The "Complete" List

Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2
WET
Halo 3: ODST - (Legendary)
DiRT 2 - 100%
Halo 3* - (Legendary)
Mario Kart Wii
CoD: Modern Warfare 2 - (Normal)
Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves
Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
Assassin's Creed - 360
Assassin's Creed II - 360

I enjoyed this much more than the original.. It's basically the same game (the movement and climbing and viewpoints all return) but improved in most of the ways you'd hope.

The cities themselves are more active, it's like a proper open world rather than the set dressing which the last game felt like. You earn money and can spend it on upgrades for your weapons and equipment which helps. The combat has been modified slightly too. It's still based on a fussy counter system but the window for getting a counter seems slightly more helpful. I'm still rubbish at it (the achievement for 10 uninterupted counters eluded me tellingly) but with the availability of health packs and a lot more options in moves and equipment it was more enjoyable.

The story didn't make a lot of sense.. but it doesn't seem to matter. There's none of the grind before you get to assassinate people and lots of other things to do and collect and six pretty awesome dungeons that have a hint of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (the camera swoops about hinting at where to go before you start in a sort of homage).

The controls are still a bit fiddly with far to much shoved on to the B button. There's a new move you learn about half way though where you can leap up a climbing surface and then grab back on again to cover areas that aren't covered in little sticky out bits.. but the grabbing button is B which is also the drop button.. who ever thought that up needs shooting.

Other than that thoroughly enjoyable and they should really have something special if the third games improves again.

The "Complete" List

Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2
WET
Halo 3: ODST - (Legendary)
DiRT 2 - 100%
Halo 3* - (Legendary)
Mario Kart Wii
CoD: Modern Warfare 2 - (Normal)
Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves
Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
Assassin's Creed - 360

Having gone back to this for the first time in over a year I managed to fluke the mission I was stuck on (after 4 or 5 aborted attempts) and killed the one person I needed out of the crowd of guards. There follows possibly the most annoying lead up to the end of a game in recorded history. Altair is never at his best in my clumsy hand in combat amongst a crowd.. Especially when I'd forgotten the all the controls (The manual is useless in this respect). When it came back to me I finally managed to kill the crowd of guards and then had to run around in a circle for ages avoiding the 'hit' until I got my strength back.

After that it was pretty much plain sailing until the 100g 'cheevo popped up for finishing the game.

That, if I'm not mistaken, bring my total to the year to 36 games which I'm pretty proud of. Yes there's been a few Easy ones. But not enough games let you change the difficulty mid game. It's difficult to know what kind of challenge lies ahead at the option screen.

Purchase Power

I traded in Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time for the vanilla edition of Assassin's Creed II today. Which leads me nicely on to my next post

It ain't over until..

Here's a quick round up of games I still have too finish.

I've completed the last mission on Ninja Blade upto the last boss battle. It's a bit of tough one even compared to some of the earlier ones.. Plus with out saveable checkpoints the whole thing needs to be done in one sitting.. I still have hopes of completing this though because I really did enjoy the game.

I ground too a halt on Little Big Planet's story mode on the last but one world.. The five lives per checkpoint get a bit annoying on some of the tougher sections. On this particular bit there's a series of circles rotating within each other and I couldn't seem to time the jumps for the last section. I'm sure a bit of practice would see me through but I just don't have the patience at the moment.

FUEL's career mode is probably about half way completed.. My excuse here is that I've been obsessed with the Silent Hill boxset. I must really polish this one off before the glut of racing games arrive later in the year.

Assassin's Creed is also a last mission boss battle waiting too happen. I don't think there's any spoilers here by saying the last bit is a pitched battle and I got annoyed with it. However a friend on a forum has given me a few hints for completing it and with the sequel on it's way this is one game I should really polish off too.

Recession Busting!

Actually it's got nothing to do with the dreaded credit crunch. I have decided however, in the spirit of one of Nish's experiements, not to buy any new game during the month of March (For the purpose of this experiment I'll be defining new as 'new to me' so no second hand games either).

I've currently got Race Pro on the go along with Fable 2 that I've barely scratched the surface of along with an untouched copy of Pure and numerous other games that I could do with finishing off (Hello Assassin's Creed lurking on the back of the shelf there with just the last mission left to do).

There'll be no DLC either so Lara and The Lost and the Damned will have to wait until at least April too. As it happens I'm not fussed with Resident Evil 5 and while I'm intrigued by Bayonetta no doubt it'll be in bargain bins soon enough.

So there's the plan. I guess I wont be darkening Games stores for a while..

So Near, Yet So Far

Also known as the reverse 'Complete' List. A new list of games in which I will admit to having given up on them. I'll try and say how far I got and how why I gave up too.. Let's face it the failures are going to make for more regular posting.

Ratchet & Clank: ToD - Got as far as the very last boss. I hate boss battles. So I had a couple of bashes at it. Read a FAQ and promptly gave up intending to have another go when I was less 'fatigued'. I may have another run through the game now. And I'd probably call this a completion (but I'd only be cheating myself).

Assassin's Creed Got as far as the very last assignment that turns out to amplify all the things I'd found frustrating into a game breaking mess of a final level. Again I intended to go back to it when 'fresh' but ... As much as I wanted to like the game it was repetitive, dull and frequently annoying and the lure of those achievement points for finishing off an again all but completed game isn't enough for me. Not one I'll be having another go at.

Currently Playing : Quick Round Up.

A quick update on the games I have on the go at the minute.

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction

I'm basically at the last boss and it just needs polishing off and adding to the list.. Probably followed by another play through trying to hoover up all the gold bots and plan pieces.

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune

Hit the last level (22 for those that want to know) only to find it's bastarding hard as nails even on easy and lacks a decent checkpoint.. Put to one side for the moment.

Assassin's Creed

I've done 7 of the nine assasinations and about 3/4 of the side quests.. It's a very frustrating game to play. Compounded by the 8th assassination being based in the harbour. Which has a number of walkways, some boats and some poles sticking out of the water. One wrong move and you're in the drink. Guess what? Altair can't swim. Very annoying. I'll probably try and battle through to the end having spent as much time as I have already on it.. But it's not fun.

Super Mario Galaxy

I now need 19 stars to provide enough power to get to the centre of the universe (or some such). It's like the Anti-sassin Creed. Can't say I'm putting in massive sessions a la the EDGE fan boys but it's fun to switch on, collect a couple of stars, and switch off again.

Currently Playing: Assassin's Creed

I've spent a couple of hours on Assassin's Creed (referred to from here on in as AC) and so I'll offer my first impressions. Whilst it's a new IP you can feel the influence of a lot of other titles in the way it looks, feels and plays. There's the washed out desert, almost medievil, feel of Ico. The way stealth is at the heart of the game feels very Metal Gear. You start the game with all your weapons and powers and then get demoted, lose them all, and have to earn them back Metroid style. And lots more besides.

The 'twist' as such isn't really a twist at all (I wont however reveal it here) as it's part of the set up of the game. As a twist to be revealed at the end it would've been wanky. As it is it allows for some of the gameplay mechanics to be reasonably explained and works in practice better than it might have sounded.

The first 'powered up' section is rather disjointed as the game alloys you to play for a while 'tutorial style' and then fast forwards. My other complaint is that at first the control scheme seems rather fussy. Altair normally moves in a kind of civilian mode where he attracts little attenion. A press of the 'A' button allows him to blend in with the crowd. To access his action mode requires a press of 'RT' and then another button to actually carry out said action. So for instance to sprint requires the left stickl to be pushed forwards, Right Trigger and then a press of the 'A' button. Perversely once actually engaged in some free running, such as scaling a building, it's rather over simple because you can let go of 'RT' and 'A' and move Altair around with just the left stick hopping from ledge to outcrop as he ascends. It doesn't give quite the same satisfaction as Crackdown did. It's a flexible system however helped by an icon in the top right of the HUD that allows you to see what you can do at any one moment.

A lot of thought seems to have gone into how an assassin might actually operate. On your first mission you first have to evedrop on a conversation, Follow up the lead by trailing a suspect, beat a confession out of him and then return him to your superior for sentanceing.

It's become difficult this gen to describe how things look because to be fair most of the big titles look pretty stunning. AC does indeed look stunning but this has lot to do with the architecture as much as the HD loveliness of the graphics. The first time you see the walled city of Damascus is quite a sight.

Having reached the city and gained enterance to it by blending in with a band of wandering monks allowing me to walk right past the city guards I decided to call it a night.