There are a few explanations that come to mind when pondering the inclusion of a framing narrative in the Assassin’s Creed story: it allows subsequent games to jump anywhere in history; it provides another layer of both plot and gameplay on top of the rich historical settings; it acts as a legitimiser for the historical parts of the game; it gives the player control of a novice, equally confused about what is happening to him; and it even perhaps acts as a metaphor for videogames themselves. All well and good, but I’m going to debunk as many as I can. I think Assassin’s Creed 2 is a much riper fruit for this kind of criticism, so that’s where I’ll source most of the examples I’ll be using. Desmond’s genetic memory is used to allow him access to his ancestors’ lives, to become them and live their lives as they lived. You could argue that without such a device, it would be difficult for the game to leap from era to era as it has; from 12th century Holy Land to Renaissance Italy. While it is an imaginative way to link subsequent titles to the original, why not have Ezio realise he ...

In the last decade there have been around 20 big-budget blockbuster movies based on well-known comic book characters, and the vast majority of them have been given the inevitable tie-in game treatment.  Some, like X Men Origins: Wolverine and Spiderman 2 are actually worth a look, if still ultimately too flawed to really stand up to the best that the world video games can offer, while the likes of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Watchmen: The End Is Nigh offer little to entice us beyond an official licence. Batman, however, has been lucky.  Rocksteady Studios opted to cut out a stage in the usual game-based-on-a-movie-based-on-a-comic routine, instead going straight to the source material.  The result is Batman: Arkham Asylum - in my and many others opinion, easily the best comic book game ever made. Rocksteady Studios are a relatively new developer, founded in 2004 in London, with the forgettable (but by no means terrible) PS2 and Xbox shooter Urban Chaos: Riot Response their only previous title.  But their youth is somewhat deceiving, as they were in fact founded by former members of Argonaut Games, a company that dates back to 1982, but who were forced to close in 2004 due ...

Over the last few years, blogs and websites on the internet have begun to define themselves as ‘critics’ of games, rather than simply reviewers or writers on the subject. It’s a muddy area, and an interesting one, because this self-imposed dichotomy is just as inconsistent as in other media. A film critic writes reviews of films. Book reviews in broadsheet newspapers are often written by academics, critics in their field. There is an interesting perception that games (and, I’d suggest, games writers) have an inferiority complex about this. The currently accepted idea seems to be that reviewing is reactionary; a summary of a game’s strengths and faults, published quickly after its release. And criticism is seen as more considered; a personal or cultural assessment of the game’s impact and influences. Reviews are for people who are considering buying the game, criticism is for those that have played it and want something to think about. The urge to disassociate yourself from what boils down to a buyer’s guide is understandable. But in trying to move away from reviews and towards criticism, these writers have come upon a third place. Criticism of other media works because academic culture has been built up slowly ...

All drama regarding Left 4 Dead 2’s timeliness and Valve’s responsibilities as a giver of downloadable content now happily over, and with the game’s release long gone, it’s about time for a review. The nature of publishing such an article so long after the date of birth is such that it offers the glorious benefit of hindsight. This is probably as close as we’ll get to a review of the decade, so think of it like that; but only concentrating on the last three months, and on one game. Left 4 Dead 2’s biggest achievement is that it gets you to play as a team. Valve has been praised more than once for actually trusting the player to know what to do during the apocalypse, but in truth it doesn’t let you do much else. Going alone leads to such a quick failure that working together is all you can do. Each of the special infected have the power to incapacitate you within seconds, leaving you helpless without backup. Lose enough health and fall to the floor, and the only way to go on is with the help of a teammate picking you up. Even venture too close to a high ...

Tim Schafer’s latest game was released to a fairly predictable reception in October 2009: conditional praise. The mind of the man behind much of Monkey Island has always been best at writing games and creating concepts. Schafer’s previous effort at the helm of his development company, Double Fine, was Psychonauts; a brilliantly conceived concept and a well told narrative wrapped around a slightly awkward platform game. Brutal Legend is certainly a more polished effort, but it does fall into some of the same traps. Despite the fact that Schafer set-out to make a game in which you control battles on a large scale, this strategy element was poorly advertised, and many reviews denounced it for various reasons. The fast pace of the action can be too confusing, and it’s tricky to do anything with individual troops, which tends to mean that I’ll send my entire army around the battlefield on small consecutive causes, rather than splitting them up for effective slaughter. Fighting and driving sections are far punchier; the action is simpler and generally more rewarding, and most of the time they hold together as a decent action-adventure game. What really ties the game together is the art direction. The characters either look ...

Should a game be reviewed as if it existed in a vacuum, or is context king? Should sequels or remakes be judged in the shadow of their predecessors, or should they be scrutinised as if previous titles never existed?  And, more pertinently still- is such objective, dispassionate criticism even possible? Weighty questions, perhaps, but ones that New Super Mario Bros Wii. bring bubbling to the surface for gamers and reviewers alike. This is because in New Super Mario Bros. Wii's case, context is difficult to ignore- for a whole host of reasons. As the first 'proper' 2D Mario console platformer in nearly two decades, a new entry in gaming's most celebrated series will inevitably be viewed through the prism of its rich heritage. Another critical part of NSMB Wii's context is that it comes in the wake of the monstrously successful New Super Mario Bros. on DS- and here, a confession is in order.  This reviewer was left more than a little cold by the DS iteration. Sure, the platforming was never less than rock solid- it was a Mario game after all- but I detested that in the fifteen year interim period between Yoshi's Island, released way back in 1995, and the ...