"Smells Like Skunk Bombs." My Review of Assassin's Creed: Revelations

So Christmas has come and gone, and for a while now I've been playing all my new games. This includes the latest addition to the Assassin's Creed games: Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Which I just finished. Now, I'm going to tell you all about it, but before I do I will get the non-spoiler filled review done and over with and say that this game ranks the lowest of all the Assassin's Creed games. The highest, in my opinion, was Assassin's Creed 2 followed by the first game and then Brotherhood.
This game just didn't seem necessary from the get go. When I heard it would once again put players in the shoes of Ezio Auditore once again I asked myself: "Do we really need another Ezio centric game? Hasn't the dude done enough? Why not go to a new time with a new character for us to get to know?" This all comes back to the fact that by this time the folks at Ubisoft should have let the Venetian Assassin get some well deserved rest after his discovery of the Vault in AC 2, which had by far the biggest revelations of any game even the one with "Revelations" in the title.

I was willing to go on another adventure with Ezio when Brotherhood came out, it wasn't too bad. I liked the guy and his time period well enough to see what other mysteries he would uncover, but alas, all that really happened in that game could've been reserved for a half-price expansion pack. Not that I'm saying Brotherhood was bad, it just wasn't the proper step to take after AC 2 basically laid everything on the table and told us what needed to get done: which was (spoilers if you have yet to play the second game) save the world from a massive solar flare with the lost technology from the first civilization.

To be honest, from then on out, the third Assassin's Creed game probably should have taken place in present time, with Desmond (the actual protagonist of the games) finally becoming the primary player character instead of "just some guy" you play when not actually playing the game. In fact I thought the whole point of living through Ezio's life was so that Desmond could absorb his training and become the assassin he should've been.

However, the folks at Ubisoft felt it was better* (*more profitable?) if they stretched things out a bit* (*over the course of two years). We got Brotherhood and Revelations as a result, and where Brotherhood introduced some innovative new gameplay (the introduction to gathering your own group of assassins to use during missions) and some not so innovative gameplay (repetitively burn down a series of towers) Revelations takes it a step further while taking two steps back at the same time.

Revelations adds very little to the table worth mentioning with the exception of the "hook blade" which Ezio uses to zip on zip lines and extend his reach when climbing and being an all around bad-ass. However, this addition's charm quickly wears off as I kept finding myself not being able to use the zip lines because wherever I was going the zip lines would be going in the opposite direction. The hook blade offers very little combat advantages since Ezio was already a force to be reckoned with by the time Brotherhood started, and I rarely ever used the hook blade's features.

Another addition to the game is the introduction to different kinds of bombs instead of just the smoke bomb. Don't remember using smoke bombs in Assassin's Creed before? That's because you probably never used them outside the missions they were introduced in during AC 2 and Brotherhood. I sure as hell didn't. Now there's more bombs for you to use* (*not to use unless you like throwing bombs filled with skunk oil) including flash bombs, tack bombs, and... sheep's blood bombs? Once again, this feature hardly ever proved useful during my playthrough of the game and whenever I did make an effort to use them they seemed to work most of the time, but then again, I never found myself really wishing I had more skunk oil bombs (yes they have those).

Returning from Brotherhood were the ability to summon Assassins to do your bidding or send them off to do more interesting missions than the ones you were currently on. Also returning from Brotherhood were the Templar towers, now called dens but they're just the same monotonous chores from Brotherhood that I detested.

Then there's the new features that Revelations brings that I wished they never even thought of: mainly the management of your own dens. Now, mind you, I never felt interested in doing this beyond the story mission that made you do this, and there's a reason why. Basically, every now and then, the Templars will try to take over your den to which you must stand your ground and fight them off. Sounds relatively awesome right? You get to fight wave after wave of Templars until they give up and leave your territory. However, you will not be swinging your sword at them for any of this. Instead, the game goes into a strange RTS style of combat where you must place assassin archers and snipers on the rooftops, along with barricades on the ground, and have the snipers take out the Templar forces invading the area. Doesn't sound so fun now does it?
The only time I did this was enough to make me yawn and wish I could just jump into the street and cut down every Templar I saw, because I could've killed the entire invading army faster single handedly than my snipers were taking pot shots at them from the rooftops. What results is a boring mini-game that has you micro-managing a small war and watching it take place. Sure you can shoot at the Templars with your pistol, but it all adds up to one very disappointing tower defense game the likes of which you can find in abundance on Armor Games.

Along with this we have a mini-puzzle game that I guess is supposed to take us through Desmond's life before the games. They're found on the Animus Island and are unlocked after collecting a certain amount of Animus data shards found throughout the map in Constantinople. They play out like a first person platformer. Initially, they seem to be an interesting look into the past of Desmond but quickly degrade into a blatant Portal knockoff as you traverse room after room full of strange physics puzzles revolving around you summoning two shapes of blocks in order to skirt over deadly pits and lasers. All while Nolan North drones on about very uninteresting portions of Desmond's life, and the guy sounded like he was enjoying this as much as I was as I kept expecting singing turrets around every corner. Yeah, way to be interesting and original Ubisoft!

As for the story, well...
Without getting into spoiler territory I can say that one word sums up the entire storyline of Assassin's Creed: Revelations and that word is: Unnecessary.
There are no "revelations" in this game that are worth revealing. Sure, you get to see what happens to Altair from the first game, but it ultimately ends up feeling like the writers are just shrugging and wondering why anyone cares at this point. By the time I finished this game I wondered what all this meant in the context of the story and I honestly can't find one. The fact of the matter is, this game, and Brotherhood for that matter, are really just filler and nothing more. Sadly, seeing what's been done with Revelations makes me wonder what the true third game in the series is going to be like, because with the current track record for these games it can't be good.

Now onto the spoiler portion of the review.
Going a little more in depth into the so called "story" of Revelations now, the game starts where the last one left off. Desmond has been locked in the Animus after going batshit after being possessed by the Apple of Eden and stabbing Lucy (who was played by Kristen Bell) and killing her. Desmond finds himself on the island from Lost (or is it the trash file in The Matrix?) and is told by a guy who is revealed to be Subject 16, the illusive test subject who went bananas before the first game and placed all those weird glyphs in AC 2 and puzzles in Brotherhood. He's revealed to have survived in the Animus...somehow that is never clearly explained... and doesn't really contribute anything for the rest of the game. Which is sad because these games made it sound like this guy had all the answers we were searching for, since he was the guy who discovered a lost memory of Adam and Eve that you could unlock in AC 2. There is even a hint that he is actually plotting on taking over Desmond's body and leaving him to rot in the Animus as a data ghost, but that never pans out sadly, because that could've given Desmond something to do other than rip off popular first person puzzle games and drone on about Shirley Templars.

Instead, 16 tells Desmond that in order to get back to reality he has to live through the rest of Ezio's life until there's nothing left. Desmond once again delves back into his ancestor's past as we find Ezio, now well into his sixties, and still lookin' good considering healthcare wasn't so good back in the 15th century, at Masyaf (the home of the Assassins in AC 1) in search of some secret library under the castle that is supposed to contain a secret that Altair hid there during his later years. Sadly, the Templars are here too and pretty much ruin any chances of making Ezio's quest any easier. Compounding this fact is that the door to the library is locked and requires five keys in order to open. Ezio learns that these keys were hidden in Constantinople and goes in search of them.

Already, this game is looking like it will be a short one since all Ezio must do is find these keys throughout the city, so to add more padding to the narrative Ezio is tasked with helping the Constantine Assassins in some obscure political struggle that I never really gave two shits about. By this time, I was hoping we'd have focused on just what the hell happened to Lucy and quit wasting time in the past so we could get on with saving the world. Sadly, this isn't the case. Instead we have Ezio, who is Master of the Assassins mind you, going around and doing chores for the other Assassins. Not once does Ezio think that being a 60 year old man and the supreme master of an entire order of knights entitles him to tell the other Assassins to fuck off and get someone doing something less important than understanding the age old secret that could determine the survival of the entire human race. I mean Jesus Christ! Darth Vader wasn't this big of a pushover! Sure he was the Emperor's lapdog but you didn't see an Imperial Lieutenant coming up to Vader and asking him to strike down a lowly government official just because the Lieutenant needed Vader to "prove his skills." Shit, if he did Vader would've choked the guy on the spot for being such an incapable piece of shit!

This all just points to the idea that Ezio is suffering from a mid-life crisis. The guy's pushing sixty and is still jumping on rooftops like Batman. When he's not doing that he's trying to court a woman who is definitely half his age if not more!
When not being the bitch of the Assassins and not denying his age with over-compensation Ezio is looking for the Masyaf keys. It turns out that these keys are actually futuristic data discs that hold memories of Altair's time before and after Assassin's Creed 1. Why and how a man living during the Crusades managed to make technology like this is left to the handwavy power of the Apple of Eden, and ultimately these little flashbacks serve no purpose other than to further annoy you with the fact that any and all "revelations" in this game result in nothing of value being added to the established story. This becomes painfully clear on the first flashback which, as I mentioned, takes place before Assassin's Creed 1. You even are forced to save the man you know is the true bad guy of the first game! It provides nothing of value and only serves as a mode of appeasement to the whiny fans who wanted to play more of Altair for the second game. The rest just detail how Altair's life pretty much fell apart after the events of the first game where half of his family is killed and is driven from the order only to take it back and die an old man. Which is disappointing since Assassin's Creed 2 had hinted that maybe Altair had managed to cheat death in some way, only to be ruined when you find his skeleton in the library at the end of the game.

So Ezio gets the keys and some bad dude who I never really knew or cared to know kidnaps Sofia (the aforementioned young woman Ezio woos with his seniority). Ezio saves her and they unlock the library, only to find it empty with the exception of Altair's corpse and the Apple. There is something mentioned that it's not the same apple from AC 2 but by this time these apples are becoming harder to keep track of than the crystal skulls in the fourth Indiana Jones movie. In the end, Ezio, who talks to Desmond even though he still has no clue who he is, says he's too old for this shit and retires from the Assassin order.
What follows afterwards is another message from the ancient aliens telling Desmond to pretty much do the same thing they told him to do in the second game and he wakes up.
And that's it.
The plot has furthered a whole two inches since the end of Assassin's Creed 2.
I wasted about six hours of my life pissing and moaning and all I got was: "Yeah, we better get a move on that Ancient Temple thing before the sun kills us."

So what "revelations" did we divine from this game? The truth that needlessly stretching out the plot only gets you absolutely nowhere.

God, here's hoping Assassin's Creed 3 will be a step in the right direction....

I give Assassin's Creed: Revelations two skunk bombs out of five.

I've got a lot of walking in Skyrim to get to....

"Jump through hoops... inter-spatial hoops!" A review of Portal 2

So Valve has finally come out with a sequel I've been eagerly waiting for! No it's not Half-Life Part 3 it's Portal 2!
I loved the first Portal, as did most others considering its popularity, and it was a certainty that Valve would make a sequel and it doesn't disappoint!

So normally I'd do a review that is spoiler filled focusing on the story of the single player experience however since the singleplayer AND multiplayer games stories consist of solving puzzles with dialogue interspersed in between there's a fairly small (yet fantastic mind you) amount of actual story. To sum things up in the context of the single player campaign you once again play as Chell from the first game and you are once again forced by GlaDos to solve a myriad of test chambers all in the name of SCIENCE! You have to escape, and your only friend is Wheatley (a personality sphere voiced by British Comedian Stephen Merchant). The result is a wacky and mind bending game that will please fans of the first games for its charming wit and great gameplay.

However I must start this review off with the most surprising (and most awesome) addition to Portal 2. The SPLIT SCREEN CO-OP mode! Yes! Yes! Yes! After a long friggin time wishing games that focused on multiplayer would at least put in a split screen function as well as an online multiplayer. Most people who actually read this might know from previous entries that I am not a fan of online multiplayer or DLC's for that matter (the latter I view as a blatant attempt to cash in on players desire to play portions of the game that were "left out." The former because I am admittedly a bad gamer and also because I was sick and tired of getting blasted with childish insults every other match.) I have long since ended my online accounts so the only viable option for someone who still likes playing with his buddies is to find split-screen capable games, which have become scarce in recent years.
So it was a fairly pleasant surprise to find that Portal 2 had a split-screen multiplayer mode, and I'm glad to be able to play what is undoubtedly the most fun aspect of the game. I love the multiplayer aspect of Portal 2, and it is a welcome addition to the game.

The single player mode is pretty much what you'd expect from Portal, however it's the story and the comedy that make the single player mode memorable. Through the course of the game you are taken on a tour of the history of Aperture Science and even some history on the origins of GlaDOS herself. I will even go so far as to say that by the time you finish the game you will come to see her in a new light. The best part of the story has to, undoubtedly, be the levels on the older levels of the Aperture facility. In the game you are tossed into the bowels of the facility and are forced to go through numerous testing labs to ascend back up to the surface. Here the common insults of GlaDOS change to pre-recorded messages of the founder of Aperture, Cave Johnson voiced by J. Jonah Jameson himself JK Simmons. Simmons' brings a welcome change from GlaDOS' usual taunts, bringing instead humorous comments ranging from hinting at forced irradiation and dangerous side effects caused by moon dust.
However, Simmons' Cave Johnson is just one of the new characters added to the game. The most humorous (and somewhat tragic) is Merchant's Wheatley. The somewhat dimwitted personality sphere serves as your only ally for the first half of the game. Merchant is great as Wheatley who is by far my favorite character in the game. Between his suppressed hatred for humans and how they smell to his shyness when hacking doors he is always a fun character to listen to.

The witty atmosphere that made the first game popular is intact in this game. The deadly yet ever so loveable turrets make a return in the game (with a musical upgrade it seems). The companion cube makes a return as well though this is sadly short lived. To be perfectly honest there are so many things in this game I love for its humorous wit that I simply cannot name them all. You simply must find them out yourself.

To sum things up Valve has once again outdone itself with a fun and engrossing game that will please fans of the original and entertain newcomers.

I give Portal 2 five companion cubes out of five for its hilariously wonderful characters, gameplay, and multiplayer.

"In space, no one can smell the rotten flesh." My review of Dead Space 2

Holy cow it's finally here! One of my favorite survival horror science fiction games has finally come back! I am a die hard fan of Dead Space, it's a mix of all the things I love about science fiction and horror. The numerous inspirations for this game come from some of my favorite science fiction films like The Thing and Aliens with a bit of Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The result was a chilling, suspenseful, and terrifying game that would render me speechless for hours and kept me up for many nights (due to how fun it was plus I was afraid of the dark for a while). The story was both original and interesting with you playing space engineer Isaac Clarke ( whose name is a mix of the names Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, two of the most popular science fiction authors in history. The nods to previous works got me into a geeky tizzy!). Isaac was an unlucky soul sent to fix an old "Planetcracker" class mining ship called the Ishismura only to find it filled with corpses and relentless aliens called necromorphs who use said corpses as vehicles to spread their nightmare of death and destruction. Isaac was also looking for his girlfriend, Nicole, who was stationed on the Ishimura.
I wont go any further into the plot of the first game because I'm sure most already know what happened. Needless to say Isaac's quest didn't end so well.

Now, Dead Space 2 comes out and Isaac's ass is once again thrown back into the fire for some more alien smashing action! And I'm here to tell you all what I thought of the result. Once again, this is a SPOILER filled review and if you hate getting spoiled here's your chance to stop.


Dead Space 2 brings back all of the things that made the first game a success while bringing some new stuff for us to play with while never forwarding the narrative whatsoever. It's not completely bad when I say that because what you have here is basically Dead Space 2.0. The developers at EA and Visceral games knew that there was nothing completely wrong with the game mechanics. They definitely took an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach to making the sequel. If you've played the first game then when you start this game you pretty much know what to do: dismember everything that moves (and sometimes stuff that doesn't) and keep yourself alive. The dismemberment tactic from the first game still plays a big role in fending off the legions of necromorphs Isaac encounters on The Sprawl (the giant space station orbiting Titan and the main setting for Dead Space 2). There are some changes though with a new way of bringing pain to the enemy by skewering them with giant railroad spikes, pipes and even the mutant blades of downed enemies and pinning them to walls via your kinesis module (Dead Space's version of the Half-Life gravity gun) or the brand new Javelin gun which fires spears for some reason (my thought is space fishing or space whaling perhaps. These weapons are supposed to be improvised tools Isaac uses and not actual guns but I have no clue what a spear launching gun would be used for in a big space mining operation so I'm guessing the Sprawl also dabbles in possibly illegal space whaling operations. Somebody call Whale Wars!) Anyhow this new mechanic puts a new spin on the usual hack em up approach to killing necromorphs, however during my first play through I pretty much stuck with dismembering necros with my trusty plasmacutter and hardly ever used the new "spear fishing" mechanic (if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?) It's not that spearing things isn't useful in fact it saves you alot of ammo if you're willing to look for makeshift spears out of the environment. However I'm sure most players will settle with cutting the limbs off of necros through most of the game.

The traditional eerie atmosphere and foreboding ambiance is once again a critical factor in this game. It's chilling, and scary just walking through the corridors of The Sprawl. However, this isn't a mining ship, this is a place where millions of people live and work on, so it was nice to see the developers change things up with some mall-like areas full of shopping centers and daycare centers all of which bring their own sense of dread by the very fact they're so empty and devoid of life. So the atmosphere from the first game is definitely there and improved on. There's even a chapter where you go through the recovered Ishimura, which was a fun nostalgic romp that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling in between moments of anticipation and dread.

For a game called Dead SPACE there has to be segments set IN SPACE, and this is where Dead Space 2 really shines in its new and improved zero gravity segments. Instead of jumping from surface to surface like some interstellar chimpanzee you are given the ability to fly around using rocket boots and flight stabilizers like the ones used in Iron Man. These segments are fun, dizzying, and totally awesome. I would buzz around zero gravity rooms or outside the space station feeling like a badass astro-engineer. My only problem is that there are barely enough moments like this in the game, I can only recall four levels that had me flying around in space. I wanted more but instead I was usually called back to the Sprawl to do some more walking (ugh walking is so 23rd century!). There's hardly any combat in zero gravity as well, with only a few giant necromorphs in a fixed position on the outside that shoot stuff at you. I don't know if the developers tried to have more conventional enemies attack out in zero gravity (like in the first game) and only found the combat to be frustrating in those instances but I feel that it would've been awesome to fight some slashers or crawlers in the vacuum of space. So if there's a Dead Space 3, I want more zero gravity sequences damn it!

Enemies are pretty much the same, you're going to run into the classic slashers, leaper, and creepy baby-tentacle-shooting things, along with some new ones like the tormenter, stalker, and puker necromorphs. All of which require different tactics to take them down. For instance, stalkers like to sneak around and have a pack mentality, the best thing to do it find a corner and wait for them to charge you down. Pukers are more annoying than threatening as they simply puke on you and cause you to slow down as acid eats at your suit, simply hitting them before they hit you is the best tactic. Then there's the pack, these annoying little f**kers love to swarm you and flank you, once again, getting in a corner and letting them come at you head on is desirable so then you can give these little brats some disciplining they'll never forget! All in all, the monsters in Dead Space will provide enough challenges and scares to satisfy you.

Other gameplay mechanics include hacking puzzles that are supposed to utilize Isaac's skills as an engineer, however there is only one type of hacking puzzle and it's so easy that it becomes more monotonous and annoying because most of the time the door you're trying to hack is one that you have to go through, so it's not possible to lock yourself out if you fail (instead Isaac gets a little jolt of electricity for sticking his hand in the wrong place). I felt this hacking puzzle would've been better suited to doors that held secret loot and easter eggs because then I would've felt I had accomplished something. This isn't the case however as these special doors are held back by a power node like the doors in the first game. I felt this was a ridiculous thing to have considering the value power nodes have in the upgrading system and believe that this hacking puzzle would've served a better purpose here than as a simple break between combat.

Now, we have the story, or at least the makings of a story as it seems. This is where the game falls flat on its face. The story seems like it isn't really even there. The game starts off with Isaac in an insane asylum that's being overrun with necromorphs. Instantly the game throws you into action with hardly any development of a story. I found myself wondering why I was being hunted by the Sheriff of the Sprawl, a guy named Tiedmann. Why did he want me dead? Because I knew about the government conspiracy to rebuild the marker? I can buy that but Tiedmann never feels like a credible threat during the game. Most of the antagonism comes from the necromorphs but they are more like cannon fodder than anything else. However the biggest low part of the story is Isaac Clarke himself. In this game he is given a voice, which would've been awesome had he been given something worth talking about. For the most part he's just asking questions and cursing. When I heard that Isaac would be given the ability to speak, I was hoping that he would utilize his past experience dealing with necromorphs to lead survivors to safety, like Ripley in Aliens. Ripley used her experience to help the marines fight the aliens. Here Isaac continues to get jerked around by people on the radio, told what to do. Heck, he is even told how to kill Necromorphs, again, to which he just quips "I know, I've had tons of practice." It should've been the other way around. Isaac should've been helping people on the Sprawl, telling them that to kill necros you've gotta cut them apart. This isn't so however, instead Isaac is once again coerced into trusting the wrong people and is inevitably betrayed. He does find friends however, and by the end of the game he finally takes the initiative and does the smart thing by launching the escape vessel to save them while sacrificing himself.

One issue I had with these friends is that one of them is another inmate from the asylum, Stross, and he's crazier than Jack Nicholson in an empty hotel. Isaac begs another survivor, a girl named Ellie, to keep an eye on him until he can meet up with them. Of course, this doesn't go too well as Stross goes batshit insane and pokes one of Ellie's eyes out. This brought up tons of issues as when you first meet Ellie she isn't too happy about the idea of joining Isaac, believing she's better off fending for herself. However, as time goes on, Isaac manages to convince her to join him and help him destroy the marker. This would've been more believable had he told her something along the lines of: "You're better off joining me because I've dealt with these monsters before. I know how to kill them and I know how to stop them." Instead Isaac beats around the friggin bush about how he was on the Ishimura and never clearly tells her the truth. However Ellie is more than happy to trust this complete stranger who, oddly enough, seems to know a mental patient who constantly bickers with his hallucinations of his murdered family. If I were her, I would've asked more questions. When she's introduced we are given a character who is reluctant to trust anyone at this point, yet in a short amount of time she becomes trusting of a stranger and his insane friend to the point where she plays babysitter until the guy gouges out her eye. I would've put a plasmacutter to the crazy f**cker's head after he started to babble on about how he murdered his wife and kid. And Isaac should've known better than to leave the seeming important Stross in the hands of someone who sounded like she wasn't fond of trusting people.

The only high part about Isaac's character is his growing dementia caused by The Marker in Dead Space 1. He is constantly barraged by visions of his dead girlfriend, Nicole, most of which are not too benign. One of my favorite quick time events is when Nicole comes at you with a needle and when it's over you realize it's Isaac holding the needle. But these instances are few and far between and most of the time when Isaac does slip into his insanity you are barraged by so much white noise that you can't hear what the hell Isaac or Nicole are saying. (In fact, for the most part, the voices are difficult to hear over the ambient noises, I highly suggest using the subtitles which I forgot to do during my first playthrough). Ironically, however, Isaac ends up betraying himself (or Nicole ends up betraying him, or is it the Marker that betrays him. I don't know!) Near the end of the game Isaac comes to terms with Nicole's death and his nightmarish hallucinations turn into benevolent ones. Nicole turns back into a sweet little figment of his imagination and helps him reach the marker only to turn on him and tries to imprison him in his own mind! Isaac can't get a friggin break!

This brings us to the biggest disappointment for this whole game: the final boss.

I can't even say it's a boss battle even. It's just another fight scene, and a dull one at that. When Nicole takes you into Isaac's mind you have to shoot her until a giant f**k-me-here button appears behind her and then you shoot that until it blows up. Then that's it, the game ends. Isaac manages to fly out of the Sprawl thanks to the help of Ellie.

That's it. That's how the game ends. The story is barely expanded upon, relying more on action setpieces and scary atmosphere to carry the game. What about the fact that the Markers we've seen are all man made, based on an alien marker we found years ago? What about that? What happened to that? What are the markers? Why do the unitologists believe they are the key to humanity's salvation? Why do the unitologists utilize brainwashing techniques to achieve their goals? Why does the government want the power of the marker? All it does is drive people insane and creates nightmare creatures from hell, what kind of power is that? Is it really worth it? All of these things could've been utilized to create an awesome story to go with the awesome game. Story-wise, this game falls short to the point of being disappointing.

Now, don't get me wrong, this game is fun to play. It's awesome, it's just the story I had a problem with. It has solid gameplay, some awesome additions, and just enough unlockables and secrets to keep you interested. But the problem is that the gameplay is pretty much the same from the first one, it's almost a carbon copy. In many ways Dead Space 2 feels like an expansion pack than a full on sequel. All of this stems from a very empty storyline. For a game that plays just like it's predecessor it makes you wonder what the developers where doing when they were making it, twiddling their thumbs? They had the gameplay mechanics, graphics, and atmosphere already established, all they needed to do was flesh out an actual story to expand upon what was established in Dead Space 1. That was all they had to do it seems and they managed to fall short.

I hate to say this about a game I really enjoyed. I loved playing this game. It's a good game, but it's not a great game. If you've played the first game you will enjoy it, for new comers you will be somewhat lost at first but soon understand what needs to be done to play the game. However, if you want to play a game with a good story play Dead Space 1, Dead Space 2 has a plot so mind numbingly simple and devoid of intrigue that by the time you finish it you will wonder just what the heck you accomplished by beating it. It's more of a mindless action game in terms of story, but it's action is good action. Why did they find it prudent to give Isaac a voice? He hardly ever takes the initiative, never stands up to take charge of the situation, which is what should've happened. The final boss fight isn't a boss fight, and the things that made this game an original evolution from the first game are hardly utilized to their fullest.

It brings back everything that was good about the first game, it does add some new twists to the formula, but the narrative is stagnant and gets nowhere very fast. I still liked it, don't get me wrong, but I could've been so much more.

Which is why I have to give Dead Space 2 three dismembered limbs out of five for solid yet very similar gameplay with some interesting additions, the same chilling atmosphere, but falls short because of a story that isn't fully fleshed out with characters whose goals are never clearly revealed or understood and a very serious lack of a giant tentacled monster to fight at the end.

"The dream can be real" a contemplative look at the Inception game

Ever since walking out of the theater after watching Christopher Nolan's Inception I'm pretty sure most who also saw the film felt the same way I did: wanting more.
Not that the movie felt incomplete or anything, I just wanted to see more. Of course, you might remember that a few months ago I posted up a list of possible sequels with Inception in it. I had said that a sequel would be the worst thing to happen, and I feel I'm right. How can you one-up such an awesome film? My fear is that if someone attempted to make a sequel to Inception it would collapse like a dream without a dreamer. The only way I could happily accept a sequel is if Nolan himself was the one who instigated it. But in either case I feel that a sequel is out of the question and should remain just that: a long forgotten dream.
However, that hasn't stopped rumors about a sequel or some sort of spin off showing up somewhere down the line. Yet one rumor does seem to be incepted by Nolan himself: the possibility of a video-game spin off.

On two occasions Nolan has stated that he has envisioned the world of Inception to hold more than just a fantastic story about a man trying to get back to his family. Of course, this should be setting off numerous alarms. The fact that almost no game adaptation of a film has ever gone over well for numerous reasons either due to the game being a cheap cash in as the film is being released or because it's a popular film.
Yet, I feel hopeful, somehow. Perhaps it's because this is Christopher Nolan's baby we're talking about here. This is Inception, one of the most original, captivating, and amazing movies to have come out in a long time. Or perhaps Nolan has managed to do a little inception of his own, planting the idea of a hopeful future for film-to-game adaptations.
However, seeing as it looks like an Inception game is a long ways away. All we can do is speculate on what this game could be like. Which brings us to the main event: what do you hope for or would like to see in an Inception game? Here are a list of things I feel should be included to make this game work.

No. 1: The Story
This shouldn't be a frame by frame recreation of the movie. This has been hinted at already by Nolan who expressed interest in expanding the world in which the film takes place in. I do have to admit, it is quite an interesting world from what we saw in the film. A world where it is possible to invade the minds of people and steal their secrets, even change who they are by planting an idea into their subconscious. In the film there was little background given as to the genesis of this technology, stating: "the military came up with dream sharing to train soldiers." Right there we have a potential myriad of story possibilities. Perhaps a prequel game set in the early cold-war era where such espionage techniques would be very valuable. Instead of stealing business secrets it could be military secrets, maybe launch codes? Of course this is just one possibility.
Another could be focusing on how our government utilizes extractors in present day. I say this because for all intents and purposes we have already seen corporate espionage in the film, we can expand it to how the skill of extraction affects other areas of our system whether it be corporations or governments. If Nolan does want to explore this world he has created, then this is a logical step.
In either case, whether the story is about cold-war extractors or a dream invading 007, it has to have some very great characters to fill the world with.

No. 2: Characters
Again, this could end with many decisions, either by bringing back the old characters from the film and having them go through another adventure or create new ones from scratch or something in between. I for one would like to see some new characters, allowing for more creative versatility and also adding a little uncertainty to the story. The main character should be someone we haven't seen in the film before, as this is the character players will take control. As to how much customization will come with this player character is up to speculation. While it'd be fun to be able to fully create your character from scratch ala Mass Effect, it doesn't mean we can't just play as a character already shaped to fit whatever narrative the developers come up with. But one thing I believe has to happen is how we gather team members.
Like in Mass Effect 2, where you had to gather your team up before going on the big mission into the Omega 4 Relay, we should be able to gather our team in a similar fashion. Sure this sounds unoriginal but I feel it would provide for more gameplay and allow us to become familiar with the people we are going to be working with. These characters should be fully formed and have their own personalities, and not get simply labeled "The Chemist" or "The Forger" and have them just be a no-name NPC who dies early in the first level. There isn't anything wrong with basing things off of what you already know, and everyone knows that this system worked for Bioware in ME 2 so why the heck not???

No. 3: Gameplay
Should this be third or first person? A shooter or a mind bending puzzler? Obviously the film was a fare share of both action and puzzler, so why not start from there? Maybe a third person shooter like Gears of War or Dead Space? Once again Mass Effect looks like a good example. Yet whether we get something Gears of War or Call of Duty the gameplay should be innovative.
The movie his a treasure trove of possible gameplay innovations. First off, look at the very process of extraction: by creating the world of the dream extractors can navigate the subconscious of their target and extract secrets like a thief breaking into a safe. From that idea alone I see the possibility of a very fun and innovative form of gameplay: let the players make the levels.
From a story mode standpoint this is something that would allow a great form of interactivity that could define what an Inception game is capable of. By allowing players to create the levels they play in the story missions numerous possibilities can come about: Perhaps if the game takes a more open approach with the possibility to take numerous contracts to gain experience and money or whatnot, the complexity of the dream level could affect the outcome. Like in the film, the more complex the mazes the better chance the extractors can evade the subconscious projections. In the game if a dream level isn't complex enough it could result in the player and his team to fail the mission. But if the player is creative enough and makes a labyrinthine level the better chances the player and his team has of surviving long enough to extract the info they need.
And all of these minor contracts can be used as practice for the ultimate job: inception, or perhaps extracting a secret from an ex-extractor.
Then there is the possibility of multiplayer (a big favorite of gamers). You can create levels and see if online players can navigate them or become lost as they either try to stop other players from stealing their secret or try to steal it.
Creating maps isn't anything new. You could make your own skate park in the early Tony Hawk game from decades back, and Far Cry and Halo have tried their hands at this, but perhaps the Inception game can come up with fun gameplay ideas such as utilizing paradoxical architecture to mix up the action. You could even gather a group of your friends and form an extraction team for online challenges in the form of contracts that could unlock fun and interesting content like in an MMORPG.

Of course building mazes to confuse NPC bots and your online buddies is all well and good, but what about other forms of gameplay? How would combat become a unique experience in an Inception game? What about other action elements? As for other gameplay forms, what about sneaking? Not all gamers like taking on armies and find a more "Sam Fischer" approach to be more to their liking? How about using the skills of a Forger to get in close to your enemies? By changing your appearance to confuse your enemies either offline or online could be an interesting experience. In fact Assassin's Creed Brotherhood has already done this in their online gameplay.
Action in the film was very interesting because the physics would sometimes become insane, remember the awesome rotating hallway scene? Or the zero gravity fight? I already mentioned paradoxical architecture like the penrose steps. Imagine having to fight or shoot your way through a rotating building, or doing something like Dead Space and floating about in zero gravity as you fight enemies. Yet it doesn't have to be all about combat, you could have some very crazy puzzles where you actually have to mess with the physics of the dream in order to accomplish your goals, like Portal or the somewhat mediocre game Prey where gravity shifted all the time.

Stealth could be a very important aspect to the game. As throughout the film Cobb and the others struggle to maintain a low profile so their target's subconscious doesn't try to kill them. Perhaps the less you approach things from a "shoot first ask questions later" approach and take a more stealthy approach you can extract information much more easily. Then there is the possible threat that all of your mucking about in your target's mind brings him that much closer to realizing he's dreaming. Like the more you bend the physics of the dream world the quicker the target comes to realizing he's in a dream. But this doesn't mean stealth should be a primary focus when it should be seen as more of a possible route that can be taken. Remember, perhaps making your target realize he's in a dream can be your advantage ala "Mr. Charles."

The possibilities are about as limitless as the imagination and hopefully the developers of any Inception game utilize theirs to the fullest.

So what do you think? What kind of game do you envision an Inception game being like? What kind of gameplay elements would you like to see? After all, these are only a few of the ones I can think of at the moment...

"I Wanna Fly Like An Eagle... and stab some roman guards???" My in depth review of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

The story of Ubisoft's blockbuster franchise Assassin's Creed is an interesting and fun one. I love it's creativity and originality. The gameplay has always been about running around ancient cities like a crazy parkour master with hidden knives up your sleeves.
Obviously if you've played the first two games you know what I'm talking about.
Assassin's Creed 1 introduced us to the world of Assassins, Templars, and the DNA reading Animus. Assassin's Creed 2 expanded on these concepts and added some more fun things to change things up. Now the latest installment of the series has come in the form of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Not a truly direct sequel and more of an expansion AC:Brotherhood definitely feels like cheap filler when you play it.

When I heard that this game was coming out I felt a mixture of excitement and hesitation. I love these games yet the fact that it wasn't going to take us to a new time period and fully continue the story I was certain this was just a cheap attempt at making some extra cash for Ubisoft.

However, when I bought the game and played it I was still glad to be playing a new AC game. However I can admit that I still think Brotherhood is very unnecessary. Once again you follow the adventures of bartender-turned-assassin Desmond Miles as he goes on the run with his fellow assassins to evade the deadly Templar controlled Abstergo Corporation. Most of the game, like the others, takes place in the Animus. The magical machine that reads people's DNA for genetically recorded memories of a person's ancestors. And once again we find ourselves, as Desmond, living the life of Renaissance Assassin and lady's man Ezio Auditore da Fireze. The game starts directly after the ending of the second one with Ezio fleeing the Vatican after discovering a chilling message for the future inside a secret vault built by Those Who Came Before (an elaborate name for what is basically Aliens or perhaps Stargate's Ancients). After having a relaxing bath and a massage with a happy ending by a lovely countess, Ezio's happy ending is literally blown to pieces when the evil Templars attack his villa (destroying all those hours of work and money players put into rebuilding it). Ezio then decides to head for Rome to put an end to the Borgia Templars once and for all.

It is in Rome that the entire game takes place. I guess after everyone complained about not being able to run through Rome in the last game resulted in a game that takes place entirely in Rome. Though it's almost as large or if not slightly larger than Venice from the last game you will find Rome to be more than enough for any player to explore.
The rest of the game basically plays out like the rest of the series has since the beginning. Ezio is given a mission, kills a guy, and keeps doing that until we find out what strange alien artifact the plot is centered around. This isn't bad at all, in fact I love the story like I have the previous two. The problem lies in the gameplay itself.

This is something I briefly touched on on Twitter after running into what I felt was the worst thing about this game. The repetitive nature of having to take down Borgia towers and renovating shops just to get goods I need such as armor and medicine. Sure, don't get me wrong, the first couple towers I took down were fun to take out but after a few hours of looking around for a fast travel point or a shop to simply change my clothes I was forced to either run to the other side of Rome or take out the tower and spend money at shops just so I can spend money at shops.
It is things like this that made me feel like the game took two steps forward with the franchise after taking ten steps backward.

Another complaint I had was the fact that even though I beat the second game and essentially "synchronized" with Ezio by the end (you know after unlocking Altair's badass black armor from the second game?) during the beginning of this game you are brought back to square one. I understand this is meant to make the game challenging and whatnot but it simply doesn't make sense. Why is it that I basically have to do all this stuff I already did in AC 2 all over again?
This is even seen in the simple act of climbing buildings. In AC 2 you learn a trick called a "leap catch" where you can jump up to a normally unreachable ledge to continue climbing. In the beginning of Brotherhood you have this skill (as it should be) yet after the prologue you don't. It turns out that in Brotherhood this skill has to be bought via purchasing a "climbing glove". Why? Because they had to bring players back to square one? Then why is it that in AC 2 we have the ledge grab skill at the beginning of the game when in AC 1 we had to learn that skill? Or why do we have the hidden pistol at the beginning of Brotherhood but not the double hidden blade? Both were unlocked via codex pages in the second game. All this ends up being about is basically rendering all the things you've done in the second game completely pointless. I know that's a heavy thing to say, but seriously did they have to go that far?
I know it's only a little skill but I didn't get the damn thing until after beating the story quests.

Horses are another problem that really shouldn't be a problem. Unlike some games (I won't say which one) AC has managed to have relatively decent horse controls. No stamina bar just gallop when I tell it to gallop. And horses are useful in Brotherhood because Rome is so big, yet they seem to move about as fast as Ezio sprinting (unless it's a guard trying to escape your blade, that's fair right?) The only good thing about traveling in Rome is the creation of fast travel points around the city.

Then there's the overall feeling of the game itself. You could say I'm being nit-picky here but I couldn't help but mention it. Brotherhood doesn't even feel like an addition to AC 2. It feels more like AC 1 to me and that's not a good thing. I always felt that AC 2 was its own entity, something radically different from the first game yet it still had the same DNA. Brotherhood feels like the slow yet prettier sister to AC 2. It's good to look at and and will ensure you have a good time, but you can't help but notice there's something wrong with it.

The best parts of this game, however, come from not the missions in Rome but the additional games in the Animus menu and the story of our modern assassins. I always loved the modern chapters in AC 2 where you can interact with Kristin Bell and her assassin buddies. They were people I wanted to get to know more about. In some instances I felt that the story of Ezio in AC 2 got in the way of the modern story. This is one of the things that Brotherhood has reworked and it's fantastic.
In this game you can leave the Animus and interact with the modern assassins in a way I never expected. You can speak to them, run around the modern version of the Auditore villa, and the hacking of computers to read emails makes a grand return.
I found the sub-plot about Desmond suffering from the "bleeding effect" of his ancestors' memories merging with his own to be quite fascinating and the simple act of having him make minor yet noticeable mistakes as he struggles to keep his time lines straight was one of my favorite character moments.

It is these small tastes of modern times in these games that make me hope for an AC game that doesn't take place in the Animus. Don't get me wrong, I like Altair and Ezio, but these games continually say that they're about Desmond, yet he is probably the character you see less of than any other in these games.

Another fun feature are the virtual training missions in the animus. They are basically a series of time trail competitions where you either have to win a race or fight a ton of enemies to get a gold medal. I loved the fee running races in particular of all of these. However the combat training simulations are very weighed in favor of your enemies as the guards you face in them will attempt more cheap moves to force you to fail. This is seen mostly in the challenges that involve you not getting hit once, which is impossible when a guard has got you in a neck hold seven times out of ten.

All in all it's going to please the hardcore fans of the series (I was relatively pleased regardless of all my complaints). However I do still believe this wasn't really a necessary game. In the end it will probably be considered a minor jolt to the system as we wait for the actual third game to come out.

In the end I give Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood 3 throwing knives out of 5 for it's solid yet unnecessary story, characters, and fun new additions to gameplay and ridiculous retractions and tedious additions.
And remember: Nothing is true, everything is permitted

"The only thing to fear is minor radiation poisoning." My review of Fallout New Vegas

My first exposure to the Fallout franchise was Fallout 3. My brother kept bothering me to play it because he knew I'd really enjoy it. However, doubtful of his belief that he actually knows what I like or not, I played it. Sadly, as it turns out, my brother evidently knows more about me than I do.

So when I heard that a new Fallout game was coming just months after I finished playing the game (I was introduced to it late last summer) I was stoked. So when I finally got my grubby little hands on Fallout New Vegas I was like a molerat hopped up on jet. I instantly dove right into the game and found it pretty tough to put down. It looked exactly like Fallout 3, but that didn't really distract me from having fun in the bombed out Nevada desert. I love how addicting this game is. It is so open and vast that I honestly doubt I will be able to discover every little thing by the time Fallout: Miami comes out (seriously think about it for a second, wouldn't it be a cool game to play???).

However, just like a new girlfriend, you find out that she can have a lot of serious problems. Problems that make you want to dump her on her ass while she watches you speed off with someone less glitchy. Yet you keep crawling back to her, thirsting for more radioactive rampages through the desert.

It's now that I realize I do have a love/hate relationship with the Fallout games I've played. That with every awesome thing I uncover there are about two things I find that make me want to snap my own fingers off one by one. Fallout 3 was guilty of this, but to a lesser degree. When I think of Fallout 3 glitches I think of a giant radscorpion flying through the sky for no apparent reason. When I think Fallout: New Vegas glitches I think of being totally blind after wandering through a cave.

That's the problem with Fallout New Vegas. It's understandable with the game being so big that it's a given that the developers would miss a few bugs. But the bugs in New Vegas can be so horrible that they are literal game breakers.

I mentioned that I was blinded in this game. The story was this: I went into a cave searching for a missing NCR platoon and found the cave to be filled with Lakelurks. Upon wiping the fishy bastards out I proceeded through the submerged exit on the other side of the caves and came out legally blind. I could barely see the sun in the sky at midday. The world was a blur, so blurry it hurt. Even at my TV's brightest setting I could barely see where I was going in a brightly lit field. I poured over numerous sites searching for a fix but found none. Eventually, after a couple days of not playing the game, I wonder to myself: "What would happen if I went through the cave again?" "Would it fix the problem?" So I decided to test this in the hopes of a miracle. And the gaming gods doth smiled upon me that day as I stepped into the cave and instantly I was cured!!!

This is only one of the myriad of glitches I have stumbled upon in my adventures across the Mojave wasteland. Most I have forgotten due to their being really minor such as radscorpions being clipped into the ground, the game freezing up during a loading screen, the game freezing up once I tried to enter a shack with a mission goal inside, or my robot dog mysteriously disappearing for about an hour.

However, as I neared my completion of this review, I discovered another game breaker. This one started after I completed my first playthrough and I decided to make a new game and character. After playing through a couple hours I realized I hadn't levelled up to level two. So I checked my stats and found that while I had indeed reached the point limit for the first level, somehow I wasn't levelling up. There are about 200 points of experience needed to reach Level 2 and I had about 563 points... Dunno how that happened! Needless to say That was two hours wasted...

Another problem I felt they could've fixed (being as it was a problem I faced in Fallout 3) is the fast travel system. Most people who play these games know that about 3/4ths of the game is nothing but walking through the wastes. If we could somehow burn the amount of calories equal to the distances players have simply walked in this game America wouldn't have an obesity problem. In fact the game would probably be illegal due to the fact that players have died from all the walking they've done in this game.
However the game is nice enough to provide a fast travel option to bypass the hours of walking involved in getting to the opposite side of the map. The problem is that in Fallout 3 it was very tetchy. You could only fast travel if the moment was perfect. There had to be no enemies, no radiation traces, you couldn't be carrying too much weight, you had to have already discovered the location, the weather had to be sunny, and it had to be the second Thursday of the month before it let you fast travel.
Now in Fallout New Vegas, they have improved on the fast travel system. There is a perk that you can get so you can fast travel if you're over encumbered. But since there was also a perk that allowed me to kill enemies faster or have a higher chance at sweet talking a pretty young woman into giving me a discount or something even more valuable I didn't get it. The rest is pretty much the same. In fact, sometimes I feel like I'd have an easier time walking than fast travelling with all the damn loading screens. Not only that but I found a glitch (this should be a drinking game) that actually teleported me inside one of my companions! In fact, I think there are more reasons for you not being able to fast travel in this game than in Fallout 3!
Now, if I had been the one to come up with the improvements to the system. I would've made it so that as long as you weren't actually being physically chased by an enemy you could fast travel. It wouldn't matter if you had a perk or not, you could fast travel while over encumbered (it would just take a larger chunk out of your travel time). And if you hadn't discovered a location on your map but had it marked, you could fast travel to the general area that it was in but not the exact location until you discovered it. I mean it sounds pretty fair right?

However, to balance out the large list of problems I found with this game, I did enjoy the quests from the story missions to the minor sub plots involving super mutant/robot relationships. All of the companions are completely likable and I love how this game has made it so that they don't die in battle, they are just knocked out until the battle is over. The voice actors (some of which I was surprised to find in this game, like Zachary Levi from Chuck and Danny Trejo) all give their characters that much needed sense of humanity that helps you get immersed in the world. It's been a while since I felt like I actually fell in love (as much as you possibly can anyways) with a character in a video game (the last one being Alyx from Half-Life 2, ever wonder where that game franchise went???) but Cass is quickly becoming one of my favorite video game vixens.

And of course the overall openness of the game always promises me something new and interesting somewhere down the line. I can honestly say that I will continue to play this game regardless of the horrible glitches I come across for many months to come.

So with that I will finish this review by giving Fallout New Vegas 4 mini-nukes out of 5 for it's fantastic world, characters, and story. However it loses a point for having so many horrible glitches (however not every single one has to be horrible. I saw a video of one on youtube where a dog is walking backwards, talk about going barking mad!).

With Apologies To The Great Pumkin

It's been a while since I updated my blog. I've been really struggling with work and school of late, however I have learned one valuable lesson from all of this: NEVER sign up for early morning classes if your aren't a morning person!
I'm shocked I haven't flunked out of my morning class already, I must be doing something right apart from staring at my attractive teacher's ass all day long.

Political incorrectness aside I've been really busy for the last seven weeks. I have managed to keep connected through Twitter so it isn't like I dropped off the face of the earth.

I just never thought of coming here and spending my valuable time writing about nothing, which is what I do when I write anything up here.

My writing has come to a sort of impasse at this point as my mind focuses on my one novel and nothing else. The creative writing course I'm taking has really opened my eyes to many things about my writing (while not actually teaching me anything new at the same time. It's funny how a creative WRITING course can have more reading than writing). One thing I realized is that I habitually sabotage myself in my own writing. Either by procrastinating or abandoning an idea for a new one (seriously I've dropped so many ideas in my day I could be considered the Hugh Hefner of ideas), you name it I do it and it doesn't help me one bit.

So I've made a resolution for myself that during my winter vacation I will set aside a good number of hours to write as much as I possibly can for one story idea and that story alone. It may sound impossible, but I intend on having a fully finished or at least near finished manuscript by the end of the year. I might not like the idea by the time I'm done but at least I can say I finished a story.

Now with that out of the way I'd like to cover what has been happening in my life since the last I spoke with the empty space that is anyone who actually reads this schlock.

As I said before, I've been bogged down with schoolwork. When I'm not sleeping, eating, or suffering a minor psychotic episode, I'm at school or doing homework. The sad thing is that I know I could've chosen better classes. I need to remember that "Recommended" isn't a synonym for "required." I have been choosing the lowest level classes because every class that actually would further my knowledge of math, science, and the universe in general are far too high and it is "recommended" that I take lower level classes before advancing to these ones. However, I keep forgetting that unlike most of the other students on campus, I actually went through the seventh circle of hell that is high school.

Thus the reason why I'm taking a Biology 101 class where we draw diagrams of animal cells and act as if we haven't stepped foot in a science class since 1985. Most of the students in the class don't even know the cell cycle as well as I do. The only problem is that this class starts at eight in the morning and ends at eleven. Compounding this fact is the fact that I hate mornings and when I find myself awake before nine in the morning I am more or less mentally handicapped. The fact that the class in three hours long for no apparent reason apart from the theory that Satan himself runs the school only makes things worse. So on a good morning, I am slightly equal with the rest of the class (most of whom haven't taken a science class in twenty years). However I have learned from my mistakes and am now signing up for later classes that aren't at the top of the lists.

Of course all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I have managed to find an outlet for my frustrations apart from habitual masturbation. When my three day weekend begins (as I have composed my schedule to leave Friday free for work or fun) I slaughter zombies on Dead Rising 2. I've found the continual dismemberment of millions of zombies to be quite therapeutic (so much for violent video games causing violence eh?). However, I have shifted from zombies to post-apocalyptic Vegas in Fallout New Vegas of which I intend on writing a review for in the following weeks.

Then there are movies. The ones I have gone to see in the last few weeks have been Inception and Paranormal Activity 2. I've watched Inception three times now, and I haven't grown tired of it yet. It's just that great of a movie. It's the kind of movie you don't see anymore, a creative, original, and emotional movie that never fails to entertain.
Then there's Paranormal Activity 2, which never ceases to scare the living piss out of me. It's a great movie in it's own right. But I only watched it once because I don't need to be suffering anymore sleepless nights.

And then there was the Halloween party my parents threw over the weekend. I spent most of the night scaring trick-or-treaters with my friends well far away from the party as most of the people there were friends of my brother's girlfriend, of whom I thoroughly dislike for many reasons I wish not to get into at the moment. All I will say is that that girl has the whole house under her control and I'm only thankful that I don't have to deal with it in my own life every damn day. I do however feel bad for my brother, he's the one who will end up in the difficult situation if this relationship of theirs progresses (a relationship I consider more parasitic in nature than anything else).

Now I am eagerly awaiting the end of my first term this year so I can start working on my manuscript. No doubt the day I walk out of my last class after finishing Finals Week I will feel a heavy weight come off of my shoulders...

Well that's it for now, I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and will have a fantastic Thanksgiving. Keep an eye out for my Fallout New Vegas review, because I know I have a few words to mince with it!