Katamari Forever - I don't know if it was such a good thing to put this game on a big HDTV. The bright colors, trippy music, and really odd story gave me quite the headache when I played through it for the first time. While I haven't had the time to really plunge into this game, what I did find in my brief playthough was everything that I have come to expect from a Katamari game: flying cows, lots of food, broken stars, and most of all - amazingly addicting gameplay. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - What can I say about this game, it's gotten GotY from almost every major name in the gaming industry. If you are still on the fence about this game, just play what is supposed to be the tutorial level. In all my years of gaming, I have never played a more complexly designed level and that's a good thing. I am still amazed and absolutely floored by the "train" level and that was the first one! The story is intriguing, the characters are realistic and not only in a graphical sense, and the gameplay is everything that you'd expect from a Naughty Dog game. If you are looking for a game of the highest pedigree, you will find no other that can compare to Uncharted 2.
The Saboteur - One of the games that I was really questioning on picking up or not. Coming from a team that I have always loved, Pandemic is known for their over the top explosions and destruction of an in-game world. If you've played any of the Mercenaries games then you'll be very familiar with a lot of the gameplay in Saboteur. Driving, shooting, blowing stuff up . . . check, check, and check. A new gameplay element added is stealth attacks and the ability to put on a disguise. It's fun and works pretty well but you'll soon be finding yourself just running and gunning because disguises don't last very long. While not what I'd call a blockbuster title, Saboteur is solid and definitely a few steps up from Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. If you have ever been a fan of Pandemic Studios, then you have to pick up their last game.
Assassin's Creed 2 - AC2 is the Godfather 2 of video games. Better than the first, much, much better. There are so many improvements to this game over the original that I couldn't even believe it was even related to the first Assassin's Creed. The story, the character acting, the missions, the controls - just name it and it's better. The story was less confusing but still kept up the complexity and the intrigue. It was more personal this time around as well and you could actually see your character not only growing in abilities but also maturing as a person. The life and vigor of the Italian Renaissance was captured beautifully and I found myself climbing the monolithic cathedrals just for the view. With a more open ended mission selection process, I found myself able to mix it up with assassinations, races, and some good old fashioned smack downs.
While a lot of the story and events in the story are very fictional, it still ties closely enough with the real world to make everything come together, like it could have happened in an alternate universe. For the most part I enjoyed the story, the ending was a bit "you've got to be kidding me" but it was enjoyable none the less. Upgrading Ezio's equipment seemed much more balanced than what I had to go through to get Altair's gear back. It felt to just the right speed, I had enough time to play with the new gadgets yet I wasn't dying for something new when I did get another upgrade.
The cities were much more varied this time around and much more enjoyable. Combat is much less frustrating and entertaining with the wide variety of special take downs. The variety of weapons also helped to mix it up. Exploring the Assassin's Tombs was one of my favorite parts of the game - pure platforming goodness. While I still find just holding "R1" and "X" while controlling Ezio to still be too simplistic, it was still enjoyable to quickly run up a wall and jump across beams all around Italy. If you liked the first game but found it was broken as I did, you'll definitely want to try AC2, almost every major complaint I had about the original game has been fixed. Ubisoft truly delivered this time around with an excellent revamp of a game that had great potential.
