Ubisoft sure has received a lot of my money recently

[wintergr3y]

(Those of you not interested in Xbox 360 games, please move along. Nothin' for you to see here.)

I've been a long-time fan of the various Tom Clancy-branded videogames published by Ubisoft. Ubi has been one of the strongest contenders on the Xbox 360 so far. Here's what's got my attention.

GHOST RECON: ADVANCED WARFIGHTER (aka GRAW)
Ghost Recon is, in my opinion, the strongest game published so far for the 360. The single player game had gorgeous graphics, and engaging gameplay. Essentially the Ghost Recon series are all 3rd-person perspective shooters in the modern warfare genre. I hadn't played the earlier incarnations of Ghost Recon, but GRAW delivered in spades. It especially shines in multiplayer, where the 8-on-8 maps encouraged teamwork and tactics. Cooperative games, either vs. another team or AI, are a hoot. I played this game for months, but I've finally had my fill.

SPLINTER CELL: DOUBLE AGENT
I've played every Splinter Cell game, and enjoyed them. Splinter Cell is a 3rd-person sneaker -- although Ubisoft didn't invent the genre, they sure perfected it with Splinter Cell. As you'd expect, SC:DA has beautiful graphics. The latest installment's single player game has Sam Fisher possibly going to the dark side, trying to appease two masters with two competing goals. I haven't finished the single player yet, but I've played enough Splinter Cell over the years to already be getting board. Where SC:DA fell down was the multiplayer. Previous installments invented a fabulous scheme where two spies took on two high-tech guards, each played by someone else on the internet, and was nothing short of brilliant. The latest installment, however, departed from the sneak vs. shoot model because the spies are no longer sneaky; instead they're quick and athletic. The maps even lack large dark areas, and encourage the spies to sprint individually across the screen and dodge bullets, instead of coordinating teamwork to sneak across. Overall, I'm disappointed.

RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS
The Rainbow anti-terrorist squad is back, and this time what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas. The full version of this game doesn't come out for a couple of weeks, but I've been playing the demo for a couple of days and am mightily impressed. The graphics are right up there with GRAW and SC:DA. The demo is only single-player, but it heavily encourages careful, tactical thinking which is what I love. When the full game is released, apparently all the single player levels can be done cooperatively over Xbox Live, so I'm hoping to rope codrus into hours of anti-terrorist hunts. Multi-player sounds promising too; I'll have to wait and see it to get hooked, but the indications are strong that I will.

Comments

[codrus.livejournal.com]

I expect to pick up R6V at some point. I *think* gears of war is also going to have a coop on live. It damn well better. :P

[wintergr3y.livejournal.com]

I actually just read today that Gears of War will have co-op on Live. The folks over at TeamXbox just posted a multiplayer review today. My only real problem is that very little of what I've seen of GoW has interested me, despite its massive marketing campaign. I think I'll wait to see what the reviews say.

[codrus.livejournal.com]

I'll be able to get copies for cheap, so I'll almost certainly pick it up as soon as it comes out, if only so I can ogle the pretty graphics.

But for the moment, Neverwinter Nights 2 is the poison of choice. :)

[neverjaunty.livejournal.com]

Uh...anything that is House of Zerg rated for the 360? Kamatari Damacy Ultimate Challenge maybe?

(And no, Rainbow Six is NOT appropriate. Do you really want Kid Peligro getting good with high-powered weapons?)

[wintergr3y.livejournal.com]

Not really. The Xbox continues to market their machine as the adult console, knowing they'll never successfully compete with the Playstation for kids games.