Recent reviews by あんドーナツ

Time to review what I consider to be one of the best ways to end an amazing trilogy off in a nice little bow.

This game was bought by me during the Ubisoft Weekend Sale whereby I got this game for €8.99. ($10.13 in USD and £6.64 in British Pound Sterling) When I intially bought the game, it was the Gold Edition meaning that in this review I will include The Lost Archive, Mediterranean Travel Map Pack and The Ancestors Character Pack.

You play as Ezio Auditore De Firenze, this time continuing off from where the story left off in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood whereby it is Ezio's time to travel to Constantinople. With the history of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad to give Ezio a sense of direction as to what to do and what to discover, he sets off in order to finish off what Altaïr wanted discovered.

• The game has an amazing story that definitely finishes off what the trilogy and the first game wanted to finish off. The fact that you get to have a nice change of pace with switching between Ezio and Altaïr and finding out more about Altaïr's history and the remainder of his life as well as what would be continuing to Ezio's as well. The game's pacing was excellent in this game, in my opinion and the changes gave the game an advantage for me rather than a negative.
  
  
• The gameplay sticks true to the others being as simple to pick up and play however with new added bonuses such as the Hookblade addition and bomb additions. As well as that, there were definitely bigger emphasis on history and story in this game. Collectables in this game didn't just serve a purpose as a collectable such as the feathers in the other games but you got collectables such as the Niccolò Polo books. I just wished we got more epic moments like Maiden Tower or Hagia Sophia dungeons because they were fun and memorable as hell.
  
  They definitely refined the gameplay making a lot of features that were minor annoyances in the previous entries such as the collection of feathers and the incentive to find a map to collect them all for 100% is a bit more toned down. In this game, you collect Animus Data Fragments which could then be used to Desmond's story but when you do reach 50/100, you get a helping hand from the game whereby the locations of the other 40-50 are shown.
  
  
• What else can I say about the graphics but praise them? Heck, they're the same from every other Ezio Assassin's Creed game and this game pretty much does the same. But what I do love about the Ezio and even the first Assassin's Creed games is that if you have a usual not-so-buffed PC like I do, you'll be able to run this 50 frames-60 frames really well.
  
  But this game still delivers having excellent notable moments in which you do have to just stop and observe or maybe take a photograph of how beautiful the visuals were handled. As well as that, the art style in the Lost Archive was quite unique and a pleasure to look at.
  
  
• As well as that, the edition of more characters and not just characters but even more memorable characters gave the game some charm to me. I mean, who the heck can forget the darling Sofia or the stereotypical "branch of the family tries to take power of the main family," jerk Prince Ahmet?
  
  
• The edition of more game modes such as the tower defense mini-game (which I honestly wished was implemented more to the game) and the Lost Archive and Desmond Journey missions which was a unique sandbox platforming first-person narrative on the lives and history of Desmond and Subject 16.
  
  
• The exciting and fun multiplayer which will certainly keep you going after the main quest is over. It makes assassinating all the more rewarding when it's with other players with proper A.I. And the extra characters in the Ancestors Character Pack and the additional extensive maps tying into the main story of the Mediterranean Traveler Map Pack just give the game more valour and quite the experience.

• Money building in this game is unbalanced, in my opinion. Wanting to obtain 100% income in Constantinople could not have been any harder with the game giving you income in the bank every 20 MINUTES! As you can see by my gameplay time, I've exceeded the point in which I should've finished and 100% completed the game due to income griding because it takes sooo long and it's so tedious to get income quickly to pay for monuments. That's another issue I had with the game, the fact that monuments were so expensive and two 20 minute income grinds were what was necessary to upgrade the monuments. (even if everything else is upgraded)
  
  In my opinion, the way to have reduced the time spent on getting income was to either 1. Lower down the time taken from 20 to maybe 10 minutes for income. 2. Lower the cost of monuments to perhaps 30,000 so that at least one income obtained at the bank can be enough to pay for one. Or 3. Have more things to do in the after-game besides the challenges for the factions. Which brings me to my next point..
  
  
• There wasn't a lot to do after the main story was completed. If you were like me and you completed all the side content during the main story such as the "Desmond's Journey," sections, the bonus missions you're given like the Vlad the Impaler mission or even so much as to collect all the Ishak Pasha maps.. you found yourself being barely able to do anything post-game especially if it included grinding for gold. The only thing I found to do was the challenges themselves or the Assassin's Recruit and Job missions which were fun to initiate but for the most part way too long especially if you were not really doing anything. Although the Master Assassin missions were quite fun. ;3
  
  
• Multiplayer nowadays is unbalanced with new players being partnered up with level 50 players who are certainly veterans of the multiplayer and there was no sense of matchmaking involved. But then again, how can you blame it when not a lot of people are playing this game online? But due to the staggering amount of players who play online, you're crippled and feel like your money wasn't so much worth it for the extra characters and maps because everyone just plays the usual maps over and over again. This makes multiplayer all the more repetitive and honestly turned me off after the 15th time playing and constantly telling myself to give it a shot when it does become repetitive after a while.
  
  
• Not necessarily a con to be added onto the score but if you aren't a fan of long credits that run on for 16 minutes or so, make sure to find something to do when the credits come about because they aren't going to be as interactive as Assassin Creed 2's gameplay at the credits. x3

An excellent game which holds up and has become one of the top best Assassin's Creed games for me. In my opinion, although the gameplay can seem lackluster especially in the multiplayer, this is a game definitely worth playing in your life if you love games with an interesting story topped off with more history than the other editions that came before and character development. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I can't wait to review the other Assassin's Creed games and play the ones I haven't yet. I give Assassin's Creed Revelations a 9/10 and a recommendation to buy it but only with the intent of perhaps buying The Lost Archive and the full game if you think you won't be as invested into the multiplayer as I have.

Thank you so much for reading my review, please give me feedback if any and happy gaming.

~ Raphy <3 c:

To start off, just wanted to point out that this is my first review so apologies if it won't be as in-depth as probably other reviews but I'll try my best. c:

This game was bought by me when this game was in a bundle with Breath of Death VII. The people who created a game decided to make a sale which was the lowest sale they have ever done on their games. That being said, I did purchase this game for €0.24 ($0.26 & £0.17) and I will make reference to it in the review.

You play as Cthulhu, a fictional deity created by H.P. Lovecraft in his story appropriately named: "Call of Cthulhu." In this game, Zeboyd Games (the creators) took a different approach for this character and with Cthulhu being basically the lord of insanity instead made it so that his powers have been relenquished and for him to obtain them back he must become a true hero which plots you into an epic quest in an open world where you meet characters to help you on your journey, dungeons to explore and towns to visit.

• This game had very hilarious and witty dialogue that did very excellently at what it was marketed for. (a parody RPG) Various references throughout the game which would give a throwback to those familiar with old-school RPGs will make you chuckle and enjoy the game even more. That being said, you don't have to be an old-school RPG gamer to understand the references but the game will become more enjoyable in a writing standpoint if you are.
  
  
• The game had very polished visuals that truly did take you back to old 8-bit to 16-bit 2D RPGs such as Final Fantasy, DragonQuest, Chrono Trigger, etc. For a new game to use this style, it'd truly fit in to the library of the genre no matter past, present or future.
  
  
• The soundtrack was excellent and tracks are highly memorable, catchy and is a true tribute to 8-bit to 16-bit RPGs. As well as that, the soundtrack is kindly provided onto Zeboyd Games's website listed here: http://zeboyd.com/2011/01/11/cthulhu-saves-the-world-free-ost-release/
  
  
• The gameplay is the traditional turn-based combat and depending on how you take a stance on that, it may be a pro or con for you. The game is even better though in the gameplay as it gets rid of most of the annoyances from other old RPGs that people would have issues with such as back-tracking, grinding, EVEN saving or any other minor annoyances by adding different capabilities such as being able to save any time, not being required to grind as much (although you could) and even having a random-encounter system whereby if you defeat a certain number of enemies in random-encounters, it will eventually stop and therefore you can explore even more.

• Considering this is an RPG, and an old-school styled one at that, it will most likely not greet players new or those who dislike this genre because it is as what it's written. This game and the gameplay still has the traditional random-encounters, turn-based combat system and is true to that sense and considering the game throws a lot into the mix, a lot of players will be put off had they bad experiences with these games or plain dislike them.
  
  
• Like other RPGs, especially JRPGs however, the same problem lies in that the game is a bit too linear. Getting to and from places seems too quick although given the game, it's price and it's stance. This is not so bad.
  
  
• The difficulty is quite high and impressive. This game is definitely suited to fans who are more oriented towards this game genre and newer places will have a difficulty with playing even perhaps at Easy difficulty. This won't be so bad if you do have prior knowledge with RPGs but it does cause quite a problem when it comes to newbies.

This game holds up and will hold up in the forseeing years to come and I only wish that Zeboyd Games would get more publicity with their games because they are quite good especially for those who love turn-based old-school RPGs. Heck, the only reason why I found out about this game was from it being a sale and it definitely needs much more publicity. I'd hate to see it stay an underrated great game. I loved the game and am now cordially introduced into the amazing developers that are Zeboyd Games and are excited to see the other additions they give out and their other titles.

This game receives a rating of: 8.5/10 for those familiar with the genre, especially the old-school RPGs.
7/10 for those who want to try a new RPG genre that can be compared to other RPGs and a starter to the genre. If you can get past the repetitive nature of the turn-based RPGs and enjoy the genre as well as the story, dialogue and soundtrack within this game then you will definitely enjoy it.

Thank you very much for reading my review, please give me feedback if any and happy gaming.

~Raphy <3 c:

An excellent game that truly shows how great independent game developers can be with just a little idea. This game provides not only obscure fun of something so simple but also brings you into realistic standpoints of how checkpoints were during the Cold War period. The game is quite addicting and it'll keep you playing for days upon days straight with its randomized and interesting people that'll have great forms of replayability. Definitely gets a 9/10 from me. :)