Toomanywires

I wish I were enjoying the killing more. I should be excited about following gruff men, macheteing necks and performing mass mutings, but after only a week I think I'm all but done with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. My annual Call of Duty binge always comes to an end before Christmas, but never quite this early. Even World at War kept me engaged for longer, with its spammy, racist grenades. I thought Black Ops 2 would provide ample entertainment until at least early December, by which time Need for Speed would be below £30 and I'd be ready for Far Cry 3, but it seems that I've been caught well short. I have been a fan of the most successful and vilified franchise of this generation since the first Modern Warfare, which I bought with my brand new PS3 back in the spring of 2008. A COD November release is an event worth noting in the calendar, one that heralds the beginning of the build up to Christmas. Desperate to get the festive season underway, BLOPS 2 is the f

Be Warned: Assassin’s Creed 3 SPOILERS within Assassin’s Creed 3 is best viewed as a big-picture game. It succeeds in establishing a very real sense of time and place, covering a fascinating and turbulent period of history and featuring an entertaining and believable cast of colonial era characters. It milks its eighteenth century setting for all it's worth, expanding the usual Assassin's playground to incorporate the ocean and the untamed wilds. To my surprise, I found myself enjoying the space afforded by these new additions far more than the more traditional, city based portions of the game. In fact, once the map had opened up, I only entered the sprawling cities of Boston and New York when it was absolutely necessary, content instead to seek adventure at sea or remain in my tree, taking in the sights of the Skyrim Frontier. As was the case with the Middle East, Renaissance Italy and Constantinople, just being in this setting is real a treat. However,

Preamble (these words don’t count towards 83) : The internet loves video game trailers. It also loves wasting hundreds of thousands of words analysing said trailers, cataloguing even the most minute and mundane details (see my rather accurate reading of the Resident Evil 6 trailer from earlier this year). I’m on the internet, so I thought I’d celebrate today's Grand Theft Auto V trailer no. 2 with a mega-post chock-full of pictures, descriptions of pictures and rampant speculation, but then I remembered that I have no time to write it and that such articles are usually as interesting as a Desmond. Not wanting to be left out, I settled on an 83 word break-down instead. ******** LA, back tattoos and shouty women make Tony Soprano turn to poolside whiskeys. Swearing, drugs and guns all feature in the opening 30 seconds, a potent cocktail that will have tabloid editors puking in excited disgust. Cars, violence, cars, violence, black guys, cars being violent. Ther

I have come to the conclusion that I'd much rather read about Dark Souls than actually play it. There is something about From Software's dark and unforgiving action-role player that inspires an unrivalled eloquence among gamers and generates enthusiasm that is (almost) contagious. A year after release and I continue to stumble upon new and passionate prose dedicated to all things Dark Souls. These articles chip away at my resolve and almost make me regret my violent shelving of DS earlier this year (I was pretty angry at the time!). They make it all sound so wonderful, these gluttons for punishment, the darkness so inviting, the initial frustrations ultimately rewarding and its fairness beyond reproach. To look upon Anor Londo is to be enlightened, or so they say, and to endure its trials is to revel in a game type that is all but extinct. Part of me wants to give it one more try, but I know that it will end in tears (funeral tears, not wedding). Perhaps I have

Following an unpleasant evening spent in Racoon City Tall Oaks, special agents Leon Kennedy and Helena Harper score a pair of first class plane tickets and escape to China, to fight bioterrorism and shoot foreigners. Thanks to the lax security at Tall Oak’s International Airport, the pair are able to smuggle aboard their favourite firearms and herbs as a deadly carry-on; their blatant disregard for luggage regulations pays dividends, as the plane is eventually overrun by infected passengers and a fat zombie covered in tits. I had decided to play Leon’s campaign first as he has a pretty good track record (RE2 & 4) and I thought it would be the most likely of the bunch to adhere to series convention. The first hour or so did enough to prevent my disappointment from overflowing, but the aeroplane chapter was just too much, magnifying all the issues that had already begun to grate. The offending scene includes a short action sequence which culminates in Leon and Helena storm