De samenzwering Bourne van Robert Ludlum's

Als u spion van thrillers houdt, zijn de kansen u waarschijnlijk hebben vernomen Robert Ludlum Bourne romans, gemaakt met de aanpassingen populair Hollywood die Matte Damon starring als Jason Bourne. Choreographed goed en het brutale lijf-aan-lijf afgebeelde gevecht was de stempel van de films, en Sierra en de ontwikkelaar hebben de Hoge Studio's van de Maan van de speluitgever een uitstekend werk vangend die adrenaline-gevulde actie, bijna aan het punt gedaan waar u vindt als u scènes van movie ontspannen. Lees meer

Leger van Twee

Er waren heel wat hype het omringen Leger van Twee, so I was pretty excited when it finally came out.  After watching a lot of the trailers and commercials, and then actually playing the game, I can assure you that this is just one of far too many examples of how style and hype can supersede substance and quality.  

The story follows the adventures of Salem and Rios, two ex-Army Rangers-turned-mercenaries hired to do the government’s dirty work.  As you go on missions and complete your objectives, you receive cash rewards so you can pimp out your armory.  As you start following the “story,” you soon discover that someone within your organization is trying to sell you out.  Shocker!

There are some good gameplay concepts.  One example is that if you’re too wounded to fight, you can be dragged away to safety by your partner while you provide covering fire till he takes you to cover so he can heal you.  Another is the simultaneous snipe, which you and your partner can do to take out one or two targets at exactly the same time.  You can also give your partner help in overcoming obstacles, like giving him a boost to get over a wall or by pulling him up out of a hole.  The biggest element of note is the aggro system.  It’s much like a typical MMO, except the bigger a threat you are, the more aggro you generate, attracting more fire towards you, which frees up your partner to flank them and take them out.  The biggest problem I ran into playing co-op with the computer AI, however, is that when you order him to generate aggro, he does it for about five seconds, thus leaving you exposed in an open area as you try to maneuver for position, thus having to have your partner come in to drag your sorry butt back to safety.  And of course you can praise your character by giving him a high-five, or if he does something stupid you can give him a backhand across the face.  Not very useful for the game itself, but you can get a kick at smacking the crap out of your partner.

As a tactical shooter, I couldn’t say it’s even sub-par; the computer AI is horrible, both for your partner or the enemies.  I had enemies run right past me or my partner and neither would take a shot.  What the heck?!  And then I’m starting to wonder who’s the better shot.  It seems the terrorists were trained at the Marine Corps Sniper School.  When I run and gun, I couldn’t hit the broadside of the bus.  The only way to effectively take out your targets is doing a precision aim and taking a head shot.  In all, the gameplay is unbalanced and extremely frustrating. The game’s only saving grace is that it has some decent graphics.

In the end, Army of Two attempts to capture the magic of Gears of War or any of the Tom Clancy games - and falls way short.  As a multi-player, I’m sure that Army of Two would have been decent, but I have to admit that I didn’t get that far.  This game left me so bitter that I didn’t even bother trying to play its online co-op features.  Do yourself a favor, go pick up Rainbow Six: Vegas 2; or better yet, wait for Gears of War 2.

Assassin’s Creed

From my perch on the highest point of the synagogue, all of Jerusalem stretches out in front of me.

This is an experience that I shared with the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed countless times while I reviewed it.  Before we dive into stories and gameplay and graphics, it’s a point I want to make as clear as the developer made it to me:  Assassin’s Creed is a technically astounding game.  The sheer size of the world, and the eagle-eye view from which players take it in, is easily worth the price of the title.  If you’re thinking of picking up the game on the 360 (I reviewed the PC version), I can see it being an excellent reason to buy a monster TV as well.

As you might have guessed, Assassin’s Creed is the story of an assassin.  While that would normally be enough to pull in the gamer love, Ubisoft went the extra mile to create a story that combines both the present day and the time of the Crusades in the cradle of civilization.  I’ll not spoil the plot for our readers, suffice to say that the story didn’t appear as usual to be slapped in at the last minute by a motley group of drunk developers.

The title falls into no genre, although we imagine that Assassin’s Creed must have been meticulously cross-bred from the likes of Splinter Cell, the Grand Theft Auto series, and Heavenly Sword.  Players find themselves slinking around a large realm, making contacts with allied ne’er-do-wells and learning more about each of the nine targets the game presents for assassination.

Players are given a choice to avoid guards and ruffians with a small arsenal of sneaking techniques, or throw caution to the wind and kill every obstacle in their path.  Do you want to sneak up on your mark and dispatch him with a hidden blade, or are you feeling lucky?  Why not waltz right into his sanctuary, in front of 10 guards, and draw your blade?  Assassin’s Creed let’s you decide, and though we found stealth assassination to be more “in character”, it was a blast to usher on your opponents and leave no man standing.

The game thrusts players into the combat system when an overly anxious guard spots you or you cause a disruption in a crowd.  Galloping through a group of jar-carrying peasants will do it, as will jumping on the roof in the presence of guards.  Regardless of how it happens, once the combat system is tripped the player has two choices: fight or flight.

The combat system is a combination of swashbuckling and Jujitsu, and players deciding to shed blood are given an arsenal of fighting techniques that makes a field of dead soldiers seem commonplace.  Swords and the occasional lunge can be countered with deadly blows, all presented in theatrical angles that look great and stamp the ESRB rating M all over the landscape.

If bloodshed’s not your cup of tea, you can also bolt like the sissy-coward you probably are.  To make a clean getaway, however, takes more than skills of the foot.  Players must first break line-of-site with their pursuers, then blend into the city through a variety of hidy-holes and busy crowds.  As fun as the combat is, the real action takes place in flight.  There’s no better cardio workout than running across the roofs of Bethlehem like some sort of crazed circus performer, and I’m talking about your heart racing, not the assassin’s.

Each assassination bring players closer to unraveling the overlying plot, which spills out in modern day throughout the game.  More importantly, perhaps, is that each dead boss increases your arsenal of weapons as well as your combat repertoire.  As players approach the end sequence, they’ll have a somewhat overwhelming series of options as to how to accomplish each mission.  At the end of the day, however, these options are what make the title worth playing. In fact, the one option you don’t have is passing up this game.

Assassin’s Creed is all of the good things we’ve enjoyed in action-based sandbox games, with a measure of stealth thrown in for taste.  The immersive landscape and killer combat systems make for a great game, and the only thing to complain about (which I didn’t, I might add) was the occasional minor PC camera issues that source from the game’s origin on a console.  If you’ve got a copy of Steam running, or just want to run to Wal-Mart today, pick up Assassin’s Creed and burn up a weekend or two.  Never mind the mess afterwards, the peasants will clean it up.

Heavenly Sword

Heavenly Sword has been a long time coming, teasing us with promises of a luscious game, amazing graphics, atmospheric music and a compelling story. It manages to fulfill this quota but also manages to be fundamentally broken. Blasphemy, I know, given the game’s exalted status as the reason to purchase a PS3. Unfortunately, Nariko’s adventures feel a little too much Onimusha and not enough God of War.

Nariko wields a sacred blade known as the Heavenly Sword which will sap the life out of any mortal who uses it. Accepting of her demise, Nariko’s only desire is to destroy the evil King Bohan before the blade takes her life. The blade has three styles of attack which allow Nariko to devastate enemies, all of which give players an opportunity to mash buttons.

The setting is a beautiful world that seems to mix everything from Hindu temples to streets lined with sakura blossom trees. This is also reflected in the gorgeous soundtrack that blends aspects from various parts of the world, from Japan to deepest India. There’s no denying that Heavenly Sword is beautiful, the graphics and facial animations are completely mind-blowing but this doesn’t completely detract from fundamental issues – nay flaws – with its design.

For starters, much like Onimusha, Nariko is limited in where she can go, guided by invisible boundaries and annoying camera controls. She can throw enemies off cliffs but is prevented from stepping off herself. Even worse, important actions are triggered by pressing the appropriate button, normally X, while the game also uses combo sections where you must press the right sequence at the right time in order to survive. This is an unfortunate trend in modern gaming which is overused. The final nail in the coffin is the complete and utter lack of a jump button, an almost impossible thing to conceive in this day and age and which makes boss fights more difficult than they should be.

They are difficult, almost impossibly so. Take Whiptail, a siren-like mistress of water. In terms of fighting, this encounter is one of the hardest but it’s also the most graphically lacking in the game. Nariko must get in close to attack but Whiptail sends devastating – and badly animated — waves as long range attacks. Due to a lack of jumping ability, timing must be exact for Nariko to block using her blade. Even worse, Whiptail’s health periodically replenishes and there are no chests to crack open or any method of restoring your own health. If death doesn’t immediately take you, the fight soon becomes impossibly long with the odds heavily stacked against you.

Almost as an afterthought, there is some utilisation of the SIXAXIS controller in completing puzzles, although it does work rather well once you get the knack. A prime example is having to throw a disc, Frisbee-like, off various obstacles until you hit the target. The first person view really assists in completing what would otherwise be an irritating exercise.

Playing Heavenly Sword, it’s nigh on impossible not to want to give it a high score just for the stunning graphics, compelling storyline, acting, music and facial animations. If games were judged only by these factors, it would be our game of the year. Sadly, life just isn’t like that and Heavenly Sword will ultimately disappoint many who have been waiting with baited breath for it’s long overdue release.