Bring Hitman Back

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I remember the Hitman series as a refreshing break from my usual diet of shooters and sports games and the occasional RPG. Blood Money, Hitman's final iteration was definitely its greatest. Although, it was not nearly as dark Contracts, it was the most cinematic and fun. It controlled far better than the any previous Hitman game. Each level was essentially one huge puzzle for you to solve. And Blood Money had some great puzzles, with varied environments, tasks, enemies and more cool than an advertisement campaign targeted at adolescents.

I wasn't a fan of it's trial and error gameplay, though, but I have no idea how to work around that and maintain its trademark gameplay style. Also, if they could find a way to make multiplayer work and go beyond the obvious guards vs. hitman, but work out a way for multiple hitmen to compete for a target (sort of like smokin' aces except with Hitman's stealth). It would come back bigger than it ever was.

2 games in 2 weeks

I just completed RE5 yesterday and I completed Uncharted a few days ago.

Uncharted was great from start to finish. It's length was just right as the lack of enemy variety would have made it tedious to complete otherwise. I wish however, that the boss fight had been more exciting. The final quick-time event was pretty cool, but the rest of the boss fight didn't seem climactic at all. All you had to do was wait behind crates and shoot the non-boss enemies while what's his name had to reload. After having played some great levels which involved traps, cliff hanging, and strategic gunfighting, I was hoping for an epic conclusion. Even so, the game remained exciting all throughout and that's all I can ask for.

It only took me three days to beat RE5 and that's mainly due to an all nighter on the first day in which I completed more than half the game alongside my brother. However, after several accidental deaths while solving the light and mirror puzzles in the caves we avoided the game for a couple days.

There's isn't one huge, noticeable flaw in RE5, which is why I'm surprised it's being considered one of the biggest disappointments this year. It can't be credited with RE4's originality, so it doesn't have that element of a pleasant surprise. The enemies though are more varied this time around, the boss fights are about the same. Co-op is the big new addition, but it really didn't emphazise teamwork, except for when you split up and have to work together to get back together. I think it was the co-op or it may have been the daylight or lack of a creepy mansion that made the puzzles suffer a bit, though. Which is a shame because the puzzles were backed by horror in RE4 and that's what made it a Resident Evil game and not just an action game with zombies. RE5 reallly lacks that horror behind the puzzle solving and maybe that's it's one identifiable flaw and shortcoming as a sequel to one of the greatest games ever.

It's final boss fight was also a little weak, but that's a problem I've seen in so many games that I can't hold that againsts them. I've got three words for developers: three stage battles. Sure RE5's final boss battle was two stage, but both lacked the need for strategy or skill. Button mashing doesn't make me feel accomplished.

MAG

I remember feeling unimpressed when I saw MAG presented at Sony's Press Conference. The demo seemed choreographed so the action was pretty weak. However, everyone cheered when they showed the map and revealed the unfathomable amount players, represented as dots. As I see more of Zipper's diary entries, my impression is definitely changing to their favor. Here's their latest one: