Those who've known me for a while should be aware that I like to write game reviews. I do it both for fun (I really enjoy it) and as a service to the community, since I feel I'm capable of writing fair, well structured, and objective reviews. So it would be logical to think that if the opportunity presented itself, I'd like to write reviews for a professional website or magazine, right? Well, unless said editorial source was willing to allow me to write reviews without a deadline and I was allowed to ditch any game I didn't want to review, then no, I wouldn't take a job as a reviewer.

Here are my 4 reasons not to be a professional game reviewer:

1/ You're forced to rush through games.

First of all I'm going to point out this article that discusses the issue of finishing a game before reviewing it. It's no secret that just like game publishers are in a constant race to ship out their games before the competition, reviewing sources are also in a race against time, craving that "world exclusive" first review. This is nothing new, and quite frankly, there's nothing wrong with it. But for me, it's one of the main reasons why I've always felt that a job as a games reviewer is a very sucky one. From the moment you start rushing yourself through a game you're effectively killing the experience. Granted, considering that this is your job you're gonna have much more time to play games, but still, playing a 40 hour game in a single weekend is not my idea of fun. Not only are you likely to miss out on most of the story details (provided the game has a story), but odds are you're not even going to enjoy everything the game has to offer since you're too concerned about finishing the game and then finding the time to write a decent review, which more than likely won't even be decent since just like the playthrough, it will be rushed.

2/ You'll have to play games you don't want to play.

Let's say Big Rigs Over the Road Racing 2 has just been released; as obvious as its suckiness can be implied, it still needs to be reviewed. Would you really volunteer to play such game? Ok, maybe in that particular case you would, if only to witness a masterpiece of the odd kind, but when you're forced to play through dozens of bad games, you're likely to get jaded and probably even bitter towards the industry for releasing so much crap. And it doesn't even have to be bad game, maybe it's just a game of a genre you're not too fond of, but since the crew is short staffed, you're assigned the review. Fun...

3/ You're not in the mood to play anything... too bad!

It's one of days where not even a Nude Miss Universe Pageant would cheer you up, but your duty calls and you have to get the job done. Perhaps you have to finish a game you're actually enjoying, but those last few hours will be tampered by whatever event had you down in the first place. A lack of motivation can always lead to a poor job, so considering that reviewing that game is your job, there's also a chance you'll do a poor job. And that leads to the main reason why I believe reviewing games for a living isn't fun...

4/ It's a job.

No matter what spin you want to give it, or how fun the job can be at times, it's still a job. There will be deadlines, there will be pressure, there will be bosses you'll have to answer to, etc, etc, etc. While for many people a line of work related to one of their favorite hobbies can be appealing, for me it's quite the opposite. I don't want my hobbies to become a job. As a regular gamer, I enjoy writing reviews because it's something I do by choice whenever I feel like it. The minute it becomes work, it stops being fun.

(Disclaimer: In quite a coincidence, just as I was ready to post my third blog review, and 25th review overall, I received today the coveted Top 100 reviewers emblem. While I'm not obsessed about such things, I'm grateful someone deems my reviews in high esteem. I also noted most of my contacts got the emblem as well, so it's safe to say we're all pretty good writers. Anyway, to celebrate the emblem I'm posting a review for a somewhat controversial game, Assassin's Creed. I know several of you hated the game, and I even quoted Monco in the review, but like always I ask that your feedback focuses more in the editorial quality of the review. If you feel like debating some of Assassin's Creed issues, please do so without lambasting the review.)

Flawed as it may be, Assassin's Creed is one of the most immersive, unique, and memorable experiences you'll ever have.

Assassin's Creed is a perfect example of how immersion can make you forget you're playing a game, to the point that the experience is so rich that you end up easily forgiving faults that could kill lesser games. This game features a terrific and engrossing story, one that is strong enough to fill any logical gaps the game may present. It's also set in an incredibly lifelike gameworld, one where you'll literally lose yourself in, both thanks to the incredible attention to detail as well as some of the most stunning graphics ever seen. And it offers gameplay so exhilarating that it'll be hard to put the game down. Unfortunately the game seems to run out of gameplay ideas as it progresses, so it ends up being very repetitive towards the end. Still, the strong storytelling as well as the always enjoyable gameplay (repetitive as it may get), will keep you compelled enough to see the game through the end.

Altair gets a good view of the city prior to embarking on his mission.

Assassin's Creed presents a dual story, (in one of the most bizarre and memorable story presentations ever devised), where you step into the role of a young man called Desmond, who has been kidnapped by a group of researchers from Abstergo Labs to be a part of an experimentation with a nifty device called the Animus. The Animus allows a person to relive memories by examining their DNA, but as it turns out, your DNA also stores all your ancestors' memories, which is exactly what Abstergo is interested in. Desmond's ancestor they need information about is Altair, a member of an eltie group of assassins from the 12th century who fought the holy war against the Templars. Unfortunately for Abstergo, Desmond can't access Altair's relevant memories without first reliving previous events, so your memory recollection will start with Altair sent on a mission to recover an artifact of great importance (later in the game you'll learn just how important it is). This mission doesn't go as planned, thanks in part to Altair's initial arrogance, so as punishement he must redeem himself for having failed the creed by embarking on nine assasination missions against men that are all considered enemies of the creed.

As the assasination missions go, Altair finds himself confused by the motives of these men (who not always seem as evil as depicted) to the point where he ponders on the legitimacy of his actions. His faith keeps him going on however, and eventually many things will be revealed to him, including the importance of the artifact he was initially sent to recover. As Altair's memories are recollected, Desmond finds himself in an equally confusing situation, not knowing what does Abstergo really want for him, nor what will they do with him when they're finished. While the story may seem a bit convoluted, it's actually quite easy to follow, and the Animus twist makes up for any inconsistencies you may notice as you recollect your memories. Needless to say, the story will keep you hanging till the very end. Actually, it will keep you haging beyond the ending, because the game ends in a cryptic cliffhanger note. While some may take issue with this, I found myself loving the ending, since it offered enough resolution to make sense of most of your actions through the game as well as keep me interested for the next installment in the series.

The draw distance is unbeleivable, which leads to some stunning sights.

The events recollected through the Animus take place during the 12th century in the middle east (the main cities being Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus, and Masyaf). And from the second you set foot in Masyaf, you will realize just how stunning this gameworld is. It's not just the technical quality of the visuals, but also the incredible attention to detail littered all across the cities. The cities truly feel like a living, breathing place. Hundreds of peasants will wander across the streets, all serving a different role (merchants, beggars, thugs, lunatics, scholars, etc.). And they're not there just for show, since they'll react to any of your actions, be it throwing rocks at you should you perform socially unacceptable behavior, or calling for the guards when they witness a murder. Beggars will constantly pester you asking for charity, thugs will join in on any ongoing fights, while drunks an lunatics will shove you around begging to be on the receiving end of a kick to the teeth. The cities are also greatly realized, with market stalls, fountains, temples, convention sites, harbors, etc. But above all else, it's your ability to freely move across any place in the cities that makes them feel like the real thing. You can leap across walls, jump from one rooftop to the next, or climb some crazy high stuctures to get a better view of the city, only to later take "leap of faith" and fall hundreds of feet into the ground (or better said, a stack of hay). The combination of all this factors makes exploration in Assassin's Creed a breathtaking endeavour.

The combat is brutal and satisfying.

And while you can let yourself loose in the gameworld for as much as you like, you must keep focus on the task at hand, or better said, assasination at hand. Gathering information about your target will make up the bulk of the gameplay. When you reach a city, you'll find several ways of acquiring knolewdge about your target: Interrogations, pickpocketing, eavesdroping on conversations, and informer challenges (which come in various flavors, some exclusive to the PC version of the game). You usually need to perform three of this missions to obtain the necessary information, but you're free to do any missions available.

There are also several view points (tall structures that can be climbed to obtain a better view of the city, which will be displayed in your map) that must be cleared, and side missions, such as rescuing citizens harrased by guards, collecting flags scattered across the cities, or killing templar guards. While a stealthy approach is the recommended one when performing most missions, sometimes brute force will be needed, be it because your cover was blown or because the mission demanded it (saving citizens for instance). And you won't want to stay away from combat too long, because the combat is a blast. It's a relatively simple fighting system, but one that is forever satisfying. Even when pitted against dozens of guards, you'll never feel like you're doomed, since counterattacks can save the day.

Some of your assasination targets are quite paranoid, which leads to some bizarre moments.

Assassin's Creed gameplay is refreshing and addicitve. Unfortunately, the game seems to follow the same pattern for every single assasination mission, which means that you'll perform the same types of missions over and over again. This is by far the game's biggest flaw, and some people may find the final chapters of the game overly tedious (I'll quote one of my contacts, Monco59, who said after the tedium set in "you'd gladly wash your uncle's privates to avoid touching this game again..."). I for one even memorized most of the lines used by citizens when you saved them (and at times it was irritating to hear the same phrase repeated over and over). Granted, since you're not required to do every single mission in the game, you may end up finding enough variety across the different chapters, but it's a shame the development team couldn't come up with more ideas to spice things up as the game progressed.

But it's here where I praise the way the game immerses you in it's world. Repetitive as they might have been, I never wanted to let a mission (primary or secondary) slip by, because I felt a need to do them. Any time I found a citizen being harrased by guards I wanted to help them. The same applied for helping out members of the clan in their respective endavours. And god knows I never grew tired of climbing to all the view points, because the vistas were so beautiful, and the climbing so exhilarating, it was always a joy. I truly embraced playing the role of Altair and living by the creed's commandments. One can only wonder what could be achieved if the game was fulfilling all of it's potential.

The crowd screams for blood...

As mentioned before, the game is a pleasure to look at. Aside from the great attention to detail and tremendous art direction, the game is a technical marvel. It's incredible how such a level of technical prowess can be achieved while rendering such a huge gameworld. The draw distance seems to go on forever, which means there's virtually no pop-in effects, and you'll be able to see cities in their entirety when you climb a view point. The textures are rich and vivid. The character models all look great, especially Altair, whose movements are fluid and realistic. Even horse movements are terrificly executed. From a technical standpoint, I only place Crysis above this game. Perhaps the only slight detriment of the graphics, is that while all three cities have a different feel, they still look relatively similar, so you won't enjoy a huge amound of visual variety. But that's just nitpicking.

And to top it all, the game's sound is wonderful. The voice acting is believable and well handled. Altair's voicework in particular impressed me, but so did the voice acting of your fellow assassins, or your targets. Even the beggar women put in a great performance, making you feel their desperation for some help. And you could literally feel the pain when a guard screamed as you drew a blade across his chest. All other sound effects are also terrific, be it sword clashes, horse gallops, crowd chatter, or the eagle cry heard while your perform a leap of faith. The music is also outstanding, changing from pulsating high tempo stuff as you attempt to escape from guards, to tense sections as you try to peform a silent assassination.

The most breathtaking leap of faith in the whole game...

Assassin's Creed is a game that elicits mixed reactions. Some people can't tolerate how repetitive the game gets, while others ignore that, for the fact that the game is so immersive. I find myself in the latter group, and while I do feel that the game isn't reaching its full potential, I believe Assassin's Creed is a terrific game that can be considered a work of art. I do warn potential players that you must enter the game with the right approach to truly enjoy it. If you can look past its flaws, Assassin's Creed will be one of the most immersive, unique, and memorable experiences you'll ever have.

(Disclaimer: This is just a short post meant as a tribute to the incredible achievements of my beloved football team, Manchester United, who won the English Premier League on May 11 2008, and the European Champions League on May 21 2008. Feel free to ignore this post if you don't follow the "beautiful game".)

Hail to the Premier League Champions...

... and the Kings of Europe!

Glory, Glory, Man United!

(Disclaimer: Just like with my Crysis review, I'm only posting this review on the blog to "pimp it out". I'm not interested in debating with anyone about it's content. Feel free to leave a commment on the quality of the review, not on whether you agree with it or not.)

Tomb Raider Legend isn't just a total reinvention of a series, it's also one of the most inspired games ever made.

I have been a Tomb Raider fan from the very beginning; I've played all the games from the original masterpiece Tomb Raider, to the rehashes in TR II and III, to the minor but significant improvements of Last Revelation, to the sheer fun that was Chronicles, all the way to the flawed and critically hated (though loved by me) Angel of Darkness. The series has had it's ups and downs, but my love for it has never waned. Hell, I even played the gold editions of Tomb Raider I and II, as well as the mini sequel to Tomb Raider III, Lost Artifact. Yep, that's how much I love this series. So it goes without saying that I was eagerly looking forward to what Crystal Dynamics, the new developer in charge of the series, was gonna come up with Tomb Raider Legend, a game that finally seemed poised to take Lara into the 21st century. Having just finished playing it, I can safely say that as much as I loved Core Design previous efforts, this game elevates the Tomb Raider series to a whole new level, one that I never could've foreseen. In short, Tomb Raider Legend is the best Tomb Raider game and quite frankly (and in my very humble opinion) is also one of the most inspired games ever made, and has easily become of one of my favorite games of all time.

It's safe to say Lara has never looked this good.

So what exactly is so special about Legend? Essentially, everything. Crystal Dynamics has taken all the good elements of the series (the memorable settings, the clever puzzles, the great storytelling, the sense of exploration) and gotten rid of everything that was tedious about the older games. Gone is the grid that controlled Lara's movement which means now she's free to move at her will, and for the player it means no longer having to count the steps before taking a specific jump or aligning Lara so that she'd grab the ledge in front of her. As meaningless as this may sound, the removal of all the tedium related to Lara's movement that plagued the previous games practically transforms Legend into a completely different type of game. Climbing a mountain will no longer feel like a chore, but a thrill, the way it should be. This makes the game much more accessible to a wider audience too, and that's certainly a good thing.

There are also many new additions to the game, such as new gadgets for Lara, including a magnetic grapple that can help her maneuver through the environments as well as mess around with them. She also has a personal light source, which essentially substitutes the flairs from previous games. She has a pair of binoculars that can not only help her scan the area but also gather information about the nature of her surroundings (she'll learn whether a certain item can be moved, whether it's unstable, or if it's a mechanism). She also wears a headset through the whole game (like she did in the last levels of Chronicles) with which she can communicate with her allies and gather hints about what to do next or what dangers may lie ahead.

The vehicle sequences are absolutely thrilling.

Another change to the game is the streamlining of the inventory. Lara can only carry 3 health packs (unlike the unlimited amount she could carry before), carry 4 grenades, and one secondary weapon (aside from her trademark pistols). This is another change that eliminates the tedium of scanning through the entire inventory as well bringing some much needed realism to the game. Lara also gets to control several vehicles, which is nothing new to the series, but this time around the vehicle sequences are much more thrilling and easy to control (although there is a slight issue with one sequence that will be mentioned later). Also, the secrets from previous games have been substituted by the rewards, which are cla$$ified as bronze, silver, and gold rewards. Finding this rewards allows you to unlock special content, such as new outfits for Lara, concept art, cinematics, etc.

Another area that has received a major revamp is the graphics. I'm going to be honest here; Tomb Raider Legend is the most visually stunning game I've ever played. Both from a technical and artistic point of view, Legend is a visual rollercoaster. While the game isn't as photorealistic as some newer games like Cryisis, it's still technically impressive thanks to the "next gen graphics" option. This option brings a whole new depth of realism to Lara's appearance as well as her surroundings, with amazing lighting and shadowing effects. A fairly fast PC is needed to access this option, but it's very worth it to make the upgrade if necessary. But it's really the artistic design that elevates this game above the rest. Every single level is a sight to behold, from the caves in Bolivia, to the skyscrapers in Japan, to the waterfalls in Ghana, to the snowy Kazakhstan, to the museums in England. It's impossible to not be impressed at how alive every level feels and the amount of detail that went into creating such levels.

The game is filled with distinct and memorable locations.

One area where Tomb Raider had always been strong was in the sound department. Angel of Darkness featured some terrific voice acting as well as excellent music, and the previous games also had some memorable music. Legend simply blows them all away. The Legend soundtrack is one of the most inspired game soundtracks I've ever had the pleasure to listen. From the moment you load up the game and listen to the menu theme you realize that the sounds of Tomb Raider Legend will accompany you long after you're done with the game. Be it the catchy tunes in Bolivia, the pumping themes of the motorcycle sequences in Peru and Kazahkztan, the lovely music from Nepal, or the thrilling theme from the final battle, it's all top notch stuff. And if that wasn't enough the voice acting is superb. Lara has never been voiced better (her voice is handled by Keeley Hawes), and her interactions with Zip and Allister are always funny and memorable. The rest of the characters Amanda, Rutland, Anaya, Winston, etc., also add a new dimension to the game.

If up until now it feels like I've been gushing like a maniac about how great this game is, it's because I've never been so in love with a game before. But my love isn't blind and I recognize the game has some faults. First of all is the introduction of a checkpoint system. Previous Tomb Raider games always allowed you to have an unlimited amount of saves, as well as saving at whatever point you wanted. In Legend, checkpoints are the norm, and while you can save manually, when you reload you'll always start at a previous checkpoint. I'll say this, as far as checkpoint systems go, Legend probably features the best checkpoint system ever devised, since you'll rarely go too long without triggering a checkpoint, which always seem to be located at fairly logical places. But the fact remains, it's still a checkpoint system, which means you'll have to deal with the frustration of repeating a certain section (such as a boss battle or a section of traps) over and over again.

Frustrating as they may be, the boss battles are very memorable.

Another slight flaw is the presence of several bugs in some levels. One bug presented itself in the Kazakhstan level, where running the game with the next-gen content on caused the game to crash. That bug was easily avoided by turning the next-gen content off, but another bug where the scenery in the motorcycle sequence kept repeating itself was incredibly irritating. There a few other bugs scattered through the game, some more annoying than others, but for the most part they're easily avoidable. If you do stumble upon a bug, fortunately many fan sites offer save games where the bug has already been avoided.

It's also worth mentioning that the difficulty of certain Boss battles can be frustrating, though for the most part this only happens if you play the game on the hardest difficulty (Tomb Raider). I'll admit that I haven't been able to beat the final boss on Hard difficulty, because at the hardest setting it's simply an unfair battle (EDIT: I did it!). Fortunately, you can change the difficulty in between levels, so if you're getting too frustrated, don't hesitate to lower the difficulty (on medium difficulty, it's a much easier fight). Finally, the game is fairly short; depending on how efficient you are, it can take you around 8 hours to finish the game, but it's a thrill from start to finish without a single dull moment in between.

Here's a lady you don't want to mess with.

But enough with the flaws, Tomb Raider Legend is quite simply one of the most amazing games I've ever had the privilege to experience. Nothing says that you love a game more than wishing it didn't end and I wanted Legend to go on forever. Developer Crystal Dynamics deserves all the praise in the world for reinventing the Tomb Raider series in a way I never thought possible. Between it's amazing visuals, eclectic soundtrack, memorable story and characters, stunning locales, and ultra refined gameplay, Legend is not only the best Tomb Raider game, but one of the most awe inspiring games ever made.

Quick blog here, mostly to put some joy in your faces (and anger in fanboy faces)...

Thanks to a recent change in columnists by PC Gamer magazine, I came across one of the funniest SOBs I've ever seen, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. This guy specializes in online reviews of all the latest games. What's so funny about that? Like the blog title mentions, they are zero punctuation reviews; audio reviews, with a bunch of crappy cartoons mocking the game being reviewed. To say that they're funny is an understatement. They're F^%*&&*%$& hilarious, and rather offensive as well. Though they may seem exceedingly negative at times, it's all in good fun. If you wanna have a good laugh at the expense of all the mistakes developers make lately, check out his website (click on the picture).

WARNING: The reviews include a LOT of swearing.

To say that I'm overwhelmed with emotions would be an understatement. I finished playing The Longest Journey today (a classic adventure game from 2000 for those who don't know) and this has been indeed a long and memorable journey. The most memorable journey...

If you haven't played this game, I urge you too. Even if adventure gaming isn't your thing, if you can appreciate a great story, you will appreciate this game. Such an impression this game has left on me that as meaningless as this may sound, I hereby proclaim its protagonist April Ryan as the most memorable female character in the history of video games (I even changed my blog header to include her)... Ok, so I realize I may have commited heresy by taking the title away from Lara Croft, but April is just that good, as is the whole game.

In fact, this game has actually relieved much of the pain I felt from the ending of it's sequel, Dreamfall (which I actually played first). When I finished that game I was left in limbo, as there were so many unanswered questions and so many things that didn't make sense, but after playing the original, my opinion of Dreamfall has changed drastically (for the good). I even edited my review of that game. Now I can't wait for The Longest Journey to continue...

And here's my review.