Hostile Gamers

Assassin’s Creed is a third person action adventure game devolved by Ubisoft- Montreal and published by Ubisoft. Assassin’s Creed was released worldwide November of 2007 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and April of 2008 for Windows.



Assassin’s Creed had the potential to be one of the best games of 2007; unfortunately, Assassin’s Creed was plagued by repetitive game play elements, poor AI, and a seemingly linear style of game play that became tedious as you progressed through the story.

Assassin’s Creed takes place during the Third Crusade in the Holy Land in 1191 A.D. You primarily take on the role of Altair, a member of the Hashshashin (Assassins), a group of Assassins that existed during the 11th and 13th centuries. Assassins Creed is teeming with historical facts. The three main cities (Damascus, Jerusalem, and Acre) are well researched and recreated historically accurate. The assassination targets in the game where all in fact murdered during this time period. In short, Assassins Creed is one of the few titles that actually make an accurate representation of a historical time period. Where it not for some minor issues such as language, and AI personality, you would have no reason to question whether or not these places looked as they do in game.



Assassin’s Creed is a very story heavy game. Although the story may seem cut and dry for the first hour (go here, gather information on this target, kill him, and then do it all over again), the real story reveals itself not too far into the game and your whole perspective of what is really happening will change. It is no doubt that the story of Assassin’s Creed is interesting but there is very large twist that unfortunately is revealed far too early! In fact, it is revealed in the first five minutes of the game. The decision to reveal the biggest, and really the only surprise in the whole game so early was detrimental to Assassin’s Creed as a whole. The moments where Altair’s story is progressing flow very well, but then come to a standstill when outside elements come into play.

As far as characters go, most of the characters in the game offer a truly interesting performance with differing personalities and viewpoints. Each character seems to offer their own extraordinary take on the current situation; however, Altair, arguably the most important character has some of the worst voice acting. Altair’s personality, while it may seem to fit the traits of an assassin (brooding, mysterious, somber), is generally shallow and two dimensional. The personality of the mass of meaningless AI you meet will generally be the same in all of the cities. As you run through the cities you will hear the same lines repeated again and again in the same voice.



Although there are some bad things about this game Assassins Creed still brings to the table many new and revolutionary ideas. The use of the environment is absolutely fantastic, greatly resembling Prince of Persia where climbing, jumping and other environment scaling techniques come into play. The controls are not too bad. Although some controls may feel tedious at times, generally they operate well. The most amazing part of Assassin’s Creed is the roof top sequences. Running along roof tops requires nothing more than entering into a high profile mode and running from building to building. Altair will automatically jump from one building to another while you hold the trigger and the A or X button, depending on your console. Altair’s jumping direction does not always align the way you might want it to, and you may find yourself jumping off into space, and falling towards the streets. Scaling buildings and towers is rather enjoyable and an easy task. To scale buildings you will be using the same controls you used to run along roof tops, only now you will be using the thumb stick to adjust hand location. Something Assassin’s Creed does very well is using the architecture to dictate exactly where and how you will scale a building. Nearly every crevice, crack, window, and ledge can be used by Altair to ascend to the roof. There are many exceptionally tall buildings in Assassin’s Creed referred to as “viewpoints”. Ascending to the “viewpoints” will provide you with a beautiful panoramic view of your surroundings. These points play an important role in sequences as you have to scale them to spot other missions and points of interest. For each assassination there are minor missions you have to do that include pick pocketing, eaves dropping, interrogations, and informant missions. While these may seem like normal assassin behavior, repeating these tasks over and over again for each assassination can become tedious and boring.

The major assassination missions are very well thought out and always include an interesting cut scene before the actual assassination takes place. Almost all of the assassinations offer a chance for either a stealthy approach or a direct approach which usually involves fighting a dozen or so guards and chasing down the target. After the “kill”, there will be a short cut scene in which the target will try to convince you of “hidden motives” eventually leading Altair to second guess his actions. Afterwards, the town will be on full alert. You will have to return to the assassin’s bureau undetected to complete the sequence.

Combat is something Assassin’s Creed did right. It’s not overly complicated, with you usually just holding down a button or pressing buttons in a sequence for animated kills. Combat is very rhythmic and flows beautifully. In short though, you will either love or hate the combat system. I personally enjoyed it.



In general, Assassin’s Creed has beautiful animation and watching the fluid movements of Altair in combat is always a treat. However, there are occasional frame rate issues that can break the movement of the game and in some cases be a major annoyance. If you manage to wade through the repetitiveness of Assassin’s Creed and make it to the end, you will be treated with a few annoying fights leading up to an interesting final boss. The ending sequences of the game are amazing. For big history and conspiracy fanatics, it is extremely interesting with a predictable cliffhanger ending, leaving you ready for Assassin’s Creed 2.

Closing thoughts

The first mission of Assassin’s Creed makes it seem like a game that could keep you interested, and seems to draw you to want to continue playing. But as you continue to progress through each assassination, the linear storyline and repetitive missions will start to make Assassins Creed dull. The major surprises in the game are revealed far too early, and the missions become old too fast. The only saving grace to Assassin’s Creed is the conversations with the assassination targets. If you managed to make it to the fifth or sixth missions, chances are your praying for Assassin’s Creed to be over. However, if you manage to complete Assassin’s Creed you will be treated to a very interesting ending that is sure to force you to buy Assassins Creed 2.

Overall Assassins Creed gets an 8/10.

The presentation and atmosphere really helped Assassin’s Creed. Unfortunately, the repetitive missions were Assassin’s Creed biggest flaw, ultimately bringing it down.

In The Beginning

You’re on a plane and it’s an ordinary day. You’re smoking a cigarette while looking at the present that was given to you from your mom and dad. There’s a note attached to the present with the words “Would You Kindly…” All of a sudden the plane crashes into the murky waters below, thus beginning the twisted story of Bioshock. Bioshock starts out kind of odd at first and you’re left wondering “What the F is going on.” You soon end up in the mysterious underwater world of Rapture.

Rapture
Bioshock takes place in a strange world called Rapture. Rapture is the equivalent to New York City in size and is completely submerged under water. The idea behind Rapture came from Andrew Ryan. He wanted to live in a world that was free of the political and social issues that occurred on the surface. Andrew Ryan created Rapture thinking that he could form some kind of Eden there. His Eden soon turned upside down when plasmids were introduced.

Plasmids, Eve, and ADAM
Plasmids started out as a great idea…that is until everyone in Rapture became addicted to them. Plasmids turned normal people into pumped up super freaks with deformed faces and bodies. When I first saw one of the spider splicers, I didn’t really know what to say. She was ugly as hell and had the mouth of a zombie prostitute.

Though the people of Rapture become mindless idiots because of plasmids, you do not meet the same fate by using them. You will be able to obtain plasmids such as, Inferno, Winter Blast, Electric Shock, and Insect Swarm. Plasmids help you throughout the game and become a very big help against tough big daddies and those annoying splicers. So make sure to get your plasmids today! As you advance through the game and you finally get your hands on some plasmids, you realize that you run out of juice to keep your plasmids flowing. In order to make sure you can stay a super beastly guy you have to keep your Eve bar full. Eve is usually found all over the place in little blue vials. If you look hard enough, you may just find some. One thing that I found most interesting about this game was the use of ADAM. ADAM is obtained from little sisters who take it from dead bodies. Sounds morbid and kind of gross, but just think of all the awesome stuff you can get when you lay your hands on some. When you get ADAM from little sisters you are able to use it at a Gene Bank. Gene Banks have multiple upgrades you can get such as plasmids or little perks that help you with hacking and other things like that. As you progress, your abilities and perks will make you indestructible! Not really, but you’ll be damn near close.

Big Daddies, Little Sisters, and Other Small Things
Okay, so big daddies turn out to be pretty badass. They have on this awesome armor and this crazy drill thing that looks like it would eff you up. So the bottom line is, you don’t want to mess with a big daddy. Well unfortunately, you have to get rid of the big daddies in order to get to the little sisters.


It takes a few million bullets and about twenty plasmid uses, but you eventually take the big daddy out. After the poor guy is dead you realize you have the little sister all to yourself. Here is where the life changing decision comes in. You can either be humane and chose to save her and get less ADAM or you can harvest her (which inevitably kills her) and get the max amount of ADAM. I could never hurt the cute little girls so I always saved them. One good thing about saving the little sisters is they leave you nice goodie bags by Gene Banks every so often. So whether you want to save the girls and get the goods or be a greedy bastard by harvesting her for all she’s worth is totally your choice. Continuing on, one thing I liked about this game was the gun usage. Now, I’m a first person shooter kind of girl. When games add different weapon choices such as pistols, shotguns, machine guns, grenade launchers, crossbows, wrenches and on top of that WEAPON UPGRADING, I’m all over it. I was like a kid in a candy store when I upgraded my weapons for the first time. I never knew which one I wanted to completely upgrade first.



The Pros and Cons of Bioshock
There are a lot of great aspects to this game including the eerie graphics and the amazing story line, all of which leave you wanting more.

The Pros

· Unique Environments

· Lots of Violence

· Awesome Storyline

· Great Weapon Choices

· Cool “Super Powers”

· Inescapable Atmospheres

· Brilliant Soundtrack

· Setting People On Fire

· Fire :)

The Cons

· Splicers Are Annoying at Times

· Hacking Is Retarded

· Security Cameras Are Gay And Just Want To Send Turret Things After You

· Researching Can Get In The Way

· 25 Hours of Gameplay Was Too Short For A Game This Amazing.

This game really is too awesome to have that many cons. I would definitely give this game a 9.5 out of 10 (it would have gotten a perfect ten from me if it weren’t for all the ridiculous hacking). With that said, if you haven’t played Bioshock yet, you effing need to. If you’re ready to be thrown into an intoxicating, unique environment and you’re ready to kick some splicer ass, be sure to get your hands on a copy of Bioshock. This game is one that you definitely don’t want to miss.

-Ashlee

Mass Effect came out in November of 2007. It was a highly anticipated game and brought a lot of new concepts to the gaming table with its morality and conversation system.



The first thing you do in the game is create your own Commander Shepard. The character customization at the beginning of the game is pretty good, and you can search the internet for famous people who have been recreated using the Mass Effect character creation which is a pretty neat way to make your character. The amount of depth you can put into your character is great. You must remember that your character is in the military though, so you are going to have to stick to a military hair cut. Ladies included, as all the hair is shoulder length and shorter. There are some problems during the games conversations where the shading and character models are a bit off, but other than that the game has really solid graphics and cinematics. You can give your character a first name, but that’s really just for save file information, as everyone in the game will refer to you as Commander, Shepard, or Commander Shepard. You choose your character class and a background story for your character. The background stories really set up a good starting point for whether you are good, neutral, or evil. This leads you into the game and you’re ready to begin your mission to Eden Prime. You also get to meet the awesome character voiced by Seth Green, “Jeff ‘Joker’ Moreau”.

The controls in the game aren’t hard to get used to, but you will probably end up getting annoyed with your squad mates as well as the MAKO. Your squad will run out from behind cover at the most inopportune moments and leave you alone against an army of Geth. If you need to get away fast though, you have adrenaline when you are in combat which allows you to run by holding the A button and if you're behind an object you can use A to take cover. The MAKO is just kind of awkward to drive, and doesn't really add anything to the game that couldn't have been done with you just running around. The left stick moves you while the right stick aims you and turns you around, and the d-pad tells your teammates where to go or what to do. The right bumper opens up your guns list while the left bumper opens up your list of powers to be used. The powers are incredibly useful and they vary from class to class, so playing through with different classes is a good way to change the way the game with each different playthrough. When playing through the game, you’ll come across new guns and armor, as well as credits which is the games currency. Use credits to buy the elite spectre armor or new guns, omnitools, or upgrades.

The story of the game is where you’ll probably get into the game the most. It’s such an immersive story that will keep you wondering what’s going to happen next. Since all the characters have such detailed back stories and you make your own choices in the conversations, it really is up to you on how the game turns out and who is able to return in Mass Effect 2. The story follows Commander Shepard on his quest to bring a rogue Spectre, named Saren, to justice. This will lead you through the universe to stop Saren and the Reaper Sovereign from destroying all life as we know it. Over the course of your journey, you’ll gain many valuable allies who have different character classes and have different opinions on how to handle the many challenges you face in the course of the game. Characters will also be influenced by the way you choose to handle the situations that arise. Conversations between you and your teammates while out on missions will change based on who is in your current party and will make for some interesting dialogue. The two characters I loved to take with me the most were Wrex and Garrus. I felt like having a diverse team was the way for me to go so that’s what I went with. There really is no wrong or right squad choice, however.

While playing the game, be sure to check out your missions often for any minor assignments you get while riding in an elevator such as saving a space station or shutting down an insane alliance training station. These will help you level up and get you experience that you need to reach the max level of 60. You’ll also want to listen to the amazing music in the game and think about how you want your choices to carry over into Mass Effect 2.

For my time spent playing Mass Effect, I'm going to give it a 9.5/10. I loved the game, but it seems like some of the playability was hindered with the MAKO and your squad mates made you want to yell at your TV sometime. I would still suggest this game to anyone who has a 360, and if you have a PC capable of running this game, then you may enjoy it there as well.

-Jeff Toler