NG Crew Top 5 Of 2012 – Dan’s List

Hey guys, I’m back and I’m here with my top 5 games of 2012.  Now as my good friend Dave O’Laughlin had stated in his post, 2012 had quite a few quality games and picking my list wasn’t an easy task.  Alas I have made my selections only unlike Mr. O’Laughlin I did not cop-out, my top 5 are in order.  So bring the hate and the Hitler comparisons in the comments about how I am dead wrong and tell me what game is clearly better than my list of five.  After all, isn’t that what the internet is for?

#5
Diablo 3

“Diablo 3 sucked.”  “Blizzard ruined the series.”  “I want my money back.”

Shut up, all of you.  Diablo 2 in my opinion is one of if not the best PC game of all time.  Diablo 3 was a great game that was doomed to be ridiculed from the start because of the massive shoes it had to fill.  That being said Blizzard made a game that was fun to play alone or with friends.  Every class felt different when I played them. The world of Sanctuary is filled with rich environments, Complex detailed enemies, and huge boss fights.  Did I mention individual loot?  No more loot whoring!  It’s not often that 12 years later you can release a sequel and sell 10 million copies.  This game is fun and after writing this I think I’ll be revisiting D3 before too long.

#4
Need For Speed Most Wanted

This was a game I was really looking forward to as I was a die-hard fan of the first Most Wanted.  However, this is a very different game than the original.  Most notably getting away from the cops can be hard, and I mean HARD.  I have had cop chases where after 20-25 minutes I’ve just pulled over put my controller down and surrendered to the boys in blue.  I would prefer to skip the open world driving concept were you have to drive to the races on your map.  That being said, when the racing does start it’s challenging and a lot of fun.  Now if only EA would stop force feeding me Origin… (Still can’t see your ugly mug on those billboards Dave.)

#3
Assassins Creed 3

Assassins Creed 3 answered a lot of questions relating to Desmond’s present day story and of course raised a few more.  The beauty in the Assassin’s Creed series has always been the combat and free running.  After all, nothing says “I’m a bad ass assassin” quite like tomahawking a few red coats in the face.  If you have played an AC game before the combat is more of the same, but in what seems like par for the course, it has been refined and tuned to perfection.  The AnvilNext engine made epic naval combat possible.  These iconic sea battles were my favorite part of the latest installment of this fantastic franchise.

#2
Mass Effect 3

The conclusion of my favourite game franchise of all time.  Terrible ending or not, no series has pulled me in and made me so attached to the characters around me.  In preparation of Mass Effect 3’s release I started a Mass Effect marathon where I played through ME, ME2, and carried that character into ME3.  The cameo appearances of characters from the previous two games are a very nice touch.  It is amazing how the characters would reflect on what I did or a choice I had made during a mission in one of the previous installments.  The sheer amount of voice over work for this game must have been ridiculous.  Then again that is nothing new for Bioware.  The combat was dead on as it had been all series.  The games ending was very disappointing especially after carrying a save file all the way from the beginning.  You could say that Mass Effect 3’s ending was full of tentacles and disappointment….

#1
Borderlands 2

Plain and simple, this game is fun.  Stupid, ridiculous, outrageous, stupendous, awesome amounts of fun.  I still remember when I fell in love with this game.  I was maybe level 10 or 11 and it was the first time I took a goliaths head off and saw him hulk out on a midget and level up I knew I was going to play the crap out of this game.  I have beaten this game countless times with different characters and yet each time the Nova Gamer crew gets together we always seem to end up playing this game.  Each and every time that we put this game disc in our systems something ridiculous seems to happen. Not to mention this game has the best villain I have ever experienced in a video game. I just loved to hate this guy, he is hilariously cruel. The writers at Gearbox Software deserve a raise after this one.

So that’s my list of my top 5 games of 2012.  Be sure to leave a comment stating how offended you are that I left out a certain game.

Assassin’s Creed 3 Review – Is It Revolutionary?

Assassin’s Creed 3
Ubisoft

X360, PS3 – October 30th, 2012
WiiU – November 13th, 2012
PC – November 20th, 2012

The year is 2012 and on December 21^st a catastrophic solar flare will shoot outward from the sun destroying all life on earth. That is unless you, Desmond Miles can unravel the secrets left behind by an ancient civilization that fought, but ultimately fell victim to the same fate that now faces the human race.

These beings from the prior civilization left clues and information for Desmond to find through re-enacting the lives of his ancestors. With the aid of your fellow modern day band of Assassin’s, you are able to relive the memories of these ancestors through a machine called the Animus. The Animus allows Desmond to access his ancestor’s memories through his DNA. Trust me, the science checks out.

In the first Assassin’s Creed (AC) we relived the life of Altair and were able to explore the cities of Acre, Jerusalem, and Damascus during the Crusades period.  We then jumped forward to the renaissance era with Assassin’s Creed 2. In AC2, Brotherhood, and Revelations we relived the life of Ezio climbing, running and killing our way across great cities such as Florence, Rome, Constantinople, and Venice. Finally, in Assassin’s Creed 3, you will enter the Animus and relive the events of America’s final colonial years through your Native American ancestor Connor. Who’s ready for a revolution?

Back to the Animus Desmond.

This time around you will be reliving the memories of Desmond’s Native American ancestor Connor. You will see Connor grow from a young carefree boy to a quick tempered man with a dark past. After some troubling events involving your tribe you plea to the tribe leader to fight and defend your land from the ever expanding Europeans and Colonists. You are unable to convince your leader to fight but she grants you release from the tribes land. She then directs you to a house so you may be trained in ways that might help you shape the future of your people. Trained in the way of the assassin.

Assassin’s Creed 3 takes place in 2 of the most iconic cities in America, Boston and New York. You will also get to explore the vast and very much alive frontier. Now since the game takes place about 250 years ago, don’t expect to recognize much. That being said the new AnvilNext engine that AC3 uses makes it impossible not to walk around and bask in 17th century America. The people are alive and bustling around the city while the wildlife in the frontier can be both majestic and dangerous. Since you are playing Connor over a span of many years you will also experience seasonal changes in AC3. Each season does look distinctively different and immerses you more into the world.

The first 3 hours the game has you pretty much on rails as it takes about that long for you to begin playing Connor as an assassin (avoiding spoilers). After those first few hours your finally set loose to play the game as you see fit. There is a ton to do in AC3, you can hunt, trade, build your homestead, upgrade your ship, engage in a naval battle, collect pages, and of course, assassinate people. That being said, you may have a hard time caring about the optional stuff unless you’re a true completionist. While a lot of the extra content is good, the game does a poor job explaining what you can do in the world and how it will benefit you. For example, it would be very easy for a newcomer of the series to miss that you could recruit a team of assassins, level them up, and have them aid you.

The game’s story, while shorter than some other AC titles is well pieced together, and will keep you interested throughout the game. While most of the game is spent in the Animus as Connor, they have brought back a few Desmond story missions. This time you won’t mind playing Desmond though as it is almost as fun as playing Connor. If you were a fan of the story in any of the previous games you should enjoy the plot as Ubisoft doesn’t change their model for AC3 very much. The Animus based “Connor story” wraps up well and is satisfying. The modern day Desmond story leaves it anything but wrapped up, no doubt allowing for DLC and more games down the road. As I said, typical Assassin’s Creed.

The gameplay and combat is fast and rewarding as it was in the previous titles. There are a lot of weapons to experiment with and tons of different kill animations. In this the game improves on its already tried and true formula. However, AC3 is not without its problems. The game has more than its fair share of graphical glitches. From your weapons turning invisible, to your character not leaping a crate as he should in a chase sequence, to the good old Brit in a rock, it’s buggy! This is the first game built on the AnvilNext engine so some bumps in the road are expected. But technology is like a sports referee, they’ve done the best job when they’re not noticed. When glitches affect gameplay, it hinders the experience and is a constant reminder that you’re playing a game.

Viewpoints have always been a staple in the series, but in AC3 the viewpoints are some of the most generic yet. A prime example is while exploring the frontier you will climb the exact same large tree about 10 times. Not only that, but once you reach the top and look for a pile of brush to do a leap of faith into, you can’t find it because of the foliage around you. Instead you will find yourself making a blind 50/50 attempt each time and either jump the right direction or just kill yourself like an idiot.

The new game engine really shines during naval combat. Ubisoft hyped up the naval combat something fierce before the release of AC3, and I can see why. The sea battles are AMAZING! From the many weather conditions to the different kinds of ships you battle to different bonus objectives, shooting cannonballs has never been this much fun. I was very disappointed that there was no multiplayer mode for naval battles. Imagine you and 3 of your friends fighting another group of 4 ships in a 4v4 mode. Perhaps a free for all game type with up to 8 players. Maybe even a Coop wave based survival mode where the British send larger and larger waves of ships at you and your friends until finally you’re sunk. Sigh… All I can do is hope for DLC.

Speaking of multiplayer, the Assassin’s Creed series manages to keep its multiplayer experience different from others with its free-for-all assassination mode. As with the previous AC games as you sneak around trying to eliminate your targets, whilst attempting to evade detection from the other players in the match. This game type is thrilling and if you play it properly, using stealth to kill, the game rewards you handsomely in your score. Ubisoft did add a new mode to the multiplayer in AC3. The Wolfpack mode sees up to 4 players kill a certain number of targets before time runs out in order to make it to the next sequence. If your time runs out you’re done. This new mode is rather boring and doesn’t showcase stealthy assassinations which is why we love the Assassin’s Creed games.

Assassin’s Creed 3 may take place during the American Revolution, but it’s not revolution for the series. That being said, this is a must have for any fan of the series, and is a great single player romp for players looking for those satisfying kills and assassination gameplay. The game improves slightly on all fronts of that of its predecessors with better story, gameplay, and visuals. However the lack of direction for the optional missions, loads of graphical glitches, and no multiplayer naval battle modes, is what holds AC3 from perfection.

Editors Note: This review copy was purchased with my own funds.

Xbox SmartGlass: What it is today? What can it become?

As of today Xbox SmartGlass is available on every windows 8 computer, tablet, phone as well as all iOS and android devices. This article is split into 2 sections, what smart glass is today and what this new technology can become.

What SmartGlass is today?

Recently the NovaGamer crew was invited to attend a Windows 8 launch event in Halifax. While we were there the folks from Microsoft gave us a good walk through of what SmartGlass is today.

Right now if you install the app on any of your devices you can control your Xbox with the remote option. This allows you to swipe through the dashboard panels and select something by tapping the screen. While neat, this really is impractical unless you just want to watch Netflix and you can’t find your controller.

With the addition of Internet Explorer in the last Xbox update you can now browse the web through your Xbox 360. SmartGlass aids this by turning the screen of your device into a touchpad that you can control the cursor with. Also when you need to type a full keyboard will appear on your devices screen. The full keyboard feature is nice, but too be honest the IE app works well with a controller and if you own a controller keypad you will most likely just use your controller.

In the SmartGlass app you will find sections for Xbox Music and Xbox Video which when purchased can be pushed to the Xbox from your phone tablet or PC. With Xbox Video you have access to a movie guide on your mobile devices while watching the movie. This currently works with most movies that were released this year. With Xbox Music You can import songs bought on iTunes but these features will not work for media that was not purchased. Sorry pirates! The new Xbox Music looks very slick and would be great to run in the background during social events.

But screw social events! We’re gamers after all and if you’re like me you’re wondering how this new appendage of your Xbox will help you when you’re gaming until 2am with no pants and Cheeto stains everywhere….. Seriously, I hope you’re not like me. Anyway, there isn’t much news on the game front as of yet. As of right now only 7 Xbox games have SmartGlass integration. Some titles include Halo 4, Forza Horizon, Dance Central 3, and Madden NFL 13. Halo will push information about weapons and events in the game to your device while Forza Horizon shows your map screen so you won’t be constantly pausing to check your location. Dance Central 3 allows you to setup playlists via your device which would be easier than navigating the Kinect menus. Finally Madden NFL 13 lets you draw up and even execute plays with your SmartGlass enabled device.  Not a lot of titles, but it’s a start.

With the exception of Madden these application of SmartGlass to games is an extra, which is how it should be. This should never be a feature that you feel you NEED to use but if you want to drive around in Forza without ever opening a map then it would be handy.

What SmartGlass can be.

When using the SmartGlass remote feature on my iPad or Android phone I can’t help but wonder why I can’t see my dashboard on my device as well. This would make navigation easier as you could just swipe between tabs and select the tile you want. Not to mention anything would look nicer than that god awful remote screen, damn that’s ugly.

Internet Explorer works well enough but multitouch gestures could use some tweaking, I often am trying to 2 finger swipe to scroll down the page and the thing is going haywire thinking I want to zoom in or out. Also why can’t I view the page on both devices at the same time or at least pull the page to my tablet and walk away.

Xbox Video and Music works pretty well and this is probably why they have talked about this more than anything else. Hold up, this works well if you want to buy your media from Microsoft. If you are one of the millions of iPhone customers and you have 10GB of music your iPhone you will not be able to push any of that over wireless to the Xbox. Same goes for video and pictures (luckily you can buy an AppleTV for $109 that will do all of this shit.) Microsoft keeps talking about how Xbox is becoming the hub of the entertainment experience. Now that they have Apps on virtually every device out there, they should let us share all of the content from every device to the Xbox regardless of the files origin. If they were to do this then Xbox would truly start to become the entertainment hub for gamers.

Now onto the games. This is the most important feature, as it is why most of us own an Xbox 360. In this Microsoft actually did a great job at least with the 4 titles I’ve mentioned. The added content or the easier way to interact with menus and maps is the perfect place for SmartGlass to start. These innovations are simple yet practical and enhance the gamer’s experience. I am looking forward to more of the same and would kill to be able to access my Borderlands 2 menu on my iPad. Imagine being able to check the map, change your load out, and manage your inventory from a second screen that you already own. Make it happen Gearbox!

Will it sink or swim?

I am concerned with how few titles this has launched with and how little it is being talked about. It is not even noted as a feature on the back of the Halo 4 case. When we asked the Microsoft reps what we could expect for SmartGlass in the coming months they were quick to deflect the question saying that the tech is out there and now it’s up to the developers to use it, this is worrisome. If Microsoft does not create a buzz around this feature then developers may not see the need to create the content for it. The amount of game content that is developed in the coming months will ultimately be the deciding factor in determining whether or not SmartGlass is a gimmick or a game changer.

“Surprise” Black Ops 2 Live Action Trailer Feat. RDJ

Today Activision released a live action trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The trailer (that features a Mr. Robert Downey Jr. I might add) will air tonight during Monday Night Football. However if you’re not a football fan, or you just need your CoD fix RIGHT NOW then check it out below!


Black Ops 2 releases for PC, PS3, and XBOX 360 on November 13, 2012 and will also be a launch title for the Wii U on November 18th.

BioShock Infinite Trailer Beast of America

Sure the NovaGamer crew JUST finished 24 hours of straight gaming, raising money for the IWK Hospital as part of ExtraLife. But by god, our job is to report the gaming news, and news there is!

Early this morning (which felt very VERY late to us) Irrational Games released a new trailer for their highly anticipated game, Bioshock Infinite. So by all means check it out!

Awesome! …Now I’m going to bed.

Extra Life Live Stream

We are online and gaming! Unfortunately we are unable to embed the live stream directly on the website but you can click the link below and check in on our 24 hour gaming session.

Watch live video from nova_gamer on www.twitch.tv

You are still able to make a donation to the IWK here. www.extra-life.org/team/novagamer

Ready for a Swashbuckling Adventure?

Gearbox Software released their first trailer premiering the Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty campaign add on for Borderlands 2. This first piece of DLC is available to download right now. Check it out below deck ye scurvy dog!

What do you think of the trailer? Will you be picking up this first DLC pack?

Mechromancer Class Available Now!

Gaige, the Mechromancer is available for download on all platforms as we speak! Gearbox Software’s CEO Randy Pitchford teased everyone yesterday on his twitter account saying “There may be a big surprise from us within the next 24 hours or so. Stay tuned!” Well @DuvalMagic didn’t disappoint when he tweeted this in the wee hours of the morning “So – here’s the surprise, Mechromancer for Borderlands 2 is ready about a week earlier than I promised. Oct 9, all platforms. Woo!”

Those of you who pre-ordered their copy of Borderlands 2 can download the new class for free. However if you did not pre-order your copy you the Mechromancer will run you $9.99 on the PSN or 800 MS Points on Xbox Live. You can check out the Gaige’s skills here with the interactive skill tree on the Borderlands 2 website.

Also take some time and get to know Gaige a little better by listening to her ECHO logs in the videos below.

…As if I needed another reason to play more Borderlands.

Awesome Borderlands 2 Music Video

Okay, so I just randomly came across this video on YouTube and it was just awesome. TeamHeadkick is a group who makes music videos for a bunch of different games and are the ones responsible for this masterpiece.

So what are you waiting for? CATCH-A-VIEEEEEWWWW!!!!!

 

Yeah, I know right? If you want to download the MP3 it is available for download on iTunes here along with the rest of their songs.

Double Douse of AC3 News. Season Pass, An Assassin’s Journey Trailer

A PlayStation Store update has confirmed that a season pass will indeed be available for Assassin’s Creed 3.  Now while this is new to the Assassin’s Creed franchise it is something that gamers are starting to become accustom too.  The price of the season pass has not been revealed yet, but since the digital download “Gold Edition” will be available on the PlayStation Store for $89.99, we figure the price of the season pass will be priced around $30.

Now if that didn’t exactly hype you up for AC3 this just might. Ubisoft has released a new trailer that sets up Connor’s story and shows off just how pretty of a game AC3 is. Take a look.

Assassin’s Creed 3 releases on October 30th for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and will be a launch title with the Wii U on November 18th. The PC version is slated for November 20th.  Will you be picking AC3 up on release day?