Assassins Creed Revelations Review

Ubisoft's latest instalment to the Assassins Creed series is yet again another brilliant addition to the series. It brings new and interesting additions to the series, a personal highlight for me was the hook-blade it made the combat more versatile and it also made travelling around Constantinople a lot easier. Although there was something that I did miss, that I thought was a brilliant addition to Brotherhood  this was riding around the outskirts of Rome on your horse this made travelling to different locations a lot easier and I thought that was a big loss for this game as I thought it was a good feature from the other games in the series, another change that I did not like was the fact that they took away Glyphs from the game, in the previous instalments I found the Glyphs to be one of the most intriguing parts of the game I loved having to solve the historically orientated puzzles set before you that were extremely clever in the way that they were constructed. But without surprise the game yet again ended with another cliff hanger but I think it’s safe to say that Ezio's chapter in the AC story is now over, which leaves Ubisoft to hopefully move on to another stage in history (I personally hope that they base the next game around World War II). Overall though I do not think that Ubisoft's latest game in the series was as good as the last, and they could of done a lot more to make it so much better in every way, it just seems as if they may have rushed it a little. Overall Game-score: 8.3

As serious videos were already posted here, have some comedy from the internet, that always goes well.

Shogun 2 Expansion Confirmed

And my god does it look amazing. I am writing this approximately 20 seconds after seeing this news on twitter. Which in turn was tweeted 6 minutes ago, so this is about as current as you get. If you want to skip my prattle and go straight to the blog I will be posting it at the bottom.

The clash of the moustache...2012

Now I will cover the Total War series in later articles, but safe to say I have been a massive fan since about the age of 11, playing Shogun, this year just passed it is safe to say I have immensely enjoyed Shogun 2, and with the release of a new expansion coming out, especially such a radical shift in time, I couldn't be more excited.

From the blog: Fall of the Samurai explores the conflict between the Imperial throne and the last Shogunate in 19th century Japan, 400 years after the events of the original game – a dramatic clash of traditional Samurai culture with the explosive power of modern weaponry.

And also:
There will be whole new land and sea unit interactions, including the ability to call in offshore artillery support barrages. Coastal gun emplacements can conversely target enemy ships, bringing a new synergy to land and sea elements of gameplay. Players can even call in campaign map bombardments – bombarding armies and cities in adjacent coastal areas of the campaign map itself.

Now the entire article is pretty short and deserves a read, but I'm really quite excited, which is rare in the video games world, such a radical departure still on the same engine, and coming the closest we have to the modern age was, for me, completely unexpected, I won't lie, I was expecting Mongol Invasion 2.

It is out in March of 2012, which just happens to be the month of my birthday. All in all, you can call this a pleasant surprise.

Here is the video, which for the record is currently at 190 views, and 8 likes. Now that is field reporting.

Blog Link Here

Oh man, that Gatling Gun

Episode 3, Y U NO HURRY?!

Ohh Half Life, with your Gordonz, and your Combinez, and your sequelz.... Wait, what?

That's right, still no Episode 3. Sods Law says when I finish this the bloody thing it will be out. But no, we'll probably still have to wait after that. Here's what I think we can expect...

Each episode was meant to come out a few months after eachother. Obviously this never happened, which begs the question: What are Valve up to? They have also stated they're done with episodic gaming, which leaves only one realistic, not-gonna-piss-people-off, conclusion: Half Life 3.

If this is the case, I don't think it'll be like Valve to just say "yeah, we're working on it, stay tuned!", it seems to easy for them. That's why I ponder on whether they're working on a sequel to the Orange Box.

This would be a huge gaming event if so. HL3 released with 2-3 games at the same time. Portal 3 would more-than-likely be there, and probably Left4Dead 3. I can't see a sequel to Team Fortress 2 anytime soon.

I won't comment on what Half-Life 3 will have, whether it's a new physics engine, new Combine or Alyx and Gordon taking part in a sex quick-time event, but what ever it may be, it has a lot to live up to.

Blah blah blah, Mr Freeman...

The Week In Comics (Or what I bought this week)

So, we find ourselves at the Wednesday 23rd of November, or for your average comic book loving Brit...Comic Day. I will admit that I think I only got 3 from the actual releases this week, which were as such. (Notice, for the purpose of this I will only be covering the New 52, as everyone has to have themes right?)

ALL-STAR WESTERN #3
AQUAMAN #3
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #3
BLACKHAWKS #3
THE FLASH #3
THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN #3
GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #3
I, VAMPIRE #3
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #3
THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN #3
SUPERMAN #3
TEEN TITANS #3
VOODOO #3

OK, So out of those I only ended up getting Teen Titans (It is for my girlfriend, honest), Batman: The Dark Knight, and All-Star Western, as you will soon see from what else I got, that doesn't mean I won't be buying any of the others, but this week I was playing catch up. Due to a variety of reasons last week I couldn't go shopping, so this week was filled with number 2s, and a few more numbers 1s, just because I'm weak willed, so in no particular order.

Resurrection Man #1
Suicide Squad #1
Justice League International #2 and #3
Batman: Detective Comics #3
Batgirl #2 and #3
Aquaman #2
Green Latern New Guardians #2
Green Lantern #2

No doubt some of these will factor into reviews over the coming weeks. Justice League International and Batgirl come to mind. I will probably follow up with Aquaman when I get around to buying 3.

I think that is all for the week. I have a mountain of work to do, as well as all of this to read. Next I think I will cover Justice League 1-3, probably the most promising (also receiving most coverage, hence me reaching it later). After that, who knows. Stay tuned.

The Legend Of Zelda Skyward Sword Review

The Legend of Zelda's latest instalment in the simplest way I can put it is the best game I have ever played. It has succeeded all of my expectations, when I first saw that reveal trailer at E3 2010 I was a bit sceptical of Nintendo's choice to make the graphics kind of in-between Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. But as soon as I got into the game I started to realize that Nintendo had done a phenomenal job of capturing the beauty of the newest addition to the Zelda universe.
My personal highlight of the game so far is the newest and greatest addition to the series, the new swordplay style, again I was worried that the new control system would lag and not live up to how Nintendo had hyped it up in all of the recent press releases. But to my delight they have done a fantastic job in making their new control system very accurate. There were only two things that has irritated me a little bit was that you continually have to centre the cross hair if you move the controller about too much. And I miss riding Epona around the fields of Hyrule! But overall Nintendo have done a brilliant job continuing the Zelda series, for about the first 5 hours of game-play I was comparing everything in the game to Ocarina of Time in order to see if I thought if it was better or not. But in my opinion they just as good as each other, I find it really hard to compare it to the game I played non-stop throughout the whole of my child hood.

Overall Rating: 10.0

Arkham City and the Wait of Eternity: Woes of a PC Gamer

Today, we will be talking about two things very close to my heart, PC Gaming, and Batman, and while this is not a review per say, I feel it is relevant enough, and I am annoyed enough, to warrant the written word.

Now, just for some context on where I drop down on this matter. I was originally a console gamer, I would not know how to build my own computer, I am however, now, a hard line PC gamer, but do not confuse me for the bloodshot eyed PC Crusader you will find on Internet forums everywhere, slugging it out with equally zealous Console Fanatics. How this quite happened is by the by, but right now I am feeling rather punished for it.

As I'm sure anyone remotely vested into the progress of PC Arkham City, whether you have preordered it, or, as is seemingly the melodramatic trend, to cancel your preorder in protest, you are probably aware that Arkham City has been delayed across the board for another week from today (Nov 19th).

This has provoked considerably outrage both here and here, being the two principle rage-pits I've been exposed to. This has lead to the swirling of conspiracy theories about delays for profit, and delays for DLC to catch up, or to charge more for said DLC. One thing I will commit to is the fact that the Rocksteady staff have handled this horrifically, imposing some sort of virtual information blackout on their own servers.

There are even some quite troubling pictures on the former website, showing what appears to be a working version of the PC game, though I'm healthy skeptic about those, but if true, the implications are troubling.

A final sadistic twist of the knife came from a Steam/Rocksteady failure when, even though it was confirmed that it had all been delayed for a week, we UK fans looked at our steam library and saw "released 18th of November" and we waited until 6pm on the 18th, and when there was one hour left, at 5pm, they changed it to the 25th...Oh, it is like they are doing it on purpose.

I will not be canceling my preorder on steam though, for the sheer reason that I am a weak willed Batman fan who has been playing Arkham Asylum for the past few days and his convinced myself I will fall into coma if I don't play it, but to those of you doing so, I will not belittle you with pretentious "you are so childish/impatient/play other games/why so serious" comments, I am just going to be sad that once again the PC release schedule has been victim to unjust forces.

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Review.

The Elder Scrolls latest addition to the series is without a doubt a masterpiece it excels in ever area that Oblivion did, and more. The graphics have improved since Oblivion and Bethesda have done a brilliant job creating a diverse intriguing world, where there are hundreds of dungeons and secrets to be found, it just keeps on suprising you with new and interesting enemies to face, (I swear Ice Trolls are harder to kill than Dragons !) The story isn't the most interesting and riveting I've ever played but the sheer wonder for what you might find next in the world of Skyrim, just makes you want to keep playing in hope that you might find a cool new weapon or a new set of Armour.I personally choose to be a Wood Elf when I started just because I love using the bow! I actually had trouble writing this review because every time I thought about starting to write this I just ended up playing again! I had to write this when I was away from home so that there was no temptation for playing Skyrim again. I also love the new system of upgrading your perks and leveling up, the selection screen for it looks really vibrant, Bethesda have also done a good job of how to get to your next objective with the compass bar at the top of the screen it really helps you when your trying to find a new location.
   The dragon shouts are also a new brilliant addition, when you find a new shout I instantly had the urge to find a Dragon so that I could collect their soul to unlock the new Shout just to find out what it did! I also have an obsession with finding every location on the map so I know where I am and what's around me at all times! So overall Bethesda's Latest addition to in my opinion there greatest gaming series is a triumph.
Overall Gamescore: 9.5.