All Infidels Assassinated

I have to give Ubisoft credit for trying something different. The story was intelligent, morally ambiguous and actually provoked some interesting questions. Their heart was definitely in the right place. And I did enjoy playing the game, but only because I paid less than half price for it and could forgive–even enjoy–the unspeakably bad artificial intelligence that would let me get away with “stealth killing” someone right in front of the guards, only to have the guards march over while I got behind them and scream “WHO DID THIS?!” just as I did the same thing to them.

They have a perfect graphics engine for the next game if indeed they decide to continue the series (the ending is all too obviously set up “to be continued,” though it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger), but the mechanical problems are so apparent that it’s no surprise the game wasn’t the commercial or critical hit Ubisoft was hoping for. It’s an okay game. But definitely not worth the $60 retail tag for all the problems so apparent in it.

Please Don't Suck

< ![CDATA[

The above surprisingly busty nurse is taken from a screenshot of the new game Silent Hill:  Homecoming, which is the 5th console title in the series and the first to debut on the shiny new hardware available today.  It’s technically available today, though that really means “It’s been shipped to stores so most likely will be on sale tomorrow,” but rather than confidently call up my favorite store and ask them to hold a copy, I’ve been waiting on reviews to see how the game has turned out.  This is the first time that a console version of the series has been done by a Western team as opposed to the original developers at Konami in Japan, so I’ve had some doubts about the Western ability to “get” the Japanese sensibility for horror, which is to creep out players rather than make them squeal in surprise when something jumps out at them.  So far reviews have been mixed with some very positive and very negative write ups.  I *think* I’m probably still going to get (the series is both a favorite of mine and the Wife’s) so we’ll probably be more forgiving, but it’s disappointing nonetheless that praise for the game has been anything but unanimous.

In Our Hands

Because of the wonky fact that a lot of comics are printed in Canada, we actually got our copies of Liquid City before even the stores or the editor of the comic (our friend Sonny Liew) did.  It’s weird holding a comic book in my hand and flipping through the pages to see my own stuff in there.  Weird, but good.

Scariest Hour Of My Life

In retrospect it was actually not that big a deal, but today I had the worst period of time in the entire period since I’ve returned to Canada. While doing the laundry, my wedding ring slipped off and ended up in the machine. I didn’t know this at the time of course; all I knew is that while we were walking down the street to our favorite diner, I suddenly noticed that as I was unconsciously rubbing my pinky against my 4th finger, it felt different, and realized to my horror that my wedding ring was gone. We theorized that perhaps it was indeed in the washing machine, but we ate first, waiting for the machine to finish and I was absolutely miserable. Suddenly losing that little piece of metal was weighing very heavily on my shoulders and I have a difficult time explaining why.

In the end, the ring did indeed end up in the machine and I found it once more, as well as an enormous sense of relief that likes of which I don’t recall having experienced this strongly.

The New Toy

It’s a belated sort of gift, but the Starpex Sunburst finally arrived.  As to be expected (and yet, at the same time it’s one of those “doesn’t fully hit you in the face until it’s in the flesh” sort of experiences) it’s big.  Very big.  I know the text kept describing it as being the same size as a full size guitar, but still… you really get a sense of how toy-like the Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitars are when you have this monster next to them for a side by side comparison.

The important thing though is how it plays, and on that count… this is, without a doubt, the best fake guitar I’ve ever used.  The strummer is perfect and the fret buttons are completely responsive.  The build of the Starpex oozes quality.  Obviously it’s going to take a while to get used to the size and spacing of the buttons, but I’ve already managed to finish one song on Rock Band 2 (Bodhisattva, by Steely Dan) that had thus far eluded me, and I was surprised to see that it was the responsiveness of the fret buttons during hammer on/pull off sections in solos that finally allowed me to nail it.  I’m not saying this thing will turn aspiring fake guitarists into instant masters… but it does seem to improve playing at least somewhat.

Bears On Parade

The Wife agreed to contribute to a “tour of bears” that’s going on in Toronto. Seems a company has created Do It Yourself designer bears known as Bax Bears that are essentially blank slate plastic bears that are meant to be drawn and/or painted on. To kick it off, the Vancouver-based company that created the bears asked Canadian artists to take a bear and do what they would with it.

This is the Wife’s end result, which was put on display at a neighborhood gallery when the show went up today:

It’s Up

My first article for the website High Def Digest has gone up. It’s here. And now, back to killing infidels that dare to defile the Holy Land with their outrageous Christian God.

Killing Infidels

It was all about the assassinations today. And flag collecting. And random rampages through the streets of Jerusalem and Damascus. My nick name for this game is “Grand Theft Islam.”

It's Here

< ![CDATA[

And man is it ever FAST.

Cheap Kills

Thanks to the miracle of eBay and titles that didn’t meet with the critical reception people were expecting, I now have the game on the left, which is set in the crusades period.

It got average to somewhat good ratings, with most people citing the repetitiveness of the game as the chief weakness. All I know is you’ve got an Islamic assassin wandering around with an American accent when everyone else sounds either Arabic, British or French.

Gotta’ hand it to the art design team though, the environment is absolutely huge and gorgeous. It’s one of those games that lives up to the Next Generation reputation, but I can already see some weaknesses in the game design. Man, am I glad I got this used…