Assassin’s Creed 2

Big long gap between reviews, as I have not had the time or money to purchase anything new.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is a large improvement on it’s predecessor. It includes the same basic concepts of investigation and assassination, but also include many new features that provide a much better play-through than the original.

Following the events of AC1 the hero, Desmond Miles, escapes the laboratory where he was held captive and joins the remaining Assassin’s in the fight against the modern Templars. He is once again shoved back inside the Animus (v2.0 this time) in order to train him using another ancestor’s memories.

The forebear in question is womanizer, troublemaker and all-round badass of Florence, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who is certainly more fun to play as than angsty emo failure Altair, who never showed his face and had no back-story other than ‘he screwed up and now it’s his second chance’. This new assassin is every bit more enjoyable to play.

Gameplay is better not just due to the character upgrade, but also due to the shiny new gadgets Ezio can use. As of this writing I’ve only got the one hidden blade and a sword, but the trailers announced that Ezio would be able to use two hidden blades, smoke bombs and even a rudimentary gun. They are all repaired, designed or provided by a 30-year-old Leonardo da Vinci who is great to watch bounce around his home as he exclaims how intricate the workings of the hidden blade are.

Leo’s fizzing personality is only one of many new allies that assist the Assassin during the story, with much better voice acting, body language and facial expressions for everyone. In the first game there was a scary quality about eyes that put you off looking too hard at people, but it’s been fixed in the new game with more natural-looking curves in the faces that really, really look good. Big thumbs up there. Only nitpick is Lucy’s lips, which look like they’ve been put through a pumping machine ordered off a late-night infomercial. Erugh.

Techinical gameplay is also much improved, with hiding in groups of people no longer restricted to scholars. You can hide in stationary groups of chatting people, moving crowds and even quartets of 15th century prostitutes. A database is also now available, giving historical information about everything from important plot characters to locations. It’s great, and makes you remember that history is happening all around Ezio.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is a excellent game, with a well-told story, easy-to-use gameplay features and a really good characters. I recommend you pick it up from your local game store or even just try it.

Merry Christmas!

Happy secular corporate giftgiving day! Hope everyone is enjoying it and stuff. Got Assassin’s Creed 2 as a present, so I’ll be reviewing it shortly. It’s good!

Merry Christmas to all!

Megatokyo Book 6 Cover Released

Fred’s done the cover art for book 6 of Megatokyo. You can find it at http://megatokyo.com/strip/1246. Also go and awww at the heartwarming tale of his kid in hospital down below.

Even Moar Hiatus

Anyone watching may have noticed that there have been no posts as of late. I’m putting the blog in deep hiatus until sometime in the future when it can be revived. Sorry for the inconvenience,

1st Twitter

Arr. Today is Speak Like A Pirate day, so I am heading off to Open Software day at my local shopping center. Also, I have tweeted my very first tweet. Yay. See the ‘What Now’ widget on the right.

Starslip

I recently discovered a new webcomic called Starslip through the Topatoco store (who sells merchandise for webcomics). It’s a sci-fi webcomic about a group of crewmen from the 35th century who pilot the Fuseli, a traveling space museum.

As part of their duties running the ship they arrange art pieces, host galas and prevent time-traveling despots from taking over the universe with a sculpture. The characters are well written, being a captain/curator who is obsessed with the perfect display of art, a constantly-evolving alien who has a new bodily function every hour and an alcoholic one-eyed former pirate who runs the engines.

The art is consistent throughout much of the series, so there are no first 100 comics with terrible art to suffer through. It’s a pleasing, monotone and simplistic style, but not as simple as garfield-style comics.

It is comedic in places, and also sad and dramatic in others. It’s well worth a read, and I heartily recommend it.

PS3 firmware v3.0

Yesterday I downloaded the 3.0 firmware update that has revamped the XMB. The most noticable change is that sparkles have been added to the normal wavy background. Also the center of the XMB has been shifted to the left a bit and the icons are larger. This can make it a bit difficult to navigate until you get used to it, but it no doubt helps gamers with poor eyesight. Also, the Information Board has been replaced with a more all-rounded ‘What’s New’ board, covering information from new arrivals in the Store, to your most recently played games. There’s also more minor changes to the friends list, trophies and more.

Moar Hiatus

Another unfortunate gap in posting, however there are some game reviews on the way. Stay tuned.

QC and Sheldon!

During my holiday I discovered two fantastic webcomics, Questionable Content and Sheldon.

QC is about a group of friends who run/inhabit a coffee shop. There’s references to indie rock and Dune here and there, but getting them isn’t vital. I’m still less than halfway through the current comics so far, so I can’t make a satisfying synopsis of the plot. Just read it, try to ignore the awful but brief art in the first 100 or so comics and you will (probably) enjoy it.

Sheldon is vastly different, being similar to Garfield in tone and style. It revolves around a ten-year old boy, Sheldon, who becomes worth $1.2m overnight by ‘making the Internet faster’. The comic follows his adventures as a CEO, a small boy worth millions and the friend of a talking duck. Enjoy.

I’m Back!

Arrived back home after the holiday. Some stuff will be along when I can get around to it.