Tag Archive for: video games

Assassin’s Creed II

I recently purchased a PS3 and one of the games I purchased with it was the much-hyped Assasin’s Creed II. I’ve never played the original but I heard great things about the sequel and the video of the game play looked amazing. After playing it for a couple of weeks off and on I beat it. For most gamers, that is not a big deal, but I’m not most gamers. In fact, I wouldn’t even call myself a gamer. I have a Nintendo Wii and I love it because it makes gaming casual. I wanted the PS3 because of a handfull of games that are coming out and for the BluRay player for when I purchase an HD TV. Anyway, beating this game was a big deal for me because games rarely hold my attention long enough for me to actually beat them. The only other game I have ever beat on any system in my life was Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64.

ACII was a great game because the story kept you interested. Normally I can only play games for 15 minutes before I get bored with them and want to turn them off. ACII wasn’t like that, but even if I did want to quit after a short amount of time there were plenty of checkpoints to make sure I didn’t lose my progress. The scenery was amazing and the game play was smooth. The building looked almost real and the scenes where the city would erect before you were awesome. I can only imagine how great it looks on an HD TV. The cut scenes that helped move the story along were great, if not long at points. The only time in the game where I questioned the makers’ choice was when I was forced to go all around Italy to gather Codex pages in order to progress the story. It was almost as if the developers said, “We need to make this game longer, how do we do it? Let’s send the player on a long scavenger hunt.” Besides that point in the story, everything else was great.  There were missions that you had to do and several others that you could skip.  And it doesn’t matter if you skip them because once you beat the game you still have free reign to go about the other missions, which I’m currently doing now. The final level snuck up on me fast and I was surprised at how easy it was to beat the final level, but I wasn’t disappointed. I’d have to say this should probably be up there as one of the top games of the year, but since I don’t game that much I can’t really make that call. All I can do is tell you that the game was fun and beautiful with a great story and great graphics. If you have a PS3 (or XBOX 360) you should buy this game.

Lego Indiana Jones

In celebration of the end of the school year, I went out and purchased Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii. I’ve been watching videos of this game for a while and was looking forward to playing it. This game is really fun. It is very easy to play and has great graphics. The story is really good with a bunch of humor added to the original Indiana Jones story lines. All of the original three movies make up this game. The only thing that I wish was different are save points. You can only save once you finish a scene. For someone like me, who only likes to play for 10 or 15 minutes at a time, being able to save mid-level would be a welcome addition. I guess the one good thing about it is since you have to complete the level it increases my chances of finishing the game. So far, I’m only in the first movie, but I can’t wait to get through the next couple. The Last Crusade is my favorite and I’m looking forward to playing that as a game. I think the developers of this game did a great job incorporating all the major aspects of the movies and injecting some humor to the Lego characters. I can’t wait to see what the Lego version of Batman has in store.

Mario Kart Wii

I got Mario Kart Wii on launch day. This was one of the titles for the Wii that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I loved Mario Kart 64 and couldn’t wait to see what Nintendo would come up with for their motion control Wii remote. This is old news by now but the Wii remote sits in the center of a miniature steering wheel and you steer just like you would a car during your game play. After playing it for more than a week, I have to say, this is a fun game. The courses are fun, and in cases such as the mines or the rainbow track, they are beautiful. The scenery is filled with pictures, drivers, statues of all the Miis stored on your Wii. You can even unlock your Mii as a racer. One of the big frustrations for me is the addition of the new blue turtleshell bomb thing. I hate that one. The online play is fun and lag free. It is much more difficult than the regular racing against the computers because you have real people running you off the road and throwing things at you. That aside, it is still a game with a lot of fun. The 50cc tracks are great for beginners (perhaps too easy for most), the 100cc tracks are a little more difficult, but manageable, and the 150cc tracks are even more difficult. It’s definitely a great addition to the Wii. The next game I’m excited about, Steven Spielberg’s Boom Blox.

Super Mario Galaxy

I bought Super Mario Galaxy on Friday and I must say, this game is fun! I am Nintendo’s target demographic for the Wii. I am a casual gamer in every sense of the word. While I appreciate complex games like Metroid Prime 3, Halo, Zelda (Ocarina of Time is the only game I’ve ever actually completed in my life), I have a short attention span with games. I usually play for 15-30 minutes then take a break and do something else. This is what makes Super Mario Galaxy so great for me. I play a galaxy, which on average I would say takes 15 minutes for each galaxy, some even less, especially if there is a time limit, then I take a break, or maybe I’ll play another galaxy. I wish all games were like this. I would really like to finish the newest Zelda, but I’ve not played it in so long that I would have no idea where I left off and it’s a game that, while you can save and stop playing at any moment, unless you’re really paying attention to your surroundings, you can forget what you are doing and where you should be going. And I do. I don’t have to worry about that with SMG.

As for the controls, they took some getting used to, that’s for sure, but I have the hang of them now and I can usually walk around, even upside down, without any problems in direction. The graphics are pretty sweet too. It’s the Wii and it’s Mario, so it’s not like I was expecting PS3 or Xbox 360 graphics. The scenery is awesome, the galaxies are creative (the Rolling Greens galaxy where you have to balance on a ball and roll into a giant golf cup was fun and short). Overall, this is probably one of the games I’ve enjoyed playing the most, on any system.