Assassian's Creed The Brotherhood

With Assassin's Creed II's entirely different era, location, and protagonist than the original, it seemed like the franchise was destined to face radical shifts with each new installment. Its fiction lent itself nicely to the idea, with Desmond anchoring the core story in 2012 while the player darted across rooftops as his stealthy ancestors. Despite this, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood will directly continue Ezio's story as it left off in II. Unlike the last game, however, Ezio won't be alone

Rome was the original city of choice for Assassin's Creed II, but was deemed too large. Research of Italy's capital started back in 2008, giving the team a head start when it came time to start on Brotherhood. Ubisoft promises that Rome will be three times the size of II's Florence, and a huge part of the game revolves around restoring the crumbling city. Details are sparse, but it wouldn't be surprising to see the return of II's villa restoration elements

Ubisoft isn't about to abandon the series' core elements of stealth, acrobatics, and combat, however. You'll still be dispatching oblivious guards with an assortment of gadgets and blades, but you'll also use your newfound infamy to inspire others within the city. As a master assassin, you have the ability to inspire "rebels without a cause" and give them a sense of purpose. These proteges will make up your guild of assassins, and can be deployed as you see fit. Specifics regarding how these mechanics will play out are sparse, but it promises to be one of the most significant gameplay enhancements in Brotherhood

Brotherhood will break from series tradition in one major way, as it introduces a full multiplayer mode. Ezio and Altair always focused more on attacking from the shadows than with head-on force, and the multiplayer will reflect that. Rather than standard deathmatches, Brotherhood gives specific kill orders to players of eight different character types. At the beginning of each round, the only information you're given is the type of character you're looking for and a radar to guide you to the general vicinity.

Onscreen indicators don't tip you off as to whether that priest you're looking at is an innocent AI or your human target, so you have to utilize a keen eye to spot unusual behavior. If your target is a careful player, he'll blend in with the crowd so as not to arouse suspicion. If he's impatient and darts towards his destination, he's far more likely to be the recipient of a throwing knife to the skull.

Each character type can utilize unique abilities to aid them in their escape. One character can cause all NPCs in an area to resemble himself, while another can send a decoy NPC bolting in an effort to draw the killer's attention. Like many modern competitive multiplayer games, Brotherhood will reward you with perks as you progress. They won't all involve NPC actions like the prior examples, as others are more persistent attributes like quicker speed or quieter footsteps. You'll need any edge you can get, as you'll have someone hot on your trail the entire time you're stalking your own prey.

With new single player features and a brand-new multiplayer experience that draws on the series' best elements, Brotherhood should definitely be on the radar for fans of the hit stealth series.

                                                                  

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By Louis Edwards Tuesday November 16, 2010 Share 17 Deadnation has been announced for release on November 30th for the US and
December 1st for Europe. We
have ran it through its paces,
and gave it our best shot. Does
it live up to the hype, or is it
just lamely walking dead? Read our review after the
jump. Housemarque games, the
makers of Stardust HD, adds
another quality game to their
list. Deadnation is an addictive
top down, dual stick shooter
that can be played alone, or with others either online or
side-by-side. Sometimes Killing zombies is Better with Friends If you are playing alone,
you ’ll either play as Jack McReady or Scarlett Blake.
Both are highly skilled in the
art of zombie killing, so you
can’t go wrong with either choice. The story is told with
graphic novel style cut scenes
and voice actors (think
inFamous), and there are three
different sets of scenes
depending on how you are playing. Jack has a set, Scarlett
has a set, and the third set is
for playing co-op mode which
includes both characters in the
cut scenes. The cut scenes look
great and the voice acting was much better than anticipated. The story centers around who
you choose to play as (the
story is the same regardless
and it’s just a matter of who is in the scenes). You are in a
city that has been infected and
infested with hordes of
zombies. You have a built in
immunity to this virus, so it ’s up to you to help find a cure,
and a solution, to the on going
zombification of the world.
The story is well thought out
and entertaining. No need to
skip cut scenes here. They are worth the time to watch
them. The gameplay consists of you
trying to get from one place
to another, and killing
anything that moves. As a
general rule, if it moves, it ’s a zombie. Shoot first, ask
questions later. The game is
played in a top-down view
(also known as an isometric
view). It uses both analog
sticks, left moves and right aims, and shooting is done by
pressing R1. The controls are
simple and effective. As you
acquire more weapons, the d-
pad will allow you to switch
primary weapons, as well as secondary throwable
weapons. As you move through each
level, be on the lookout for
boxes that contain cash and
some that contain armor. The
cash will be used at the
weapon shop (see next paragraph) but the armor
may save your life. There are
different classes for the armor
and each set has its own pros
and cons. Strength, endurance,
and agility are all determined by which armor pieces you
are wearing, so mix and
match to find the style that
suits you best. As you progress through the
story, you ’ll come across checkpoints with a weapon
shop. This is where you can
purchase new weapons, or
upgrade ones you already
own, and also mix and match
the armor you have found. A fully upgraded SMG is a must
in later missions, but a fully
upgraded rifle should be your
first goal. It ’s just a semi-auto rifle, but fully upgraded it can
do some serious damage to
zombies. There are more and
more weapons made available
as you progress along, so
always try to rack up as much cash as possible in each level.
These other weapons are
worth their weight in gold. The zombies are really the
stars of this show. At first,
they are just your normal,
everyday, run of the mill
zombies. Just dead people
walking around looking for their next meal. As you
progress along, they become
bigger, badder, and tougher to
kill. They vary in size, shape,
and speed. Apparently the
government thought it would be a great idea to create some
sort of exosuit with blades on
the hands. Did they not realize
that the people wearing the
suit would become infected
and make them even harder to kill? Really? Thank you so
much! Who ever said
technology is great never had
to face a zombie in that thing. The number of zombies you ’ll have to face starts out
relatively low, but eventually
your entire screen will be
filled with a moving mass of
putrid bodies, and killing them
is a chore, albeit a fun one. This is where the game can be
really addictive. The game
keeps track of your kill count
and adds that number to the
total for your entire country.
There’s a global leaderboard pitting your country against
50+ other countries, and all of
those kills add up. There ’s also a stat for percentage of
zombies cleared in your
country and a race to see who
hits 100% first (Lets Go U.S.A.!)

Mindjack Shows

Story A new era. Sophisticated and
complex technologies are now
contributing to the
advancements of mankind.
However, the world ’s governments are crumbling,
new corrupt powers arise and
conspiracies proliferate. The
truth behind the proscribed
technology could destroy the
very core of humanity. Join a rogue team of agents as they
fight for survival and
entangle themselves deeper
into the mystery. MINDJACK offers a unique
online experience. Enter a
revolutionary playing field
upon which an engaging solo
campaign transitions
seamlessly to thrilling cooperative play. Expand
your mind ’s reach by “hacking ” into enemies, vehicles or civilians and enjoy
the freedom to control almost
any character. Each bystander
becomes an active combatant
in this new urban warfare. Your “state of mind ” is your only limitation! Features Assume the role of a Mind
Hacker hacking into and
controlling the minds of
enemies to turn the tide of
battle. Acquire XP to expand your
hacker ’s Arts abilities. Increase a character ’s strength or improve your hit-rate – players can strategise
according to their combat
style. Hack or be hacked! Players can
slowly alter their gaming
universe – or have it altered by other online players – one hack at a time. Utilize futuristic weapons and
real fighting techniques, like
Krav Maga, in your virtual
playground. MINDJACK is not yet rated.
MINDJACK will be available in
Europe and other PAL
territories for the PlayStation
3 system and Xbox 360. The
official website can be found at http:// www.mindjackgame.com

Mega-publisher Ubisoft
recently revealed their latest
attempt at combating piracy.
In order to play titles such as
Assassin ’s Creed 2 and Silent Hunter V, PC gamers must
have a constant internet
connection. Ubisoft hoped the
constant verification of its
software would help reduce
the number of copies gamers would pirate. Many gamers were angry
about the new digital-rights
management. Pirates who
manage to crack the games
can run them without any
issues while those to legitimately purchase them
are treated as potential
thieves. Over the weekend those same
gamers were given another
reason to be furious when
Ubisoft ’s verification servers went offline. Gamers report
major issues when attempting
to install or even play their
Ubisoft titles. The publisher has
acknowledged the issue on
their own forum stating,
“clearly the extended downtime and lengthy login
issues are unacceptable. ” As of this writing the servers
are still down. We ’ll update you if anything changes or if
Ubisoft makes any official
announcement regarding the
issue. Update : Ubisoft unveiled that the servers were down as the
result of a DDoS Attack and
are now back up and running.