Cold Facts
Developers: Ubisoft
Website: Assassins Creed II Official Site
Publishers: Ubisoft
PEGI rating: 18+
This format: Xbox360

What to know
If you’ve played the first Assassin’s Creed game, forget what you know about it. The repetitiveness is gone and has been replaced with an in-depth story with varying fun missions. The assassinations have also been improved upon with players finding they’ll have to be even more sneaky to find a way in.

Short description
Assassin’s Creed 2 is based upon revenge. It is what causes Ezio to become an assassin. His family was betrayed, a tragedy occured because of it and Ezio is set to seek revenge on all that were a part of it. The game takes place from 1476 – 1499 so as players work through the story, they’ll find it’s a long list of names.

Gameplay
As a player of Assassin’s Creed, I found I fell right back in with the controls in no time at all. However, there’s no need to worry about having not played the original as the game presents you with a tutorial as part of the storyline in the very beginning. Ezio is very nice to control with all of his movements feeling quite fluid and natural. The combat system has been improved upon since the original with disarms now part of Ezio’s fighting repertoire. I find this to be the most lethal out of all of the combat moves as you can steal the guard’s weapon and use it on them. This is extremely useful when dealing with more stronger enemies like Brutes.

Ezio has more gadgets to use such as smoke bombs and a poisoned blade, which are useful for causing distractions and speaking of which, the various factions – thieves, courtesans and mercenaries – are also quite useful for this purpose and Ezio can also enlist help from them at any time – for a certain price of course. There are more stealth assassinations to play with since Ezio can now assassinate enemies from the environment. As a result, hay stacks and ledges are no longer safe for guards to stand next to!

There is a new notoriety system in the game whereby doing things considered an offense to the law will add to the meter. When completely filled, Ezio will be wanted by the guards and if they see him, they will give chase. Fortunately doing certain actions like removing posters, bribing heralds and killing witnesses will drop your notorious level and Ezio can go back to being anonymous. This is certainly more favourable than in the original game where galloping past guards on a horse was enough to make them attack. When running from chasing guards, once they lose sight of Ezio, a radius will appear on the map showing where the guards are most likely going search so don’t waste time trying to hide in hay or sit on a bench. The guards are more intelligent this time round.

Playing with friends
There’s no multiplayer in Assassin’s Creed 2, but the game doesn’t need it. In my opinion they would have damaged the game by putting it in just for the sake of it.

Amusements
The entire game was pure fun for me. Ezio’s character adds to the game’s fun level as he’s naturally charismatic as opposed to Altair’s moody and arrogant persona. I definitely enjoyed the addition of a second hidden blade. I found several times I would just walk up to a pair of guards, kill them and walk away quite casually. Diving into the Venice waters as an escape method was also highly enjoyable. I’ve even discovered a bit of a Grand Theft Auto moment in the game where you can hijack a gondola. You don’t even have to go to the bother of removing the operator as just jumping onto the gondola will be enough to knock off the user so you can claim it as yours.

I also definitely enjoyed having the factions since sometimes in the original it was a bit annoying when constantly having to get into a fight with guards to get to a certain area. I know the scholars were there but they walked too slow and were only designed to go to certain areas. The factions walk at Ezio’s speed and go anywhere with him. So now it’s just a case of hiring a faction, distracting the guards and sneaking right past them. It just makes the game more about being an assassin, which is always fun.

For eyes and ears
Graphics: The scenes are incredible and Ubisoft really did a fabulous job at recreating Renaissance Italy. With the day and night element introduced in Assassin’s Creed 2, it really adds to the breathtaking environments. The main characters themselves are designed well, but the standard NPCs are still left looking a bit plain.

Music: The score is just simply amazing. Composed by Jesper Kyd, the music seriously adds to the atmosphere of the game by playing the right songs at the right moment. By walking around Venice, one can hear a tranquil, choir-like angelic theme whereas getting caught up in a fight sequence will treat players to an upbeat, chilling tempo. Last time I checked, all 35 tracks were uploaded onto YouTube so happy hunting!

Gamer goals
Ubisoft introduced their Uplay service for Assassin’s Creed 2 that allows the player to earn credits through playing the game and then spend them on items. One item I believe is up for grabs is the Altair outfit. One doesn’t necessarily have to spend the credits on a certain game; they can be kept for another game.

The achievements/trophies are all fairly standard and it’s quite easy to get the full lot of them as I got the 1000 achievement score in 10 days – and I was taking my time. The achievements/trophies include story related ones, performing certain actions, doing some side missions, upgrading and finding collectibles. There is one missable achievement/trophy called Fly Swatter which is to kick a guard while using the flying machine. This can only be done during a certain mission and there’s no opportunity to do it again except by doing a second playthrough. So crash the flying machine before the end of the sequence to restart if missed.

Collectibles I know are the big taboo thing about Assassin’s Creed after the flags and templars but they really have improved on them and made them useful.

In terms of collectibles they have:
- Subject 16’s videos. There are 20 puzzles to do in which the player is rewarded with a small video clip that obviously shows something important. No spoilers.
- 30 Codexes. They’re a small scroll that get added onto a wall in the villa which when using eagle vision, something else is revealed. This is essential to do to unlock the final mission. The codexes are found in buildings in the cities with four guards at the door. I often just used one of the factions to distract the guards and walked in and took it. I found I just did these as I was running through the area and they’re all marked on the map. Some are also gotten through missions.
- 6 Assassin Tombs. These are physical puzzles in which the player has to figure out how to progress from one room to another. There can be guards along the way. Collecting these rewards the player with Altair’s armour which will also colour Ezio’s clothes black.
- 100 Feathers. These would be the standard collectible. They’re not that bad and again they’re not necessary to do, but the player gets the Auditore cape as a reward. This puts Ezio on permanent notoriety so a fun thing to do if looking for a challenge. The DNA area in the pause menu will inform players about what areas are complete and how many feathers have been collected. They are quite easy to spot when in eagle vision.
- 66 Viewpoints. Not essential to do but it’s handy so the player can see the map.

Glitches and mistakes
I found several times the game would freeze on me. I think I pinpointed it down to the use of the fast transport system when travelling to Tuscany or Romagna. I had no problem going to Florence, Venice or Monteriggioni, which are really the main areas of the game. I also found maybe one or two instances where guards would be stuck in a rooftop.

Hearts
Definitely five hearts for me. I loved Assassin’s Creed despite its flaws but to have a game that completely excels its predecessor is just something amazing. Ubisoft really did listen to the fans and they went back to the drawing board, kept what was good (the handling of the game), got rid of the bad (repetition/flags/templars), added in some extra stuff and came up with a masterpiece.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Be adviced; These impressions is by playing the demo, not the full game.

I am admittedly a Metal Gear Solid freak, so imagine my surprise when I woke up yesterday to see that the Peace Walker demo was going live on the playstation store. How could I not know this was coming? Oh – maybe because I have had the japanese version (and the language barrier left me unsure of what was going on) of the demo for about a month now and thought it would be ages before the US saw their copy. Thankfully, as if an early Christmas present, I was wrong.

With the demo you get to play three missions. The first being a tutorial mainly focusing on CQC. I was glad to have it to get me back into the swing of things since last playing Portable Ops. I did find my blood boiling when the commander tells you “You’re doing it wrong Boss” over and over when you do not do the prompt as he says. (Hey! No one tells Snake what to do – if it would have been me I would have flicked my cigar and maybe the bird at him and walked off that beautiful beach.) It controls easy enough aside from a finicky analog stick and as with all Kojima games, you can customize your options almost limitlessly. The second level is also a tutorial in which you learn how to use your firearm and grenades. Nothing really special here, just helping you re-grasp what you probably already know.

Finally you get to see action in the third mission. I love to run and gun in most shooters but not MGS. Part of the attraction for me is the slow stealthy way Snake takes out his opponents. Now, it is a “sneaking” mission but I had to see what the alert looked like. I popped a guard in the head and nothing happened. Saddened, I started to creep forward only to hear a guard do his familiar “huh?”! Here we go! The alert was on and they started coming for me. I crouched down in the grass (by the way – this third mission looked similar to the wooded areas of “Snake Eater”) and then laid down. I tried to crawl while laying, but that is not an option. It is more like MGS 4 where you look like you are dead once you are prone. So, in a panic of button pressing I ended up face to face with a guard and decided to try out my CQC tactics. They worked perfectly and after taking out the rest of them using a combo of firepower an hand to hand combat the mission ended.

Playing a Hideo Kojima game is always like controlling the main characters in a movie. Some people loathe the long cut-scenes but I think it’s part of what makes this series so special. From the art to the dialogue, the gameplay and the humor – my love of this series just grows stronger. I feel the way about MGS as most people feel about Halo. This game is my “Reach” and on May 25th, 2010 – I will be first in line.

Popularity: 19% [?]

What to know
Much like the original Zuma, you are a super-powered, color-stone spitting frog out to save itself from some exotic-type natives on an island it has landed on. Zuma’s revenge provides just enough updates to the original game to justify itself as a full blown sequel.
Also (as a side note), while the game runs very, very well on a PC, I wouldn’t honestly look forward to this on a console any time soon. As long as you have a mouse to play this with, it’s awesome, but any other way of controlling it can be very frustrating. If you’re playing on a laptop, I highly recommend picking up a real mouse (separate from the optical pad on most laptops) if you don’t already have one. I tried playing without my mouse once and genuinely did not enjoy the game since the controls became extremely awkward.

Gameplay
In Zuma’s Revenge, you progress through the levels similarly to the original Zuma – point and click to shoot colored balls and form chains of three or more matching colors to make them disappear. If you don’t do this quickly enough, the chain of balls will reach the end and you’ll lose a life. No big deal since they aren’t hard to earn and the checkpoints are pretty frequent. So really, none of that has changed from the previous game.
Zuma’s Revenge provides a few key updates that really improve the game. First, there are now several boss fights that you encounter throughout the game that challenge you to do a little more than just create color combination. These boss fights will require at least some strategy that breaks up the monotony of the game when playing straight through.
There are also a few other modes added into Zuma’s Revenge. Besides Adventure (story) mode, there are Challenge, Heroic Frog and Iron Frog modes. Challenge mode allows you to replay all 70 levels under time constraints in which you must score a certain amount of points. Heroic Frog mode is a replay of the Adventure mode but somewhat more difficult, and Iron Frog mode is a gauntlet style of gameplay for yet another added challenge.

Playing With Friends
Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll be trading off single-player with friends. No multi-player built in.

For Eyes and Ears
The graphics and audio in Zuma’s Revenge are both pretty good, but in my opinion there’s room for improvement in the audio department. The graphics are more than entertaining, fun and stand-out to improve the game, but the audio brings that down by being very monotonous through all 70 levels.

Gamer Goals
Each level in Adventure provides an “Ace” Time – a time in which you should aim to beat the level. The Challenge mode also has “Ace” Scores in addition to the base requirement. These “Ace” standards create an additional fun challenge for gamers.

Glitches and Mistakes
Nothing that I ran into.

Hearts
Fortunately, there is really only one negative aspect to me and that is the fact that, even with the added boss levels and modes, Zuma’s Revenge can get fairly repetitive.
Overall, I think this is an awesome game that is worth picking up if you love addicting action-puzzle games. The game has enough updates from the original to make it refreshing and easy to get right back into. Also, the graphics, audio and story all add in to make the game an overall enjoyable experience.

Popularity: 21% [?]

What to know
Your home is going to be invaded by the undead. The only thing that can stop them are plants. What do Zombies do when they meet you? Eat your Brains! What do you do when you meet some Zombies? Plant, Plant and Plant some more…..
PopCap has always been a staple in my gaming universe (I still play my GBA version of Book Worm on a regular basis) but for some reason I overlooked Plants vs. Zombies. Maybe it’s because I was up to my ears in Zombies this year… (Don’t get me wrong – I love them) but I’m extremely glad I got this game for review. Amazing doesn’t even begin to cover it as I guarantee you will be captivated from the very first mouse click.

Gameplay
It’s tower defense at its absolute finest. There are five modes of play; Adventure, Puzzle, Survival, Mini-games and the Zen Garden..(Each has it’s quirks but Adventure mode’s 50 levels is where it’s at.) This starts out very slow which put me off at first but I trudged along and became easily enchanted.
Each level starts out with a preview of the Zombies you will be up against and the plants you have to work with. At the front of your house, you also have a set of lawnmowers that will mow down a row of Zombies, but only once per level, per track. Sunflowers are your most prized possession at first as they provide you with sunshine and that is what powers your ability to use the other plants in defense of your home. You also start out with a peashooter, cherry bomb, and a few other little quirky seeds, but I mainly stuck to the basics. It gets hairy after awhile and I knocked my mouse into my coffee cup trying to keep up with the sunshine falling, the coins dropping and the gravestone dissipating. After completing each level you receive a new plant to add to your stock and eventually you meet your neighbor, Crazy Dave. He gives you amusing tips and will let you buy things to help fight the good fight. When day turns to night is when things get interesting. Your sunflowers barely work and you have to change up your game and choose your plants wisely. Same goes for the backyard pool area and the roof. It keeps evolving and your strategy better evolve alongside it or your house might just get swarmed.

Playing with Friends
It would be awesome to get together with friends and play Whack-A-Zombie or bowling with Walnuts. Some people have criticized these two for being weak, but they are the exact kind of games that keep me sitting at the computer for hours, fighting sleep like a six year old waiting for Santa. Seriously, the mini-games are like being at the carnival, only you don’t have to deal with the ten dollar beers and scary carnies.

Amusements
As I clicked on the help section, this is the clever message I received: “When Zombies show up, just sit there and don’t do anything. You win the game when the Zombies get to your house.” – This help section brought to you by the Zombies. Although clever that actually pissed me off at first – I wanted the help! ( Few minutes later a smirk emerged.)
More adorable than scary, the Zombie horde leaves hilarious messages in the Almanac you receive after completing a certain number of levels. A little MJ thriller revival will get you laughing and I can’t get enough of Whack-A-Zombie either, you give me a mallet and something to hit… and this girl is in heaven.

For eyes and ears
The music really hits the spot. A little creepy and a little whimsy, I enjoyed every single tune and all of them fit perfectly with the scenes playing out. I’d love to be able to download it on Itunes and listen to it all day. The graphics are more than what you would expect for such a simple concept and the transition from day to night and from front yard to back yard go off without a hitch.

Gamer Goals
I really think most gamers will go for the completion of the Adventure mode. Survival mode is also something to work on as it can be frustrating at points and may take longer to master. Casual and hardcore gamers alike will find something to keep them entertained. The replay value is endless.

Glitches and Mistakes
Flawless. No, really!
I am in awe of how PopCap continually churns out projects that run smoothly, are updated regularly and stand the test of time.

Hearts
This moved from a 3 to a 4 all the way up to a 5 really quickly. At the beginning I thought it was too easy but after awhile it became just what I was looking for. Overall this game will keep you interested long after you’ve beaten the standard Adventure mode. I have nothing bad to say about this game and I didn’t have the highest hopes going into it. Here’s hoping we see a DS port in the near future.

Popularity: 22% [?]

What to know
There’s not much to it. You have a little canon at the top of the screen, and all you have to do is to hit the small balls at the screen, called pegs. A unicorn named Björn is presenting the game for you, and as you advance in the adventure mode, you’ll meet the other masters. Each one of them has different powers that you engage by hitting the green pegs. To clear a stage you have to hit all the orange pegs, hopefully ending the level by falling down to the most valuable part of the bottom, that appears, when you hit the last orange peg.
Single player contains Adventure Mode, Master Duel, Challenges and Quickplay. Quickplay is just like level select in other games, and you can check your highscores in each level. Masters Duel is a head-2-head mode against the CPU in shape of one of the masters that taught you how to play this game. Challenges are rather similar to adventure mode.
If the first 55 levels aren’t enough for you, there’s a whopping 60 level expansion pack for this game – or it’s actually a sequel, but for the x360 version, that we are reviewing here, it shows as expansion pack, doubling your gamingtime.

Playing with friends
There is Peg Party and Duel. Peg Party is for up to 4 players at the same time, duelling to get most points within 10 shots. You have to get more points than your opponents, so trick shots and bonus pegs – the purple ones – are vital here. After each shot all players are compared and everyone get to know the score and positions.
Local duel is available, which seems very fun to play. The players take turn to shoot for points, just like in the Masters Duel. With a lot of playing time, most people will be very good at this game because it’s so simple and there aren’t many surprises or changes in the game.

Amusements
I think the biggest amusements must be the power ups engaged by hitting the green pegs, but also the spirit of the game. It’s pure, childish and magic and more than all, it’s sweet. You can put your three year old in front of the screen with the controller and not worry if the game turns M-rated. It won’t. And your child will most likely have their time of their life if they like to push buttons and see the screen react. The game is very relaxing, but I bet it can be challenging as well, when it comes to clear the levels completely – not sure how much I look forward to it..!

For eyes and ears
The game is downright beautiful to look at; the graphics are smooth and clear all the way through and the mind-bending colours are chocolate for the brain, all in High-Definition. The drawings are sweet and the characters are cute.
The music is well-chosen for the games acoustic feeling and fulfils the harmony within it.

Gamer goals
The goals seem very obtainable, yet it demands some aiming skills from the player, not to mention whole lot patience – but don’t most games demand that? Many of the goals also seems to be fun to go for, but this game in itself can entertain for hours, and you don’t have to go for the goals to enjoy it.

Glitches and mistakes
I haven’t encountered glitches or errors, but the music might be a bit too repetitive for the most people to play for many hours straight. Again, this game might be repetitive on its own though, but streaming or playing music from another source while playing surely helps out a bit to avoid suddenly loneliness. Eyeballs seeing pegs can be a bit of a peggle – right?

Hearts
Looking at other puzzle and arcade games, this is by far one of the most simplest ones, but it makes your brain work. Because of this games pure, magic and innocent look, I just love it for what it is. Hit balls, make points. On top of that, there’s a huge amount of levels available.

Popularity: 22% [?]