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Assassins Creed Iv And Borderlands 2


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#1 The Average Joe

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Posted 18 January 2014 - 03:22 PM

It's been awhile since I did any game reviews, but I figured I'd do brief summaries of a couple worthy titles.

 

First up is Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag (for PC).

 

This is the fourth full title in the series. I will not delve into the history of the franchise, but anyone familiar with previous titles will feel right at home here. If you somehow missed them, the premise is that an Animus device allows people to live the memories of their ancestors that are somehow locked into their genetic code. A thin premise, but one that allows for a lot of possibilities for game play. The current title is set in the Caribbean during the pirate era, which allows for a few variations in game style.

Most of the game is played from a third person perspective, with various outfits and weapons being rendered as you change them. Generally, you collect loot, kill/sneak past questionably bad types, figure out how to get to that hidden objective, and advance the story through scripted events. That is not to say the game plays in a linear fashion. You can go "off-script" and just wander around to various locations doing whatever you like.

That type of game play COULD get repetitive, but it is frequently broken up by sailing your commandeered ship from location to location. Ships along the way can be scouted for materials, and then engaged for plunder. The battle when you board the ship is great swashbuckling fun. Swing from the mast, shoot the crow's nest scout and drop to the deck below to take out the captain. You can then (if successful) either capture the ship for your fleet, repair your own ship or lower your wanted level.  Let your wanted level get too high, and hunter ships will be sent to track you down. The shipboard component is a huge plus to this title.

As you play, you will spend your plunder to upgrade your ship and weapons. You will get in bar fights and bribe people. You will steal from those that have... and keep it. You are no Robin Hood! You will even set up trade routes with your captured ships, which is an odd mini game that basically only serves to increase your wealth. And finally, you will slowly uncover a vast hidden conspiracy which I will leave you to discover.

Overall, there is much to like about this title, and only a few minor quibbles. As a side note, if you aren't sure you would like the style of game, older titles in the series can be had for a bargain.

 

Particularly nice touches: acquiring new shantys for your crew to sing, fort captures, cut scenes, naval battles, rogue waves, treasure maps, off-hand weapons and game balance.

 

Things I could do without: PC keyboard (xbox controller would be far superior), lack of game documentation, stupid UPLAY portal (worse than Steam), system requirements (Win7, directx10), fleet mini-game, harpoon fishing, and too many darn roof guards.

Overall score: 9.3

 

Next we have Borderlands 2

 

Again, a sequel. While there is no need to have played the original, it will aid in knowing some back story. This title is far harder to describe. On the one hand, in its simplest form, it is a first person shooter with no pretenses to be anything other than that. On the other hand, it is an over the top, post apocalyptic shoot em up full of caricatures with character. Its visual design is centered around an animated adult cartoon. Somehow, that only adds to the flavor of the game.

 

The main villain (Handsome Jack) frequently mocks your efforts with deliciously obtuse commentary.  You have midgets with shotguns, pre-teen bomb-making girls hosting teaparties for mr flufflybutt, tunneling rat boys, psychos, bad arse psychos, super bad arse psychos and supreme bad arse psychos. You've got Scooter in the garage (think red-neck in space), Moxii about to bust her bustier, Dr Zed the non-licensed "doctor",  your silly computer friend Claptrap, and a host of many other unique characters.

 

You choose to play a certain character class from 4 presets (2 more in downloadable content).  They are generic (although over the top) versions of a tank, rogue, commando and magic user. Although, to be fair, all classes can use any weapon, and their differences only relate to the individual class special abilities and skill trees. There are a few exceptions. You want to dual wield rocket launchers? Your only choice is the tank. You want a turret with rockets and a small nuke? You have to pick commando.

You can choose to follow the storyline, or just engage in the many, many side quests for loot, leveling, and discovery of characters. As you progress, you can further modify your choice with talents from one of three talent trees.

Enemies tend to scale as you progress, so unless you get a lucky loot drop, you won't feel too overpowered. Once you get to super bad arse level enemies, you WILL die. A small payment from your cash pile, and you are back on your way. You also get to fight mini-bosses every now and then, but frankly, I find groups of the "lesser" mobs are often more challenging.

 

You can play in co-op mode, with more bad guys and better loot. While fun, I find the split screen distracting.

 

Borderlands 2 is a quirky, humorous, no holds barred shoot em up that is quite entertaining. As it is more than a year old, you can get the game of the year edition with all the download expansion content for the price of a new game. I've certainly paid more for less.

 

Positives: over the top voice acting and dialogue, crazy characters, visual design, head-shot crits and commentarynever get old.

 

Negatives: not enough inventory space, occasional ammo management issues, foozle hunts can be repetitive.

 

Overall score: 9.2

 


"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive" -- C.S. Lewis

 

If the only way to combat "global warming" was to lower taxes, we would never hear of the issue again. - Anonymous

 

"Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one" — Thomas Paine, 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 (1776)

 


#2 The Average Joe

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Posted 09 February 2014 - 07:57 PM

Update on both games:

 

AC IV:

Remember how I said the Ubisoft portal was stupid (UPlay)? Well, at 56% of the way through the game, I could not log in to the game server. I tried the message boards, and Ubisoft's position, despite many, many user complaints about this issue was that their servers were up and running, so it has to be a problem with each individual's computer. Hogwash. Everything was running fine on what is basically a fresh install OS, and not many other programs. Suddenly, I can't log in to their server? I changed nothing. I even set my AV to always allow access by this program (rather than automatic).

 

So, while trying to play offline, the game locks up when I tried to use a feature that obviously required server access. Unfortunately, after a hard reboot, I go to play and there are no saved games. The portal seems to have the correct information, but as I cannot log in to their server, it does me no good. I will not restart a game at this point. Minus 5% rating for what seems to be a pretty common whopper of a fault, and another 10% for lack of support.

 

Borderlands 2:

 

After installing the download content (DLC) I played a bit more. The new classes are different, there are new zones to check out, new enemies, and, in general, more of the sweet mayhem that made the base game fun.  Especially good are the twisted dialogue and characters.  While the original campaign is relatively short and repetitive on the second run through, the expansion helps alleviate that and helps keep new characters fresh. No rating change.


"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive" -- C.S. Lewis

 

If the only way to combat "global warming" was to lower taxes, we would never hear of the issue again. - Anonymous

 

"Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one" — Thomas Paine, 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 (1776)

 





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