Assassins Creed II

Well yesterday the new Assassins Creed II gameplay trailer went live over at the Official Assassins Creed II Website, and let me be the first to say - it looks amazing. But then again it would surprise me if anyone actually thought that the trailers for Assassin's Creed II would look anything short of electrifying, the graphics for the original AC were brilliant so it stands as obvious that ACII would look even better. In fact, the graphics were the second best feature of the original AC - second ofcourse to the intuitive free-running style gameplay. And, of course, the free-running is back with a vengeance.

The latest trailer has shown an even more interactive world for all your free-running needs. One particular clip impressed me specifically - the new main character Ezio dropping from a building and swinging around a corner on a hanging flower pot. This may not sound impressive, but it conveys the ease and flow of free-running that we can expect from ACII. Unlike in AC, the newest instalment looks to allow curved paths around the cities whereas achieving this feat in the original was difficult at best.

Another level of interactivity is outlined in a small clip of our hero leaping viewpoint-style into a river. Swimming? Yes, swimming. This may again seem like a small feature, but it adds to the variety of escape options - something AC seemed to have a lack of.

Although Ubisoft have obviously tried to address the gameplay problems outlined in the original Assassin's Creed, it fills me with doubt that there has yet been a mention about major assassinations. One problem for me in the original was that I put a lot of work into completing missions to gain information about my target, only to find that not a lot of it really mattered at all. Without exception, the target was always most easily killed through a straight up slice-and-dice method, then a run-for-your-life-and-find-a-roof-garden escape plan. I have seen little so far to suggest that this will change at all - which is slightly worrying.

Another thing that worries me is the lack of mention of audio. I don't know about you, but after a couple of hours of hearing "What is he doing?" and "He's going to hurt himself!" I feel like slicing my own throat. It really is little things like this that make a game these days, no-one wants to be perpetually bugged by silly lines playing over and over - no matter how sad they are.

However, the biggest worry of mine over this game is whether or not Assassin's Creed II will discard it's predecessor and have actually developed even a shade of re-playability.

This was my biggest problem with the original, the fact that there was no way in hell I would go through all that again. For starters, you have to entirely start a level again if you want to go back and collect flags or visit viewpoints. That really annoyed me. Just the ability to go back and get collectables would be sufficient to extend the life of what was - in essence - an abysmally short game. If i think back to my favourite games of the last ten years, each one of them had at least 60 hours of gameplay before it reached trade-in. Assassin's Creed didn't even make a quarter of that. I sincerely hope that Ubisoft have addressed the re-playability issue so that I can continue to enjoy what is an excellent concept!

After all, who doesn't want to play the assassin?

Excitement Rating: A dream or two.

Smackdown vs Raw

I remember all those years ago when wrestling games were good. I remember firing up my PS2 and slotting in Just Bring It and having an excellent couple of hours smashing badly modelled bodybuilder's faces into the ground. I remember being somewhat satisfied with the career mode, for the time is was in-depth enough (although looking back today it really is abysmal). Ever since then, every WWE game that has arrived for console gamers has been terrible. The same game has had a graphical revamp and a control system change every year since I played Just Bring It, and nothing much else has changed. They may as well have just released patches for the original version and left it at that.

The main disappointment has always been season mode. It strikes me as odd that a game based on a television franchise that revolves entirely around the story (lets be honest, the actual wrestling doesn't compare to UFC) would simply omit any type of engaging storyline! It doesn't take that much effort to make everything much more adventure-like, and yet every year there is a distinctly familiar feeling of disappointment on completion of the season mode. And every year there is a huge thing made about it on the big review sites. And every year the next instalment is touted to have 'a great season mode'. Bollocks.

So with the release of Smackdown vs Raw 2010, is it really worth going out and buying the same old recycled game with a few new superstars and an equally terrible season mode? I wouldn't say so. I'd say if you have bought a WWE game for any next-gen console then you already have enough Smackdown vs Raw, save your money for a different game that actually has some depth and work put into it.

Maybe I'm wrong, but if we all just sit and ignore the new instalment in this series then maybe THQ will get the idea. Include some new features - and make them ones that we actually want to use. Create-a-finisher? Why? Season mode - end of. The only way this game will ever be a gaming success is if it ceases to be a financial success and THQ are forced to listen.

I'm probably going to buy it anyway. I - like many people - cannot resist the urge to go out and buy it. I'll get it. It'll be crap. I'll trade it in. Unless they really have fulfilled a promise this time.

Leave the gameplay alone. Give me some kind of storyline. Please.

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Football Manager 2010

Excellent news! The new Football Manager game is out on 30th October, and it promises to be bigger and better than ever.

I have been a big fan of Football Manager since I was but a boy, and have wasted many a day digging through a myriad of statistics trying to find that one prolific striker - only to find that my tactics would need a complete overhaul to fit any one of them in my team. And it was those hours of analysis of every possible option that made the game so rewarding. I often fire up FM09 and find myself actually getting angry when I go a goal down - only to cheer and jump around when I claw one back! For a football fan, this series is as immersive as any Fantasy RPG as it holds exactly the same premise in that it is all about living a dream. As a boy (or girl - ofcourse), many of us dreamed of being professional footballers. When we grew up a bit and realised that actually we were pretty bad at football, we set our sites on being football managers! And although the majority of people who hold this dream will never make it in real life - Football Manager helps them to escape harsh reality and pretend they are the manager of their favourite club.

Football Manager 2009 stood out from other football management sims because it was a complete world. I remember playing Total Club Manager (2003 perhaps...?) and thinking "wow, this is a great game." But it wasn't, not really. The 3D system was excellent, it had a shout system, the manager had a personal life and the whole thing was a lot more...accessible. But that isn't what simulations are about. Simulations are about mimicking real life as far as possible without sacrificing fun. Football Manager pirposefully mimicks every section of Football Management effectively - and this makes it the best-selling football management sim in the world to date.

Ofcourse, every game has it's flaws - and FM09 wasn't exactly short of them. Cruise the forums over at www.footballmanager.com and you'll straight away see that every other post is entitled "OMFGZORZ UZBEKISTAN JUST BEAT SPAIN 2-0". Now, I hate these posts just as much as the next forum junkie, but they do have a point. Although freak results like this happen quite often in real life, the volume of freak results in FM09 was just unbelieveable. It would get to the point where you would start to think that actually you weren't affecting the scores at all - that it was just done with a random number generator. Of course, it wasn't, but no-one can help how they feel. Another set of problems are evident in the transfer market. For example, I started a game as Chelsea (I apologise) yesterday, and straight away put in a bid for Darijo Srna to the tone of £16,250,000. The bid was accepted. I offered a contract, and all was going well. Then Man City made a bid - that was also accepted. Srna agreed terms with City (for the same wage I offered) and explained why he decided to join City. Here's the punchline: "I wanted a better opportunity to win the Premier League." I don't know in which reality Man City have a better chance of winning the league than Chelsea - but this left me flabbergasted!

Despite the obvious discrepancies with reality, Football Manager 2009 was still the best game of it's type. And it's successor looks to be even better! Sports Interactive have acknowledged that the addition of big new features over the last few years have come at the expense of key features within the game - and have vowed to concentrate on these. This came due to increasing pressure from the internet community to improve the aforementioned 'discrepancies with reality', which Sports Interactive seem to have taken to heart.

Of course, there are some new features promised for FM10. These include:

Sideline Shouts - A tool to quickly change tactics in a game, simplifying in-game tactic changes.

Tactics Creator - A new way of creating tactics so that it is easier for less experienced FM players to realise their ideas.

New player roles - The ability to select players in a certain role such as 'ball-winner', using a set of pre-made tactics for each role.

The team were quick to point out that this new system will make things easier, but can be ditched by the player in favour of the slider system present in other FM games.

Another big change is touted to be an entire interface overhaul, replacing the old sidebar with an 'intuitive tab system'. Personally, I don't like the sound of that. The main thing for me that Football Manager has always had is an excellent navigation interface - you always knew where to find what you needed to find. I fear that a completely new system of navigation may confuse established players, and perhaps thought should be given to having this new interface optional.

I'm really looking forward to Football Manager 2010 - for all my doubts about new features it still promises to be the best football management sim to date.

Excitement Rating: Brink of Orgasm.

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Flash Games, The Death of

Hello!

So, you have evidently stumbled across my blog. Our topic today is Flash gaming, and the portals that showcase all of the wonderful creations our internet friends upload - and of course, the reason it is all going down the pan.

A few months ago I joined Newgrounds. Originally, it was just because I have an obsession with signing up to every website I use, but Newgrounds struck the creative spark within me and set me on the path of Flash Programming. It has now been 3 months, and my total creations uploaded to Newgrounds is none. Nada. Not a single one. I did upload an animation, but apparently the users of NG don't appreciate stickman MJ humour. I'm not annoyed that I have yet to complete a game, as I type this I am polishing off my first game worth playing - Kate and the PCG - and I believe that it will do well.

This little piece of background should set the scene of a patient guy, creating a masterpiece bit by bit in the hope that it could do well - maybe even get me some ad revenue! Probably not, but that's just my luck. This little piece of background should set the scene of a hard-working guy pouring hours of precious time into his computer, perfecting and re-perfecting every aspect of every frame within said masterpiece. This little piece of background should set the scene of a guy who believes the only way to make a good flash game is by hard work and constant learning.

I was wrong.

Imagine my despair when I innocently log on to Newgrounds and find 5 consecutive games have passed judgement that were made in game creation software such as 'sploder'. This basically means that any old kid with a computer can go onto a website, drag and drop a platformer or shooter level into place, then they have a game! No scripting, no animating, no nothing.

I'm not entirely sure whether these games were actually made in 'sploder', so don't take it as just that site, but all of these games were from the same site and uploaded by individual members of NG - all linking back to some 'awesome' game creator. Great. Basically, sites like these are going to kill flash portals such as Newgrounds and Kongregate - because although they are a barrel of pubes right now, it can only be a matter of time before these sites get software that can actually mimic the scripting and animating process so well that even unique ideas can be put into practice.

So, what can be done? In my opinion, absolutely nothing. Unless human nature suddenly changes and people no longer want a quick and easy way of doing something challenging, I don't see these sites disappearing. What we can do is stick to our guns.

No matter how good these sites get,. no matter how brilliant and customiseable the software gets: JUST.DON'T.DO.IT. I'm sorry I had to resort to caps lock, but sometimes it's the only language people can understand.

If you love flash games as much as I do, have a go at developing them using genuine animation programs, it's much more rewarding.

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