The battle within finally begins. Final Fantasy XIII captures the true nature of story-telling in the pages of gameplay that make up the masterpiece of the narrative. Final Fantasy XIII ensorcells players into a world of action, and a contrasting dichotomy of good vs. evil which furthers the nurture and attention that an elegant storyline requires. The struggles make us forlorn to the protagonist, the themes make us feel in tune within the world, and the form and mood of the storyline allow us to experience a decent narrative. Final Fantasy XIII uplifts the senses in its outline through encapsulating the audience in a RPG with unforgettable storyline which grasps our hearts, a diverse cast with personalities that are a wonder to discover, and presenting a unique piece of art designed with Fabula Nova Crystallis in mind after a long wait which was well deserved. Despite problems of repetition through the linearity, Final Fantasy XIII brings form of emotional tenacity that is tangible every minute within the world of Cocoon, and action which engages the audience through every plot-twist woven through drama.  Final Fantasy XIII acquiesces a storyline that is exceptional, achieving some level of respect in the name of the Final Fantasy series.

Over centuries ago, a prenatural being created through a crystal in his body created a floating Utopian continent in the atmosphere, which was to be isolated from the lascivious lands below. The fal’Cie creature created the grand Pulse as a new world without the Gran Pulse below. Machines were commissioned to be the guardians of the citizens as barriers were fortified to prevent any and all contact with the outside world, giving the bulging metropolis the name of Cocoon.  Seclusion came easy to the citizens of the world for many years, but the Cocoonians became curious as to why the Gran Pulse is restricted. With a recent contact with people from below, citizens became rife with doubt and curiosity, questioning their morality and scruples. The Sanctum, the governing entity of Cocoon, issued an edict:  any and all individuals suspected to be in contact with the world of Gran Pulse are to be banished from the safety of the continent and cast out into the ruthless underworld. Within this essential background, Final Fantasy XIII creates a revitalizing group of characters with exceptional voice acting that have their own reasons for taking a journey to the Gran Pulse. The thaumaturgic tension within the narrative, combined with the intricate character interaction is unforgettable. Lightning is the protagonist that is essentially on a quest to save her sister the fate of being marked an l’Cie, and she has a propensity for fighting and putting down anyone in her way. Characters themselves are part of the journey within the Final Fantasy XIII series, and as such no more details will be given. What does remain to be seen is unfathomable, parapsychological, and simply a story that revitalizes the soul through incredible narrative direction.

Final Fantasy XIII takes linearity and makes it a part of the gameplay mission structure aspect within the world. While some exceptions exist given certain side-quest monster missions, players are constantly moving forward within the Pulse Vestige.  When in the Pulse, there are several crystal points where the party can acquire missions.  These missions become similar to Hunts from Final Fantasy XII and involve battling monsters around the Pulse.  As these l’Cie failed to complete their assignments, this gives the party an interesting look into l’Cie tasks despite lowering the pacing of gameplay as a slight distraction in the midst of chaos. The linearity becomes further pronounced as the corridors of the level designs are usually narrow during mission.  Players do not pick and choose which characters they want to play as the storyline is divided amongst more critical chapters giving different aspects of the story from different perspectives and furthering the choice for storyline over convenience of the audience to select a certain individual to complete missions with throughout. The gameplay mission structure is described with the context of the storyline, which macadamizes one difference between Final Fantasy XIII and its predecessors comes to fruition: there are no towns to explore, no puzzles, no offset missions to complete. While this may seem like a negative thing to legacy players of the Final Fantasy series, this allows for the storyline to seem more focused than ever, and less about simplicity and more about balance between complicated and simple storyline aspects.

The battle system within Final Fantasy XIII has been more customized and tweaked to provide an increased nuance with tactical and seamlessness. The Command Synergy Battle begins the moment the player runs into an enemy, which transforms the field into a battle arena with a few enemies on-screen. Players can control one character out of the party of up to three characters. Every action is guarded by an Active Time Battle bar, essentially the stamina bar for the battle character. Every command for the battle party places the ATB Cost as a strategic and manageable aspect of the battle system, with the ATB bar being divded among different sections to represent higher costs. Variety of commands and attacks for each character is stunning and traditional moves such as Attack, Cure, Fire, and Summon make a return, with notable area-field strength spells that target larger groups. From these battles, players gain Crystarium Points in battle, and can use Crystarium Points to purchase statistic increases, abilities, and finally spells all of which can be used to further advance the character into higher levels of battle difficulty.  Final Fantasy XIII’s battle system takes a page from the predecessors, while focusing the need to be less turn-based and more dynamic and strategic through the use of linear item collection and character progression that works well for the type of battle gameplay.

Masashi Hamauzu work within Final Fantasy XIII is simply something worthy of mention. As a notable composer of the Final Fantsy X soundtrack, Masashi Hamauzu has composed melodies of string quartets composed of the Viol, the slow tone of the Lute, the sagely wisdom of the violins with the bold flavor of the techno inspired heavy beats creates a memorable Final Fantasy XIII soundtrack that is worth the purchase alone.

Final Fantasy XIII brings elements from the series into a new light of day while still reflecting on the traditional origins, making a game meticulous and beautiful at the same time. While Final Fantasy XIII revolves around the linearity of the gameplay that makes action repetitive, it superimposes a believable narrative with more focus and attention to minute detail with the enhanced Command Synergy Battle System that is more focused. Final Fantasy XIII paves the way to declare that despite repetition, a game can still hope to be great in a form of its own through other means despite some problems.

Battlefield: Bad Company was a premiere shooter that marked the entry of DICE into the first-person shooter series category designed for consoles exclusively on June 23^rd, 2008. Bad Company offered singleplayer, a decent online offering of 24 players from the native 64 from Battlefield’s 1 and 2, and provided a venue for console shooter fans to play if they did not fancy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on Nov 7^th, 2007. Bad Company offered a markedly watered down version similar to elements of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in terms of multiplayer minus the ranks and perks system.   Not surprisingly enough, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a sequel that uses the same formula and delivers on what the first title came close to doing itself: being a game with an unoriginal storyline of revenge and profit centered on repetitive gameplay and missions structure, while capitalizing on the online warfare craze with bland online elements revolving around statistic aficionados that find an all too endless joy in the clunky destruction engine of the environment’s flawed realistic scope.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 creates another compendium of unoriginality through a drastically exaggerated sense of camaraderie, a predictable and unimaginative set of personas within the Bad Company, and furthermore a narrative that is as pedestrian as the missions themselves. Battlefield: Bad Company ended with the main characters driving off with a truck full of gold and features similar characters. Private Preston Marlowe is still the “newbie” (player character), Haggard is the Alabama bomb-tech, and Sarge is still the commanding captain.  After losing the gold, the characters end up back in Bad Company, a rogue B-Company squad. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 starts with the rescue of a prisoner that is captured in the jungle.  Of course, Bad Company is given an offer of rescuing the soldier in order to go home, but things go from bad to worse in more than one way. The storyline continues on the trend of the Bad Company carrying out missions to alleviate the world of a foreign threat.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 seems to be extremely traditional, but unfortunately if this was the case in the sense of the franchise, Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 2 would still both not be considered far superior titles in terms of gameplay mechanics, singleplayer, and multiplayer. Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s vapid single-player campaign establishes a lot of the flaws in the gameplay elements that makes Battlefield: Bad Company 2 lacking in elements such as believability and variety. The players control Preston Marlowe and embark on the campaign missions where the core mechanics are dreadfully simple, and unfortunately repetition and lack of attention to detail leaves Battlefield: Bad Company 2 extremely antiquated. The gun mechanics for the most part are simple of any first person shooter: point and shoot. The key thing that made Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a symbol of great first-person shooters, such a craze was not the simple fact of point and shoot elements, but the title had a lot of nuances in terms of level design, mission structure, and even a focused set of weaponry. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 strides upon the same mediocre facets that Battlefield: Bad Company did: it solely relies on giving players weaponry, something to shoot at, and does not consider anything else to broaden the gameplay. Furthermore, lack of variety in enemy types and randomly a lot of cowboy-hat wearing enemies are just a sight for disappointment. Grenades do not have an indicator for other players to avoid, so it becomes hard to avoid them as the terrible A.I. uses grenades all too often. Teammate/Squad A.I. is even worse but fares slightly better than the first title and they do not get in the way of shooting.  The campaign is more linear than the first, which hardly offers any sort of excitement, even when the scripted actions provide a banal sense of excitement with the atrocious voice acting to supplement. It is almost as if DICE expects players to be enthralled and enticed with mediocre and predictable storyline elements that are too scripted for the action to remotely believable. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 relies too much on unoriginality of simple point and shoot gameplay elements grouped with a disappointing and predictable storyline while furthering the banality with an intense lack of variety including misguided attention to details.

Destruction seems to be an element that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 relies too heavily upon in the marketing of the title, but all it does to accomplish any believable destruction lies in the gameplay crumbling down like a building itself. Frostbite 1.5 can only make the game exciting to a limited degree, while not being entirely believable as well. Every environment in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is stale and uninviting, mostly being green jungle areas, snowy fields, and brown desert fades with a very limited gameplay area. While the environments are gorgeous and details to character models are helpful, the mission structure itself is alarmingly dreadful to play and gameplay is built on a constant reminder of the lack of variety and originality that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 represents.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 provides online elements that represent the overall feel of unoriginality and lack of variety that Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s gameplay builds upon during the campaign.  Various modes include Rush, Squad Rush, Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch. The newer modes revolve around destroying crates in another team’s base which is more exciting than anything Bad Company 2 presents for the sheer reason of having other people around. Multiplayer permits players to choose from a set of weapon kits before each spawn, each of which represent the four classes from the previous 6: Assault, Recon, Engineer, and Medic. Specialists no longer exist. In addition to the hand grenades and sidearms standard for all classes, each class is equipped with a weapon and a pair of tech-gadgets unique to that class.  The traditional system of Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s multiplayer and customization of weaponry is the only thing that represents the still major successes of Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 2 that fare better than Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s gameplay. Limited Edition comes with six advanced unlocks in multiplayer and a bonus. Unlockables are key in multiplayer, which is relatively better but is plagued by the same problems as the campaign itself.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is definitely a surprise. An abhorrent surprise considering that this is a product of the same developers of Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 2, which itself is quite honestly difficult to believe. Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s campaign makes flaws in the gameplay elements apparent of lacking in elements such as believability and variety. Campaign missions rely on a deformed set of core gameplay mechanics that are dreadful at best and unfortunately repetition and lack of attention to detail leaves Battlefield: Bad Company 2 extremely antiquated. While multiplayer tactical adventure fairs better for the simple fact that it borrows elements from Battlefield 1 and straight from Battlefield 2’s unlockable weapon and ranks system, the gameplay is still plagued with problems. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 strides upon the same mediocre characteristic that Battlefield: Bad Company did: it solely relies on giving players weaponry, something to shoot at, and does not consider anything else to broaden the gameplay. With the first one being mediocre, and the second one following its stance, it is hard to believe in the Bad Company franchise. With all these heavy flaws of gameplay and $59.99 MSRP price-point, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 should be equally pointed straight to the bargain bin, and shot at.

Aliens vs. Predator showed a lot of promise during its creative façade with developer Rebellion. The balance between different characters seemed to be shaping up nicely and improving on the core concepts from the film, but ultimately Aliens vs. Predator has failed to deliver by providing a bland singleplayer campaign, and a decent multiplayer offering.  Aliens vs. Predator features three campaigns that give fans a look into all three types of species and thereby offers different types of play. Regardless, Aliens vs. Predator depends too much on the nostalgia of the previous titles to create a form of withstanding entertainment other than the sheer fact of controlling aliens of predators. While certain moments of the game are interesting, the game has too many prominent defects from gameplay design, to mission compatibility that is short-lived and receding fun. Miserably so, while gliding along the walls as an alien sees a short-lived joy, Rebellion’s newest addition in the franchise relies on recycled elements that disregard the game in its entirety.

Aliens vs. Predator has a familiar history: people find planet / a mysterious totem ritualistic crypt and bad things happen that transition into gameplay. Aliens vs. Predator takes the main appeal through three-sided campaigns of marine, alien, and predator. Each campaign has strengths and interesting factors to make gameplay great within the context of the storyline. The marine’s campaign revolves around an unnamed protagonist deemed ‘Rookie’ as their convoy crash-lands, resembling a typical shooter element storyline and something unoriginal on Rebellion’s part. Atmospheric lighting increase the tension as the environment becomes dark with xenomorphs. Aliens escape from their lab and have their own fun crawling around walls and what not, while Predator’s land due to a beam from the crypt and embark on a habitual rage.

Aliens vs. Predator only gets as fun as the simple features in each species type. The gameplay is dwindled down to a lot of the basics that are done poorly and tedious level design and gameplay becomes annoying. Dark thrills are interesting, but unfortunately there is no element of being the hunted as it sounds when someone chooses to be a marine. The environments get dreadfully bright, and kill any sort of tension in the core makings of a thriller, where the dark plays a pivotal role. Shooting is further terrible and there is no real audio-work for the death of the Aliens other than just a ragdoll animation. Apparently, melee gets intensely boring as that is all anyone will really need: melee, smash, shoot. Some levels add thrill, but in a badly designed way as they limit the moving space and make the gameplay feel cheaper than challenging if anything.

Online elements of Aliens vs. Predator revolve around the same gameplay concepts, but fares slightly better due to real people than similarly mediocre A.I. The online offerings are more delightful but are still struggling from the campaign’s mechanical flaws.  Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch allows players to mix species’ strengths and weaknesses, but ends up too linear in a level with just statistics.  In Infestation, one of the special modes designed to be fun according to Rebellion, starts off as an alien converts marines into xenomorphs. This is great and simply works well, but it can be rather annoying with certain maps that are too small for their own good. Predator Hunt is an advanced and upgraded version of tag in which one player begins as a predator tags another. The modes are fun, but are too traditional and seem to be heavily relied on simple numbers or waves of enemies like Survivor mode.  Lack of gameplay variety keeps most of these modes at bay.

Aliens vs. Predator unfortunately resounds a very mediocre offering from Rebellion and publisher SEGA, but it does offer some slight thrills oddly enough at certain moments of the game. Poor level design and lack of attention to detail in terms of gameplay of every species and overall mechanics makes Aliens vs. Predator one for the bargain bin.

1968 has never been so cold and the water never this damp. Awaken as Subject Delta in 2K Marin’s BioShock 2, the sequel to BioShock that introduces the gaming world to an unraveling Dystopia in which philosophical individualism and seeping autocracy haunts the flooded corridors. BioShock 2 takes a very daring road to build upon the exotic backdrop of BioShock in which a plane crash lands the Protagonist Jack Ryan to the mysterious underwater world of Rapture. 2K Marin valiantly creates a new and recognizable atmosphere into a completely different storyline that evokes the responses through totalitarian dictatorship, improved gameplay based upon similar game interface as BioShock, and furthered incredible variety when it comes to the chills and haunting images that Rapture exudes. BioShock 2 furthers improvements and shooter mechanics beyond the first one and continues to up the par with a multiplayer mode from Digital Extremes. While something about the atmosphere, however, is not quite on par with the first title as things seem all too familiar and lose their substance that made the microscopicity of the original so daring, BioShock 2 still creates an atmosphere that is engaging and still very much provoking.  BioShock 2 incontestably creates an atmosphere that is prominent regardless of the familiarity that veteran players might feel and new players might not completely believe.

Hastily inscribed upon the walls of Adonis Spa are cries for a lost religious overtone in a philosophical narrative that is all too real. “Fallen, fallen is Babylon,” the great kingdom that was once the vision in the latter part of the third millennium, and it was here that the Bible says God confused the languages of mankind. Impregnable to incredibly different degrees of religious notions, Bayblon was lost in a bewildered flood of the Euphrates River from the Persian advance. The air is familiar as Subject Delta awakens in the decaying Adonis Spa in 1968. It feels like yesterday that you were with your Little Sister Eleanor Lamb through an unbreakable bond. As Subject Delta, one of the original Big Daddy protectors introduced in BioShock, you seek out to find Eleanor that is sending you troubled signals of being held captive by her mother:  the totalitarian Sofia Lamb, who took influence of Rapture after Jack Ryan departed on his own in 1958. Sophia Lamb is undoubtedly more different than anything Andrew Ryan preached as the wealthy founder of Rapture.  While Sophia Lamb may not be a shockingly similar match to the deep-rooted and downright maniacal beliefs of Andrew Ryan, she shares a level of disturbing presence engrossed in her own personal and moral philosophy that makes the senselessness of her persecution even more radiant.

BioShock 2 incorporates gameplay heavily through story as the original with a beautiful didactic narrative but comes with some inherent problems in the storyline progression. One of the central introduction aspects WhatIfGaming became concerned about makes itself known once again: the question of how BioShock 2 incorporates and furthermore pleases not just veterans but also newcomers of the game but also newcomers alike. 2K Marin assured that newcomers will have an equal experience as veterans of the series in terms of storyline narrative, but there are core storyline progression elements from BioShock that BioShock 2 simply does not touch upon. The first game focuses on the immense discovery and building façade of mystery on the city of Rapture and the downfall dynamic that engrosses any player who still plays it to this day. Unfortunately, BioShock 2 misses out on taking the same level of intrigue and placing it into the game in terms of microscopic details.  To fully understand the new game, players need to have prior knowledge. Some ancillary reading is hidden either in the menu or the tapes / tutorials of gameplay elements, but unfortunately it is not as powerful as incorporating these into the story directly.  The issues in terms of storyline do not end here. There are also issues in terms of the origins of Subject Delta never being truly explained along with the factors of key characters that played a monumental role of the first game being lightly delved into the sequel. Another problem that manifests itself is the lack of emotionality within BioShock 2. While Subject Delta wants to find Eleanor with tidbits of memories consistently being presented throughout the game, there is no real emotional construct to rely on other than the fact that the game simply bases the entire journey upon finding Eleanor Lamb. Despite these prominent issues, BioShock 2 still continues to present a strong case of philosophical undertones that furthers the psychological barrier that has already been established by the entire premise of the storyline.

BioShock 2’s mission structure revolves many enemies and few gains that create a survialistic nature in the horror-torn Rapture. Like Babylon, there is a lot of ADAM and an increased level of struggle with Lamb’s cult of Splicers, former Citizens of Rapture that went mad from using a drug called ADAM to give them superhuman abilities such as lightning shock and swarming bees. The ten years between BioShock reveals the splicers have gotten slightly religious and are more disfigured and confused with an even more dangerous combination than just disfigured.  Splicers encounters come with the typical enemy types from the first game which includes wall-latching splicers and teleporting splicers in addition to the fearful brute class splicers that throw concrete. Subject Delta soon reveals that he himself can use ADAM by injecting it into one of the situation cores in his suit (used to lock the Big Daddys in their suit and their body). ADAM is obtained through the unforgettable Little Sisters that made the first game iconic, brainwashed children under the aura of Rapture. Little Sisters discover various ‘angels’ or ADAM infused corpses to drain with EVE hyponeedles. The Catch-22 here follows the fact that each Little Sister is guarded by a Big Daddy that does not let another Big Daddy remotely near his ‘daughter. Once defeating the Big Daddy, it is up to Subject Delta to decide what to do with the little girl that cries and mourns for her lost Daddy like a poor orphan. As a Big Daddy, you can choose to ‘Adopt’ the Little Sister by placing her humbly onto your shoulder or sacrifice her (through murder) for ADAM. These two choices are constant throughout Rapture and the option to choose on the spot similar to the first game really extends upon the consequences of the choices players make. From here, if Subject Delta chooses to adopt the Little Sister, he can help the Little Sister to keep collecting ADAM while making sure to defend her. One interesting thing about BioShock 2 is the way the developers keep this aspect of the game astounding, through either momentary twists or dynamic variability with enemies to keep BioShock 2 from being one big escort mission.

Combat in BioShock 2 is extended with certain improvements but stays close to the original and traditional. ADAM can be spent on DNA plasmids to gain access to psychokinetic and potential powers with which players can freeze people or hurl fireballs. Gene Tonics make a return to create enhancement to certain passive abilities such as faster movement speed, quieter footsteps and more.  Combat options are not limited to genetic variability but extend to weaponry as well.  Since Subject Delta can dual-wield weapons, the combat feels more fluid and dynamic than the first game. This allows players to keep an active defense in one hand while creating a level of hard-earned damage with a gun on the other.  As players continue into Rapture, they can upgrade plasmid guns and add tons of improvements to give certain weapons secondary and tertiary abilities to grant bonuses.

BioShock 2 introduces the series’ first look into multiplayer that presents BioShock 2 as ‘part prequel in Sequel’ —with gratitude to our contact at 2K Marin for spilling the details the day the first teaser came out. Players will be the citizens of rapture that have joined the Sinclair Solutions Consumer Rewards program for self-defense to test various weapons and plasmids for the war between Andrew Ryan and Atlus, his nemesis. Multiplayer modes are pretty standard such as Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch with Capture The Sister as a capture the flag counterpart where players try and capture a crying Little Sister from the enemy.  Maps are set in notable locations from the first BioShock and multiplayer remains challenging while also adding more for players to accomplish into the game.

BioShock 2 is undoubtedly a great game with amazing improvements despite dismal issues with storyline and continuity for newcomers. Rapture continues to be the underwater city with a baroque style movement that creates the atmosphere for the continuing storyline. Sophia Lamb and her Family are constantly out to destroy older parts of Rapture to eliminate any of the remaining ego that Andrew Ryan possessed, while creating an even more interesting approach to religious backdrops of rebirth and retribution for the sins of Rapture and its existence as a whole.  The haunting atmosphere of Rapture carries through with the story embedded in the environment – the details being on the walls with crayon, neon markers, or sketchy chalk. Writings in the surroundings and the context of the storyline are undoubtedly still as disturbing as before regardless of the storyline flaws affecting the atmosphere and tone. Rapture remains an underwater city that still is impossible to escape as the struggle for Subject Delta to find humanity seems impossible in the environment. The city is undoubtedly perturbing with incredible gameplay improvements, voice acting, and soundtrack scores that make the surroundings in BioShock 2 as memorable and horrifying as ever.

For years I have waited to save the galaxy once again. For years, I Commander Shepard, have been alone and now is the time to make my glorious return to the Intergalactic Stellar System. BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 might be another game in the trilogy of the saga, but it reminds us that beautifully superb video games are possible as part of a bigger adventure. BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 brings the space action back once again to allow players to experience a role-playing action-adventure title never before experienced since Mass Effect or Dragon Age: Origins. With beautiful overarching stories with multiple plotlines, a trenchant role-playing dialogue system, suitable combat gameplay, and moreover characters which are truly believable with voice acting to suite every colloquy in pure harmony. Mass Effect 2 redefines the space galaxy as Mass Effect did before it and incomparably changes the scale and customization by an even more magnificent sight.

Mass Effect 2 begins the sequel for the epic series two years after Commander Shepard deterred invading Reaper threat bent on the destruction of organic life. Now, Commander Shepard faces a new and mysterious threat than ever before. Emerging from the darkness on the fringes of known space, something is suddenly abducting entire human colonies which comprise of thousands to millions of people. Commander Shepard is put to the test in this mission as his incontrovertible reputation as being the first human Spectre in the universe precedes him. Commander Shepard must work with Cerberus, a ruthless organization devoted to human survival at any cost, to stop the most petrifying threat mankind and aliens alike have ever faced.  With this in mind, Commander Shepard must gather the galaxy’s most elite team and command the most powerful ship ever built. While people say the mission verges on the border of being suicidal, Commander Shepard is determined to prove them wrong.

Mass Effect 2’s mission structure remains similar to the previous title but is engaging more than ever before through the dynamic galaxy map, and much more to do on planets this time around. Commander Shepard still travels galaxy to galaxy while encountering incredibly believable characters that challenge his response and fortitude. As the audience, we are engaged on a role-playing experience that is not just engaging but also alluring. It is no longer just about choosing choices and seeing responses. For the most part, the dialogue system has changed dynamically with surprises in between that shocked even us. Renegade Hostile and Heroic Interrupts change the course of the gameplay and crazes players on the wild side to give them more power that they can feel in a physical way. Without giving away any crucial details to this dialogue system, we can easily say that the action is more engaging than ever before albeit the mission mechanic remains the same in essence.

Mass Effect 2 places an incredible new variety on combat through weapon variety and power talents to display a profundity to the world that the first title lacked. The combat foundation no longer requires running from a straight linear path shooting down repetitive enemy types. The weapon types include shotguns, sniper rifles, heavy weapons, light machine guns, and heavy pistols that are all more intuitive to the shooter gameplay. The action becomes more dynamic through a variety of new talents called ‘Powers’ while the actual complexity of the battle has shifted from work to simplistic.  New talents come in the form of two types: biotic and tech. Biotic powers focus more on biomechanics between the fights and can be used by certain creatures directly given innate talent abilities. Combat abilities themselves provide more class benefits to different characters more experienced with war while tech powers further the usage of technological emphasis that the first title made too simplistic. Along with the new gameplay combat mechanics in Mass Effect 2, the shooter mechanic is more dynamic through different weapons but also vast improvements to the aiming abilities. Targeting of individual body parts enables players to make more damaging headshots and further damages in a strategic way than randomly firing at the torso. Legs, arms, and any other limb can be shot off displaying the sheer brilliance in design and graphical flare Mass Effect 2 has to offer. Ammo systems have also been put in place which works well with a modified health system which regenerates shields and health when a player is not taking damage. Mass Effect 2 dramatically increases combat incongruity that creates an overwhelming appeal to players to actually choose combat and really experience the true natures of space battle.

Enemy A.I. in Mass Effect 2 has seen a change in combat that involves different strategies from enemy types. You do not constantly keep shooting at enemies randomly or enemies running towards you shooting. BioWare focused on this aspect in addition to combat to provide a sense of tactical advantage or disadvantages with enemies that also use different armor, have different power talent innate abilities, and utilize various other combat methods to make the flow of combat more realistic.

The latest feature that BioWare has added with Mass Effect 2 revolves around the great user demand for more armor customization. To most people, it seemed rather odd that Commander Shepard bore the same N7 suit without any need for customization from different weapon types and many other threats.  Finally, Mass Effect 2 answers these demands with an in-depth armor system for combat missions that respond to the environment in a multifarious way. Dual layer of fabric armor and kinetic padding within a lightweight ablative ceramic create a newer ‘Appearance’ for Commander Shepard rather than his own Casual Appearance. Casual Appearances itself can also be edited to deliver sustainability in keeping the visuals not only good looking but also fresh from the same outfits.  Armor is modular and custom N7 armor can be built from parts bought from merchants, or acquired on missions, through the player’s armor locker aboard. The in-depth customization also follows through to the gameplay which creates an effect on behaviors and influences as well as modifying aspects of armor through ‘research projects’ to be collected.

Mass Effect 2 provides a gritty action adventure game that redefines the genre yet again by refining the same formula used in the already incredible Mass Effect 1. With a greater combat system, better enemy A.I., increased tactical customizations with power talents and armor, and an even more memorable dialogue system that creates dynamic pacing, Mass Effect 2 delivers an insatiable experience for anyone with a thirst for interstellar travel and saving the galaxy. Gear up Commander Shepard: mankind and the universe need you.

WhatIfGaming - Game Of The Year 2009 Awards

It is with proud pleasure that we ask all of you to join us to celebrate the 11th year anniversary of our WhatIfGaming and read all about the video game industry’s most exceptional and gratified 2009 titles specially chosen by us here again this year. Similar to the previous year, WhatIfGaming is first to give out Game of the Year Awards this year. We just rolled out the red carpet and the winners for 2009 are here with us live!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Years to our beloved millions of WhatIfGaming readers (this means you)! See you all in 2010.

When the words ‘game’ and ‘World War II’ are mentioned in the same sentence, everyone has a stock image of a first person shooter storming the beaches of Normandy. The Saboteur deviates from this redundant, tired look and lets you feel like a small part of a more rewarding cause. Rather than being a soldier, the gun-for-hire aspect gives the player a greater sense of accomplishment which works exceptionally well during the harrowing scene of one of the most brutal times in recent history.

The Saboteur is set in Nazi controlled France, specifically around the city of Paris not long after the start of the war. Sean Devlin, an Irish immigrant with a sharp tongue and clever wit. As the main protagonist of the game, Sean finds himself facing choices that are difficult and questionable at times, and that there is more to his demeanor than pure simplicity of a cigar in the mouth and a mechanic turned racer.  It is hard not to like Sean in The Saboteur at the onset especially with some of the crude and hilarious jokes of the title. Through the course of his missions and the gameplay design, Sean shows that he has ulterior motives for hating the Nazis but has to bide his time. Sean works for various resistance and black market people throughout the story to fulfill his revenge against the Nazis, for which the reasons will remain unclear until well into the introduction chapters of the game. As the story progresses, each characters traits are shown in the full and you are never in any doubt who Pandemic Studios want the player to like and which ones to loathe. The Saboteur provides an incredible time in 1940’s France and makes sure players encounter characters that have their own plans and motives in the world.

One of the main features that was touted for The Saboteur was that the game is in black and white until certain missions are completed which give the locals hope for the future hence the change into colour. There were a lot of skeptics about this, whether it would work or just feel like a gimmick, but it is achieved really well and the art direction really complements the sense of liberation that the player is giving to the people of Paris. The missions themselves are full of variety which is excellent considering the number of main and side missions that are given to choose from. However traveling, either, to the mission starts or the target of the mission feels extremely long and while there is a plentiful supply of cars, some fast travel system would be greatly appreciated. The climbing mechanism, that we have seen in games such as Infamous and Assassin’s Creed, is again used here and while it does not feel as free as Assassins Creed — it is solid and allows scaling the famous structures of Paris with relative ease and efficiency. The driving feels unfortunately stiff but it seems to work because of the amount of times you will be escaping Nazis. The only real downside to driving is the fact that crashing into other cars feels pathetic, but it makes more sense on a chorniclogical note even though it is not realistic.

The main mission structures involve a simple 4 word plan: Easy-In, Hard-Out. The concept works fairly well for the most part as the initial difficulty requires stealth for parts of certain missions and then requires a battling fight to the exit, providing action and adventure in one mission. An entire mission can technically be played out with stealth, but it is not easy. Taking the disguise of a German officer is an interesting approach but becomes frustrating  at times due to the A.I. being a bit overdone. On the whole, mission structures work well to support the action and add fun stealth elements to the countless other methods involved in approaching a mission.

A fresh idea was needed for the World War II setting and The Saboteur definitely brings a lot of new ideas to the table. While it recycles a lot of features and ideas seen in other open world games, The Saboteur brings enough new mechanics and styles to make it stand on its own. Parts of the game which are not upto the standards of the rest do not affect the enjoyment you get from playing against the Nazis and The Saboteur ends up being a far better game in the process.

The dead have risen to seek the blood of those that precede their rotting flesh. On June 1, 2009, Valve Software officially announced the birth of Left 4 Dead 2, sequel to the premiere horror 28 Days Later inspired Left 4 Dead. Valve Software created an exceedingly decent title with Left 4 Dead despite the issues of repetition and no story arc back in November of 2008, and seeks to improve upon various aspects left unfinished. Left 4 Dead 2 is the aegis to Valve and their ambition to create an extremely unique experience that has never been accomplished prior to the Left 4 Dead series, bringing horror and survival together to form a whole new definition in the realm of cooperative gaming action. Uniting a mysterious player and three other unsuspecting and horrified friends together, Left 4 Dead 2 makes sure players are at the edge of their seats not knowing what to expect next, making sure players use their eyes and ears to their fullest degree in order to survive the horrific zombie onslaught. Try not to blink or it may be your last breath.

Exactly a year after the release of Left 4 Dead, the sequel gallantly presents itself from the brushes. Although the arrival of Left 4 Dead 2 was rather speedy, Valve has managed to not disappoint. The initiation of the central plot replaces beloved survivors Francis, Bill, Zoey, and Louis from Left 4 Dead with newer more savvy characters in Left 4 Dead 2: the buff Coach, a yokel Ellis, a charming and charismatic Nick, and the epicurean Rochelle. These new characters all bring very unique personalities to the table and are the central components that bring Left 4 Dead 2 to life, as the level of interactivity that takes place between the characters during your playthrough make the experience intense. Without these emotions and without these character survivors, Left 4 Dead 2 would be very grim without a context or setting.  The cleverly written and very believable characters bring out the inner survivor in everyone within Left 4 Dead 2 and the zombie tyranny across the globe.

Left 4 Dead 2 brings the mayhem with different characters into newer environments. Left 4 Dead 2 offers five new campaigns within Campaign Mode, each with their own set of challenges to go though: Dead Center with four chapters, Dark Carnival with five, Swamp Fever with four, Hard Rain with five, and The Parish with five as well. Altogether, there are a total of 23 levels to be played and are spread across five campaigns with various scenarios as described by the names of the levels to emanate various qualities about each environment for the campaigns. Each of these campaigns all offer very distinctive settings for players to survive in and are more detailed than the prequel.

While you continue fighting off more hordes of zombies in Left 4 Dead 2, you will quickly notice that the gore level has been increased by quite a bit and more detail has been put into the annihilation of the zombies. The level of detail within the campaign modes and the gameplay is the first thing to notice. Left 4 Dead 2 effects for the most part seem very much the same, with very little improvements through the game. Some of the effects have been improved for the better such as the Boomer bile, evidently also making it harder to see through.

Gameplay additions run rampant in Left 4 Dead 2 as much as the zombies in every campaign. Left 4 Dead 2 includes the introduction of Uncommon Common Infected. These new infected are part of the common infected, but are not as common, thus the name “Uncommon Common”. These new enemy A.I. types include Bulletproof Zombies, unable to take damage from the front as they are decked out in riot gear, Zombie Clowns with their loud clown attire prone to attract nearby common infected when in motion, and a variety of others. These new Uncommon Common infected changes the gameplay dramatically. If a player is on the ground and unable to move while being relatively far away from your team, then a Bulletproof Zombie would be the last thing the character would want to see, as he could do some very serious damage. Luckily with Left 4 Dead 2’s incredible A.I. Director, this is more than likely to happen. While new types of zombies are plenty in Left 4 Dead 2, the Uncommon Common Infected are only found in their own specific campaigns and are just a useful model by which Left 4 Dead 2 increases the action.

Left 4 Dead 2 comes with a gigantic set of new weapons ready to tear limbs of blood-thirsty zombies ready to vivisect brains. The same tier progression system from Left 4 Dead is still present: players are rewarded with better and more powerful weapons as they advance deeper into the campaign. All of the weapons from Left 4 Dead have returned, and in Left 4 Dead 2 are accompanied by a much larger variety: Grenade Launchers, Desert Eagles, AK-47s, SPAS-12s, FN Scar Assault Rifles, Suppressed MAC-10s, and Chainsaws are all patiently waiting to be picked up by the survivors. Yes, that is correct: Chainsaws. Left 4 Dead 2 includes improved melee weapons for a new twist. Melee weapons fill the secondary weapon slot, which happens to be pistols, so players have to choose between pistols or melee weapons. Melee weapons allow players to swing away and chop the zombies up as if they were professional chefs in the world’s nastiest restaurant. Melee weapons include but are not limited to: Fire Axes, Baseball Bats, Cricket Bats, Katanas, Guitars, and Crowbars. Although cutting zombies up in Left 4 Dead 2 never gets old, it gets rather bothersome as the difficulty level goes up. This is mainly due to the fact that you are bound to take a few slaps to the face from the infected while using a melee weapon, and if you are playing in Expert mode, one hit could very well cost you the whole game. The balance with new weapons and the difficulty level of Left 4 Dead 2 is incredible despite some minor issues and remains better off than the prequel in a blood infested action rampage.

Weapons are hardly the only things used for survival. Along the path of Left 4 Dead 2, players will find themselves reminiscing about new and evolved tools to further aid the survivors. Laying around the new campaigns, survivors will find defibrillator units to revive one of your dead survivors and vials that contain Boomer bile which attracts nearby zombies when thrown, and makes them attack whoever the bile is on, whether it is the infected or the survivors. In a way, with the vial of Boomer bile in hand, Left 4 Dead 2 allows players to be a kind of mini- Boomer for the group of survivors, creating an interesting new perspective to gameplay and character interaction. The third and last new aiding tool in Left 4 Dead 2 is the adrenaline shot. These take the slot where the pain pills go in the inventory, and are very similar to the pills. Like the pills, the adrenaline shots should only be used in emergency situations. The adrenaline shots provide the survivor that uses it with a temporary boost in speed. All of these new additions to Left 4 Dead 2 will force players to think their plans even more thoroughly before moving into the zombified world, where zombies are the least of their worries compared to resources.

While Left 4 Dead had the legendary A.I. Director that created a different experience every playthrough, Left 4 Dead 2 now has an improved version: the AI Director 2.0. The improved AI Director now makes every playthrough even more different than before by being able to change the weather dynamically, change the lighting to reflect different times of day, or even alter the path you have to take through each campaign depending on the zombie size. Left 4 Dead 2 makes teamwork essential to fighting a way out to rescue.

Left 4 Dead 2 would be bewildering without the included 7 gameplay modes: Single-player, Campaign/Cooperative Mode, Scavenge, Versus, Survival and the most requested Realism Mode. Realism mode is the center of attention: garnering over being the most requested feature according to Valve.  The only thing that can be said of Realism Mode is this: extremely tactical and complex communication that SWAT uses will not be enough to survive this mode. In a nut shell, Realism mode is the great grandfather of the Expert difficulty. Realism mode is not a difficulty setting; rather it is a new game mode, and just like the Campaign mode, it can be played in four difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, Advanced, and Expert. Realism mode removes some of the features that aided players in surviving the Campaign mode, and in the end makes the gameplay much harder. Modifications include the removal of the very helpful and color coded character outlines, the names above players, the microphone indicator above players, and the ability to come back to life through closets. The infected also pose more of a challenge since they take less damage all together. All of these changes make it almost absolutely impossible to survive any of the campaigns in Realism mode without all four players having a microphone. Just like the saying goes: you do not know what you have until you lose it.  The first time you play Realism mode, players will surely be lost within minutes, having no outlines and no indicators but do not be ashamed of this fact while frantically running around to find the rest of your group. After players understand how Realism mode works, communicating with fellow survivors a lot more than the Campaign mode becomes easier and the Realism mode starts to become more fun, while at the same time almost feeling like a whole different game.

Realism is not the only new game mode in Left 4 Dead 2. Scavenge mode is also new to the series. Scavenge mode puts up to eight players into four versus four competitive and round-based matches, where the survivors have to scavenge around and find gas cans to refuel a gas generator located in each map while fighting off the infected and racing against the clock. Every gas can the Survivors empty into the generator add up into points and at the same time adds time to the clock. The infected on the other hand get to play as the boss infected just like the Versus mode, and fight to stop or stall the survivors as much as they can. Like the Versus mode, the teams of four get switched back and forth between the survivors and the infected after each round.

The complete highlight of Left 4 Dead 2 is definitely the three new special infected. Introducing three more playable special infected on top of the four old ones to the equation ends up creating a completely different experience, since most of your old strategies will no longer work. The new special infected includes: the Spitter, the Jockey, and the Charger. The Spitter is incredibly useful and nasty when paired up with any of the other special infected. She spits out a large puddle of fizzy green goo that deals massive amounts of damage to any of the survivors over it. Alone however, she is pretty easy to avoid, and is fairly easy to kill. The Spitter is also very good for finishing off any survivor that is down but not yet dead. Unlike the Spitter, the Jockey can be pretty annoying for the survivors if he is alone. The Jockey is able to jump onto any of the survivor’s backs and slowly steer their character away from the rest of the group and in any direction they want. This can be pretty game breaking if the survivors are not paying attention. When paired up with the right special infected like the Boomer, the Jockey can be very nasty and can lure away one of the survivors and go unnoticed the whole time. The Charger, the last of the three new special infected, can be called the brother of the Tank. He basically charges into a group of survivors, grabs one puny human, and then starts smashing them into the ground to their death. The Charger deals massive damage, and if not taken down in time, can put the survivors at a loss in no time. All three of the new special infected are all very well thought-out are implemented into the game just right. Not too overpowered, and not too underpowered, creating a perfect taste for flesh in Left 4 Dead 2.

Valve decided to modify the models on the old special infected, but nothing too major has been changed. Only minor things like removing the hair of the Tank and changing the clothes of the Hunter have been altered. Also, if anyone sees a female Boomer in the distance while playing Left 4 Dead 2, and think they are going crazy, then think again. The Boomer has two models this time around: one male and the other female. This does not affect the gameplay in any way, shape or form. The Witch has also been modified to wander around during the day and to sit down like in Left 4 Dead, at night. The Witch is now able to wander during the day, but she still does not pose too much of a greater threat than while sitting down.

Valve delivers another quality game once more in the bruised and battered body of the horrific Left 4 Dead 2. It is very possible that witchcraft is involved in the development of Left 4 Dead 2, because it failed to disappoint in more than one way. Left 4 Dead 2 manages to keeps all the great things Left 4 Dead had to offer, and implements even better features with extreme precision and detail. Having a new emotional set of characters to play with, playing through more detailed campaigns to survive in, having two new game modes to play, and having a whole new selection of weapons and tools to blow zombie brains with creates dozens of new challenges to encounter with Left 4 Dead 2.  Left 4 Dead 2 is undeniably a must have for any zombie enthusiast, or anyone that loves to not want to sleep at night and still believes in zombies.

Review Collaboration by: Berk Erilmez and Usman Ihtsham

Come from the rooftops, steadfastly swift direction at night, let your blades be the serene guide. As an assassin you will learn: truth is written in blood. Assassin’s Creed I abashed players worldwide by allowing them to explore the political depth of war and intrigue through the eyes Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, an assassin dedicated to a group interested in shifting the pace of The Crusades in a war against the Christian Orthodox Templars. Unfortunately, repetitive gameplay combined with a poor set of voice acting contributed to the fall of Assassin’s Creed I as a mediocre title with no variety. Ubisoft is marked with unfaltering dedication and persevering power when it comes to Assassin’s Creed II. Assassin’s Creed II completely alters the perception of the prequel, providing stunning gameplay, brilliant voice acting, and most importantly than the former: a medley of variety that is badly needed for any game to be a success. Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II heralds a vivacity unseen of the Assassin’s Creed saga, and pronounces an unwavering view of the life and struggle of what it takes to defend the honor of family in Renaissance Italy.

Assassin’s Creed II begins the epic story in 15^th century Florence, Italy and introduces Ezio Auditore da Firenze as a suave and charming charming protagonist in a fight against nobles of the Pazzi Family. Ezio is a young Florentine nobleman who is both a ladies’ man and a charismatic character unlike Altaïr. Ezio is wealthy, has a father that is apparently a Banker, and a brother that he always engages with in friendly competition as life keeps looking at him in the eyes with a flare. After a grand conspiracy shatters this vision, Ezio sets out on a revengeful path and metamorphoses into an Assassin by utilizing the innate Auditore fighting style abilities he had since he first kicked his feet after being born.  Along the way, Ezio meets various friends who include very prominent figures such as Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci. The level of depth to Ezio Auditore da Firenze is undeniably more approachable than the reclusive Altaïr, which provides for more contrast in the storyline and the conception to a grand beginning. Ezio has to change not only emotionally but also physically in his fighting style to protect his family as the entire Florentine officials try and hunt him down. The storyline has more uniqueness, and provides room for a level of sympathy from the audience to really allow them to become connected with the idiosyncrasies character and consequently the harrowing storyline.

Gameplay presents an extraordinary detail as Assassin’s Creed II comes with more variety and profundity due to more missions, and various enhancements to the city of Florence, Italy. Assassin’s Creed II rids itself of the repetitive nature of gameplay, which has seen an extraordinary change since Assassin’s Creed I. With more than 200 mission types, Assassin’s Creed II heralds a new form of a mission structure for Ezio to take part in. Looting and pick pocketing missions have been entirely removed and various mission types are related to side quests that take a part in the story-arc in general. Missions provide the corridor to an exciting gameplay adventure and allow core gameplay features to be fully realized. What Assassin’s Creed I lacked, Assassin’s Creed II delivers on with mission mechanics.

Along Ezio’s journey in Assassin’s Creed II, players will find themselves aided by famous Renaissance figures, most noticeably Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli. Some few interesting characters make reappearances, and provide an interesting plot dynamic and enthusiasm for engaging with characters and not being the lone wolf skipping from rooftop to rooftop. The various friends players come across give Ezio an affability that is admired and a storyline that is more intriguing than just plain and mediocre.

Assassin’s Creed II leads the gameplay facet of a notoriety system, allowing Ezio to become recognized and for the environment to dynamically change response around him.  A high notoriety makes the consciousness of civilians and guards increasingly vigilant of Ezio’s movements. Dividing the notoriety comes between different cities, so the player can gain a sense of dynamic gameplay that aids in the change of day to day life. Affecting notoriety comes intertwined with the realistic gameplay mission style: Ezio kills informants and good people for bad thugs in turn leads to the notoriety increasing. Should he do good things for a lot of people, notoriety drops and Ezio becomes the lively town prince that he is presented as to his close friends. To aid the change in life, the gameplay further adds a day/night system, which is not scripted anymore. A day and night system in Assassin’s Creed II presents a level of continuity and realism that the living world badly lacks in the previous iteration. A notoriety system combined with a day/night cycle gives Assassin’s Creed II substance that is both exhilarating and revitalizing.

Combat mechanics are fluid and furthermore have a level of electric progression both emotionally and physically with Ezio’s character in Assassin’s Creed II. As the storyline increases, and the proficiency gets more and more difficult with enemy A.I., Ezio learns to adapt. The subtle changes from the way he wields his sword, to the way he sends enemies catapulting into the water to drown change as he embraces more of his inner assassin as the gameplay carries on. Various attacks are different and come in the same style as the first title: punch, grab, knee, and throw are made of variations with the right trigger button, and have nuances to them that are simplistic but also varied. In terms of combat weaponry, Ezio gains access to various weapons, which work on an upgrade system with shops or the ability to scavenge them off of defeated enemies. Most prominent in amazing feats of weaponry includes Ezio and his two hidden blades beneath his gauntlets and also a gun below his left hidden blade. In addition to normal weapons, certain allies or friends will be able to give Ezio special devices that allow him to complete certain missions or use it to traverse around the huge landscape, making a major addition to Assassin’s Creed II and weapon variety. With over 45 kinds of new weapons, Ezio will be sure to get the target but also be more fashionable to the sense of action in Assassin’s Creed II. The additional new system for upgrading and acquiring weapons provides flexibility to the world that really gives the free-roam scale meaning and every weapon more powerful than before.

A newer conception leads to more depth in the interaction of the combat with the environment  and an introduction to monetary reward for engaging with enemies, both sorely lacking with Assassin’s Creed I. After killing an enemy in the previous title, the protagonist would simply run away for cover into a group of monks as an outdated and extremely repetitive factor or tried to climb away at buildings in a faster pace, rarely escaping enemies in the process. Assassin’s Creed II allows players to furtively loot the bodies of defeated foes and also steal openly in public or be stolen from, adding a whole new factor to gameplay with the monetary system of Italy. Ezio is able to use money to heal himself from street doctors as a new element to gameplay, and uses money for bribes  to local courtesans for various reasons to be seen throughout the variety of mission structure. The monetary system follows closely behind the weapons upgrade cache to enable players to use the already well established upgrade system for different kinds of weapons, allowing the character to feel play a part with the economic community rather than just social and political influences of the 15th century. While enemies are degraded after a humilating loss, Ezio can also use stealth tactics to hide the bodies in various ways that are increasingly surprising throughout the game. The more in-depth combat within Assassin’s Creed II creates a stunning compliment to include stealth based tactics nd an introduction to a monetary system that engages the culture of 15th century Venice, Italy.

With combat comes greater enemies and A.I. talent. Assassin’s Creed II lives up to provide challenging enemies but also logical enemies that do not make it impossible for you to escape into the crowd. Ezio encounters heavily geared swordsman, to halberdiers, civilians and plain enemies in the crowd from a notorious family. While enemy A.I. is talented, they still slightly lack in a sense of believability. Sometimes as Ezio navigates through a path, an enemy will notice him from too far away and reclaim how he looks so familiar, and then all of a sudden everyone starts chasing him. There is no strong sense of believability in the approach, which makes the enemy A.I. seem at times unpersuasive as a whole. Assassin’s Creed II provides enemy A.I. who are mostly intelligent in their tactics and more skilled at fighting and approaching an assassin than ever before even if they are not very realistic.

Assassin’s Creed II has a more dynamic music system and does not start scripted anytime something awkward happens.  The Florentine culture and music is included with every note, and does not ruin the temperament of the music by feeling overly action intense. Most of the music is calm, and the brilliant part about the musical integration lies with music being played amongst the crowd in the environment itself, making the environment even more lively than before and showing the culture of the entire game. Custom soundtracks can still be used, but this creates an interesting blend between music and in-game music of Florentine culture that revolves around flute compositions that convey 15^th century Florentine culture that combines for a baroque inspiration that is brightly conveyed with the amazingly detailed environments. Music in Assassin’s Creed II is lively, entertaining, and most of all appropriate this time around to the culture of the surroundings.

Climb the rooftops, drop down from the sky, or just swim in the sea; everything is presumptive in Assassin’s Creed II. Ezio is an assassin that changes with the struggle he has to endure, and provides an invigorating glimpse into what it truly means to rise to the occasion for the first time. With powerful weapon selection, an incredible variety in mission gameplay, inspiring cutscenes for a deeper storyline plot than ever before, and a living and believable environment in the world of Renaissance Italy, Assassin’s Creed II gives players a trek they will not tire to experience multiple times. Grab some hidden blades and ensconce with undulating robes of renaissance Florentine culture: it is time to live life by the way of Ezio Auditore da Firenze and relive the Assassin’s Creed on an unprecedented scale.

It has been two years since Infinity Ward has let the giant known as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare loose. Once Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had been released from its cage, and was able to flex its massive guns, it had quickly taken over the First Person Shooter genre and had sold the most number of any action titles at the time. Fast forward to present day and Infinity Ward has catapulted us into the future of Modern Warfare. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has become exhausted from all the flexing in the last two years, and because people have found the creature’s weak spots, Infinity Ward has decided to release an evolved and more enhanced creature that goes by the name: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Beautiful environments, a real modern warfare grasp that enscorcels any shooting buff and delivers a realistic combat feel that allows Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to once again take over, and to show the audience what true war means.

The giant is inside of your television screens, lucidly glaring back to scare any other First Person Shooter title on the shelves far away. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 provides a terrific tale that makes the single-player action as intimidating as the rest of the title. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continues the story five years after where the prequel leaves off. The Russian nationalists are back and are led under the leadership of Vladimir Makarov. As the previous game, the singleplayer requires constant switching between different characters and environments, providing a broader feel for the storyline. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s singleplayer experience makes commendations to the storyling of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Players will encounter some returning characters from the previous game, and will meet a lively host of comrades to shoot next to and defend certain aspects of the army. Along the way, players will also come upon an exceptionally wide-jaw dropping variety of environments that ranges from frostbite rampant conditions in the snow, to the deep grasps of the territorial sharks in the water, and to the scorches and waterless surrounding of the desert.

The gameplay is analogous to the prequel for the more enhanced action of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The first Modern Warfare ran on the IW engine, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 now runs on a slightly upgraded version of the same engine, which is the IW 4.0, so there is not a monumental transformation in terms of general structure of the gameplay. New weapons and gadgets including most noticeably the Riot Shield and the Heartbeat Sensor have also been added to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, giving players more of a feel for not just weapons but also the technological weaponry enhancements. In order to allow players to take a break from all the action on the frontlines, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 does a good job of mixing the gameplay into a medley where players are driven into thrilling scenes featuring snow mobiles, water boats, helicopters, and underwater scuba diving to name just a few. Modern Warfare 2 also is simply stunning and immerses the player into the warzone and creates an extremely realistic atmosphere that is relevant to the experience during an actual modern day war (according to our Correspondent in the 10^th Bridgade – General Rowen Airen).

The singleplayer campaign has four difficulty settings; Recruit, Regular, Hardened, and Veteran. The typical player will be able to complete the campaign in around six to eight hours on the Regular difficulty, so the length of the game is very comparable to that of the first Modern Warfare. The great singleplayer experience that the series is known for is still there, and this time, it is even better than before thanks to the incredible immersing story.

With the singleplayer aside, Modern Warfare 2 offers a brand new cooperative mode called Spec Ops. This new mode supports up to two players, either online or split-screen locally, but can also be played alone. The way it is set up can easily be compared to the co-op mode in Splinter Cell: Double Agent, for anyone who has experience with that. Players are essentially put into different types of missions and are ordered to complete tasks for those missions. One mission could have a task you have to complete within a time limit or another could have you defend against a wave of enemies, so you will not be having too much of a limited or repetitive co-op experience here.

These missions will have players in familiar locations that are straight from the singleplayer mode, but will have nothing to do with the main campaign of the game. The missions are set up in five different categories; Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo. All of these categories have five different missions each except Echo, which only has three, so players have a total of 23 different missions to play from, with or without their friends. Players will first start off with having only Alpha unlocked, and will need to complete missions and earn stars in order to advance onto other categories. The way you earn stars is simple; each mission has three difficulty settings; Regular, Hardened, and Veteran. The stars you are rewarded depends on which difficulty you complete the mission on. Completing a mission on Regular will grant you with only one star, Hardened two, and Veteran three. These stars do not stack per mission, so the maximum number of stars you can get per each mission is three. The new Spec Ops mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is definitely a good addition to the series, but we feel they could have made it even better by upping the amount of players to four instead of two. Nonetheless, it is still a great co-op experience that players will enjoy taking part in, whether they are playing alone or with a friend.

The singleplayer and cooperative Special Operatives modes are prodigious, but the primary action comes down to the core set of multiplayer action. The multiplayer resembles the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with a several improvements that tweak gameplay. Infinity Ward definitely uses the concept of trying to not fix what is not broken to please fans of the prequel and the current iteration. The progression system in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is built around experience points which constitute various levels that are in turn awarded unlockables. The game modes come packed with new ones and mostly the beloved ones from the previous Modern Warfare. New modes include few in number, most manifest in Capture the Flag and Demolition. The one new gameplay multiplayer mode is the intriguing yet relative 3^rd person mode, which consists of both 3^rd Person Teams and 3^rd Person Cage Match modes. These modes are both just played in 3^rd person. Although the need to have the option to play in those two 3^rd person game modes is incredible and exciting for anyone craving a new view, it will definitely not be replacing the first person aspect of the game any time soon. Playing in 3^rd person is entertaining, and offers players a change from all the first person action. Some of the strategies you would use in the first person modes will not work so well when playing in 3^rd person, so it forces players to create different strategies for both the different views. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 brings a multiplayer aspect that allows for an incredible playthrough with something traditional and also new and revealing.

Customization is the new and improved factor that provides players more identity. Players will find that they have more customization tools than the previous game. Now, people are able to customize what you want your three kill streaks to be, whether you want a helicopter drive by or a bomb drop, you make the calls. A total of 15 different kill streak rewards can be unlocked and selected / customized to the likings of the player. You are also able to customize and unlock more Call Signs, which are basically fancy titles and emblems that go beside your name (such as veteran, elite, etc). These are only displayed in-game in certain situations, like if someone captures a point or if you kill someone. A lot of the old perks that have been modified have also received some name changes as well. The not-so-well received perk that went by the name of Martyrdom in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has now been removed, and instead made into a Deathstreak. Deathsreaks are basically the absolute opposites of Killstreaks. If you have been killed three times in a row, you will receive the Deathstreak called Painkiller, which basically grants you with a health boost for a limited time after you re-spawn.

All of the interesting changes in the multiplayer factors provide the key difference between Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the prequel: the shots and hits seem to register much faster and are more accurate. Infinity Ward has improved the multiplayer for the better by re-introducing and improving upon the features beloved from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It will not be surprising to see people still playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for many more years until Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 arrives.

Multiplayer sees an addition of completely new sets of the maps, excluding maps from the previous game. Players will be able to play a total of 16 new maps plus the two map packs that will be released later on for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 gives players an experience that would otherwise be untenable: the experience to see war for what it is. With outstanding singleplayer experience that will have you at the edge of your seat, the entertaining Spec-Ops cooperative mode that will fill your hunger for a quick burst of fun, to the well-prized multiplayer experience that will once again be played for a good couple years, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the premiere and definitive title of modern warfare and combat of 2009. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 shows us that while war may be costly and oppressive, war brings a certain glory to it, comes with uncertain amount of thrill, and most of all: war reveals his hidden beauty.

Collaboration by: Berk Erilmez and Usman Ihtsham