Holiday Review Guide: Part 1 - Celebrating Christmas in May

[I know I'm posting this late on my own website but these reviews actually did run in the Pulse Niagara before the Holidays, so I'm not completely behind. Besides it cold enough outside in St. Catharines right now that it could damn well snow, so consider this a good list of games to snuggle up with right now until the real summer weather kicks in.]

Assassin’s Creed 2
Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal
Available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC

The time has come for Desmond Miles to return to the animus and jump into the memories of a new assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, in Italy during the Renaissance era. Experience the gripping story behind the murder of Ezio’s family and his journey to uncover the conspiracy behind it.

Ubisoft has raised the bar with an amazing new combat system which evolves with each new weapon, improved enemy A.I and a whole new in-game economy system for easy money making. The running through the recreation of Italy is almost as good as visiting the city in real life and the game has some of the best voice-over work I’ve heard in long time.

If you want to feel the thrill of the chase from your couch, then grab a copy of Assassin’s Creed 2 today.

Rating: 10 out of 10
Buy this!

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time
Sony Computer Entertainment, Insomniac Games
Available for Playstation 3

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time continues the story from Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty with Clank being kidnapped by Doctor Nefarious and Ratchet & Qwark continuing to search the galaxy for any clues to Clank and Dr. Nefarious’ location. Both our favourite heroes will learn more about their past then they possible could have ever imagined in this fantastic new adventure from Insomniac Games.

New elements in the game include the ability to fly between planets and complete mini games and seek out hidden objects in order to upgrade your abilities and ship. Also the game has new constructo weapons that allow you to customize various elements and it includes a special time pad puzzle system which records multiple holographic images of Clank and then plays them back.

With tons of mini challenges and an exciting story line, this makes a great game to spend all those long, cold winter nights with.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Buy this!

Borderlands
2K Games, Gearbox Software
Available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC

Borderlands is like the Fallout 3 for people with not a lot of time to play videogames but a lot of friends to play them with. Part RPG, part FPS, Borderlands puts you on the planet of Pandora where the last remains of a society once there to mine has all but disappeared. You and the few inhabitants that still remain scavenge for what you can and cling to the legend of the vault which apparently holds a vast alien treasure. You and your team plan to find the vault though under the instruction of a guardian angel – a mysterious woman who only talks to you.

Choose from 4 playable character types and explore the world of Pandora via the main quest and various side missions. You can choose to play solo or join up with 3 other friends at anytime during your campaign for co-op play. Choose to play in your world or theirs. The world of Pandora holds a vast amount of cool weaponry and gadgets to aid you in your mission and you even get to hop into a cool vehicle or two.

The Holidays are time to get together with friends and family and what better way to spend time with your favourite people then riding around in tanks and blowing up skags.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Buy this!

Left4Dead2
EA, Valve Corporation
Available for Xbox 360 and PC

The outbreak has happened again and this time you are following 4 new survivors in the Southern United States as they fight their way through hordes of zombies in order to make their way to safety. The game is broken down into chapters which can be played solo with A.I team members or with up to 3 other players with co-op mode. You do also have the option to play 4 vs. 4 multiplayer in various maps.

Fans of the Resident Evil series will be out of their element here as zombies move faster and tend to attack in packs. Even on easy I had trouble surviving this game but thankfully your A.I. teammates are great shots, so if you learn to take backseat to the action, you’ll survive to see the next level. This is definitely a nice change to the normal zombie game though and I enjoyed the movie like cinematic scenes and story line.

Left4Dead2 definitely brings new life to the zombie horror survival genre and this is one game you can’t live or unlive without this Holiday season.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy this!

Left4Dead 2 Trailer

I missed out on the first game. Not going to miss out on the 2nd one. Left4Dead 2 was at X'09 and I loved it.

Real Life Aperture Labs Van Spotted

Fan tributes are pretty cool but this would be a little creepy to see outside your house.

At least, I think this is a fan created Aperture Laboratories decal taken from the Portal game. It would be down right scary if this wasn't fake.

[Via Offworld]

Review: The Orange Box

With the holiday season fast approaching it is now a great time for gamers. A flood of high quality releases is upon us for all game systems. With so many good titles out already and many biggies soon to be released, picking and choosing which ones that will be occupying your immediate free time can be a real challenge.

Luckily for me, one of those choices has been made simple with the recent release of The Orange Box by Valve which is hands down easily the best value in gaming out there for this year. The Orange Box contains five fantastic games all on one disc – Half Life 2 and its subsequent episodes one and two along with the puzzle game Portal and multiplayer title, Team Fortress 2.

Now I should preface that I’m not normally a huge fan of first person shooters, they often make me dizzy after an hour of playing but anything Half Life makes me wanna down a bottle of Gravol and stay up late with my Xbox 360. I played the original Half Life on my PC back in the day and loved it as well as the initial release of Half Life 2 on the original Xbox so I was familiar with the storyline surrounding the game’s main protagonist, the crowbar wielding scientist turn badass Gordon Freeman who is on a mission to save humanity from enslavement by an evil alien race.

While HL2 may have already made an original Xbox appearance this will be the first time the series is on the 360 and the first time episodes one and two are available to 360 players. HL2 holds up unbelievably well in the next generation. Valve did such a great job with the game’s graphics, sound and storyline that it matches or exceeds anything out there currently. Episodes one and two add brand new seamless content to the series and continue the player’s adventure onward past the cliffhanger ending of HL2.

Episode one features a lot more puzzles and challenges for you to overcome instead of just blasting your way through combine forces but don’t worry Episode two will keep you busy killing a host of new enemies as well as a very challenging driving mission and finale. Hours and hours of great gameplay here people and Valve has also thrown in some extra content that allows you to play the episodes through featuring commentary from the developers at many points in the game, an awesome idea.

The Orange Box also features the long awaited game Portal, a first person action puzzle game built on the Half Life engine. Set in the mysterious Aperture Science Laboratories, you’ll be required to navigate a series of challenging puzzles and rooms where you use a gun to create portals from which you use to navigate to different points and directions. This game is definitely a mind bender and will make you think but the whole experience is deep, unique and fun the whole way through.

Portal features only single player action however Valve hasn’t forgotten about multiplayer fans and has included a fantastic multiplayer game in The Orange Box, Team Fortress 2. TF2, is a class based multiplayer team shooter that provides you with a wide variety of combat classes with a large selection of tactical abilities and personalities. The game has a cartoon like visual style look to it based on the art of J. C. Leyendecker but don’t let that fool you into thinking this isn’t one of the most advanced and fun multiplayer shooters out there! While I admit that I’m not the greatest player at multiplayer mayhem, I do love the original visual presentation and humor in this game and find myself having a great time online.

With all these great games in one package, its no doubt The Orange Box will be a favorite among all types of gamers from the casual to the hardcore who are looking for something with a lot of replayability. The Orange Box is now available for PC and Xbox 360. The Playstation 3 version will be out on December 11.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Behind the scenes with Valve: The Orange Box

Gametrailers takes you behind the scenes with Valve on their newest game, The Orange Box.

Games I'm Playing

This week I've finished Cloning Clyde on XBLA, played The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii, played The Orange Box - Team Fortress, Portal, Half Life 2 & Episode One and played The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

I love all these games. So many good ones to choose from. Good thing I'm off tomorrow. Time to play more than one. The Orange Box and Phantom Hourglass look good.