Stranglehold. ehhh

I recently got a game called, Stranglehold from a pawnshop. Because it had no name recognition, I was thinking it was going to be, “Okay” at best. Unfortunately, I turned out to be right. Stranglehold had TONS of action and plenty of awesome guns—which is always good for keeping my interest.

It definitely had a lot of downsides though, one of them being the fact that the character and the game didn’t change much from beginning to the end. In most games, as levels go on, your MC steadily improves and, by the end, he is super awesome! Not in this one. Throughout the game, the only character growth you see is minor abilities that you get every couple of levels. You have a gauge at the bottom of your screen, when it fills up, it allows you to use these abilities. 

 Also, when it comes to mobility, John Woo (the main character) didn’t let me do much. The only thing I could do, with the exception of running, is a slow-motion dive in one direction. That was cool when the game opened, but it got stressful and annoying when I wanted to jump over a  wall and all I could do is dive face first, in slow motion, toward the brick barrier. I also couldn’t climb fences or get on top of ledges. I felt very limited in my ability to maneuver.

The point is, I would have been ready for the final boss battle at the beginning of the game and to be honest, I could have cared less about the main character. The general feel of the game was cool, but it seemed as if it shouldn’t have been released yet. It definitely needed more character development, some kind of growth in the character and better mobility. I give this game a 4.8 for little change and bad flexibility--but a good fighting system and decent graphics.

God of war 3 : brutal? or laughable?

When I first got God of War 3, it was for one reason and one reason only. I had recently heard it was the most violent game on the market.  It was. The game starts out with me riding on a tree giant, as I fight my way up Mount Olympus. I found shortly after the beginning just how brutal the game was, as I ripped off the claw of my enemy and used it to impale him through his heart. I soon found myself fighting Poseidon. Although the battle was kind of easy, the finish was indescribable. I watch--through Poseidon’s eyes--as I beat him to a bloody pulp, and then throw him off a cliff. Let’s just say, Kratos isn’t the nicest guy.  Apparently neither is his father, Zeus. I finally reach the top of Mt. Olympus, just for Zeus to throw me back down and cast me into the underworld.

The game got darker from there, as I cast aside any morals I may have previously had (which wasn’t difficult, since I had next to none anyway) and battled my way out of hell. I ripped, stomped and incinerated too many people to count. After I impaled a huge Cyclops through its eye with my double Blades of Exile, the beast roars as blood and slime oozes from its eyeball. After much effort and button pushing, I rip it from the socket and toss it to the side. I rapidly stab the gaping bloody hole, then jump to the--now blind--monsters shoulders and use it to fight off nearby enemies. After beating all of them, I stab its neck repeatedly until it collapses to the ground and explodes  into green and blue orbs. Then I walk away--as if that wasn't incredibly unnecessary and rude. God of war displays brutality under a shining spot light, and goes out of its way to make the game more violent with each battle. This game let me destroy mythical beasts, thousands of minions of hell, and not-very-immortal-gods in a way that will probably scar me for life.

It seemed as if Kratos had finally grown a heart, when he let a slave out of a chamber. He walks her to a door. The door must be held up, as it comes down too fast to go under it. So, he kills two birds with one stone. One: he puts the girl out of her misery. Two: he uses her body to hold open the gate.

 Later in the game, I find that Kratos has some family issues after he kills his mother, his brother and finally (in a not-so-epic last battle,) his farther. That left me unsatisfied, considering I beat Zeus in less than ten minutes.

All in all I give this game a 5.7 for a character that I had no sympathy for, a camera angle that made me feel out of the action, and a weak story line that sometimes got too theatrical. 

Assassins Creed Brotherhood...aka: Assassins Creed 2.5?

I decided that the one thing the world is in desperate need of is another

friggin blog--so here I am. I'll mostly be reviewing video games--hence the

name of the blog--but (since my wallet is generally empty and I can't buy all

 the video games I want) every now and then I'll mix it up with movie reviews and book reviews--especially if they pertain to video games. I'm also hoping to get some interviews with the writers/developers. Now that you know what this blog is about, I really hope you'll stick around!

I finished Assassins Creed Brotherhood about a month ago and have had some time to let it sink in. When Assassins Creed 2 came out, I wasn’t thrilled, considering the only thing I had heard about the franchise was AC1 was redundant. The game did look good in the trailer though, so I gave it a shot. It ended up being one of the best games I have ever played. It had a long story filled with plenty of action and surprises to keep me hooked to the very end. I felt like I needed to squeeze every drop out of the game, so I went back and completed all of the extras, such as the trophies, races, chambers, etc… Those parts were almost just as much fun as the storyline. By that point, I was so involved in the game that I was just happy to be playing more AC2.

When I heard AC Brotherhood was coming out, I nearly self-combusted with excitement. I followed it down to the release date, checking the website sometimes more the once a day. When the big day finally arrived, I brought my copy home and started playing the second I got in the door. The first thing I noticed was the similarities between AC Brotherhood and its predecessor. 

The game picks up the second after AC2 ended. While I still loved the character of Ezio, it felt like it was an expansion pack of Assassins Creed 2, rather than its own game. Now I’m not complaining, any fan of Assassins Creed 2 will be a fan of this game. It has plenty of extra game play, a fresh story line and many more conspiracies. However, it also had its faults. When they tried bringing back the feather hunt, in the form of Borgia flags, it fell flat. There were over 100 flags, so it was nearly impossible to collect them all. They also made the fighting system even easier then Assassins Creed 2 (which I didn’t think was necessary) by adding kill streaks and allowing you to mow down ten to twenty enemies at a time. 

On the other hand, the tailing missions, along with the missions where you couldn’t get detected, were amazing. They made my heart go three hundred miles an hour. I took guards out secretly from the shadows and tailed my target until I finally got to thrust my hidden blade into his back and have a deep conversation with him in a completely white world, while holding him in my arms. Awesome.

In the trailer, they really focused on the brotherhood of assassins, so I thought that would be one of the best parts.  While I loved the feeling of setting my assassins loose on a group of guards, it made the game much less challenging. With smoke bombs, cross bows, poison and a friggin army of assassins, the game should have been called Assassins Ease.  

There is also a whole different layer to the game with Desmond's story. When you're not being bad-ass Ezio, you're playing the role of Desmond Miles (Ezio's future great, great grandson or something). Desmond's story comes off too animated though, with the same phrases used repeatedly--like, everytime he uses the pulley system he says, "up we go!" It got really annoying after awhile. Frankly, none of the characters drew me in during Desmond's story. Ezio and Claudia always had my full attention, but with Desmond I wandered a bit. I would have enjoyed that part if they had developed his story more and given him more realistic dialogue. 

The online gaming had excellent action, fast-paced gaming, and an array of excellent killing styles. However, it got frustrating, as you often got spawned right next to your enemies. I also didn’t like that online version wouldn’t always allow me to stun my pursuers, even though i caught them off guard . 

 

All in all, I give this game a 7.5 for great graphics and over twenty-five hours of game play.  I’ll definitely purchase AC4. That being said, I really hope that AC4 includes a difficulty setting, for those of us who don’t like to breeze through a game with little challenge. 

What about you? What did you like/dislike about it? Do you have any other games that you would recommend or would like me to review? Let me know...thanks. (Now I'm going to disappear back into the shadows, Ezio style...)