Gaming News
 The Second-Hand War
Last year, Batman: Arkham City was sold with a voucher that had to be redeemed online to access the game’s bonus content (in that case, the ability to play as Catwoman), as a way of combating the growth of second-hand sales. Those who bought the game second-hand have to pay extra to access that portion of the game. Rumour has it that the next-generation Xbox that Microsoft are currently working on will have some kind of activation system to simply disallow the playing of second-hand games. Whether that’s true or not, finding ways to punish those who don’t buy new are becoming popular. Snowboarding game SSX, when it comes out, will come with an online pass useable only by the person who originally bought the game, without which bonus items you can unlock for your character won’t be available – unless you pay extra.
It’s A Me, Again
After turning around the disappointing sales of the 3DS by releasing two nostalgic Mario games in a row, you won’t believe what Nintendo are doing next – releasing another nostalgic Mario game! The game doesn’t have a release date beyond “the next fiscal year”, but it will apparently be a 2D side-scrolling platformer. Also coming out on the 3DS from Nintendo this year: Luigi’s Mansion 2, Paper Mario and Mario Tennis.
You Got To Move It
A standalone Kinect For Windows unit has been launched in America, bringing motion controls to the PC. According to The Daily, Microsoft have entered into a deal with computer manufacturer ASUS to create a line of laptops that come with Kinect sensors built in. Presumably you won’t have to stand several metres away from the screen to use it, as you do with the Xbox version.
No Dice For Quarrel
Quarrel started as a smartphone game that plays like Scrabble reimagined as a strategic wargame. More recently, it’s been released on the Xbox Live Arcade. To meet the strict approval standards of Microsoft it had to have certain words filtered so that they can’t be created by players in-game. They include some that you might expect to be banned, like ‘poop’, ‘balls’, ‘shaft’, ‘hung’ and ‘god’, but also some whose removal is inexplicable, like ‘dice’, ‘start’ and ‘help’.
Game Review
 ASSASSIN’S CREED: REVELATIONS
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Platform: PS3 / PC / 360
Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
The story of everyone’s favourite assassin continues, with Ezio Auditore following the trail of everyone’s second favourite assassin, Altaïr, as Desmond (everyone’s least favourite protagonist) unlocks the secrets of his ancestor’s lives through the Animus, a machine that reveals memories through ancestral DNA.
You take control of Ezio once again and, at certain points of the game, Altaïr, in the fourth full instalment of this sandbox-style action/adventure. Ubisoft Montreal have left the core of the game largely unchanged, which is not entirely a bad thing.
Traversing the rich, detailed environments with parkour-styled movements, deciding the path to and assassinating your target is still immensely satisfying. The missions are more varied and entertaining too. An early highlight sees Ezio hide in plain sight as a travelling minstrel, and an awful one at that, with lines like: “Oh, the beauties of Valencia can melt a heart you see / Beware the girls of Roma, lest fire you wish to pee.” He sings and plays his lute, distracting the crowds as fellow assassins sneak in to take out their targets, until Ezio is forced to take out the last target with a stake fashioned from his broken lute.
 Among the things that Ubisoft manages to do well with Assassin’s Creed, there are still some obvious issues. The swordplay is far too basic and after using the same attack, block, dodge, grab and counter combinations becomes incredibly boring and repetitive.
With each instalment Ubisoft continually add more gadgets and actions like the new parkour method of avoiding the crowds and guards, a ‘sweep-the-leg’ move, a hook for sliding down ropes and ascending faster, and a number of different bombs. The controls are now far too complex and at times I needed an extra, concealed finger to reach out and press the X button. Ubisoft have also implemented a real-time strategy tower defence minigame in order to break things up. Ezio commands a team of assassins to defend a position, which serves its purpose but does so with the depth of an iPhone game. Wasted potential and something to avoid, if you can.
Developers should be continually improving on an idea, but there is only so much that can be added until what you have is giant mess. Instead of addition, Assassin’s Creed needs some subtraction or finality, especially when it comes to the plot turns of the story. I’ll try to bring you up to speed, if only to prove my point. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations continues directly on from the events of Brotherhood. Desmond is in a coma due to his over-exposure to the Animus, which has been reset to a safe mode so he can repair his fractured mind by travelling deeper into the unfinished memories of Ezio’s time in Constantinople in 1511. Ezio is racing against The Knights Templars to track down the five hidden keys that unlock Altaïr’s secret library in Masyaf. The keys themselves reveal the actions of Altaïr… Assassin’s Creed is needlessly confusing. The core gameplay, the visuals and atmosphere of life in a 15th century city are so fantastic that this complication is uncalled-for. That is unless Ubisoft are trying to stretch an idea that would have made a fantastic trilogy until it’s earned as much money as it can even after it stops making sense. Ubisoft wouldn’t do that, would they?
***½
AARON SAMMUT
|
| Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged. |
|
Be first to comment on this article
