Assassin's Creed II Review

Anywhere the first Assassin's Creed failed, its sequel excels. Simply put, Assassin's Creed II feels like the game that should have been, eclipsing the original in every way.

Though I really enjoyed the first Creed, it had undeniable problems that held it back immensely. The mission structure was downright awful, the world felt barren despite its dense population, and there was a total lack of variety. Assassin's Creed II fixes all those problems and more. Ezio has a much more dynamic and believable personality than Altaïr, growing from a carefree aristocrat into an assassin capable of feats Altaïr could only dream of. He can swim, climb faster, fight better, and uses two hidden blades to perform double assassinations. Double assassinations. Playing as Ezio is, in every way, a vastly superior and infinitely more fun experience.



However, the mission structure is far and away the most improved element over the first game. Every mission has you doing something different and more interesting than the last, following a logical progression with the story. There's a sense of unpredictability here that wasn't in the first game. Even the cities themselves feel livelier, with more compelling reasons to explore and more interesting sidemissions. It introduces a lot of new mechanics like notoriety and estate management that help mix things up, but some of these could've used more work. It's not a perfect game, as the sloppy introduction proves, and still has a lot of little flaws, but none of these significantly detract from the experience.

It's a little shocking how much better Assassin's Creed II is than its predecessor. It adds so much variety and fixes so many problems that it actually helped me understand why some people didn't like the first game.

Assassin's Creed II / $59.99 / Reviewed on PS3

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Modern Warfare 2 Review

Though it should've been impossible, Modern Warfare 2 lives up to and exceeds the hype, setting a new benchmark for all FPS games to be judged against.

Nothing about Modern Warfare 2 feels underwhelming, with all modes delivering in spades exactly what you'd want and more. The single-player campaign has a ton of variety in the locations and objectives, so it's unpredictable and exciting throughout. It's obvious how much care and scrutiny went into the campaign to ensure that every moment would have your heart pounding and jaw dropping to the point that the story suffers. It tries so hard to create "oh shit!" moments to raise the stakes that by the end, the whole thing's a bit of a mess. It's still a compelling tale that set the stage for some incredible gameplay moments, but would've benefited from a more logical story that explained its characters' motivations better.



Probably the most impressive thing about Modern Warfare 2's competitive multiplayer is that it finally makes Call of Duty 4's multiplayer obsolete, even archaic. There's just so much more freedom to customize your experience and so many new features and improvements that it's tough to go back. Infinity Ward set the standard with CoD4, making other games feel too rigid and basic, but now they've set the bar a lot higher. The new cooperative Spec Ops mode almost steals the show, though. Every scenario is vastly different from the last and offers a fantastic challenge. It's the kind of mode you can replay over and over with your friends, brainstorming new strategies to shave seconds off your time, and it's always a blast.

The biggest surprise with Modern Warfare 2 is that it takes the unrealistically high expectations people had for it and goes beyond it all. In the FPS genre, this game has no equal.

Modern Warfare 2 / $59.99 / Reviewed on 360

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50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Review

Against all odds, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand takes a premise so ridiculous and silly that it seemed doomed from the start and turns it into a genuinely enjoyable action game.

Let's be frank: the plot here is outlandish, illogical, and just plain stupid. It's impossible to take seriously and doesn't have a shred of plausibility. But that's what makes it totally awesome. Controlling 50 Cent as he runs around the Middle East, snapping necks and gunning down hundreds of people without a hint of remorse in search of a diamond-encrusted skull, is as unintentionally hilarious and gratifying as you'd hope. But the surprising part is that the rest of the game is actually really good.



Blood on the Sand does some very interesting things with its standard shooting mechanics to add substance to the novelty of playing as 50 Cent. There's a very old-school arcade mentality at work here that rewards you for everything from combo kills to forgoing cover to taunting while you murder. As well, there are hidden targets to shoot and posters to collect in every level, and the game constantly throws quick challenges at you that have you scrambling to kill a specific set of enemies within a very short time limit. It's all strangely fresh and addictive, propelling you from one encounter to the next without the experience getting stale.

Considering that you can find it for dirt cheap now, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is shockingly easy to recommend. It's dumb and absurd, but it's a lot of fun, too.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand / $59.99 / Reviewed on PS3

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Brütal Legend Review

After a genuinely impressive first hour, Brütal Legend stops trying to be fun or funny and instead opts to be bland, boring, and a complete waste of time.

Brütal Legend knows how to make a fantastic first impression. The menus are incomprehensibly awesome, the intro is hilarious, and the game's art direction is amazing. But that part is available in the free demo. Almost immediately after the demo section ends, the entire game goes on a downward spiral that it never recovers from. It starts adding layers of complexity that it simply didn't need and don't work, the story becomes predictable and uninteresting, and worst of all, it just isn't funny anymore.



All aspects of Brütal Legend's gameplay are frustratingly underdeveloped. The melee combat is dull and lacking, with new moves and upgrades feeling totally useless. The exploration is pointless thanks to poor car handling, an awful waypoint system, and offensively repetitive side-missions. The stage battles suffer from so many design oversights that the only thing more baffling than why Brütal Legend even tries to be an RTS is why it tries to be an RTS with online multiplayer. Had it at least maintained the humor from the beginning of the game, all of these problems might have been bearable, but instead it tries to be serious and dramatic. Yet it fails at that, too.

Despite starting off incredibly strong, Brütal Legend turns out to be nothing more than a disappointing, unimaginative game that you should absolutely avoid. Instead, get the demo and imagine what could've been.

Brütal Legend / $59.99 / Reviewed on PS3

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Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

Not only does it feature one of the most exciting single-player adventures I've ever played, but Uncharted 2: Among Thieves also features incredibly fun co-op and competitive multiplayer, resulting in an absolute must-buy for all PS3 owners.

Nathan Drake is constantly pit against impossible odds that are a blast to play and unbelievable to watch. Whether he's trying to escape a collapsing building or leaping from car to car along the edge of a cliff, you are always in control when something cool is happening. It's really a shame that, like its predecessor, Uncharted 2 falls apart in the end by getting bogged down with out-of-place supernatural elements and a frustrating final boss fight ripped straight from GUN. Everything before the endgame, though, is nothing short of mind-blowing. The single-player is so captivating that I beat it in one 10-hour sitting.



Both the co-op and competitive multiplayer modes are surprisingly polished and addicting. Combine them with the single-player, which adds a ton of replay value by allowing players to earn cheats like slow motion and no gravity for subsequent playthroughs, and Uncharted 2 delivers endless entertainment. All the standard multiplayer modes you'd expect are here, but having characters as acrobatic as these allows the level design to be more creative and matches to be more intense. It's the kind of game you'll be playing until the day the sequel comes out.

Uncharted 2 sets the bar ridiculously high, making other games look and sound amateurish by comparison. It's beyond gorgeous, extremely fun both online and off, and completely deserving of your time and money. Buy this game.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves / $59.99 / Reviewed on PS3

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.detuned Review

Though its consistent ability to bewilder makes .detuned amusing for awhile, its lacking feature set and limited scope causes it to run out of steam quickly.

.detuned is essentially an interactive music visualizer where you control a man in a suit sitting in a chair surrounded by some very weird, very happy little blue guys, a dolphin, and a giant rubber duck. As you play your own music, you can interact with the man through preset actions like making him dance around the chair or turning his head into a mushroom, a balloon, or an elephant, among other oddities. Nothing about .detuned even comes close to making any kind of sense, and that might just be the most attractive thing about it.



Initially, discovering each new and crazy preset action is a source of baffling enjoyment, but once it reveals its full hand, .detuned has nothing else to offer. It can't function without user input, so its potential to be an awesome music visualizer is squandered. There's no YouTube or replay support, so choreographing a music video is pointless. And after you've experienced all the different effects, (entirely possible during one three-minute song), there's just not a lot to do.

At every turn, .detuned is hurt by a complete lack of ambition. What could have been a fantastic and endlessly interesting application ends up being nothing more than a diversion for those with a few extra bucks and a taste for the weird.

.detuned / $2.99 / Reviewed on PS3

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Batman: Arkham Asylum Review

Everything about Batman: Arkham Asylum goes way beyond what it needed to be to sell, resulting in an amazing game that impresses from beginning to end and has a ton of value.

There's something about being Batman that is just intrinsically fun, and Arkham Asylum captures that perfectly. Silently stalking enemies from the shadows, taking them out one by one, and watching their buddies panic is a never-ending source of amusement. Leaping from one foe to another, breaking bones along the way, and utilizing Batman's entire arsenal to build huge combos is consistently visceral and rewarding. And the delicious riddles and challenging puzzles that put lives on the line are an absolute joy to solve.



I cannot pay this game enough compliments for its presentation, its respect for the Batman universe, and its phenomenal voice acting, with Mark Hammil's reprisal of The Joker in particular standing out. The story mode is extremely well done, with lightning fast pacing that keeps the game fresh throughout, and the challenge mode is an addictive test of skill that had me hooked until I'd perfected every one. There's just so much to love about Arkham Asylum that it's hard to compliment one aspect without feeling like you've neglected to mention how well it excels elsewhere, too.

Somehow everything came together perfectly in Batman: Arkham Asylum, completely justifying the price tag with hours upon hours of fun gameplay and legitimately interesting extras.

Batman: Arkham Asylum / $59.99 / Reviewed on PS3

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