Slender Game

Slender game is a first person horror-survival game. The one and only objective of this game is to collect a total of 8 notes located throughout the map. But there's a catch! The Slender man is after you and he will not stop until he hunts you down. He is always following you so you must keep moving. The notes you find have messages on them and after each one you pick up the pursuit gets more intense, the Slender man picks up the pace and the in-game music turns more dramatic and your main character's heart thumps even louder all to add suspense to the scene.
As soon as the Slender man catches up to you, the game is over and you must start again from the beginning.


Slender game is very well done for a free to play game and surprisingly scary as well. The attention to detail in this game is remarkable as well. You get this eerie feeling throughout the game and as it progresses you find yourself getting more and more paranoid, and checking your back at every given opportunity.



Although being extremely exhilarating, scary and fun, I cant help but feel this game lacks in content. It has no story or depth to it. You are just mindlessly running around a forest picking up notes while all the time trying to avoid a tall skinny man who wants to do strange things to you.

All in all it's a worth while game to play. You will definitely feel your adrenaline pumping as you progress through the game. And for this it get my official seal of approval!

Rating: 7/10

By MattCL

Snapshot

Snapshot is a puzzle solving 2D platformer with simple yet intricate graphics. Although made to look cartoonish, the creators of this game have done an excellent job in making the scenery and colors always pleasing to the eye.

You play as a little robot on some sort of adventure through forests and mountain tops, having to move boxes, plants and other weird objects by taking a pictures of them and placing them elsewhere to help you reach different parts of each level. You also go collecting stars on each level to increase your final score.
At first it's very simple but as the game progresses you really have to get creative to figure out how to complete a level.

I found myself playing this game to fill in those short gaps throughout the day. I was thoroughly entertained, and, although I do admit that that at some points I got very frustrated when getting stuck on some of the more complicated levels, all in all it was a pleasing experience.

 

Snapshot is one of those games that requires time, patience and a logical brain. To think outside of the box. If this is you then you will find yourself having a blast and getting an immense sense of satisfaction when completing a level. If you do not have these qualities then maybe this game is not for you, but by all means I encourage to grab a copy and try it.
 
I really enjoyed this game. It provided great entertainment and at the same time required me to use my brain, as opposed to lots of other games out there on the market today that just require mindless clicking to get through each level. I do agree that at some points it may have got slightly repetitive or frustrating but all in all it's a great game, and for this it gets my seal of approval!

Rating: 8/10

By MattCL

League of Legends

 League of Legends is a free-to-play Multiplayer Online Battle Arena(MOBA) type game. If you are unfamiliar with the MOBA game type then you have been living under a rock for way too long. Basically there are two teams and on each team there are a certain amount of players depending on the size of the map. Each player controls one character and you work with your team mates to destroy the opponents base.

League of Legends isn't the first of its kind but has become the most popular. In fact not only is it currently the most played MOBA in the world, it is the most played game in the world period!

League of Legends has surpassed the previously most popular game, World of Warcraft, by a very large margin. Just to put it in perspective, at it's peek, World of Warcraft had12 million subscribers in total; League of Legends has 32 million players monthly.

Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends, have done an amazing job at tweaking and balancing every single aspect of the game on a regular basis. They also release new content and characters very frequently to keep their players interested in the game.


When it comes to reviewing this game it's hard not to be biased. I have been playing this game over two years now and all I can say is that I am amazed at how a game can stay so entertaining and competitive for such a long time. I admit, at times it has given me grief and can be frustrating when paired up with incompetent team mates that do nothing to help you your team, but on the whole this game deserves credit where it's due and for that I give it my seal of approval.

Rating: 10/10

By MattCL

Cut The Rope

The arrival of Om Nom

Here is a mobile game which in my opinion can hold it's own against any console game. Cut the rope is a very addictive game about candy on a rope, and feeding said candy to a little creature known as Om Nom. Om Nom arrives at the players home in a little box with the instructions to feed with candy. To do this, the player must cut a piece of rope which the candy is on, with correct timing so that the candy can avoid obstacles and land in Om Nom's mouth.

Level completed with all
three stars collected.

The first level of the game, instructing
 the player on how to feed Om Nom.

The player is given a set of boxes, each with a different theme and there are 25 levels in each box. As the player progresses through the levels, more obstacles that are more difficult to pass begin to surface. To counter these, the player is given specific tools on each level to manipulate the speed and direction of the candy. More tools are unlocked with each box, with the tools being available for use in the following boxes. Each level also has three stars the player can choose to collect, though it is not necessary to finish the level. If the player does choose to get the stars, the levels can become more difficult, and the increased hassle may not be worth the time of some people, seeing as how the only reward for collecting the stars are higher points. On some levels, timing becomes a key factor to collecting the three stars, because some of the stars come with a timer. The moment the level starts, the timer on the stars go down, and if the timer runs out, it's bye bye star, and the player loses their chance to collect all the stars for that level until they try the level again. This can be frustrating at times, especially when you miss out by a hair on collecting the star.

Spiders: The villain of
this game.

Because each game requires an villain, this game has spiders. These spiders appear on various levels, at the opposite end of the rope that the candy is on. Their objective is to make their way over to the candy before you cut the rope, and steal the candy, so that you cannot feed Om Nom. The player cannot get rid of the spiders by any means, so it means the player has to work faster to prevent the candy from getting into the spiders hands..... or legs.

The music for this game I find to be quite enjoyable, and well suited to the game. A nice, up beat tune to listen to which is probably the best music for this game, because I doubt there is any specific music that can apply to the situation of feeding candy to a hungry, unearthly creature that, with no explanation, show up at your door in a box that changes material(that or the player has multiple Om Nom's. Now there's a thought).

Overall I enjoy this game. The fact that the developers are continuing to release new boxes is just an added bonus. I give this game an 8/10

Hail and Kill,
REAP3R.

Naughty Bear

Bear on Bear violence. About friggin' time.

Perfection Island.

Have you ever wanted a game where teddy bears kill each other? Or have you ever even thought about the idea? No? Well then you're weird and you need serious help, because I can say yes to both of those questions and the fact that there is a game out about it says I'm better than you. Welcome to a cross between Call of Duty and Assassins Creed, but not as good as either if those are the types of games you're into, but to compensate, this game includes a voice-over by a man who should be doing children's shows(after this game though, he probably shouldn't). Naughty Bear is a very, very, dark game about a bear who wasn't hugged enough by a child, so he goes on a killing spree. Sounds simple right? Well it is. The game starts off on 'Perfection Island', where the entire island, less Naughty Bear, is invited to the birthday party of fellow bear Daddles. Even though he wasn't invited, Naughty Bear still made a present for Daddles, and is convinced by the voice-over to take the gift over in an attempt to become friends. While on his way to hand the gift over, two residents of the island, Chubby & Giggles, see the gift Naughty made for Daddles, and laugh at him for it. This causes an upset Naughty to make his way back to his home, where the voice-over suggests Naughty should destroy the gift, and "go and do something about all this nonsense".

In Naughty's eyes, this means he should kill everyone, so that's exactly what he sets out to do. Using various weapons and items in the world, Naughty begins his quest of vengeance. How Naughty goes about doing his dirty work, is entirely up to the player. If the player wants to get straight to the point with 0 effort, guns and knives are almost always readily available. If the player wants to be more stealthier about it, the player can drown, burn, or even throw his victims in an industrial whisking bowl. If you thought this couldn't get any darker, a player can also use intimidation to drive their victim to insanity, at which point the insane bear will take their own life. For the player who enjoys the hunt, you are given the option to lay down traps like a bear trap for any unsuspecting or fleeing bears. Because the player will lose if any bears escape, you can remove all methods the bears could use to flee, such as disabling their cars, or launching a boat to drift aimlessly away from the docks. The one bad thing about this game is it's repetitiveness. It different levels are played on what are essentially the same map, and you're given a different reason to do basically the same thing over and over. Unless the person behind the controller is one sadistic S.O.B., anyone would find this game boring after a while, though it would make a good game to come back to for a laugh every once in a while.

This is a short review, but all that needs to be said, has been said.
I do appreciate the aggressively 'brütal' story and game play that has to offer, but there is even a limit to how long I would sit around to de-fluff bears over and over again.

I give this game a 7.7/10

Hail and Kill,
REAP3R

Call Of Duty: Black Ops II Review

The very highly anticipated game of the Call of Duty instalments was released not too long ago. Call of Duty: Black Ops II is set in a futuristic scene where the player has a key role in the story campaign whereby they must decide certain fates of enemies and friends which ultimately changes the outcome of the story. The three main modes remain the same in the Black Ops franchise; Campaign, Zombies and of course Multi-player.

Firstly let me begin by confirming that this is without a doubt the best campaign I have ever played. In terms of storyline, maps, weapons, layout and game-play it was fantastic and just so enjoyable to play. Basically you play as Alex Mason, father or David Mason who served alongside Frank Woods. Woods narrates the story as you play missions that occurred as you receive information from the retired war veteran. The whole plot is to locate and secure Raul Menendez a gun running figure who is also a terrorist. He aims to retaliate after an incident that had occurred to him. As military forces advanced on his property, a soldier releases a cooked frag grenade intending for the injury/death of Menendez, which deflects off a wall edge, bouncing into the room that his sister was sleeping in and killing her violently right in front of him. Since then he had waged war on not only America, but the whole world, specifically main cities. He plans to do this by infiltrating numerous military bases with a virus which will grant him access to every single piece of electronic equipment in the hands of the government. This thrilling storyline is a completely new war scene with new equipment that is foreseeable in the future of military missions. The two exciting factors that I really enjoyed with Campaign are; firstly the surveillance bug that you got to control. It was shaped like a large ant and had advanced technology that allowed you to crawl through pipes and into rooms which I felt gave that secretive operational 007 gadgetry. It was a very nice feature, exactly what I wanted it to be like. The other thing was getting to play in both sides. You play the standard military soldier, but you also play as Menendez the antagonist in the story. The first time you play as him is in the scene where you try to rescue the sister. But as you do she gets killed and you go on a rampage killing everyone in sight.

Zombies; Honestly it was almost the same as last time just bigger maps and maybe more interactive. Even then it wasn't anything special. I’d like to see some new developments in that aspect of the game, maybe they need to revamp it completely and just change it. Just a suggestion but I and fellow players don’t rave on how good it is. We play it a few times and never return. I’m not going to get into how it all works and new features because I was disappointed and I was not entirely happy with it. If you would like more info please check this link to the first Black Ops, which also included zombies. Both are very similar. http://3picgam3rr3vi3ws.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/call-of-duty-black-ops-review.html


Finally we arrive to Multi-player Now there are certain words that I’d like to use to describe how I felt the first few weeks were playing on-line. Frustrating is one of them. I'm going to tell it how it is. The layout of multi-player was OK, however the functionality of game lobbies, party game lobbies was horrendous. If you asked me how many hours I and fellow players wasted just waiting for good connections and to ALL get in the lobby, the number’s big. Real big. This was my major anger towards the game, particularly the developers. I just thought to myself why you would create this. It’s basically the same as selling a dodgy product. I felt like I got scammed. It did however get better but still has room for much improvement!

As you can see, the diamond cammo on the ballistic knife, looks great!

Now after that rant I’ll get on to how I felt about the actual game-play In the first few weeks you get mostly the advanced players and it got frustrating, but it was still fun. Guns were the same old same, with the only thing changing there the weapon cammos, which included the much anticipated diamond cammo. It looks amazing and its something to show your hard work on-line. Maps were a little bit of a disappointment. The only real stand-out map was “Raid”. It was set in a mansion on a mountain top with a fully equipped gym, bar, pool it was quite graphical! There were even exotic cars and ponds; it was just amazing to see how much effort developers must have gone to create this map. I'm sure they didn't re-use much code at all. It felt new, and this was exciting. Guns and classes are a bit different but mostly the same. It’s on a point based system. So the user can sacrifice perks and equipment in order to replace it with another perk/equipment. Game play is nice but my main concern is how overpowered the pistols are. In some kill-cams I see pistols out performing sub machine guns. This is just outrageous. Ask any gun enthusiast which gun would be better for a 1 v 1 battle. They’ll recommend the SMG purely because it’s automatic, accurate and good chance of hitting with low recoil. A pistol accurate but recoils hard and damage is average, so why is it so overpowered it can replace other gun types? Makes no sense to me, hopefully they patch this up. However, I'm still waiting…

Epic Gamer Blogs

Sharing information is what the web is all about these days. Whether it is via social networking sites, or a blog like this, ultimately the world’s internet users are online seeking/posting information. That’s why it is essential that the layout of blogs and sites be user friendly. In considering the layout for our blogs by the 3picr3vi3ws team, we needed to sit down and discuss the possible options about the layout. We knew our theme was gaming so we needed to base the layout to suit the gaming scene. As a group we tried many different layouts and agreed on the ones we liked and then chose the final one. Our choice was justified because of the readability and the simple layout which almost anyone using the internet would be able to read. Once the layout was decided, the rest was easy, all we had to decide was backgrounds, colour usage, texts and then we could judge the final blog layout.

It seemed simple; however things always change, as do opinions. After online consultation with the group we decided a few layout changes were in order. Firstly we decided that a black background (and conveniently the default background) with white text would suit our theme nicely so we went with that. Text was kept as default.

Blogger.com basically helped with everything. No html code was needed and it just made the whole blogging simple and efficient, there were no worries in that department which allowed us to focus on the quality of our blogs.

Assassin's Creed 3

Warning Spoilers Alert!!

We were all told in the third instalment to the Assassin's Creed series (even though its the fifth game) that we would be seeing a new ancestor of Desmond's. This game begins with the history of Desmond and the world which his father narrates. He explains that the end of the world is coming and its all up to Desmond to save them. After that introduction, everyone gets out of the van and turn up at this cave. Desmond puts the Apple in a slot and you enter further into the cave. He finds a power source and puts it into a slot and the room lights up and there seems to be a massive gateway, but you wouldn't have any idea where it goes or what is inside there. Juno tries to communicate with you and mentions something about a key. Desmond faints and is entered into the animus. You begin playing with Hatham Kenway whom begins straight away and assassinates a person whom has this key you are looking for at the Opera and soon leaves the country to head to Boston. After several sequences, it is revealed that Hatham is a Templar and after this sequence you begin to play as Connor (or Ratonhnhaké:ton), Hatham's son (he has a relationship with an American Indian) through his quest for revenge after the Templars burn his village in the Frontier.

There are many things to love about this game. First of them all, despite changing the countering controls and how they work, it was actually in my favour because it seemed easier than before. The new assassination techniques such as corner assassinations (whistle and wait for someone to come then you kill them and put them in the corner), assassinations using new weapons, running assassinations and several more. The storyline in this game was great as well, long, lots of twists and was very unpredictable at times. They introduced a lot of new weapons such as the tomahawk, rope darts which were both very effective weapons at times. This time the collectables despite how many, were easier to track due to being able to get maps of there locations which made it quicker if some people were willing to waste some time especially for the peg legs to get the missions to receive a new piece of Eden, The Shard of Eden. This basically was a super magnet repulsor and helped you dodge bullets easier. The naval missions were also a lot of fun as they would bring a new aspect to the game. But the most impressive thing of them all was being able to travel across the trees. This saved so much time rather than just climbing and running along the ground especially in winter with the snow which can take forever to run across. Finally, I love how you can slide or jump over object quickly. I think this was more better and realistic since if you were running you would probably do that.

On the other hand, there are many things which are bad about the game. Firstly, there are a lot of bugs in this game. One day when I was playing, I was just running about in Boston and I fell through the ground!! Don't know if its happened to you but this was very unusual. Second was in the tunnels, when you would assassinate a person, they would still be talking to you even though they are dead, which was very weird. The list goes on but these two were the most unusual bugs. Hunting despite being a cool idea, when you get attacked by a bear for instant and you have to react, I think the time to react was just a little too short, which would end up in you dying several times, so I just ran up to the animal and just attacked it with the hidden blade. Also, Connor as a character to play with was fun, but I didn't like him in the storyline. He seemed to be lost, unsure about what was happening and quite misguided unlike Ezio and Altiar in the previous games. Then you have the missions, several missions seemed really hard or just misleading. The first mission is the one when your playing with Hatham and you infiltrate a camp. You are required to get some kind of map and there is a guard who looks at the entrance of the tent and walks across and turns around and goes back to his starting position. It gives you about half a second opportunity to get inside and none to get out! The most frustrating of them all was you couldn't kill him! The next mission was one when your chase a guy in one of the Peg Leg missions. It is impossible to kill him before he reaches the cave, I have no idea how you can do it. The last mission that seemed odd was the Chasing Hickey mission, where your told to chase him and you would run around in circles and you don't know what is going on. It doesn't give you the hint that you will have to tackle him but eventually you start trying things and it just worked for me. It was very annoying not know what to do. Then you have a mission with Desmond when you go to get a power source and Abstergo is everywhere. When you come into conflict with them, it doesn't let you know when they are going to attack like in the animus so you can counter them which was very confusing for me. Then another problem was in New York, where there is a camp and if you walk there they attack you. This was very annoying because you would have to detour around unless you wanted to run for hours. The pistol is a horrible weapon to use just because of the fact that it takes 7 seconds to reload. by the time it reloads you might of been killed. Then you have the party missions (such as the hunting club, robbers,etc.), which are a little weird because you have to find the missions. This was a little inconvenient because well you don't know where to go at all. So eventually after looking for so long, you just give up or you decide to see if anyone else has posted this online with a solution. Finally, after you finish the game there are all these pivot points which you have to wait hours to do. I suggest you just don't bother since they are for cheats.

At the end of the game, you chase Lee and kill him eventually in the Frontier after tracking him down and  finally get the revenge Connor wanted all along. Connor takes the key from his neck and he buries it along in a grave in Davenport after getting the instruction from Juno for Desmond in the future then the Apple of Eden disintegrates. Then Desmond comes out of the animus and opens the gateway. He goes inside to come to some pedestal. Juno comes out and tells Desmond that he has to touch the orb to save the world. Minerva comes and tells you that touching the orb will save the world but will free Juno who aimed to make humanity to slave to her. Minerva shows you the alternative if he doesn't touch the pedestal, where Desmond and a few others survive and he is a god once he dies but he rebuilds humanity. Desmond decides to touch the pedestal whom dies within an instant. The world survives and you see Juno walk out of the cave to end the story. There is an epilogue with Connor but it is nothing special.

Well once again, we are left on a massive cliff hanger. Is Desmond really dead? Is Juno still a spirit who is released or has she taken a human-like form? Who is the person to take the reigns from Desmond if he is dead? Many questions which you may be asking yourself. But we have to wait another year before all these questions are answered. Please feel free to comment on your thoughts?

Rating: 8.5/10

By Armaan Nawaz

Brütal Legend

When one would think the world of metal could not expand its reach out any further, it infiltrates the land of games. A game for any metal head to add fuel to the glam hate wagon, I present to you Brütal Legend. A Double Fine masterpiece, this game brings about a completely outrageous, yet somehow, oddly believable history of the Rock and Metal genres. Featuring an array of Rock and Metal heavyweights including, but not limited to, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, Motörhead vocalist/bassist Lemmy Kilmister, Tenacious D lead guitarist Kyle Gass, and to top it all off, the main character is voiced by, and partly modelled after, none other than comedian/professional rocker, and the other half of Tenacious D, Jack Black. The game begins in the current era, known in the game as the 'Age of Modern Man', where a dedicated roadie named Eddie Riggs(Black), is assisting a band known as Kabbage Boy, who are the WORST BAND EVER!!!!. While fulfilling his role as a roadie, the guitarist for Kabbage Boy attempts to show off by climbing a not-so-stable part of the stage. The guitarist then falls, prompting Eddie to run out and catch the guitarist before he hits the floor. After saving his life, Eddie is then crushed by the part of the stage the guitarist was standing on. Eddie's blood makes its way into his belt buckle(later revealed to be a token to the Fire Beast Ormagöden), which summons Ormagöden, who after plenty of violence and bloodshed, sends Eddie back to the 'Age of Metal'. Eddie then wakes up in a large open room, lying on an alter, while not too far away three followers of the main antagonist, Emperor Doviculus(voiced by Tim Curry), are praying to who Eddie mistakes as him. When the three realise Eddie is now awake, they proceed to kill him.


Eddie holding the Separator

At this point the player now has control and must move Eddie towards a double bladed broad axe known as "The Separator", so that the player has a means to protect themself.After the first wave of enemies is dispatched, the player then picks up a flying V guitar named Clementine, which, when played, brings down lightening through riffs, raises fire through chords, and shakes the earth through power chords, because in this world, the guitar is amplified by the world itself.


Eddie playing Clementine

The player continues to slaughter all the enemies before them, while getting use to the attack system, until the player comes across the soon-to-be love interest for Eddie, Ophelia. When the two realise they are locked inside the chamber where they met, Eddie finds a guitar tab where he learns a riff that can raise relics, named the "Relic Raiser". When he plays the riff, car parts rise out of the ground, allowing Eddie to build his new main mode of transportation: a hot rod known as "The Deuce" or "The Druid Plow".

Druid Plow with no customisation

Eddie and Ophelia ride the Druid Plow to safety(after killing a giant three-tongued worm-like creature, and the main story then begins. The objective of the game is to free the humans from the grip of the Tainted Coil, a race of demons who created the humans, while spreading the word of metal. The player achieves this through starting an army of humans he rescued which he calls "Ironheade". The 'e' on the end is so that people know they aren't messing around. As the game goes on, Eddie makes friends with various heroes(the main one of which ends up dying halfway through the game), and continues his job as a roadie, but for the army he is now leading, as he takes the group "on tour" to fight against all those who would stand against metal, which in this game just happen to be the bad guys.

Giant stone sword monuments
 occupy the Age of Metal

Attempting to catch a Razor Fire Boar,
 a boar motorcycle hybrid.

What was harmless(for the most part) in the Age of Modern Man, is all powerful in the Age of Metal. Electric guitars, when played correctly, become one of the most powerful weapons available in game. The correct riffs can literally melt faces, change the sky, and even summon a Zeppelin to come crashing into the ground. The healing power of bass is shown in this game, when the bass players use their guitars to heal the wounded. Rivers flow with liquid metal, spiders weave guitar strings, car parts grow on trees, rock monuments of swords, iron crosses, and the sign of the horns, exist left right and centre. The beasts range from laser-eyed panthers and fire breathing cat/ape hybrids, to steel quilled ground urchins and a boar that is half motorcycle, which also has a steel skeleton that makes a powerful long range weapon when removed.

Ironheade Merch Booth

The main mode of battle when the player is not roaming or on missions, is to hold a rock show. When two 'bands' go to war against one another, each side will set up a stage, where their members will gather to begin the fight. In order for any show to be successful, there must be fans, and in this game, fans come out of a geyser in the ground whenever a show is about to start. In order to get the fans loyalty, the band must set up a 'Merch Booth', because all fans want t-shirts, hats, and other band memorabilia. The more fans a band has, the more powerful they are against the enemy. A war is won when one band has destroyed the stage(s) of their enemies.

The creativity behind making this game deserves recognition, for it brings so many things that are just pure metal, and smashes them into each other to create life in the form of this virtual world. This game is a fight against the evils of black metal, death metal, and glam metal, and it is up to the player to help the followers of true metal reign supreme. Being an immense Metal Head, this game was incredibly fun for me, and will provide the same thrills for anyone else who appreciates the genre, as well as all those who love a game were mediocrity and repetitiveness take a back seat, and you control sheer epicness in the form of a hotrod one can attach guns to.

For these reasons, I give this game an 11/10, because I can, and I did, and you can suck it.

Hail and Kill,
REAP3R

Assassin's Creed 2: Ezio Trilogy

Caution! Spoilers Alert!!!
Note: This review includes Brotherhood and Revelations

Assassin's Creed 2

After the ending of Assassin's Creed, the first instalment to the series, continues with Assasin's Creed 2 at Abstergo in Desmond's room (if that is what you want to call it). Lucy runs in and demands you to get into the animus before time runs out. The story begins with the birth of the next ancestor, Ezio Auditore. You quickly exit the animus and escape out of Abstergo with Lucy. After the escape you end up in some factory where Lucy basically tells Desmond that he has to become an Assassin and begin his training through Ezio by the bleeding effect. This brings the introduction of two new main characters Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane.Then begins your quest through the late 1400's with Ezio as he learns to become an assassin.

In the animus, it begins with Ezio in the room of Cristina (whom you later will find out who she is)and her father catches you and Ezio quickly flees. This portrays Ezio to be a little bit mischievous and a little immature. In Florence, Ezio's father and 2 brothers get convicted of treason after being portrayed and get hanged due to Ezio being unable to save them after getting the clothing and the weapons of the Assassin's. Ultimately, Ezio along with his mother and his Sister are forced to flee to the family's countryside villa where his Uncle, Mario who begins Ezio's training to become an Assassin in Monteriggioni.

In this Trilogy, this game was my favourite by far.I really loved many of the new features in this game. They introduced swimming which was an amazing difference from the first game, where you would touch the water and just die, but in this game you can swim and even escape guards through the water by swimming away from them. I also really enjoyed there being many different cities to travel too because it made it more eventful and didn't make it too boring just browsing around the same city. Ubisoft learned in this one from their mistakes from the previous games and basically fixed all of them up including the map and the amount of collectibles around each city. I also enjoyed the rebuilding of Monteriggioni which allowed you access to new items which made it meaningful to have money. I believe the storyline in this game of the trilogy was great and Ezio was a great character to be the second ancestor in the series. The introduction of the groups such as the Mercenaries was handy to help distract and get away from guards more easily. Finally, the introduction of the Assassin's tombs and Templar tombs were quite good and an easy way to make some quick money. And how can I forget the game-play with Ezio. He climbs quicker, there are so many new ways to assassinate people and countering, the whole experience is changed and it makes the game more enjoyable.

But as always with the goods there are also bads. In this game I didn't have many criticisms of things that were just plain old bad. The first thing is there are some visions of Altair in this game and it doesn't really have much of a connection to the other game. Also, you do get to use Desmond a little bit in this game, but otherwise his presence seems useless until the end of the game. Finally, I didn't like finding Subject 16's glyphs around the city, because you had to find the right building but the end result is interesting even though it doesnt mean much. In this game there weren't many noticeable bugs (I actually didn't encounter any while playing).

At the end of this game, Ezio travels to the Vatican to assassinate the Pope, Rodrigo Borgia and learns the secrets of the Apple of Eden. They also introduce a new piece of Eden, the Staff of Eden in order to open the vault. You head inside and encounter the Pope. You fight him, he takes the Apple from you and stabs you. You later wake up and head to the vault and let the Pope live on. As you go into the vault, you encounter a spirit whose name is Minerva and she uses Ezio to talk to Desmond. She basically explains that the world will come to an end but there is a way to save it by finding the other temples similar to the one Ezio is currently in. You then wake up with Desmond and he starts fighting the Templars from Abstergo.  Desmond moves as though he is Ezio himself as he picks up the skills through the bleeding effect. The game ends with you leaving the hideout.

Rating 9.5/10

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

The next instalment of the trilogy begins with Ezio, looking more mature. Ezio is still in the vault and leaves, but finds the Pope to have fled. The staff is basically useless and your Uncle comes to save you. You head back to Monteriggioni where the city gets destroyed and everyone flees the city through the Hideout under the city. Desmond heads to Rome and you wake up having to open the entrance to Monteriggioni villa through the back entrance. They set up and Desmond enters the animus and he turns up in Rome.

There is somethings which I quite liked about this game. Firstly, the introduction of the kill-streak  This is one of my favourite things about the game. Basically, being able to continue killing foes makes it a lot more fun! Secondly, being able to ride horses again made it quicker to travel but you also had the fast travel stations which were a lot quicker as well. The new equipment such as the parachute and whistling for a horse was quite useful as well. The thing I loved most about this game was the Templar Guilds, claiming them was just more fun to do. The assassin's guild is quite good as well. I really enjoyed training assassin's and then having assassin's to assist you in missions or when you need help. Finally, the missions of Ezio memories, I really liked those because you find out about his girlfriend which you first meet at the very beginning of the trilogy.

Otherwise, I have many problems with this game. Firstly, destroying the city after all your hard work rebuilding them in the previous game was irritating. Also, putting the rebuilding to a new extreme was overdone by the makers as it was way too much work to do to actually rebuild everything for income. Thirdly, the Pope gets killed early on in the game and you feel what am I still doing then. Also, it got a bit boring playing in the same city for basically the whole game. The subject 16 puzzles were boring and I recommend you all give it a miss because it ends up meaning nothing once again. Once again, there are too many collectables to collect and no one can be bothered collecting them since it basically means nothing. I did not like the idea of there being the individual guild missions where you have to achieve a certain amount of kills or whatever, nope don't enjoy doing them. Finally, the introduction of 50% sync and 100% is the worst thing to join the franchise. No man is going to waste his time doing 100% sync if he doesn't have to, I find it quite useless.

At the end of this game, Ezio just kills Cesare Borgia and leaves the Apple of Eden at the Colosseum. You exit the animus. You leave the villa and go to the Colosseum to retrieve the Apple when you encounter Juno another spirit Minerva mentioned at the end of the last game. The whole gang enters the Church to gain access to the location of the Apple. After a lot of manoeuvring with Desmond, you get access to the Temple of Juno. Once again after a lot of manoeuvring Desmond retrieves the Apple of Eden. As Desmond picks up the Apple and Juno makes you kill Lucy. Desmond falls to the ground and that ends of that massive cliff hanger.

Rating: 8.5/10

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

The story begins with Desmond in the animus going through the end of the last game in his mind. He wakes up in the animus on a beach and meets subject 16 and he tells you that your mind and body aren't working together like before, so Desmond has to separate himself from Ezio and Altiar to allow him back to his body by going through all there memories. You enter back into Ezio's memories where you begin at Masyaf in his quest for Altair's library which is under the city. Ezio has matured even more since the last game and finds the libraries entrance. You are told you have to find the Masyaf keys to gain access to the library.

There are some things which I enjoyed about the game. The fast travel is improved in this game which makes it a lot quicker to travel than before. There are a wide variety of missions as well as the introduction of the hook blade and bombs which is quite handy especially when you could slide on the ropes above the city to get to places quickly. I also liked how Altair's memories were also linked into the game. It made it more interesting to see what he did after what happened in the first game as it left many questions unanswered. Otherwise, other than the storyline I didn't really enjoy this game much.

The game first of all seemed to short. I think I finished this game within 24 hours and I had nothing left to do at all which killed the whole year build up to the conclusion of the trilogy. The Templar Guilds were taken too far like they have done with other things in this game. The templars being able to take it back was good but the way you have to defend it was basically impossible and I didn't bother fighting since it was a waste of time. Again, they didn't remove/reduce the rebuilding of the city which I hated by this game because there was even more shops to claim. I didn't want to waste hours on things I didn't need in the game to complete it.  Another thing the didn't remove was the optional sync. Once again, if I couldn't finish 100% sync the first time I would just continue through the game. Finally, the most useless of them all was the Desmond sequences. They were utter crap, just why are you playing with building blocks. It was very poor by Ubisoft to think of playing with that. I skipped them after completing the first one because it was unappealing

At the end of the game, you begin on a horse and carriage with Sofia chasing Ahmet. Selim whom kills Ahmet in the end comes. Desmond then exits the safe zone as it disintegrates. You find out that Lucy was working with Abstergo all along. They planned it from the beginning and were communicating all along with each other to help get there hands on the Apple. After that, your back playing with Ezio and he is with Sofia at Masyaf. You come to the enter the library and you find Altair's skeleton and he holding one last key. This ending is quite neat. You flash back to Altair's memory and you find its a vault not actually a library. It shows Altair doing the opposite of what Ezio was doing, defusing all the lights and he hides his Apple at the back of the library. He sits down on the chair and dies, then it flashes back to Ezio. Ezio then talks to Desmond but refuses to take the Apple. Ezio explains about what he has done with his life and knows that he is just a conduit to reveal information to Desmond. Then it flashes out and he's talking to a unnamed male spirit who explains there are many vault which is used to save the world. He then shows how the world ended in there time and they could do anything about it. Then Desmond wakes up and they introduce his father at the very end of the game. This was another cliff hanger, why are there two Apples, How will Desmond save the world, are just some of the questions we were left asking for another year for the next instalment to be released.

Rating: 8/10

By Armaan Nawaz

Assassin's Creed Review

Caution: Some Spoilers in the following post!

The introduction to the series produced by Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed was released. They begin the story by introducing Desmond Miles the protagonist, entering the animus but it encounters problems. The animus is a device which can simulate ancestral memories of the person who enters it. In this opening scene you also introduced to Lucy Stillman and Warren Vidic who work for Abstergo Industries. This company is owned by Templars and they kidnap Desmond to be able to access his memories through the animus.

Desmond enters the animus and along comes the introduction of Altair, who seems very careless and ambitious. The first mission show Altair attempting to retrieve one of a series of artifacts known as the "Pieces of Eden" from the Solomon Temple, but unfortunately get stopped by the head of the Templars Robert de Sable. While trying to retrieve the artifact, Altair breaks all three tenants of being an Assassin, "Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent", "Hide in plain sight" and "Do not compromise the Brotherhood", all broken while trying to assassinate de Sable and fails. Altair returns to Masyaf, the home of the Assassins, to Al Mualim (the leader of the Assassins) demotes Altair to a novice but gives him the chance to rise through the ranks once again by assassinating nine templars across the Holy Land in order to restore peace between the Crusader and Saracen forces.

After all this, you begin your journey with Altair on the mission to assassinate each Templar, soon to learn how each target is connected to de Sable and how they aim to end the Crusades and place the Holy Land under their own control. This is where you learn how to become an assassin from the basics all the way to the most advanced of skills. This aspect of the game is good and it helps you build a good understanding of the game and as you progress through the game it can become quite difficult towards the end of the story. Probably the most impressive of the things you do are all the animations such as the eagle vision which comes very handy as you progress, view points and the best of them all the animation while you assassinate a person. The most impressive animation of them all is when the leap of faith is performed, just how you drop into bale of hay, it is quite amazing as well as totally unrealistic but that doesn't matter. I enjoy this game overall because it can keep you busy for quite a while do meaningful missions to get to your ultimate goal.These are many aspects of the game which are quite good but there are others that a quite poor.



To begin on the negative side of things, the biggest problem with the game is the map. I don't know who designed the in-game map but they absolutely did an atrocious job at it. You cant even see the paths, buildings or anything except the icons which are on the full map which you can use to get to a certain mission. This makes the game quite frustrating as you can go the wrong way at times and you constantly have to open the full sized map to find where to go and its very irritating! The next thing which was quite bad was the animus walls which prevented you from accessing areas of the map. I understand the purpose but it is quite bad because if you go to a place, you do expect to be able to access everything and everywhere in that place or at least make it more mysterious like block off the entrance to the place. Then you have the Kingdom where someone would attack you just because you walk near them. It is quite frustrating that you are constantly running away from people. Also, you have all these collectables which are meaningless other than just for the fact that you have got them all and you don't even get rewarded for your efforts as well. Finally outside of the main gameplay, you would come out of the animus to play as Desmond, but you couldn't do anything at all with him despite interacting with some options which I found to be quite lame and a bit of waste of time. They should of let you do more around the room and allowed you to learn more aout everything that was happening.

Eventually, you will kill all 9 Templars and Altair comes to relise that all these Templars believed they were doing good and despite you killing 9 they mention that there was a tenth member, this member being the leader of the assassin's Al Mualim. You were basically used by Al Mualim to kill the other members so he could have to artifact to himself. Altair returns to Masyaf where he confronts Al Mualim and kills Al Mualim who carried the "Apple of Eden". Once Altair gets his hands on the Apple, it lights up and it shows the world with numerous locations of the other Pieces of Eden across the globe. Once this is done, you come back to play with Desmond who finds out that Absergo is a modern-day front of the Templars who seek these other artifacts which are identified in Altair's memory.

Overall, the game is a great opener to the series. The story is great and there are many surprises plus you do learn quite a lot on where the game and allows you to understand the game better. There were several issues as I mentioned before with the gameplay, which made the game more difficult to play and made the experience harder which could put people from playing through the series. Despite these issues, I still loved the game and I highly recommend this game.

Rating: 8/10

By Armaan Nawaz

Call of Duty: Black Ops Review

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first person shooter game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It's the seventh game in the call of Duty series and is the first to be set in the cold war. Essentially there are three main game types; Campaign, Multi-player and Zombies.

In campaign, you play as Alex Mason. He is trapped in an interrogation room being held for information. Stopping the production and usage of a chemical weapon known as 'nova-6' is the players’ ultimate goal. Missions in the game are essentially flashbacks between 1961 and 1968. The players’ mission locations are worldwide and give a chance to explore different terrains and as well as guns and equipment that is suited for that type of mission. It's easy to follow and difficulty levels can be set to suit your level of skill. Overall it’s pretty exciting with vast variety of guns and gadgetry. 8.5/10

Selecting Zombies allows players to have a game of survival against waves of zombies and tests players’ skills and strategy decisions. It can also be played with up to 4 other people. Essentially there are a few maps which the player can choose before entering a game. Once a game is started the player gain points/money which is earned by killing zombies, either by knifing or shooting. Players can then buy perks, equipment, upgrade weapons and unlock extra rooms. The main aim is to survive as many waves/hoards of zombies as possible and earn a high kill/point score. It’s a thrilling and horrific game play that gives you a good adrenaline rush!  7/10

Multi-player is known to be the game's best aspect. It is very interactive and competitive with hundreds of thousands of players playing every day. The great thing about multi-player is the amount of guns and customization that can be done. Players start off with basic guns and equipment but earn money after each game. Games can range from search and destroy (plant a bomb in designated areas and defend it. kill all enemy players. The role is swapped between teams) to domination (Capture the 3 flags and hold them as enemy try to capture them). With the money the players earn, they can buy things such as guns, perks, equipment, weapon and player camouflage, emblem shapes etc. These all make the multi-player mode exciting and interactive. However the game quickly gets boring if friends are not playing with you. Also because there are no dedicated servers the 'hosts' are players which most of the time works for their advantage and therefore can get really frustrating at times. However despite this the game makes up for it with creative maps, awesome guns and excellent graphics.  9.5/10

By Kamil Dalecki.