Bioshock Infinite

Rescue a mysterious girl from a gorgeous, terrifying city in the sky

Release: March 26, 2013 (PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox 360)

By Ian Coppock

Ken Levine, a screenwriter-turned-game designer, has placed himself squarely at the tip of games' ascension into art with Bioshock Infinite. This game is a masterfully-written piece of narrative, with pacing and set pieces to match. If video games are to be taken seriously as artwork, they need to start hosting the arguments of what artwork is and what experiences they hold for the beholder. I can promise you that Bioshock Infinite will not disappoint. It may not amaze or inspire you as it did me, but the game is so beautifully designed that you'd have to try pretty hard not to be drawn in.

The Story

Bioshock Infinite takes place in 1912, and players assume the role of Booker DeWitt, a checkered private investigator. To pay off debts incurred by drinking and gambling, Booker takes a job offered by anonymous individuals to rescue a girl from a city called Columbia. He accepts, and soon finds that the assignment is more than he bargained for. Quite unexpectedly, he arrives to a majestic city floating 15,000 feet above the surface of the earth.

Columbia is one of the most beautiful game environments I've ever seen.

After arriving to Columbia, Booker learns that the city is a sort of ultra-American theocracy run by a president-priest named Zachary Comstock. He also learns that Columbia was built by the American government in 1893, but seceded from the Union following an unspecified diplomatic incident. After meandering through airborne streets and crowds of joyous citizens, Booker finds that the girl he was sent to rescue is being held hostage by Comstock, and has the ability to tear open portals to other dimensions. Comstock tracks Booker and recites, word-for-word, his formerly secret mission and even his thoughts. It becomes apparent that there's more to Columbia than meets the eye. After Booker springs Elizabeth from her jail, the pair must battle fascist civilians, anarchistic rebels, and cybernetic monsters in order to escape the city.

Booker soon realizes that Columbia's citizens are patriotic to an offensive and racist fault.

Like the original Bioshock, which was released in 2007, Bioshock Infinite is incredibly immersive. I was drawn into the game world almost from the first minute of gameplay, to the point where my couch and living room faded away before Columbia's sheer awesomeness. The game is intuitively designed to predict gamers' every exploration impulse. The environment also feels refreshingly organic; citizens gather on picnic blankets to discuss the day's news while shoe-shiners and ice cream salesmen peddle their wares to passerby. As the game progresses, it takes a much darker tone and Columbia's peaceful facade begins to tear away. The journey from light to dark felt completely organic, not that I noticed at the time (I was too busy drooling at the bright colors).

As Bioshock's story becomes heavier, the game's tone darkens without losing any of its beauty.

The game also eschews a considerable amount of character development. Unlike Jack, the silent protagonist of Bioshock, Booker DeWitt is a fully-voiced character, whose own observations and plans provide the guidance for the story. Elizabeth starts out as a childish 20-something who's free after 15 years cooped up in a laboratory, and it's rather amusing to watch her chase butterflies and leave you knocked out on a beach so she can go dance. Booker's rough cynicism clashes heavily with her exhilaration at being free, but the two characters eventually learn to trust and rely upon each other as they face more and more baddies in an increasingly hostile city. Elizabeth never seemed to lose her charm; Ken Levine wrote the character with antics that would ordinarily be annoying but that I thought were uplifting and funny, because I empathized with her having been imprisoned most of her life.

Booker and Elizabeth have to trust each other in order to survive in Columbia.

The gameplay is silky smooth, with effortless transitions between weapons and pseudo messed-up superpowers called Vigors, which give Booker such charming abilities as summoning a crowd of bloodthirsty crows or setting several dudes on fire. Elizabeth can use her tear ability to summon weapons, cover, and other handy dandy items. She can also look after herself and does not need escorting, and thank Christ for that, because nothing breaks immersion faster than having to babysit an NPC. I was free to focus on Booker's own health and well-being, which, in some of the more chaotic fight scenes, was pretty close to all I could handle anyway.

My one major complaint with Bioshock Infinite's story is its somewhat toothless take on philosophy. Bioshock was chock-full of philosophical and historical references, and centered around mankind's right to keep the fruits of his labors to himself. In Bioshock, Andrew Ryan was a bit of a bastard sometimes but he had some legitimate grievances and good philosophical arguments. These made me question which of us was "the bad guy" and added all the more to the story's tension and depth. Infinite's Comstock, while a well-written character, is a racist Christian fundamentalist whose own viewpoints, such as his idea that black people are animals, can be rejected with no challenge whatsoever. Existential philosophy is the heart of Bioshock narratives, and while it was present in Infinite, it was weakened by being so obviously antagonistic.

The Artwork

(slobber)

Bioshock Infinite was built on the Unreal Engine, and features incredibly beautiful scenery. The team at Irrational Games went into overdrive on their time period studies, and the entire city looks, feels, and breathes the American exceptionalism period of 1890-1920. The initial scenes are set with surreal bright lights and fantastic colors, and as the game darkens, the story's tone is further muted with subtle hues.

Bioshock Infinite's open worlds provide breathtaking vistas, especially when surveyed from a skycable.

I also enjoyed Infinite's artwork because it was more than a pretty backdrop. The environments were lively and believable. The floating buildings of Columbia bob in the breeze and gently brush against one another. Cargo trains trundle by, and people look at you funny for checking trashcans for coins. The environment, impossible as it seemed, was made real because the subtle things were accounted for. That was what really made the game immersive.

Beach in the sky? Seems legit.

The artwork is also detailed almost obsessively. Everything is brightly painted and polished, giving the impression that this is a 1912 World's Fair. The game's darker imagery serves as a counterweight by being insidiously somber; the game contains a fair amount of violence and bloodshed, and being a Bioshock game, portions of it are quite disturbing.

Should I get it?

Now that we've moved on from that engagement proposal of a review, we come to the recommendation. I recommend Bioshock Infinite more than any other game I've posted about. This game's story and writing are the apex of good game design, and the artwork will draw you in. It just will. Right now the game's a little pricey at $60, but if you feel like going on a dark but beautiful journey, be my guest.

Thanks for reading! Check back on Tuesday for my review of SCP: Containment Breach.

Marriage Equality for All

By Ian Coppock

Today, the Supreme Court begins hearing oral arguments about the constitutionality of denying marriage and other rights to gays and lesbians in the United States. Regardless of your feelings on homosexuality,  the ability to marry the person you love is a fundamental right, not a heterosexual privilege. On the grounds of constitutionality, fairness, compassion and justice, I urge everyone who reads this message to support the fight for equality. I don't like to get political on my blog, so it's a good thing that this is a human issue, not a political one.

In honor of today's historic push for gay rights, I'm posting an article I wrote last summer about how the video game industry is endorsing universal rights by including gay and lesbian characters in their games. I focused on Mass Effect 3 for this article. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think!

It makes me feel good when progressive trends emerge in our nation’s media. It makes me feel even better when those same trends appear in my favorite media: video games. Although it took years, the video game industry has begun to acknowledge the existence of gay and lesbian people. Bioware, a Canadian developer whose titles include the Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect series, took up this cause in earnest with Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect 3, a science fiction shooter with role-playing elements, was released on March 15^th for the PC and consoles such as the Playstation 3. In the game, players assume the role of Commander Shepard, a charismatic human soldier who must save the galaxy from an ancient race of machines called the Reapers, who harvest all sentient life every 50,000 years. Players can make their Shepard male or female, and customize countless other features. In Mass Effect 3, Bioware introduced two new characters, Samantha Traynor and Steve Cortez, who are crewmembers aboard Shepard’s ship.

What’s remarkable about these characters is that they mark the first time openly homosexual people have appeared in a mainstream game. Traynor freely discusses her sexual orientation upon meeting Commander Shepard for the first time, and Cortez is grieving the loss of his husband in a recent battle. These characters are each powerful and interesting people in their own right, and adhere to no stereotypes about the gay community. In the futuristic community of Mass Effect, homosexuality is seen as a normal and nonchalant fact of human society, which is exactly how it should be viewed in real life. Players even have the option of romancing Traynor or Cortez. It’s just a game, of course, but even being able to do that is a huge acknowledgement from Bioware that homosexuality is normal, and should be treated with respect.

This heartwarming endorsement from Bioware and Bioware’s parent company, Electronic Arts, is actually a significant victory for the gay community. When a cause gains media visibility, it is an indicator that the people in our society want that cause to be acknowledged. In other words, support for gay equality is growing, and quickly. Social conservatives can point to political agendas and secret gay conspiracies all they want, but the fact remains: Mass Effect 3 included gay characters because enough of the series’ fans asked for them

Media visibility can be used to attain almost anything. President John Kennedy called for an end to racial segregation after seeing images and reading letters from the civil rights movement. Indeed, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed one year later after growing support from all corners of society, including the media

We’re seeing the exact same thing happen all around us, right now. President Obama has called for gay equality after seeing the gay community fight for it, and who knows? Perhaps gay marriage and equality will be attained soon. The old Calvin and Hobbes adage of “yell loudly enough and someone will notice” works every time.

The video game industry has chosen to add to the metaphorical “yell”, and I applaud Bioware’s progressivism. The gay community is anything but alone in their fight for equality; the most powerful forms of media have endorsed their right to happiness and a normal life, through not only news coverage, but storytelling. I, for one, am proud of the industry I hope to one day work for. Every quip of dialogue in Mass Effect 3 from Samantha Traynor or Steve Cortez is a message: “We’re here. We’re normal. And gay people can save the galaxy too.”

3/21 Update

Hey everyone,

Right now I'm finishing up my graduation portfolio. It's important, but it's keeping me away from the desk and the gaming. I apologize for not putting up the Rayman Origins review; next week I'm going to review Bioshock Infinite on the 26th and put up Chris Diller's interview a week from tomorrow. Things have gotten busy, like end-of-college busy, so bear with me for the next week or so. I'd appreciate it :D

How to play really scary games

By Ian Coppock

Before you go any further, I need you to stare at that picture of me. That's my scary game face.

The reason why I had you stare at that picture is because, though I seek out scary games like a drug addict seeks out a broken pharmacy window, I get scared too. Actually, terrified. After Short Horror Week, a bunch of my friends asked me how I could stand playing these games without crapping my pants, to which I immediately responded, "who said I didn't crap my pants"?

The point is that I can play horror games because I have a few tricks for doing so, and so does anyone else. None of us are immune to being terrified, though some of us might enjoy the adrenaline rush. If you're one of those people, or you're looking to get into enjoying the thrill of a scary game, I've taken the liberty of compiling some helpful strategies for doing so. Some of them are a little unconventional, but they helped me feel like I stood a chance against the monster/ghost/mad scientist at the end of the tunnel. Here we go.

Method One: Assume something nasty is around every corner

This is essential to playing any horror game. Scary games are scary because you have limited resources against which to fight a superior foe, so it's essential to pace yourself. Generally, you'll do better in horror games if you progress slowly. Make your character walk slower, and occasionally check behind you to make sure you haven't picked up any stalkers.

Take horror games SLOWLY. There's no point in running loudly around the next corner only to find something waiting for you.

Exploration in a horror game is a double-edged sword. The chance that you'll find an item you need is usually equal, if not less than, the chance of stumbling upon something unfriendly. Therefore, it's critical to assume something nasty is around every corner. Most games have a camera function that will allow you lean or look around corners, which is insanely helpful if you're being hunted by a less-than-amicable person or creature. If you still like to explore, I'd recommend doing so only if your character needs something like a first aid kit or flashlight batteries. Exploring is fun, but in a horror game it can mean death or soiling of the trousers if not done carefully.

Method Two: SNEAK

This is a big one. A monster is only as deadly as its ability to perceive your character. If the horror game you're playing has a stealth or crouch function, use the hell out of it. I've yet to encounter a game where the monster can find you as easily if you're tiptoeing, and I play too many games.

Sneaking is a great way to keep yourself out of unpleasant situations. 

This goes hand-in-hand with taking your time in a horror game. Patience is your greatest weapon for making it through one of these game alive. Explore carefully, walk silently, and use that crouch function. Take all the precautions you can to be as ghostly as the creatures looking for you, at least in the quiet, or um, not being there sense. Don't let your sense of fear or revulsion seize up those running controls, because that's exactly what the game designer (and the monster) want you to do.

In some games, like Slender: The Eight Pages, the monster already knows where you are. The best thing to do in this situation is to remain calm and refrain from whatever activity attracts it, in this case, running. This is another example where patience ultimately wins the day.

Method Three: Get Mad

I'm not kidding. Call me weird, but if I get mad at the monster I'm trying to beat or sneak by, it becomes a lot less scary. I'm no psychologist, but anger can be a great way to make the threat seem less horrific. For example, the only way I got through Slender was by telling Slendy to f*** off every time I saw him. By reducing him to something to yell at instead of something to fear, it became a lot easier to play the game.

At least for me.

SLENDY, GET OUT!! It's not cool to stare at me while I'm in the bathroom, you creeper!!

If this method sounds a little too silly or ridiculous, keep on truckin'. I used it because honestly, I didn't know how else to carry myself through some of these games, scary as they were. But, if you have the audacity to yell and swear at something, you're probably not as scared of it, right?

Method Four: Carry an inanimate object with you so you don't suffer alone

After reading that title, you're probably wondering why I deprave myself of sanity to the point where I pick up an object so I have a little friend against the monsters. If the game's that scary, is it worth playing?

Personally, I'd still say yes. But you're welcome to raise an eyebrow if you so choose. I wouldn't blame you.

Portuguese note!!!! You'll be my friend, right? Right??? RIGHT???? Oh God please be my friend...

One time I was playing a game called Amnesia: The Dark Descent, a game where you descend alone into the monster-infested bowels of a 19th-century castle. Most of the game is extremely dark and unsettling, and it took me a while to work around to playing it, much less progressing. At the beginning of the game, I picked up a wooden crate, named it Bogsworth, and took it with me. It started out as a joke, but I started feeling like having Bogsworth with me meant that my character wasn't suffering alone. Bogsworth was a comforting constant, a port in the monster storm. An object to which I grew attached that gave me comfort in the horrible darkness. A monster might have been after me, but at least I had this box which I'd started to love, who would be there in case I got mangled and left to bleed all over the Prussian tapestry. No one should die alone.

If I get mental hospital people at my doorstep in the next few hours, I won't begrudge any of you for picking up that phone.

Method Five: Take a break

Don't ask me how something this obvious belongs after my crazy-people methods, but it seemed like a nice way to wrap up the article. Sometimes, a game can be just too much. There's a line between being scared and being disturbed, and if you feel like you're starting to cross it, leave your computer and go do something else for a while. Much as I love horror games, they can get quite intense sometimes. If you need a break from the adrenaline and terror rush of avoiding monsters or exploring a scary environment, that's normal. Drink tea, read a book, or create a support system for the scariness. Doing so will make it much more dignified if you start screaming for your mother.

I hope this guide helps, please let me know your own strategies for playing scary games, or if some of my methods just didn't work for you. Also, tell me about your favorite scary games and why you like to get creeped out! Thanks for reading, everyone. I'll see you on Tuesday with another game review :D

Love,

Ian

Post-script: The images in this article came from (in order) Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Dead Space concept artwork, Slender: The Eight Pages, and Pesadelo.

Mass Effect

Embark upon an ever-evolving quest to save the galaxy from an ancient threat

Release: November 20, 2007 (Xbox 360, PC)

By Ian Coppock

Lately I've had more time on my hands, which makes no sense considering the impending end of college. But while I just LOVE drowning in a muddy pile of homework and obligations, I took some time off from life last week and decided to play Mass Effect, a game that successfully combines good old-fashioned space adventure with a galaxy full of original ideas. Bioware sticks to what they know, and what they know is how to deliver a mostly excellent story well worth 20 hours or so of gameplay.

The Story

Mass Effect is a science-fiction RPG set almost two centuries in the future, where humanity explores the stars using advanced alien technology discovered on Mars. The game's namesake refers to dark matter, known in-game as Element Zero, which has the ability to increase or decrease an object's mass. This cool little chemical makes it possible for instantaneous space travel through giant slingshot-like devices called Mass Relays. 

Flying into this thing instantly transits you to another location.

The story begins roughly 20 years after humanity made first contact with a colorful alliance of alien races. What's awesome about this game is that you get to create your player character, Commander Shepard, by picking male or female templates and then customizing such features as skin color, face shape, and hairstyle. The resultant badass-in-the-making is your space-saving gunslinger, to whom you can assign a variety of powers and weapon specialties. The game plays like a pretty conventional shooter, with a large palette of weapons and plenty of cover to duck behind. Even if you're not a fan of shooters, the gameplay is simple enough and the story awesome enough for the game to still be worth your time.

The official look of Commander Shepard. Not recommended for people who think women can't fight.

The other cool thing about Mass Effect is that your character can talk, a rarity in games where you make your protagonist. A conversation wheel mechanic is used to make your point to other characters as nicely or rudely as you please. Through this, players can characterize their Shepard to be compassionate or a hardass. Like other Bioware games, your character has something of a morality system, but it's not based on good and evil. It's based mostly on whether you reach out to other alien species or brush past them xenophobe-style.

From top to bottom: friendly, neutral, to-the-point. Or as I like to call it: brown nosing, indifferent, and snarky.

Shepard is also second-in-command on an experimental warship called the Normandy, and assumes control of the ship just in time to embark on a perilous race to save the galaxy from an ancient threat. From there, the plot is heavily inspired by words like epic and grand-scale, though I hesitate to use them sarcastically. The game really does have a tight, interwoven plot, which sees Shepard visiting a variety of worlds all to prevent galactic destruction. There's also an interesting story dynamic in that Shepard works at the behest of both the human military and the combined authority of an alien alliance, whose leaders don't always see eye to eye. This creates a tension and leaves the player wondering whom to be more loyal.

Mass Effect is full of cool alien species, each with their own history, mannerisms, and characters. Some of them get along with humans better than others.

As Shepard, you face off against a rogue military operative named Saren, who commands an army of creepy, flashlight-headed robots called Geth. The story's a little more complicated than that, so rather than spoil it, I'll dance around it like I usually do.

The Normandy, Shepard's ride. This sleek, cloakable ship leaves most competition in the space-dust.

Mass Effect has some nice pacing, and the main plot is supplanted by at least one or two novels' worth of history and stories. Shepard carries a handy dandy codex that you can fill as you go, getting information on everything from Hanar customs to the Quarians' exile from their homeworld. Side missions explore the joys and perils of space life, as well as the sometimes contentious relationship humans share with other species. All of this combines to build a decent narrative that can be as focused or expansive as the player wants.

Shepard also gathers a multiracial squad to help him bring down Saren, and you can build close friendships with them and learn their back stories. One or two are also eligible for a romantic relationship, though this creates that sort of video game guilty-silliness dynamic. Your squadmates also vary wildly, ranging from a petite archaeologist to a grizzled 500-pound bounty hunter.

Shepard can use the Normandy to travel across the Milky Way galaxy, which is necessary for both the main story missions and side quests that see you land planetside in a bouncy buggy-tank called the Mako. Shepard can also scan planets for rare artifacts and archaeological treasures, which I thought was cool, though I wish it was  more than a text window. All of this makes the galaxy actually feel huge; Shepard visits several worlds for the main story and can crash-land on probably two dozen others if he/she so elects.

The Artwork

Mass Effect has some beautiful artwork, with expansive environments and colorful alien species. The galaxy is also studded with vivid planets and bizarre, beautiful landscapes. That being said, the game was released in 2007 and its visuals haven't exactly aged well. The character animations are a little stiff and Shepard seems to suffer a stroke every time he tries to pull a happy or sad facial expression. Shadows sometimes appear distorted and it can take time for environmental textures to load all the way. But, these are minor concerns in the face of the game's sheer visual awesomeness.

The Citadel, a space city that serves as the heart of galactic civilization, and one of my favorite visuals.

Mass Effect definitely goes for an arty spin on realism, probably to bring out the color and visuals in the alien races Shepard encounters. Some of the planetary environments can get a little monotonous in color, but I was distracted from this by being able to drive across the terrain. The game's musical score reeks of geek, with plenty of synths to pump the atmosphere full of sci-fi awesomeness. The music turns a little more epic for space battles and the like, but this creates a pleasant balance rather than a cognitive dissonance.

Should I get it?

Yes. Mass Effect was one of the highlights of generation seven and received critical acclaim across the board. I echo most of these sentiments, save a few art flaws and story quirks that are mostly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. You can find a copy of the game for $20 or less, so get cracking! This game is a must-have for any story geeks or shooter fans.

A quick update and my thoughts on the next consoles

Hey everyone,

As you may have noticed, it's been a while since my last post. I've spent much of the past two weeks recuperating from an extremely minor surgery. Nothing too serious, but I'm stepping back into the blogging rotor today. I appreciate your patience, so let's jump back into games! Yeah!

No, really, I'm fine. Just... hungry.

What's happening in the gaming world right now?

There's a sort of grand, invisible wheel that's slowly marking the end of an era. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii were a sort of triumvirate binding us all together... at least, those of us who couldn't afford to buy/build a kickass gaming computer. The Wii U launched this past summer, seeking (and failing) to re-brand itself as a console for anyone other than casual gamers or small children. With the announcement of the PlayStation 4, and rumors of the next Xbox console, we're coming upon the dawn of the eighth generation of gaming consoles. It's a very exciting time, though my wallet might disagree if it could talk.

Right now, a lot of PlayStation 4 specifications have been released, such as its impressive processing power and the re-release of older PlayStation games for digital download. I want to touch on some of the disturbing rumors about the next Xbox, such as Internet connection-only functionality and a watermark that only lets discs work on the first console they play on, but these are just rumors. I can't debate Microsoft until they can take the duct tape off and unveil their console, but I can, and will, once that happens. 

Bring me up to speed. What did you talk about last time?

My last post was about the next Assassin's Creed game, and frankly, it's a post I regret. I stand by my assertions about art and how quality can become quashed by a desire for cash, but I got away from what was really important. We resonate with art because it feels intimate. It presents an experience we identify with on a very fundamental level. That is my concern with Assassin's Creed; how much is too much? When do we decide that enough of an experience is indeed enough and move on to another one? The series that ended on their high notes are still beloved; my favorite examples are the Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes comic series. I hope that I'm wrong about Black Flag and that it turns out to be awesome, but we'll see.

Are you actually going to write more reviews now?

Yes! Now that I'm fully recovered I'm back for more, and glad you're back too! Tomorrow I'll be posting my next review: Mass Effect, so definitely look out for that. Thanks so much for your patience and your readership. I'll be posting a new review every Tuesday, and either reviews or more of my thoughts on Fridays. Keep checking back for new material.

Here's an announcement and a rant about Assassin's Creed IV

By Ian Coppock

I kid you not. The next Assassin's Creed game has been leaked, and there's a piece of artwork to prove it. Also, a trailer. 

Apparently, someone at Ubisoft fell asleep on the "release teaser" button, and the gaming media is slowly buzzing about the latest cog in the AC machine. The company quickly retracted the trailer, but not before a small handful of media-savvy bastards, such as myself, found the incriminating material.

I'm a huge Assassin's Creed fan, which goes hand-in-hand with my history nerdyness. But the announcement of a new AC game not even six months after the release of Assassin's Creed III fills me with consternation, not excitement. Yes, the game looks very epic and beautiful and blah de blah, but the franchise is starting to blaze a trail of no return: cash cowdom.

Remember the Shrek films? It all started with a very original idea: a satirical take on fables. The first movie was awesome, and something I enjoyed very much. As you may also recall, it smashed some records and made Dreamworks filthy frickin' rich. So, the logical next step is to make MOAR movies, right? Sure. The second one was alright. The third SUUUUUCKED. I got about five minutes into the fourth one before feeling the need to rewind my retinas on a pair of toothpicks. And I haven't bothered to watch all the side material and home releases.

My point is that the Shrek franchise started off strong, but was diluted into mediocrity by Dreamworks' valuing cash over art. They bled the series beyond dry by putting out shitty films that still made money, at the expense of their reputation. And I'm not just picking on Shrek, here. There are dozens, probably hundreds, of media series that started off great but were worn down and pressed beyond their time. Garfield comics, The Office TV show and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies immediately come to mind.

I'm worried that Assassin's Creed is headed down the same road. Rather than break new ground or put the series through a longer development cycle, Ubisoft appears determined to milk AC for all it's worth and then some. We've already seen this; I loved AC I, II, and III but Brotherhood and Revelations were thinly-disguised cash cows, whose main plot points could have been resorbed into the other games without skipping a beat.

It wasn't that they were bad, so much as unnecessary. Well, Revelations was actually kinda bad.

I'm concerned that, like Brotherhood and Revelations, Assassin's Creed IV will turn out to be a pea soup-thin story in heavy makeup. Ubisoft has defended its practice of releasing a new AC game each year by saying that they're just addressing demand, but I don't buy it. The ball's in your court, Ubisoft. It takes more courage to put three years into an amazing game than eight months into a crappy one, but those of us who love this series will thank you for it. And we're happy to wait. Half-Life 2 came out in 2004 but you don't see that series losing any fans over something as trivial as time!

But, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this will turn out to be the best game yet in the series and I'm just ranting like that old guy at the store who chastised me for eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch instead of bran flakes.

But I'm not holding my breath.

3/2 Update

Hey everyone,

Over the past week or so, I've had some minor medical problems go down. Nothing too serious, but it's kept me away from my desk, and all of you. Recovery shouldn't take that long, and once I'm all patched up, I'll begin posting regular content again. Sorry about the delay. In the meantime, feel free to read Belltow3r Gaming and see what you think.

Appreciate your readership! And patience :D

~Ian