Category Archives: Gaming

Retrospective: Assassin’s Creed II Black Edition unboxing

Assassin's Creed
Enter Ezio!

I’m just putting the finishing touches to my documented unboxing of the Assassin’s Creed III Freedom Edition. A few years ago I did a similar thing for the Assassin’s Creed II Black Edition which came with a rather cool statue of Ezio Auditore. The article was originally published on the Game Console pages of New Zealand’s techday.com.

As a primer for my AC3 Freedom Edition unboxing I’ve reproduced the original article below.

Enjoy.

Whilst I’ve been playing a review copy of Assassin’s Creed II for the best part of a week now (look out for my review in an upcoming issue of Game Console), I picked up my copy of the Assassin’s Creed 2 “Black Edition” on Friday. I don’t want to give too much away, but a week’s worth of AC2 was enough to get me excited about parting with $170 for the limited edition. Continue reading Retrospective: Assassin’s Creed II Black Edition unboxing

Assassins Creed III Day!!!

Assassin’s Creed III: now for something completely different!

Today is the day. Time to witness the bloody birth of a nation through the eyes of assassin Conner Kenway. Half-English and half-Mohawk his tale is one of revenge and divided loyalties. Get ready for Assassin’s Creed III, on sale today!

I’ll be busting open my Freedom Edition of the game later today and documenting it for an unboxing article later. Be sure to check back later.

Check out the North American launch trailer, below! Continue reading Assassins Creed III Day!!!

XCOM: Enemy Unknown content packs are on their way

XCOM Packshot
Aliens!

I’m still battling my way through the alien invasion in 2K’s fantastic XCOM:Enemy Unknown. I’m also still recovering from the XCOM Sydney launch party, which I go on about here).

Whilst I never doubted them, XCOM:Enemy Unknown developers Friaxis (of Civilization fame)  have really managed to capture the essence of the old XCOM games, but without the experience feeling like a crusty beards and sandals affair. In this modern age of cookie-cutter first-person-shooters and other safe bets its nice to see a publisher try something a little different.

I’ve been enjoying myself with the game and taking my time with it. But the pressures is now on as 2K have announced not one, but two imminent DLC packs for XCOM: Enemy Unknown. He’s what they have to say (I make no apologies for this mid-week PR regurgitation): Continue reading XCOM: Enemy Unknown content packs are on their way

Retrospective: Assassin’s Creed Revelations

assasins creed revelations
End of the Road for Ezio and Altair

It’s almost that time of year again. Later this month Ubisoft will release the next chapter in what must be the most intelligent video game series ever made, Assassin’s Creed III.  And this year we are in for a special treat; having concluded Ezio’s story it is time for a new protagonist and a new historic era. The first chronologically numbered Assassin’s Creed game in three years, Assassin’s Creed III, has us witness the violent birth of the United States of America thought the eyes of our conflicted half-English, half-Mohawk hero, Conner Kenway. Continue reading Retrospective: Assassin’s Creed Revelations

Retrospective: Medal of Honor

Medal_of_Honor
Medal of Honor 2010: Beards and guns

With the release of Medal of Honor Warfighter less than a week away I thought now would be a great time to republish my review of the last game. As a fan of the original WWII based Medal of Honor games (ignoring the OK but nothing special MoH:Airborne), I was a bit skeptical of rebooting the game into the 21st Century.

I’d played the Medal of Honor multiplayer demo and can’t say it did much for me at the time. I couldn’t work where the game sat in EA’s own catalogue. Was it their Call of Duty beater? What about Battlefield: Bad Company? Why where DICE handling the multiplayer; weren’t they busy with their own Battlefield 3 game? Why couldn’t Danger Close do the multiplayer? Medal of Honor just didn’t add up for me. Continue reading Retrospective: Medal of Honor

Vic B’Stard’s week in review: EB Expo, XCOM launch party, NBA 2K13, Dishonored and Indiana Jones!

Vic B'Stard
Crazy, mad gaming week!

I’ve had the craziest, maddest and, without a doubt, busiest couple of weeks since I first started regularly churning stuff out about video games. The EB Expo, game launches and exclusive hands-on with top upcoming games are just some of the delights that have been offered to me since moving across the Tasman to this fair city of Sydney.

Moving from sleepy Wellington, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia has dumped me right in the middle of video gaming central. In a few short months I’ve have a hands-on with EA Games’ fantastic Need for Speed: Most Wanted,and sat spellbound by Ubisoft’s glorious Assassin’s Creed III in the presence of the games creators. You can read about how I got on with Assassin’s Creed III at the hands-on hosted by the game’s associate producer, Julien Laferrière, and mission director, Philippe Bergeron on the Games Console pages of techday.com, here and at Shane the Gamer, here. Continue reading Vic B’Stard’s week in review: EB Expo, XCOM launch party, NBA 2K13, Dishonored and Indiana Jones!

Vic B’Stard’s state of the expo: day three, game over

EB Expo Logo
Three down. Game Over!

I’m done. It’s over. Three days of EB Expo. If you have told me Friday morning that I’d still be at the Expo on Sunday, I wouldn’t have believed you. Between you and I’d had enough by 11:00 on Friday morning.

The combination of a lot less coffee than usual, an early start, the whole “Gamethirst” nametag thing and the, sadly, lacklustre Master Chief unveiling at the crack of dawn was enough for me to prematurely label the entire expo a bit shit.

And then the bloody cosplay folks rolled in. Continue reading Vic B’Stard’s state of the expo: day three, game over