A bunch of games

It's summer holiday over here in Romania, so I might just stick around a bit more, since I've been doing quite a decent amount of gaming lately. The latets title that I've crossed off my list are Assassin's Creed 2 and Duke Nukem Forever. I guess Assassin's Creed 2 was actually epic. The first one had lots of flaws (the most important one being the fact that it was horribly repetitive after a while), but I still enjoyed it, to a certain extent. The 2nd game, managed to fix most of the issues with AC1. It still felt repetitive after a while, but it didn't bug me out as much. Moreover, the new weapons add new ways of approaching assassinations/escaping, thus bringing much needed fun to the table. Besides this, the locations are superbly designed. The attention the architecture recieved made sure that climbing tall structures, or simply running on the roofs of buildings was a treat to the eye. I personally liked the twist the story took at the end, so all I can say is that I'm looking forward to Brotherhood.

 

Duke Nukem Forever was a title I never thought I would get my hands on, to be honest. When Gearbox picked it up, I rejoiced, knowing that they did a decent job with Borderlands. Duke Nukem Forever, turned out to be a dull experience though. The two weapon limit, the absence of the Mighty Boot(and I'm not talking about the car here ...), the excessive platforming which gave you the impression that it took more time out of the game than the actual shooting did ... these were elements that managed to hold me back from enjoying DNF as much as I would have liked. But it wasn't all bad, really. The one-liners were still there. There also were a bunch of references to modern titles (which were well-placed IMO) and , the last bossfight, though a bit too much like the others, had a moment when all I wanted to do was go outside and yell "Well, f**k yeah!". So, overall, DNF is not an excellent title. It has issues and lots of them. However, given the bumpy development process it went through, I feel that giving it 3.5 or it's equivalent is a bit too harsh. Sure, it might feel dull most of the time, but there are some things that make it quite enjoyable , every now and then.

 

Up next on my list, is The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, a game which I anticipated ever since the Alpha version gameplay videos were out. I even got my hands on the collector's edition (which offered quite a lot of things, actually. The game seems to be quite solid from the first few hours of playing and the gameplay changes that are present help towards making the experience fell more plausible. I always liked how the first game made you feel like you were actually a witcher, that you had to prepare before fights and that you were never really accepted anywhere despite helping people. The 2nd one is much better at portraying this from what I saw so far. I'll be back in a few days with thoughts on it.

 

Lifewise, I'm about to see Judas Priest and Whitesnake in about 2 weeks or so. I can barely wait, given how the Opeth and Katatonia show here was cancelled right before it took place. As it is summer holiday, I've got some extra time for reading. I'm currently going through a collection of H.P. Lovecraft short stories and he might just end up to be my favourite writer. There's something about each and every one of his short stories that makes you want to read more. It would be quite hard to choose a favourite out of all that I've read so far, but I guess The Rats in the Walls and The Outsider are the first two that come to mind. After that I'll most likely read The First Heretic or A Thousand Sons , both Black Library books ( they portray events based on the Warhammer 40000 universe).

 

So that's about it and to leave you with a question, what are your thoughts on Duke Nukem Forever and Assassin's Creed 2? And did you happen to get your hands on The Witcher 2?