Assassin's Creed III review

For a game that has so much, and yet offers so little, it's a shame that Assassin's Creed 3 did what it did. Not only is this one of the most disappointing game in the series, it's a slap to the face of what made Assassin's Creed 2 so great.

In Assassin's Creed III, you play as Conner, a half British half Native American in the 1700s America. This was also known as the Revolutionary War. This takes place before, during, and after the war, but you wouldn't know that because the Revolutionary War is so downplayed, it feels like it was there just to justify the new engine the team at Ubisoft created. Despite a good 80 percent of the time you play as Conner, you really play as Desmond Miles as he continues reliving his ancestor's past. It takes place right after Revelations, but if you didn't play it the game does give you a decent background to the series events. What was once interesting about the story of Assassins vs. Templars has now one of prophecy and an end of the world catastrophe. By the end of the game I cared so little about Desmond and Conner, that the ending was nothing short of a confusing mess. Ubisoft just had to put that Mayan date into the story that it forced them into the wall and what ever happens next won't matter.  There was nothing in the end that makes you want to know what happens next. If it had only stick to the war between the Assassins and Templars, none of this would have happened.

In Conner's side of things, it's a little more interesting. It takes a good four to five hours for the story to really open up, but not before one of the best twist in gaming this year. I seriously did not see that coming. Conner's tale, like Ezio, is one of revenge. Unlike Ezio, however, Conner is so focus and so narrow minded that you really don't care what happens. Ezio used his quest for vengeance into action to help those who needed helping. Conner takes the mission, but complains about being pushed around. He's determined, but for all for selfish reasons. They tried to make it more personal for Conner, but at the end it really didn't matter. It was there just for drama. Not going to ruin it because it will give away that twist.

Since the announcement, the team had hyped up that you will be taking part of the Revolutionary War. While you do take part, most of the missions are so against of what Assassin's Creed is about they can take that part of history away and you would never knew what was going on. You do meet historical people like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, but they are there for so little, they might as well no be there at all. You fight in four major battles, but only one of them is worth playing. They said the new engine help made the battles feel epic, but in all honestly, they could have used the past engine and still get the same results. Thankfully, the engine wasn't only there to give that false sense of epic battles.

The new engine is pretty amazing as it allows for weather to change. You can tell when it's summer, and you can tell went it's winter. The snow will slow you down and causes you to run different to summer, but it seems that this is the only seasons that is in the game. Winter and Summer. There is storms in the game, but each crackle of lightning dips the frame rate drop. The frame rate only drops when there is too much activity on screen. It doesn't happen often, but when it does happen, you'll know. There is even a few minor bugs in the game. Keep in mind that this was after the patch was installed. Before you play the game, you have to install a patch to make the game playable. If you don't have internet access that often, you will play a completely broken game. You do have to install the game as well, this keeps the numerous loading screens relatively short. If you delete the game install, you have to also install the patch again. Another problem with the game is the camera. For the most part the camera is fine. It does what it should do when you are running. It's when you get into battles that you'll have the most problem. No matter where you are at, there will always be something blocking your view. This will make you miss a time block, or blocks off screen threats. The guards now carry guns. While it does take a while to load each shot, there will be times where you will be shot at off screen by a row of guards. This will take half your health away. They do, sometimes, point out the threat, but that window is so small that you might as well take it.

One of the most disappointing aspects of Assassin's Creed III is its weapons. The Assassin's hatchet is a fantastic weapon to fight with, but that was the only weapon worth having. You do get a gun and a bow, but you have to be within range to use them, that it makes them completely unless you are in a fight. While the fighting is as strong as ever, when preform a successful block, time slows down for a few seconds to counter-attack. This would be good in theory, but the slow down window is so long that you can think of what you should do next. This makes combat easier than in Assassin's Creed II. If you do happen to die, it was because you didn't see a guard attacking you. The kills are not as brutal as before, and you will start seeing them a lot. You can buy weapons, but the hatchet is good enough that you can play the entire game with it.

This game has a lot to offer in terms of what to do, but all of this is for naught. You can do side missions to help "free the people" but it's just there for padding. There is no Assassin's Tombs, no Subject 16 puzzles, and any good side quests. Unlike Assassin's Creed II, there is no upgrades of any kind. In Assassin's Creed II, you did side missions for money, and money bought upgrades. In Assassin's Creed III, you do side missions and get nothing. There is this crafting system, but it's underutilized and can be completely ignored. There is also hunting. Hunting is one of the most disappointing aspects when it comes to side missions. You track your prey, and you kill them. Doing so, like the side missions, gives you nothing. When you kill an animal, you can skin them. They are there just to help you sell items. So, hunting is useless. You don't get no special reward for killing your prey. Hunting is just running faster than the animal you want to kill.

The absolute worst aspect of Assassin's Creed III is its main missions. A basic Structure of a mission is follow this person, get something, give that to another person, and mission end. There are a few great missions like the Boston Tea Party, and the raid of a fort, but they are few and far between. There is a lot of hand holding when it comes to the missions. You also have eavesdrop, tailing, chasing, and sometimes all three at once. You are more likely to fail the mission because your target was lost than actually getting killed. It becomes frustrating when you have to play the same tedious mission for 20 minutes because the game fails to tell you that it's in a strict time limit. There was this one mission that breaks the rules of the game. They try to put in stealth in a "Stealth" game, but it is used in such a way that it becomes more troublesome than anything else. That freedom you had in Assassin's Creed II is gone.

Not everything is terrible though. The combat, despite that large slow window, is exciting. Getting a cinematic kill is satisfying. The world of the Assassin's Creed III isn't detailed, but it's large scope of the areas is phenomenal. The world is busting with life that you will forgive having five of the same NPCs gathering together talking. You can beat the game, and still not see everything that Boston has. The freerunning is simplified, and is now faster than ever. The most amazing aspects of Assassin's Creed is its Naval battles. You control a ship as you are out in the open waters battling the British Navy. It's exciting, fun, and unlike anything I've seen before. If there was one bad thing about the naval battles, is its that you have to see the ship your are firing taking your focus away from what is ahead. It is very possible to hit rocks or another ship. The ship is easy to control, and easy to battle with. If Ubisoft wanted to, they can do a new IP about Naval battles and use this control and engine, and it will be a blast to play.

Assassin's Creed III is a massive disappointment. You have the makings of a great game, but having using the worst missions in gaming as it's main focus is not what studios should do. Maybe if there was upgrades, better hunting, better side missions, and a better story I might have forgiving it's use of hand holding, but as it stands, I can't. Assassin's Creed III is basically a remake of the original Assassin's Creed, but with a different setting.

PlayStation All Stars beta impressions

When PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale was first announced I had said that I was hoping that it was more like Marvel vs Capcom, now that I have played some of the beta, I still retain that belief. This is a blatant rip off of the Super Smash Brothers games with very little that makes it unique from that Nintendo franchise. The beta, released for PS+ members and a public released next week, is well made, and from the few matches I played didn't see any hick ups. I just don't think that the game itself is very exciting. In Smash, it's a controlled chaos where you knew where you were at the whole time, in Battle you can't really see what you are doing. This is mostly caused by the camera being as far from the battle itself. It does get close when the players are together, but not as close as Smash. To make matters worse, when you and another person pick the same character your user name is not hovering above that character you had picked. This makes the fights more about finding yourself than actually fighting the other players.

It plays much like Smash, but in Smash you had combos you can do, but for Battle it has a three button layout and the difference between the characters are just to minimal to notice. I was planning on writing about each character in the demo; Kratos, Fat Princess, Sly Cooper, PaRapper the Rapper, Sweet Tooth, and Colonel Radec, but they don't really have anything different between the. Kratos will uses his blades as you would expect to, and Radec will use weapons as you expect to. The problem with using Sweet Tooth and Radec is that they use weapons like guns and rockets. They don't go that far, but I can see it being abused. There are power ups that relates to the map, like in the God of War map Kratos weapons from the games falls from the sky and anybody can pick it up. In one match, I played as PaRapper the Rapper and I picked up the Boots of Hermes and it does what it should. While the attacks wasn't fast, he was. It can get you to the other side of the map faster, but not much else. There are other weapons and boosts to pick up.

It's all not like Smash though. The more unique stuff is the highlight of the beta. The are two maps you can play from. Metropolis from Ratchet and Clank, and Hades from God of War. During the match the map would change. In Metropolis, it would change from Ratchet and Clank to the three Hydra stage from God of War. The music would start as Ratchet and it would seamlessly change to the God of War theme with out a misstep. It's pretty cool that they did that. While this is a beta, I just hope that the maps isn't fixed. I would love to see it change to Ratchet and Clank to Uncharted, or Uncharted to PaRapper the Rapper without a missing a beat to the music. Another thing is that the maps have death traps that relates to the map itself. Hades will attack you during the God of War map. It won't kill you out right, but it will make you in a daze.

In the long run, I can't see this being a big hit that Sony hopes to be. What made the Smash brothers such a huge success was the interaction with other players on one screen. This can be applied to Battle. It may be great fun with other players, but for online it will be severely lacking. It's got some good ideas, but it won't replace Smash Brothers in terms of gameplay and interactivity.

Dishonored review

There's a new game out there that takes the best of two worlds, and creates it into something great. Take the best part of Bioshock and the best part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and what you should get is Dishonored. Dishonored is a brand new IP, and if this turns into a series, I can expect great things from it. Dishonored takes you in the role of a bodyguard, Corvo Attano, who witness the brutal death of a High Priestess he was sworn to protect. With her body at his feet Corvo is blamed for the death and is set to prison. This is where the story of revenge begins. You get most of the training while you escape. You can sneak past everyone, or kill everyone on sight. The choice is entirely up to you. This is what this game excels at, choice. It may not look all that clear, but if you look around you will find what you need.
One of the smart things about Dishonored is the ability to check out the way you play the game. Each mission takes about an hour, or 90 minutes to complete. It's a meaty game with multiple ways to play, and it encourages you to try each one. Most of the time in Dishonored, you will be called to assassinate high ranking officers. These sections of the game are thrilling, exciting, and the most rewarding. Getting there can be just as tense. Thankfully, you have supernatural abilities at your disposal to use. You can see through walls, move quickly to one place to another, and even posses rats. Anything you need to do to eliminate your target is all there. The only thing keep you from doing that perfect playthrough is runes. Runes are there to help you upgrade your abilities and even giving you new ones. The more the runes are needed the better the upgrade. Unfortunately, you can't carry over your new found abilities once you finish the game. So the replayability is diminished. There is also bone charms, which gives you small boosts when you find them. One will make your sword swing faster, or one will make you climb faster. These and the Runes are easy to find, but a bit of a challenge to get to.


There are two main ways to play the game, lethal or nonlethal. Nonlethal is a lot of fun. Lethal, however, does come with a downside. When it comes to combat, the game isn't as exciting as the rest of the game. It just consisted of, how is attacking me and where are they at. You can use your abilities to make it easier on you, but it's just better off to try not to kill anyone. When I did kill anyone in the game, it was because I was seen and there was a small band of guards attacking me. I tried to go as nonlethal as possible. Careful planning is what you need if you plan to ghost the entire game.

The story is solid enough, until that third act rolls around. I love a good plot twist, but I don't like plot twist that is there just to make the game longer. If that third act never came, I would have greatly enjoyed the game more. It takes everything that made most of the game great and tosses it aside. There was no point whatsoever for what happens. The ending wasn't even satisfying.

One of the best things about Dishonored is the look of the game. It's not dark and full of brown it's got this distilled look that shows signs that this world was once beautiful. There's history in this world, and the dozens or so books and notes you will find will help you invest in this world. The voice cast is solid enough. It's got A list talent like Susan Sarandon, Brad Dourif, and Chloe Grace Moretz. While it's nothing amazing as you would expect, it's still great enough to believe in the characters. The loading 99 percent of the time isn't long, but there was a mission where the load time became too long, and I had to restart the mission over. Thankfully this was a one time event as the rest of the game played smoothly.

Despite the major gripes I have with the game, I still enjoyed most of it. The third act, no carry over, and combat is the worst part of the game, because the lack of carry over I can't see myself play this again. It's a great game to have for the weekend, but there is not much to go back to. If you do decide to play it again, at least you know that you can play using a different strategy.

the cost of fun

One of the worst things you can do is to become too big. As that old saying goes "The higher they rise, the harder they fall." This goes for pretty much everything. With game budgets going over the roof these past few years, I feel that the fall is coming. This will NOT be like the video game crash of '83, but it will be close. While video game sales have never been higher, so has the cost into making them.

When Dragon's Lair came out in 1983, it cost a total of 1.3 million to make. This included animation, programmers, coders, sound, the entire staff and the tools they need to create it. Because of the hand drawn animation style, it must have taken a little longer than normal to make it at the time.

One of the primary reasons for the Video Game Crash was because of over-saturation. There was consoles nearly everywhere and having multiple versions of the same game was a new thing at the time, consumers was just not that interested anymore. It didn't help when the games that was being made was a poor man's Pac-Man and Space Invaders. While E.T. would be the sole reason for the Crash, it wasn't the only one that caused it.

Then in 1985, A little card and toy company named Nintendo decided to create their own console. They had a big hit with the arcade with Donkey Kong in 1981. The cost into making Donkey Kong was around 100,000. When the new system came out, the Nintendo Entertainment System, it arrived with Super Mario Brothers. Because they wasn't doing arcades anymore, the cost to create it was probably less than Donkey Kong. This isn't including the advertisement the game had prior to launch.

Then the video game industry was risen again. Nintendo had a huge hit with there hands with Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, and more. Then a new company called Sega joined in shortly after. Nintendo's response to the Sega Genesis was the Super Nintendo. All was good until Nintendo teamed up with Sony to create something new. When plans fell through, instead of Sony ditching everything, they released it instead as the PlayStation. The console war has heated up.

While the console wars themselves was heating up, so has the price of creating them. I couldn't find the budget for the 64bit era, but I can imagine it was around to 1 to 5 million mark. This included advertisements. While the price was that low, the developers was more than willing to create more new IPs. The risk of failing wasn't as high.

When Sega no longer made consoles, their last being the Dreamcast. Microsoft took Sega's place with the X-Box. The price of making a game would have most likely doubled. While that did happen, new IPs, and risk was still being used. Some of the most popular games of this generation was born here. Call of Duty, God of War, Pikman, and Halo. While Call of Duty was more of a PC game, it didn't stop Activision from releasing the series to the PlayStation 2, Gamecube, and the X-Box.

It is in this generation that are showing signs of danger. Not a massive decline like in '83, but a risk of being to big. One of the first massive big budget games was the original Gears of War for the X-Box 360 for 10 million. While this was a lot back then in 2006, it's not so much now. The average budget of a game is 18 to 28 million dollars per game. The rise of a the budget also raised the price of the game itself. Most games now are 60 bucks minus tax in the United States. The price of the game could be higher, depending on where you live.

It's not that often that a game breaks the 18 to 28 million mark, but it is becoming more and more likely. When Santa Monica completed God of War III in 2010, the cost was around 44 million. In 2008, Rockstar Games released there most expensive game to date, Grand Theft Auto IV. GTAIV cost 100 million to make with over 1000 staff working on it. It is considered as one of the most expensive game to make. Any other developer might have cracked under all that money. Taking the playful tones of the past GTA games, GTAIV became serious with its subject matter. Most companies now would never do that with all that cash on the line. The big advantage that Rockstar had was that the series will still immensely popular. At the time of its release, it shattered record sales.Then nearly all the games that was being released was Open World. While there was Open World games before that wasn't part of the Grand Theft Auto series, there was an explosion of it. We are still feeling the effects of it today. That was until the Modern Warfare series. It's just one massive loop until something else shows up.The rising cost of trying one up each other is beginning to show.While more IPs is being made, like The Last of Us, Watch Dogs, and Remember Me. The chance of succeeding is slowly becoming unlikely. While I do believe those games will be successful, they still have a modest AAA budget. Resident Evil 6 is Capcom's biggest game to date. It's basically 4 massive games in one. Besides the obvious action route, I believe the game is doomed to fail. Not the action or how the game could be good, but by the cost of creating it. To bring back even half of the cost of the game, it would need to be successful.

All is not lost. If there is one thing that has been on the rise lately, it's the indie games. They don't need millions upon millions of dollars just to create that next big blockbuster. While the work is long and difficult, the accomplishments is worth it. This year's PAX East and PAX Prime has shown of a large amounts of excellent indie titles. From Antichamber, Guacamelee, Mark of the Ninja, and many many more. One of the first massive hit for the indie game scene was Braid. Braid was released on the X-Box Live Arcade and the entire budget was 200,000 to create. Braid was a massive hit and it easily stands besides AAA titles as one of the best games of this generation.

While million dollar projects has a tag of 50 to 70 dollars, the more lower cost games scan sell to 15 to 20 bucks a game. This allows for easy access, more chance of a success, and that success can lead to more risks, more IPs and cheaper costs. The AAA game will always have a place. The indie games that will show them that just because you have the ability to spend millions upon millions of Dollars just to make one game, doesn't mean you have to.

The Joys of Easy

Despite what you may have heard, there is no real way to play a single player game. No matter what game you get, you should enjoy it the way you want it. If that means playing on easy, then so be it. I am not going to say "This is the only way to play that game" or "Play Better." You spend sixty to seventy bucks on a game. There is no right way to play, unless you are playing in multiplayer. The only right way to play multiplayer is fair. No hacks, no cheats, no abusing the system. Be fair to yourself and to others, so everyone can have a good time.



Sometimes, you just want to set back and enjoy the ride. This is where Easy comes in. When I play a game for the first time, I play it on normal. This way I can have the full experience. When I finish that game on Normal, I sometimes play the game on hard. Most of the time, however, I will play it on easy just to enjoy the mechanics and the story of the game. Easy is a good thing in a number of reasons. It helps non playing gamers enjoy the game without feeling overwhelmed, and you, as the player, can do more stuff that you couldn't do otherwise. I've been playing Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception quite a bit lately, and the difficulty I've been playing it on is on Easy. I actually find it more enjoyable to play it on easy than normal for a number of reasons. Despite the trouble of having one button do two different things, the circle button being the grapple and roll action, the hand to hand combat in Uncharted 3 is quite fun to mess with. It's not Batman: Arkham series deep mind you. However, it is fun to catch a weapon in midair and firing at someone the second you catch it, or pulling a pin off an enemy and kicking them away. In these fights, you are the most vulnerable, so going hand to hand in normal or higher isn't a wise choice to be making. If I saw one of those heavy guards, I would never try to fight it hand to hand, even if he was the last man standing. On easy, I can just run up there and try to beat him down. I may get hit by a stray bullet, but at least I KNOW I can take this one enemy out in the matter of a few hits. This makes the combat styles of hand to hand and gunplay become much more blurry.



Playing the Uncharted series on easy makes me enjoy the story that much more. Uncharted is one of the few games I don't play for the difficulty, despite beating Among Thieves on hard. Some game actually benefits from playing the easy mode. Most of the time, however, Normal mode is the best way to go. The Arkham games comes to mind. You want to keep that combo going, but you want to keep that health that normal has. You can play those games on easy, if you like. But the enemies go down a little to fast to really dig in to the fighting system that game has.


Granted, there are some draw backs into play a game on Easy. You won't have that true sense of accomplishment the game can have on you that you can get on hard, or even normal difficulty has. The other thing is that it is possible to beat the game a little too fast. This also contributes of how many times you have beaten the game. It's a small set back, but at the end of the day, FUN should be the main factor of a game. If you are playing a game on normal and you are not having any fun because of the difficulty, bring the game down a peg. Anything to make the game you spend your money on fun. Except multiplayer, remember: Be Fair.



Recently, there have been talks that there could be an easy mode patched in for Dark Souls. Dark Souls, to me, is a lot of fun. The main reason for this is because of the difficulty. I have no problem with this. To me, to keep that balance between easy and normal is to let you keep the souls when you die. The absolutely frustrating thing about Dark Souls is losing all of your souls. You can have hundreds of thousands of souls saved up only to be gone by dying by your stupid mistake. The thought of losing all those souls is much more frighting than facing a giant boss. If you die the first time you face a boss those souls are gone. If you die before you get a chance to pick them back up again, those souls are gone for good. This makes facing the bosses easier because that main threat is gone. You don't care about the souls anymore, just the boss that you must face alone. Oh, it's still hard, but that jolt of dying won't be as bad as losing that much souls.



It's perfectly find to want a challenge. If you played a game enough times that thrill might be gone. This is the time where you feel confident enough to try it on a harder difficulty. You can make a game as complicated as you like, if you add an easy mode, that should be accessible enough. If you want to try things that you can't do in normal mode or higher, easy is perfect for that too.

Lonesome Crowded West

Teeth Like God's Shoeshine - If you could compact your conscience and sell it, save it for another time, you know you might have to use it

Heart Cooks Brain - On my way to God don't know, My brain's the burger and my heart is the coal

Convenient Parking - Soon the chain reaction started on the parking lot

Lounge Act (Closing Time) - She was talking with a syllable lisp 

Jesus Christ was an only child - I know now what I knew then But I didn't know then what I know now

Doin' the Cockroach - I was in heaven, I was in hell, believe in neither, but fear them as well

Cowboy Dan - Every time you think you're walking you're just moving the ground, Every time you think you're talking you're just moving your mouth, Every time you're looking, you're just looking down.

Trailer Trash - God Damn I am such a jerk, I can't do anything

Out of Gas - Opinions was like kittens, I was giving them away

Long Distance Drunk - 8 AM and someone is calling you on the telephone, you want to be all by yourself and all alone.

Shit Luck - And my heart is Slowly dried up.

Trucker's Atlas - The buzz from the bird on my Dash, Road locomotive phone

Polar Opposites - And I know I should go but I'll probably stay, and that's all you can do about some things.

Bankrupt on selling - Well, I'll go to college and I'll learn some big words and I'll talk real loud, goddamn right I'll be heard

Styrofoam Boots/It's all right on ice - He said that god takes care of himself and you of you/ It an't day and it an't night

Saint's Row The Third playlist...

Deftones – "Diamond Eyes"
Kanye West – "Power" (don't like him, but i know that this song shows up in a mission)
Bach – "Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 Allegro"
Dethklok – "The Cyborg Slayers"
Mastodon – "Divinations"
Faith No More – "Epic"
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – "Relax"
Joe Esposito – "You're the Best"
Mark Morrison – "Return Of The Mack"
Sublime – "What I Got"

Connections: TV Shows

Connections: TV Shows

24
Misha Collins - Season 1
Mark A Sheppard - Season 5
Daniel Dae Kim - Season 3
Henry Ian Cusick - Season 5
Dean Norris - Season 2

Lost
Diana Scarwid - Season 3
Dean Norris - Season 4
Daniel Dae Kim - Seasons 1-6
Terry O Quinn - Seasons 1 - 6
Alan Dale - Seasons 2 - 6
Henry Ian Cusick - Seasons 2 - 6

Pushing Daises
Diana Scarwid - Season 2
Lee Pace - Seasons 1 - 2
Beth Grant - Season 2*
Mo Collins - Season 2

Supernatural
Misha Collins - Seasons 4 - 7
Mitch Pileggi - Season 5 - 6
Mark A Sheppard Season 5 - 7
Lauren Cohan - Season 3

Dead Like Me
Harold Perrineau - Season 1
Henry Ian Cusick - movie

The Walking Dead
Jeffery DeMunn - Seasons 1 - 2
Lauren Cohan - Season 2

Arrested Development
Mo Collins - Season 2

The X-Files
Mark A Sheppard - Season 1
Terry O Quinn - Season 2, Movie, Season 8/
Jeffery DeMunn - Movie
Alan Dale - Season 9
Mitch Pileggi - Seasons 1 - 9 + movies

Wonderfalls
Lee Pace - Season 1
Diana Scarwid - Season 1
Beth Grant - Season 1*

Leverage
Mark A Shepard - Season 1 - 4

Breaking Bad
Dean Norris - Seasons 1 - 4

/ played different characters
*played the same character

Endings (LOST Spoilers!!!)

Endings are a tricky thing. You can have this long, fantastic journey, and then once it ends, you are left with bewilderment. Stories are like a puzzle. You have them all scattered, and once it all comes together, it will fit. As of this writing, I don't know how Mass Effect 3 ended. All I know is that it is getting the same hate LOST had when it aired its finale episode. So instead of pretending to know how Mass Effect 3 ended, LOST will be the topic of discussion.

Lets start with the show's ending. The infamous church scene. Does that church look familiar to you? It should, because it was first introduced in Season 5. Underneath the Church, there is a station and it's called The Lamp Post. The Dharma Initiative used it to find the Island. In the flash sideways, it is where all the survivors found each other.

While people where upset that religion was used, when ever religion is used, people seem to hate it. This should not come as a shock. LOST had a huge theme of faith. This is most apparent of Jack and Locke. One of the recurring lines in the show was "That's why they called it a Leap of Faith."

Another recurring line is "See you in another life, brother" this is mostly said by Desmond who picked it up by becoming a monk for awhile. This line isn't just for show. It's a foreshadowing of the end of the series. Desmond had met Jack at different points in his life.

1. Before the Crash when Desmond treated Jack's ankle. Jack leads a pretty normal life.

"You've got to lift it up"

2. After the Crash at the Hatch. Jack is a leader

"Nothing is Going to happen"

3. After leaving the island. Jack is now a man of Faith.

"We are just the pieces"

4. Back at the Island. Jack is now the protector of the Island.

"All of this matters"

5. And finally the flash sideways when they literally met in another life.

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

It just doesn't end at the Church scene either. Most people felt ripped off that they spent six years with this show and not getting answers. I'm going to lay some cold hard facts for you. Season 1 was NOT about the mysteries. Sure they introduced some, but they all got answered eventually. The first big mystery the show had was answered in season 6. The first shocking moment was answered in season 3. Season one was about the characters. Plain and simple. Why do people groan when there is a Kate episode coming up? Why do people like it when there is a Desmond episode? Because, their stories will be told in that specific episode.

Most of the important questions was answered throughout the series. You don't go in thinking that by the end of it, there will be a complete answer dump. I don't like answer dumps. I think they are a cheap way to end a story. Out of all the questions that relates to the characters that was not answered was Walt. In "The New Man In Charge", a dvd exclusive that answers some things, Ben visits Walt in a mental heal clinic. The same one Hurley has been in. Ben said that Walt was special. How was Walt special? Just the fact that they went ahead and do this opens up for new possibilities. I would like to see a new comic con video that shows a small time back at the island.

In the last episode "The End" it had a lot of small references to the rest of the series. I'm not talking about the big ones like descending of Desmond scene or the remembering scenes. I'm talking about the smaller moments. For example, Claire doesn't want to leave the island because she's doesn't want to see Aaron looking like that. In season 3, Rousseau didn't want to leave the island because there is nothing for her out there. After Desmond uncorked the hole, I seriously thought that lava was going to spew out because in Season 3, a teacher said that this island was a dead volcano (5:12). 


Unlike most TV shows where they beat your head with answers, the producers knew that the audiences are smart. So they leave little bread crumbs for the views to examine. In "The New Man In Charge" the reason why the polar bear was in the middle of the Sahara Desert was answered. The answer was the same theory people had already had. That entire epilogue felt like it was just confirming fans theories.

The reason why shows like The Event and V didn't last long was because it tired so hard to be like LOST. They send out a mystery and let the characters deal with it. It was mysteries first and character second. The reason why LOST was so successful was because it was characters first and mysteries second.

Before the new shows even air, they said that they will not be like LOST and answer everything. This turns out to be a death sentence. Every show that had said this gets cancelled after it's first season. No one wants to watch a show where there is just mystery after mystery. I saw V, The Event, and Flash Forward. While the mysteries are there, something always feels off.

The show is not perfect. It has its weak episodes, and couple of characters that they buried alive to get rid of. Despite this, they ended the way they wanted to. If you go back to the series, and start connecting the dots, you will see how everything fits. From "House of the Rising Sun" to "Across The Sea." From "Everybody Love Hugo (18:11)" to "The Incident." There is puzzle pieces that fits. So, if the ending you want is not what YOU wanted, look back and see if it fits.

OVERVIEW: Mass Effect 2

It's been two years since Eden Prime, two years since the assault on the Citadel, two years since you where killed. Cerberus as bought you back from the dead to find out what is making human colonies vanish. Given a list of names to for you, as Commander Shepard, to recruit. You and your new found team must stop the Collectors and prepare for the coming war of the Reapers.

PICK AND CHOOSE

On the Xbox 360 version of the game, you can import your Shepard from the original Mass Effect and depending if you saved Ashley or Kaiden, you will know right away that the choices you made in the first game matters here. On the Playstation 3 version, it will start off like you never played the original Mass Effect, and how could you? Microsoft owns the publishing rights to Mass Effect so seeing the original coming to the PS3 is highly unlikely. After the intro, set two months after the first game, you get a chance to watch a comic book style recap of the first game. It's a clever way to bring Playstation 3 players up to speed if they never played the first one. Another thing about it is you can pick six choices players had to make in the first game. The downside about this is that the only way to get it is either buying The Cerberus Network or getting the game new. It's not that big of a deal, but seeing that Mass Effect 3 will, supposedly, tie up everything, it kind of sucks.

Six ways to play

After the comic recap, you go into the character creation screen. This is where you can either make a new Shepard or create your own; I created my own. You can choose from various aspects of your character. There are six classes in total, and all have their own unique gameplay. For my female Shepard I picked the solider class. The solider class allows Mass Effect to play out like a third person shooter. What makes solider class different from the rest is that it is the only class you can use an Assault Rifle and adrenaline. For my Shepard, I named her Emily based on Emily Haines of Metric. While I named my Shepard after her, it does not look like her; Short black hair, green eyes, and dark purple lipstick. I thought it was black, but towards the end I saw that it was purple.

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

Once the game starts, you wake up and the lab you are in is under attack. Because I choose the solider class, the game plays like a third person shooter. Despite this, you can still command your party into doing things for you. One of the first person you meet during the attack is a man named Jacob. He's got biotic powers so you can use that to your advantage. This is a pretty neat way to show off what you are missing. I am planning to start again with a male Shepard and this time using Vanguard. The commands are easy to do; push a button, command your squad or pick something for you, and see the results. It may sounds strange to say, but I play the game like Dragon Age. I never used the quick select. I bring up the wheel, see my surroundings, and plan accordingly. It's more effective, than just simply pushing a button.

After you escape from the attack with Jacob and Miranda, you are met with the Illusive Man. The person that founded Cerberus. He tells you that colonies are going missing and it's up to you to find out who and why. This is one of the reasons why the recreated Shepard. The Illusive man gives you a dossier full of names and you go and try to recruit them. He also gives you a brand new ship that is modeled after the first Normandy.

Pause, look, dominate

Once you find out who, the Illusive Man tells Shepard that he must go through the Omega 4 Relay. The Omega 4 Relay is a lost Relay. Instead of shining blue, like the rest, it shines red. Anyone that has past  through it has never returned. It's best to have all your team and ship upgraded before passing through. Along the way, you can collect resources by scanning planets and doing random side quests. The most important side quests is the loyalty quests. After talking to your teammates, they will ask you to do something for them. If you do the loyalty missions, they will trust you and will have a good chance of surviving. I say good chance because I did Miranda's loyalty mission and she still ended up killed. She was the only member in my team to die.


EXPANDING OUR LITTLE TEAM


The cast of characters expands from the original Mass Effect. The locations you go expands also, and instead of having every building look identical, they all look different with different layouts. The planets are no longer identical. There are alot of planets to explore and to land. Sometimes you can find unique things that can only be found in the planet. This is also where the DLC comes in. If you have the PS3 version, there are 3 great DLC to do; Lair of the Shadow Broker, Kasumi: Stolen Memory, and Overlord. Shadow Broker is the best one and it answers what the Shadow Broker is.

Shooting

There is no two ways to play the game. You can be either paragon or a renegade. It's all up to you. The bad thing about this is that you pretty much know what will gain the most paragon or renegade points. If you choose a renegade option, you will have more renegade points given to you and a little bit of paragon. Same implies if you picked paragon. There are many hours to be had in Mass Effect 2. It will take a good while to do everything this game has to offer.


With Mass Effect 3 on its way, I can imagine that everyone that is getting the game is playing Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, so they can see if all those choices they made are really worth it at the end. I have high hopes for Mass Effect 3. If Mass Effect 3 ends up being bad, at least we know that we got to excellent games to fall back on. 

Battlefield 3 Single Player Review

After I beat a game I reflect everything that I did on the game; Was it good? Was it bad? Was it worth remembering, and going back to? Unfortunately, Battlefield 3's answer is no. From a technical standpoint, it's great. The characters go past Uncanny Valley and into something more real. From a gameplay standpoint, it's greatly lacking.

GAMEPLAY

Battlefield 3 is the definition of mediocre. All the buttons you have used in past first person shooters can be used here. You aim and you shoot. Nothing changes. In the game you either follow someone, or there will be an indicator telling you where to go. There is no freedom in this game. If you stray to far you will die. It's either do this, or risk taking a bullet to the head. While the areas do feel big, where you will go is not. Because you are following something 90% at the time, you can't go out and explore different vantage points and ways to flank. The game lets you flank whenever it tells you to. The game will also tell you to do something that will guarantee an instant death.

Push To Win

The game does allow breaks between the shooting. In one mission you can drive a tank. The controls of the tank is like every other game out there; awkward. Because they tell you where to go and who to shoot, this section of the game is more boring than it should be. If the section was more exciting, I would not have mind the awkward controls. In another section, you are a co-pilot of a jet. While you don't get to fly the jet, it does leave with something exciting. You can shoot down other enemy jets. I was never a good flyer in games, so this was gladly welcome.

During all the shooting you will do, and you will do a lot of it, there are one too many quick time events. I'm not one to complain about quick time events. When done properly, it can be very exciting. Battlefield 3 is the exact opposite of that. When you get into a quick time event you and another enemy will start hand to hand combat. Instead of pushing a button to trigger the next move, you just push one button and lean back as you watch the scripted fight plays out. This game could have benefited from having a mini brawler game. Push X for punch, Push Circle for kick. Nothing fancy, just something better than this. It happens way to frequent for it to be surprising.

GRAPHICS

The Graphics in this game is insane. The attention to detail should not be ignored. From the faces, water, fire, and environment, all looks amazing. Once I found out Glenn Morshower was in the game, I noticed his character talked the same why he does. It's very startling and awesome. The guns feel real and they each has a unique look to them. However, if you played past military themed games before, you will already know which one is your favorite.

Can you see them?

The lighting is just as detailed. When light is facing you, it does as it does in real life. Gets annoying and blinds your vision. While having flashlights on you make sense, not so much with lasers. The lasers gets right in front of your eye. No matter where the enemy is point and where they are at, it's always following you. This section of the game was stupid and I was shaking my head in disgust.

The audio is also another thing worth noting. The voice acting does a good job on showing some emotion, it's not the best we've ever heard, but it works. The explosions, the firing of the weapons, the yelling for orders. Everything is in top form. I was afraid that my headphones was going to blow out. While the sound of the weapons is amazing, it still sounds like a pea shooter. When firing a gun, I expect it to make loud cracking sounds. While it does sound weak, the guns is powerful. It takes a couple of good shots to take someone down. 

DIFFICULTY 

At least it looks good

Make no mistake, this game is surprisingly difficult. I'm not used to Battlefield games, but the ones that I have played was just a difficult. While I can see someone blowing past this with ease, with cheap deaths in the short amount of time I had the game I reluctantly switch the difficulty. I manage to beat the first few missions on normal and that took a good 40 minutes. On easy, it took no less than 20. Easy is too easy. Normal is too hard. If I had the game longer, I would have beaten the game on normal, but I was in a timetable. This is where the game separates itself from other military themed games. You are a badass in the game because the game didn't make you one. The game can be beaten in 6 hours. It's not that long of a game, but because the way the game is, it feels like it's long just to be long by giving out cheap deaths when ever you mess up. Whether by your moves, or where you went.

STORY

This is wasted potential. You play as a marine named Blackburn. He is sent in of questions of treason. The entire game feels one massive flashback into how you got the way you are. This would have been interesting, but they started to add more characters for you to play as and the story is not in order. I love nonlinear storytelling. I blame Quentin Tarantino for this, but at least his storytelling is focused. Here, it's all over the place. Nothing really make sense. All it is, is an excuse to throw many missions under one game. They tried to be shocking the way Call Of Duty is, but where Call Of Duty succeeds, Battlefield 3 fails. There is one mission where you are a french solider and you start killing cops towards the end of the mission. It's all pointless. Then you see a character get executed. Again, pointless. This is all this story is, pointless. This story would have been better if it was told in a linear line. Not all games need to be nonlinear.

OVERALL

Battlefield 3 takes everything you like about Uncharted, Rainbow Six, and Call Of Duty and makes it as dull as possible. The team at DICE knows the Frostbite 2 engine and knows it well. What they don't know, or at least forgot to, is to make an exciting game. In that stupid war against Battlefield and Call Of Duty, there is no winner. At least Call of Duty, despite it's tired formula, is an exciting game.

Endings: Metal Gear Solid 4

"Dissolve"

This is what Director Hideo Kojima had in mind when making Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots. Dissolve was chosen because it's Solid Snake's finale mission and it was to be the end of The Patriots. Another theme within the game is Redemption. Almost every character in the game has a moment of Redemption. One of the characters that did not have a redemptive scene was Vamp. I don't think he was ever meant to be redeemed. Another theme that the game has is sacrifice. The ending of Metal Gear Solid 4 is a perfect way to end the series, but it's also kind of a paradox.


PUT ASIDE THE GUN AND LIVE

"I finally understand the meaning behind your words"

It's no secret that the final cut scene of Metal Gear Solid 4 is long. It almost pushes the hour mark by the time the credits begin to roll. After a few cut scenes, where it finishes out the character's own story ark, it cuts to Solid Snake in a graveyard. This is the same graveyard Big Boss was in at the end of Snake Eater. Snake just sits there holding a gun. He thinks of all that he has done to save the lives of many; and he is ready to do it again. Only this time, the way to do it is to kill himself. He puts the barrel to his mouth, un cocks the gun, and then the camera pulls out over to some trees near by. A gunshot is heard as birds flies away. Like Snake Eater, where I always almost cry at the end of that game, I flinch at the sound of the gunshot. This was to be Snake's last moments and we are with him to the very end. After a brief credit roll, a new cut scene begins.


Snake is on his hand and knees. Sweating profusely and the gun empty. He breaths heavily as he hears a voice. It was telling him that it was good that he didn't kill himself. Snake looks and then there he is, Big Boss. They both stare at each other not knowing what the other will do. Big Boss moves closer raising his Patriot Gun, Snake is quickly reloading his. Big Boss aims his gun and then drops it. Confused, Snake watches as the weapon falls and without warning Big Boss comes in a perform some CQC. It doesn't last long and it ends with Big Boss holding his surviving clone. Big Boss offers peace and he begins to explain everything the Metal Gear Solid series has stood for and what has happened.


IT ALL STARTED WITH HIM


Big Boss begins to do a lot of info dump. I don't really like info dump that much, because it feels lazy, but Metal Gear Solid 4 has deserved this. There was a lot of information that the initial story couldn't do. It begins with how Big Boss is still alive. If Big Boss was in his fifties when they created his clones in the 70s, then that means that Big Boss is around 80 years old. It also shows further understanding of Ocelot's goal from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2. If you played Metal Gear Solid 3, there is a good chance to know that Ocelot's mother is The Boss. He sacrificed himself, just like she did during The Cold War.

The ruler all.

This is also the moment when we found out who Created The Patriots. It was Zero. Zero was Big Boss's commander during Snake Eater. Zero used the funds of the Philosopher's Legacy to help create the Patriots. Other founders include; Signit, Eva, Para-medic, Big Boss, and Ocelot. Big Boss and Zero was best friends, but a falling out left them separated. They both had different interpretation of The Boss's will. Zero wanted in inside world, a world that comes together as one, but as Zero got older, he became more paranoid. So, to it protect the will he created AIs. Four AIs named after the three Presidents on the Mount Rushmore and another AI named John Doe. Then one day the AIs became self aware and deviated from Zero's and The Boss Will and crated it's own will. One that keeps the AI becoming stronger and more controlled of the world. No one saw this coming. Not even Zero himself. It took a good while, but The Patriots found a way to keep its new found power growing; The War Economy.


SEND ZERO BACK TO NOTHING


Now that the Patriots are no more, thanks to Sunny and the FOXALIVE program, the world has gone back to zero. In Big Boss's Redemption, he kills his old friend and mentor, Zero. Earlier in the game, Snake is implanted with a new version of FOXDIE, and it was designed to kill the original members. Then Big Boss falls. Ready to die, he asks Snake to take him to The Boss's grave. Big Boss then explains that the new FOXDIE is uprooting the old version. The old FOXDIE was mutating, and if it was not for the new version of FOXDIE, the old FOXDIE would have caused a epidemic.


To me, this is where the Paradox begins. Snake goes through a lot of crap to stop Liquid Ocelot, even still. He does all the stuff he was willing to do all along and he never got his sacrifice. If Snake killed himself to make sure that he didn't become a walking virus that can kill everybody, that would have been his ultimate sacrifice. He may not redeemed himself, because he doesn't have a reason too, but at least he can be like his brothers. Sacrificing himself for the greater good. Liquid and Solidus wanted the same thing, to end the Patriots rule. They both sacrificed themselves to make it happen. Even Ocelot sacrificed himself to see it happen. 


IN MEMORY OF A PATRIOT, WHO SAVED THE WORLD

Only one scene comes close. Can you guess?

In Big Boss's final effort of life, he understood what The Boss stood for, and he does one of the greatest scenes ever in gaming. He toughs out the pain, he gets his feet together, he slowly raises his hand, then he salutes his mentor. It's a phenomenal scene from the series, and one of my favorite moments in gaming.


Big Boss shows his respect for Snake for the first time, and as Big Boss raises his hand to shake, he falls. This is the final minutes of Big Boss, and he talks about how Zero, himself, Liquid, and Solidus was not so different. They wanted to change the world for the better. Big Boss then tells Snake that he's unique in ways that he wish he was. Big Boss asks Snake to leave war and live on. He can finally be free.


"Dissolve"


Snake picks up the cigar and places it on Big Boss's lips and he gives one final puff. 


"This is good, isn't it"




No matter how it ended, it's still a fantastic ending to a series that changed gaming. While this isn't the end of Metal Gear, it is the end of Solid Snake. And what an amazing end it is.

Easter Eggs and Unlockables.

Remember playing an old game and then you see something that didn't have anything to do with the game? Remember that rush you felt when you found something, and telling your friends the next day? Those days are now gone. With the Internet you can find out about an Easter Egg before you even get the game. While some games still keep that tradition, it's no longer a mystery if you will find them or not. If there is a game that as an Easter Egg then there is a very good chance that the Easter Eggs are found within a week.

KEEP PLAYING

This was for both Single and Multiplayer

One of the things that is greatly missed in this generation of games is unlockables. Few games have this feature in their games. It's always fun to see that when beating a game there is a reason to go back to. It helps that if the game is amazing, and you were going to play it again anyway, the unlockables would have given you extra reasons. Unlockables can range from; Videos, Art, and gameplay tweaks. One of the best games of this generation, at least to me, is the first two Uncharted games. One of the reasons is because the amount of tweaks the game gives you. You would need to get them by either money or treasures. It all depends which game you play. Uncharted 3 is missing this feature. They do have unlockables, but you can only unlock them by playing the game, but it's only videos. With the rise of DLC, Unlockables are becoming a thing of the past. I want to unlock them, not buy them.

NO ONE NEEDS TO PROTECT IT

Another awesome thing games have is Easter Eggs. Easter Eggs are hidden surprises that rewards players by going that extra time into looking around the environment. On of the biggest surprises in 2009 was X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition. Not only was it one of the very few good movie/game tie end. That in itself is a bit of a paradox seeing that the movie was terrible, but the game was great. I really didn't know much about the game one of the reasons I wanted to play it was because of the M rating. This is a very shallow reason to play a game, and I don't recommend anyone doing it. The other reason was because it's Wolverine. We finally get to see the grim reality with those blades he has. 

Hope he doesn't forget to push the button

It didn't have a lot of Easter Eggs, but the one that I didn't know made me geek out. It happens early in the game where you are outside. I found this door and broke it to get past it. Then there it was The Hatch from Lost. I love Lost. It is one of my most favorite TV shows of all time, so seeing that made me geek out into excitement. Then the light came on and an achievement was unlocked called "Found." The coolest thing about this is that they didn't put it there no reason. Two of the actors in the film was in the series. Other Lost game related Easter Eggs include; Just Cause 2, Modern Warfare 3, Half Life 2: Episode 2, World At War, and World of Warcraft. Another of my favorite shows of all time is Breaking Bad and RAGE had a Easter Egg that relates to the series.

DOES HE KNOW THE PASSWORD

Halo has a ton of Easter Eggs that relates to the fans of the game. One of the best ones is from Halo 3. In the game you will come across a couple of soldiers talking about passwords. Depending on the difficulty, you will hear members of Rooster Teeth. The creators of Red Vs Blue. Even in the last Halo game they've added a really cool Easter Egg where they thanked the community for being fans of the games. It's a shame that so few games has Easter Eggs now. It gives you a reason to go back and play a game and look at the nooks and crannies the game has. 

A COLLECT CODEC CALL

Stating the obvious since 1987

Sometimes, Easter Eggs are triggered by doing something in the game. Metal Gear Solid has a whole plethora of Easter Eggs ready to be unlocked. In Metal Gear Solid 4, there is this one where after you die, you can call up Rose and she will tell you about a nightmare she had where Snake was killed. She even goes into detail of how you died. It's a nice twist and puts the whole thing into a weird, if non canon, look over the whole series. In Metal Gear Solid 3, if you saved at a certain point, when you come back you can play this short game where you are a vampire hunter. The small mini game was fun and wished there was a game like that. Another Easter Egg is the Metal Gear Solid series has is hidden codec calls. It's all staggering that Kojima has put this much effort on something most will probably never listen. Even Super Mario Brothers Brawl used Codec Calls for Snake.

Easter Eggs and Unlockables are some of gamings greatest treats. They can make you play a game to find them, or keep you playing to make the game you want it to be. It can make a difficult part much more fun, or make the game better than ever before. I'm sure there are games out there that has Easter Eggs, but it comes to the point where you don't know which one does or which one does not.