many events are touched on and woven into the AC narrative that it becomes believable history. As Ezio removes the conspirators against him it is important to remember that he removing very real people on the very real day and time of their deaths – most of them under mysterious consequences.
The historical advance only becomes jarring when Ezio finds the final goal of his quest and actually acting on it. Standing in a villa in Italy he discovers he needs to go to Rome. This takes place in 1487. He arrives in Rome in 1499. 12 years? I find it hard to swallow.
There is so much more ground to cover in AC II. Literally. This game is HUGE. Ezio visits Florence, Tuscany, Venice, Forli, and Rome. He meets a small army of allies including notable figures such as the Medici family, DaVinci, Machiavelli, and several others. Again: This is a history buff’s wet dream. And at the end of the story, at the risk of offering a spoiler, Ezio confronts none other than Rodrigo Borgia (google it if you don’t know) in a confrontation worthy of any modern comic-book movie.
The free-run race quests are a little annoying but easily forgivable.
AC II also added the mini game experience. In this one you’re responsible for upgrading the town in which Ezio’s family villa is located bringing in tourists and income. You can use that income to supplement your own. Upgrades include opening shops, restoring buildings, and turning the Auditore villa into a gallery of art, weapons, and armor.
The graphics for AC II were very good an on par for 2009. The only thing that takes away from it is that nobody ages. Beyond Ezio in 1476 being 17 and then in 1481 looking a little more like an adult he never ages. His mother never ages. His sister never ages. Leo never ages.
The voice acting is superior this go-around. Much to my relief the hero this time actually HAS an Italian accent. And one of the neater things about the voice in the game is they’ll often say phrases in Italian with the English translation in subtitle. My vocabulary of Italian insults tripled playing AC II! Music is consistent with mood and the environment. Lute music, flutes, violins etc… It is mood setting music and mood adapting music.
The controls are standard for an Assasin’s Creed game, but what was new was the combat system. The combat system in AC II and the remaining “Ezio” games was by far the best combat system of the entire series. I would have liked a separate button for the special tools such as smoke bombs, but it was easily the most useful combat system in any of the series. Far better than the nightmare of combat that comes in AC III (later on that). The jumping puzzles aren’t too “jumpy” and the climbing and running is a lot smoother than the first outing. Damn near perfect.
Summing Up:
Story: 4/5: A revenge/justice chase across the Italian Renaissance mixed with a pretty good history lesson. I’m ticking one point off only for the jarring passage of time. The ending, though, is worth the price of admission alone; both for Ezio and the meta ending with Desmond.
Graphics: 4/5: I’ve seen the animated movies based off the AC II graphics and there are times when it hits the uncanny valley. That carries into the game and into the cut scenes. The only off is that the characters, though progressing 23 years, never age.
Sound: 5/5: Absolutely what you want in a game.
Control: 5/5: I wish the newer games had kept this control set. I really, really do.
Playability: 4/5: Assassin’s Creed II is one of the most enjoyable of the series (likely my second favorite – even as the games become more technologically advanced. Ezio is a charming and relatable protagonist and his quest speaks to every human in some way, shape or form.
So one way or the other I will be done with Borderlands 2 tonight so I figured to give this a go.
Borderlands 2 is a 2012 first person shooter/rpg from the people who brought us the Bioshock series and of course, the original Borderlands. Borderlands 2 returns to Pandora for more action in the wilderness against bandits, robots, and megalomaniacs.
Borderlands 2 opens some five years after the end of Borderlands. Handsome Jack, the president of the Hyperion Corporation has found another vault on Pandora and it taking steps to open it sooner than 200 year to release a dragon-like abomination, the Warrior,to wipe out the bandits and creatures of Pandora to make it into a paradise. Wait...we want to stop that? Well yes, because Jack is a prick and tried to kill you after luring you to Pandora. Wait, what? Yeah, ,Jack, as part of his master plan lures new vault hunters to Pandora to kill them. Risking if one lived they would come back and try to stop him. But if he didn't lure him there, he'd already crippled the resistance against him and there would have been nobody to stop him. Again: Wait, what?!? Why would he do that? Why would he take the risk? I don't know, but that's where the fundamental story breaks. Sure, there's plenty of the juvenile humor that made Borderlands so much fun; a lot more of it. Crammed down your throat at all times. Constantly.
The controls for Borderlands 2 closely match the original except for the redone inventory system. The original's inventory system made more sense and was far more intuitive, but after some time this one grows on you. Though why it can't default on the weapon type sort is beyond me. Player skills are more diverse allowing for a more customized game play and there's a "badss" rank system that helps to enhance your skills. My complaint from Borderlands about the driving system seems to have been addressed to a degree - the driving while controlled the same is not as haphazard as the first.
Sound in Borderlands 2 is still top notch. Returning actors voice the citizens of Pandora and the original crew of vault hunters return as NPCs to support and give missions. The music helps set the mood as always and isn't obtrusive.
The cell shading technique in Borderlands was enhanced for this outing, making it look even more like a comic book. At times in this game it is off putting. It can make it difficult to see targets in the background at times. At other times, it makes it easier to see than the photo realistic graphics can, especially at "night"" While I didn't like the style as much it is still novel and fresh and I appreciate it for what it is.
Summing Up:
Story: 3/5: The story is fun and who doesn't like the old revenge trope, but don't expect Shakespeare.
Sound: 5/5: Another excellent job.
Grapics: 3.5/5: I don't like the cell shading style used. I think its a little cheesy, but I appreciate it for what they were trying to do with it.
Controls: 4/5: Good control but I miss the old inventory system.
Playability: 2.5/5: Sure the average is closer to 4 on this one, but I'm taking a couple of points off and here's why:
The game is shockingly hard in spots. Assininely hard to the point where I'm pretty certain the developers were trolling me. Difficulty and level and available weapons and equipment are not congruous and the game around level 25 becomes so tedious just to walk five feet that it ceases being fun. Respawn costs a lot of money and it is easy, in the hundreds of times you will die to find yourself constantly flat broke. A full week of my playing was picking off people in Lynchburg for 20 minutes and then jumping to three gun machines to see if anything better was available so I could continue in earnest. Video games should not feel like a job and this one did.