Games reviewed… eventually
Since time immemorial, Heaven and Hell have been at war. Angels and demons clashed in vicious and mighty battles across the universe, leaving worlds charred and blasted in their wake. In the midst of this turmoil rose the powerful Charred Council and a ceasefire was forged, enforced by the brotherhood of warriors known as The … Continue reading Darksiders
Assassin’s Creed is an inherently silly series. It’s a sci-fi with pretensions of being a historical action-drama that produces, with poe-faced seriousness, a narrative which posits all of history has been a never-ending conspiratorial war between Assassins and Templars, who are fighting over relics of an ancient, omnipotent precursor race. It’s utterly daft, which makes … Continue reading The Tyranny of King Washington
When you think about it, setting a game about two conniving groups warring for power in the American Revolution makes perfect sense. Ubisoft’s long-running series detailing the never-ending fight over humanity between the Assassins and the Templars might have begun in simpler times where the man with the biggest army and sharpest sword won the … Continue reading Assassin’s Creed III
There's nothing quite like a reboot! Tomb Raider is an awfully well-established franchise and like all long-running series eventually it needs a bit of a revamp to keep it relevant and interesting. I have fantastically clear memories of the original Tomb Raider game on PS1; it was one of the first games I ever owned … Continue reading Tomb Raider
What’s that, "More Ezio!" I hear you cry? Yessir, we’re on our third game starring our favourite Florentine vagabond-turned-Master Assassin, but this time we’re definitely in the endgame. And perhaps, just like our hero, we’re all getting a little bit tired. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One [reviewed]) Released Nov 2011 … Continue reading Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
You didn’t think Ezio’s story was done with II, did you? By 2010 Ubisoft had begun to settle well into the yearly-release pattern that would see them release another approximately 8 billion Assassin’s Creed titles, and given that Ezio was such a fan-favourite character it was unsurprising to see him get another game. The question … Continue reading Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Assassin’s Creed II is great for cold opens. Our hapless present day protagonist is rescued from the shadowy, sinister Abstergo corporation, whisked away by a tiny team of Assassins who quickly pop him back in the Animus. Then, as we’re loaded up with the memories of a new ancestor, we get hit straight away with … Continue reading Assassin’s Creed II
Let’s head back in time, shall we? Back, far back, to the distant land of 2007, the era of our ancestors, by which I mean my slightly younger self. The entire Assassin’s Creed franchise was on sale on the Xbox One about a week before this article was written and so Microsoft’s big boxy behemoth … Continue reading Assassin’s Creed
Mass Effect's defining moment for me came late in the second act, on Virmire, with Commander Shepard forced to make a tough decision upon which lives were balanced. It was an especially dark point in a story that had been, up to that point, finely balanced between epic sci-fi action and sinister undertones. Mass Effect … Continue reading Mass Effect 2
The moment I was sold on Mass Effect came on Virmire. It was there, on what should have been a paradise world of tropical sun and gently lapping streams, that Shepard makes a choice. It’s not a nice choice; it’s a hard, cruel choice, one that promises ramifications that will echo through future events and … Continue reading Mass Effect
