Video Game Review: Saint's Row The Third

"Is the third time the charm for the Saint's Row series?" 

    Saints Row has always been nothing but a mere shadow of the Grand Theft Auto  each and every time Saint’s Row has been compared to Rockstar’s masterpiece, but did it ever reach Rockstar’s standards? Nope, not at all, the first two Saints Row games where fair games at best, having a poor story, mediocre graphics, mediocre presentation but at the same time some decent fun mindless gameplay, the main difference between Grand Theft Auto and Saint’s Row was that Grand Theft Auto was heavier on being realistic and story-telling, and Saints Row was more on being dynamic and unrealistic, each time Grand Theft Auto was the winner, but with a promise of well, more dynamic and unrealistic gameplay, is the third time the charm for the Saints Row series?

    Saints Row 3 was basically about the Saints reaching the point of getting fully noticed, becoming celebrities, and moving to another city, Stillwater, in order to get rid of rival gangs and take over the city, it focused around two main characters, the ‘boss’ and Shaundi, the story does have its ups, such as its unpredictable idea and it’s high possibility for anything to happen, but at the same time the game really didn’t feel like it had a story, but more of a concept, the issue was that it was that it just felt like a group of random events, and to be honest, while having the main components like characters, conflicts, a start, a climax and an ending, it just didn’t feel like a story but more of just a concept instead.

    Presentation was Saints Row the Third was as much of a struggle as the first two games, the cutscenes where still okay with nothing special, but despite that, events had almost no connection with each other, the game lacked any type of emotion and was just pure destruction and characters lacked everything from development to depth to attachment, Saints Row the third continues the first two games’ bad job when it comes to presentation, which was really a major downside for this game, even though it’s biggest emphases and motive was it’s gameplay.

    Saint’s Row the Third was promised to be the most dynamic and unrealistic open world game to come out, and based on gameplay videos I saw stuff like UAVs, giant didoes, hovercrafts and crazy customization options plus the needed gameplay elements to make a fun modern open world game, 

such as driving, shooting ect. But the question is, does the game play as well as it looks?

    Saint’s Row the Third’s gameplay can be split to three major parts: Exploration, which includes exploration as well as the game’s means of transportation, Action, which includes all the crazy weapons as well as the mission structure and style, and the third part is flexablity, which deals with a lot of stuff that include customization and expansions.

     Exploration in Saint’s Row The Third was great to say the least, while Steelport was a somewhat small and sleepy city, exploration had so many fun mindless features and additions, there are so many cars to choose from, and other means of transportation such as ‘warping’ or simply just moving around, then there were also the zany and crazy additions to exploration, such as hovercrafts and hover motor cycles, all of those crazy additions where so much fun, that Steelport’s small size and sleepy mood could easily be ignored due to the many, fun, crazy transportation features put into this game.

    Action in Saint’s Row The Third can be divided into so many different fun, dynamic unrealistic parts, whether it’s taking over territories, destroying everything in sight or even simply just attacking people with the most random weapons the player can find, it’s all really fun, Saint’s Row The Third was one of the most dynamic, fun and unrealistic games to ever come out, and the action in the game was one of the biggest reasons why.

   Action mainly focuses on two different parts, Combat and missing structure, combat in Saint’s Row The Third was something very fun, there where so many fun weapons to choose from such as a giant dildo, shotguns, boxing gloves with the power of the apocalypse, predator missiles and so much more to give Saint’s Row 3 space for a lot of fun, and unlimited destruction, however controlling them needs a lot of getting used to, but once getting hold on the controls, Saint’s Row The Third can be enjoyed to the fullest combat wise.

    Mission structure was where the game suffered, like the storyline the missions where randomly structured and felt like they were going nowhere, which gave the game a dumbed down feeling which was really leading the player nowhere, but I have to admit though, despite that the missions where many, a lot of them where really fun, and they serve to be really fun and simply just badass overall.

    Creativity and flexibility where both amazing features in Saint’s Row The Third,  while it’s just a bit lacking for an otherwise dynamic game, the player has the ability to change literally everything about their character, there weight, there body style, there race, there voice, there sex, there features, there clothes, almost everything, Saints Row the Third made it a goal for the character to become the player’s dream character, something that never disappoints, also other customization features like customizing cars into making them look different, goofy or just pure awesome and adding some built in weapons was a lot of fun, editing the crib and stores you but is a lot of fun too, in terms of creativity, Saints Row The Third feels like a complete game, something the player has got to love whether they loved, or hated the game.

    Graphically Saints Row the Third was an improvement over the first two games, character designs where firmer and more realistic and the city was a bit more detailed, and textures where pretty well made, however, lip movements where poor, lighting was poor, the detail was a bit lacking making Stillwater feel more like a random playplace then an actual city, and there were a few pop-ups here and there, but like I said the graphics here did have its ups, it did look better than the first two Saints Row games, and that’s what matters, sure, the graphics did have their major downsteps, but the game still looked fair enough to look playable.

     Saints Row sounded better than the first two Saints Row games, Stillwater sounded alive, despite it 

not looking alive, the soundtrack was superb, it was really something I loved about the game, the sound effects where great, but sometimes they did feel a bit misplaced, and voice acting was good despite the poor lip movements, Saints Row The Third sounded great but it didn’t sound like how a lot of the great games this year sounded, still though, you can’t say no to a good thing.

   Saint’s Row the Third was overall a good game, it had its major missteps and flaws when it came to story, presentation and graphics, however, when it came to gameplay and sound, Saint’s Row the Third was amazing, especially the gameplay side, which was overly dynamic, random, unrealistic and fun, Saint’s Row the Third stood out in some parts, but stood in the bottom of the food chain in other, and for that I think Saint’s Row wasn’t a great game, it was a good game with some huge amazing features which could have made it amazing.

Gameplay: 9/10

-Despite some tough controls, the gameplay was very fun and dynamic-

Story: 3/10

-Saint's Row The Third didn't feel like it had a story, it felt like it had just a concept-

Presentation: 4/10

-Poor presentation, emotionless, but the unrealistic feeling does help though-

Graphics: 7/10

-Improvement from the last two games, but still not up to the level of it's competitors-

Appeal: 8.5/10

-The story isn't much but the side missions, gang hideouts and generally the pure goofiness keeps the game going-

Sound: 9/10

-Excellent voice acting and great soundtrack-

Average Rating: 6.8/10

Overall Rating: 8.3/10

Video Game Review: Assassin's Creed Revelations

"With a new location and many new gamplay features, Assassin's Creed Revelations proved to be the best Assassin's Creed game to come out and a perfect ending for Ezio's and Al-Tair's stories, and an excellent opening for the meat on Desmond's story"

    Assassin’s Creed Revelations was made to be a concluding story. It is the very last story of both of Assassin’s Creed’s main historical Assassins: Altair, a quiet, determined stoic Assassin from the third crusade, and Ezio, a charismatic playboy from the Italian Renaissance turned to a deadly, ambitious leader of the Assassin’s order. AlTair has been with us for one period, but it’s his strong personal structure and character that won, but Ezio at the other hand was with us since he was born, and his character was strongly structured, so the player grows an emotional feel for Ezio throughout the series as well. Both Ezio’s and Al-Tair’s stories will conclude in this game, and a lot of the series’ questions will be answered in this game, so there was a lot of hype put in, but with a new production team things may go either way, but still though, I’m expecting a thrilling conclusion for both, Ezio’s and Al-Tair’s stories, but expectations are nothing if they are not reached though, so did Assassin’s Creed Revelations reach its passively high expectations?

   Assassin’s Creed Revelations continued on the basic inside-outside Animus storyline. In Desmond’s side the story started where Brotherhood left off, we see Desmond in a coma, and he is put back in the Animus, but due to his coma he is in a place called the ‘black room’ which is some sort of safe mode for the Animus created fully out of Desmond’s subconscious, and Desmond needs to get out of the Animus before his mind is fully destroyed and he won’t be able to leave the Animus. Desmond’s side of the story was great, emotional to some extent, very thrilling, and kept me really pumped, prepared and ready for next year’s Assassin’s Creed III.

     Inside the Animus the story mainly focuses on Ezio, who travels to Constantinople, why? it first started off with him trying to find the five keas to Al-Tair’s library which where hidden in Constantinople, then it shifed to Ezio multitasking between helping the Ottoman Assassins keeping Constantinople belonging to the Ottomans due to the Byzantine Templars wanting to take Constantinople and having one of Al-Tair’s keys, and the second, and main part of Ezio’s story was about Ezio trying to find the keys. Having two stories with the same character was a good turn and a very different approach, but unfortionetly it didn’t work so well at the very beginning of the game. The story started off rushed at the Masiaf side, and lacking detail at the Ottoman side, however, the second half of the story tied everything up perfectly and made me forget about all of the flaws Ezio’s side of the story; it made me forget that his side even had any flaws the first place. Ezio’s side of the story was everything from emotional to intense, It started off slow and cheap but then at some point it dragged it’s self up and truly became one of the greatest storylines in video game history. Story wise, Assassin’s Creed Revelations felt like a really fitting and emotional ending for Ezio.

    There was also a side story this time inside the Animus, where through the five keys of Al-Tair’s library, Ezio was able to see some of Al-Tair’s most vital moments, and personally I think that was one of the story’s many strong points. Throughout the time in Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood people only heard about all of Al-Tair’s greatness and what happened after the first Assassin’s Creed game, but throughout these moments that we saw through Ezio in his life, it’s clear that Al-Tair is one of the wisest and greatest Assassins who ever lived, delivering a meaningful, emotional, smart, action-packed and reasoning group of events to make Al-Tair’s storyline a proper revelation and ending for the greatest Assassin who ever lived.

    Ever since Assassin’s Creed II, the series became famous for its incredible presentation and it built a reputation on that, so did Assassin’s Creed Revelation stay on that reputation? Most of the time it did, in fact, most of the time it did a lot better than usual, Assassin’s Creed Revelations was a blowout in terms of presentation most of the time. All three storylines in Revelations where really moving, emotional, and felt like they were not only complete storylines for games, but also for movies. The dialog was really smart and really philosophical, the storyline tried up into one big incredible and unexpected ending, and a lot of the characters where wonderful, especially the main three, along with some side characters like Yousif, Sophia or Subject 16, and the player gains some kind of emotional attachment to a lot of the main characters, and a fairly decent group of side characters, however, there were a few minor issues though, there were some weak characters such as Shakulu and Leandros, and the beginning of the game’s story did feel a bit rushed and mislead, but the rest of the game made up for that, and the other issues with the game, giving this game the best presentation comparing to any game to come out in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and it gave Ezio and Al-Tair a properly structured and excellently built ending.

    Assassin’s Creed Revelations was one big step up comparing to any video game in terms of presentation and story; they were both extremely moving and very emotional. The gameplay continued to that and made this game feel very diverse, familiar and very wide spread, even when having some minor issues, the gameplay in Assassin’s Creed Revelations was easily the best on the series, thanks to keeping the old mechanics and actually improving on them by adding new features to theme which are really worth looking at.

     Exploration had a whole new different feeling in Assassin’s Creed Revelations, mainly because of the new city, Constantinople, which felt a lot bigger, a lot better, and a lot more diverse than Rome did.  Constantinople looked beautiful, it felt alive, there was a ton to explore, it was all city and there were a lot of buildings to look at, explore, and climb. In terms of exploration Assassin’s Creed Revelations had the same feeling that Assassin’s Creed II had, which was having a new, diverse and exciting city that people would be dying to explore time and time again.

     Combat has always been a major factor in any Assassin’s Creed game, and in Revelations it did not disappoint at all, while it was still too easy and not a challenge, it was still very fun. Combat was still broken down to the basic controls, which was excellent, because I loved those controls, they were easy to get used to and most importantly really fun, there where new animations which looked really messy and deadly, along with new weapons, making the combat in this game one of the very best features and something that I wish was there in the last three Assassin’s Creed games.

     As for new additions, Assassin’s Creed Revelations felt like a new game all together. There where so many new additions that sometimes felt a bit unnecessary, but most of the time really enhanced on the gameplay of the series and really made the series feel like something new, the new additions to the gameplay made the Assassin’s Creed series feel re-fined and renewed.

    The hookblade was a personal favorite. It was a replacement for Ezio’s second hidden blade, which right broke before the events of the game. The hookblade brought a very big difference to both of the gameplay’s main factors: combat and exploration, for exploration, the hookblade now let’s the player use ziplines, which made traveling and exploration at least 20% faster, and it really helped me reach parts that were too high or fix the mistake of a jump that missed. For combat it gave a really smooth flow and new feeling to all of Ezio’s moves and it turned to a very deadly weapon. The hookblade was truly an excellent addition that not only benefited this game, but it was one of the major things that re-fined some of the game’s most important features.

     Now the game gives the option to make so many different types of bombs, and honestly, that felt a bit randomly put in, while it did give the series a new sense of creativity and flexibility, bombs were not really needed in the first place, the player can make up to 300 different bombs on this game, and for what? I mean, sure it’s all really fun and gives the game an experimental feeling, but in reality the player doesn't need any bombs, or at least the basic bombs to successfully play through the game. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the bombs, but I thought they were a bit needless and randomly put in though.       

    Recruiting Assassins also felt very different in Assassin’s Creed Revelations. They had an indirect effect on a few missions, and they start off with some actual strong level and recruiting them has become more than just the simple task of saving them from Templar guards. There was a lot more to do, now you also free them from cages, you find them as thiefs then give them another chance to redeem themselves personally and so much more. Assassin’s Creed Revelations took one great factor from Assassin’ Creed Brotherhood, made it have a big effect on the feel of the game and made it more effective than it did on the last game.

    The Borgia towers have also been expanded into something called Templar Dens. They both start off the same, like dealing with a Borgia tower, the player has to kill a Templar leader and ignite a tower to take control of an aria, which was good, it was one of the best features in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and I was happy to see it back. However, the problem with the Templar dens this time is after taking over them they would become Assassins’ Dens, and the player would eventually have to defend them, which sounded like an excellent idea on paper, but when actually playing it people see that it was really nothing but a bad idea, it was too simplistic, it was too boring and it gave too little control. Den defense was the one feature that should have never been in an Assassin’s Creed game in the first place, I mean it, it was a terrible addition.

    The weapon selection system has also been adjusted and it had a bigger structure as well. Instead of pressing the weapon selection button and going with the right analog stick to pick a weapon every time the player needs a specific weapon, the player can now do so much more, he or she can chose four different weapons to use at once, and use each at one main button, so the player can have the hookblade, sword, throwing knifes and a type of bomb all accessible at once, it made things a lot faster, flexible and a lot more adjustable.

     As for Ezio’s appeal, things where generally very strong, missions where diverse and almost each one had a different type of fun, puzzles where smart, clever, fun, but short, and there was a lot to do after the main story is done, like side missions or just general exploration and more and more combat and exploration. However, there were some issues though, some missions had randomness put in, like there was this one mission where Ezio collects flowers for his the girl he loves, who is Sophia, and his side of the game was much shorter than usual, instead of having a part that is 15-18 hours, Ezio’s side was only about 8-10 hours at most, but none the less, even with the short gameplay and the minor randomness, on Ezio’s side the game had a well-balanced flow, as I mentioned, it was emotional and moving. but more importantly most of Ezio’s 8-10 hours where some of the best hours to ever be in an Assassin’s Creed game.

     AlTair had some of the greatest gameplay moments of this game, like his side of the story it was short, AlTair’s side took about 1 hour in total to finish, but that did not matter at all here. Every AlTair mission just showed why AlTair was the greatest Assassin who ever lived and playing those missions with stuff like faster combat, bloodier animations and generally just using a much faster and deadlier Assassin. AlTair’s moments proved to be some of the best moments of the series and showed everything the first Assassin’s Creed game should have been, especially in terms of gameplay and presentation.

      Desmond had the most diverse side of all in the game, and the series. After collecting a certain number of Animus data fragments the player can return to Animus Island, or the black room and play through what is defined as ‘raw data’. In this game mode the player goes around many first person Portal styled puzzles and hearing some of Desmond’s memories growing up. This game mode was one of the most interesting and one of the most entertaining ever to put into an Assassin’s Creed game, or any game as a matter a fact, and it was just another one of many  reason why this game had the best gameplay in the entire Assassin’s Creed franchise.

    Multiplayer was also really adjusted in Assassin’s Creed Revelations. Unlike Brotherhood, there where so many new options, the multiplayer’s story was more advanced, it was about Warren Vidic bringing a group of Templars into a group of Animi and pompously using the  bleeding effect on them so they can have an effect on the Templars so they can be effective fighters, and given that, the online gameplay in Revelations contained more freedom and flexibility, and many new game modes such as capture the flag, deathmatch type options and more, each had a different feel than the multiplayer of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and many other games as a matter a fact, the online gameplay in Revelations was almost as special as the single player campaign, which was just another one of the handful of thing that made this game such an incredible game.

   Graphically Assassin’s Creed Revelations keeps showing that the series keeps stepping up even when there was no need, I mean it, this game actually was a big step up, the lighting effects where near-perfect, Constantinople looked so realistic, organic, breathtaking and very beautiful, the people looked excellent, character designs where pretty much fantastic, and the animations where really looking effective and powerful. Assassin’s Creed Revelations was a huge step up graphically even when it didn’t need to be and it easily was one of the best looking and one of the most beautiful looking games of the year.

     Assassin’s Creed Revelations sounded incredible. All three sides of the story, Desmond’s, Ezio’s and Altair’s stories sounded right for each of their timeline, which is rare to see in a game because if focused on three different characters in three different themes, therefore causing three different timelines. Each soundtrack sounded very moving and suitable, the music was really breath taking and really brought the player directly to the mood of the game. Voice acting was very impressive, there where so many improvements made, while most of the time they didn’t need improvements, but they improved anyway, they gotta have a lot of respect for that, there was so much added emotion to the voices acting, which really gave the player the same feeling as the character had in the game, and as for Al-Tair, his voice was much more convincing and it really effected on his side of the game and his character. As for the atmosphere and the city, Constantinople particularly sounded alive and very reactive to what Ezio does, and honestly felt like a real city that really existed, instead of it being just in a game. Assassin’s Creed Revelations sounded marvelous, and the sound was just one of the many countless things the game improved and grew on.

     Assassin’s Creed Revelations was simply legendary; it was one of the best games of its genre and the best Assassin’s Creed game to come out. It was filled with many strong and emotionally captivating characters, it had a strong, emotional and character driven plot, actually, to be more specific three plots that where driven by strong emotion and character. Assassin’s Creed Revelations played like a dream as well, it had the basic gameplay system, along with many new additions and features that where mostly really worth using. The graphics where incredible, it looked beautiful and was an excellent graphical effort. The game sounded like nothing I heard before, things sounded really enhanced and alive, and even when it did have a few flaws like a weak minor characters here and there, the den defense game mode, and it’s short campaign length, all of it’s positives make up for all that, and swipes off all the dirt, giving a very emotional, moving and incredible conclusion to the stories of both legendary characters Ezio AlDetore Da Faraenze and AlTair Ibin La Ahad, it was also an opener to something that I feel would be much bigger, Desomond’s game, Desomn’s time to shine, or in other words Assassin’s Creed III, which is already really highly anticipated. Assassin’s Creed Revelations gave me some really high expectations, and there is no shame at all in saying that the game actually exceeded my expectations, especially because of its story, characters, gameplay, emotion and ending. Let’s hope III doesn’t disappoint, I doubt it will anyway, and before ending this review, I want to say a few more things: goodbye Ezio and Altair, two of the greatest video game characters ever created, you will be truly missed and never forgotten, and hello Desmond, a character longing for his own game, having us wait a non-regrettable wait for three games in four years. 

Gameplay: 9.5/10
-Despite having one poor feature, Assassin's Creed Revelations excelled in gameplay with keeping the core mechanics and improving apon them, along with adding new excellent features, making this game feel as original as Assassin's Creed 2 when it came out-

Story: 9.5/10
-The greatest story told in Assassin's Creed history, and possibly in gaming history, the history was thrilling, complete and a heart racer from beggining to end, it was the perfect ending for Ezio's and Al-Tair's stories-

Presentation: 9.5/10
-Despite having a misleading start and very few poorly structured characters, Assassin's Creed Revelations was breathtakingly emotional, it had some of the best characters in the series and really having the right blocks to build the strongest game in the Assassin's Creed franchise-

Appeal: 9/10
-The story was only 12 hours, but then again the missions where all excellent, and if that is not enough, there is still so much to do after finishing the story-

Graphics:  9.5/10
-Easily the best looking Assassin's Creed game, buildings and landscapes where made of pure beauty, animations where jaw dropping, and character designs where near perfect-

Sound: 10/10

-A terrific sounding game, the soundtrack was absolutely mind blowing, it had a big effect on the emotional part in the story, and voice acting was very much improved, even though it didn't even need to be-

Average Rating: 9.5/10 

Overall Rating: 9.7/10

Video Game Review: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

"Not as good as the last Assassin's Creed game, but Assassin's Creed Brotherhood serves to be a great sequel that deserved to be really looked at"

    Assassin’s Creed 2 was a game that I would describe as legendary. It’s combat, it’s open world exploration, it’s presentation and it’s revenge driven story where all very powerful and motivational for the player to finish the game. It’s very rare to have a game like that, and it’s rarer to have a sequel to a game like Assassin’s Creed 2, but let’s see if Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood can pull it off, given that it’s a fully direct sequel to Assassin’s Creed 2.

   Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood went through the same formula as the first two games, which is the inside-outside Animus storyline, only on brotherhood, the outside Animus storyline actually was much more interesting and something that was really well played. The outside Animus circled around Desmond going inside the Animus to get to Ezio’s memories so he, Lucy, Rebecca and Shawn can find an apple of edin hoping that it would tell them where the other temples  to the pieces of Edin are.

    On Ezio’s side of the story the game doesn’t quite live up to Desmond’s side or the storyline of Assassin’s Creed II. It was about Ezio going to Rome and trying to get back the apple of Edin which was stolen by the Borgia, and to do so Ezio must weaken there forces, that all means Ezio gets new assassination targets, new allies and a new enemy: Chesare Borgia.

   As I mentioned, Ezio’s side the story on Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood really didn’t live up to the story of the last Assassin’s Creed game. Ezio’s story in this game felt flawed, and here is why: While there was a small number of new characters and a different location, there was really no question answering in the game, there were no new real new features, and there was only just more questions piled up and added to the questions that the second game had, I’m not saying that the story wasn’t good, Ezio’s story in this game was great, but just flawed, therefore disappointing.

     Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood continued on the excellent presentation that Assassin’s Creed II had, but this time it did have some very minor issues. The game was presented in an excellent way, in both sides, but especially with Desmond, but it’s ending on Ezio’s side felt really rushed and unexplained, I hope that this error was actually something worth asking and not a presenting error or a plot hole, but until then I’ll say it’s a plot hole, also the game disappointed a bit when it came to presenting new characters, while there where some new interesting Assassination targets, I don’t think they really had as much of a cause as they did in II, and as for Ezio’s allies, it’s such a coincidence that all of them somehow ended up in Rome, don’t you think? But otherwise the game still was very strong when it came to presentation. There was really no other negative comments I could say about it other than those two, and even with those problems, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood was still presented in a more or less excellent way.

     Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood’s gameplay felt very similar to the gameplay in Assassin’s Creed II. The game took place in Rome, which was a bigger city than all the cities in Assassin’s Creed II combined, so there was a lot to explore and a lot to do in such a big place, however, while Rome was a fun and a really exportable city, there was one minor issue with it though, it felt too much like Assassin’s Creed II and there was more country than city. The city is one of the things that make an open world game, and this game felt too familiar to Assassin’s Creed II, which gave the game a needlessly familiar feel, and it felt less like a city since there was less to climb, it didn’t feel quite like the right city for Ezio to explore.  

     Combat was fun here and more flexible than the last game, the controls became more enhanced and the general fighting just felt more organic and realistic, however the AI was the problem here. Combat was too easy in this game, mainly because the AI in this game was a little bit too dumbed down, at some points I would just finish fights without being touched, which was fun, but it didn’t feel like a challenge, at all, don’t get me wrong, the combat on this game was still fun and something I felt like I could spend hours doing.

     The economic system which was in Assassin’s Creed II was fully enhanced in Brotherhood. Stores can be purchased, places like thief guilds and courtesan homes can be renovated, and historical buildings can be bought. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood had an economic system that was fully enhanced in every way, and as a result made Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood a fun and more realistic game when it comes to the economy.

    As for new gameplay features, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood felt lacking where the new gameplay additions either felt too contrived and unrelated to the story or just didn’t make a big difference. Ezio can now recruit Assassins, which is fun, but the number of Assassins recruited has no effect on the story, and gameplay was far too easy to even ask for recruitments. Other than that players can explore the lairs of Romulus, which gave some great platforming moments. The player can ride horses through the city, which I found pointless because Rome was filled with Tunnels, and the player now needs to kill a Borgia leader to free a district, which was the only real great addition to the game, because when playing like that the player feels like they earned the stores and places in that aria.

     Desmond had a big side this time in gameplay, and I think that made a huge differences and helped me looked passed a lot of the errors on Ezio’s side of the story, why? Because Desmond’s side was a lot of fun, there was a lot of exploration and platforming involved, plus his side of the story made it feel a whole lot stronger and his side gave a lot more details about Desmond’s character, which was something I really loved from this game.

     There was also a new online feature in this game, and honestly it was a big disappointment, mainly because the servers took a very long time to load, it lacked having a decent amount of players, and it lacked player freedom, I mean, i get that this was the first time Assassin's Creed had online gameplay but it was still poor and it had some really clear space for some really big improvements.

    Every Assassin’s Creed game was a step up graphically, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood was a big step up, while things did look a bit too animated at some point, a lot of the graphics here where big improvements over the last two games, the lighting was a lot better, the characters looked excellent, the landscapes and Rome looked very organic and realistic, and the animations looked excellent, there are a bit pop-ups here and there and sometimes things looked a bit too animated, but those where very small complaints compared to the great graphics in this game.

     Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood was pretty much exactly like Assassin’s Creed II when it came to sound, Ezio’s voice kept improving, the characters sounded great, the city sounded reactive and alive, the sound effects where great and the music was excellent, however, some voices and some music on the album sounded somewhat needless or a bit stereotypical, which wasn’t really a big issue at all, in fact, they barely effected, especially comparing to the great effort on this game when it comes to sound.

      Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood had its ups, and it had it’s downs. It wasn’t nearly as special as the last Assassin’s Creed game was, but it still did the job of being a great game with a decent story. It did have it’s down such as the really easy gameplay, some story-related errors and the annoyingly familiar feeling, but the gameplay was still very fun, combat was still fresh, the story was still decent, and the familiar feeling was actually a bit helpful at some cases. Overall Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood wasn’t the best Assassin’s Creed game, but it did have some of the series’ best moments and it was still a game worth buying and playing through.

Gameplay: 8/10
-Ezio's side of the gameplay was great, but more or less the same, with some new stuffed in elements and easier gameplay, Desmond had a major side in this game, and that's where the game shined-

Story: 8/10
-While it was still strong, the story didn't really present something new on Ezio's side, it was great but if felt like it was 'just there', but Desmond had some real breathtaking moments that wowed me throughout the game-

Presentation: 8.5/10

-There where a lot of plot holes, some repetitive elements here and there, but otherwise the presentation was almost as good as the presentation in Assassin's Creed II-


Appeal: 8.5/10

-Given that II was a much better game and that Rome felt very familiar, after finishing the story i think the player won't last nearly as long as he or she did in the last game, but would still give a sustainable amount of time for this game-


Graphics: 9.5/10

-The game looked less gloomy, it was much brighter, so Rome looked more beautiful then it could have looked and character designs had so much more detail this time-


Sound: 8.5/10
-The soundtrack was strong, but not as captivating as the last game's soundtrack, and the voice acting was also strong, but it felt a bit emotionless and stereotypical though-

Average Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Rating: 8/10    

         

Video Game Review: inFAMOUS 2

"Familiar and a bit bumpy, otherwise an improvement form the original"

   InFAMOUS was a surprise to everyone, why? Because superhero games are normally fair games at best, but when InFAMOUS came out, things started to change, nobody expected anything from Infamous, but it took everyone by surprise and it was actually an impressive game, after that Batman: Arkham Asylum came out and it was another impressive game, and now, InFAMOUS 2 is out, so let’s see if it can continue that streak, or if it can be as good or even be better than the original InFAMOUS game.

     InFAMOUS 2 concentrated around the first game’s protagonist, Cole McGrath, who was going to a New Orleans based City called “New Marais”, so he can collect new powers to face the Beast, who was actually prophesied to attack during the first inFAMOUS game, but when Cole arrives to New Marais he finds out about a ruthless leader named Joseph Bartand III who leads a group called the Melisha who are based on destroying Conduits (people with powers). So Cole is caught on trying to stop Joseph Bartand and collecting his new powers before the Beast gets to New Marais to find him, thus putting Cole on a sharp, high-pressured race against time.

    InFAMOUS 2 continued with the comic book styled presentation that the first game had and did so well, and because of that the story was actually presented in a very attractive way and keeps the player digging for more. The main characters are back and they were better than ever, and the new characters where pretty good too, however, inFAMOUS 2’s story did have one issue though, the type of story that inFAMOUS 2 had felt a bit cliché and overplayed in my opinion, but thank god for it’s great presentation that actually made a somewhat poorly written story executed in an excellent way.

     InFAMOUS 2 was a bit of a disappointment yet an excellent game on the gameplay side. The game had a major improvement on exploration through, the city of New Marais was much better than Empire City and it was much funner to explore. New Marias had that New Orleans type of look and feeling, so it was very interesting and a lot of fun to just explore through the city and look around the swamps.

   The combat was too much of the same. All the player really does most of the time is repeatedly hit the enemy with electric shocks most of the time because it’s a danger to go close to the enemy, but thank god for new powers and a weapon called the Amp, the gave inFAMOUS 2 some great moments and a ton of fun, but most of the time those differences where barely noticeable, yet, while the combat system was a bit disappointing, it was still a lot of fun.

     The missions in inFAMOUS 2 didn’t do so well in my opinion. While they were fun, they all had the exact same formula as in the missions in the first inFAMOUS, and the problem with that was that the missions felt repetitive, and personally, I prefer not to do stuff that are repetitive.

    The player’s Karma was exactly the same as the Karma in the first InFAMOUS game, while it did have an effect on the story, the ending and each Karma whether it’s good or bad can give you knew powers, it’s always the same choices for the player: to kill or not to kill? Don’t get me wrong, I still liked the Karma aspect of the gameplay gameplay, but I just think it was a bit misplayed.

    The new additions did, in a way a way make things feel more original, but I can’t help but to think about how similar is to the gameplay here is to the gameplay in the first InFAMOUS. It was still really fun and enjoyable, and that’s what matters most, but I’m just saying, with a two year gap there should have given the sequel more additions and more flexible gameplay than the original.

     InFAMOUS 2 had a big step up when it came to graphics. Thanks to much less dimmed lighting, New Marais looked and felt more beautiful and more exportable, characters looked a lot better and more realistic, a lot of the lip movements where much better than the lip movements in many other games. However, there were some problems, there were many popups, civilians had weird faces, and some of the characters had something about their look that didn’t make them feel right, but none the less, inFAMOUS 2 was really a down right great looking game.

     InFAMOUS 2 needed great sounds for it to work out right, and how did it result? Well, once again it was a step up from the first inFAMOUS. While Cole’s new voice actor still did sound gravely, he still did sound a lot better and a lot less gravelly than Cole’s voice actor in the first game, the other characters sounded right and realistic, the city sounded alive and very reactive to the player’s actions, the sound effects where pretty good  and on Q, and the music was great for the moods and scenes in the game, there were still some issues such as missed sound effects or Cole’s gravelly voice, but they can mostly still be easy to ignore though when comparing to the upside of the sound on this game.

    As a whole, InFAMOUS 2 was simply an awesome game. It had its major and minor flaws, but the game’s positives more than made up for most of them. InFAMOUS 2 proved to be a great sequel, an improvement from the original, and a continuation to the streak of great superhero games, InFAMOUS 2 won’t be a classic or a legendary game, but it will for sure be remembered as one hell of a game comparing to many of the other games out on its genre.

Gameplay: 8.5/10
-Fun, but familiar gameplay, however the weapons where better and exploration was funner-

Story: 7.5/10

-Not a great story, but a fitting story for a superhero game-


Presentation: 8.5/10

-Better characters and a more innovative game, still kept the acclaimed comicbook sequences but still, the game was filled with emotionless relations between characters-


Appeal: 8.5/10

-The game will last a while, with creating missions and a lot to do after the game, the game will be hard to let go of-


Graphics: 9/10

-InFAMOUS 2 looks great, it was less gloomy then the original but the game still lacked detail-


Sound: 8.5/10

-Cole's voice was too gravely and some sound effects where misplaced, otherwise a great sounding game-

Average Rating: 8.4/10

Overall Rating: 8.5/10      

Video Game Review: Assassin's Creed 2

"Assassin's Creed II was a perfect example on how to make a sequel that not only improves on the original, but also a perfect example of a sequel to make people forget about the original"

   How do game developers make sequels that are an improvement from the original? There are many ways to improve, like experimenting or doing what the previous game but better, or looking at what critics and gamers said would, I think the third option out of the three I mentioned is the best, mainly because critics and gamers are who play the games, so they know what they want and what they don’t want. That’s exactly what Ubisoft did after their mediocre first Assassin’s Creed game, they looked at what people said, then they made a sequel “Assassin’s Creed 2” which was promised to have various improvements, so how did it do, given it was what the people asked for?

   Assassin’s Creed 2 started off exactly where the first Assassin’s Creed left off on Desmond’s side of the story. It started off with Lucy showing Desmond that she is an Assassin, and then they both escape from Ubstergo and go to the Assassins’ lair. Once arriving to the Assassin’s lair Desmond got strapped on to another Animus in order for him to get his ancestor’s traits and skills using the bleeding effect, and to know the whereabouts of one of the pieces of Edin.

   On the ancestor’s side, the plotline was much more emotionally and character driven, it was more of a revenge based story comparing to the first Assassin’s Creed’s plot in the Animus. It took place in Renascence Italy, and it was about this reckless Florence-born teenager turned Assassin named Ezio Aldetore, who found out that his father was a part of the Assassin’s Order right before the death of his father and brothers. So in order to preserve the memory of his father, Ezio continued what his father started and decided to continue assassinating all the assassination targets on his father’s list.

     The game had an impressive emotional story, but the last game had an incredible redemption based story, but the first game was presented in such a poor way, and honestly, that was not the case with Assassin’ Creed 2. Assassin’s Creed 2 was presented in a very impressive way, the atmosphere was actually right, the cutscenes where actually entertaining this time and they actually felt like cutscenes, there were better motives, more interesting characters, and the story in general felt just about right for the game thanks to the game’s presentation. The presentation in Assassin’s Creed 2 was really something special; it was truly something worth waiting and really an improvement which is very rare to see from any video game.

   Gameplay wise Assassin’s Creed 2 had the basic Assassin’s Creed gameplay when it came to open world exploration, however, at the same time there were a lot of differences. The cities where all a lot bigger, it was much funner to explore due to the many different landscapes and styles, there was a lot more to explore and more importantly more stuff to do when the player is not completing the story, such as solving puzzles or finding tombs to explore, and everything felt very organic. Assassin’s Creed 2 in way is a perfected version of Assassin’s Creed’s strong exploration.

    Combat in Assassin’s Creed 2 was also a step up. The AI was dumbed down and combat was easier, however, there would be no denying that on the player’s side of the combat was a lot funner. Assassin’s Creed 2 felt like more than just button mashing and actually felt a bit more strategic, there were more weapons to choose from comparing to the basic weapons in the first game, such as the double hidden blade and even a hidden gun, and the player can now do more stealth related moves. Assassin’s Creed 2’s combat felt more flexible and realistic than the combat in the first Assassin’s Creed game and honestly, many other games, which was a big reason why Assassin’s Creed 2 felt very special.

     There were many more new additions in the gameplay here other than the more realistic combat and the bigger exploration. There was actually an under stable notoriety system, which made the game feel a lot easier and a lot easier to prepare for, there was actually an economic system where if the player improves the economy they can get more money, buy new weapons, dye there robes to many different colors and buy new armor, there were also more collectables such as codex pages, treasures and historical paintings or artifacts, which made the game feel a lot bigger than the first game. Assassin’s Creed 2 was a much bigger game with a lot more freedom and a lot more additions; it felt more like an open world game than just a game with a world that worked alongside with the story.

     Graphics wise Assassin’s Creed 2 also enhanced comparing to the first game. While the lighting did feel just a bit dim the game still felt very realistic, up to the mood and it felt like It had more of the right feeling. The buildings looked beautiful and much more organic, the character designs really drew a lot of attention because they were simply that good, and the landscapes where really beautiful, I felt like I would be having fun just walking around and looking at the cities or the nature in the game, the animations where all incredibly fantastic, they always delivered something new and never stopped surprising me. Assassin’s Creed II was a very powerful game graphically, and what’s amazing about it was that the graphics here was one of the many things that could tell that Ubisoft really put all of their love and concentration in this game.

    Much like the first game, there was a lot to love about the sound on Assassin’s Creed 2, but unlike Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed 2 had a lot of memories sound wise. Assassin’s Creed 2’s man, Ezio actually sounded right for his character, which believe it or not, makes a very big difference to the general sound, graphics and the whole feeling of the game, the main character’s voice is something that really does matter in a game, and personally I think it’s something wonderful that they got it right in Assassin’s Creed 2, the cities sounded even more reactive and alive due to people not fully concentrating on you and minding their own business most of the time, and the music was a big improvement and felt more interactive this time. I think the best part of the sound on Assassin’s Creed 2 is that they improved many things from the first game, but at the same time keeping everything else that I loved from the first Assassin’s Creed game.

    Assassin’s Creed 2 wasn’t a perfect game, it did have very few extremely minor flaws, but even with those flaws, Assassin’s Creed 2 managed to make out a perfect painting of redemption. The first Assassin’s Creed was mediocre at best, this game throws the first Assassin’s Creed in the trash thanks to keeping the best parts of the first Assassin’s Creed game, improving them, removing everything that made the first Assassin’s Creed so damn mediocre, and replaced those flaws with newer and better features. Assassin’s Creed 2 was an example on how to make a sequel to any game, which is much bigger than what the game’s goal was: making a sequel that simply improved on the first game. Assassin’s Creed 2 was simply incredible; it was a beautiful game as a whole and it was really something very special that I think people won’t forget for a very long time.

Gameplay: 9.5/10
-Near perfect gameplay, improved combat, a large selection of diverse missions and exploration that is faster, and better than ever-

Story: 9.5/10
-A character driven story which was fully driven by revenge, it was original and it shifted the Assassin's Creed series to something much bigger-

Presentation: 9.5/10
-Near perfect presentation, the game was presented in a beautiful, dragging and an emotionally satisfying way, with a new, better lead character and a better narrative-

Appeal: 9.5/10
-I could easily spend the rest of my life playing this, the story is long, and there are a ton of stuff to do after finishing the game-

Graphics: 9/10
-Despite some gloominess and dark lighting, Assassin's Creed II was an incredible game graphically, with excellent character models and breathtaking scenes whether it's looking at buildings or landscapes-

Sound: 10/10

-So much was put into the sound this time around, voice acting will put a smile on the player's face thanks to the excellent voice acting and the ear-stealing sound track-

Average Rating: 9.6/10

Overall Rating: 9.4/10