We all knew that Assassin’s Creed II was on the way, but what we didn’t know was if the sequel would have anything better going for it than the flag-collecting boredom of the original. Thankfully Game Informer has seen fit to reveal some details about the upcoming sequel.

First off the main character has changed, even if the picture to the left looks suspiciously like Altair from the original. The new protagonist is known as ‘Ezio’, a young noble who has lost his family to as yet unknown rival families. This totally original plot (yeah right) will probably lead to Ezio wanting some form of revenge, and I’ll probably bet my life savings on that (all 10p of it!).

The reason for the new character is due to the game being set in Venice, 1476 to be precise, as playing Altair’s corpse wouldn’t be much fun (well, unless he’s a zombie Altair. One of the new assassinations could be chewing off someone’s ear). Also, as we know, Venice is full of water so Ezio can actually swim this time; making him about a thousand times better than Al…wait, what’s his name?

Most importantly there’s “16 unique mission types” and, wait for it, collecting those pesky flags actually nets you some rewards this time around.

For the full run-down on what else is rumoured to be included in Assassin’s Creed II go here.

The expansion to 2007’s World in Conflict, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, was due to come to consoles later this year; despite the fact that the original game was only ever released on the PC.  However, unfortunately Ubisoft have now officially cancelled the games release on consoles, with the PC version remaining unaffected.

Suspicions were raised about the status of the console versions development in January, when Ubisoft gave us a release date for the PC but never mentioned anything about the supposed console versions. This may have something to do with Ubisoft already having an RTS franchise on consoles; that being EndWar.

Oh well, at least now we can start to come to terms with the fact that RTS games on consoles are usually pretty dire anyway.

For you lucky PC gamers the expansion lets you take command of the Soviet forces, and will include both the original game and the expansion. If you already own the original game then you have the option of downloading the expansion on its own come 12th March.

Never played the highly rated original and don’t want to wait? It’s currently available for £22.93.

Ubisoft revealed new details today on Techland’s upcoming Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. Alongside these new details came a trailer (see below) and a bunch of new screenshots.

The game will follow the story of the McCall brothers across a variety of settings from “”a ravaged Civil War-era Georgia to the Aztec ruins of Mexico.” They will be able to take advantage of new weapons such as canons and machine guns, and try these out in shooting modes that are unlocked by gaining a high accuracy percentage during shoot-outs.

Co-op play will be a new feature in Bound in Blood, with players taking on the role of either one of the brothers. Depending on who you pick there will be specific abilities and weapons that only that character can use. For example, one character may be good in a long range fight while the other loves a good close range scrap. Or one will use a lasso while the other deploys dynamite. There will also be the ability to use horses, canoes and wagons.

Multiplayer wise there will be numerous modes and maps to play around in. Along with the obligatory deathmatch modes there will also be team-based objective modes, plus a new bounty system that increases a player’s bounty as their kill count rises.

The game is due out this summer, for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. If you fancy trying out the original it’s currently a steal at £11.91.

I’ll be honest; I’d largely gone off the PSP and it’s been a while since I even turned mine on, but this weeks announcements have plucked up my interest in Sony’s handheld again. A number of announcements for new PSP games have come out of this year’s Destination Playstation meeting; including PSP versions of Assassin’s Creed, LittleBigPlanet and Rock Band. The best announcement? A Hannah Montana PSP entertainment pack including a Lilac PSP (I’m totally not kidding!).

Also announced were Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, versions of Madden and Tiger Woods and, um, new Petz games. I bet you can’t guess which one of those I’m least excited about.

Here’s a rundown of the games announced:

• The Hannah Montana PSP Entertainment Pack is “part of a new focus on expanding the PSP market to female gamers” and includes a new Disney Interactive Hannah Montana game, a UMD containing a selection of Hannah Montana episodes, a 2GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, and - the icing on the cake - stickers! Hopefully this pack will not the light of day outside North America
• The Assassin’s Creed PSP Entertainment Pack will include a completely new original game set in the Assassin’s Creed universe, a black PSP and more goodies to be announced at a later date.
• Ubisoft are bringing a new line of Petz games to the PSP, and that’s about as much as I can stomach writing about it.
• A PSP version of LittleBigPlanet will be made in conjunction with the PS3’s versions developer MediaMolecule. The game offers new Sackboy adventures and environments, but with the same creating and sharing experience that made the first game so popular. As I don’t own a PS3 I’m fairly excited about this.
• Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, which is also in development for the PS2, will bring the racing action of the PS3 versions to snowy Alaska. Players will have to avoid collapsing ice bridges and avalanches in three different altitudes. You will also be able to customise your vehicles with different parts, pimping your ride out while you take it online to face others. Check out the trailer here.
• Rock Band Unplugged will use the PSP’s directional pad and buttons to play along, along with wi-fi support (but sadly no online multiplayer) and a “fully featured” online store.
• Madden NFL 10 will give allow you to build your own formations and plays, and that’s about as much as I know about American Football. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 will be pretty much the same as always, and have both on and offline play.

So there’s plenty for the PSP owner to get excited about this year, and that’s just the games that have been announced. I wouldn’t get too excited about Petz though, unless you’re about eight. If so then stick with it my friends, the good games will come when you grow older. It’s not all shovelware crap, I promise!

Destination PlayStation News: LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm, Assassin’s Creed, more coming to PSP - Playstation Blog

Lost finally returns to our screens this week, and no doubt you’re just as confused as I am with where the plot is going. Thankfully you can now fill in some holes, or just make yourself more confused than ever, by playing through Lost: Via Domus.

The game casts you as an entirely new character, Elliot, a photojournalist and yet another miraculous survivor of the doomed Flight 815. This allows the developers to make up an entirely new story without messing around too much with the stories of the TV programme’s main characters. Elliot also happens to have developed amnesia, which is always a convenient crutch for lazy writers. Yes, you guessed it; the objective of the game is to figure out why you’re on the island through various objectives and the series favourite flashbacks.

When it comes to the TV programme’s main characters they’re all here – including Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Hurley, Sayid and Ben to name a few – but strangely enough most of them aren’t voiced by the real actors. You’d have thought that since Ubisoft managed to secure rights to make games out of Lost (which was most likely a bit of a bidding war) they’d have thrown down a little more cash to secure the real actors. It’s slightly annoying for diehard fans of the series, and you’ll probably never get used to it.

Apart from the dodgy voices you’ve got a story made up of various episodes. This is an attempt to make the game feel like a real season of Lost (complete with “previously on Lost” introductions) and it works pretty well. Flashbacks will occur throughout the episodes, which is where Elliot’s career as a photojournalist comes into play. The start of a flashback offers a glimpse of a torn-up photograph and it is your task to figure out the rest of the photograph as a sequence plays out. The sequence then loops while you focus the picture, zoom in and frame your subject. Once you’ve taken the correct photograph the sequence is played out in full and offers yet another piece of the puzzle to Elliot’s back-story. It’s a unique twist in an otherwise fairly unoriginal game. I say this because; while there are puzzles they’re pretty repetitive and get extremely dull after the first few times. That would probably be because there’s only one type, and that involves the incredibly exciting task of fixing a fuse box! Oh yes, there’s also two chase sequences that don’t do much but add a little more drama to the proceedings.

If you’re not a Lost fan then there’s no real point to picking up this game, even at the low price of £9.76. In the end it’s little more than an interactive story and one giant big Easter egg for Lost fans, albeit a fairly interesting one. Anyone else would find the game extremely confusing, and, yes, I know the fans of the series are just as confused. The difference is they like the series and will lap up anything connected to it, devoted fans as they are. Even for Lost fans the game is extremely short – clocking in at around five hours – but we’re not talking about full price here. This kind of game should always be released at less than £20, even if only the fans of the franchise will pick it up.

The short nature of the game makes me wonder if it could be considered a ‘bargain’, as there’s not much on offer here, but £9.76 for a current generation game that isn’t actually that old has to be some sort of steal; just don’t ask me why.

This is part of the Bargain Bin series, which is dedicated to bringing you excellent games for mere peanuts. Got a bargain you know of? Hit me an email!

Prince of Persia has only been out since December 5th and it’s already been vastly reduced in price. The state of the economy has led many retail outlets to drastically lower the prices of products that usually wouldn’t be so cheap. Furthermore, the January sales will now contribute to a further reduction in prices. All these sales mean that it’s now the time to pick up that relatively new game that you’ve been wanting but couldn’t afford and, while you’re at it, why not make the new Prince of Persia game one of those purchases?

Once again you take on the role of the Prince (although, sadly, he has now been Americanised) who comes across a girl named Elika whilst looking for his donkey. Elika’s father than releases the God Ahriman, and so begins the journey of the Prince and Elika to try and imprison Ahriman again. You’ll do this by travelling around beautiful cell-shaded environments in order to heal fertile grounds that have become corrupted following Ahriman’s escape. This means that the dark tendrils of corruption will always be near, snapping at your heals as you carry out death defying leaps.

Elika herself plays a key part in the gameplay, as it’s technically impossible to die. While the Prince is able to perform a variety of acrobatic moves (as per usual) - such as climbing walls, wall running and jumping from wall to wall - he will need Elika to provide acrobatic support. For example, if there’s a platform that the player wants to reach but it is too far away to jump then Elika can provide a boost to help you leap further. If you still manage to fall then Elika will always jump down and save you, regardless of how far you fell or how impossible a rescue situation looks. While it does make the game easier it’s also a little disappointing that Ubisoft took away the ability to reverse time, something that I felt was a great feature. It’s not like they’ve replaced it with something more innovating either, but at least you’re going to have a less frustrating time with the game.

Prince of Persia is far less of a puzzle and more of a simple platformer than previous iterations, but it does have it’s moments. It makes you wonder if the future of games is always going to be about making them easier for the casual crowd, and it makes it even more frustrating for fans of an already well established series. Still, this doesn’t make it a bad game at all, it just means that you’re probably not going to get as many hours of it as you might have with one of the other instalments in the series. When you can get it for less than £20 though - only a few weeks after release - then you’ve got a decent enough game that is fun while it lasts, even if it’s not that terribly long (which is a bit like Fable II).

This is part of the Bargain Bin series, which is dedicated to bringing you excellent games for mere peanuts. Got a bargain you know of? Hit me an email!

I’ve been playing Far Cry 2 most of the weekend and today (it came out on Friday) and I’m kind of on the fence in regards to my impressions of it. It’s not that it’s a bad game, it’s just that there’s plenty of minor annoyances that bring it down. I’m still enjoying playing it, but I can’t seem to get around the fact that it seems a little too repetitive and may be better if it’s played in short bursts.

Let’s get the good things about the game out of the way first. Firstly, the graphics are absolutely stunning and the games recreation of Africa is superbly realistic and a pleasure to drive around in. When you’re playing on a HD screen you can’t help but let your draw drop the first time you’re driving down a jungle path with the sunlight streaming through the treetops. You’ll also find a number of wild animals wandering around the landscape - which include zebras, buffalo and gazelle, but sadly no predators - which adds an extra touch of realism to the game world.

I also like how you can approach each situation tactically. I’ve heard some complaints on the Internet that all you seem to do is attack guard posts and objectives guns blazing while tossing a few grenades or Molotov Cocktails. If you have a tactical head on you then this is simply not true. One of the techniques I often do is throw a Molotov Cocktail as I approach then go the opposite direction to the spreading fire. This way you can sneak up behind the enemy and chop into them with your machete. This isn’t the only way of course, but it’s totally up to you when deciding how to approach a situation as the game doesn’t force you to do it one way. Snipe from a distance, go in guns blazing, approach underwater, strap an IED to a jeep and jump out before it hits your objective - whatever you want! Those who say attacking is repetitive just aren’t using their brains. Moreover, the AI can often be pretty smart (although it can also be pretty stupid, such as not noticing you standing four feet away) so get used to them flanking your position and using the foliage as cover (this is both good and bad as half of the time you can’t see where the person who’s shooting at you is, but it also means you need to be constantly aware of your surroundings).

Forget tactical attacking for the moment though, as there are plenty of moments that may frustrate you. For example, it’s annoying to have to fight your way through every single guard post you come across because the guards respawn as soon as you’ve left one. Sure, you can avoid them but this often takes you even longer to get somewhere or is downright impossible due to the way the game often funnels you through these guard points. Even if you try to drive right through them it will be pretty much guaranteed that a few of the enemy soldiers will jump in a jeep or two and give chase. If you get out they’ll make this annoying revving sound as they try to run you over which, unfortunately, has happened to me a number of times. Combine all this with having to drive absolutely everywhere, which you’ll be doing a lot of while also stopping every two minutes or getting attacked by a random patrol (there are buses but they only take you to certain places, and walking is out of the question with a map as big as Far Cry 2’s) as there doesn’t seem to be any innocents in Africa. Not that I’m condoning shooting virtual innocent people of course, it just seems a bit unrealistic that Africa is only populating by gun toting factions.

Far Cry 2 adds a further touch of realism by having vehicles break down on you, which means you have to get out and fiddle with the engine. Weapons will also jam in the heat of battle and eventually explode in your hands, which means you’re better off buying new weapons before each mission as old or enemy weapons will be rusty and unreliable. Getting down to the last bar of health also means you quickly have to find some cover to pull the bullet out or put your arm back in your socket (because we all know that removing a bullet or using a syringe will magically cure all wounds!). All this is cool for the first time but can get a little tiresome when you have to climb out of your jeep in the middle of nowhere for the 300th time, but it at least makes the game a little more exciting. Furthermore, even though it’s supposed to be realistic the act of doing all these doesn’t feel that real, especially when a gun is rusting after 10 minutes of use.

Finally, there’s the multiplayer. I haven’t played all that much of it yet so it may start feeling a little better, but it’s nowhere near on par with Call of Duty 4’s excellent multiplayer mode.  It seems impossible to kill someone with a sniper rifle unless they’re standing still, but that may just mean I suck. Thankfully the game is given extra life with a powerful map editor that allows you to create pretty much any map you want and make them available to play by the rest of the community. I personally can’t wait to see the creations that come out of this, but it’s a shame that the editor is part of a multiplayer mode that isn’t really all that great.

Despite all my objections something keeps me playing Far Cry 2. Maybe it’s the freedom that’s allowed when choosing what to do next, or how to approach a particular objective. Sure, you may only be killing a lot of people and blowing things up when you actually get there but you at least get to do it in a number of different ways. It’s not perfect by any means, and is marred by repetitiveness that is only made worse by trying to mix things up every five minutes with guard posts that only become repetitive themselves. Somehow I’m still finding it fun, but only in a way that an average game can be fun while you try to get the most out of your money. Just get used to being chased across Africa while being shot at by a machine gun turret every few minutes.

Far Cry 2 is out now on PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 (impressions based off this version).

In case you’ve missed it in your excitement about the end-of-year line-up then you may want to know that upcoming RTS Tom Clancy’s EndWar now has a demo available on Xbox Live. The demo weighs in at a hefty 1.6GB so read a book or something if you’re only on a lousy 4mb connection like myself. The demo includes a single-player tutorial and one-on-one multiplayer with matchmaking support.

Instead of using your Xbox Live headset for poor comebacks to the abuse thrown by 12 year-old Americans you’ll be able to command your troops through the power of your voice alone. That is, of course, if it is able to recognise your accent. My own mother can barely tell what I’m saying sometimes, so I’m not too confident that an army will - especially if I order them to bring me a cup of tea!

No word on a Playstation 3 demo yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if one came along.

EndWar is out on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 7th.

One game I completely forgot about in this months must buy line-up is Far Cry 2. I must have been a bit brain dead when I wrote that post as the game is looking more amazing by the day. Plus, there’s that little fact that I’ve pre-ordered the game. Oh well, with so many good games coming out in the next few months I suppose it’s forgivable that one or two may slip your mind from time to time. I think that space in my brain must be taken up by the worries about just how I’m going to be able to afford them all.

As you can see from the screenshot above Far Cry 2 is looking absolutely gorgeous, and it’s looking like it’s going to be the best looking sandbox game on today’s consoles so far (Fallout 3 comes close, but the grim post-apocalyptic vistas are in stark contrast to the beautiful and bright plains of Africa). Long grass sways in the breeze while gazelles hop gracefully through it, until you come along and all hell breaks loose - of course! I’m most looking forward to tossing a Molotov cocktail into the long grass and watching as the fire propagates across the landscape; hopefully setting off conveniently placed explosive barrels that go on to destroy an entire village. If that sounds good then imagine doing that in multiplayer!

I’ve been secretly hoping for a new game to come along that will drag the masses (and most of my Xbox Live friends list) away from Call of Duty 4 and give them a new obsession. As much as I love Call of Duty 4’s multiplayer mode you can’t really deny that it’s getting a little tedious these days. With the PC you can add tonnes of extra life to a game by playing user created levels and mods, with the console versions of COD4 this just isn’t possible and it makes it all a little boring. Thankfully Far Cry 2 is shipping with what looks to be an incredibly detailed yet simple level editor that will hopefully get the Xbox Live or PSN population playing the game past the first few weeks. I know I’ll be playing with the map editor a lot anyway, but I doubt I’ll be creating maps that will be popular with thousands of players. In any case, it’s looking way better than Halo 3’s Forge.

One problem I have with the multiplayer is that character classes won’t be progressive. Any upgrades will simply be confined to the game you’re playing in and when you leave you’re right back at the beginning. For those players used to the excellent rank system in COD4 this may be a bit of a downer, but I guess it’s something you can live with. Instead you’ll be able to unlock ‘blood diamonds’ by killing players and completing objectives. There’s a maximum of three but each time you gain one you’ll have access to higher power weapons for whatever class you might be playing. The classes, by the way, are Commando, Gunner, Rebel, Guerrilla, Sniper, and Saboteur. Commando is your standard assault class while Gunner and Sniper are pretty obvious. The Rebel plays with fire and the Guerrilla uses close combat and ambush tactics. Finally the Saboteur is basically a scout class, specialising in stealth tactics. If you get a diamond as the Gunner class you can start using the rocket launcher, but remember that you’ll have to fight to gain it again in the next match.

Class problems aside I still can’t wait to go paragliding over the African continent; and maybe it will also be amazing to do this while people are blowing each other up below me. In any case you’ll be able to find out with me from October 24th.

I suppose you could question the decision to put brutal gore in a World War II video game - after all, you can blow half of a nazi’s head off - (note for the squeamish: the trailer above contains a number of ‘gory’ scenes) but, on the other hand, why shy away from the gritty reality of one of the greatest wars the world has ever seen?  Brother’s in Arms: Hell’s Highway is aiming to be a pretty realistic representation of WWII and is throwing in a story that’s hoping to make you care about the characters that are taking part in it. So maybe, just maybe, you’ll think twice about ordering your men into a situation where they’re sure to be spouting gout’s of blood (or you might want to see that, depending on how that mind of yours works). Unreal Engine 3 is employed to make these gory scenes look stunning, but you wouldn’t be playing a war game if you didn’t like gore, right?

Speaking of orders the tried and tested command system from previous Brothers in Arms games is still very much the main part of the game, as it wouldn’t be much of a squad-based shooter without it. However, this time your men can vault or climb over obstacles rather than annoyingly going around them as in previous installments. These obstacles can be hidden behind with the new cover system, and the game will switch to third-person viewpoint as you ‘dig in’. This doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be safe though, as cover is now fully destructible (you can see part of this in the video above). While this makes sure that you always have a tactical head on you and keeps the battle fast-paced you’ll be pleased to know that it works both ways and your enemy is just as prone to being left in the open as yourself.

BiA is still very much catering to the tactical player (although you could say that destructible cover both encourages tactical play and run-and-gun play) so if you’re expecting Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3 then you’ll probably be disappointed. BiA has always given me a sense of what it may have been like to fight in a real war, and the extreme attention to detail in re-creating World War II landmarks only hightens your sense of being there. Of course, this depends on how good the AI is and whether or not they actually bother to flank your position like Gearbox says they will.

Hopefully the story will also be engaging enough to suck you completely into the game, but you’ll find that out for yourself on October 3rd.