Call of Duty: Black Ops II

First of all, I missed out on the last couple of weeks because I was on holiday. I was amazed that I actually got a review posted at all with Assassins Creed 3. Now that I'm back, however, it's time to jump straight in with Black Ops 2. Yes, it's that time of year again: will Black Ops just repeat the successes and shortcomings of its predecessors or will it go above and beyond to bring some much needed freshness to the somewhat stagnant franchise.

STORY
Straight off the bat, Black Ops II surprises with it's story, set in a surprisingly believable near future with a somewhat sympathetic, yet easy to hate villain. It's the first CoD I can remember that tries to tackle some of the horrors and mistakes of war without making it feel like it's just there for shock value.

Set in the year 2025, you control David Mason, son of Black Ops' protagonist Alex Mason, as he and his JSOC squad try to capture the leader of Cordis Die, Raul Menendez. During the campaign, you also play as Frank Woods, and Alex Mason in flashback missions, detailing some of Menendez's past and his involvement in the Mason family history.

The historical jumping around could have been terribly confusing, but it's handled well, and the story isn't affected badly by it. It's by far the best CoD story since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

PRESENTATION
Despite running on the same engine for so many years, Black Ops 2 manages to still look quite impressive. The colour range seems to have increased however, with one particular mission in the Cayman Islands standing out in my memory, just because it was so bright and colourful. Way better than the usual grayish brown levels.

Character animations remain smooth and clear, and facial animations in particular have increased in quality; it's most noticable in cutscenes, with wider ranges of emotion being shown than in any previous game in the series.

The adrenaline pumping score keeps up with the action on screen and the theme (composed by Trent Reznor of NiN fame) is pretty cool too. All in all, Blacks ops 2 is presented quite well. I'm still not sure that it's not time for an engine upgrade.

GAMEPLAY
As with every year, Call of Duty has delivered once again with some of the most solid gameplay mechanics in the FPS genre. If you've played a game in the franchise previously, then it'll all be very familiar. The action runs at a smooth 60 fps, theres a wide variety of loadouts to customize, and the AI is intelligent enough to provide a decent challenge.

The biggest change this year, at least as far as the campaign goes, is the level of customization. This year, you're able to customize your loadout before each mission, allowing you to try out a new piece of kit in each assignment. And the gear is all really cool, from target finding scopes, to collapsible stocks, to silencers, to scopes that provide an almost radar like view, showing you heat signatures through walls. Near future tech is sweet!

Continuing on the theme of choice, there are branching paths in the campaign, as well as multiple endings, all depending on the choices you make, conscious or not. Some choices are binary, allowing you the chance to kill or capture a target. Some are less voluntary: allowing a target to escape, instead of killing him and securing his hostage.

So to sum up the big changes to the CoD formula, I would say it's all about player choice. What gear you take into battle, how the story is affected. It's all up to you.

MULTIPLAYER
Instead of replayability, for this I'd like to mention the Multiplayer. The maps are nicely varied, the guns are cool, everything works as you'd expect. The big new feature is called Pick 10, and I'd like to praise it's inclusion. Creating classes with preset fields (main weapon, secondary, 3 perks, etc) is all well and good, but true customization is available when you can go without certain things, so you can add more features to your class. It allows for true personalization and flexibility with the multiplayer.

Add to that some robust zombie modes, where teams travel around multiple maps in search of clues, or grief each other, and you have more than enough reasons to come back to Black Ops 2.

OVERVIEW
If Black Ops 2 had only improved it's narrative, I'd recommend the hell out of it. As it turns out, however, it does so much more than that. It puts the focus on you, whether in the campaign, or the multiplayer. It puts itself in your hands and says "go wild". And you will. And you'll love it.

Next week, Playstation Allstars Battle Royale. Or Halo 4. Or Hitman Absolution. I don't actually know.

See you next time!

Assassin's Creed 3

I'm posting this from an IPhone, so we'll see just how well this goes. I played and finished AC3 in the few days I had before I went on holiday, so here's the review. Now be damn happy you're getting it!!

STORY
Assassin's Creed 3 picks up The story of Desmond Miles, former abstergo/Templar captive, now fully-fledged assassin, as he and his companions hunt for the key to stopping Earth's impending doom. To do this, Desmond relives the memories of Revolutionary assassin, Connor Kenway as he battles Templars in America's revolutionary war.

As a non-American, I must admit that my knowledge of the American Revolutionary War is limited at best. To the end of education, I found AC3 to be surprisingly helpful. For entertainment value, I strongly believe that it holds up against AC2 (the previous strong story in the franchise). Connor is a genuinely likable hero, a man who fights for what he believes is right, even calling out the founding fathers for owning slaves, whilst fighting for their freedom from British rule. Achilles Davenport provides the stern father figure for Connor, and their disagreements are filled with true emotion.

Speaking of father figures, AC3 has a fair share of big twists, the least of which involves Haytham Kenway, the heroes father. I won't spoil any more than that, but theirs more than enough in the games plot to keep you guessing.

PRESENTATION
Assassin's Creed has always been known for detailed settings and bustling crowds full of realistic looking citizens. AC3 takes the ball and runs with it, making 1770's New York and Boston come alive with people and animals alike. Suprisingly, however, the Frontier is the best environment in the game, with beautiful forests, winding rivers and wildlife to populate it. Helping the environments is the AnvilNext engine, which provides the game with seasonal weather changes that really top off the look of the game.

Voice acting in the game is great as always, with Nolan North reprising his role as Desmond, playing the now accepting hero exceptionally well. Connors voice helps to convey his strict adherence to his personal code of honor, and Achilles' has a very world weary (and fitting) voice.

The soundtrack is pitch perfect, ramping up in the massive battles with huge orchestral scores including pounding percussion, and then contrasting in the lonesome frontier with sparse music played with guitars and flutes. It all adds to the lone hunter feel of Connor, as the stalker of prey, and the wild beast on the battlefield.

Occasional pop-in of graphics and some rare poor voice syncing occur, but aren't prevalent enough to detract from the otherwise stellar presentation.

GAMEPLAY
The last big evolution in Assassin's Creed's gameplay was with Assassin's Creed 2. Coincidentally, with the first NUMBERED sequel since then, we also have the biggest departure in gameplay.

The previously smooth combat has been revamped to show off Connor's wild style of fighting. Brand new animations show off his vicious nature, while a simpler combat system means faster, and often more satisfying, battles. Instead of swapping between offense and defense, Connor only has one stance. From here, he can attack with primary and secondary weapons, break defense or counter. Four buttons, four possible actions.
Adding to this, after you counter, you can throw your enemy, disarm him, or kill him with his primary or secondary weapon. It's a simpler approach to combat, and like Batman: Arkham City, it's easy to learn, but difficult to master.

World traversal has also improved, but with less change, and more additions. The odd thing about The AC series so far, is that you can run all over walls and buildings, but climbing a tree can't be done. All that has changed. Tree running works surprisingly well, and you'll be seeing paths through the trees in no time. It makes a huge deal when the ground is under 4 feet of snow, which also impacts on traversal. Otherwise, building free running is just more of the same, with a little more shine to it.

With last year's Revelations, Ubisoft added the Den Defense mechanic, and it fell a bit short. This year, they're trying their luck with Naval Combat. This time, however Ubisoft have hit the jackpot. The controls are tight, the visuals and water mechanics are amazing and the mission constraints are nicely varied as well.

Hunting mechanics factor nicely into the economic systems, much like in Red Dead Redemption. It all works in favor of the living breathing world of AC3.

REPLAYABILITY
Once the main story is done, there are a hundred different things to do. Hunting Clubs, Frontiersmen and Boston Brawlers all offer side missions, while there are also courier missions and assassination contracts to take out. Once all this is done, you can go hunting, find Captain Kidd's treasure, liberate areas of New York or Boston and find Ben Franklins Almanac pages. There is so much to do in this game.

OVERVIEW
I can't speak highly enough about this game. It's highly reminiscent of one of my Favourite games of all time, Red Dead Redemption, whilst retaining the qualities that make Assassin's Creed such a unique property. With so much to do, there are most definitely things worth talking about more than others, but there's so much gold in this game. Assassin's Creed fans, go in with the warning that there are some big changes here.
I may have found my game of the year.