Next purchase? Need advice.

I'm looking to pick up one of the following this month:

Assassin's Creed 2
Dragon Age
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

All three have received high reviews, both here and from my friends. There are a few things I was trying to clear up about each game, though...

Assassin's Creed 2: has the story improved since the original? What about those ungodly twenty minute "cutscenes" before each mission? I hear a lot about missions being better, but are they more varied? I'm not looking for Grand Theft Auto: Rennaisance. I want something a little more visceral and a little more immersive than that.

Dragon Age: I hear it's nothing like "the second coming of Baldur's Gate" that it was advertised as. My question is, is it better than KOTOR? I was not a big fan of KOTOR. I'm looking for a game that's less linear than KOTOR was and involves either less long conversations or better written conversations.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: I don't need another multi-player game. I've heard the single player mode is outstanding in the truest sense of the word; that is, it's a unique experience in the FPS genre. How enduring is it?

In the meantime, the rest of this month will probably be spent on Fatal Frame, which I intend to use as my "F" in the alphabetolympics.

Comments 7

Halon Dec 13, 2009

MW2's singleplayer is typical Call of Duty but more over the top and with a more all over the place story. It's fun if you like these type of games but to me was nowhere NEAR as satisfying as MW. You said you don't care about multiplayer which is good since I hated it (played on both 360 and briefly on PC, same thing but more chatter on the former and more hackers on the latter).

However that's probably the most negative review you'll ever see for the game so it's probably better than I'm making it sound.

Haven't played Dragon Age but I hear it is typical Bioware. Whether or not that's good or bad is up to you. Also I hear the PC version is the superior one but since I haven't played it I can't tell you why.

Suskie Dec 13, 2009

Assassin's Creed II is officially my choice for game of the year, and I've now played everything I wanted to play this year (yes, this includes Uncharted 2). Immeasurable improvement over the first game. Great story. Immense variety. Far more involving game world. Read my review if you want to know more; I'm in danger of just repeating everything I said there.

I would highly recommend Dragon Age, but considering the sacrilegious things you've said about KOTOR, you're probably better off playing something bad instead, seeing as you live in the Bizarro World. (To answer your question though, they could easily have titled the game Baldur's Gate 3D.)

zigfried Dec 13, 2009

Based on what you've written, I would say absolutely do not buy Modern Warfare 2. I haven't even played the other two games yet, but they must be safer choices than MW2.

//Zig

hmd Dec 13, 2009

drop those and get demon's souls instead.

radicaldreamer Dec 13, 2009

I say wait a few months and make a choice between God of War III, Dante's Inferno, and Darksiders. Or just get all three!

True Dec 13, 2009

I've played all three and have to say out of all of them, Assasin's Creed II was probably the best investment I've made in a long time.

I went all out--bought Bloodlines (and the PSP to go along with it), the hint book and sat through the Lineage movie before I ever touched it. And even with all that, it lasted me about five days.

It's massive, don't get me wrong, but it's so involved and addictive I had to play it. Everything they did right in the first part, they kept. Everything they did wrong was fixed.

I anticipated AC II for a long time--ever since the first one ended--and have to say it was completely worth it.

Dragon Age is... eh. It's kind of like a platform version of WoW without the online encounters. I suppose if you're into that sort of thing it's a good game but I've discovered I don't really have the patience for games like that anymore.

Modern Warfare is pretty sick. Campaign mode is quick and intense, but like Resistance 2, MW's crowning achievement is its multi-player. Still, I honestly don't think--as good as it was--that it compares to AC II. I second Suskie's vote on game of the year. It's definitely worth the $60.

zippdementia Blogger Dec 13, 2009

Ass Creed 2 was top choice for me, too, but I'd heard such good things about the other two games that I was forced to debate over them like a mother debates over presents for her knocked up friend's baby shower.