Trophy Huntin' wasn't working out. It seemed like a good idea when I started it, but I've discovered that some achievements and trophies offer very little in the way of something to comment on. Team Fortress 2 is a good example, as most of its achievements are earned by accident. On weeks where I'm playing a game that dishes out frequent trophies for even the smallest thing, I end up with quite the intimidating list to tackle. One look at all the plot-based Arkham City trophies I got this week made me realise it was time to scrap Trophy Huntin'.
So, I'm giving this format another try; a casual overview of what I've been playing during the week. This blogging thing... it's a learning process.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Finishing one set of distracting side-quests led to another. After completing the fantastic 'Leanardo's Machines', I just couldn't bring myself to continue with the story until I'd paid a visit to each of the Romulus shrines, which would eventually lead to the locked treasure room. For once, I hadn't read any spoilers as to what was unlockable in the game, so I had no idea what I was going to be rewarded with. It makes for some surprises, and without spoiling anything, the reward for destroying Leanardo's machines came completely out of nowhere and provided a new, fun way to travel around Rome, and even pull of some ridiculous looking assassinations. The eventual reward for completing all the Romulus shrines was more traditional, but still worth it.
I've really enjoyed the assassin guild system, which allows you to train up your recruits by sending them away on missions around Europe. It may feel more involving than it actually is, but it keeps up the illusion well. The outcome of half a dozen Ezios to call upon at any time is worth the time spent training them up.
With side business taken care of, I finally found myself on the home straight. The last few sequences weren't particularly long, but built up to a suitable climax. There was a strange moment where, in the penultimate Ezio sequence, the gameplay became absolutely terrible. For plot reasons, you were unable to use any weapons except for a certain item you'd recently retrieved. Using it didn't make a lot of sense, and I'm still not convinced I worked out the correct way to complete that section. I ended up calling on my assassin recruits to do the killing for me, but I can't imagine what it'd be like for someone who hadn't paid a lot of attention to assassin leveling. A minor glitch in an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable game.
And I finished it. I'm glad it was 1am when I did, because it was the perfect time to have my mind blown. The ending had me interested in Desmond's story for the first time ever. That's how much of a shocking cliff hanger it was.
I'm looking forward to Assassin's Creed: Revelations, but I'll probably give it a few months before playing it, and let the hunger for some more assassin action build up.
Batman: Arkham City
I'm not going to hide it; I was a massive fan of Arkham Asylum. The combat was engaging, the gameplay was solid, and there was a generous amount of Batman villains, all of which were very well represented. So far, these qualities have all been carried over to Arkham City.
Though a lot of time is still spent inside buildings, the environment feels a lot more natural now that it's a city, rather than the confines of an asylum. It means you run into more spontaneous brawls, and even groups of armed henchmen outside of the structured stealth rooms. It also allows for a lot more side missions, all of which are distracting me just as they did in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. The Riddler's puzzles are back, but there's a much needed sinister edge to them this time, as there are now hostages involved that can only be rescued by playing his insane games.
The Catwoman sections seem interesting enough, but only from a story point of view. She plays mostly the same as Batman, with a few moves swapped out to be more Catwoman-esque but retaining the same function. They do tie in well with the main story though, and I'm glad I'm not missing out. Whether or not it'll be a significant hole for those who buy used copies of the game, I can't say just yet.
World of Warcraft
My alt, the troll druid Grimtoosk, is still making his way to level 85. He reached a milestone this week and hit level 80, so our little leveling group is finally up to Cataclysm content. It doesn't seem that long ago that I took my orc warrior through these zones, but I'm enjoying them again all the same. Hopefully we might hit a few of the dungeons while we level, as I'm still yet to see any of the Cataclysm 5-mans. It's about time I picked up the tanking reins once again.
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