Assassin's Creed II (PS3, Ubisoft, NA: Nov 2009)

Just finished playing Assassin's Creed II in 2.5 days, and all I have to say is wow. Just wow.

The ending. Wth! What a major plot twist right at the end, and even as the credits roll. Ubisoft did a fantastic job with keeping you yearning for more, despite having completed your final mission. Assassin's Creed is probably one of the only series that perfectly strings its games together through its ongoing story while consistently improving from its prequel. I am most definitely looking forward to Assassin's Creed III!

Gameplay: Fun. Despite the linearity of the story missions (as highlighted with an exclamation marker on your map), there is always something else to do, and someplace to go. Unlike the first Assassin's Creed, the pace is just perfect. None of those long time-wasting cutscenes, no collecting flags for the sake of collecting them even though you know you won't get all of them (though there are 100 feathers in this one). The game does an uncanny job keeping your attention - something new happens right when you're beginning to feel bored. The pace of the game isn't strikingly fast, nor is it slow enough to be considered a con of the game. It's exactly what your typical gamer would expect.

Art: The movements of Ezio are so fluid and graceful, yet powerful and superhuman. The cities are large and highly realistic, replicating what you would expect to see from a textbook on the Renaissance. However, there is an undeniable resemblance to the style of the prequel, which is perfectly fine, but simply demonstrates that the producers chose to strengthen gameplay over graphics.

Story: Assassin's Creed II starts off exactly where you left Desmond in the prequel, and unrolls itself through a series of missions that I absolutely could not follow for the first third of the game. However, it does an electrifying job tying itself together at the end, and keeping you yearning for more.

Although I could not understand the story in that first third of the game, it did not become a problem in determining how to proceed in the game. Ubisoft did a wonderful job making it clear where to go, who to speak to, who to tail, and who to assassin so that you won't need any prior knowledge of the story to complete the missions and enjoy the game. Story came second after gameplay, but definitely adds flavor to the game if you make the effort to understand.

The integration of major historical figures such as Leonardo De Vinci and Lorenzo De'Medici adds a historical excitement to the game. What surprises me, however, is the integration of minor historical figures as well. People who were known simply from a couple legal documents and maybe a distant relative of a significant figure (as learned from reading the database) were playing significant roles in the story, adding to the realistic feel of the game.

Ending Remarks: The biggest quirk that I disliked about this game is the fact that I wasted 3 hours on one mission, trying to locate a target who wasn't there due to a mere bug. I couldn't kill myself by jumping off viewing points to reload the mission, guards didn't bother attacking me and would actually revive after I assassinated them as if nothing happened. Bleh. Just me being bitter about a bug I found myself in. Overall though, an outstanding action game, and one that represents the strength of NA games. Karen's ranking: 9.5/10.

What makes a game watchable?

What makes a friend or a sibling come down and sit next to you for the sake of watching you play?

That's what I mean by "watchable." It's something that I've been pondering about for quite some time now, but never really got to an answer. None of my ideas have been solidified, or even decently backed up, but I have a good handful of them.

• Personal preference. I, for one, will never find watching a FPS game fun, but I know a lot of people have parties of just playing & watching each other play FPS games. But this really only applies to people who already have a background of gaming.
  
• Familiarity of characters and series. Mario games are so good at filling those couch seats up, and I'm guessing it's a matter of familiarity. Again, just a theory.
• Multiplayer option available. Oo, is this how you play? Can I try? Can I play with you? This is the basis of racing and fighting games.
  
• Theatrical content. Like you're watching a movie! RPGs with a solid storyline do very well in keeping watchers on their seats. Final Fantasies are good examples. Hollywood action-like games are also good!
  
• Puzzles. Make that friend think with you! Like Resident Evil! This may seem surprising at first, but I believe the aspect of Resident Evil that makes it so watchable is that balance of watching theatrical action and being able to understand solve the puzzle / get to the key with the player.
  
• Graphical presentation / Colorfulness. Mario is very colorful. Katamari is very colorful. FFXIII is fantastically colorful. FFXIII is also very breathtakingly beautiful. Presentation plays a huge role in catching that initial glance.

Now, what makes a game unwatchable?

• Nondynamic action. With exception to those hard-core players, games like Starcraft and Dota (Warcraft) are very dull to watch, making glances to the screen last only a few seconds, minutes at most. I say nondynamic in the sense that there lacks a fluidity of camera motion, or theatrical content as mentioned above.
• Confusing games. The system / gameplay is too complicated to understand just from one glimpse. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 comes to mind; characters switching in and out and doing special moves here and there was too much action at once for me to comprehend when I first saw it. It's also what makes the game so great, but confusing for first-timers.
• Size of the screen. This kind of goes without saying; games on portable consoles are hard to watch... You have to sit reaaal close.
• Repetitivity. Games like Cooking Mama, where similar actions are done over and over again, are addicting to play but get old to watch quickly.
  

Again, allow me to mention that these are just unsolidified, random ideas to a question that I randomly began to ponder.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm (PS3, Bandai Namco Games, NA: Nov 2008)

I'm not particularly into Naruto nor into fighting games, but due to certain circumstances I found myself purchasing this at GameStop yesterday and immediately began to play.

First impressions?

Gameplay: As I mentioned earlier, I am not entirely an expert on fighting games, and thus at first I was a little intimidated by the thought of having to spice up my combo skills in order to get anywhere in the game. These worries turned out to be in vain. Naruto Storm turns out to be quite the casual fighting game, allowing users to break in flashy 10-15 hit combos just by a sequence of mashing the circle button. After the first 3 or so battles, things were already beginning to fall into place and I found myself getting the hang of battles faster than I had expected. Now that I've mastered getting those combos down, I'm not entirely sure what to aim for next. Hopefully the rest of the game will not be too easy. I guess I'll keep playing to find out.

The minigames that are included in the story mode (Ultimate Misison Mode) are cute and addicting, comprising of fast-paced dodging trees and picking up items along the way. However, the addictiveness wears out once you realize that dodging trees were the only thing you would ever be able to do. Oh, and playing hide-and-seek with Konohamaru. Having a wider variety of this would be much needed in the next Naruto game.

Art: Unbelievable. I don't know how they managed to do it, but the graphics look like they were taken straight from the anime series. They even allow full dynamic camera control to give you the full experience of Konoha Village as well as the jutsus from your favorite Naruto characters. Nothing like I've ever seen before.

NA Version: I cringe at Naruto's dubbed voice, but other than that the others were surprisingly pretty decent / well done. That said, however, it saddens me that some of the characters' personalities were lost in translation. Lee's passion for youth and Shikamaru's laziness (めんどくさりや) were not quite portrayed as well as they should have.

But...! Thank god they have dual audio available!! Hearing the Japanese voices makes me happy. :)

Ending Remarks: A must-play for any Naruto fan, but will probably fall short for any die-hard fighting game player. This game was targeted towards casual gamers, and most definitely does well as a casual fighting game to play with friends. Karen's rating (may change when clearing the game): 8/10

Okami (Wii, Capcom, NA: April 2008)

I've always been interested in playing this, but was too lazy / too cheap to purchase this on my own. I finally was able to borrow my friend's, and just cleared the game today.

My total playtime was about 30 hours, and it took me nearly a week to complete. 30 hours of gameplay usually is a piece of cake for me to do within two days, but something about this game made it difficult to play through in one sitting.

Gameplay: Okami's design takes advantage of wii's functionalities, revolving around the Celestial Brush techniques that the player unlocks one by one as you proceed in the story. These brush techniques are exactly what you'd imagine - painting circles, lines, cherry bombs, etc. to activate Ameterasu's powers and cut down enemies or solve puzzles. I've had much difficulty activating these at times, and if it weren't for the z button, drawing lines (straight, literally) would be impossible. Getting hit as a result of the system not comprehending my drawing, or activating the wrong technique and thus using up my limited ink supply was probably the most frustrating aspect of the gameplay, but this problem will always exist in Wii games, and players just have to live with it.

Okami is probably the best imitation of the Zelda series I have yet to see, but lacks to be at par with it. Having the classic temple equivalent of dungeons, bosses that require you to use the Celestial Brush technique that was unlocked in that dungeon, a Navi-like partner that does all the talking for you, digging holes in the ground to find mini underground caves - the list goes on in how much Okami resembles Zelda, and you would be pleasantly surprised at how familiar the game feels despite being a completely different game.

However, Okami falls behind when it comes to the pace of the game. Issun, your little bouncing Navi-equivalent friend, takes all the thinking away from you, dropping hints highlighted in red as to how to overcome every obstacle. Like Navi, he will forcefully stop the game temporarily just to talk to you whenever you approach the next obstacle. Unlike Navi, the speed of his dialogue is not skippable / not fast-forwardable, thus feeling even more like a drag. I must honestly say that I've been stumped maybe once at most in the entire duration of this game, and everything else being crystal clear what to do the instant I see it, or when Issun tells me what to do. I understand that it was probably targeted for younger audiences, but personally the pace of the game was a tad too slow for my liking.

Overall, Okami does a great job incorporating a Zelda-like adventure while maintaining its stance as an original game.

Art: The art style of this game is what makes Okami so unique. The whole game is portrayed as though you are watching a Japanese painting come to life. It was beautifully done, and a very fitting style for the Wii. Enough said.

NA Version: While playing the North American version of Okami, there were many instances in which I wished I was playing the Japanese version.

First and foremost, the dialogue. Seriously? Did Capcom America really think that people would laugh at those jokes? The jokes were entirely elementary, and on top of that, slow! Having had a glimpse of the Japanese version from Okami trailers, Issun was supposed to be a much better character.

Secondly, while I understand the reasons for this, the background behind enemies such as the Kyuubi and Orochi, background behind the substories of Kaguya and the underwater city, etc. were not emphasized well enough in the North American version. These are all very well-known fairy tales / myths in the Japanese culture, and thus would not need much to explain in the game, but I felt that when these aspects appeared in the NA version, they seemed too out-of-place, too random, and too unexplained. I can imagine how explaining each and one of these would just be an overload of information to the average American player, but I still would've appreciated to see a little bit more effort to recognize that these characters, enemies, and stories are interpretations of the Japanese fairy tales / myths, and aren't just random creations in the Okami world.

Despite how elementary the game was overall, Okami has been rated T for Teen. Why? As I was playing, I tolerated how elementary the game was, believing that the game was targeted towards the younger generation. But it turns out to be rated T. And again, I question, why?

Extras: Upon clearing the game initially, a section called something like "Gifts from Issun" (I don't remember exactly) is unlocked that reveals over 130 original artworks that were used in the planning of Okami, including the original & final character designs of the main characters. Previews, trailers, & presentation videos that were used at the game's early planning were also available. As someone who aspires to produce games at some point in the future, this made me very happy.

Ending Remarks: Okami definitely isn't perfect, but it's a pleasant surprise from Capcom that won't make you regret your time spent, taking you into an entirely original, captivating world. Karen's rating: 8.5/10