Gaming Bros

When a triquel comes to mind, you would think there would be improvements in all aspects, having experienced the complete opposite in many other gaming titles, I feared that Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood would fall under the same fate, well I was wrong.

Starting off right where Assassin’s Creed 2 ended, you play as our all time favorite assassin Ezio roaming around Rome and completing memories. The single player is very much like the previous Assassin’s Creed games and to some, it is the best part of Brotherhood. The gameplay is very familiar and brings back the excitement that I felt when playing the previous Assassin’s Creed games. One thing I will say is that the story doesn’t advance too much and therefore doesn’t really feel like a sequel to me, I would call it Assassin’s Creed 2.5.

As always, Assassins Creed developers get better at what they do as the Assassin’s Creed series moves on. In Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood I can truly see how a series of games can be modified until perfected. An example of this is with the combat of Brotherhood, where the slight tweaks from Assassin’s Creed 2 makes it perfect. Another advancement is the sheer size of the game. With loads of sub-missions to complete to only have you distracted from completing the main mission of the story.

Now for the biggest addition to the Assassins Creed’s saga, Multiplayer. In multiplayer, you play as a wide variety of Templar’s that have been assigned a target which you have to kill. In this game mode, put simply, you run around looking for your target to assassinate while someone else is chasing to kill you at the same time. The multiplayer is very original, as many would agree that it is the most refreshing multiplayer of 2010. However after a couple of hours of playing, I experienced that it can get very repetitive and somewhat boring. Within 2 days I already had lost interest in the multiplayer and went back to player single player mode.

One issue that I felt regarding Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was the difficulty. To me, difficulty of a game is very important. As I sort of enjoy repeating a level or stage a couple of times before progressing. This is something that Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood lacks, its just too easy. Because of the fact that now you can train other assassins by sending them on missions, and using them to help you fight is just not demanding enough. Memories become to simple and not in the least challenging and therefore I feel that this aspect of the game really brings the overall rating down.

All in all, if you are craving some more Ezio action then this is definitely worth the time. Being able to run around, climb towers and kill guards is always fun and  because  of this it will still be one of the favorites of 2010.

3.5 out of 5

After a year of waiting, Activision release yet another edition to the Call of Duty Series,  Call of Duty: Black Ops. Holding the title of one of best selling games in the last decade, Black ops does not disappoint. This game has so much content that it’s hard for me to justify to myself to play another game.

I’ll start with the single player mode. It came to a shock to me, but the campaign mode isn’t your average shoot everyone you see game. It has a great story and can be comparable to a lot of your other single player games. With a combination of good graphics, great voice acting and just awesome story you will always want to go to the next chapter and continue to blow things up. One complaint I have is the length of the campaign mode, Finishing it on my first sitting, 6 hours, was kind of disappointing but was not surprising as I expected Treyarch developers would spend more time on the two other game modes.

Next comes Nazi Zombies. This is a co-op game mode where you can battle against AI with three of your friends,  fighting a horde of human/dog zombies with only a couple of bullets left in your shotgun. Its definitely a game mode that everyone should try and I can bet that everyone will love it. It’s tough to find anything wrong with this game mode as its one of the more laid back part of Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Finally we come to the biggest part of Call of Duty: Black Ops, multiplayer mode. It’s been three weeks since I was waiting in line at the midnight release of this game and I currently have 4 days of playing time on this mode. The multiplayer mode is just like any other call of duty game having smooth game play, great graphics and the highest selling point to me, the fast pace of the game. Introducing the CoD points just makes the multiplayer that much better. However, this mode really tests a player’s skill and if you thought you were good at older call of duty games, wait till you try a gun that has so much recoil you can’t even hit your enemy.

The thing about Call of Duty: Black Ops that makes it a great game is balance. Unlike Modern Warfare 2 where some guns/attachments/perks combinations were impossible to beat, Black Ops best feature is the balance that they made between guns. A problem that everyone found in Modern Warfare 2 was the lack in community service. To this day, developers of Modern Warfare 2 have released 3 patches, whereas with only three weeks into Black Ops, they have released nine patches and this is a huge deal to players like myself. The few minor problems I experienced were problems like server lag, frame rate drop, large knifing range and just bad spawning, which I have experienced on both the 360 and PS3. However, I am very confident that Treyarch are doing everything they can to patch these problems. Comparing the multiplayer on Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, Black Ops is without a doubt, a “funner” game, mainly because it is much more difficult to do well on and gives people a challenge and that’s what I love about the game.

In conclusion, If you are looking for a game that keeps you from doing any studying for class, than this is the game for you. Black ops‘s fast pace is definitely the highest selling point to me and is exactly what I was looking for in a multiplayer game. Therefore Call of Duty: Black Ops should definitely be a game you buy this year.

4.5 out of 5