Last game you finished + Opinion

[Bolivar]

The original Command & Conquer. The gameplay is pretty dated, lacking any form of build queues, waypoints, and the game also has terrible pathing, making units often end up spending twice as much time getting from one point to another than if you had micromanaged them all the way there.

It is none the less a very classical RTS game that anyone with an interest for gaming history should at least try. The game's graphics are naturally pretty simple, being from the mid 90s, but also still bloody enough to give it a 18+ rating at least in europe. It's not too strange really, considering those small soldiers explode in almost a red cloud of blood and organs, and you ended up slaughtering thousands of them through the course of the game. It also has a wonderfully cheesy (but cool!) story line. It was worth every minute I put into it.

Good write-up, I think that originally C&C definitely did something unique with the live action videos giving you your orders, made it seem like you secretly turned your parents' den into a commander center. Or it did to me at the time... ANYWAY the game certainly isn't as balanced as later entries like Red Alert 2 and Generals but it's still a fun, well-designed early RTS. I never did beat either campaign although I think I got to the last mission of both.

[Freya]

I beat Mass Effect 2 again...... Like 6th time. Best game ever. That's my opinion. Hell, I have a ME3 countdown app. Cause you can fight like a krogan, run like a leopard but you can never be better than commander shepard.

[Loony BoB]

The original Command & Conquer. The gameplay is pretty dated, lacking any form of build queues, waypoints, and the game also has terrible pathing, making units often end up spending twice as much time getting from one point to another than if you had micromanaged them all the way there.

It is none the less a very classical RTS game that anyone with an interest for gaming history should at least try. The game's graphics are naturally pretty simple, being from the mid 90s, but also still bloody enough to give it a 18+ rating at least in europe. It's not too strange really, considering those small soldiers explode in almost a red cloud of blood and organs, and you ended up slaughtering thousands of them through the course of the game. It also has a wonderfully cheesy (but cool!) story line. It was worth every minute I put into it.

Now, on to Dune II, my good sir.

Last game I 'finished' (and that depends on your definition of the word when playing this game) was Skyrim. I give it 8/10. Just a little lacking in making me feel like I was a character rather than an avatar... I like my characters to have voice and personality, personally. Could have used a bit more 'urgency' as some have noted, but at the same time, not sure if it would have benefited enough to make me love it more. Major gripe for me that put me off continuing was that I couldn't rebuild the Blades further than just three more members and couldn't get all perks without cheating the system. Beyond that, all good.

[Wolf Kanno]

Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess (Wii): Played this to get myself ready for Skyward Sword, I haven't played it since the Wii came out. I am kind of kicking myself for waiting so long to do another playthrough because TP is easily my favorite 3D Zelda game, and tied with Link to the Past as my favorite Zelda game overall. The game tries for a more cinematic presentation which Ocarina of Time brought to the franchise but blows it out of the water with awesome sequences like the Hyrule Field horseback riding duels, which end in an awesome joust, or the amazing spaghetti western sequence in the Hidden Village, where you have to Bow/Arrow your way through a bunch of goblins, even with fitting music.

The dungeons are really creative and find new ways to utilize old standbys like the boomerang and Iron boots in incredible ways. The Fire Temple/ Death Mountain dungeon is easily one of the coolest dungeons to come out of the series in awhile. The Desert Palace and Temple of Time are also exceptionally awesome and terribly ingenious. The Yeti Mansion dungeon is also very different from typical Zelda titles, merging story with classic Zelda hijinks. The game also utilizes its gimmick much better than most of the Zelda titles, Wolf Link isn't just a simple story mechanism used for a few side quests and reaching dungeons, he's a completely utilized game mechanic that is used in the dungeons and boss fights of the game. The real heart and soul of the game comes from Midna, the titular "Navi" character that helps Link through the game with hints, but unlike Navi, Midna is more like the Minish Cap and actually important to the gameplay and far less annoying, in fact, Midna is the driving force of the story and her relationship with Link is actually quite endearing which makes the ending more bittersweet. The supporting cast is also rather well fleshed out (for a Zelda game) and are pretty endearing and its nice to see Link have a love interest that isn't Zelda.

The game has wonderful mini-games that add variety to the game and its usual plethora of secrets to uncover. The new sword skills also create more variety with combat, especially since several enemy types will require you to master them. The music score is also exceptional, especially any track dealing with Twilight or the final battle. Graphics are pretty stellar and hold up pretty well, though it isn't so nice on a HD console but considering this game is a Gamecube title and the Wii doesn't really support this type of fluff, its not a deal breaker. It's an overall, exceptional experience and I'll never really understand the haters. The game does such a fantastic job merging all its elements together. I hope Skyward Sword lives up to its predecessor.

[Depression Moon]

Batman Arkham City

The game is quite an improvement to Arkham Asylum in almost everyway. The stealth is even better and more challenging, the combat has grown more complex, and there are even more gadgets to fiddle with. The gadgets have a greater use in combat and stealth than they did in the first game which you could really only use the batarang and batclaw during battle in this game you can use every gadget you get in some way in combat and in stealth. The exploration is enriching, there are more boss battles, one fantastic one that reminds me of The Fury in MGS3 and it's even better in New Game Plus. There are some actual puzzles this time around and The Riddler segments are far more than just finding random trophies lying around though those are still in plentiful amounts (too much actually). The campaign is better than the last though shorter, but I say that the story is a little more lacking maybe, but it did have a surprising ending.

A couple of more negatives: A couple of the side missions could have been more engaging. Some of them are literally just go from here to here. The conclusion to almost all of these side missions are not satisfactory. A couple of them serve for teaser purposes of the next game, but all the others I can think of were over way too fast. Throughout the game you'll unlock some campaign modes, but those aren't much different from your challenge maps. They're basically combining three of them in a linear fashion with some custom restrictions thrown in. I also have to make mention of the Catwoman fake DLC. When the game was revealed from the jump they advertised Catwoman like she was an initial part of the package. Her story segments are already on the disc and it was dirty of them to just tell us that you have to pay for her just a week before the game's release.

I wasn't dumb enough to pay it though I just downloaded it off of someone else's account. There is no way I'm going to sell out.

[Bubba]

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Pure class from start to finish. The "Rough Seas" chapter was probably the most visually stunning section I've seen in any game. The ending was a tad anti-climactic so for that reason I'd say it is on-par with Uncharted 2 rather than surpassing it.

[Wolf Kanno]

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood: This is a weird game... This may be due to the fact I don't often play games with Madden style production and release, by which I mean, this game is pretty much AC2 with a few new elements. The game picks up right where AC2 left off and everything seems like it's going to be okay except AC2 does kind of end with Ezio pissing off one of history's most infamous families, the Borgia. So all hell breaks loose shortly in and Ezio finds himself in Rome for revenge against the Borgia. The game also spends more time actually developing the non-historical figures of Desmond and his Assassin cronies. There isn't much to do in these scenes most of the time, but it's nice that Desmond is finally getting off his ass and actually doing something besides Quantum Leaping into his much cooler and more interesting ancestors.

Oddly enough, ACB actually lets Ezio start with all his cool gear from AC2, but in true Metroid tradition, you'll lose most of them at the beginning, though Ezio certainly has amusing ways to lose his gear. Also, as I said, he loses only most of them. You actually get to start off with the upgrades to your hidden blade so you can start poisoning and shooting guards at your delight. You get a few new toys in this game, the ability to fire poison darts, a parachute (think Sly Cooper, it's awesome), and a crossbow which is far more useful than I thought it would be. Many elements were modified or overhauled. Their are now items you collect from treasures, dead bodies, or from missions. Most of it can be sold for quick cash but some of them are connected to shop quests, that unlock new items. The guilds play a larger role in this game as they are the source of your assassination side missions. They also rank you by tasking you to do certain things a number of times, and it nets you some neat swag. The Romulus Cult are the source of this games version of the Assassin's Tombs from AC2, and like AC2, they ear easily my favorite side missions cause they are pure platforming goodness. They net you the best armor in the game (which isn't as cool as Altair's Armor from AC2) and the best dagger in the game. You still get to renovate and buy real estate but instead of fixing up your uncle's crappy villa, you get to buy Rome. The system is a little more in-depth than AC2 and allows you to even add shops in districts or open up small bases for support units you need, these bases themselves can also be changed at any time to suit your needs so if you have missions where you need courtesans instead of thieves, you can build them a base and fill the area with more thief units. One of the new additions is the Borgia Towers which are one of the more underappreciated new elements in the game. These towers are power bases for the enemies and they prevent you from opening shops or buying landmarks, as well as fill the area with soldiers. So you can enter these towers, kill their captains in a mission, and burn the tower. What the game doesn't mention is that these towers also double as Eagle Vision towers so they also fill in your map. No more just hoofing to every high spot and getting the map, now you have to earn it and its very nice cause it doesn't quite get as old as the old method.

Of course the big new game mechanic is the Brotherhood which is fun if a bit overly simple. You recruit people send them on missions or call them into battles and they get XP that can be used to upgrade their gear and their proficiency. Their missions are an easy source of revenue and actually tell you about the world of AC beyond Italy. As minions to summon into battle, they are a bit overpowered as they are all mini-Ezio's. From talking with other fans of the series, I've noticed the Brotherhood makes you fall into two camps: You either become lazy as you let the Brotherhood do all the heavy lifting fights or assassinations, or you completely ignore them outside of sending them on missions to collect more revenue and just do everything yourself. Its a nice addition and it does give Ezio a sense of more power that is rather unique but I kind of feel like the idea is half finished.

One of the other bigger additions is Leonardo's Mission, he built some doomsday devices and tasks Ezio with taking them out. AC can now proudly say they have vehicle missions because these missions involve taking out working versions of actual military devices that Da Vinci created. These missions are also pretty nasty, especially the Glider mission which is frustratingly difficult from beginning to end. Sadly, while you get to use these devices, the game often does a poor job explaining how to use them or fails to mention you get a game over sometimes if you do something it didn't tell you was a game over. The missions are interesting but I kind of feel like they were tacked on mostly due to how unorganized they are compared to the rest of the game. Speaking of frustration, the Subject 16 missions are back and while they are still bizarre and amusing, the puzzles are far more mind boggling and repetitive, they really liked re-using the same four puzzles for all ten sequences and some of them have such left field clues, I'm just going to tell you now, go to GameFaqs, especially for the last puzzle in the last sequence. That puzzles clue makes little sense and I can't fathom how you were suppose to get the solution without a guide. There is also an interesting platform section involved with all this and it's easily the buggiest section of the game. As you're platforming, the surroundings are being generated as you move forward, the problem is that Desmond can often move faster than the game can generate the scenery, so oftentimes, you'll miss a beam of holding point because it didn't generate fast enough and you'll have to start over, even worse, its really easy to get so far ahead that you can run into a generating structure and get stuck in it. I got stuck behind a wall a few times and sadly the only way to get out of this mess is to literally quit the game and go back to the start menu, and considering how loading heavy AC is, this gets tiresome really fast.

These two sections are not the only place where weird bugs pop up. Its not uncommon to watch npcs vanish as you approach them or suddenly appear out of thin air, or get stuck in walls or scenery. Ezio and Desmond have both apparently gained Altiar's annoying habit of sometimes forgetting what he can climb or not. Sometimes freezing in mid-climb as the game tries to figure out if the wooden beam a few inches away is something you can climb onto or not. It's especially noticeable in Desmond's sections, where as Ezio only does it occasionally. Yet, oddly, outside of the Subject 16/Leonardo sections, the rest of the bugs are not really deal breakers for enjoying the game.

Of course the real big addition to this game and its main selling point is multiplayer, which is quite fun and unique. It's really different from the typical 1st/3rd person shooters or RTS style shenanigans, as you basically target other players and try your best to blend into your surroundings better than the other players. You also get points for killing your own assassin though the mechanics are not as easy as I would care for. It's definetly a fun addition though I don't feel it eclipses the solo campaign as much as some people think. Overall, AC: Brotherhood is a great game, but its bogged down by some bugs and some unjustifiable difficulty spikes concerning certain elements. It's basically AC2 with some retooled mechanics a few new tools and elements but it lacks polish that it's successor had. Hopefully, Revelations will get past these hiccups.