Added: 24.01.2014 1:05 | 1 views | 0 comments

As a former exclusive on the PlayStation Vita, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation arrived in time for the 2012 holidays as a promising system seller for Sony's fledgling handheld. While it fell short of its lofty goal, Liberation was nonetheless an impressive showcase of possibilities for open-world play on the portable platform. Now that it has been released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Assassin's Creed fans uninterested in the Vita can now experience all of the franchise's 18th-century storylines. Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD delivers what you would expect in upgraded visuals. And if you're hoping for the exact same gameplay that Vita owners experienced, you get that as well, even though it includes Liberation's original bugs.

Unlike other portable Assassin's Creed titles, Liberation continues the main narrative thrust of the major entries in the series. Aveline de Grandpre, the franchise's first playable female assassin, has intriguing ties to the protagonist of

If you're the type who expects HD remasters to be an opportunity for developers to fix the original version's bugs, expect some minor disappointments with Liberation HD. Don't be surprised if characters are positioned oddly during conversations, and don't expect rope swing functionality to work consistently. There are even issues that work to your benefit, such as when the game skips an entire combat sequence altogether. And while this game retains the series' notoriety system, it's easy to avoid confrontation. Guards are so slow to react to Aveline's presence that I didn't need to waste time tearing down wanted posters to decrease her notoriety.

Gerald's bland personality puts the "mild" in mild-mannered.

This ease of play speaks not only to Liberation HD's low difficulty level, but also to the lack of incentives to deviate from the storyline. The game isn't short on side missions, which include a foot race, the theft of a ship, and the freeing of slaves. Liberation HD does a poor job of letting you know that these missions exist, especially when the game doesn't raise financial hurdles that force you to raise funds and take a break from the story. Many missions in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag required money and resources, which was a minor problem that could be overcome by hijacking ships or taking on optional assassination assignments. Liberation rarely encourages you to pursue side tasks, even though it has an economy system where you can kill business rivals and take over their shops, thereby making goods cheaper for yourself. The problem is that you don't need to buy a lot of things, and the game's most useful items, like the poison and berserk darts, often auto-replenish as you progress through the story.

Attaching "HD" to a previously released game often means you're getting a high-definition remaster rather than a remake with visuals reconstructed from the ground up. Judging by the quality of the cutscenes, developer Ubisoft Sofia aspired to the latter but ended up with the former. The time and care it put into those cinematics is obvious, so it's disappointing that the gameplay and its bugs--issues that existed in the Vita version--didn't receive the same level of attention. I still recommend Assassin's Creed: Liberation for fans of the series, but it's hardly worth revisiting if you've completed the Vita version.

Added: 23.01.2014 17:16 | 2 views | 0 comments


Christopher Buffa (Prima Games): Sailing the high seas is dangerous, even in a video game. Case in point, Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag, where all sorts of things can spell the end of Edward Kenways pirate career. Fortunately, you can turn the tide with AC4 cheats that youll unlock by completing specific Abstergo Challenges. Once unlocked, activate the desired cheat from the Pause menu using the Abstergo Challenges option. A word of warning: you cannot save while cheats remain active.

Added: 23.01.2014 10:19 | 1 views | 0 comments


@ve3tro: "There is no denying that Assassins Creed has earned the right to become as popular as blockbusters such as Call of Duty. 2013s iteration didnt review so well but yet it still sold extremely well. Will the latest adventure, Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag, in the eternal conflict between Assassins and Templars manage to impress?"

Added: 22.01.2014 20:20 | 14 views | 0 comments


FIFA 14 (-23%) comfortably holds on to No1 in the All Formats Chart, making it a total of 8 weeks at the top. Its the largest number of weeks at No1 since Zumba Fitness made it to 10 weeks back in W33 2011. Another quiet week means there is also no change at Nos 2, 3 and 4 with Call of Duty: Ghosts (-39%), Battlefield 4 (-26%) and Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag (-31%) all non-movers. Lego Marvel Super Heroes (-12%) climbs one place to No5, ahead of Killzone: Shadow Fall (-6%) which jumps two places to No6. The rest of the Top 10 shuffles amongst itself with Need for Speed: Rivals (-28%) stuck at No7, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (-7%) up one place to No8, Grand Theft Auto V (-56%) down four places to No9 and the extremely budget friendly Aliens: Colonial Marines (-10%) not budging from No10. Mario Party: Island Tour on 3DS is the first Top 40 new entry of the year, debuting at No18.

Added: 22.01.2014 15:20 | 1 views | 0 comments


The PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U versions of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag are now available for only $29.99 on Gamestop.

Added: 22.01.2014 14:16 | 0 views | 0 comments


The PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U versions of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag are now available for only $29.99 on Gamestop.