NorfolkNChance

It's been a busy old few months playing games, so I'll mention what I've just finished.

Assassin's Creed 2 set in Italy where Ezio, a descendant of the original Assassin known as Altair, comes to terms with the death of his father and two brothers forces him on a bloody path of vengeance.

Throughout the game you learn the skills to become a talented Assassin - which is a lot better than the naughty step format of AC1 where you had all your toys taken away from you to begin with and had to earn them back.

As you progress through the game, killing countless numbers of guard/soldiers you take out the targets, using cunning and grace to get close and make that kill. Which I might add was a lot more satisfying than AC1. With the exception of the final boss who you end up having fisticuffs with instead - or in my case I grabbed him then went Muay Thai/Glaswegian on his ass - a couple of knees then a headbutt - rinse, repeat as necessary.

I am notoriously known as a non-fan of sandbox games, which would make this game normally not fun for me. Yet I did and I also finished the main story. I also collected all the codex pages (well you have to) and I also collected all the Assassin Seals of Altair (or something like that) so that I could get the awesome Altair armour. I only did these because the maps gave me the waypoints to find them. Unlike the feathers, as I found them few and far between I think I finished having only found about 17 out of 100. Not a good find! No map-py, no find-y!!

I did enjoy climbing and finally experienced that moment my good friends experienced with Crackdown - the moment you look at real buildings and get thoughts of your own ability to climb them. I enjoyed scaling the heights then taking the "Leap of Faith" - oh the irony - a hay fever suffering atheist taking a "Leap of Faith".

Other mentions of good times - close kills with the blade, duels with swords, counters and disarm, throwing money around, setting up fights/whoring, and looting the place.

Out of place - Danny Wallace as one of the characters in the future (now?) that was potential in the making if he could voice act. He's a geek, yes, but can't voice act, so why digitally recreate him then have him vocalise the part of himself, but made from wood? 

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent playing AC2 and would recommend others partake in the Italian education and occasional killing on the side.

Well I recently finished playing through Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and by heck what a blooming gorgeous game. The vistas are a sight to behold. The cinematics are lush. Production quality is up to 11. I lost myself in the game at times. Much more than a movie. Interactive entertainment at its best!!

Uncharted 2 is one of those games you have to play, but it is so difficult to inform the non-buyers why they need to play it. All I can say is play it. It's a potential game of the year.

On a side note there is the little bonus of multiplayer. From my experience it has taken a lot of influence from Gears of War in gameplay terms but in a much more simplistic style. It has a simple in-game cash reward structure that you can buy perks from (knicked from call of duty) and improve your chances of kicking ass and taking names - bonus!

Final word, GET IT.

I am now the owner of a new Super Elite 250GB Xbox 360.

Picked up the Forza bundle the other day and now back gaming in the world of 360. It's nice to be back, I was missing those games "only on Xbox 360". Much to catch up on, Halo 3 ODST, Forza 3 and all the gits that have better times on Trials HD than me whilst I've been away.

I very nearly didn't end up with the Forza bundle, originally I planned to go with the Modern Warfare 2 bundle but couldn't wait that long. So popped into Game for the Forza bundle, got the kit home, opened it up and stared confused at the 120GB drive attached. Looked through the other accessories and then the box, even the receipt. I had a 120GB drive, should have been 250GB. One quick phonecall to Game, they had received a communication that this was occurring with some of their stock. I could take it back and get a replacement or refund. Quickly packed up the 360 again, headed into Game.

The helpful staff in Game had a look at all their remaining stock to find they had only incorrect bundles, so no Super Elite for me.

Or so fate thought!

Gamestation was only 30 seconds away, hurrah. I headed over there hoping they had at least one bundle correctly packaged. Pop up to the counter, ask the kind shop assistant for said bundle. As he places the bundle on the counter I asked for him to check it. He had already but was more than willing to give it another check - can't expect Microsoft to always get it right! 250GB HDD, correct.

Having paid the going rate, I headed home a happy (not proud, I'm still disappointed in the RROD from before) that I was going to be gaming on 360 again.

The Super Elite is nice compared to my old 1st gen 360, it's far quieter. That is so understated. It is sitting next to the PS3 and looking very nice all in black - they suit each other.

That's me now back gaming on the major platforms of interest, so expect some more blogging activity soon.

Well it's been a few weeks since my Xbox 360 died. How have I faired in this time? I'll live.

Given the recent game releases there has been a many few that have piqued my interest and fortunately they have favoured the PS3. However, one title at this time stands out Halo 3: ODST - on Xbox 360. Being a Halo fan I find myself in wistful gaze at my 360 friendslist on Xbox.com or my friends on Twitter who have just been playing ODST. Comment such as "EPIC Firefight last night" give me that empty feeling that I'm missing out. Reminding myself it's just a game gets me through and it won't be that long until I get myself a replacement 360 - I'm looking at you Mr Modern Warfare 2 Super Elite bundle.

Had this been a period of no big releases I might have raced out to replace my 360 to get that fix, but fortunately the industry is pumping out sufficient quality titles - EA Sports titles the most prevalent.

I feel this post is much like one of those non-important episodes you find in TV series such as 24 or Battlestar Galactica which don't seem to progress the entertainment they just exist, I just felt like I had to say something, pass on the experience.

Yes, it has finally happened to me and just they way I expected it to.

Thanks to some manufacturing issue, my Xbox 360 has finally went to the console resting place somewhere in the sky. On the eve of Halo 3: ODST launch, and on my birthday I decided to have a little warm up with Halo 3 in advance of the midnight ODST launch. I tried to boot my machine up and then it was no more.

How did I feel? Utterly lost, angry, upset. Then I remembered it was only a games console, life could be worse - I already expected my 360 to die when Gears 2 was about to launch.

So like any good customer I phoned up Xbox support where I eventually got through the automated racist system (doesn't understand Scottish) to get to a support agent - who sounded thoroughly pissed off - to be told I purchased the system in August 2006... wait a minute it is September 2009... 1 month over the 3 year warranty. Talk about timing!

Well there is the Sales of Goods Act where I can go back to the retailer and ask for a replacement disputing the known manufacturing error and expectancy of most electronic appliances to last about 6 years. If only I had went to a large well known retailer, not some no-longer-in-existance retailer. Which leaves me with a dead Xbox 360 and shit out of luck.

I'm a fan of Bungie/Halo and Epic/Gears, so I will be getting a replacement - currently my eyes are focussed on the Modern Warfare 2 console bundle: MW2 skinned Elite, 250GB HDD, 2 controllers, 1 headset and basic MW2 game all for £250 and a new 3 year warranty.

Who said a Xbox 360 is cheaper to own than a PS3...