Game review - Assassin's Creed II

I loved this game. Straight up loved it. I loved the first one too, and this one just expanded on that. Seriously, I think this is my favorite new series from this generation. Here's my spoiler-free review.

This game picks up right where the first one left off, continuing the story of Desmond Miles. At the beginning of the game, Desmond and Lucy (who now looks a lot less creepy and a lot more like her voice actor, Kristen Bell) break out of the Abstergo building and get back to an Assassin safehouse to do more digging into the past. This time, instead of the Crusades-era Middle East, we visit Desmond's ancestor Ezio from Renaissance Italy.

This game doesn't feature a hub, like the original's Kingdom. Instead you can pay to travel directly to and from any city you've already visited. Yes, pay. There is a money system in this game, and it actually adds a lot to the game. There are a ton of different things you can buy. You can buy an assortment of main weapons and small weapons. As opposed to the standard sword and short blade you had in the first game, you can now pick from a number of different kinds of swords, each with different stats, or even hammers. You can also pick a number of different daggers. There's even a cestus you can buy to give your fists an extra wallop. Aside from the weapons there are a number of different pieces of armor you can buy and a handful of upgrades to your item pouches. Need more throwing knives? Buy a bigger knife belt.

There are other things to buy, also. You can spruce up your home by buying paintings, or change the color of your outfit with various dyes. Or you can choose to spend money improving your home town by renovating the buildings there. The best part is, spending money on most of these things adds to the value of your town and therefore increases your income. If you keep up with it, by the end of the game you'll never want for money. It's very similar to the system used in Fable II.

In fact, I'd say this game is very much like a cross between Fable and Grand Theft Auto. The gameplay itself is pretty much exactly like the first Assassin's Creed, which is to say nearly perfect. The Fable part comes from the money system, and the GTA part comes from the mission structure. In the first game you got your missions directly from the head of the Assassin Order, and you went and carried them out with some help from the local Assassin's Guild. In this game missions pop up on the map and you go to them and start them, very much like GTA.

I loved this game to death, but there are still a few flaws. First, the control is still missing that little bit of polish that would make it perfect. You will wind up running up walls you didn't mean to, or getting stuck climbing structures in spots you shouldn't. It's a minor irritation, but I hope they fix it for the next game. Plus, some of the combat has issues. The timing needed to pull off counters is demanding sometimes, and doing some of the new special moves like throwing sand in people's faces or sweeping people (both of which have achievement associated with them) can be tricky to pull off in actual combat. Also, there's not as much Desmond in this game. There are only three times in the game you get to control him, the beginning, the end, and around the midway point of the game. Some people may find that a plus, but I enjoyed the Desmond breaks in the first game. Each one was like another little clue to what was going on.

Speaking of which, this game features some nasty puzzles! This was one of my favorite parts of the game. Hidden throughout the programming of the Animus are twenty glyphs, placed there by the mysterious Subject 16. Before he died, 16 apparently figured out the truth behind the Pieces of Eden and what the Templars have been doing with them throughout the centuries, and he left the information behind in these glyphs. When you find one, you have to figure out a puzzle, then you're shown a snippet of video. After you finish all twenty puzzles, you get to see the whole video and discover the truth of the Pieces' origins. These twenty puzzles, loaded with information on the Templars' nefarious activities, easily provided the creepiest moments of the game.

I'll say it again: I loved this game. If you liked the first one, you'll definitely like this one too. It's better in almost every way. Now please, please Ubisoft, bring on Assassin's Creed III! I need to know what happens next!

Another quick update

I just wanted to let anyone know who is interested, the reason I haven't updated in almost a week is because I've been glued to Assassin's Creed II. I should be finished with it in a few more days, and I'll post a review for it then. Thanks for your patience.

Quick wrestling update

I only managed to catch a little more than half of Impact again this week, so I'm not going to do a full review. I don't even remember much of what happened. It was good to see Kaz get out of that stupid Suicide costume and return to action as himself. I also really enjoyed seeing Hogan give Abyss his ring and that pep talk. I hope this means the true Monster Abyss will be back soon.

The big news of the week is that starting early next month, Impact will be moving to Mondays! I haven't been a big fan of Raw in almost ten years, but I still seriously doubt that Impact can stand up against them. I see this as a potentially very bad move for TNA. From what I've read around the internet, I think a lot of people agree with me that Hogan is taking the company in the wrong direction, and moving them to Mondays might just sink them for good.

Wouldn't it be crazy if we learned five yeas from now that Hogan was working for Vince McMahon the entire time to run TNA into the ground?

Game review - Gears of War 2

I wasn't a huge fan of the first Gears of War. I thought it was a fun game, but the multiplayer held little interest to me, and as a result I was finished with the game once I completed the campaign. Gears 2, however, seemed like a much better game to me. I can't really explain why, since the two games play almost exactly alike. I just had a lot more fun with Gears 2. Maybe it's because the achievements were a lot easier in Gears 2. I only managed to get 100 points out of the first Gears, but I have 585 so far from Gears 2.

If you haven't bought this game yet and you're interested in it, be sure you get the Game of the Year Edition! It comes with all of the download content, giving you access to like 19 extra multiplayer maps, an extra campaign mission, and 750 more achievement points. I found mine brand new for $30, so it's totally worth it.

I haven't had a chance to play the multiplayer yet, but I have a lot of friends who play it so I'm sure I will soon. I did play the training missions against bots, and it seemed cool. The new Horde mode, which basically pits you against waves and waves of enemies, is very cool but almost impossible to play alone. You need friends for this.

Whichever kind of gamer you are, if you stick mostly to campaign missions or play a lot online, this game has you covered. And for the price it is these days, you can't go wrong. Check it out.

Movie review - 28 Weeks Later

I like zombie movies, but I don't like it when zombies can run, so I never saw 28 Days Later. My buddy Shin DT wanted to watch the sequel, 28 Weeks Later, and he told me I didn't need to see the original to see this one, so I decided to check it out.

Overall it was a decent movie, but I have serious issues with any horror flick where the horror comes about due to sheer stupidity. Apparently the infection from 28 Days Later was wiped out, and London was safe to occupy again. Except that it wasn't really safe, and the government was bringing people back into the city before it was totally cleaned out. Why? Why in God's name would you bring people into a city that was infected with a zombie virus before you were absolutely sure it was totally clean? Why would you, as a civilian, want to move back into such a city?

And of course, the infection breaks out again when two kids sneak out of the military quarantine zone (again, stupid!). But once you get past the stupidity, it becomes a pretty decent zombie flick. Even though the zombies can run. I prefer Romero's shambling horde, but this was good enough that I'll try and check out the original 28 Days Later when I can.

TNA Impact review - 2/11/10

I only managed to catch the last half of Impact this week. I have to say, though, that I don't really feel like I missed much. The news I continue to read about Hogan's thoughts about TNA have me thinking I may have to quit watching. I might wind up following Smackdown instead of TNA, which is kind of a depressing thought. I haven't actively followed a WWE product since 2001. Anyway, on to the review of the half of Impact I managed to catch.

First off we had a handicap match, Angelina Love and Tara vs. the Beautiful People. The Beautiful People win due to their numbers advantage and willingness to fight dirty. The Beautiful People really need to work on their in-ring skills, by the way. They're probably the weakest link in the Knockouts Division right now. Decent match overall, though.

Next came Desmond Wolfe and Hernandez vs. Ken Anderson and Kurt Angle. This match apparently was made because all of these guys will be in the Eight Card Stud Tournament. Anderson and Angle win, though they didn't get along very well. This match was filled with talented wrestlers, but for some reason I found it kind of hard to pay attention to. I don't remember much of the details.

Those were the only two matches I got to see. The rest of the show was filled with more shouting between AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, and the revelation that Eric Bischoff would be the special guest referee at their match. At the end of the show we saw Kurt Angle come to the ring and call out the Band. Scott Hall and Sean Waltman came out and beat Angle down with brass knuckles. Then Hogan came to the ring, acted like he was going to help the Band beat Angle some more, but instead turned on them. The show ended with Hogan helping Angle to his feet. I'm sure this segment would have been more meaningful to me if I had seen the beginning of the show.

Considering this was the Impact before Against All Odds, I would have expected more. I know I only saw half the show, but just two matches? And no real main event, on top of that. Very poor, TNA, very poor. Please don't make me switch to Smackdown. Pick it up, guys!

By the way, just to let you all know ahead of time, I will not be getting Against All Odds. It's pretty rare I order any pay-per-views these days.

1 vs. 100 - 2/10/10

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. We've had some pretty heavy snow lately here in the Cincinnati area, and I haven't really had much to do. Not anything blog-worthy at least.

I have been playing some 1 vs. 100 on Xbox Live, though. After making a handful of top 100 appearances, I managed to actually get into the mob during one of the live shows. I'm the first person I know to get in, so I was pretty happy about that. I made it a little more than halfway through before getting stumped by some question about when the postal service started using zip codes.

Tonight while playing extended play, I set a new personal best. I had a streak of 34, and actually held the number one position for a long time. I wound up missing two questions near the end and got bumped down to sixth place, but I still made the top ten, which is very cool. My brother Sawdust almost made the top ten as well in that game.

By the way, I may have mentioned this before, but my 360 has been broken for some time now. I've sent it away to be fixed, and should be getting it back anytime. So expect me to start posting more game reviews soon. There are a lot of titles I need to catch up on.