Cursed Crusade on 360 and PS3. Ever heard of it? Probably not. Ever heard of Atlus? Maybe. They were guilty of such titles as Catherine, Divinity 2, Rock of Ages, Operation Darkness, and King of Fighters.
Now before you fan boys start to flip out, I own every single SMT game they made for the PS2 and PSP, so you know.... I got the chops.
At any rate, Atlus is known for their rather difficult and unforgiving RPG, JRPG, and RTS games. Divinity, KOF, and Rock of Ages were a few outliers. Then along comes Cursed Crusade.
Not kidding, the title of this blog is also the tag line for the game. The concept is pretty confusing, but basically, you're a templar of sorts, you join up with a spaniard, and you both have matching curses. It's a french game, made by french people, with french tendencies, in a french area, so you'll notice a few slight irregularities in the game. Mainly the odd accents, and the very small amount of gaming guts (menus, tutorials, class descriptions and the likes).
Why am I even discussing this game? How did I run across it? It came out a few weeks ago and was $60. Now we all know I love to play obscure games that no one else will touch. (Sherlock Holmes vs Jack The Ripper I'm looking at you), but $60 this fall was a bit rich for my blood. 2 weeks after it was released, it dropped in price to $40, then to $30 the following week. A clear sign that this was a game I needed to get my hands on. A bad game being released in this day and age is alway so strange I simply must be a part of it.
So what is it? Basically a co-op hack and slash. You have a bevy of weapon combinations you can use, two swords, two maces, one sword, one mace, great sword, sword and mace, you get it. You and the NPC or you and a pal run around and... well, hack and slash. To add a bit of flair to the gameplay, you have a curse where you turn into a demon and can use magical attacks. This all takes place during the templar crusades. Get it? Cursed cru... nevermind.
Why isn't a split-screen co-op flying off of the shelves? Well, probably because people don't know it is what it is. Or maybe because they decided to release this fall, amongst a dozen other AAA games. Or maybe it's because no one is expecting a decent co-op split screen to ever be released again?
I played the crap out of their other 360 slasher Divinity 2. Now I know I know, it wasn't originally an Atlus game, but any Oblivion/Gothic-esque game I can get my hands on (aside from Gothic 4) I'll play the crap out of.
Any big problems with the game? Sadly no. This is one of the few titles I wish would get some recognition, since it doesn't do anything terrible, and it doesn't do any one thing that great, it's just basic mayhem. Reminds me of most of the games released in the early 2000s, nothing that ground breaking, just good fun.
Buy, rent, or avoid? I'd say rent. Give it a whirl for a weekend, you'll enjoy the time you spend with it. Buy it if you have another gamer living amongst you, for $30 you both will easily be able to get 100% out of it, and still have the ability to replay.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Furtive is just another word for sneaky.
Been playin Assassins' Creed: Brotherhood recently. I know I know, Batman, Battlefield, Uncharted, they're all waiting for me, but I'm annoyed that I never finished Assassins Creed before. I finished the first Batman when it came out. I finished Battlefield ages ago. I'm almost finished with Uncharted 2. Look, I got busy! Moral of the story, I've been playing older games over again. Except I'm stuck. Yep, stuck on AC:B. I understand that some of the missions have to be sneaky, and they don't want you to get caught, but it doesn't make any damn sense.
I'm a highly trained, seasoned, and equipped assassin. I've killed hundreds, hundreds more will fall, but get caught by one guard on a single mission, and the whole thing goes down. Now I can understand if it's something storyline specific, like you're tailing someone. But if I'm trying to just capture Da Vinci's weapons? I can't get caught then? I suppose I understand that they're trying to break up the monotony of the gameplay, but come on.... some people had to have gotten to those parts and gone "forget it, done with this game".
I'm not going to be one of them. I'll take a break, play something else, then go back to that game and see if I can figure it out. But I am also extremely stubborn, and I have also played through all of Rogue Warrior, so my tolerance for bad games knows no bounds.
There are already super-sneaky games out there, and most of them fail horribly. If everyone wanted to play a sneak-only game, they would be demanding Thief to finally be remade. They would be hailing Velvet Assassin as one of the greatest games ever. Splinter Cell would win game of the year consistently. But here's the thing, gamers get tired of the super sneaky. Well.... most gamers. Not all, and not you if they're your cup of tea. But let's face it, I probably talk to about 50 gamers every day, and not a one of them actually prefers the sneaky missions.
It's just messing with the flow of the game!!! Come on! "Yeah, killed that guy, oooo! killed 2 guys at once, then stole a bunch of gold! Awesome!.... oh... one guy 4 buildings over saw me, and I failed". It's not "oh you've been caught and we're going to send 30 guards to kill you. Because you'd be able to handle that, oh no, the game just uses the god ability and forces you to try it again.
This all raises an interesting point that the Assassin's Creed series actually isn't a sandbox game, and should quit acting like it. You're required to go from A to B to C, but you can make detours on the way, so it might seem like you're directing the action. If nothing else, just give me a reason to demand sneaking. That's it. A door would close or a person would be notified or something? Anything. Just quit using the scapegoat that it's what you're supposed to do.
On a side note, both Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell are made by Ubi Soft. Now I like the company, but they have some changes to start making. Splinter Cell allowed you to try to take everyone on if you were caught, but you had limited armor, so it made it a bit more clever. You can't use the same theory for Assassins Creed?
Revelations will be a great game, I'm a little surprised at the amount of editions they've come out with.
link and scroll down to "marketing"
Meanwhile, COD will be basically releasing a single edition. And outsell Assassins Creed by millions. Comical at best.
Let's not get off topic. Sneaky. All the way back to games like MGS I've had no interest in sneaking around. Sure getting a kill or two stealth-style is always fun, I guess. Ugh.... Manhunt. I don't need to say anything else.
Ok maybe I do. I'm not saying that game was good, I'm saying that what I feel like I have to accomplish each time I get a stealth kill. But not only that, Assassins Creed wants me to stealth all around, but not even kill anyone! Since bodies make it obvious! Just not something I feel like doing right now. What's even more hilarious is the idea of stealth 1st person. Deus Ex I'm looking at you. Yes I got caught, and often. Good thing I had a completely upgraded shotgun with a silencer. No need to run to that alarm panel. Also, Goldeneye. Siberia base, "don't let the cameras catch you!".....can I just shoot out the cameras?...."well......yes". Those, all of those made more sense then- OH! YOU'VE BEEN CAUGHT. THE PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE. NO FAIRES IN JARS. START THE F OVER.
Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine, but what can kill a killer? Well, according to Assassin's Creed, being seen by some nobody on top of a guard tower. Not spears, swords, crossbows and poison, but a simple observation. Jane Goodall > Ezio.
I'm a highly trained, seasoned, and equipped assassin. I've killed hundreds, hundreds more will fall, but get caught by one guard on a single mission, and the whole thing goes down. Now I can understand if it's something storyline specific, like you're tailing someone. But if I'm trying to just capture Da Vinci's weapons? I can't get caught then? I suppose I understand that they're trying to break up the monotony of the gameplay, but come on.... some people had to have gotten to those parts and gone "forget it, done with this game".
I'm not going to be one of them. I'll take a break, play something else, then go back to that game and see if I can figure it out. But I am also extremely stubborn, and I have also played through all of Rogue Warrior, so my tolerance for bad games knows no bounds.
There are already super-sneaky games out there, and most of them fail horribly. If everyone wanted to play a sneak-only game, they would be demanding Thief to finally be remade. They would be hailing Velvet Assassin as one of the greatest games ever. Splinter Cell would win game of the year consistently. But here's the thing, gamers get tired of the super sneaky. Well.... most gamers. Not all, and not you if they're your cup of tea. But let's face it, I probably talk to about 50 gamers every day, and not a one of them actually prefers the sneaky missions.
It's just messing with the flow of the game!!! Come on! "Yeah, killed that guy, oooo! killed 2 guys at once, then stole a bunch of gold! Awesome!.... oh... one guy 4 buildings over saw me, and I failed". It's not "oh you've been caught and we're going to send 30 guards to kill you. Because you'd be able to handle that, oh no, the game just uses the god ability and forces you to try it again.
This all raises an interesting point that the Assassin's Creed series actually isn't a sandbox game, and should quit acting like it. You're required to go from A to B to C, but you can make detours on the way, so it might seem like you're directing the action. If nothing else, just give me a reason to demand sneaking. That's it. A door would close or a person would be notified or something? Anything. Just quit using the scapegoat that it's what you're supposed to do.
On a side note, both Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell are made by Ubi Soft. Now I like the company, but they have some changes to start making. Splinter Cell allowed you to try to take everyone on if you were caught, but you had limited armor, so it made it a bit more clever. You can't use the same theory for Assassins Creed?
Revelations will be a great game, I'm a little surprised at the amount of editions they've come out with.
link and scroll down to "marketing"
Meanwhile, COD will be basically releasing a single edition. And outsell Assassins Creed by millions. Comical at best.
Let's not get off topic. Sneaky. All the way back to games like MGS I've had no interest in sneaking around. Sure getting a kill or two stealth-style is always fun, I guess. Ugh.... Manhunt. I don't need to say anything else.
Ok maybe I do. I'm not saying that game was good, I'm saying that what I feel like I have to accomplish each time I get a stealth kill. But not only that, Assassins Creed wants me to stealth all around, but not even kill anyone! Since bodies make it obvious! Just not something I feel like doing right now. What's even more hilarious is the idea of stealth 1st person. Deus Ex I'm looking at you. Yes I got caught, and often. Good thing I had a completely upgraded shotgun with a silencer. No need to run to that alarm panel. Also, Goldeneye. Siberia base, "don't let the cameras catch you!".....can I just shoot out the cameras?...."well......yes". Those, all of those made more sense then- OH! YOU'VE BEEN CAUGHT. THE PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE. NO FAIRES IN JARS. START THE F OVER.
Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine, but what can kill a killer? Well, according to Assassin's Creed, being seen by some nobody on top of a guard tower. Not spears, swords, crossbows and poison, but a simple observation. Jane Goodall > Ezio.
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