Mirror's Edge

“VISUALLY STUNNING, BUT IF I WASN’T THE ONE PLAYING THE GAME, I DEFINITELY WOULD HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP.”

A. TYPE OF GAME: 1st Person Platform

B. MISSION OF GAME: You are a “runner” named Faith who delivers products and information under the radar of a city run by Big Brother. The city is tightly controlled by invasive surveillance systems and cameras mounted at every corner. Mayor Callaghan is facing re-election and your close family friend, Robert Pope is running against him. The mayor tracks your every little movement due to your close ties with his opponent Pope.

The plot thickens when your sister Kate calls and informs you that Pope was murdered. Kate is a blue (cop) who is accused for committing Pope’s murder because she was found at the scene of the crime. Convinced that Kate was framed, you must work your way backwards examining all of the people in Pope’s life in order to figure out who the true killer is. Throughout the investigation you discover the people you love and trust are not who they seem to be.

C. LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: Too Easy! The game took only a day and a half to beat…, if you can write your ABC’s you can beat this game.

D. SETTING OF THE GAME: The game was set in a very beautiful metropolitan city. Magnificent skyscrapers covered every corner of this urban city.

E. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS: I thought the game lacked creativity and ingenuity. While the story line was interesting the game was too stiff and monotonous. You perform the same sequence of action moves over and over again. The combat sequence consisted of fighting robots using the same boring moves over and over again.

The game was beautiful visually with great graphics. The story line had potential, but I felt suffocated with the repetitiveness of doing the same actions over and over.

The game could have been improved if the character Faith had different tools to use during the missions. It would have been great if the combat was more difficult or if it incorporated different styles of combat. I didn’t like how I couldn’t climb with weapons or holster them. You really couldn’t do any kind of action sequence with a weapon in hand. Jumping from building to building was tiresome and the lack of weapons made combat dull. I would have liked to have had more freedom to explore the city. The city was so pretty, but I felt confined and boxed in.

Mirror’s Edge By EA DICE

OVERALL RATING: 5.0 out of 10

Assassins Creed

“HUGE POTENTIAL, BUT DEFINITELY HUGE LETDOWN”

A. TYPE OF GAME: Sandbox Style Action Adventure

B. MISSION OF GAME: The game begins in the 21st century and you assume the identity of a character named Desmond Miles. Desmond is just a regular Joe working as a bartender until one day he is kidnapped by a company named Abstergo. They kidnap you in order to try to uncover hidden memories of your assassin ancestors from the 12th century. The majority of the game is played through the character Altair, an ancestor of Desmond Miles. Altair meets with Al Mualim “The Teacher” who is the leader of the assassins. He is extremely annoyed with you because he finds you cocky and arrogant. The Teacher demotes you to the lowest rank of an initiate in order to teach you that you need wisdom and patience to succeed.

As you rise through the ranks of the assassin brotherhood, you become more proficient with combat and game play. The Teacher gives you the task of assassinating nine key figures across the Holy Land. The assassinations are supposed to bring peace between the competing Christian and Muslim groups. Ultimately you learn that the Teacher has betrayed you. Instead of trying to bring peace to the Holy Land, the Teacher was using the competing Christian and Muslim groups to fight against your brotherhood…the Assassins! You must defeat your Teacher and uncover the mysteries of both the past and present Assassin brotherhood before it is too late.

C. LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: Very easy. I Highly recommend playing this game on the most difficult setting because it is easily finished in under a day.

D. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS: The best part about the game is the detailed and captivating storyline. The combat scenes are really enjoyable to play. I was frustrated because I was insanely annoyed that I had to hunt down all nine targets in the same manor. I felt like I kept repeating the same sequence of events over and over. The assassinations became tedious and monotonous after the 5th one. However, I still look forward to the release of Assassins Creed 2. I pray that Ubisoft made this one a more interesting game to play. Hopefully it can grasp my attention from start to finish and offer more of a challenge than the original.

ASSASSINS CREED By UBISOFT

OVERALL RATING: 4 out of 10

Wanted: Weapons of Fate

“MAYBE A 10 IF JOLIE WAS THE MAIN ROLE.”

A. TYPE OF GAME: 1st Person Shooter

B. MISSION OF GAME: You take the role of Wesley Gibson and your thrown in around five hours after the movie “Wanted” ends. If you didn’t catch the film it ends with you blowing a huge ass bullet through the back of Sloans head from about two miles away. Sloan was the prick who ran the Fraternity and twisted the loom of fate to his own personal gain. Oh and he also used you to kill Cross said to be your mortal enemy but in turn he was actually you father. Anyhow, in this game your seeking out the french chapter of the Fraternity of Assassins. Its a constant flash back and forth through the past and present in your hunt in digging up the real truth of your familys history. With your mother Allyse a member of the Immortals and your father Cross a member of the Fraternity the birth of you was an abomination to the code at birth. While both parents with full faith in the loom and the strong belief that no great human endeavor could be achieved without faith. That being said as you play through the game your in for a real plot twist.

C. LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: Easy, Definitely play on hardest difficulty if you like a challenge.

D. SETTING OFTHE GAME: Through Chicago, france and barcelona

E. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS: I thought how you have to gain adrenaline by killing people in combat in order to perform special moves provided an intense energy through gameplay. Like being able to curve bullets around walls or objects and having the ability to take out more than one target with a single bullet. I loved the cool interactive slow mo cinematics.

Although I loved the combat style in the game I felt it was a touch to easy to perform all the moves. When the combat play was stunning I would of been totally more amped on the game if I felt like my skills actually were tested against the different techniques. Of course I definitely cant go with out saying I wished Angelina Jolie was in the game. I mean I realize she died in the film but hell she is way to sexy to not make the come back.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate developed by GRIN published by Warner Bros

OVERALL RATING: 6.0 OUT OF 10

BioShock

“Would you kindly give a standing ovation!”

A. Type of game: Sandbox/Role playing

B. Mission of game: Your mission is simple SURVIVE! You crash land into Rapture and quickly realize that you need to learn fast and fight for your life. In this evil underwater city you learn that this society is blood thirsty for one thing, Adam. Adam gives you the ability to regenerate damaged tissue. However, there is a moral choice in how you collect the Adam and the choices you make will ultimately affect the plot’s outcome.

This game has outstanding action scenes. You can purchase awesome weapons or even build your own. You have an ability to hack into machines and collect strength enhancing plasmids. The combat scenes in this game are top notch.

C. Level of Difficulty: Medium. Recommend playing on hardest level because it really tests your combat skills.

D. Setting of game: 1960’s in an underwater society called “Rapture” built on an atlantic sea bed.

E. Strengths and Weakness: I honestly don’t have a bad thing to say about the game. I thought the storyline was vivid and creative. You have the freedom to make your own choices, which interestingly enough changes the plot and outcome. It’s hard to criticise this game, but if I had to point out a weakness I would say that the graphics could be a bit more fine tuned. But all in all, thi is one of my most favorite games I have played.

OVERALL RATING : 9.5 of 10

Developed by 2k Marin as the sequel to the critically-acclaimed Bioshock.