4 posts tagged “yahtzee”

Speeeeeed!

Is it that time again? I don my marketing cape and self-indulge on the kind words the gaming press have spoken about Wheelman? We've been collating all the previews internally in the office and each one has filled us with happy feelings deep inside our guts - the press really, really like what they saw when they all attended the Midway Gamers' Day in Las Vegas almost a week ago. We've got a write-up in MCV (the industry paper) and amongst all the hedonistic beverage shunting and lady-oggles, there's more positivity.

I think there's a definite sea change in the air for the company - only recent did the long-time boss of Midway, David Zucker, stepped down to allow Matt Booty to step up and lead the company. I'm not sure if it's a permanent or a interim position but MCV liked the fact that someone who's worked in the company for 17 years and worked his way up to the top was extremely passionate about the line up. I've said this many times in my blog already - I love working for Midway. I love the people who I work with and I enjoy delving into the company twiki pages and seeing games slowly take form - as a gamer and a bit of a fanboy, this is a fantastic thing to experience. I really hope this is our year and we start to be taken seriously - I think we have this somewhat negative reputation with a selection of gamers which needs to be shook off.

Here's a round up of some of the lovely things the press have been saying... (click on the links for full stories)

• Eurogamer - "As you might expect, The Wheelman is a game with an awful lot of destruction going on. Practically every piece of scenery can be smashed to bits in spectacular fashion, while the vehicle damage modelling has been lavished with a similarly pleasing degree of care."
• Gamespy - "Overall, our first impressions [The] Wheelman are rather positive. Car combat is easy to jump into and handles better than many other sandbox titles on the market. The stunts and rams give it tiny hints of Burnout. We'd like to see Midway Newcastle address a few problem areas, but overall, the driving is rather satisfying and the streets of Barcelona look great."
• Gamezone - "Wheelman is shaping up to be a fine entry into the action-driving genre, and should be something to get excited for when it launches later this year."
• 1UP - "Where the game sets itself apart -- both from L.A. Rush and games like Driver -- is in a series of attacks you can perform while driving. You can shoot at other vehicles. You have special moves you can pull off such as spinning your car 180 degrees and firing at enemies behind you in slow motion. And you can melee attack with your car."
• GamesRadar - "The highlight of our time with Wheelman was the car melee attack and the supercharged Cyclone attack, while the on-foot shooting mission left us lukewarm. We’re certainly hoping Midway can build an entertaining world around the awesome driving features, and we eagerly await a deeper look at street-level Barcelona."
• TeamXbox - "The title has been in development for just over two years, with gameplay and visuals certainly showing an attention to detail. Most of all, our short tryout delivered a bunch of thrills, something we expect will carry throughout the entire game. If that happens, maybe Diesel will complete his transition from Hollywood actor to game-universe icon."
• IGN - "It's be easy to want to label this as sort of a vanity project for Diesel, but the fact remains that Escape from Butcher Bay was an excellent game. There's definitely a lot of potential in [The] Wheelman, and Diesel's lengthy absence from the big screen (he was last seen in a brief cameo in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift might mean that there are plenty of fans out there who can't wait for his next project."
• Kotaku - "If you've ever wanted to be involved in a classic Hollywood car chase movie, Midway has a game for you. Wheelman is based on the upcoming Vin Diesel movie of the same name and puts the player in control of Mr. Diesel himself. It is an sandbox action driving game taking place in a nicely recreated Barcelona."
• Gamespot - "Then there's the city itself, a beautiful re-creation of the coastal Spanish city of Barcelona. As producers put it, this isn't a street-by-street reproduction of the city, but all of the famous landmarks (such as the famous La Sagrada Familia church) will be in the game. During our time with the game, we saw huge, open areas such as the Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes, and narrow alleys reminiscent of the city's Barri Gotic district."
• Destructoid - "It might sound silly on paper, but in practice, the “Vehicle Melee” adds an interesting element to the frenetic chases that will presumably be littered throughout the game. Nailing a perfectly time “Vehicle Melee” attack feels good, and doesn’t slow down the action for the second."
• WorthPlaying - "Instead of the usual sludge of generic licensed songs that plague open world games, Wheelman had an original soundtrack clearly inspired by the music of the actual classic car chase films, and it perfectly captured the way a good film uses music. Tracks were purely instrumental, monumental during major car chases and then light and airy during relaxed scenes. Moving toward enemies provoked tense music, while bursts of action called for suitable bursts of brass and heavy synth bass. The music did a lot to help imagine the finished product while playing the early version, and in the final game could prove to be a marvelous finishing touch."
• videogamer.com - "We reckon that Wheelman's got something even better than the vehicle melee, and that's the Cyclone special move, a 180 degree slow motion vehicle spin which flips the camera into the car, providing you with an over the shoulder view to take shots at other cars through your windscreen. The Cyclone, triggered by a d-pad press, is just one of a series of super moves that will be time limited and only available when your Focus Meter is filled by driving dangerously."

*gasp*

Okay, so this may look like self-promotion, but sod it. We've been working on this game for almost two years now and it's hard not to feel a sense of pride when everyone's work gets praise. Okay - there is room for improvement and the team are taking on board all the feedback from the press. I think it's great we're being compared favourably with  established franchises like Burnout, GTA, Driver and Pursuit Force - in fact, it's great that some writers are citing that Wheelman could be what Driver 3 should have been. I remember playing the original Driver on the PSOne and I fell in love with the handling, the environments... the last level was a particular challenge and probably one of the hardest missions in any game ever, though completing it was a wonderful moment. It's strange that the game used to have the sub-title of "You Are The Wheelman" and developed by Reflections - now Ubisoft-owned and a relatively short bus journey across the Tyne.

It's great to get feedback which is constructive, though not so when you see comments from gamers who fall under the Internet Dickwad Theory. Are we making the game for such people? As I've mentioned in earlier posts, gamers are a fickle lot. They get enticed by the hype machine and then spat out again when they realise the product which was hyped wasn't to their expectations. We've all had such moments. Halo 2 did it for me. I was amazed by it all but the sheen soon wore off and it was back to the same old formula of Flood being uninvited guests and ruining the whole game. Even GTA4 - which will be in my hands very, very soon - is a game I'm not going to hype myself into a lather over because I've been there before. We have no say on the hype of Wheelman - we continue to work long hours to make sure that the game can be produced to the best of our abilities.

The long hours and takeaways are seeing a slow gradual change to my gut - it's increasing in size, that much is certain. It's kind of like a slow increase which you don't really notice until it's too late - so I'm thinking about taking up running again. Gateshead has plenty of people running about as they train for events, and being a runner for two years and running the Great North Run twice for charities, I do feel a sadness that I'm not still running. If I do decide to start up again, I need to begin at square one and take it nice and slowly - I can't jump in straight away because I know that won't really do me much good. My trusty iPod will also help me with the lovely Nike Plus shizzle which I used last year - it's a great motivator and helped me a great deal to stop getting insanely bored when running the same routes. I could buy a bike, but bikes cost money. I still have my running gear in my wardrobe and it needs to feel geek-sweat again.

I've also been thinking a bit about me as a singularity. I was on the phone to Mum yesterday night and I almost asked her if she was disappointed that I hadn't shacked up to a lucky lady. I'm sure she's more happy that her son has become totally independant and that's a great thing for her... I'd like to know if it would be better if I was independant but with someone. Do I actually need to be in a relationship to be happy? Can't I just wing it on my own like I've done all my life? Do I need to hunt down love or will it find me? So many questions regarding this... sure, there's been times when I've got into bed and seen the empty space next to me. I'm sure when I eventually get hold of a lovely sofa or two that I'll be envisioning someone sitting there smiling back at me.

I miss coming home to a full house. I come from a large family and we all used to live in quite a suitably large house near the seaside. We'd all have our own lives outside of the house, but we'd always come back home and become a family unit - albeit a fractured one at times. Eventually when I had to leave home, it was done quickly - it was almost like a bank heist. Ed was waiting in his car with my possessions and I jumped in and scooted off to Wales - I remember I had a row with my Mum regarding her cats. I think things got worse by the year when I was living at home though a lot of shit had happened along the way which almost felt like it was an inevitability that I was destined to leave. There's always a sense in this life that things naturally degrade and deteriorate - even us as human beings slowly malfunction.

It's not the same to come home here and have no one to hug and be welcomed home... do I need that? I don't know. I need some sense of belonging at times, and I know that living in NewcastleGateshead has made me feel like I belonged here more than I have elsewhere. I think I'm scared that if I do get into a relationship, it would feel like it would be destined to deteriorate in the same way as everything else seems to do...

Tennyson was right.

Ohnos! Steve's gone all profound! Quick, slap on something videogamey!!! (NOTE - language is NSFW!)

*phew*

Quick update - I've pulled out of the Innocent AGM because the price to get down to London these days is extortionate and it could be put to better use - like a sofa. Easy come, easy go. Just a shame I'm not as rich as I used to be.

Well, it's almost as if my landlord has telepathy - he called me into a meeting room during lunch at work and he casually mentioned he was giving me two months notice to move out of here so he could turn this room into a dining room. I wasn't that fussed, but I'm happy that I've been told this because it's the kick in the arse I need. I've also been thinking more positively now since that - so I've been busy sorting bits and pieces out today. I boxed up my ancient Xbox to trade in at the weekend (with the games too possibly) so I don't have it lounging about like the big fat American console it is. Besides, the 360 kind of negates the need to have an Xbox. The Gamecube could go the same way too due to my Wii ownership... it feels weird but I'm rather excited about this. (Speaking of which - Yahtzee's drunk wrong juice if his recent review of Super Mario Galaxy is anything to go by). (Also I got my Wii plastic jackets! So squishy!).

The Thing Is...

I've got no clue about mortgages or first-time buying of a dwelling. I need to start asking about for advice regarding this because I think I've been renting for a bit too long. It's been the easy option, though I think I like it enough here to start bedding down with a proper place of my own. When I had a place of my own in Mold, it was the wrong place to have a place of my own. The people there were basically inbred pissheads who loved fighting and throwing projectiles at my windows. Such a happy place! Seriously, avoid it. You may think it's a quaint Welsh market town during the day but the night draws in and the streets empty ominously. It's kind of like being in your own horror film... this is even more outlined by the fact the buses are all shite and a minute more there is a minute too long. So I'm fed up of all this housesharing in that sometimes this internet connection isn't 100% fantastic. I need a place with a proper TV aerial. I need space to stretch about. Most importantly - I need to be able to make breakfast in just my undies. I am but a man of simple pleasures.

A Truly Wonderful Post-Christmas Treat!

I love Consolevania. I love VideoGaiden too - the BBC-broadcast spin off. They recently broadcast their Christmas Special and it is truly a fine piece of work - probably their best yet. There's some special guests plus some very funny portions of the show (a clip from Series 6 of a certain show comes to mind), but you can be the judge - unless the BBC are up to their stingy old tricks and US viewers can't sample the goods... (Just to remind myself - they still have their Advent Calendar online).

Almost time for bed, so just one more video-related find which I was quite chuffed to see. Radiohead have recently released the "physical manifestation" of their In Rainbows album and to celebrate, they've put a lengthy live performance of the album interspersed with crazy video blurbs up on YouTube which I will now share with you lucky people -

Stop Press!

Computer update... I've finally found out why this PC isn't fun even though I tried my best to get the thing working properly. Ready? HP make fucking godawful wireless mice and keyboards. There's the reason why this sucks so much. It's kind of stupid to think I need to get my hands on another keyboard and mouse and not use the one bundled, but I'd rather do this than rant at their Indian call centre. Grr.

I'm glad I woke up for work today, I really, really am. After the news that Rez HD is coming to the Xbox 360, I had an inkling and checked out our PartnerNet. This is the closed Xbox Live Arcade network which is like peering into the future - game developers across the globe chuck stuff on there for other devs to download and play to death. It's quite, quite special to be able to do this. Lo and behold! Rez HD! To download! I'm the world's biggest Rez fan - I even have the Rez Trance Vibrator in my personal possession as well as the original Dreamcast version (a promo copy no less) and the PS2 version. This was quite a find for a slow Wednesday.

Like Rez. Except MORE.

As it says. Imagine Rez but in beautiful HD running at a silky smooth frame rate and you're halfway there. Add achievements, leaderboards and the like and it adds to an already brilliant experience. The download is pretty small (around 111Mb) for what you're getting - one of Sega's greatest moments in gaming where they were getting their very talented satellite studios like United Game Artists and Smilebit producing beautifully-crafted games like Jet Set Radio, Cosmic Smash, Seaman (hehe), Samba De Amigo and Rez. Inspired by the works of Kandinksy of all people, it's a game which is astounding to not only look at but also to hear. There's some wonderful meshing of visual and audio and without sounding too pretentious, it's as close to art in videogaming as you can get. Jeff Minter commented that Rez was "Space Harrier in techno trousers" which is pretty close to the mark. It's a shame that his recent Xbox Live Arcade release of Space Giraffe can't even hold a candle to something this expertly crafted. You do need to do the game justice though - get a surround sound system with a stonking huge television and turn out the lights.

"Memorieessss..."

When I was holed up in the flat in Mold, Rez helped coocon me from the drunken pissheadery and small town mentality and I look back on those days with joy. It was almost like a ritual getting myself ready for another trance-like assault on the senses. I also know of someone I used to work with who swore by Rez. He did smoke d'herb, mind you. The game is ideally suited for it. I'm just joyously happy that the game will soon be in the hands of the Xbox Live Arcade community and I predict it'll do incredibly well to the point that Rez 2 would be a certainty. The great thing about Rez is that even though it's a few years old, it still looks fresh and different - the art style is so radical that you accept it and enjoy it for what it is. It's like watching Tron - even though it's dated, the Syd Mead-inspired designs still hit a chord and look fresh and modern. Rez's achievements are spot on too! Here's a small taster...

Assassin's Creed - The Opinion So Far...

My favourite videogame reviewer Yahtzee has recently reviewed Assassin's Creed and once more he's spot on. There was a lot of mixed opinion online about the game, so I was keen to see what it was like. The first time I experienced the open world in the game was quite an incredible thing - you start off in the bowels of your main Assassin's Bureau. After some (many) tutorials, you get stuck into the town outside the Bureau and the game does a good job of getting you involved. Soon after you get on a horsey and end up in the huge main map - The Kingdom. It was quite mind-blowing - I have to say the graphics in the game are the most truly immersive I've seen yet. The shadows are so nicely produced that everything feels solid. It's very easy to believe you're there in the world and soon I was tasked with sneaking up viewpoints and launching myself off posts into haystacks. This is more fun than you just reading that. You then go to the city of Acre - and when I say city, I mean it - the place is vast. You then interrogate suspects, pickpocket, eavesdrop and help citizens as part of your campaign to find out more about the person you've been assigned to kill.

So Far So Good?

Well, yep. Except the review comments I've heard about repetition are true. Every job thereafter has been the same - travel to city by horse, investigate area and then assassinate. Yahtzee mentioned the horse thing where you have to slowly walk past guards on horseback so they don't suspect you. This got quite irritating quite quickly, and was more fun to leg it through areas with guards running behind you. The parkour stuff is nicely handled and your movements are startingly fluid and realistic - in fact, it's quite enjoyable running on rooftops collecting Crackdown-style hidden things (in this case, flags) while running up to a guard and assassinating him with your handy hidden blade in one fell swoop. There's also the sub-plot set in the future which Ubisoft spoiled themselves by leaving the futuristic HUD in their promotional materials. Ah, well. There's some horrificness in the game though. The combat system can be frustrating at times in that sometimes when you get knocked over, you lose the ability to lock onto stuff - although it's more a case of pressing the left trigger to lock on and then the right trigger to defend yourself - instinctively you press the right trigger straight away, which is where the problem lies.

More Problems!

Yep. Although countering to kill people is great fun, you sometimes glitch through buildings as you perform your moves. If you're backed up in a corner, the camera can suffer somewhat which makes anticipating counters difficult. The repeated soundbytes from passers-by get old way too quickly, especially when saving citizens - plus the camera will lock onto the citizen you've saved when all you want to do is get the hell out of there before another guard turns up... and yet the thrill of running away from many guards is an enjoyable one, as is setting stuff up before you assassinate a main target. Killing guards is good fun because - get this - they stay dead! No respawns here... so killing archers outside the area will make your life a lot more easier. Also nothing beats climbing a massive building and looking around you. In Acre, there's a humoungous cathedral which you get to access after your third kill - and climbing to the top of that was extrememly memorable. Launching off it into a haycart was even more memorable, although I was expecting an achievement like the one I got in Crackdown from getting to the top and jumping off the Agency tower. In short then - rent before you buy. It's good in short doses (say an assassination a day) and the sub-quests help increase the longevity of the thing.

Computer Update!

Here's me thinking I could only burn discs with Vista's gimped burning, but no! Clicking on the Help and Support bit of my PC, I discover I have Roxio Creator - meaning (hopefully) DVD burning won't be painful and I won't have to shell out £59 for Nero. It's curious I only found out about this via the Help and Support bit. Also I think I've found out why my keyboard and mouse are cack - a workmate of mine tells me it sounds like I need to update the BIOS. He also told me why this would be the case - and the link to a forum I posted yesterday had inklings of a BIOS update - although the process to go about it sounds ball-achey. I've contacted HP's After Care Shizzle via a contact form so I hope I'll get concrete help back from them. The frustrating thing is I shouldn't really have to go through all this shit. It's curious that The Tech Guys didn't mention that I had Roxio on this computer when I complained about the slow burning speeds - their "solutions" were either to buy Nero or to use msconfig to shutdown everything and see if that improved anything. Is it too much to ask that I can go into a shop, buy a branded PC-type product and have it do the job it's supposed to do? This BIOS stuff is good news though. I could still salvage this puppy. I can phone up The Tech Guys for shits and giggles and give them the exact reason why this PC is sick and they'll be dumbfounded as they try and use google for an alternative solution.

Book Update!

I recently got a test book through from blurb.com which also acts as a present for Mum - she's not seen any artwork of mine for some time, so it's the least I can do. Anyway, the quality of the book was great - there was a small rip on the bottom of the back of the dust cover, though that might have been my excitement getting it out. The book, I mean... tsk. Well, I was told by another workmate that there's a new way to produce books and it's Amazon-fuelled! CreateSpace is extremely exciting - basically it's the perfect way to get my 365 book out to the masses. I'll need to use InDesign to get the book together, but there's a lot more advantages to this than blurb - you get your own ISBN number, you have more control over content and layout and - get this - Amazon will actually sell the thing for you in their store!!! This is insanely good news. I was using the BookSmart software to layout 365, though now I will use these guys. I just need to start hunting down all the bits and pieces of artwork I have lying about.

YouTube Update!

If you've not yet seen Network, then I suggest you watch the below clip and realise just how relevant it all is to today...

I'm playing catch-up with many, many videogames. This weekend has so far been full of the joys of new game purchases and playing through games that all the serious gaming fraternity cracked ages ago. One of these games is BioShock - from the makers of the scary-as-heck System Shock 2, BioShock shares a lot with this historical game. For a start, it's set in an oppressive atmosphere and you have deranged lunatics wandering about and mumbling/shouting stuff in your general direction. While hiding behind corners.

Me? Scared?

I used to relish seeing the looks on the faces of people who had yet to encounter Resident Evil on the PSOne. I'd always show survival horror virgins a perfectly normal corridor in a slightly sinister mansion and asked them to walk down the corridor. SMASH! Zombie dog jumps through the closed window and the person holding the joypad yells a random expletive. This is proof that scary videogames do just that - scare. Well, the good ones anyway. BioShock is one of those titles which will have you freaking out at times. The audio design is nigh-on perfect at sending chills down your spine, and the location is a brilliantly-realised underwater city built by a bloke called Ryan who also littered the place with Orwellian propaganda and a variety of interesting characters.

But I freak out when I play it in the same way I freaked out playing Doom 3 and Condemned. No wonder I gravitated towards my recent purchase...

Itsa Me!

"Maaaarriioo!". No freaks with hooks for hands here - just good ol' fashioned family-friendly fun. This is the thing - the hardcore who love their 360 and PS3 will diss the Wii for the lack of graphical grunt, but a lot of games I've played on the Wii exude fun in spades. Excite Truck had me yelling and hooting like a little kid - and although it's not as pretty as some more high-end next-gen titles, it has heart and soul. Mario is a lot like that too - a game where you know the developers have gotten together and vow to make your experience enjoyable and nourishing. Super Mario Galaxy is the new Wii title and I was blown away from the start.

Blown Away?

Graphically Super Mario Galaxy is beautiful. It has a very strange dream-like quality about it - when you begin the game heading towards the trademarked castle of Peach, the moonlight catches the crescent-shaped clouds. Stars rain from the sky and you realise you can use the Wii Remote to collect these stars. This is a trick which comes in its own very quickly and soon becomes second nature when playing. All hell soon breaks lose as Bowser comes along to capture not just Peach but the whole castle. Mario is blasted from the castle and lands on a spherical planet which adds to the dreamlike quality of the game.

The Importance of Rimming.

Every planet has a rim-lit process about it which is not seen much in videogames but this is the reason why it adds a unique flavour to the game. Everything soon becomes apparant - the game is scarily well presented and polished. The graphics are lush as mentioned, but the soundtrack is the best Mario soundtrack I've heard - all recreated with a full orchestra. This adds to the impressive space theme even more. Controlling Mario is also a cinch - the nunchuck is perfectly balanced to move him around, though it's a compelling new experience to navigate around beautifully-realised spherical worlds. The makers of Ratchet and Clank had some sour grapes about Nintendo's use of spherical worlds, cited that it was all their idea, before perhaps adding some marketing bullshit about how Ratchet and Clank "wouldn't be possible on the Wii, but is totally possible on the PS3". Hush now. You're out of your league here.

Developers Taking The Piss?

This outlines once more that it's totally feasible to come up with beautiful experiences on the Wii. I cringe when I see some absolute horrific visual dirge made available for the Wii from developers looking for a quick buck. I think the so-called limitations of the Wii are a reason why some developers - mostly Nintendo - try harder to come up with fantastic visual experiences. I mentioned Metroid Prime 3 - Corruption in an earlier blog entry, but it's another great example. What is the point in spending time working on a game which is derative and will paint your company in a bad light? It is annoying, especially for the developers who work on those games knowing that they can't go on forums and harp on about how great their next game will be. Speaking of which...

Me And Gaming Forums.

I used to post regularly on a gaming forum called rllmuk. Don't ask why it has a funky acronym like that. Anyway, I came to the conclusion not long ago that game developers shouldn't get involved with gaming forums. I've vowed not to read any more comment pages and forums from gamers - because some of them can be a bit too vocal and scarily obsessive with certain games. One of the posters of rllmuk slagged off Stranglehold. All well and good, you think. This guy is entitled to his own opinion. Sadly this bloke downloaded an illegal copy of the game and proceeded to rip the piss. Anyone who tried to combat his views - especially me - were greated with a "you've only played the demo - I've played the game!", although his view was skewed on the fact he didn't know if he had the final version and he based his views on an illegal practice. Soon the age-old argument of piracy came to fore and before you know it there were many people who were happy to defend this guy and piracy. So from that point on, I declined to post on that forum.

I've not posted for some time now and I'm glad of it. I would hate to hear the comments about the game I'm working on from that lot because they can be ruthless, tactless and just plain rude. The typical comment of ""[insert game here]" is shit" is far too common. I digress...

WAR.

Call of Duty 4 is an absolute blast. It's insane how intense and how much fun it is - and not just that, it's also brilliantly presented and the voice acting doesn't suck one bit. I think it's the first FPS I've played which is 60fps (a 60fps fps!) and it makes quite a difference. For a start, everything seems to be a lot more solid and real. The eye is tricked into believing what it sees and it adds to the immersion. The game looks incredible - probably the most realistic recreations of war-torn areas I've yet seen - and the introduction where you see through the eyes of a President who is about to be assassinated is scarily harrowing to say the least. It's a world away from Super Mario Galaxy, but the point is that videogames as a medium are a truly diverse one which can appeal to everyone.

Ubisoft's "Surprise!"

I also purchased Assassin's Creed - which is weird because I was having second thoughts about it. There's reviews flying about which are less than flattering about Ubisoft's latest AAA title - the fact the stealth system is broken and it gets repetitive too quickly. It does also look astoundingly beautiful for a next gen title and the plot supposedly revolves around you playing an assassin who has to take out a variety of targets through a mix of the aforementioned stealth, reconnaissance and Parkour. Unfortunately, they've done a Terminator 2. "What do you mean, Steve?". Well, Terminator 2 had you assuming Arnie would be playing the same role as in the original - an evil cyborg sent back from the future to murder a target. Sadly the trailer to Terminator 2 totally revealed everything - he wasn't evil after all! *phew* Assassin's Creed makes the same mistake.

Something's Not Quite Right Here...

On all the preview videos of Assassin's Creed, we're treated to some lush vistas and Altair (the main character) killing and jumping from building to building escaping guards. One thing looked a bit out of place though - the HUD. I'm paid to create such things, and it's hard not to see the futuristic look of the HUD. Targeted characters also display swish status displays and graphics and the screen sometimes glitches with code. So it's not really what it seems and my brain was wondering what could be going on. A virtual simulation? Could it be? Well, Ubisoft could have surprised us all and left out the HUD and the effects altogether. That would have been a brilliant unseen twist that some videogames are lucky to have.

I've also guessed the ending too.

When Opinions Collide!

Now there's a famous site called Penny Arcade which has a large readership and they trust what Gabe and Tycho - the two characters of the site - say about videogames. Recommendations from them are genuine things indeed. When Gabe defends Assassin's Creed then tongues start a-wagging - especially from the likes of rllmuk. He cited the reviewers of the game didn't have enough time to immerse themselves in the game and thus a low mark resulted. The doubters mention that Penny Arcade carry Ubisoft advertising and they've produced comic strips for Ubisoft games including Assassin's Creed. I've not had a chance to fully play the game, though this GameTrailer's review is a pretty comprehensive take on it - it also outlines the stealth glitch as well as a few others. I think Gabe's heart is in the right place but the world of videogames can be a horrible thing indeed. It can be full of more wrongs than right and the gaming press can be easily paid off to give huge scores to games - Halo 3 for example.

"Wha?"

Like Halo 2, Halo 3 was full of promise but didn't actually deliver. It didn't surprise and those reviewers who gave the game perfect scores must have skipped the last two levels in the game - the penultimate level being a frustrating fleshy hole of flood-filled disappointment and the last level was a much more unfair take on The Maw - the last level in Halo 1. Call of Duty 4 pisses all over Halo 3. As an experience, it's much more exciting. It's more polished and has a lot going for it. When well-respected magazines like Edge give Halo 3 10/10, then you start to worry. The worrying thing is that if you want to buy a game with confidence then you have to go into the gaming forums and see what people are saying about the game. Failing that, download the demo and experience it yourself. I don't trust many game reviewers these days, although let's end this very videogame-related post with video footage of a reviewer I do trust - Yahtzee.