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Vidya Game Reviews
Topic Started: Feb 26 2011, 03:27 AM (11,983 Views)
MrMarill
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WHAT IS THIS SORCERY
Red Star Rings, that's it. Still look like coins. Mario forever
Also, if you want to see what I mean by speedrunning, I've got a video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Uh3GL-wKQ
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MrMarill
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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Wii


Cancel everything. Go out tomorrow or Sunday. Buy this game. If you can't afford it, sell your family.

Pros
-The best game ever

Cons
-Pfffffft

Rating: Real review coming sometime Sunday.
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Romanticide
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Game: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Platform: PC/360/PS3
Genre: WRPG
Score: None due to varying issues on the three platforms.

The latest entry in The Elder Scrolls series needs no real introduction. You've seen the commercials. You likely saw the gameplay demos at E3, or at least soon after it. What you want to know now is: Does this game live up to the breathless hype nerds everywhere have given it?

Gameplay has been heavily streamlined. Most traditional RPG statistics are not even present in this game. Strength? Who needs that when even the most emanciated human can swing a two-handed sword like a baseball bat? Intelligence? Nope, even the most braindead Orc can sling spells like they were the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold. Name a number that you would see in a traditional RPG and odds are it's gone. Bethesda has pared the stats down to three: Health and Magicka, which do what you would expect of them, and Stamina, which determines how quickly your character gets tired and how much stuff you can carry.

Older Elder Scrolls fans may very well call this "dumbing down". There's this peculiar fixation that RPG fans have with numbers that don't significantly affect the experience. What exactly is the difference between 82 and 87 strength other than a few more points of damage? While sometimes that can mean life or death, if it does outside of the early game, odds are you're doing something wrong anyway. Eliminating such silly numbers is courageous and a stroke of genius. More developers should do it, or at the least hide them better.

Speaking of streamlined, Skyrim takes the approach of letting your style of play define your character, as opposed to boxing your character into one or perhaps two specific playstyles in the first ten minutes. There are no major or minor skills; all skills count equally in leveling up your character. A level up in Sneak counts as much as one in Two-Handed regardless of which skill you/your character prefer using. This has the effect of making it really easy to change up your playstyle if you find it's not working for you. I've gone from a pure Destruction mage to a conjuring thief. A weird change to be sure, but it was made possible because I was never forced into sticking to a pure Mage skill set at the start of the game.

Skills are closely tied to perks. You get one perk per level and the level cap is 81, so you have *at least* that many to play with. Anyway. As your skills level up, you can choose certain perks to further augment that skill. There are far, far too many (280, in fact) to go into in any sort of real detail here, but suffice it to say that MOST are pretty damn useful. If you're playing a melee character, you'll want the ones for your weapon of choice. Magic is more adaptable, but all things considered it has mostly decent perks for different types of mages. There are also support skills like Smithing and Enchanting, and the perks for them are pretty good too - gamebreaking if you choose to pour points into them. The only real flaw is that you cannot change up your perks at will. What you pick is what you're stuck with, so you'll need a decent idea of what kind of character you intend to play as.

Of course we also have that old RPG standby, combat. There are so many ways to go about it that you'll eventually find one that suits you. Want to be completely and utterly boring and go with the good old sword/shield combination? Go right on ahead! Want to go on an all-out offensive and dual wield? Alrighty then. Want to use magic? Have fun. I'll warn you Destruction is weak (it gets lame perks, costs a lot of MP, and MP regen is kind of slow) and you *will* need other magic/perhaps a melee weapon to supplement it. My personal favorite so far? Skulking in the shadows and unleashing devastating sneak attacks. If they fail, I fall back on my friendly Atronachs and my enchanted Ebony Sword. Good times. There are so many choices that you'll find your own strategies: strategies that you prefer and strategies that you have to use in order to defeat certain enemies you might have issues with. Failing that, just run like a bitch. There is oftentimes little real harm in doing so.

Did I mention that kills have a chance of triggering a super cool kill animation? No? Sneaking kills may trigger your character slitting an enemy's throat, regular melee kills may trigger animations where you plunge your sword into a character's stomach/head, amongst other animations. The animations aren't abused, so it's always a treat to see a spectacular kill, even if it is on an enemy you would have no trouble defeating. Given that my current character sneaks EVERYWHERE, it's a great way to break up the monotony that would otherwise result from her slow movement and her damn near broken 30x dagger sneak attacks.

As far as the story goes, there is a main quest and all, but the true story is what becomes of your character. Sure, it's really fucking badass that you're going to stop the dragons from ending existence as we know it, but this game and its relatively short main story (when compared to the entirety of the game) remind me of that commercial where everyone asks "And?" to everything. "You saved the world from dragons..." "And?"

This is to say that if you go straight from point A to B, you're missing out on a lot of what makes The Elder Scrolls so beloved. Take a detour to explore that new marker that popped up on your compass. Talk to that random NPC. Take on a quest after someone just walks up to you and asks that you do it. Go out and become the leader of a guild that suits your character's personality and playstyle. Read the books you come across. Choose a side in the civil war that is tearing Skyrim asunder. Steal some random object or assault an NPC just to see what will happen. There is so damn much to do in an Elder Scrolls game that I could write literally pages on what you can choose to do. People have done the craziest, strangest things for no reason other than "they wanted to", even if it's not a part of any formal quest or achievement. Really, that's a pillar of the series, doing what you want and writing your character's own story. It doesn't end when you strike that final, satisfying blow against the final boss. Your story does not have a traditional ending - much like real life in that aspect.

The main quest is a slow burner. That is once you get past the opening, which is appropriately dramatic yet still maintains the Elder Scrolls tradition of having your character as a prisoner. Your offense is never specified, likely for roleplaying purposes - all you know is you're about to be beheaded and then you're saved by a most unlikely source. From there your mission is to make your way to Whiterun, where you find out that you're the Dovahkiin, aka the Dragonborn, the only person in all of Tamriel with the ability to truly vanquish dragons. Of course, there's a reason that dragons have suddenly reappeared, right? A large part of the main quest is devoted to finding out the truth behind that and then stopping it. All things considered, it's a pretty decent main quest with wildly different locales and objectives, but I find it all too easy to get distracted by something else - a guild's questline, a new shiny dungeon that sends me spiraling down a completely unrelated storyline, and so on. It's not really as compelling as Morrowind or Oblivion, both of which had fairly dramatic events that piqued my curiosity far more than anything in Skyrim's main quest does. This is not a bad thing - the main quest is never the biggest draw of an Elder Scrolls game. It merely has to be good enough to get you to care about the game world, and it succeeds at that.

Each guild has its own storyline as well. So far I've only done a couple, the Thieves' Guild and the College of Winterhold storylines. I found both of these to be relatively short and horribly paced stories. I could ask many questions of the College of Winterhold story, most of them concerning the backstory of its antagonist (Characterization? Elder Scrolls? Surely you jest.) and a few concerning the lore surrounding the ancient artifact that you need, but the Thieves' Guild quest did a superior job of concluding its story and answering most questions the player may have in spite of its pacing issues. The dungeons for each guild, however, were all extremely fun to traipse through. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to join a guild unless it fits for your character; the stories aren't worth that though the dungeons might be. Perhaps some of the perks are (the Thieves' Guild allows access to fences/lockpicks), but that's up to you.

There are so many sidequests that have nothing to do with the main story/guilds, too. While these are nowhere near as fleshed out as main storylines, they help to create the feeling that this is a real world as much as their more epic counterparts. After all, not everyone needs you to embark on a six-plus hour quest. Sometimes they really just need you to run an item across town and are willing to give you a disproportionate reward for your two minutes of trouble.

I'm not a member of the glorious PC master race. Sure, I can run Morrowind with a few mods, nothing too graphically intense though, and I can run Oblivion well enough to get by, but there is no way this laptop is running Skyrim. I'm relegated to playing it on the PS3. Even on that console and even with some textures that are admittedly "meh" if you look at them too closely (as in, walking right up to them), this game is fucking beautiful. I could gush on and on about the game world and how beautiful it is, but if I had to give one example of how gorgeous Skyrim is, I would submit the city of Markarth. The city design is just really creative, built into the side of a mountain and all, the keep is incredible and beneath it resides a Dwemer ruin that you can explore, the masonry is meticulously detailed, and the waterfalls add that special touch that made me say "this is where my character wants to live".

As for the game's music, I can't understand the "omg one of the best soundtracks ever" hype. Yes, it immerses the player in the game's world, whether they're dungeon diving, walking around town, or doing most anything else. It's music that works for the game, but to me much of it (other than the song that plays when you fight dragons, which is amazing) is not music I would ever listen to outside of a game. Your mileage may vary, but for me to call a soundtrack truly great, it needs to feature songs I'll listen to outside of the game. That said, the music works extremely well in the game and by that standard it is a great soundtrack.

So I've pretty much implied that this game is fucking awesome. However, I haven't addressed a major issue with Bethesda releases: bugs. You can make the case that bugs are to be expected in any major production these days, and doubly so in a Bethesda game due to the scope they tend to have. You wouldn't be wrong to make this argument. The thing is, some players on PS3 are experiencing game-breaking shit. Once they've played for too long on one file, for whatever reason, the framerate starts to drop to unplayable levels. Which is a shame because 90% of them admit to loving the game; they just (rightfully) feel it's unplayable in this state. There's also the memory leak issue, which pretty much necessitates breaks every six hours or so. The tl;dr gist there is that the PS3 eventually uses up all the system's RAM running the game and thus starts converting HD space into virtual memory. Virtual memory is slower than glaciers, which results in major framerate hits that make the game unplayable.

I have a perfectly playable file after ~40 hours, but there's really no way to know how many people are affected after 10-15 hours of gameplay, and there's no way to know without playing if you will be one of them. There's also no telling if patch 1.2 (coming after Thanksgiving) will help at all.

Naturally the 360 and PC have their own issues (texture issues, the occasional freeze/crash), but nothing on the order of what PS3 players have to deal with. If you have a PC that can run Skyrim, don't overthink it. Get the game on PC and enjoy the modding community's labors of love. If you have a 360 but not a gaming PC, get the game on that system. If you're willing to gamble sixty dollars on the premise that your PS3 won't be too affected by glitches, go ahead and get it there.

This is the reason I eschewed a score for this game. It's downright impossible to assign a fair score to a game with different issues on each of the three HD platforms. I personally feel this game is damn near a ten because I'm loving the game and I haven't had many issues. Someone else might feel it's worth a zero because they experienced crippling bugs that I have not had. Who's to say I'm more in the right than they are?

This being an Elder Scrolls game, its replayability is nigh-infinite. Ignoring the inevitable expansion(s?) and mods that will come out and add still more time to your playthrough, you can play this game ten times and wind up playing through it in ten different ways. No two runs of an Elder Scrolls game are ever the same, and therein lies the beauty of the series. It's a fresh experience every time you play because you will be doing things differently.

In spite of the bugs that have affected my fellow PS3 gamer, I still feel that this is one of the best games I have ever thrown my $60 down on. If you like RPGs/fantasy at all, you owe it to yourself to get this fucking game.

EDIT: I'd like to say that if anyone actually reads this edit, patch 1.2 has helped me. Somewhat. It's made my game freeze a bit more, though I don't know why. More to the point, instead of my ridiculously long/huge file lagging after an hour, which is totally not cool, it starts to lag after 2-3 hours. I guess this is progress and I can tolerate this a bit more, but I stand by what I said concerning which platform to get the game on.

EDIT, part 2: 360 has the same issue. It just takes longer to show up because the RAM in the 360 isn't split as it is in the PS3. Even PC might have this issue, but due to even the crappiest computer these days having at least a gig of RAM, it won't show up for quite some time.

EDIT, part 3: 1.4 is supposedly the "miracle patch". From all I've heard and read, it really helps with the lag issues. If you're considering the game, I'd either get it soon-ish or wait until the nearly inevitable GOTY edition.
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Granskjegg
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Fantastic review, Ro.
And I remember the first time I entered Riverworod, it was night time and I looked up to the skies, and there were amazing northern lights just like those around here. And the landscape is so beautiful, and actually pretty damn varied.
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MrMarill
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What Paal said, fantastic review. Not giving it a score was a smart move, most likely =P

That said, I don't like the "You can expect bugs" argument. I mean, with the PS3 bugs, they should have fixed that pre-release.
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Romanticide
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MrMarill
Nov 20 2011, 01:10 PM
What Paal said, fantastic review. Not giving it a score was a smart move, most likely =P

That said, I don't like the "You can expect bugs" argument. I mean, with the PS3 bugs, they should have fixed that pre-release.

Well, apparently the PS3 versions of Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas had a similar bug. Fuck if I know; I don't own them on PS3.

You *can* expect bugs. It's next to impossible to keep them out of a game. That said, something this game-breaking should not exist. If it's due to the engine like people suspect, well, it's about time to find a new engine.
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Granskjegg
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I read
MementoVivere
Nov 20 2011, 08:58 PM
MrMarill
Nov 20 2011, 01:10 PM
What Paal said, fantastic review. Not giving it a score was a smart move, most likely =P

That said, I don't like the "You can expect bugs" argument. I mean, with the PS3 bugs, they should have fixed that pre-release.

Well, apparently the PS3 versions of Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas had a similar bug. Fuck if I know; I don't own them on PS3.

You *can* expect bugs. It's next to impossible to keep them out of a game. That said, something this game-breaking should not exist. If it's due to the engine like people suspect, well, it's about time to find a new engine.

Yeah I read that too. I really hope the upcoming patch is able to fix this, even though I luckily haven't encountered the problem too much.
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MrMarill
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There are going to be bugs in every game ever made, but there shouldn't be stuff on this scale.

I plan to play through it after Skyward Sword for definite.
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Granskjegg
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Oh, definitely not.
I plan on playing Skyward Sword...maybe sometime next week.
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MrMarill
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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Wii


First, you may be all shocked by this, but I actually took my own pictures for this review! Except one, which has half of the screen obscured, taken by my brother. Figures.

So, here it is. Skyward Sword. Chances are you already have it, are waiting for Christmas, or don't have a Wii. The hype behind this game was incredible, and after IGN and other sites' perfect 10s, the hype reached astronomical levels. So, is it really that good?

Unless you haven't read a single one of my posts all week, you'll know that it is fucking brilliant.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Zelda series, you play as golden (blonde) haired Link, who must be a badass and collect items and hearts to save Zelda. Your health system is by the aforementioned hearts, of which you get more as the game continues. Your items grow as you continue until you have a full arsenal of weapons and a ridiculous amount of health, ready to take on Ganondorf.

Skyward Sword, despite celebrating the 25th anniversary, does things differently. Two surprising things to fans will be the complete lack of Ganondorf, and the fact you actually start with six hearts rather than the three in every game before. Now, before you complain, the enemies actually do a lot more damage. While in previous games every starting enemy did half a heart, most enemies in the game do a full heart, so it's fine.

The most noticeable change off the bat, though, is the inclusion of a dash button and stamina bar. Instead of rolling about like a twat, Link instead runs, draining his stamina bar. If it runs out, he slows to a complete crawl until it recharges, leaving him defenceless. Also, doing the Spin Attack or the new Flip Slashes drains energy, meaning you can't just spam them like in Twilight Princess.

Speaking of combat, it's the other immediately obvious change. Of course, this game utilises motion controls, and it does it perfectly. These are the best motion controls- no, the best controls of any game. The motion controls gives so much more freedom and are utilised creatively, and never feel forced. The most obvious example is the sword. The MotionPlus is definitely needed, as it gives a real sense of control.

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Combat is a lot more in-depth in Skyward Sword.


As you move your sword, Link moves it too. This basically sets your sword up for attacks, so if you have it on your left, it's naturally easier to move it to the right. That's how life works. Also, instead of actually having 1 to 1 slashing, the game instead has eight- nine if you count stabbing- slashes, and when you slash along those lines. This is hardly noticeable and actually a really good idea. Instead of the game not picking up on you having a killed an enemy because you slashed ever so slightly wrong, there's always a definitive way you should slash.

The starting enemies can be killed by just slashing at them, but once you reach the actual game, all the enemies have to be attacked in certain ways. Deku Plants open their mouths at certain angles, and the Bokoblins hold their swords at certain angles to defend themselves. Combat is really involving, and flailing wildly will not work. In addition, shaking the nunchuck will use your shield. If you shake it as your enemy attacks, it stuns them, allowing you to, say, spin attack to knock them on their back for a fatal blow. I can't imagine playing a Zelda game without this level of depth.

The items also use the motion controls. Anything which involves pointing at the screen actually takes where you were pointing at originally, which is handy. Also, you can press down to recentre the pointer. Anyway. Items like the bow are self explanatory, but the bombs also use the motion controls so you can either throw it overhead or roll it underarm. All the items in the game, even the recurring ones, use the motion controls creatively or have a new feature.

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The items have new features, such as the Bomb's roll.


There are a few new items I won't spoil, and these are also awesome, and I expect to see them returning in later games.

Skyward Sword in fact changes the Zelda formula. First, it has a storyline which isn't predictable! Without spoiling much, this is before Hyrule had humans in it, so all they lived in Skyloft, which is in the sky. Naturally. The story's actually really good and had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The ending in particular is absolutely fantastic, and surpasses even Ocarina of Time.

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The story this time around is fantastic and constantly surprises.


Of course, you end up in Hyrule, referred to as "the surface". On the surface are statues which let you return to the sky. There are three main areas of Hyrule, which I can see dividing fans. There are few links between these three areas. When you descend into one of the areas, you pick one of the statues you've used, and you can return to there. In this regard, Skyloft is like a massive hub. Running out of hearts? Just return to Skyloft and buy some potions. While you're there, why not take some time off and do some sidequests? Minigames? Skyloft is a fantastic place, and I personally love this idea. As for the three areas... as absolutely huge as each areas are, it doesn't feel like Zelda.

In addition these statues let you save. Yes, save points. This is a fantastic addition to the series. There are save points scattered throughout Hyrule and Skyloft, and I personally love this. In old Zelda games, if you died or quit during a dungeon, you had to go through the whole thing again, just with shortcuts. Now you can just save towards the end and spawn at the boss door. It's great.

There are actually less dungeons than usual this time. To make up for this, the game's formula is changed so rather than the usual Zelda "do dungeon, walk to next one" and repeat, the formula is constantly unpredictable and surprising. Actually making it to each dungeon feels like a dungeon in itself, so in that regard, it has more. From start to finish, the game surprises you and rarely repeats gameplay mechanics, except some of the stuff in Lanayru Desert. Which is perfectly fine because that area is fucking amazing.

The dungeons and even areas between dungeons are all absolutely amazing. Skyward Sword's dungeons are the strongest in the entire series. All the levels are absolutely fantastically designed. Nearly every dungeon is a contender for the best dungeon in the series. They're absolutely fantastic.

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The puzzles in Skyward Sword will really make you think.


There's also the Collection system. I was saying about sidequests; there's a LOT of them. You can spend easily over two hours between sections just doing sidequests and unlocking more stuff. Even on the surface there are sidequests in the Goddess Cubes. When struck, these cubes unlock a chest in the sky with epic items, from simply lots of rupees to bottles. In addition, there are materials, insects and other things to collect. These can be sold or used to power up stuff, from potions to equipment. Oh yeah, you can upgrade equipment, naturally. I don't want to spoil the upgrades, but some of them are definitely worth getting.

Speaking of equipment, Skyward Sword has a really interesting way of doing that. You get an adventure pouch with four slots. From Skyloft, you can change what you take with you. Bottles and your shield take up space in your pouch, as do other things like a bag for extra bombs, or medallions. Medallions give you extra effects, like the Heart Medallion, which gives you a higher chance of finding hearts. It adds a layer of strategy as you decide whether it's worth taking the extra bombs or the extra bottles with you.

Oh, also, your shield. It has durability. WAIT, COME BACK. If you protect an attack properly, it doesn't change the durability. If you just keep your shield up as you're attacked without blocking, you take no damage, stumble, and you lose durability. It adds yet another layer of depth. You can repair your shield in Skyloft, of course, or even upgrade it to give better durability.

The start of this game is, admittedly, slow. It mainly focuses around establishing the characters and being a tutorial. The characters are all absolutely fantastic. There are no weak characters in the entire game. There are actually very few minor characters from the later game making appearances- Tingle isn't present, thank Farore- but yet all the new characters are absolutely fantastic. Dodoh, the owner of Fun Fun Island, is absolutely hilarious, and the scrawny Fledge is also fun to talk to. I've spent hours just talking to people and doing stuff for them because they all feel like people- even the shopkeepers, who change how they act towards you as you shop from them more, and when you go to their houses at night.

There's something about playing this game that's hard to explain. Once you get down to the surface and start blasting your way through it, you probably won't even realise you've been playing about five hours straight. I finished my playthrough at thirty seven or so hours, including doing a ridiculous amount of sidequests and not coming even close to 100%. It certainly didn't feel like thirty seven hours. The game just keeps going, intense as anything. It just feels so... good to play. There's just no other game that comes close to the feeling you get from playing Skyward Sword. It's just the best game ever. It's hard to explain, like I said. You have to play it to understand. A quick play doesn't get the feeling, you have to play the game fully to appreciate it. The amount of good things in this game outnumbers every other game ever, really. All the good just feels amazing.

...And yet, there are flaws. Yes, there are problems with this game I just called the best game ever. No game is perfect.

Sometimes the framerate does slow, which isn't too great in an intense battle. For some reason, nearly every door in the game looks positively disgusting. And, despite the almost perfect level design, there are very few sections in the game which are frustrating to play. The biggest problem I had, though, was something that didn't even affect the gameplay. It was the inconsistencies. Not plot inconsistencies, but how the game handles some things. If you fall off Skyloft, instead of just warping back up with no explanation, the knights of Skyloft actually come down and say "Yeah, don't fall off again, we can't save you every time!". Also, the Navi of this game, Fi (who by the way is an insanely amazing character), comes out of your sword and shocks some characters, who ask "Who was that!?". And then, later in the game, if you fall off, there's no explanation, and characters don't even notice Fi. I don't get why they lampshaded some of it and not others. The lampshading that is there is hilariously awesome (one particular moment in a sidequest comes to mind), but the fact that it's inconsistent ended up annoying me more.

Again putting them in one paragraph, graphics and music. I'm probably the only person on Earth who actually disliked the graphics when they were first shown. After playing, though, they definitely work. They're bright and cheerful when need be, and also dark and moody for the serious points. The cartoony yet realistic style works perfectly well, although I prefer Wind Waker's CEL-Shaded style. As for the music, surprisingly, it actually features very few old pieces. Most of the tracks are new for the game. Also, most of the tracks are very good. There are a few that I would actually listen to outside of the game (Lanayru Mining Grounds, the final boss), but there are some that are very forgettable, and one which, for some reason, sounds like my disc has been scratched horrifically for the first few bars. It's not as good as the LttP or OoT soundtrack, but it's still very good.

Posted Image
Some sections are breathtaking.


Skyward Sword has all the best parts from each game, and is new all at once. It has the perfect overworld of Link to the Past, the fantastic dungeons of Ocarina of Time, the amazing climax and sidequests of Majora's Mask the beautiful world of Wind Waker and the badass Link of Twilight Princess, and that's not even taking the other games into account. It's a beautiful blend of all the best parts of Zelda, and even my other favourite games; the perfect control of Ratchet and Clank 3, the strategic setup and combat of Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, the great atmosphere and power ups of Super Metroid...

Skyward Sword is everything gaming should be about. It's an absolute joy to play from start to finish, with fantastic level design and is just sheer fun. You'll be skipping sleep to finish it. I put everything else, from videos to everything else on hold to play this game, and I still want to play more. Oh, did I mention you get stuff to do after the game? Yes, you heard right; a Zelda with replayability outside of re-experiencing its magic again. Skyward Sword once again proves that Nintendo have still got it, and were right with motion controls. It is worth owning a Wii for just this game. It has more flaws than Link to the Past (which is flawless), but the good stuff is just so much better than everything else the world has ever produced, it more than makes up for it. You need this game.

Pros
-Perfect controls
-Unparalleled gameplay
-Fantastic level design and puzzles
-An amazing amount of replayability
-Awesome characters and story

Cons
-Inconsistencies
-Minor annoyances

Rating: 9.9/10
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LightningBolt
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I agree that it's a fantastic game, but I'm not sure I agree on the story being so great. They seriously tell you from the start of the game that, "Hey, you're the hero chosen by the Goddess. You're going to go on this journey and fight some evil and stuff." Just seemed so blunt. Not that this series is particularly known for amazing stories, but this really just seemed like it was forced into your head. I guess usually in these games there's an event that starts you on your journey and you kind of gradually switch over to saving the world and stuff. This one didn't seem so gradual.
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MrMarill
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The story at the start is the traditional "save everything yeah", but there are some great plot twists later on. Also, it explains why you're the chosen one for seemingly no reason.
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LightningBolt
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4 dungeons through, the story would definitely be a weak point for me.
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MrMarill
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Subjective, I guess. I personally loved it. It's definitely a lot better than the other ones =P
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SaiyanShredder
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WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

Assassin's Creed: Revelations
PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC

Whenever a franchise switches to a yearly release schedule many people assume it will start to falter. With the combined effort of over 15 Ubisoft studios worldwide, Assassin's Creed: Revelations slaps that theory in the face.

I am pleased to say that there are in fact revelations in Revelations. A ton of plot-points and questions raised by the cliffhanger at the end of Brotherhood are answered. Not only that, but a few excellent (and breathtaking) surprises await the epilogue of Revelations' story. I can't really explain too much about the game's central story without spoiling stuff, so I'll keep it short. Desmond finds himself trapped inside the guts of the animus (he's comatose) on a location known as "Animus Island". A familiar persona greets Desmond, and explains to him that his constant exposure to the animus has made his brain a clusterfuck of his ancestors memories. Unless Desmond can finish all of Ezio and Altaïr's memories, he will remain trapped on Animus Island forever.


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Desmond and Subject 16 on Animus Island.


The game is set mainly in Constantinople, a sprawling city on the crossroads of the world. Constantinople is by far the largest city featured so far in Assassin's Creed, and is almost completely explorable from the moment Ezio arrives there. The city is drastically different from the other locations Ezio has visited. The narrow layout of the cities means that there will be no horses to ride, and the sprawling rooftops feature dozens of ziplines to glide to and fro throughout the city. I never got tired of using them, the feeling you get when sliding down one is exhilarating. Of course to actually use a zipline you will first have to acquire the hookblade. This nifty device makes maneuvering around the city a breeze. Its long reach allows Ezio to scale immense structures in mere seconds, and its deadly blade allows Ezio to deal flashy killing blows during combat...

...which is absolutely fantastic. Ezio has always been a spry fighter, but this time around he's turned into a goddamn killing machine. The finishing moves are gruesome and flashy, especially when the hookblade is involved. Different weapons provide different ways of finishing off your enemies. I personally found axes to deliver satisfyingly brutal kills, but there are tons of other weapons to use, so experiment!

Revelations introduces the ability to craft bombs. Bomb crafting looks difficult, but is actually very simple once you get the hang of it. All you need to craft a bomb is a shell, a type of gunpowder, and an ingredient (the bomb's effect). Depending on what combinations of items you use, you can get bombs ranging from a cherry bomb to thick smoke bombs to small grenades. Ingredients for bombs can be found in various chests located throughout the city, in assassin hidouts, looted from guards, or earned from sending your assassin recruits on certain missions. In addition, there are several black-market bomb vendors who will sell you pre-made bombs, though they cost a good chunk of coin.

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Tripwire Bombs are great for taking out mobile guards.


Scattered throughout Constantinople are assassins dens. These dens are a point of conflict between templars and assassins. Once the assassins take control of a den, that den can be taken under seige by templars. The Notoriety Meter from AC2 and Brotherhood has been replaced by the Templar Awareness Meter. If the meter fills up completely, you have a short window of time to lower your awareness before templars begin to assault a nearby assassin den. Even if you fail to stop a templar assault on a den, not all is lost. This is where the new Den Defense minigame comes into play. Den Defense is an RTS-style tower defense minigame. By building barracades and placing different types of assassin factions around area, you can hold off the templar's assault and save your den from being taken over.

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Den Defense in action.


Just like in Brotherhood, Ezio can recruit citizens to join the brotherhood and train under him as their mentor. Unlike Brotherhood however, each individual assassin is given more of a personality. One recruit for example, joins after Ezio beats him in a race. Once an assassin ranks up to level 10, they are given a special mission to prove themselves, they are then given 5 more levels to earn, and upon doing so, finish the mission by taking out a specific target (one of the characters from multiplayer). Once they do this, they will guard an assassin den from all future templar attacks.

Ezio isn't hanging around Constantinople just to sightsee, he's on a mission to find 5 special keys that will unlock the Masyaf Library, which is said to contain vast secrets within its walls. Each key is hidden in a secret location somewhere below Constantinople. Once Ezio acquires a key, he can look one over in the assassin HQ. This will unlock one of Altaïr's memories. These sequences take place at different intervals in Altaïr's life (before the events in Assassin's Creed, right after, and decades after). These parts of the game were incredible, and I was disappointed at how short they were.

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More stuff like this would have been appreciated...


Altaïr isn't the only one getting his dues in Revelations. By collecting special data fragments strewn throughout Constantinople players can gain access to 5 special memories pertaining to Desmond's backstory (from his childhood all the way up to his kidnapping by Abstergo). These sequences are a nice change of pace from the hectic moments of Ezio's adventures, as well as a great way of expanding upon Desmond's backstory.

Barely a moment goes by when playing the main story where you don't do something completely badass. Whether you're chasing a boat full of templars and explosives while avoiding crumbling ruins, using greek fire to decimate a port full of ships, or parachuting behind a carriage while swooping down and assassinating guards. Revelations has some pretty amazing moments.

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Ezio knows how to fuck shit up!


Ubisoft took Revelations one step further by not only continuing the excellent multiplayer from Brotherhood, but used it to give players a chance to view the struggle between the assassins and the templars through the latter's eyes. As you level up you gain more knowledge of just what the templar order is really about, and why they do what they do. It's a great idea that has rarely been used in video games.

That isn't to say the multiplayer is just Brotherhood's formula with a story slapped on top of it. There are a ton of new features present throughout Revelations' multiplayer. The amount of different game modes makes Brotherhood's look sparse in comparison. You have your standard modes transitioned from Brotherhood (Wanted, Manhunt, Chest Capture), as well as many new modes. Artifact Assault splits the map into two sides. One side attempting to capture the others artifact and bring it back to base. Escort sees you protecting NPCs as they make their way to specific points of the map. Deathmatch (and Simple Deathmatch) places all players in a small chunk of a map and has each player attempting to assassinate each other without the use of a radar. I've only scratched the surface.

Customization is prevelent in many ways. You are given a templar profile with your own logo to create and a title to give yourself. Each character is fully customizable, from weapons to clothing, even their taunts!

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The main character roster for Revelations' multiplayer.


Assassin's Creed: Revelations does many things right, but alas, a few flaws mar this excellent game. The bomb crafting system is ambitious, and bombs are fun to use, but there are few instances where you actually need to use them. It's so easy to decimate factions of guards with your main weapons that bombs become an oversight. Also, none of the supporting cast introduced in AC2 and Brotherhood make an appearance in the story. This is a shame since it would have been great to give those memorable characters a sendoff along with Ezio.

By no means is Revelations a step backward, this game is a worthy addition to any fan of the series' gaming library. A great story, stellar multiplayer, and a heartfelt farewell to both Ezio and Altaïr make for one enchanting experience.

Pros
-Answers a lot of questions left unanswered in previous games.
-Fantastic multiplayer
-Excellent new mechanics like the hookblade and assassins dens.

Cons
-Bomb crafting is a great idea, but not executed well enough.
-Ezio's friends and family are absent in this installment.
-The Altaïr sequences were too short.

Final Score: 9.5/10
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