I’ll start by saying Assassin’s Creed 2 is definitely in my top 10 of best video games of all time. I freakin’ loved this game. Sure there were a few small missteps but they didn’t mar my experience at all. The story starts you off as Desmond Miles from the first game breaking out of Abstergo, a Templar run company. Eventually you reach the Assassin’s hideout where you get into the real game. This time you play as Ezio Auditore da Firenze. However unlike Altair for AC1, you don’t start out as a master assassin. In fact Ezio doesn’t even know he belongs to a lineage of assassins. But after a series of unfortunate events, Ezio learns of his heritage and slowly learns the ways of the assassin.

The definite fault of the first one was the very repetitive mission structure. Thankfully they’ve rectified that problem with much more varied mission types and fun little side quests you can do at any time. There are even six obstacle course style missions testing your free running skills which were a blast. Wish there were more of those. Unfortunately though toward the very end the missions do start to feel repetitive.

On the story side of things, I actually found myself pretty engrossed in the game’s tale. Thankfully this time the story isn’t told through a series of emails. The characters this time are fun to listen to and learn about. Some were so interesting I was disappointed when I found out they weren’t integral to the story. Anyway the story slowly ramps itself up to the last assassination which was truly epic. Then it throws you a curveball which almost makes sense but still leaves you disoriented. I think Desmond summed it up nicely when he says, “What the fuck?”

Lastly the gameplay. Let’s just say everything you wish you could do in the first AC you can pretty much do here plus much much more. All the little additions are a blast. From the variety of weaponry to being able to hire certain groups to help you out, it’s all fun. Also I must say that dual hidden blades are freakin’ badass. The only disappointments I had were Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine and the pistol. I was hoping they’d play a bigger role but each were only used once to good effect.

Another thing I’d like to point out is the historical accuracy of the game. They really did their homework cause it never once feels fake. The cities are even laid out fairly accurately. I was trying to find a certain building in Venice, so I google-mapped it and went to approximate spot on my in-game map. Surprisingly the building was right there. That was pretty awesome.

So yeah. I loved this game. If you had any positive feelings for the first one, you should definitely grab this one. You won’t be disappointed. I loved it so much I actually 100%’d it. It joins Fallout 3 and Modern Warfare as the games this generation that I actually did every single side mission, collected every item, and loved to freakin’ death. So yeah it rocked.
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As I said before in my Monkey Island post, I’ve become quite infatuated with the whole point-and-click adventure style games. My latest foray into the genre was Machinarium. It’s a very stylistic and features no actual dialogue. Instead the whole story is conveyed through a series of animated thought and speech bubbles. Besides these two features though not much else is too different from the norm of the genre.

Overall I had quite some fun with this game. The story was engaging, the puzzles were challenging, and the entire game just reeked of all the care and love that went into the game. Speaking of which, this is an indie game developed by Amanita Design for a mere $1000. I was so amazed at the quality of art and sound that I would have sworn it was made for much more. Quality job. If you’re looking for a fun little treat, head over to their main site where you can play a short demo and even purchase if you feel so inclined. And I hope you do because it’s a superb game that deserves to be played by everyone. (more…)

One of the positives about living on a college campus is meeting people with totally different personalities and tastes. Case in point my roommates still constantly play the Nintendo 64. Now I loved the N64 back in the day but once the Gamecube and Xbox came out I pretty much tossed it to the way side. So imagine my surprise when my roommates break out the two-generation old console and start challenging me to some games. Now I was pretty decent at Super Smash Bros. and Goldeneye a decade ago, but now my skills have pretty much all but disappeared. So while I try to rekindle the touch, I’ll just keep getting my ass handed to me.

On the other hand there’s the Mario Party series that began on the N64. Luckily this is a game that doesn’t need much skill meaning anyone can pick this game up and have a shot at winning. And since I was never big into party games, that was pretty much the boat I was in. For those that don’t know, Mario Party is pretty much a board game set in the Mario universe. It’s basically a race to see who can get the most Stars before time runs out. Now this may sound boring if not for the fact of the minigames. Sure they’re pretty much everywhere now but Mario Party was one of the first to introduce this new mechanic and are by far one of the best at making them. So over the past two weeks we’ve been playing it quite a bit and I’m glad to say I’m having a blast with it. Sure I don’t always win but just playing it is always fun. May have to look into getting it in the future for the Wii. (more…)

Reading through my normal video game sites, I came across a link to a Persona 4 Endurance Run videos by some guys over at Giant Bomb. Basically they’re playing the entire game from beginning to end and providing some hilarious commentary. I’d heard of Persona 4 and all its prequels but never actually knew what they were about. Always wanted to play one but never had any form of Playstation. So I figured it’d be the next best thing to watch the run. And for a game that’s around 80 hours, it’d also be a great timesink until I start school. Right now I’m on episode 83 and I’m pretty much hooked. What really grabbed me was that it’s a mix of an tradition JRPG w/ summons and a social-simulation game. Basically you cultivate relationships with other characters to give them special moves and help create more powerful summons. What adds even more to the game is the cast of characters. While they do have cookie cutter stereotypes, they are just so very endearing that you can’t help but love them (especially Chie <3). They’re so well developed they’re pretty much like anime characters.

I fell in love so much with the game that I just had to play the game. But I didn’t really want to pay $150 bucks just for it. Then I remembered a few years ago looking at PS2 emulation so I could play Kingdom Hearts. Sadly my computer was way underpowered to run it properly so I gave up. Two computer upgrades later I probably have a good enough computer now. Downloaded PCSX2 and the UNDUB version of Persona 4 from a torrent. Did some searching to find the optimal settings for the game, started it up, and.. it worked wonderfully! Usually there is some slowdown or audio glitches, but I had nothing! I was psyched. Got about 15 minutes into it and realized that it really sucks to play the game without a controller. Keyboard controls are not fun. So yeah ordered a controller that I could plug into the computer. Getting it tomorrow and then getting my Persona on. Yeah can’t wait. (more…)