kowalski

ACIII is a desperate try on Ubisoft's side; a try to be new, refreshing and innovative, a try to be patriotic, heroic and meaningful. I'm not sure what the original story was, but there are so many bugs and issues (honestly, it is so far the most problematic title I have ever laid my hands on) that you can't even get to the core of it. An almost complete abandonment of the legacy of the previous titles, ACIII is surely to make more enemies than friends. Connor has some big shoes to fill after Ezio, and fails miserably, looking more like a spoiled brat than a hero you could identify yourself with. There is a somewhat good game buried in there, but because it's trying too hard to be too many things, and fails as far as simple mechanics is concerned, you have to force yourself to find it enjoyable.

If you see ACIII -along with the first episode- as an endless journey through bugs and issues, then the second episode seems like a missed opportunity; not only the bugs aren't ironed out, but it also looks like there are several tens of new ones. If you add the overly complicated, and not at all easy (thus, not enjoyable) missions to the fire, you get exactly what The Betrayal is: a bad LSD trip and hangover rolled into one.

Yes, the game rests surely on the shoulders of previous two titles, and those awaiting new thrills may be unpleasantly surprised. One must remember though, that Arkham City wasn't any more innovative to Arkham Asylum than Origins is to AC. That doesn't mean AO isn't innovative at all it features a large, beautiful world which makes Arkham from AC look and feel like a sandbox and brand-new Dexter-like case solving adventures. It doesn't fail to live up to its name, either, focusing heavily on the origins of how Batman came to be. It's exciting to see the before stories, knowing well how they will turn out in the future, not to mention the psychological aspect of those stories is well presented and simply makes sense. Gordon is younger, Barbara can walk, Enigma is not yet the Riddler, and we are unaware of this character named Joker (beautifully played, by the way). As for those who are disappointed with the lack of innovations it is an origins game, which means introducing too many of new things that obviously are not in the later games would be ridiculous and would make the game story suffer. It is a large game, two days is enough to pass the main story plus countless hours to finish the game 100%. I strongly recommend it Origins stands boldly in the series and certainly doesn't bring shame to the trilogy.

GTA4 has too many issues, too many repetitive missions, and too many downfalls to be considered anything else than over-hyped. The story could have been more addictive, and the missions are either too easy or way-too-hard. There are so few true innovations, and overall it feels like a step backwards, which is a huge disappointment, especially for such masters as Rockstar.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game (since that is, apparently, its full name) is a tough nut to crack. On one hand, it's a huge improvement over humiliating "The Run" that I still can't recover from, and a smart coalition of NFS and Burnout series. And to some degree, it is. It is smart, it is fun, it is visually pleasing to the eye. And then, there are those little things, that prove to be not so little after a while. The biggest downfall for me is the absolute lack of any innovation. We are placed in, almost literally, the same city: coast from one side, mountains from the other. Downtown in between, plus the industrial area and highways holding it all together. That is something we've seen hundreds of times, from NFS and Burnout series, too - isn't it time for innovation? The game is obvious down to the soundtrack: some d'n'b, some hits, some rock, some american poprock, some electronic, few hits. It's painfully expectable. The game has some issues with the difficulty level, too - some tracks deemed as "easy" prove to be impossible to finish, and vice versa. And as you play, more and more of those little devilish details start to pile up - until you finish the game, which is rather quickly. NfSMWACG could be a top game if two braniac studios had shown a bit of innovation and risk-taking, instead of pure laziness and the same, stale gimmicks.

It's hard not to like Batman, or Lego, but it's also hard to get superly excited over the combination of those two. The game is OK. There is some magic, but it's very short-lived - after a while, it turns out to be one of those games you stop playing at some point and forget about it completely. It's not a bad game, absolutely, but it's not for everyone. Surprisingly, it's not for Batman fans, as they may be turned off by a decent level of infantileness (disputable) and general easiness of the game (undisputable). The game proves to be to a Lego game and Lego game primarily, and not much else. Batman fans, consider yourselves warned. Lego fans, however, can pick this up blindfolded.

Ezio comes back - he's much older, more tired and almost weary of the journey that was chosen for him. His path leads to Constantinople, an exotic location but strangely familiar ground. Here, he will embark on another adventure, different and known at the same time. Revelations is an ending to the Ezio Auditore da Firenze trilogy, and one must agree, it's a decent one to say the least. No only the graphics have been tuned up, the gameplay enhanced and the story re-polished. The game, more than anything, feels - much like Ezio itself - mature, an adventure game in its own right. It's an amazing ending to a meaningful story. Though not free of bugs, they seem to be only minor imperfections and nothing else; Revelations offers excellent playability and a must-have experience to any AC fan. Furthermore, I couldn't agree less with those accusing it of being everything but fresh - after stale Brotherhood, this is the very definition of a fresh turn. Don't listen to mean reviewers - there's nothing tragic, rushed, meandering or dissapointing about Revelations.

The fuss is right. ACII delivers! Set in several beautiful Italian cities during Renessaince, it features a rich boy Ezio that's popular with the ladies and leads a great life. The story slowly but surely expands, and as it does, you get more and more **** into it. It's a nearly perfect game - the difficulty is right, there are a lot of things to do, and the only problem is when AC stops being AC and tries to be Tomb Raider: running around caves, setting off contraptions, having limited time to jump through hoops in order to get to hidden door. That feels a bit unoriginal, especially to those who have played all those Tomb Raiders through the 90s... But as soon as you get to run on the rooftops again, and the weather is changing above your head, and you hear city life down below, it's all good, and that's a world worth spending time in.

ACII was a truly great title: several cities to explore, each one very different from the other, great story, interesting ending. AC Brotherhood continues that familiar (if not boring at times) path, tries out the same formula, but instead of adding, it seems to take away. This time, there's basically only one city - Rome - a large venue, which is much less **** feature than it sounds. There are very few enhancements, and the game feels stale and boring. There are some experiments, like synchonising the story 100% (for example, finish a mission in a certain amount of time, which is a huge annoyance and an warm invitation to cheating). There seem to be a lot more bugs in Brotherhood - plus the biggest one (controls) has not only not been fixed, it's gotten worse. Sometimes, it's hard to make Ezio do the things you want to do, sometimes he randomly jumps in different direction than assumed (previously mentioned 100% seems impossible more than often). The story doesn't stick anymore and Rome isn't as half as charming as Firenze, much less Venice. It's a shame that Brotherhood is such a letdown, and to any who want continuing the trilogy, think if it's worth it - Brotherhood may disappoint you so much your warm feelings about ACII will go down the drain.

Truly, I haven't experienced any signs of the game being a "sloppy port" whatsoever - I was surprised to read some of the negative reviews based solely on that fact. The game is insanely good - beautiful world of Arkham City, lots of things to do, nice story with lots of side missions. Definitely a game of the year for me.

I have been playing the NSF games since I was a kid and you know what? I'm getting tired. The newest installment offers too little, too late. The PC version is terribly laggy and buggy. The FPS rate is slow, which is a killer for a racing game. The cars are mostly unresponsive. The gameplay is 2 days (if you have a job). What annoyed me to high heaven was the restart system which takes you back to the latest checkpoint if you so much as go one meter off the road. If that sounds stupid and ridiculous to you, believe me, it is. The bugs are everywhere. Sometimes the game freezes, sometimes the sound will go weird, and the cutscenes let's say presenting a hidden cop in the bushes can only be problematic - when the camera is back to the car, it turns out the car has hit the tree because you didn't have enough time after you regained control over the car. I also had a big problem with the sense of reality - the cars, as mentioned, seem heavy and tank-like almost - but give them a smallest crash and they go literally flying into high heavens, spinning like crazy as if they're made of paper. Overall, I think NFS should be wise to just shut down while they are somewhat ahead - it's clear they don't know how to make a good racing game.

After spending mere 15 hours with the game, it seems more clear than not that the makers wanted to go for GTA4 meets San Francisco, but their laziness got in the way. So we have great graphics, nice choice of cars and a big, stunning map plus a lot of challenges and all sorts of diversions. And the idiotic storyline, which makes even 10 year old ask, WTF? The map is big, but the world is not opened. I'm far from telling you why - you'll have to judge that by yourself. Driver SF is a fun game, but it's not a game changer, and withing a couple of months, gamers will forget about it. It offers what most gamers take for granted - the SHIFT gameplay is definitely a great invention, but it can't carry the title to the gold. The game gets boring after 2 days of playing, and in today's reality, you really expect more.

Some people get Portal. I don't. I don't find it entertaining. It gets boring really fast. Perhaps it's the amazing start - too amazing to fit the rest of the game.

One of the best racing games ever. The graphics are particularly nice to the eye, the game-play is pretty nice, the map is big but not too big, overall, a very, very enjoyable game.

I don't get the hype. It's just another one of your average first person shooter, and after a mere hour of playing I didn't find one thing that would make it stand out from the rest. It uses so many well-known features it's completely boring to play. Personally, I'm tired of that technological/bionical feel, give me something new, I've been playing for 20 years, it's time to come up with something new already.

This game is what the WTF was made for. As a computer-biological experiment, it's interesting. As an actual game, it's beyond boring. Perhaps it's because the hype was so huge, the game couldn't stand a chance living up to it.

**** beyond imagination. You'd expect a great thing when SimCity and The Sims and combined, but instead, you get a total mis-match. Terrible game-play and overall a forgettable experience.

It would be absolutely **** there wasn't Tropico 3. But there was, and it was great - and part 4 feels just like an add-on, but it cannot stand alone as a game. The improvements are hardly there, and most of them base on the font and other graphic improvements plus some new scenarios, not the actual gameplay. If you were into Tropico 3, I guarantee part 4 will bore you within 10 minutes. The screens tell the truth - and because it looks a lot like Tropico 3, means it's pretty much the same thing, slightly re-freshened and repacked to make you think it's brand new. I suppose it's the limit for the makers. A huge let-down. Hence the zero. Don't buy it.