Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

Assassin’s Creed II

The New Year came and I had the urge to start a new game. I perused my unusually large collection of games, and decided to continue the Assassin’s Creed series. I had recently watched my girlfriend play Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, so it seemed like a good idea to get caught up on the first part of Ezio’s story.

I had previously only completed the original Assassin’s Creed game (and yes, I collected all the flags) and thought it was pretty fun, and I had heard from just about everywhere that the second game was waaay better, so I began.

The second game certainly improves on many aspects of the first game (like adding swimming; seriously, what assassin can’t swim?), but the thing I enjoyed the most was a greater emphasis on storytelling. While the original game tells the story of Altair and begins the story for Desmond, you can play through the entire game and barely know what happened. Not this time around.

I was able to complete the entire game (full 1000G and all) in about a week of play, so it became the first game I completed in 2012. It also helped me get ready for…

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Once again perusing my collection, I got the feeling that I wasn’t ready to be done with the swift dealing of death from ledges and rooftops and haystacks. I was fresh of Assassin’s Creed II, so it felt natural to continue the series – similar to when I try to watch only one episode of House.

The game seems to have a greater focus on developing the characters (Ezio, Desmond, and Desmond’s crew) and having a wider mission variety. I now have a group of Assassins I can send off to do random quests to level them up or use them on nearby guards so I don’t have to get my hands dirty. Once again, the series makes solid progression in improving the gameplay, with combat being an emphasis. All welcome changes.

It adds what I’ve heard is fairly addicting multiplayer, but I’ve yet to sink my teeth into it and probably won’t until the campaign is completed.

Bastion

I’d been interested in playing Bastion since the Summer of Arcade promotion, but I refuse to play $15 for an arcade game that I’m not hotly anticipating (which is almost never). But when they ran the 12 days of Xbox promotion to end the year, the very first day had Bastion half off – only $7.50. This price was much better for me and I couldn’t wait to start.

Right off the bat, you notice how attractive the game is, and throughout the game, the narrator kept me informed and engaged. Some people don’t like his voice, but I found him highly entertaining. The gameplay is simple but solid, and the music and sounds are quite fitting. This game isn’t one that has a strong story; it’s just enough to give you a reason to keep going. Unfortunately, it is a quite brief experience (in my opinion justifying my refusal to buy it at $15) that I was able to complete the two necessary playthroughs and do everything there was to do in a short 8 hours.

Bloodrayne: Betrayal

Another arcade I noticed was on sale and decided to pick up. This game is a 2D side-scrolling hack n’ slash game and it is a throwback in a modern skin. What I mean by that is it is fun to play and difficult to master. I tried my hardest to get an S rank on the first couple of missions, but no matter how many times I tried, I was unable to do so.

I haven’t given up, though. I enjoy a good challenge and this game delivers. If you like these types of games, it’s worth taking a look.

Halo: CE Anniversary

I had this game since launch, but with so many other games in my to-do list, it kinda got lost in the shuffle. I pulled it out and decided to take a run through the first couple of levels, switching back and forth between the new graphics and the old and seeing how times have changed. It’s pretty amazing to see what used to be the top-of-the-line graphics back then and come them to what just slightly above average now.

I’ll be getting back to this title eventually. I’m looking forward to my run through the game on Legendary, but it’ll have to wait until I find some more free time.

Crysis 2

This is a title I hadn’t picked up in a while. I haven’t touched any FPS for a good while, so I decided to hop online and go a few rounds. It appears my FPS skills have deteriorated some after not having played them in so long, making playing this game online quite the struggle. It didn’t help that everyone still likes to use the Camo so much. I got frustrated pretty quick, but at least I knocked out a few achievements along the way.

Saints Row

Yes, the first one. I was working on this title exclusively in previous weeks, but I stopped when I realized that one of my graffiti tags (needed for a pair of achievements) appeared to be glitched. I’ve triple-checked all the graffiti tags on the map – of which there are 75 – and it shows I’ve gotten them all, but the counter in the menu says I’m missing one.

It’s a big downer for me that I’ll probably have to start over after making so much progress. I don’t think I’ll be playing this again any time soon.

Games I Bought

I went on quite the buying spree in the past month or so. It’s not my fault, though! All these different stores and publishers are to blame with all the sales and discounts that were calling out to me over the holiday season. Anyway, here’s the list:

Bloodrayne: Betrayal
Bastion
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition
Burnout CRASH!
From Dust
Beyond Good & Evil HD
Bulletstorm

Additional Intel

I had been telling both myself and others than I eventually wanted to buy an HD recording device so I could record my gameplay and make YouTube videos, and I finally made good on my claims. I am now the proud owner of a Hauppauge 1212 HD PVR and I have to say it works great so far. The quality is astounding.

I plan on getting some recreational videos up and possibly a few video guides here or there. I’m going to try and have a good time with it, so be on the lookout for any future updates.

In other news, it appears I will soon be a proud owner of a backwards-compatible ps3. My girlfriend’s brother had one and it stopped reading blu-ray discs, so they basically said if I can fix it, I can have it. I’ve already ordered the parts.

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.

Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

Assassin’s Creed II

The New Year came and I had the urge to start a new game. I perused my unusually large collection of games, and decided to continue the Assassin’s Creed series. I had recently watched my girlfriend play Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, so it seemed like a good idea to get caught up on the first part of Ezio’s story.

I had previously only completed the original Assassin’s Creed game (and yes, I collected all the flags) and thought it was pretty fun, and I had heard from just about everywhere that the second game was waaay better, so I began.

The second game certainly improves on many aspects of the first game (like adding swimming; seriously, what assassin can’t swim?), but the thing I enjoyed the most was a greater emphasis on storytelling. While the original game tells the story of Altair and begins the story for Desmond, you can play through the entire game and barely know what happened. Not this time around.

I was able to complete the entire game (full 1000G and all) in about a week of play, so it became the first game I completed in 2012. It also helped me get ready for…

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Once again perusing my collection, I got the feeling that I wasn’t ready to be done with the swift dealing of death from ledges and rooftops and haystacks. I was fresh of Assassin’s Creed II, so it felt natural to continue the series – similar to when I try to watch only one episode of House.

The game seems to have a greater focus on developing the characters (Ezio, Desmond, and Desmond’s crew) and having a wider mission variety. I now have a group of Assassins I can send off to do random quests to level them up or use them on nearby guards so I don’t have to get my hands dirty. Once again, the series makes solid progression in improving the gameplay, with combat being an emphasis. All welcome changes.

It adds what I’ve heard is fairly addicting multiplayer, but I’ve yet to sink my teeth into it and probably won’t until the campaign is completed.

Bastion

I’d been interested in playing Bastion since the Summer of Arcade promotion, but I refuse to play $15 for an arcade game that I’m not hotly anticipating (which is almost never). But when they ran the 12 days of Xbox promotion to end the year, the very first day had Bastion half off – only $7.50. This price was much better for me and I couldn’t wait to start.

Right off the bat, you notice how attractive the game is, and throughout the game, the narrator kept me informed and engaged. Some people don’t like his voice, but I found him highly entertaining. The gameplay is simple but solid, and the music and sounds are quite fitting. This game isn’t one that has a strong story; it’s just enough to give you a reason to keep going. Unfortunately, it is a quite brief experience (in my opinion justifying my refusal to buy it at $15) that I was able to complete the two necessary playthroughs and do everything there was to do in a short 8 hours.

Bloodrayne: Betrayal

Another arcade I noticed was on sale and decided to pick up. This game is a 2D side-scrolling hack n’ slash game and it is a throwback in a modern skin. What I mean by that is it is fun to play and difficult to master. I tried my hardest to get an S rank on the first couple of missions, but no matter how many times I tried, I was unable to do so.

I haven’t given up, though. I enjoy a good challenge and this game delivers. If you like these types of games, it’s worth taking a look.

Halo: CE Anniversary

I had this game since launch, but with so many other games in my to-do list, it kinda got lost in the shuffle. I pulled it out and decided to take a run through the first couple of levels, switching back and forth between the new graphics and the old and seeing how times have changed. It’s pretty amazing to see what used to be the top-of-the-line graphics back then and come them to what just slightly above average now.

I’ll be getting back to this title eventually. I’m looking forward to my run through the game on Legendary, but it’ll have to wait until I find some more free time.

Crysis 2

This is a title I hadn’t picked up in a while. I haven’t touched any FPS for a good while, so I decided to hop online and go a few rounds. It appears my FPS skills have deteriorated some after not having played them in so long, making playing this game online quite the struggle. It didn’t help that everyone still likes to use the Camo so much. I got frustrated pretty quick, but at least I knocked out a few achievements along the way.

Saints Row

Yes, the first one. I was working on this title exclusively in previous weeks, but I stopped when I realized that one of my graffiti tags (needed for a pair of achievements) appeared to be glitched. I’ve triple-checked all the graffiti tags on the map – of which there are 75 – and it shows I’ve gotten them all, but the counter in the menu says I’m missing one.

It’s a big downer for me that I’ll probably have to start over after making so much progress. I don’t think I’ll be playing this again any time soon.

Games I Bought

I went on quite the buying spree in the past month or so. It’s not my fault, though! All these different stores and publishers are to blame with all the sales and discounts that were calling out to me over the holiday season. Anyway, here’s the list:

Bloodrayne: Betrayal
Bastion
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition
Burnout CRASH!
From Dust
Beyond Good & Evil HD
Bulletstorm

Additional Intel

I had been telling both myself and others than I eventually wanted to buy an HD recording device so I could record my gameplay and make YouTube videos, and I finally made good on my claims. I am now the proud owner of a Hauppauge 1212 HD PVR and I have to say it works great so far. The quality is astounding.

I plan on getting some recreational videos up and possibly a few video guides here or there. I’m going to try and have a good time with it, so be on the lookout for any future updates.

In other news, it appears I will soon be a proud owner of a backwards-compatible ps3. My girlfriend’s brother had one and it stopped reading blu-ray discs, so they basically said if I can fix it, I can have it. I’ve already ordered the parts.

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.