I'm back! And, three games down!

I'm back. Boston was amazing. Throwdown life changing. I met a boat load of wonderful people. I'm going back for more in December.

I also got some gaming in. Three games finished since the last post.
Let's start with:

Game Title: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
Published by: Ubisoft

Assassin's Creed is a series I've enjoyed since the first game was released in 2007.  The series has great visuals, a compelling story, and my favorite living voice actor, Nolan North!

Brotherhood picks up immediately after the events of Assassin's Creed 2.  If you haven't played AC2, please do yourself a favor and put down the $20 it runs now and play through it before started AC:B.  You'll be glad you did.

You're back in Ezio Auditore de Firenze's cape and hood and his life is in shambles.  His Villa has been destroyed by those pesky Borgia, his Uncle Mario killed during the assault, and the Templars are now in possession of the Apple of Eden, the most powerful weapon in the world.

It's up the Ezio to take over Rome, lead the Assassin's Guild to a better future, avenge his uncle, and retrieve the Apple of Eden back from the Borgia.

AC:B Brotherhood can be looked at as AC 2.5.  The game play hasn't changed, the control are the same.  A few new weapons have been added (i.e. now you can shoot poison darts, which is awesome).  The biggest changes to the franchise are the ability to recruit assassin's to your cause and multiplayer.

Recruiting assassin's is a lot of fun.  You start by saving a civilian from Borgia guards. They then dedicate themselves to your cause.  Then you can send them off for off-screen missions, gaining experience.  Once you've recruited two assassin's, you can call them to your aid during fights with guards.  Six assassin's brings you an "Arrow Storm" attack where when utilized, a rain of arrows comes pouring down off screen, killing all Borgia guards in the area.  This came in very handy when a mission told me if I wanted 100% synch, I had to kill 8 heavily armoured guards in 15 seconds or less...

Multiplayer is a whole different beast. While I normally shy away from MP, I decided to give it a try.  You select your character and blend in with the crowd. You are hunting a target and other assassin's are hunting you.  I couldn't figure it out very well, but I nailed two trophies.  I unfortunately won't be Platting AC: trophywise because there are too many trophies related to MP feats and I have other games to play.

AC:B was one of the best games I played in 2010 and I eagerly await the next installment, when ever that is released.

Game number two.

Game Title:  Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Published By:  Activision

Now here's an oldie from the PS3 first year in 2006, Marvel Ultimate Alliance.  A game from before Trophy Support.  It's a good, brainless beat 'em up game, very similar to the X-Men Legends games from the previous generation of counsels. 

MUA features a top down camera.  The game play is pretty simple, with you in control of one hero and three AI controlled heroes on your team.  Certain hero combos provide bonuses (i.e. play as the Fantastic Four, get a team bonus, X-men characters, a different team bonus, all girls, etc.).

The game is about 16 - 17 hours long and it's nothing more than a simple beat up every bad guy on the screen.  Sure, you unlock new powers, you can perform combo powers with other heroes, and use powers to solve some puzzles, but, the game remains a pure brainless buttonmasher.  Not that that's a bad thing at all.

If you like the Marvel character, this game is some good fun.  If you're looking for a great story, look some where else.  The story brings in a bunch of villains who normally don't have anything to do with each other but throws them together as the Masters of Evil, which reminds me of the old Acts of Vengeance cross-over Marvel did in the late 80s.  The Big Bad is Dr. Doom, who by game's end is wielding the Power Cosmic and has remade Earth into his own Planet Doom.

I think this game would be even more fun with three friends playing it with you.

Things do get tedious and the level designs are completely out of balance, with the first three Acts of the game being extremely long, which with a game where you're just beating everything up, gets old very quickly. The last two Acts go by so quickly you wonder if the designers themselves grew bored.

There are some cool visuals.  The battle with against Galactus on the Skrull homeworld is pretty nifty.

One word of advice, if you're playing this game on the PS3.  Turn of the "tilt" in the options.  The Six Axis response to this is horrendous and almost makes the game unplayable when you get to spots that require a Quicktime Event.

Last but not least, game number three.

Game Title:  Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Published By:  Activision

Yep, that's right. As soon as I finished Marvel Ultimate Alliance and popped in the sequel, released in 2009.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 took all the things that were a little wonky about 1 and made them better. Graphically the game is a lot more polished, controls handle better, character selection is great, mostly because they included Gambit and I pretty much played him the entire time.

The biggest improvement was the storyline.  This one made since, and followed the big cross-over from a few years ago "Civil War."  Here heroes have turned against each other after the U.S. makes a law that super heroes have to register their secret identities with them and undergo training to help better protect innocents.

The game is bigger and better than the first one, yet still incredibly tedious.  The formula isn't a bad one, the constant beat up, beat up, beat up.  The other three heroes in your party handle better and Fusion combos are easy to perform.

The game isn't as long as the first one and the length in levels is pretty easily balanced.  Unlike MUA1, I didn't find myself begging for a level to finally be over.

You are also given two options in the game, to be Pro or Anti Super Hero Registration Act.  I chose Anti for my first play through.  I may go back and play on the Pro setting but that's a ways in the future. I am on a schedule here.

Finally, to wrap things up, I already broke my resolution of now new games until I have a few more PS3 games under my belt.  Target had Guitar Hero Van Halen on clearance for $13.  I had to grab it.  It's all David Lee Roth era Van Halen, which I love and much like Rock Band, it will never be on the Shelf of Shame, so perhaps it doesn't count as breaking my resolution.  The biggest challenge is when Dead Space 2 is out next week. I just need to get a few more games knocked off the PS3 list and then I will be okay to pick something else up.

Next Level:  The Saboteur