The developers promised a lot of answers with the new game Revelations. I wouldn’t want to get into the details of the story without giving away too much but we do get some answers and also some more questions. The story starts with Desmond being trapped in the Animus in safe mode. He has to collect pieces of animus shards in the Ezio’s story to open portals that allow us to find out more about Desmond’s story. We have Ezio in Acre and Constantinople trying to figure out the story behind the Assassins. He finds Altair’s keys which allows him to view the story of Altair. We get to know Altair a little better and it’s a good way to end his story. It always felt to me like Altair was a big arrogant prick from the first game (I liked that about him). We finally know that he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. Ezio’s story however does not end with this game. I believe they leave it open ended so we have an animated series featuring him. Everyone loves Ezio but it was getting tiresome. So it’s good to see that this is the last Ezio game. It will be interesting to see how they will flesh out his story after the games. Going into the details.

The Good: This is an Assassin’s creed game and that means we have all the good things from the old games. There are some brilliant set pieces and missions. Running around on a burning boat was just amazing. There are bombs to play with now. The addition of bombs adds an additional layer of strategy to the game. The assassin’s guild missions are not just something you do to keep yourself busy. They’ve an interesting role to play as we take over cities and level up the assassins in the guild. The leveled up assassins can be made the head of the towers and a fully leveled up assassins have the advantage of ensuring the tower does not get taken back by the templars (I will talk about this in more detail in the bad stuff). There are more interesting platforming sections when you collect the Altair’s keys. There are also some memorable characters. Ezio himself is still a charmer even if he is a lot older now. We find some answers to the questions and the end of the world in 2012 conspiracy but eventually that leads to more questions.

The Bad: After the game moves from Italy, there is a lot less color in the game. The dullness of Acre is back and bright colors of Florence are not there to be seen anymore. The fighting is still too easy and you’re too much of a badass to be killed. Taking back the towers from the templars to unlock the shops around the area was a cool thing in Brotherhood but they add a new layer in Revelations. When you gain maximum notoriety in the game,  the templars will attack your towers and you have to initiate a tower defense like scheme where you take back your tower from the templars. This is complicated, convoluted and boring. It takes away the excellent pacing of the game. The worst part is that it is very difficult to get rid of notoriety in this game as there are no posters anymore. We have to find the a herald to bribe or a witness to kill. The good thing is that you can put off taking back the towers until you level up your assassins so they’re powerful enough to keep the templars at bay. There is very little human interaction outside of the Ezio world. We hear people talking about what is going on from time to time but that is not the same. We also interact with subject 16 and he is not very interesting and I did not care for him as much. Eventually, this game leads to more and more questions.

The Ugly: Another assassins creed game and another year. I guess that’d be none =P

*SPOILERS* I’m so much glad that they’re done with the Ezio’s story as far as the games are concerned. As much as I love him, 3 games in the span of 3 years is an overkill. I’d like to see where they’re going to set up the next part of the game. A lot of people are saying France will be a great place and I agree. It will also be interesting to see where the Desmond’s story is going. It’s clear from the talking outside the animus that Lucy is dead. The things I’ve been reading online say that the Desmond’s story will now happen in New York. We never know where the developers want to take this series. But this is time for fresh starts and new ideas. Probably time to start jumping into things other than haystacks. I’m curious what the next game will be like and I hope the developers take their time with this game and not screw up the series by releasing a game every year just like Activision milked the Guitar Hero series dry. Hopefully, Ubisoft is smarter than that. *SPOILERS*

Final score: 8/10

Related posts:

1. Assassin’s Creed Review
2. Assassin’s Creed 2 Review
3. Red Dead Redemption Review (WITH SPOILERS)

I wanted to write a review for AC:2 mostly because I wanted to touch upon the improvements they have made from the first game. While, the first game had its merits, it was marred by repetitive gameplay and some really stupid baseline story that was made for a sequel. Thankfully, the second game is much better. The story of Ezio unfolds slowly turning him into a badass by the end of the game. This game has some new tricks up its sleeve and some old ones to boot. There is a lot of hand holding in the beginning and while it seems like it is moving at a slow pace, it sets up the revenge story nicely.

The Good stuff: The story of the game is just brilliant. The number of characters in the first game was limited to 2 outside of the Animus and very few that I can remember from Altair’s part of the game. The characters outside of the Animus doubles and there are a lot more vital and interesting characters in Ezio’s story itself. Ezio himself seemed like an interesting character in comparison to the brooding Altair. Even Leonardo Da Vinci steps in and provides some gear for Ezio. There is Uncle Mario, Lorenzo, Antonio and who can forget all the pretty women =P. One of the major complaints from the first game was the combat system. Once you learn the counter move, you’re pretty much set to  kill everyone in the game. It is a little more complicated here with different kinds of enemies. You cannot counter the Brutes and Seekers because they carry Axes and Spears. The “Disarm” move is especially handy for these kind of enemies and so is the “Dodge” move. I liked the challenge, even though, it wasn’t a lot.

The missions are a lot more interesting. It is true that some of them are kind of repetitive in a way but there are some very interesting missions. Let it be Assassinations or Beat up events. Even the side missions are blended into the story in a way. You get a feeling that you’re part of this world and that you’re doing your bit to help with the progress of Lorenzo in Florence. Even the collections have a lot more meaning in this game. Collecting the flags in the first game seemed trivial and meaningless for the achievement’s sake. However, this game has feathers and treasures. While collecting treasures has no real significance (AFAIK), collecting feathers does. I liked having some meaning behind these things instead of just some mindless achievement.

The bad stuff: The enemy AI is still kind of dumb. They just wait around and attack in turns. You can almost anyone walking from behind or by throwing a knife or two. Jumping at times feels sticky and Ezio always jumps towards a ledge even if you want to jump somewhere in the middle. The game also sets up for a sequel instead of giving some answers to the questions posed in the first game. There are a lot of interesting questions that are posed and while this increases my appetite and curiosity for the sequel, it also leaves me with the fact that the game is incomplete. It kind of makes me feel like the TV series “Lost” which caused a lot of interest because of the questions it posed and then ended with a whimper. I hope the creators of the game have planned the story well ahead instead of winging it with every sequel.

The game also introduces a money system that lets you buy different kinds of armor, paintings, health potions among other things. The game’s economy is kind of broken because you will be swimming in more money than you can spend. There are upgrades to the Villa and I had purchased all the upgrades  before I even went past my first city. It would’ve been nice if they had more ways to spend the money. I’m beginning to nitpick here.

The Ugly Stuff: None

Assassin’s Creed 2 is a vast improvement over the repetitive first game. I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game and this has me totally excited for the next game which I will be getting very soon. It might not end up being my favorite game like Red Dead Redemption or Mass Effect 2 but it is definitely up there as far as the story and good games are concerned. I would say this game is definitely something every gamer should play and experience. Unfortunately, that means playing the first game  because the knowledge of the first game definitely helps in understanding Desmond’s story better even if it is not required for Ezio’s story.

Final Score: 8.5/10

Related posts:

1. Assassins Creed: Revelations Review
2. Assassin’s Creed Review
3. Limbo Review (XBLA)

The Good Stuff: Everything about this game is great. It has a brilliant story which ends up in a sort of anti-climatic way. The old western premise, the voice acting, the gun slinging and the list is literally endless. It is sort of like a GTA game set up in the old west. And it is so much better because you get to ride HORSES and not cars. You get to duel with random by standers like they did in the Clint Eastwood movies. Standing in the middle of the street and shooting the guns out of his hand or the hat off his head or just killing him. It felt good on so many levels. This is the definitive game if you have dreamed of being a cow-boy seeing those old movies. I just loved the strangers who need your help throughout the game. Almost all of them have a sad end to their story. This story would’ve worked as a movie on so many levels. It is engaging and spans across two countries (USA and Mexico).There are so many mini-games. You can play poker, liars dice, blackjack, arm wrestling, hunting, collecting herds to mention a few. You can even go treasure hunting with a treasure map.

The main character is one of the strongest characters I have seen in a game in a long time. The last time a character intrigued me as much as John Marston was in GTA: Vice City when I played as Tommy Vercetti. John Marston is not all black and white. He is a severely flawed man and he has more shades of grey than a Gears of War game. He had joined a band of thieves who are Robin Hood styled band of merry men stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. But he quits this lifestyle marries and settles down to become a farmer. But he is pushed back into this gun slinging lifestyle by the authorities to capture the people he used to rob with. He is left with no choice but to follow the authorities unless he wants to see his family. As the story progresses, you get to see that he is not going to stop short to get back to his family. He does what he has to even if he thinks that some of it is not so right anymore. More than anything else, I think the game’s strong selling point is its story.

The Bad Stuff: There are a few bugs here and there. As it happens with some of these sand box games, these are quite random. The horses are suicidal and sometimes the mini games can get annoying. When traveling long distances, this can be a problem. You could die and you will have to start over again. There is nothing really game breaking here. Some annoyances here and there but game is solid in its presentation and quality.

The Ugly Stuff: Except for the faces of the people living in this game, NOTHING.

I am going to talk about the game ending here. So if you don’t want to listen to spoilers, don’t read this part.

It is quite amazing how some things affect you. Music, movies, books and even good games have all some kind of an effect on you. A good song can pick you up and a sad song can drown you. The same goes with movies and books too. We’re often left wondering if the book/movie ended well or not. In general, I’ve noticed that you’re left with that lingering feeling if there was a bad ending because you can’t help but wonder how things would’ve ended better. This feeling is more telling in a game because you’ve been involved, interacted and engaged with these characters in a way much different from a book or a movie. These characters have become your friends in a way and watching them die is not a good feeling at all.

The ending in Red Dead Redemption is not a very happy one to say the least. Once you kill everyone and try to have a happy family and a good farming life, the army comes and attacks you. The authorities that have sought your help to kill the bad guys come to your ranch with an army and kill you for good. It is left for your son to grow up and take revenge on this officer. I felt really sad for John Marston. He had made mistakes but he tried his best to put his past behind him and move on. But living with a past like his is not easy and I can’t help but wish that things had ended in a much better way for John. Like John says in the game, “People don’t forget things. Nothing is forgotten.”

My Name is John Marston Trailer

Related posts:

1. Limbo Review (XBLA)
2. Assassin’s Creed 2 Review
3. Assassins Creed: Revelations Review

The good stuff: I love the artwork of the game. It looks brilliant, different and nothing like you’ve ever seen before. All you see on the screen is a black blob of a child who is making his way through traps, platforms charged with electricity, critters, giant spiders and other similar look blob children trying to kill you. The first few minutes I was just amazed looking at the game.

The game also does a brilliant job of teaching you the mechanics. There are magnetic areas and turrets that kill if you get in range. The game mixes up a lot of things and throws a good challenge as you progress through the game. It is a lot of fun trying to figure out the puzzles and also killing giant spiders with little tools like traps. You will also die a lot trying to figure out the solutions. Who knew you could kill a baby in so many ways?

The bad stuff: There isn’t much in this category. The game does what it is supposed to very well. You might get frustrated trying to figure out how to solve some parts of the game but it is more or less your fault than the game. There is some sort of trial and error mechanism to the game. You have to die a couple of times in certain ways to figure out the solution. It is not really bad, it is how it is.

The ugly stuff: Dear reviewers, I suppose you got your game to review for free but most of us gamers have to pay for our games. So when you review the game and rave about it, you should put the length of the game and value for money. I am surprised at how short this game was. It is a given that I haven’t solved all the secrets and haven’t unlocked all the achievements but it really took me about 4 hrs to finish the game including the frustrations of waiting and solving the puzzles by myself. If you’re good, it could take far less than that.

It costs about $15 and for most people, it is probably not a lot. But I usually buy most of my games either used or after it goes platinum/greatest hits. At that point, most games cost only $20 and you can get a lot out of it than an XBLA game. It is incredibly short for a $15 game and I have a serious issue with it (if you don’t, move on. There is nothing to see here ). I might be okay with probably at half the price but for its price, it is incredibly short. If you don’t mind the price tag, it should be an okay purchase. But if you’re like me, then you might want to wait until there is a deal or something.

Limbo Trailer (Might contain some puzzle solutions *spoilers*)

Related posts:

1. Assassin’s Creed 2 Review
2. Assassins Creed: Revelations Review
3. Assassin’s Creed Review

[album: http://idleblogger.com/wp-content/plugins/dm-albums/dm-albums.php?currdir=/wp-content/uploads/dm-albums/ME2 Ladies/]

Related posts:

1. Glyde – Site Review
2. Mass Effect 3 and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
3. Things that happened since I last blogged

The good stuff: I really liked the concept of animus and using the DNA as memory strands. The concept was simple enough to wrap your mind around it and the missions seemed really interesting in the beginning. The way you can seamlessly free-run on top of the buildings by just holding two buttons was amazing and very intuitive. The graphics were okay even if it was devoid of color, the game looked gorgeous. Especially when you do the viewpoints, the highest points in the game give you an amazing view of the locales. The story also seemed interesting enough to keep me pushing for the next mission.

The bad stuff: The missions seemed really innovative in the beginning of the game. Pick pocketing, climbing view points to get new missions, saving citizens, collecting flags, doing assassinations and eavesdropping are fun when you do them the first time. But seriously that is all this game has to offer for the whole game. There are about 9 assassinations in 3 cities (Damascus, Acre, Jerusalem). Each of these cities is divided into three areas: Rich, Medium and Poor. New areas in the city becomes accessible as you progress through the game. The biggest complaint I have about this game is that you have to do the same things over and over again. It is not fun at all. I often felt bored and the only thing that kept me going was the story.

The controls also felt a little sticky at times. He doesn’t hold on to the ledges I want him to and jumps on to the wrong ledge. Also lining up the jumps in the water areas was extremely hard knowing that a fall into the water was an instant death. Who knew that assassins can’t swim? Nothing game breaking but was frustrating a few times because he would fall down on a soldier initiating a fight sequence instead perfectly jumping from one rooftop to another.

The Ugly stuff: Combat was the biggest issue I had with this game. It felt really unreal seeing people just stood around waiting to attack one by one. If there are 10 soldiers and one assassin, isn’t the easiest thing to take him down at all once? Instead they just dance around waiting for him to attack. Once you learn the counter move, that is the only move that you would ever need in combat. Especially in later stages of the game when attacking mean getting countered. It is just easy to wait for them to attack and do a counter kill.This made the combat extremely easy. This meant that I would rather stand and kill 10 soldiers than evade them. I thought the assassins were supposed to lurk in the shadows and kill people quietly. Granted you could still play the shadow assassin but the combat route was easier than the stealth route most of the times because it required less planning.

Even with all the complaints, the game was okay. I would’ve never paid full price for this game. At $10, you can’t complain much. I still think this was a mediocre effort. I hear that a lot of these issues have been fixed in-game 2. I just started playing Assassin’s Creed 2 and the game rewarded me 60 achievement points for just putting the disc inside it.

My rating: 6.5/10

The Brotherhood trailer that caught my attention

Related posts:

1. Assassins Creed: Revelations Review
2. Assassin’s Creed 2 Review
3. Glyde – Site Review

Glyde follows the minimalistic design made popular by Google. There is a big search box in the middle of the page (hard to miss ). It also comes up with suggestions as you keep typing. This is really quick if you are looking for something specific. However, if you want to browse through categories, you would have to click on all items at the bottom. There is also an option to click through daily deals on top of the site. There is no way to sort the games in alphabetical order or in terms of popularity or even by price. You can only filter them through categories and consoles. Again, let me be clear here: if you are looking for something specific, glyde automatically gives you the cheapest price of that product in different condition categories (New, Excelling, Good, Disc only).

If you are looking to sell your products, then all you do is enter the name of the product and pick one of the options (if your game is multi-platform). Glyde automatically picks a suitable price for you. You can increase or decrease the price to your liking. It also tells you how many people have priced the item lower than that. Considering the fact that there are many people trying to sell the same thing, it might be a good idea to price it lower than the prescribed price. Glyde will also ask you to pick the condition of the game. I am not sure about the payment procedure and such. I think the general idea is that your money gets deposit into  your account once you request for it or you could use that money to buy other games on the site. I think the commission is 10% on sale price (again please read the FAQs on site for detailed information).

Coming to my experience with Glyde, I have purchased two games from the site and received one of them. I was a little worried about the purchase because unlike ebay there was  no option contact the seller for pictures or get assurances about the condition of the item. There was no feedback score either. So, there was really no way of knowing if the seller’s interpretation of Excellent is same as mine. Also the shipping was painfully slow. For some reason, Glyde decided that they would mail the envelope (ala Netflix style) to the seller with the buyer’s address on it. And the seller would stick his game in that envelop and drop it in the mailbox. This means that there is twice as much shipping time involved compared to ebay. Essentially, most games take about two weeks to arrive. There is no expedited option for shipping either. If you are looking to get something quick, this is not the place to go. This is one of the major gripes I have with the service. I do not understand why Glyde does not just allow the seller to print the mailing receipt and stick it on a “Glyde prescribed envelope”. The bubble wrap media mail envelopes are like $2 or less and are available at every USPS store. I have to say, I did not like the waiting but the game I received allayed all my fears. The game was in great condition. It was  “Like New” just as it should be . It made me go and buy another game .

I am not sure if I got lucky but my next purchase would tell. If you don’t mind the waiting time, Glyde is a great service to try. They have tons of games for all the current generation and the previous generation consoles as well as the current gen handhelds. You will definitely find a great price on that game you have been looking for. Make sure you search for Glyde coupons online before you click Buy Now. You could easily save $3 by using on these coupon codes: KOTAKU, UGO, HIATI. You could also follow them on Twitter (@Glyde) to get more deals and coupon codes. Glyde is a good service like ebay’s half.com if you are looking to buy something quickly. Just look at both sites and buy it from the cheaper place.

Pros:

• Clean simplistic interface
• One click buying.
• Automatically finds the cheapest price for the product in each condition category.
• Easy-mode selling. (no need to package or buy shipping supplies)
• Get better trade-in values for your used games (better than gamestop).

Cons:

• Long shipping times (2 weeks)
• No option for expedited shipping.
• Credibility: No way to trust the seller.
• No pictures of the product before purchase (Just the stock picture).
• No feedback option.

Related posts:

1. Best Place To Get Used Games
2. Assassin’s Creed Review
3. Limbo Review (XBLA)

Anyway, a lot of things happened since I last blogged. A few things I really hated and a very few things I enjoyed. Just thought I’d make a list in no particular order.

• Nadal lost
• Federer won French Open. I kinda expected this would happen though
• Deccan chargers have won the IPL. Chennai kings lost in semis.
• My girlfriend bought me a MacBook. I don’t know if I should cheer about this or not. I am a windows guy, not a great fan of Mac. But I will have to try to use it and see I guess.
• Apple released a new iPhone which I really wanted to get. I even planned to get out of my contract with Sprint but really not a wise move considering AT&T has really bad network. Coming from a Sprint customer that is a huge insult.
• Palm pre, the most loved phone since the original iPhone has finally been released, it is another phone I still want but I might not get it because I just don’t want to spend all that money and change my existing $30 SERO plan.
• E3 has come and gone and so much to cheer about .
• Microsoft – great show, highly impressed with Project Natal but I doubt it would work as well as they showed it would. It is not going to be an easy task pulling it off. And honestly, Peter Molyneux should shut the fuck up. He has a big mouth and I doubt if Milo would work as well he touted he would. Artificial intelligence is a still thing of science fiction and we are far from it. This is coming from a guy who does programming for a living, you better believe it .
• Nintendo – probably the most boring show of all three. I am a rabid Nintendo fanboy and even I couldn’t help but yawn a few times but the announcement of Metroid: Other M has completely offset everything. Also I heard that there is a new Zelda in the making, there was a trailer for Super Mario Galaxy 2 and finally Little Big Planet Mario style. All exciting things but Nintendo is still missing that one puzzle piece, Wii-HD. Get it done, Nintendo. Give us HD.
• Sony – Sony came up with the regular stuff. They had a brilliant show and very entertaining as well. God of War 3 was amazing, the Last Guardian trailer was awesome as well. Have to say, their motion controller seemed very interesting too. But they only showed a bunch of tech demos and no games yet. This kinda proves that MS and Sony have finally adopted the Nintendo philosophy and they jumped on the bandwagon a little too late. It might still take them a year or two to pull it off but HD is one thing Nintendo is far behind, so unless Nintendo comes up with Wii-HD, MS and Sony will be moving ahead this generation.
• India lost the T20 World cup. They didn’t even qualify for the semis. They have been winning a lot lately, so this was expected to happen one day. I had no interest to start with anyway.
• Lakers WON!! Enough said!

I guess that covers everything. Maybe I will blog often now that I have gotten that off my chest

Related posts:

1. Revolution is now called Wii
2. Wii on Foxtrot
3. Glyde – Site Review

Foxtrot takes a dig at the new name for the nintendo’s new console “Wii”. Honestly I think i’m getting used to it. I dont mind it being called Wii. If it does cost as much as they’re saying it will, i would defnitely buy one for myself. It seems like soo much fun . Especiall the tennis game they showed on E3 press conference was truly fun and amazing. It is something I can imagine my girlfriend wanting to play with . Waiting eagerly for its release. For Nintendo’s sake I do hope Wii is a success.

Related posts:

1. Revolution is now called Wii
2. Things that happened since I last blogged
3. Assassin’s Creed Review

Wii sounds like ‘we,’ which emphasizes this console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.”

They also insist that the name is unique like Google, iPod. Agreed, its not in the name but the usage would be quite awkward in the future. That list would be quite lewd to post. I suggest you visit Joystiq to read it all.

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1. Wii on Foxtrot
2. Updated review: Civ 4
3. Things that happened since I last blogged