The Assassin’s Creed series has been weaving its tale of the worldwide war between the Assassins and the Templars since the first game released in 2007. And while the first game in the series received a lot of complaints for its repetitious gameplay, its sequel moved the fight to Italy and gave the player a whole new array of activities to take part in as the assassin Ezio Auditore attempted to recover the Apple of Eden from Pope Rodrigo Borgia. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood joins the series directly after the events of the second game and furthers the tale of Ezio’s fight against the Borgias. Does this latest entry into the series add enough to both the series’ narrative and gameplay to warrant your attention? Let’s break down the single player element of the game and, in a series’ first, the multiplayer portion of the experience.

Single Player

Brotherhood begins in the exact moment Assassin’s Creed II ends. In this sense it truly feels like a continuation of the previous game, though it is much larger than any kind of expansion pack and is definitely worthy of its own moniker. It’s built on exactly the same engine, so don’t expect graphical upgrades or a different experience visually, but the content speaks for itself. Weaving my way through the storyline, it took me almost fourteen hours to work my way to the rolling credits.

Brotherhood takes the game’s fight to Rome and expands the main character’s persona from a singular, deadly assassin to the leader of an entire guild of killers. The Borgia family’s influence is spreading across the land and the diabolical Cesare Borgia is at the head of the family’s plans. Working with historical figureheads like Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli, Ezio and the assassins work to return power to the people and keep the conniving family from taking over Italy itself.

This time around you’ll get new weapons like the Crossbow, which can take enemies out from afar, and you can even fight from horseback. You also have the ability to pick up medium-size weapons and knock attackers off of their horses rather than weather their barrage from above. One of the most pleasing additions to the combat system is the addition of execution streaks. In Brotherhood you can chain kills together. By pulling the directional stick towards another attacker, you are able to slaughter them in a single hit rather than waiting for them to attack. This chain of kills can continue until somebody manages to hit you mid-lunge. But you’re often able to pick off five or more guards with a single series of attacks. It’s a handy way to save time and get yourself out of some sticky situations.

The entire game, outside of a few scattered memories and the final battle take place in the huge expanse that is Rome of the 1500s. The map is enormous and there is an overwhelming amount to explore. And with a city so rich in history, the landscapes manage to remain varied, taking Ezio through city streets, ancient ruins, and into boats on the water. And with a map so big it’s easy to get lost, so this entry into the series introduces a tunnel system which allows the player to fast-travel from one point in the city to another. You can also visit stables set across the city in order to procure horses to help you get around.

But these tunnels and stables aren’t freely available to you from the start. The Borgia influence is spread far and wide and you’ll be need to kill Borgia Captains in order to free up certain areas of the city and allow you to also purchase bankers, blacksmiths, tailors and even landmarks. Only the first Captain fight is part of the main storyline, so it’s up to the player’s discretion to decide just how much of Rome they want to liberate to the cause. For each business purchased, Rome’s value goes up and Ezio earns money which he can withdraw from the banks that he has unlocked.

Review by Anders Fredericksen

Mass Effect 3 is the end of the galaxy. Back in 2007 BioWare gave us the first part of this space epic, in which our Commander Shepard became the first human Spectre and fought a rogue Spectre and a living spaceship (a Reaper.) 2010 brought Mass Effect 2 and a story focused on Shepard working with a pro-human terrorist group, to track down a hostile alien race that is kidnapping whole colonies of humans, working for a Reaper as well. It ends with the foreboding news of an incoming galactic invasion by the Reapers. Mass Effect 3 is set to complete that story arc, by way of either winning or losing this galactic conflict.

Graphically Mass Effect 3 is at once a step forward and backward from the previous two games, strangely by way of the same feature. Both ME1 and ME2 had a film grain filter that gave the game a softer edge to all its assets; it was designed to remind us of the sci-fi films from the fifties and sixties. ME3 forgoes the filter entirely and while the graphics are sharper and definitely good-looking, it does lose some of the campy charm of the first two titles.

The audio landscape of the galaxy is good – weapons sound about as punchy as they can, given they mostly fire metal shavings that are being shoved past a mass effect field to accelerate them to white-hot-murder speeds. While the music is being handled by a different team than the first two games, you won’t notice. It hits almost all the points you want. Voice acting is the real shining point of the AV experience with respected actors from both film and game lending their voices. As a result, almost everyone is very well acted and comes across with real feeling.

Combat in the game feels satisfying. Mind you this isn’t going to be beating Gears of War to the bullet, but it is responsive and fun to play. Weapons have gotten a big overhaul that allows players to pick almost whatever they want without regard to class. Powers cool down faster based on the weight you have packed on, and you can also slap two mods onto any gun that boost damage or cover penetration among other variants, so it grants more combat options even when gearing up. Most of the powers and abilities make a return with some changes that come late in the leveling choices.

Leveling has moved to a more team focused affair, with the last three pips granting passive buffs that often effect the whole team. The same can be said for leveling your team. While I am not sure if it was intended, they did give you a combat win button if you roll with Liara: level her right and she can be throwing black holes around with reckless abandon.

With The Darkness II we see a return to the life of Jackie Estacado as head of his mob family enterprise. He has the Darkness that is inside him which manifests itself in healing powers and, more noticeably, the ability to wield two tentacle-like arms complete with fang-filled mouths at the ends. Ones good for picking up and throwing, while the other is handy for your hack-n-slash needs. However, after the events in the first Darkness game, where Jackie saw his girlfriend come to an untimely end due to his involvement with the dark power he possesses, he vowed to hide it in himself and never let it out, for fear that more lives would be destroyed by it. In the opening sequences to the game we see Jackies hand is forced when his gang is brutally attacked by unknown assailants, and Jackie is forced to unleash the Darkness in order to survive.

Whats here, story-wise, isnt really forging any new paths. At its core its a tale of love lost, of an opposing force bearing down and forcing a protagonist to make difficult decisions for the presumed better good. However, getting into the intricacies of the story-line, I found myself getting more and more hooked. This is undoubtedly partially due to the fact that I love mafia movies. They typically romanticize the crime and violence undertaken by these criminal organizations. While you wouldnt think a game that involves a mob leader in possession of two demon appendages capable of some pretty ridiculously gruesome killings something that could also tug at the heart-strings a little bit, youd be proven wrong by this title. Jackie is hit by the recent loss of his girlfriend and the way it plays out with delirious visions and flashbacks does a pretty good job of making you more and more invested in the characters playing out this story.

The most noticeable change in The Darkness II over its predecessor is the visual style. Digital Extremes saw fit to utilize a cel-shaded type of graphics, and in my opinion it worked out very well for them. It enables the game to remain very faithful to the comic book origins of the series. It also helps to give you a more stylized version of the world, since it is vital to your survival to remain in the dark, avoiding bright lights. You never feel as though things are muddied and indistinguishable; everything stays crisp and clear even in the darkness (no pun intended).

The voice acting is passable – its not horrible nor is it the best Ive ever heard. As I said before, Im a big fan of mobster movies, so it was nice to hear Estacados associates speaking with their thick accents and such. The lip-syncing is not great at all though. I wanted it to look so much better than it does. I know that in the grand scheme of things something like this is pretty minor, but it stuck in my head with enough persistence that I felt the need to share. While we are on the topic of audio, I really liked the music in the game. It sets the mood well, isnt distracting and isnt non-existant. The inclusion of The Flamingos classic doo-wop ballad I Only Have Eyes For You in a couple of key scenes (which I wont spoil for storyline purposes) is the icing on the aural cake.

This is definitely not a perfect game, however. When shooting enemy after enemy, you will pick up on the seemingly-canned stagger animation. I could not make a foe have a different response to a bullet ripping through his flesh by shooting say, his left leg or his right shoulder. It all resulted in the same stumble. At least if you score a head-shot (which typically results in a one-shot kill for non-armored adversaries) the animation will change, with the enemy quickly slumping to the ground, lifeless.

And while we are talking about gameplay nuances, one thing frustrated me a good bit. The hit-boxes of environment set-pieces were solid, even for items that have holes or openings in them. Let me give you an example. In one area I was in a lower position,shooting up on a ledge to some gun-toting baddies who had it in their minds to stem my progress. One of them was hiding behind a park bench – the kind that is comprised of slats of wood with gaps in between. I centered my crosshairs on his skull which was clearly visible in between the slats of the bench, pulled the trigger and… nothing. I hit the bench and nothing more. In a series of games that allow shots like this to work rather easily, or heck, even allow you to break apart or shoot through the bench someone is hiding behind, it was a noticeable item that brought me out of the experience somewhat.

Asura’s wrath is a hard game to classify. At the core it is a love letter to the tropes and conventions of Japanese animation. Asura’s Wrath was released during the relatively slow February period. The game doesn’t really fit into the action/adventure genre, neither could it be classified in the ‘interactive movie’ genre/ Should you play through Capcom’s latest genre-bending tale of revenge and demigods or wait until it descends into the bargain bin?

You take the role of Asura, one of the eight “guardian generals” who defend a planet very similar to earth called Gaea and its habitants from various threats. Despite the fact that eight generals are revered by the planets population their latest threat, monsters known as the Gohma, threaten not only the planets population but also the demigods themselves. As the threat of the Gohma increases integrity and the protection of the planet make way for betrayal and deceit. The story is very angsty but that is to be expected given the game’s unique presentation.

The presentation of Asura’s Wrath can best be described as “the best adaptation of the Anime episode structure ever in a videogame”. For the uninitiated Asura’s wrath follows the traditional narrartive style that has been used by Japanese Animators for the past twenty or so years. This means that each of the game’s 18 chapters is divided into two portions (let’s call them A & B). In between A and B the game will presents you with title cards in-between what would be the commercial break. Each episode also includes credits during the open and closing. If you are not interesting in Anime the presentation might be a bit of a turn off or feel odd, I happen to be a huge fan of Anime and this is some of the best implementation of the format I’ve seen in a videogame. Very few games have tried this approach, Phantasy Star Universe comes to mind, and it was cringe worthy at best in PSU. In Asura’s Wrath everything seems to work.

The overall tone of Asura’s Wrath is in complete service of the presentation. What I mean by this is that Asura’s Wrath uses tropes and character motives that have been used by dozens upon dozens of Japanese Animes in the past. Asura as a character is full of drive and hatred for the other seven generals who have betrayed him. This means that like Shonin Animes (animation aimed at the male market) Asura makes constant reference to the bonds that have been broken and the fighting spirit that drives him to find his daughter. Just like a television series each episode ends with a cliffhanger that will make you want to keep pushing through until the conclusion.

You will find a variety of gameplay options over the course of Asura’s 18 episodes. Wrath has been billed as a third person action game by Capcom but this isn’t exactly accurate. During the majority of your time with Asuras wrath you’ll spend time watching what are essentially interactive cutscenes. Whenever a major action event occurs, such as Asura presenting a flying punch, you’ll be prompted with an on screen quick time event. While this may sound boring it makes a lot of sense when you consider the presentation choice Capcom has chosen.

There are multiple other gameplay styles on display during Wrath’s campaign. The game opens in the style of a on rails shooter with Asura descending to Gaea from space, using his demigod powers to shoot blasts at large spaceships and meteoroids. Some games end with moments like this and Asura’s wrath begins with a balls to wall action sequence and does everything it can to keep the action and tension high. There are entire chapters & half chapters that follow this formula but it isn’t used too frequently as to get old. The majority of chapters that involve combat are presented in a third person fashion, as you have seen in some of the game’s trailers. Third person combat is handled similar to God of War and other modern action games from the past six years. Asura has a medium and heavy attack mapped to the face buttons as well as the ability to jump and roll to dodge enemy attacks. Because Wrath is inspired by Anime many of the middle chapters could pass for boss battles in any other games. Asura’s Wrath keeps the tension high by eliminating the waves of repeating enemies and repeating formula seen in other games.

Asura’s Wrath brings a lot of unique elements to the table especially in the presentation department but that isn’t to say there aren’t some presentation hick ups. The voice work, aside from Asura himself who is appropriately gravely given his story and character, is almost completely forgettable. The Unreal 3 engine does a great job with the color plattet and art style Capcom has chosen for Asura’s Wrath but there are a few instances of objects and characters poping in after environments have loaded. There are some really pretty hand drawn dialogue scenes between chapters. Unfortunately they are also the only sections of dialogue in the game that are not fully voice acted and they feel like a bit of an afterthought.

At the end of the day is Asura’s Wrath worth your time? The presentation style in Wrath suits the storyline and characters almost perfectly. If you haven’t been exposed to Japanese Anime or have no interest in learning some of the tropes/conventions of the genre than Asura’s Wrath may not be for you. The campaign can be completed in 6 hours depending on the difficulty chosen but there is a large amount of bonus content including art graperies, cut scenes and information to unlock along the way. As long as you understand that there are large portions of Asura’s Wrath that play more like an interactive movie and less like a videogame it can be a very entertaining ride. Will it attract newcomers outside of its target audience? Probably not, they will might want to wait until the price of Asura’s Wrath comes down a bit.