So I’ve finally finished Assassin’s Creed Revelations to the point that I can feel comfortable embarking on Assassin’s Creed III.  A review is copy coming my way, but I intend on savoring the experience this time, so expect a review…just not straight away.

Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 3 are the two games that I’m actually up for purchasing on day one during the pre-Christmas release schedule. And, to that end, I’ve secured myself a copy of the posh Assassin’s Creed III Freedom Edition from my local EB Games. Expect a detailed unboxing article very soon. At the same time I’ll be dropping some cash to secure an Insane Edition of Ubisoft’s other triple-A game, Far Cry 3 which I’ll be out at the end of November.

I am presently wading through a raft of recent releases. I’ve just about finished reviewing the beautiful NBA 2K13, the first basketball game that I’ve played in years; look out for that review on the Game Console pages of New Zealand’s Techday.com sometime next week. I’m also having some fun with 2K’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which finding to be a nostalgic reboot of one my old favorite from back in the Amiga days. I’m not sure how the Gen-Y brigade, drip-fed on the instant gratification of Call of Duty, is going to take to it. XCOM plays the long game, requiring a fair amount patience in order to keep your squad alive.

Bethesda’s Dishonored has grown on me.  Apart from the painterly art-style I wasn’t too impressed with it to start with and pretty much dismissed it as a Bioshock clone. It isn’t. As I get more and more into it, Dishonored is slowly revealing itself to be very worthy game, indeed. I’m enjoying the non-linear approach to the missions which makes replaying them a joy. I love it when an in-game death feels like an opportunity to try something again a different way rather than being a hindrance.

A copy Doom 3 BFG Edition has found its way into  my mailbox. I didn’t like Doom 3 on the PC when it was released donkey’s years ago. I had no idea why id would repackage the game again. This didn’t stop me from giving it a go, if only to try out the stereoscopic 3D mode (I am such a sucker for 3D). The game feels the same as I remember and the visuals, whilst cutting edge in…(opens up Wikipedia)…2004(!), look more than a bit dated now. Even if the textures have been buffed up the character models still have all those angular faces that betray all these double-dip HD releseases.

That being said, this edition of Doom 3 gets top marks for including a gun mounted torch in the game (instead of relying on a mod); so no more scrambling for a shotgun before the recently illuminated creature bites your head off. The game comes with the original single player campaign, plus the campaign included in the Resurrection of Evil expansion and a third expansion called the The Lost Mission. The package also includes the expanded versions of the original Doom game (the Ultimate Doom edition) and Doom 2 with the console exclusive No Rest For The Living episode. With all this content and a bargain price it is difficult, even for an old cynic like me, to cry “meh”. The Doom 3 BFG Edition is a bit of gaming history all scrubbed up and packaged in one tidy little box. Worth a punt if you ask me!

Medal of Honor Warfighter has just came out and I’d spent the weekend on the campaign mode and a bit of online. I reviewed the last Medal of Honor and whilst I found it competent, it wasn’t a Call of Duty beater. I had high hops for the sequel, though. I am aware that Medal of Honor Warfighter is bothering quite a few people and I’ve heard some of the complains. Most of the whining could equally be leveled at the Call of Duty series. But who would dare criticise what is, with the release of Black Ops 2, still going to be a record-breaking game franchise.

It is easier to level your grievances, regarding a what is fast becoming a stale genre (yes Battlefield 3 I’m looking at you as well), at the underdog; in this case Medal of Honor Warfighter. As with the previous outing, I’m not sure where this game sits with EA’s own Battlefield series and Activision’s Call of Duty games. The single-player story tries for a soppy emotional angle but comes across as bit ham-fisted. Some of the comments out there have lamented that the high body-count does not befit the end of game dedication to the heroic actions of military operatives. I’m at a loss as to why such flower-waving hippies are playing a game like Medal of Honor in the first place. War is hell and people die.

MoHW‘s single-player game is very pretty, and whilst it starts of rather ordinary it does pick up (I found that the last time as well). The driving sequences are a little out of place in a FPS, but do make for an interesting change of pace. I’m still getting my head around the multiplayer, so I’ll leave that for another time.

On the Blu-ray front, I did get a copy of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus in 3D. I love the film. It has issues (like why are the engineers a fraction of the size of the Space Jockey from Alien), but what film these day doesn’t. It also looks rather stunning in 3D; being one of the few films this year actually shot in 3D, rather than converted in post. Whilst watching the movie, I couldn’t help thinking about Jodie Foster’s Contact. Sort of the same story, but not. I’d like to watch that again.

I also picked up Avatar in 3D. I wasn’t going to as I’m appalled that this release is the vanilla version and not the extended version. The package doesn’t even come with any extras. I just know that Cameron is going for the triple-dip here and that I’ll be shelling out for the film a third time, for the 3D version of the extended cut, sometime in the future. Despite all this, the $25 price tag on the vanilla 3D version in Big W was too difficult to resist.

That’ll do for now. Sorry to cut it short (and apologies for the lack of images- it was the only way I was going to get this one out), but I need to play more Warfighter and get ready for the imminent arrival of Assassin’s Creed III!!

Vic Out.