Games of November - Part 2

The more I look at November, the more I realise there's WAY more games coming out than I previously thought. Partly thanks to games being delayed, others I've totally forgotten about. I can already hear my wallet beginning to strain..

GHOSTBUSTERS (Xbox 360)

Attention Australian Ghostbusters fans! Remember this? Yes, the PS3 and PS2 versions have been on shelves since July and now you can play it on your 360! Thanks to Sony exclusively distributing the game outside the US, it basically meant that Sony threw a bunch of money around to deny 360 owners from playing the game until the week before Modern Warfare 2 is released, when nobody will buy it. But I will.

I played the demo recently,

(http://preparations4birth.blogspot.com/2009/10/ghostbusters-early-impressions.html)

and it was pretty damn good. Granted, I won't buy it until later in the year but I'll manage to bust some ghosts before too long.

Release date: November 6.

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TEKKEN 6 (Xbox 360, PS3, PSP)

Hey! It's the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6! Yep, Namco Bandai are still making Tekken games and this one is based on the arcade...that was first released in Japan in 2007. This home version is based on an updated build of the arcade game called Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, with new stages and characters. And from what I've seen of it...it's Tekken alright. One point in particular - the animation of a character arching his back in pain when he is knocked down is still in there. I remember that being in Tekken four games ago! That said, Hwoarang is still wearing leather chaps so there is something to be said for stagnant irrelevance. Burn on you, Namco Bandai!

Release date: November 5.

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ASSASSIN'S CREED 2 (Xbox 360, PS3)

Despite my previous reservations about the first game (snore!), I'm actually really excited for this sequel. The ability to swim, two blades, a wrist gun, Da Vinci supplying you weapons, stabbing dudes...actually stabbing dudes is the thing that's going to bring me back to the Assassin's Creed franchise. Ubisoft have apparently taken all the criticisms of the first game to heart and made this one more awesome. Hopefully, it pans out and I won't be collecting flags all over again.

Release date: November 19.

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LEFT 4 DEAD 2 (Xbox 360)

The Australian version is the censored, gimped, made-for-toddlers, government-approved version. Don't play into the hands of the Office of Film and Literature Classification, but instead import your copy from an online overseas retailer. Unless you want to be someone who is on the same level as Nazi sympathiser in terms of evilness, don't buy the Australian version. Rumour has it that the developers, Valve, might patch all the awesomeness back into the Aussie version after launch but don't count on it. Oh, apparently the game is about zombies or something...

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Release date: November 17.

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So there's November for you. Plenty of incredible games to go out and buy. So get to it!

Am I suddenly interested in Assassin's Creed 2?

In 2007, I was super excited for Ubisoft's medieval stealth killing adventure game, Assassin's Creed. I bought the thing hoping for an experience beyond reproach, what I got was a slightly disappointing bunch of repetitive missions wrapped up in a very nice looking package. Apart from being able to stab annoying beggars who ask you for money, the highlights of this game were few and far between for me.

A gold coin? Sure, I've got it here somewh-STAB!

That said, they've made a sequel. So why do I suddenly care? Well, apparently they've fixed a lot of the issues of the first game. Way more variety in the missions, side-missions, characters, weapons and general vibe of the game make this seem like what the first game should have been. Set in the Italian Renaissance in the 15th century, the player takes the role of Ezio, a dude who has trained his whole life to be a professional killing machine.

Like this, but with less gay.

I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but I'm very interested in what they've done. Apparently a young Leonardo Da Vinci helps you out with a few weapons so that's sounds pretty awesome to me. Regardless of all that, they're starting to put a rather large marketing effort before this game ahead of its November release. Take this first part of a short movie for instance. It's called Assassin's Creed: Lineage, it's been done by the studio who did visual effects for Sin City and for a internet-based prequel to a video game, it's pretty fucking amazing.