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Assassin's Creed Revelations (PS3)
by doomichelle
Genre - Action/ Adventure
Ages - 15 plus
Price - Around 39.99
Publisher - Ubisoft
Available for - PS3/XBOX 360
The concept
Assassin's Creed is the ultimate form of stress release. After a hard day at work there is nothing I enjoy more than coming home and sticking on Assassin's Creed, sneaking ... around the rooftops and stealthily spreading bloodshed and massacre through stylish means. Essentially, you play as Ezio Auditore the star of the last few Assasin's games with small segments inbetween from previous assassin Altaire and modern day assassin Desmond Miles. In this installment, Desmond finds he has quite lost his marbles through use of the animus, a machine that allows him to delve into the memories of his ancestors Altaire and Ezio.
A few years have passed since the events of Brotherhood yet Ezio, though slightly greying is still able to leap from rooftop to rooftop with ease, the greatest free runner in the world. The free running element of Assassin's is what really brings it to life. Despite the fact it may not be realistic, watching Ezio perform these feats opens up the game world so much more than simply running around a level playing field and swiping out enemies. There are many approaches to take when playing this game whether it be the secretive approach or the all guns blazing. Your actions throughout are monitored and do too much to make yourself well known and you will soon see the consequences with guards attacking you on sight. Ezio is once again battling against the templars to uncover the secret behind the mysterious golden apple. They however are not his only enemies as the life of an assassin is not the easiest. It can be hard to make friends.
Gameplay
Not much has changed since the last few games other than the addition of a hookblade which allows Ezio to launch himself further into the air when climbing. He also has the use of bombs which come in several different varities which you can tailor to your own needs at crafting tables. The use of factions is still available and if you complete additional sidequests for them, there may be more abilities unlocked. As with the last game, Ezio as the master assassin is able to recruit other assassins to the cause and train them up to the rank of master assassin by sending them on missions and completing certain quests. Your assassins can be called in combat if you find things get a little sticky. The combat element has not seen much change from the last games either with Ezio being able to chain kills in a streak if he manages to not take a hit and counter kill when enemies take a swipe. Although this makes combat a fluent affair, it does also take away the challenge.
The city of Constantipole can also be renovated by purchasing buildings and shops which adds to your overall income then meaning you can buy more shops and weapons and such. There is treasure to be collected and also fragments of animus memories lying around which all adds to your overall completion of the game. Frankly the only way to make this game last is by doing all of the extra quests dotted around the map as otherwise the main story arch will only take a few hours to whip through.
Pros and Cons
What this game offers is variety, the fact that you can decide which way you go about a mission means you can play it again without feeling like youre doing the same thing over. However the idea of the game is to stay synched with the memories of Ezio, which sometimes means you have to do things in a certain way in order to get 100% Unfortunately, I have sometimes found myself getting caught up trying to do a mission in a certain way and abandoning it in frustration resorting to my own means to get things done. At first the pace of the game is relentless with plenty of missions to do and assassins to recruit and train but I found towards the end I was just collecting treasure and bits of animus which is really not all that interesting. Once you have all your assassins recruited and trained and have collected the books as part of Sofia's sidequest there isn't really much left to be done. I found this game to be much the same as the last couple and the formula is becoming a little old. That isn't to say it isn't a good game because it is but there is nothing on offer to really shake the franchise up. The sidequest offered where you find out more about Desmond's past is in first person and is dull and clunky. Really not worth the effort.
Unfortunately the game can be prone to glitches and freezing or at least I have found this to be the case. Another annoying little niggle is that when you fall off a rooftop, obviously there is a chance you will die.... however sometimes you take a smaller leap which seems achievable as you are sure you have done it before and then ... oh wait ... dead.
The gameplay is however engaging and enjoyable and will keep most amused for a good stretch of time. Some versions of the game also come with the original version of Assassin's Creed included, a blast from the past in case you already sold your copy. There is also multiplayer maps on offer as well so there is still reason to play after you finish the main story by getting your friends involved and proving who is the better assassin.
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Rayman Origins (PS3)
by doubleheman
Introduction
Rayman Oringins is a game that has been devolved and published by Ubisoft. The game has been made for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Playstation Vita. This is a review of the version for Playstation 3.
It's a Screen scrolling Platformer and you have to travel through worlds defeating ... enemies and following the action packed storyline.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Entertaining storyline
Good looking gameworld
Cons
None
My Opinion
I'm glad that there is a new Rayman game, I have always enjoyed playing Rayman games. When I was growing up in my childhood.
Gameplay
This game plays really well, in some ways it feels a lot like the old Ryman games to play but it has a huge updated feel and I feel that it works well. In my opinion the game has been designed with the idea of the user. The game feels like it just wants you to keep playing it no matter what gets in your way or if you find that you are stuck the gameplay gets rather addictive.
Singleplayer
The singleplayer story is very easy to understand but I thought that was a good thing, I did find that playing singlepalyer was entertaining and there was always lots of things to do and find.
I liked the boss battles for you to get stuck into, I felt that it was rewarding when I had completed a difficult level then when I had completed the boss battle it did make me feel rewarded in a way that I have not found in some of the other big single player games released to date, I liked that.
Multiplayer
In my opinion I like the multiplayer experience, there is no online mutliplayer but there is a co op mode. You can play with up to four players and it works well because the advantage of having extra people is weighed out because it gets so mad you can loose what your doing and where your character is doing.
Storyline
I feel like the story is basic I wont spoil it for you but it's simple to follow and it's easy to play, no complicated twists and turns to try and follow. Although there are lots of characters to meet and some downright funny moments in the story.
Graphics
The graphics in this game are beautiful, I can feel that the art design team have done a good job. The levels are so beautifully drawn that you will get charmed by them over and over again. It's very pretty for a side view game.
Value for Money
There is a lot to do in this game, lots to find, lots to unlock, It feels like there is so much jam packed into this game. There is hours of gameplay in both the singleplayer and multiplayer. game modes. What you get with this game is a lot, a good length and varied difficultly singleplayer and multiplayer co op experience.
I bought the collectors edition and I do feel like I got value for money with the collectors edition but I am a big Rayman fan so if you are a big fan then I recommend you to pay the extra price.
Collectors edition
Exclusive box and cover design
Official art book
Game soundtrack
Current Prices
Zavvi.co.uk £14.95
Amazon.co.uk £17.99
Thehut.com £19.95
Dixions.co.uk £19.98
Overall
Like I said I have been looking forward to this game for along time, it has a lot going for it and I would recommend this game to you if your a Rayman fan or not.
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Rayman Origins (PS3)
by azana
It may only be the start of January but I can see Rayman Origins being my favourite game of this year, if you are looking for a break from shoot 'em ups, role play or too complex 3D platform games, then Rayman Origins takes it back to basics with one of the most fun, beautiful and compelling 2D scrolling platformers that I can remember ... playing. Ever. Over the past few weeks I've spent far too long being caught up in the magical world of Rayman which has proved to be a delightful place from start to finish.
Ubisoft have taken an established but recently dormant character, the no-limbed Rayman, and brought it bang up to date with HD graphics, whilst managing to make a game that is massively playable but challenging enough even for a seasoned gamer. Right from the off of playing this game it is like a breath of fresh air. The differences start with the fact that you can play in co-op with up to 4 players (so far I've played with 3 much of the time), in your front room. There's no online playing here, what there is the ability to grab up to 4 controllers and play seamlessly within a beautifully rendered hand drawn somewhat surreal and fun universe.
We are in familiar territory as the game starts off as part tutorial part game. You need to work your way through different worlds - there are 10 worlds in all in five different universes (adding up to about 60 levels), and as you work your way through you unlock different and varied challenges but also different abilities. Rayman and his side-kicks Globox and the Teenies learn to smash, swim, fly and climb walls as you progress through the central hub of the Glade of Dreams a mystical place from which they set off on their quest.
Not, to my shame, being familiar with Rayman from previous games, the Rayman universe was new to me, and though in all honesty the story is pretty irrelevant to me, perhaps for aficionados of the series it might be pertinent to explain that the game sees the Bubble Dreamer having had nightmares and the world being taken over by the creatures of his bad dreams. Enter Rayman who has to step in to save the Electoons (pink blobby creatures) whilst being fuelled by Lums, blobs of energy, that he and his co-players have to collect whilst freeing the Electoons from their cages in the games and occasionally chasing the odd Nymph or two and beating Bosses along the way. To those of us not familiar with Rayman this is your basic scrolling 2D platformer where you earn coins (the Lums) and have to battle to the end of each level to progress, so far so familiar. What, for me, makes the twist is the humour which is inherent to the game, from having to swing off a cartoon hand, to Rayman and Globus themselves who are cartoonesque, to being serenaded by a host of Lums, Rayman is quirky, original and downright fun from the off even if you have never played it before.
Ubisoft say themselves (http://raymanorigins.uk.ubi.com/blog/) that they wanted to make the game accessible to beginners but also challenging to "veterans" - and I think that they have managed to achieve this. Due to the facts that the controls work seamlessly and are intuitive (basic X= jump and square = smash with a little bit of using the R2 for extra functions like sprint) and that the game gets progressively more difficult so that you become more skilled without realising it, the game achieves what it sets out to. Because you have an infinite amount of lives, when you die you just miss out on the opportunity to collect more lums or to access a hidden area (there are 2 in each level with more hidden Electoon cages in them to add to the one at the end of each level). This means you can carry on through the game no matter how many times you die, generous amounts of waystages/save points mean that you don't have to start all over again and make the game a true exercise in how to write a game that is not too frustrating in a senseless way but yet not too easy.
Playing in co-op makes the game much quicker progression wise and also more fun, though when you are at 3 players the screen does get a bit messy, in general the camera keeps up well with the action though any player lagging too far behind will find they leave the action unexpectedly. When you "die" in this manner or by getting killed by any number of enemies, prickly, firey or exploding things you become a bubble which your partner can smash in order to regenerate you. When the going does get tricky this doubles, triples or quadruples your chances depending on how many people are playing, which is handy though playing in co-op you can, and do, inadvertently kill rather than help your partner from time to time. This adds to the interest whilst meaning you have to strike a balance between everyone for themselves and helping each other.
All the kinds of challenges you would expect to face from an old skool platform game are there in abundance; making your way through worlds that crumble, jumping off things, on things that move, swinging, floating and even swimming all in a detailed and varied hand- drawn background. At times there's a bit of a Disney feel to the game as you jump on huge forks or glide around an underwater panorama, but get lulled into a sense of false security and a sinister black clawed hand is there to grab you and in parts the game is really very challenging. We have unlocked all the levels but doing so took some doing and in parts we were given the opportunity to move onto the next world after failing in epic manner on a couple of the levels with a gentle "it's getting dangerous here - stay?" - if you choose not to the next world is unlocked with no penalty, other than the fact that you miss out on the Loons at the end of the level.
You will find yourself going back and playing levels you have previously played a lot to find hidden areas you missed or to up the number of Lums you won so that you can increase how completed your medallion (a sort of medal which tracks your score) is at the end of each level. The only thing at all I could criticise about this game is that the map allowing you to do this is a tad confusing at first in all honesty, you seem to have to use circle to go back more than is strictly necessary to find out where you are and what you need to do. This was confusing at first to say the least and yet you have to go back to the map regularly to progress and also to go back to the Snoring Tree where the Bubble Dreamer is and where you can also change to different incarnations of the basic characters, all of whom have different abilities. Bar the bewildering map there is really nothing negative about the game at all, even the loading map is a thing of beauty that makes the waiting and transition for levels to load almost enjoyable. The soundtrack too is pure pleasure, though some of the much repeated anthems of the core characters such as the joyful Loons are perhaps a little too memorable, in the main the music enhances the experience of playing seamlessly and in a natural seeming fashion. This is gaming at it's best with all the recent add ons such as Move interactivity stripped back to the core - this game doesn't need any gimmics at all to be the brilliant experience that it is to play. Once you have finished you can go back to the levels to complete time trials and to try and collect anything you missed the first couple of times, the longevity of this game like everything else is truly excellent.
As I have probably made clear I've been well and truly sucked into the Rayman Universe with this game, which, at the £17.99 I paid for it (currently £26.44 on amazon, but the price fluctuates wildly) was quite frankly a bargain given the amount of enjoyment we have had playing with it. This game manages to be easy enough for an eight and five year old to play along with but challenging for anyone who has been playing platforms from the start, and it's just one huge breath of fresh air. The graphics are just the most amazing I think I have ever seen on any game and the most original I've experienced since playing Kirby's Epic Yarn on Wii - on Playstation 3 in HD they are pretty hard to surpass in my opinion.
I would defy any gamer to not enjoy Rayman on some level, be it racing on the back of a Giant Mosquito blasting things or trying to survive a flaming crumbling inferno. Highly, highly recommended and then some, this is, quite simply, a future classic game.
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