New Games/General Gaming

[Tim Southampton Rover]

I went to my mates for 5 minutes on the way home from work to have a quick look at Assassins Creed and ended up staying around there for quite a few hours. What a great game and the opening movie is truly brilliant, especially the close up of the eagle (i think).

Can't wait for it to come out on the PC!

[M-K]

Finally completed Assassin's Creed last night, thanks to my ability to run around in circles while recharging the health meter.

I'm glad I persisted with the final stage. The ending is pretty cool.

[Cocker]

Ok, had a couple of hours on Assassins Creed today and here is what I thought.

At first I banged the game in ready to play - If you expect to just 'bang the game in and play' you are in for a surprise because it seems to take forever to load (the first time you pop it in this is because I assume its installing itself to the HD) Once loaded here we go - wrong - your stuck in kind of a matrix training mode to that tell you how to walk and jump etc - COME ON ALREADY.

Anyway, you get passed all this and your in the game. The first thing you think is wow, this looks good. Everyone has already seen the trailers and going off them if your like me the first thing you want to do is run round like an idiot and climb things - this at the start was confusing for me. All my life I have been used to pressing x (well I am using the ps2/ps3 pad as an example but you know what I mean - A B or C on the Mega Drive if you want to be picky) to jump so every time I came to a gap I was hitting x when all you need to do really is to run at a gap. Now, this was fun at first but I felt like an idiot.......because the people watching me told me I was "What is he doing?" "If he falls I wont help him" "Look, theres a Burnley Fan" Stuff like that - so I stopped and started to get on with things.

The first probably 45 minutes you will sit with a look of what the hell is going on here expression on your face (I wont say why for those who have yet to pick it up) But once your through all this you get thrown into the main sandbox (from what I can tell up until now anyway) I then find a horse and start galloping round for ages to find look out markers. Now, this bit I had problems with because I can see on the map where I need to go but half the time I cant get there because the is a cliff in my way - I go round and there is no road up - I may just be rubbish at finding my way round at the moment though. I also started off as it told me to sneak past the guards so they dont get suspicious. I challenge anyone to keep this up for any length of time because you will be bored to tears. Instead, either wipe them out or just run away from them - simple as that. Anyway, I decided to stop doing this and head to my first town - this is where the fun starts - you make friends with people and can easily find look outs the whole place look great. I love the free running now as I am used to the controls. They have him picking out every little hand hold and it shouldn't excite me that much but it does. Its just told me I am ready to make my first kill but I have saved this bit for another night.

On the whole, there are quite a few people on the Internet that seem to want to stop people from experiencing this game and these people need their heads seeing too - I bet most haven't even played it. Moans of frame rate issues and freezing are not apparent in my copy on my PS3 so I dont know what they are on about there. Yes the AI is stupid but I forgave this because I think if they made them any smarter/quicker you would spend your life running away from them instead of playing a game.

I have turned it off now but I do want to keep playing to see what happens next and after all that is what we pay the money for games for. People say that it may get a bit repetitive later on and this maybe but its got me gripped for now.

If anyone has a few quid and wants to pick a decent game up why not give this a go - I like it anyway (I dont think I will ever get tired of doing the 'Leap of Faith' either)

(oh yeah, one gripe, not sure why he cant swim?)

Edited November 29, 2007 by Cocker

[M-K]

The framerate complaints are only apparent when you compare the PS3 version to the Xbox one. It's a top game either way.

Make sure you do all the viewpoints and side missions before you take on an assassination, as you can't go back and do them later. The more you do, the more health you get, and you'll really need it later. Also, saving the citizens means you have a city full of vigilantes, which makes it loads easier to escape.

I'm playing Kane & Lynch now. I absolutely love this one as well, it's like Freedom Fighters with criminals and brilliant characters. Lynch keeps going nuts and executing hostages. Some pretty harsh scenes in that - the 18 certificate is certainly justified.

[Cocker]

The framerate complaints are only apparent when you compare the PS3 version to the Xbox one. It's a top game either way.

Make sure you do all the viewpoints and side missions before you take on an assassination, as you can't go back and do them later. The more you do, the more health you get, and you'll really need it later. Also, saving the citizens means you have a city full of vigilantes, which makes it loads easier to escape.

But I am on PS3 and not noticed any framerate issue at all - are you saying then that the 360 has (and I am by no means starting a stupid war here - just curious)

Thanks for the tip on the missions because I was just going to go and do the assassination

[M-K]

I mean both versions are fine on their own but if you compare them, you'll notice the Xbox version runs a lot smoother in open areas and when there's a lot going on. It's not anything that would spoil anyone's enjoyment.

Another tip that wasn't really obvious: In the pause menu you can access info about the targets, and some of the info has attachments such as maps showing the locations of guards, stealth routes to the target and so on. That wasn't explained anywhere, and I didn't notice it until I was more than halfway through my second go!

[Cocker]

Did you have the same problem as me when outside the town when trying to find the look out points? You can see them on the map but just seem to go round in circles trying to find a path to get to it.

Also, please keep posting about Kane and Lynch. I have £40 of game vouchers and this may be my next buy.

[M-K]

Have you used the 'place marker' option on the map? That's what I did to get to all the viewpoints, it makes it a lot easier if you keep putting markers down at the entrance to valleys and ride towards them. You can just go through and do the remaining markers quickly in one go when you have the final city available. The overworld isn't as big as it seems.

Kane & Lynch has got some kickings in reviews, but then so did Freedom Fighters and also Assassin's Creed, so I just don't trust them much. I'm a big fan of everything Io has done (I visited their studio a few years ago, when they were making FF) so maybe I'm a bit biased. Anyway...

Bad points:

You can get head shots but sometimes enemies don't die.

Graphics aren't great.

Animation looks crap after playing Assassin's Creed (that's also true of most games)

Sometimes you don't stick to cover like you'd expect.

It gets quite difficult.

Good points:

Your squad is excellent at killing enemies and reviving you when you get shot.

Guns are nice and meaty, plus your squad will give you ammo when you run out.

Lynch is a top quality psycho - you'll see him go nuts in the middle of the street, beating people to death and shooting the corpses.

A couple of times, I finished scenes and just redid them straight away rather than moving on, because it was so much fun and I wanted to do it more stylishly.

Excellent dialogue, although it's a bit dark and you wouldn't want kids to hear some of this stuff.

Well worth it if you've got vouchers kicking around anyway. I haven't tried the multiplayer yet, but it sounds interesting. Shame the co-op is only offline, though.

[Cocker]

Have you used the 'place marker' option on the map? That's what I did to get to all the viewpoints, it makes it a lot easier if you keep putting markers down at the entrance to valleys and ride towards them. You can just go through and do the remaining markers quickly in one go when you have the final city available. The overworld isn't as big as it seems.

Yeah, I have been using those markers but sometimes it seems I am right underneith them but nothing to climb and no way up the moutain - it will just be me though I think (it is annoying that you look up for the eagle and end up finding you have just been chasing a normal bird)

[M-K]

I just went straight for the icons rather than bothering to look for eagles. You can highlight them and they'll flash on your radar from miles away, if that's any help. Certainly useful when 'sweeping' the city for objectives and viewpoints.

[Cocker]

Looking forward to seeing more on this - click

[M-K]

I just got past the most horrible difficulty spike in Kane & Lynch, which almost ruined the game for me. Took me about 30 attempts, over four days.

After some brilliant levels of bank robberies, prison escapes and hostage taking, it all goes full-scale urban warfare. There's a bit where you've got to cross big plaza surrounded by ruined buildings. Enemies spawn all over the place, and about every 90 seconds a helicopter passes overhead and it's instant death if you're caught in the open.

That was just terrible. The rest of the level after that was quite good, because it was such a relief to be back inside a building again, but I almost gave up on the whole thing. I managed to shoot down the helicopter, and crossed the plaza by running forward to make enemies appear, then legging it back to safety and picking them off from beyond their activation range. It's like shooting at mannequins, they just jerk a bit as the bullets hit them, then fall over when they've absorbed enough lead. Rubbish!

The rest of the game is so good. I don't regret getting it, but it's a shame it wasn't all like the earlier heist stuff.

[Wolverine]

Sorry this is a repeat post but it is quite possibly the best news I have ever had to share - that Ghostbusters footage earlier in in the year is only bloody real!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_...8_video_game%29

No-one steps in a church in my town!

[Cocker]

Still loving Assasins Creed however, the repetition everyone talks of just hit me like a smack in the face.

I have just completed the 4th kill and its starting to really grind on me having to do the same little jobs over and over. Admittedly, the climbing and fighting is still cool and I am hooked to see how the story pans out but having to run round collecting flags for informers and rescuing more citizens is getting on my nerves now.

[Cocker]

Played Kane and Lynch tonight and wow is it awful - the demo is on the ps store and I think every one should play this just to see how bad it is.

Surly EVERYONE will be getting this though - click

Edited December 6, 2007 by Cocker

[Guest Kamy100]

Thanks for the link to the GTA trailer.

Looks like they have improved the graphics from the last trailer and as ever it will have a superb story line. It's already pre-ordered with shopto!!

[M-K]

Which level do you get on the K&L demo then? I really liked the prison break and the Tokyo tower ones.

Still, my copy would be going back to the shop if there was anything else I wanted right now. The last few levels were dire.

[Cocker]

Which level do you get on the K&L demo then? I really liked the prison break and the Tokyo tower ones.

Still, my copy would be going back to the shop if there was anything else I wanted right now. The last few levels were dire.

Its one where you are on a roof and then you absail down and blow the windows off. You then make your way down stairs in the building and then into a lift and then get out of the front door.

The problems I had really were.

Its kind of hard to tell your men what to do - and they shoot you

The controls are awful

I shot a couple of guys right in the middle of the head and they were still there shooting at me

The covering system is awful

I threw a grenade at the stairwell and my target was in the middle of the stairs however, on throwing it, it hit the side of the stairs and came back at me - I moved and tried again and the same thing happened.

I was looking forward to this game but they seem to have messed it up beyond belief. So glad I got Assasins Creed instead.

[M-K]

That's the Tokyo tower level, the best one in the game. You escape through the streets afterwards, which is pretty cool, but you just played the game's finest moment. Definitely not for you then.

In the story, the guy whose face Kane carves up in that scene is the father of Kane's ex girlfriend, who Lynch murders 'by accident' on an earlier level. It would make a decent movie, I think. Shame they messed up so much of the gameplay.

There are two endings, and both of them are pretty unpleasant. The more I think about it, the more the game seems like a really nasty piece of work.

[Rovermatt]

BAN THIS SICK FILTH!

[eddiewac]

I played the Kane and Lynch Demo tonight and thought it was good! I was playing co-op mode more though, one problem is the shooting thing some people have mentioned, how head shots don't always kill and its sooo much harder to kill the fat guys, they seem to just eat the bullets

Edited December 7, 2007 by eddiewac

[Cocker]

Project Gothem Racing My Arse - click

[Biddy]

Project Gothem Racing My Arse - click

I wish you would say what games you are referring to, gametrailers is blocked at work

[Wolverine]

I wish you would say what games you are referring to, gametrailers is blocked at work

Gran Turismo 5

[Cocker]

I wish you would say what games you are referring to, gametrailers is blocked at work

Sorry will do from now on (Wolverine answered this one though)